Macedonian General Brick sat firmly in his tent, still serious:

"Don't tell me how much the enemy claims.

What I need you to do is to find out the approximate number of enemy troops.

What configuration?

Which troops, with or without backup?

Don't blindly listen to rumors just because the situation is urgent.

The Oriental love to exaggerate the number of troops is not new. Besides, even if they could easily recruit a lot of infantry, they were often rabble. ”

"Yes, General."

After the Parthians promised Armenia to send troops to the rescue, they kept their promise and launched a fierce attack on the Macedonian Eastern Army, focusing on helping their allies.

Artaxerxes' first step was to cut off the retreat and isolate the enemy. This step has been achieved. Not long ago, Darius led two thousand troops to take Fraspa.

Immediately after the second step, a heavy force was sent to capture the city of Artashat and recapture the lost territory in the Caucasus. The blockade of the Armenian area and the cutting off of the Eastern Army from the rear deprived Brick of his vitality.

Finally, they besieged and annihilated Brick's troops, who had lost their foundations.

Interlocking, step by step. The plan was meticulous, and it seems that the quality of the Parthian military personnel was really high.

The key to the Parthian king's plan was whether they could win a tough battle, that is, to storm the city of Artashat.

Due to the war against Egypt, the Parthian army was still located in the Babylonian region. Thus, in the north, King Artaxerxes also lacked effective troops. His main battle army was still in the south. In terms of topography, the entire Parthian kingdom was a country of mountains except for deserts. It takes a lot of time to transport troops.

In order to rush the time, the king even split the legions guarding the capital and assembled a siege force.

Now it's up to the general to see how the war will go by the general.

Maroast Sophany was an excellent general and a colt of King Xerxes. He was a man of great strength and mastery of the spear, and he fought with ninety-one ironclad cavalry. This guard alone can exert terrifying combat effectiveness. In this operation, the kingdom provided him with an additional 600 cavalry archers. The rest of the Eastern Infantry, Hill Soldiers, and Border Patrols (militia) were enough to gather 20,000 troops. It has both siege and field capabilities.

If the Ryasd had gone straight into the city of Saudi Arabia, the defenders would not have been an opponent at all. First of all, the Macedonian forces remaining in the city were not enough.

Now it is up to the battle to see if Brick can save his stronghold in time, and if the two eastern legions he leads can defeat the Parthian heavy forces.

"All cavalry troops, phalanx soldiers, and Scythian archers, all withdraw from the encirclement and assemble!"

Brick Phoenesi decided to return to the rescue of Saudi Arabia and fight a decisive battle with the Parthian army.

But before that, he made another bet. Continue to besiege the city of Kutaisi with mediocre auxiliary forces.

The auxiliary forces were all composed of infantry, javelinmen, foot archers, and hired Eastern infantry, which were second-rate troops that did not have the ability to actually break through the formation and kill the enemy. If Brick had taken the main force with him, the Tigris cavalry would have easily lifted the siege and wiped out the besieging infantry at will.

Therefore, before Brick left, he resorted to deception. As the saying goes, the virtual and the real are combined.

He shrank the soldiers of the Eastern Legion with great fanfare, withdrew from the encirclement, and deliberately made his actions visibly ostentatious. Later, they were stationed in the nearby mountains and forests for concealment.

Tigris, who was anxious to break through, led his troops out of the city on the fourth day, trying to break through the weak blocking line.

At this time, the Macedonian soldiers besieging the city had already established improvised fortifications to deal with the enemy's breakthrough. Even if you can't stop the enemy, you can at least delay the opponent's attack.

As soon as the strong Armenian ironclad forces repelled the infantry in the fortifications, Brick led his army to arrive. Thousands of archers fired arrows at the same time, and arrows rained down.

Tigris shouted, fell victim to the enemy's tricks, and hurried back to the city.

The enemy looked embarrassed.

"I don't think they're coming out."

"Hahaha, the general is smart."

The defenders who had been trapped for a long time had formed a certain mindset, but this time they were tactics again, and they couldn't hold on.

Now, Brick is really going to withdraw and save Saudi City.

A simple meeting of generals on the march:

"Scouts and spies have spied on the enemy, and this Parthian army is not yet the strongest.

However, the 100-man Iron Guards of Oroasd are very powerful. It can be said that being invincible on the battlefield, combined with the archers and a large number of infantry, does pose a great threat to us. ”

"What about the infantry? What classes are used? ”

"The Parthian infantry has always been weak, nothing more than the Eastern infantry, the hill soldiers, and the militia. Countries with strong cavalry often use infantry as cannon fodder, sacrificing, temporarily maintaining the battle line, and delaying the enemy. But they are numerous, and if they are formed in long formations, they can expel and compress the space for our cavalry to move on the battlefield. ”

"I think our 2,000 infantry, although they are not very numerous, can play a big role."

"Let's go directly to attack the enemy army, and let the defenders of the city come out and join the outside."

"Nope.

Our army is inferior in strength to the enemy. Encirclement tactics are unwise.

The enemy infantry is numerous, and the depth buffer is good. The Parthian army, which dared to attack the solid position, was afraid that it would be more than lucky. With infantry cover, the Ironclad Guards could easily launch a flank assault.

It's dangerous. ”

Bleeker

"What the general said is extremely true, so how do we want to contact the enemy?"

"With the information gathered by the generals, I don't think there is any need to rush to get out of the siege.

Parthia did not carry siege engines and could not break the city for a while. A city of Saudi Arabia's size can hold out for a long time when it is under siege.

We bypassed the city and got stuck on enemy supply lines. We had passed that road many times as we came, and there was a forest that was perfect for ambush warfare. In that way, our infantry will be able to take more with less. ”

"Brilliant plan. When the enemy's supply lines are threatened, they must withdraw and come to battle.

We brake with static and wait for work.

The odds are stacked. ”

The Eastern Legion successfully rounded up the line of communication at Oroast and laid an ambush.

The Parthian general Maroastrid knew that this was the enemy's strategy to "encircle Wei and save Zhao", and hated that Asakis could not provide him with a stone crossbow or an armored war elephant, and could not achieve the effect of "immediately attacking the city".

Seeing the fat of the mouth, the Armenian metropolis of Artasat is already under the iron hooves of its own army. But they had to withdraw their troops to defend the lines of communication.

Ronasd still resolutely turned back and decided to defeat the Eastern Army first and then take Saudi Arabia.

On their march, they encountered the Macedonian cavalry and immediately formed a battle formation.

Brick placed the archers in the clearing, very conspicuous. The cavalry was behind. Deliberately separated from the infantry.

When he saw the nearby woods, he knew that there must be an ambush inside.

(End of chapter)