"What do you mean......" asked Zantiparis thoughtfully, "after passing through the canyon, form a formation and fight the Persians who are chasing you." Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

"And the road in the canyon is not wide, which will slow down their retreat so that we can catch up with them. The more Persians come in pursuit, the slower they will retreat from the ravine, and the more we will kill them! Timasong said excitedly.

"But the Persians are not fools, and when they see that we are prepared, how can they venture through the canyon?" Xenophon's question stunned everyone.

Christopus said confidently: "So we will not attack near the valley mouth, and we will attack when the Persians chase us!" We're going to lure them into chasing them! ”

"That's right! Anyway, the Persians did not dare to fight us head-on, and we have slingers and cavalry, which will definitely give the Persians an unexpected surprise! When the time comes, the whole army will attack together and drive them to the valley mouth, and the narrowness of the valley mouth will slow down their retreat, so that we can catch up with them! ……”

Everyone, you and I will soon complete this plan.

At this time, someone suddenly said: "Why don't we ambush an army on this side of the canyon, and when the enemy passes, we will immediately block the canyon." ”

Everyone was stunned, and suddenly turned around, it was Davers, who had been sitting in the corner just now and listening to them carefully.

“…… Are you trying to wipe them all out?! Chrythopus looked at Davers, tried to suppress the surprise in his heart, and said slowly.

Davers stretched out the five fingers of his left hand, then clenched them into a fist and waved vigorously: "Of course! It's just to defeat them, and after they flee back to repair, they will still come and attack us. Only by encircling and annihilating them can the Persians be given the greatest deterrent! ”

The Greeks admired strength and preferred frontal assaults, which was further accentuated by the fact that their army was composed mainly of heavy infantry. This was true even for the Spartans, who were the best at fighting, the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Pradia, ...... Not to mention that these big battles were won by the Greeks by strength in the front, even countless small battles are rarely detoured, outflanked, ambushed, attacked, and annihilated...... These military terms, familiar to even the most ordinary later generations, may seem simple, but they are almost blank in the military history of the Greek city-states of this era, with heavy infantry as the main combat force. Of course, there are occasional similar battles, but few people pay attention to and summarize it. It wasn't until a few hundred years later that the Carthaginian commander Hannibal killed half of the men in Rome with one battle of annihilation, forcing Rome, the overlord of the Mediterranean, to learn from their enemies, and finally took the military tactics of the classical West to a great level.

Davers, whose soul came from later generations, was certainly not limited by this era, and although his military experience was still very young, his military thinking was two thousand years ahead. What he was thinking at the moment was a sentence that the Taizu of later generations often said: It is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers.

Chrysopes looked at the young man with a young face calmly, but his heart was shocked by his boldness and ideas. Acknowledging that Davers's proposal was tempting and feasible, he asked cautiously: "There are dense woods not far from this side of the valley, but if you have too many soldiers in ambush, it is easy for the Persian scouts to find out; If there are too few soldiers, how can you stop the Persians from retreating if they come too much? Also, what if tomorrow the Persians don't come after them? You know, they didn't come today. ”

Davers had already thought about this, and he replied earnestly: "No plan in the world is perfect, and there are risks in any military operation, so we must consider all possibilities as carefully as possible." First of all, I would like to ask you, Christopus, how far is this forest from Taniguchi? ”

"About three miles." Chrysops blurted out, as if the terrain had been imprinted in his head. This made Davers very impressed: surveying the terrain is a necessary skill for a qualified commander, and he has to learn it himself!

At the same time, Chrysops's words relieved him of his greatest worries about this plan, and he confidently analyzed: "According to what was said before, the whole army will set off before dawn, so when the troops to be hidden rush to the woods, the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry should still be asleep, and we only need to ambush three or four hundred soldiers, and the possibility of being discovered is very small." Secondly, in case there are many Persians in pursuit, there is no need for the troops in charge of the ambush to wipe them out, but only to open a gap in the interception place to allow the Persians to escape, and then volley from there. The Persians were so bent on fleeing that they would not have time to organize a revolt, so that although we could not completely annihilate the enemy, we would not get too bad results! ”

Sun Tzu, the first military strategist who theorized ancient warfare and rose to a strategic height, should have lived in the same era! An inexplicable sense of pride rose in Davers's heart, which made him more calm: "As for the Persians not coming, don't worry. After noon, before the enemy appears, the ambushed troops can withdraw on their own initiative, they have no baggage, and the action will be relatively rapid, while our large forces are met at the valley pass, then there will be no major problems......"

Davers's careful thinking eventually won over all the leaders present, and they all agreed with Davers's suggestion to increase the ambush force.

Kerrysops, who had always looked down on Davers because of his youth, couldn't help but feel sorry for his talents, and the Spartans cherished their juniors differently: "Davers, would you like to command this army that went to ambush?" ”

Davers was stunned for a moment, in the eyes of Christopus, what he saw was trust and expectation, he thought about it carefully, regardless of Phelicus's obstruction, met everyone's complicated gaze, and nodded heavily: "I can!" ”

…………………………

The next day, before dawn, the Greeks got up at the urging of the military horn, packed their luggage, packed their equipment, and set off sleepily.

When we arrived at the mouth of the gorge, a glimmer of light appeared in the sky.

Davers led three squadrons of heavy infantry, a squadron of light shieldmen, and a large detachment. The leaders all sent their blessings.

"Zeus will be with you!" These are the words of Chrysops.

"May Ares give you strength!" These are the words of Timason.

"May Athena give you luck!" These are the words of Xenophon.

……

In order to fight the Persians with all their might, the whole army worked together.

"Take care, Chief! Come back safely! Phellisius said solemnly.

"Don't worry, Phellisius, we'll take care of the chief!" Antonios chimed in.

"Take care!" Davers said, giving Felicius a powerful hug. Then, with the soldiers and officers who had left behind already beginning to look in awe, he led his troops down the foot of the hill to the forest on the left......

…………………………

In fact, Artauzus moved earlier than the day before, for his ranks had grown to a large number, about 4,500 archers and 1,500 archers, which gave him confidence and a desire to crush the Greek army early in order to obtain the post of adjutant promised by Tisaponis.

The scouts reported that the Greeks had already set up camp and crossed the gorge, twenty miles from the Persian army.

He took it for granted that the Greeks were moving so quickly to avoid his attacks, and when he thought of the oath he had made at Tisaponis, he couldn't help but feel a little anxious: they must not be allowed to run away, and they must be defeated today!

So he urged his troops to speed up their march, and when they passed through the gorge, he did not stop, for the scouts told him that the Greeks were five or six miles away from the exit of the gorge.

………………………………

"The Persians have entered the ravine, chief of Davers!" Assistes ran back into the woods and reported to Davers.

"How many are there?" Antonios asked.

"They have a long line, I'm afraid there are thousands of them!" Assistes gasped and said.

"That's a big fish!" Amintas whistled lightly.

"Then immediately execute the second plan we discussed last night." Davers was nervous, but his facial expressions were well controlled.

"Brothers, get to work!" Capps shouted in a deep voice.