If the eye has not become like the sun, it cannot see the sun; The same is true of the mind, if it is not beautiful, it cannot see beauty.

- Plotin (Greek idealist philosopher in ancient Rome, founder of Neo-Platonism)

Ranged classes such as archers and slingers are definitely a deadly threat to light infantry, but not so much for hoplites; If these hoplites are also equipped with shields, then the ranged troops' attacks on the hoplites are just tickling, and they can't do substantial damage to the hoplites at all.

However, there is always the unexpected everywhere in war; A salvo of 2,000 archers plus a salvo of 2,000 slings can still take out some of the unlucky guys, even if it can't inflict serious casualties on the huge hoplite phalanx. Needless to say, Pyrrhus did not want his hoplites to suffer such insignificant losses; He wants to solve the opponent without any damage.

This is not to say that Pyrrhus is arrogant enough to think that he is invincible, and that he can lead his army to win battles without the dead; It's just that this time is different, after Pyrus decided to give up and return to the Epirus Kingdom itself, he understood that he had lost the Epirus Kingdom, and the 30,000 hoplites in front of him became his only and last support.

Pyrrhus did not have a single gold coin on him until he had taken the city-state of Semon, and it was impossible for him to recruit enough troops from anywhere else to strengthen his army, not even to replenish the 30,000 hoplites; In other words, the 32,000 troops under the command of Pyrus were one less dead, and there was no way to replenish them.

Pyrrhus also understood that even if he could successfully take the city-state of Semon, it did not mean that his army could be replenished from the city-state of Semon; After all, his identity is no longer the hero sought after by the Greeks, but the invader who invaded the city-state of Semon, which Pyrus has long been prepared for.

However, Pyrrhus believes that these things can be changed over time; Those people in the Semeng city-state will definitely resist their rule at first, but as long as they can lead the Semeng city-state to become strong in the future, so that those people in the Semeng city-state can live a good life, will they still resist themselves all the time?

It is undeniable that King Pyrrhus is not very good-looking, but the idea is still quite good; He simply thought about his future from the best possible point of view, and did not think about other accidents that might happen. A Pyrrhus who is devoured by power and lust is not the Pyrus he once was; He is no longer a hero of the people, but a master of himself!

Pyrrhus also knew that there were two kilograms of Ritite archers in the Semon Legion, and it was naturally impossible for Pyrus, who was familiar with Cretan archers, to let his army be easily attacked by the archers of the Semon Legion; So, after leading the army into the camp of the Semon legion, two hundred and fifty meters away, Pyrrhus stopped his army and stopped on the spot.

The distance of two hundred and fifty meters is a range that a Cretan archer could not reach under any circumstances, and it is also an absolutely safe distance; It's just that Pyrus is not going to lead an army to attack the Semon Legion? What's the use of him leading a large army to block it outside the camp of the Semon Legion? Do you want to trap the Semon Legion? The commander of the Semon Legion didn't know what Pyrrhus was trying to do.

Soon, the men of the Semon Legion knew what Pyrrhus had arranged; Although the army of Pyrus on the front did not move, it still attracted all the 10,000 troops of the Semon Legion to the gate of the barracks. At this time, the ironclad cavalry arranged by Pyrus earlier also went around the back of the Semon Legion and quietly arrived at the military camp of the Semon Legion!

The two thousand ironclad cavalry did not blindly charge the barracks of the Semon Legion, after all, the commander of the ironclad cavalry is not a fool, he can't take his ironclad cavalry to crash into the wooden wall of the barracks of the Semon Legion, right? He first left a large cavalry of a thousand meters away, and then took a cavalry squad of fifty people to the vicinity of the barracks to inspect the situation.

At this time, the sky was still gray, and the cavalry commander could not see the situation in the barracks clearly, but he could also roughly find that all the Semeng troops in the barracks were concentrated near the barracks gate; So, the cavalry commander jumped off his horse with his fifty cavalrymen and began to quietly dismantle a section of the wooden fence behind the barracks.

Twenty minutes later, the men of the Semon Legion were still confronted by the hoplites of Pyrrhus, and a twenty-meter-wide wall had been torn down at the back of their camp; After the cavalry commander demolished the wall of the barracks, he took his fifty cavalry back to the ironclad cavalry headquarters a thousand meters away.

After the cavalry commander returned to the main army, he directly ordered the ironclad cavalry to start charging; It was himself and the fifty cavalrymen who took the lead! The charge of the two thousand ironclad cavalry can be described as extraordinary, and the rumbling sound of horses' hooves can be clearly heard even by the Semeng legion a thousand meters away; It's just that the sound of horses' hooves is coming from the rear, what's going on? There are no cavalry troops in the city-state of Semon?!

