Madonios was dripping blood in his heart, and the cavalry brought all the way from Asia Minor was over; Now, the phalanx of the Greek forwards, which had suffered little losses, began to advance again, and the phalanx of the first infantry of Persia after the outbreak was completely vulnerable; The Persian 2nd Infantry phalanx arrived in time to withstand the momentum of the Greek phalanx, but this did not solve the problem.

Retired soldiers?

There is no doubt that at this juncture, it is not impossible to abandon the Persian second infantry phalanx that is desperately fighting with the Greeks, and run away with the Persian infantry of the third formation and other miscellaneous infantry.

It's just that the Greeks certainly don't agree to let the Persians run away so neatly, and they will inevitably chase after the buttocks; And Madonios ran away with the rest of the Persian soldiers, and there was nowhere to run; First of all, there was no Persian stronghold nearby, and it was not safe to run anywhere, and there was no respite; Secondly, it is not of much significance to retreat to the landing site Marathon Plains according to the way it came, the Persian Navy is fighting in the bay ahead, not to mention that it cannot be contacted, it is immediately contacted, and it is not clear whether it can be rushed back.

The original plan was for the Persian navy and army to meet on the shores of Athens to celebrate the victory; However, the Army's situation seems to be ......

Thinking of this, Madonhos' pupils dilated a little, and his mouth was full of bitterness.

In the Battle of Thermopay, the Persian army lost all its elephant soldiers, leaving only 43 rhinoceros knights, if these troops were sound, the Persian army still had a great chance to defeat the Greek phalanx; Every time he remembered this, Madonios couldn't help but complain about Xerxes, even though the brother-in-law had been dead for several days, but Madonios was still full of resentment. At first, Xerxes did not listen to the advice, and insisted on arranging elephant soldiers and rhinoceros knights to kill the Spartans; As a result, these precious troops were slaughtered by the Spartans on the narrow mountain road of Thermopylae, and Xerxes's order was too stupid.

With a few spins in his head, Madonios immediately descended the mountain pack with his guards and rushed to the back of the third infantry phalanx.

One order after another was quickly issued, and the 43 rhinoceros knights were soon mobilized to the center of the front of the Persian 3rd Infantry phalanx; The rest of the motley troops, lined up on the left and right of the Rhino Knight, ready to fight; If the Persian 2nd Infantry Phalanx collapses, then the Rhino Knights and the Miscellaneous Troops will all attack, and the Persian 3rd Infantry Phalanx will follow.

Madonhos chose to give it a go, either to build great feats in Greece or to die in Greece; Having lost his brother-in-law, Madonios has also lost his protective umbrella, and if he returns to China with a discarded army, the new emperor will definitely want to look good.

The in-depth exchange of armies between the Persians and Greece was raging in the northeastern suburbs of Athens; At the other end of the city of Athens, on the sparkling Aegean Sea, the navies of both sides also began to violently express their condolences to each other.

Because the bay was narrow, the huge Persian navy could not rush up, and the superiority of the opponent's forces could not be displayed; The commander of the Persian navy, Alahasia, arranged for 600 Persian warships to blockade in situ, and 200 Persian warships as the vanguard, and went straight to the east mouth of the bay; The west entrance of the bay is even smaller, so only 150 Egyptian warships can be arranged to block the west entrance, and 50 Egyptian warships act as the vanguard, and they drill into it with great momentum.

The Combined Greek Fleet, under the arrangement of its actual commander, Themistocles, sent 30 Corinthian warships to the west entrance to meet the 50 Egyptian warships, and their task was to withstand the attack of the Egyptian fleet.

The main fleet was divided into three teams: left, center, and right.

On the left were 180 Athenian warships;

On the right were 16 Spartan ships, 25 Sesby ships, and 25 Fosse ships;

In the middle are 23 Thebes, 25 Tegias, 36 Arcadians, and 25 Mantinia;

355 Greek warships, sailing against the wind, met the 200 Persian warships that came with full sails.

In Wang Jun's view, Themistocles' tactical command ability is very good, and his strategy is not simple, and he is definitely a big problem for the rise of Sparta.

First of all, make full use of the geographical advantage, which is a yang strategy.

Themistocles did not allow the ships to leave their homes, causing the Persians to be forced into a narrow bay to go to war; Originally, the Persian navy had many ships, but now it has lost its two major advantages, large ships and many ships.

