Their family is a martial heir, and each generation of heirs must go to the army to experience and polish themselves.

Osidmos even considered Bactria's infantry to be the most combative of all the infantry units of the Kushan Empire.

They inherited the equipment and tactics of the glorious and great Macedonian infantry who swept across the Eurasian continent hundreds of years ago, and they were just as brave and tenacious.

Kunduz was the second largest town in the province of Bactria, and Osidmus, who was familiar with the situation, was confident that he did not think that the Han army would be able to capture the fortified city of Kunduz in a short time.

He could easily join forces with the defenders in Kunduz and annihilate these damned Han troops.

Fifteen thousand men belonged to the three corps, and they marched along the road in a neat phalanx, in a row of ten.

They only sent out simple scouts, and such a marching of troops was more like an armed march.

As an elite unit, the marching speed is still very fast.

When they marched to Shir Khan, who was still a few dozen miles away from Kunduz, they stepped into the pocket formation that the Han army had already prepared.

Sima Yi and Zhang Yang and Tai Shici led the Sixth and Ninth Divisions to ambush here, the purpose of which was to knock out the most effective army in Maracanda City and clear the way for future battles.

Sima Yi had been promoted to chief of staff of the expeditionary force to assist Fa Zheng in planning the battle against Guishan.

Two infantry divisions were ambushed here, and there was also Pound's third cavalry division on the periphery, which served as a guard and reinforcement.

According to Fa Zheng, killing chickens should also use a knife, as long as the chicken is killed quickly and cleanly.

To deal with infantry, it is more effective to use infantry, I heard that this Bactrian infantry is more restrained by cavalry, and has never fought before, so it is better to be cautious!

There is no need for a scout's report, Osidmos has already seen the Han army waiting for him on the Shilkhan plain.

The infantry, which numbered less than 20,000 men, wore a striking crimson uniform, and wore armor on the upper body, with plate armor and chain armor, similar in number to their own army.

These infantry were Tai Shici's 9th Division, which was responsible for frontal blockade, and Zhang Yang's 6th Division was ambushed on both sides of the battlefield and had not yet appeared.

Osidemos sincerely admired the courage of the Han army, and went deep into the territory of the Kushan Empire, but also had to face himself head-on.

He felt that his infantry was invincible in the world, who had he been afraid of in a head-on confrontation?

In fact, the Han army also felt like this, and the officers and men of the Central Army felt that they had already given face to their opponents by treating the Bactrian infantry one-on-one.

Osidmos ordered the whole army to change from a marching state to an offensive phalanx, and began to line up a standard modified Macedonian phalanx.

The biggest change was that the spears of the Bactrian infantry were not as perverted as long as their ancestors, and the spears of the heavy infantry were about one foot and two feet long, only half the length of the Macedonian spears used by their ancestors.

The spears of the light infantry were even shorter, less than a zhang, and only about eight feet.

Correspondingly, the arrangement of the infantry phalanx in Bactria also changed, with three infantry regiments lined up in a zigzag formation, one protruding forward, and the left and right two slightly behind.

The width of their phalanx was about 300 men in a row at the front, and 16 rows in depth.

A two-foot-wide round shield was hung around the neck, and then the left arm passed through the middle, thus freeing the left hand and making it easier to hold the spear with both hands.

The round shield protects its left side, as well as the right side of its neighboring comrades.

The first three rows of infantry were the most elite and determined veterans, their spears stretched out to the front.

The infantry in the fourth to sixth rows raised their spears at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the infantry in the back raised their spears upright, creating a spectacular forest of guns.

Of course, they made improvements, placing light infantry and archers equipped with large shields on both sides of the phalanx to cover the flanks.

Osidemos looked at his subordinates happily, lined up faster than usual training, and gave the order to attack.

There was no temptation, but directly threw the three phalanxes and 15,000 people into the attack.

The three large phalanxes began to move forward rapidly, and the Macedonian phalanx relied on dense arrays, running forward at neat paces, and the sharp spears combined with inertia violently hit the enemy formation.

Osidmos's only regret was that he did not have cavalry in his hands and could not form a coordination with the infantry phalanx.

The cavalry in the city of Maracanda had been killed and wounded in the previous battle, and only the camel cavalry remained.

And the cavalry of the province of Bactria, who had not yet responded to the call, remained in the capital Balkh.

Tai Shi Ci saw the enemy's busy work, and the formation was quite efficient, and it seemed that he was also an elite.

It's just that these infantry are lined up in a phalanx, how can it have a retro feeling?

As a battle-hardened general of the Central Army, Tai Shici saw at a glance the disadvantages of this infantry phalanx, with dense personnel, heavy in front and light in the rear, and weak flanks.

What's more, the Central Army also has the biggest magic weapon for victory, mortars!

Tai Shici had two artillery battalions in his hands, and the artillery battalion of the Sixth Division was also temporarily used by him.

"Order, the artillery battalion should not rush to attack, put the enemy to eighty zhang, and attack together with the crossbow. All crossbowmen, wait for the first wave of artillery before attacking. ”

The range of the mortar is 250 zhang, he doesn't want to startle the snake, not to mention that he also has a barista battalion!

Originally, after the Central Army was equipped with mortars, it was planned to replace the Lianzhu ballista with mortars.

However, in practical application, it is found that the cost of mortar shells is high and the output is low, and the Lianzhu ballista is a good weapon to fill the firepower gap between the mortar and the repeater, and the cost performance is much more suitable than the mortar, and the crossbow arrow is also more expensive than the shell.

Only the flintlock brigade of the special operations division completely eliminated the ballista.

Moreover, the number of equipment of Lianzhu ballistae is also much larger than that of mortars, and at this stage, artillery battalions are only equipped at the division level, unlike ballistas, which are available in every infantry brigade.

Osidmos didn't know about mortars, he only heard of repeaters and grenades, so he placed the large shield light infantry on both flanks to cover the spearmen.

Because of the absence of heavily armored infantry, the Bactrian infantry phalanx moved quickly.

It didn't take much time to rush to a place within a hundred zhang of the Han army's front.

Osidemos followed closely at the back of the phalanx, and he could already clearly see the appearance of the first row of heavily armored infantry in the Han army's phalanx.

Some of the boxy shields resemble those of the Roman Empire in the West, and at a glance you can see that the armor on the hoplites is very heavy and the workmanship is also very good.

However, the bare helmet on their heads was not aesthetically pleasing, except for the bulging folds around their ears that added to the beauty.