The dazed and bewildered Legion of Semon had no idea what to do, but Pyrus smiled knowingly when he heard the sound of such a massive cavalry galloping; Sitting on his horse, Pyrrhus drew his short sword from his waist with great momentum, and ordered to his hoplites: "Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived; Kill! ”

After saying that, Pyrus took the lead and rushed out with a hundred and ten guards under his command; Naturally, the rest of the hoplites also shouted the slogan 'Kill' and rushed out behind Pyrus! Pyrrhus's sudden attack dispelled all the misfortunes of the Semon Legion, who hurried to focus their attention on the enemy in front of them.

Looking at the army of Pyrus that was about to rush into the range of the archers, the Cretan archers of the two thousand Semon legions were also ready to shoot under the orders of the legion commander; Unfortunately, before they could shoot their first round of arrows, two thousand ironclad cavalry rushed directly into the unsuspecting Semeng Legion barracks through the gap at the back of the barracks.

The standard formation of the Semon Legion was as follows: at the front near the entrance of the barracks were two thousand archers and two thousand slingers; After 4,000 long-range troops, it is naturally 3,000 Greek heavy infantry ready to go, and the last one is 3,000 Greek infantry. Whether it is Greek heavy infantry or Greek infantry, they are all holding round shields in their left hand and spears in their right hands, facing the front in a neat formation.

That is, the ironclad cavalry faced the backs of the unsuspecting Greek infantry; Without the slightest hesitation, the cavalry commander led his two thousand cavalry to smash the back of the Greek infantry! The impact of the ironclad cavalry was too strong for the infantry, and they easily tore through the formations of all the Greek infantry and fought along the way.

This sudden blow directly stunned the soldiers of the Semeng Legion, and before they could react, they were trampled into mud by the horses of the ironclad cavalry; The soldiers of the Semeng Legion, who were lucky not to be attacked by the ironclad cavalry, also scattered and fled in panic. The phalanx of archers and slingers was dealt an even worse blow, and countless archers and slingers died on the spot under the attack of the cavalry.

Of course, there were also some Greek infantry who were not afraid of death, after dodging the first round of attacks of the ironclad cavalry, immediately launched a counterattack with their spears against the raging ironclad cavalry; When the first ironclad cavalry was stabbed off their horses by the spears of the Greek infantry, more Greek infantry immediately joined the battle against the cavalry with their spears.

Unfortunately, their fate ended there; As the ironclad cavalry attacked them, the army of Pyrus in front of them also began to accelerate. Therefore, the soldiers of these Semeng legions faced not only the attack of 2,000 ironclad cavalry, but also the coordinated attack of 30,000 hoplites; They quickly ran to the ground under such a fierce onslaught.

The battle in the barracks lasted less than an hour, and Pyrrhus's 2,000 ironclad cavalry eventually paid 200 casualties, while his 30,000 hoplites suffered less than 500 casualties; In stark contrast to the Sermon Legion, more than 6,000 of their 10,000 soldiers were killed in direct battle, more than 2,000 were wounded, and only more than 1,000 surrendered without being injured.

After the Sermon Legion was eliminated, the remaining army of the Semon city-state was the 4,000 javelinmen who remained in Semon; Pyrrhus believed that a single charge from his cavalry would wipe them out. However, the walls of the city of Semon are still relatively tall; In order to prevent the city-state of Semon from defending Semon, Pyrrhus still had to take some measures to seize the city.

The best thing Pirus could think of was to equip his five hundred hoplites with the weapons and equipment of the Greek infantry, and then immediately go to the city of Semon for help; The reason for asking for help was also very simple, that is, the army of Pyrus attacked the army of Semon. The soldiers of the Semon Legion are now trapped in the barracks and unable to move, hoping that the high-ranking officials of the Semon city-state will send reinforcements immediately; Otherwise, the Sermon Legion may be wiped out!

Of course, Pyrus could not rely on these five hundred infantry to deceive the Semon city-state, after all, the people of the Semon city-state are not fools; The fact that no one knew these five hundred people would soon be discovered. The only purpose of Pirus arranging these five hundred men was to let them take the opportunity to take the city gates, so that the follow-up nearly two thousand ironclad cavalry could rush into the city in one fell swoop; Then the big picture is really decided!

After the departure of the five hundred remodeled hoplites, the cavalry commander also followed unhurriedly behind the infantry with one thousand eight hundred iron armor; What followed was exactly what Pyrrhus had predicted. Five hundred heavy infantry, as soon as they infiltrated Semon, took control of the city gates; Realizing that something was wrong, the city-state of Semeng ushered in a strong onslaught of 1,800 cavalry! (To be continued.) )