Secondly, maintaining superior forces and engaging in key battles is an on-the-spot tactic.

Having 30 Corinthian warships face 200 Egyptian warships is equivalent to being prepared to sacrifice the Corinthian fleet; Not to mention that the size of the Corinthian battleship was a few circles smaller than that of the Egyptian battleship, just compared with the number, it can be regarded as a weak attack and a high-risk battle. Themistocles' purpose was clear, he would rather sacrifice some warships than try to ensure the size of the main fleet; The Persian warships had 800 good, but in this narrow bay, they could only come in waves; The main fleet, which has 355 warships, has the possibility of turning the tables against the Persian forward fleet, which is large in size but only 200 in number, and there are many shallow reefs.

In addition, Egypt is a subject state of Persia, and it has no substantial effect to hurt the Egyptian fleet, but if it hurts the Persian fleet, the commander of the opposing side will think about it or two; Themistocles' choice to put the crucial battle on the Persian fleet rather than concentrate on attacking the Egyptian fleet was a wise choice.

In the end, it's a conspiracy.

On the battlefield at the west entrance of the bay, the Corinthian fleet was a victim, and the possibility of being disabled was extremely high; On the battlefield at the east entrance of the bay, the middle of the Greek main fleet was under the greatest pressure, and it was necessary to carry the Persian fleet that came downwind, and the battle damage was definitely not small; The most powerful Athenian fleet was cleverly placed on the left side, and the Spartan fleet, which was on the right side with the fleets of the other two city-states. The sea in the middle of the bay is deep, there are no reefs, and the large Persian warships encourage movement; The sea water on both sides is shallow, and there are many reefs, and the Persian warships entering this area, not to mention activities, will be unlucky if they are not careful; According to Wang Jun's analysis, the Athenians were absolutely afraid that the Spartans had great strength on land and could not afford to offend them for the time being, otherwise the Spartan fleet would be "cleverly" placed in the middle; Also on the right side of the Spartan fleet were the fleets of Sesby and Fosse, two city-states that were closely related to Athens.

Wang Jun told his reasoning to Yuribiad, who was known as the "Commander of the Combined Fleet" but only commanded the Spartan fleet; It was not enough to bring "bad" Leonidas, the royal army needed more Spartan generals to grow up, and it was said that they would unify Greece and complete their tasks. It is not surprising that Yuribiade did not like the Athenians who applied powder and grease and dyed their hair, and when he heard Wang Jun's analysis, he directly classified the Athenians into the category of enemies; Speaking of which, the Athenians were indeed too calculating, and in the Battle of Thermopylae, they clearly used Sparta and other city-states to guard the northern gate of their land, and they did not even send a single soldier; And now, the great enemy is present, and all the city-states have come to the aid of Athens, but these Athenians still do not forget to calculate, it is shameless!

Because the Egyptian fleet at the western mouth of the bay did not act so actively, the contest between the Persian fleet and the Greek fleet first began on the inner side of the eastern mouth of Salami Bay.

The Persian forward fleet, sailing north at full speed; After entering the eastern entrance of the bay, the Persians, relying on the large size of their warships, crashed into the oncoming Greek fleet without hesitation; With the first Persian and Greek ships colliding together, the Battle of Salami officially began.

In fact, naval warfare in this era does not have much technical content; Mainly relying on ramming, plus archery and torch throwing, as for the broadside battle, Wang Jun looked at the Persian battleship that was a cut above the Greek battleship, and said that this "difference in size" was either impossible or a little difficult for the soldiers on both sides.

The warships of the Greek city-states were of different sizes, and the Athenian and Spartan warships were all new, 45 meters long, but the Spartan warships were bought from the Athenians; Most of the other city-states are 37 meters long and a little smaller. These Greek warships all had three decks, and all oarsmen were around 170, plus dozens of sailors and soldiers; Because it was a headwind, the sails on the battleship were all folded and driven by oarsmen's rows; Don't underestimate the oarsmen, these hundred or so people rowed desperately, and the speed was okay, anyway, it was much faster than the Persian battleship.

The Persian ships were sailing ships, a hundred meters long, with five decks, two hundred sailors, and two hundred sailors; Because of the large size of the ships and the narrowness of the bay, the Persian forward fleet adopted a wave of 50 ships and entered the eastern mouth of the bay in a long column. The lack of familiarity with the climate of Greece and the environment of the Gulf made the Persians suffer greatly; As soon as they entered the east exit, the battleship, which was originally sailing at high speed with full sails, began to lose control of its course.

At this time, just in time for the high tide in the bay, the undercurrent under the seemingly flat sea surface surged, especially in the waters on both sides of the bay, the undercurrent was even more turbulent, and the battleship that was going straight turned more than 30 degrees; And by this time, the forwards of both sides were already very close; The Persian warship turned mainly by wind power and tail rudder, with only a small number of long oars, and it would be impossible to correct the hull for a while and a half; The Greek warships were full of oarsmen, and the sailors at the helm were familiar with the special surname of the bay, and easily maintained their predetermined course.

Just as some of the Persian warships were panicked and adjusting their hull attitudes, the forwards of both sides collided together.

Judging from the situation of the middle of the Greek fleet, the Persians had a clear advantage, and the losses in the middle of the multiple city-states were not small; The Persian battleship was large, and as long as it was not hit from the side, it would definitely take advantage; The Persian ships were tall and had many soldiers, and when the two sides approached, a ** arrow covered the surface deck of the Greek battleship; As for the unskilled task of throwing torches, only Persian soldiers had the opportunity to do it.

Judging by the situation on the left and right sides of the Greek fleet, the Greeks had the advantage; The Persians, who were facing the Greek warship on the side of the ship, knew that the situation was not good, and desperately tried to turn the ship, but it was too late, so they could only let the archers shoot desperately, in an attempt to force the Greek warship to abandon the ramming; Greek warships, both old and new, had a copper sleeve on the capital and a 5-meter-long copper-clad crossbar mounted on the outside of the bow, which were designed for ramming.

For different situations, the Greek warships each chose a different way of fighting; Some of the warships happened to face the side of the Persian battleship, and directly hit the belly of the Persian battleship, and the huge copper sleeve located near the waterline of the Persian battleship hit a big hole in the waterline of the Persian battleship's flank, and the sea water rushed into the hole; Some of the warships happened to staggered past the Persian warship, and immediately lowered the copper-clad crossbar, breaking the few long oars of the Persian warship in two.

Naval battles between Persia and Greece were slow and monotonous compared to the battles of the land forces; Because the level of technology is like this, the sailing speed of both sides is not fast, but the Greek warships are small and flexible, and they can be so fast. The battleships slowly approached, slowly adjusting their attitudes, and swaying into each other; If it weren't for the back-and-forth shooting of bows and arrows on both sides, Wang Jun would have thought that the so-called naval battle was just a game of bumper boats.

At the western entrance of the bay, Egyptian and Corinthian warships also fought; Because the west entrance was narrower than the east entrance, the Egyptian fleet could not give full play to its numerical superiority, and the small number of Corinthian warships and the Egyptian fleet were fighting hotly, and no one could help anyone for the time being.

Time passed slowly, and the battle between the two ends of the bay continued in a slow-paced manner; The various damaged timbers floating in the sea, as well as the dead, the living, and the half-dead floating on the ground, fully prove that no matter how slow the pace of naval warfare, it is also cruel and ruthless.

The battle at the eastern entrance of the bay was more severe, and the middle team of the Greek fleet lost half of its ships, but on the left and right, the losses were small; The situation was even worse for the Persian forward fleet, clumsy in action and weak in counterattacks; Especially after the two sides fall into a scuffle, the so-called formation is disrupted, you have me, I have you; The Greek warships were burrowing around like loaches, and there were more of them than their own, and it was not only difficult for the Persian warships to effectively attack the Greek warships, but also unable to defend and dodge, so they could only watch their own ships being hit by the Greek warships again and again.

Overseas, the battle situation was much milder, the Egyptian warships and the Corinthian warships suffered losses to each other, and the battle was still in a stalemate; In fact, the combined Greek fleet was also thanks to the Egyptians, who were somewhat ineffective, while the Corinthians fought for their lives.

Slowly, the Persian forward fleet finally found that it could not bear it, and they chose to retreat one after another; However, during the high tide period, it is better to go with the wind, but it is not so easy to retreat against the wind; What's even more tragic is that many Persian warships have lost their long oars, and none of the long oars that were almost lucky are gone, and now, the simple running work has escalated to a difficult matter, especially those Persian warships that have fallen into bitter battles.

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