"You mean ..." asked Zantiparis thoughtfully, "to spread out in formation directly after passing through the ravine and fight the pursuing Persians."
"And the canyon's road is not wide, which will slow down their retreat and make it easier for us to catch up with them. The more Persians that come in pursuit, the slower they will retreat from the canyon, and the more powerful our kills on them will be!" Timasong said excitedly.
"But the Persians are not fools; how could they risk going through the gorge when they saw that we were prepared?" Xenophon's question made the crowd freeze.
Crisopus chested, "That's why we're not attacking near the mouth of the valley; we'll attack whenever the Persians come after us! We will lure them into pursuit!"
"Right! Anyway, the Persians don't dare to fight us head on, and with our stone throwers and cavalry, we can definitely give the Persians an unexpected surprise! At that time, the whole army will attack together and drive them to the mouth of the valley, and the narrowness of the valley will in turn slow down their retreat, facilitating us to catch up with them! ..."
The crowd spoke to each other and soon perfected this plan.
At that moment, someone suddenly said, "Why don't we ambush an army on this side of the canyon, and when the enemy passes through, we'll immediately block off the canyon."
The crowd was stunned and snapped back to none other than Davos, who had just been sitting in the corner listening intently to them.
"... Are you trying to wipe them all out?!" Kerisopus said slowly as he looked at Davos and tried to suppress the surprise in his heart.
Davos stretched out five fingers of his left hand, then clenched them into a fist and swung it forcefully, "Of course! Just routing them, they will still come to attack us after they escape back to recuperate. Only by encircling and annihilating them can we give the Persians the greatest deterrent!"
The Greeks prized strength and favored frontal assaults, and this trait was compounded by the fact that the composition of their armies was primarily heavy infantry. Even the Spartans who are the most skillful at fighting are also like this, the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Pradia ... not to mention these big battles are the Greeks in the front rely on the power to win, that is, the countless small battles are seldom to see the detour, encircle, ambush, attack, gather annihilation ... These military terms are familiar to even the most ordinary people of later generations, they seem simple, but in the military history of the Greek city-states of this era, where the heavy infantry is the main combat force, there is almost a blank. Occasionally, of course, similar battles took place, but little attention was paid to them and they were summarized. It wasn't until a few hundred years later that Hannibal, the commander-in-chief of Carthage, killed half the male population of the city of Rome with annihilation after annihilation, forcing Rome - the dominant power in the Mediterranean - to begin to learn from their enemies, and finally bringing the military tactics of the classical West to a major level.
Davos, whose soul came from the latter days, was of course not limited by this era, and although his military experience was still very young, his military thinking was two thousand years ahead. What was in his mind at the moment was the saying that the later generations' Great Ancestor used to say: it is better to hurt his ten fingers than to break one of them.
Grissops calmly looked at the boyish-faced young man, but in his heart he was shocked at his vigor and conception. He admitted that Davos's proposal was tempting and had a certain degree of feasibility, and still cautiously asked, "There are dense woods not far from this side of the valley, but if you ambush too many soldiers, they will easily be discovered by the Persian scout cavalry; if there are too few soldiers, in case the Persians come in too many numbers, how can you hold back their retreat? Also, what if the Persians don't come after them tomorrow? You should know that they didn't come today."
Davos had long considered this, and he replied earnestly, "No plan in the world is perfect, and there is adventure in any military operation, so we must consider the possibilities as thoroughly as possible. First of all I would like to ask you, Hakri Sopes, what is the distance of this forest from the mouth of the valley?"
"About three miles." Kerisopus blurted out, as if the terrain was imprinted in his mind. This made Davos very impressed: surveying the terrain, this was an essential skill for a qualified commander-in-chief, one still had to learn it well!
At the same time, the words of Clerisopus released his biggest worry about this plan, he confidently analyzed: "According to what was said before, the whole army will leave before dawn, then when the troops to be hidden arrive at the woods, the enemy's scouting cavalry should still be sleeping, right? We only need to ambush three to four hundred soldiers, and there is a very small possibility that we will be detected. Secondly, in case there are a lot of Persians coming in pursuit, there is no need for the troops in charge of the ambush to necessarily wipe them out, we only need to let go of a gap at the interception to allow the Persians to escape, and then intercept them from there. The Persians are so focused on escaping that they can't possibly have time to organize a revolt, so although we can't wipe out the enemy in its entirety, the results we get from the battle won't be too bad either!"
Surrounding three syncopated ah, the first theorization of ancient warfare, rising to the height of the strategy of the militarist Sun Tzu should be living in the same era, right! A sense of pride inexplicably rose in Davos' heart, which made him more relaxed: "As for the Persians not coming, there is even less to worry about. After noon, the enemy has not yet appeared, the troops in ambush can take the initiative to withdraw, they do not have provisions, they will move more quickly, while our large force is at the mouth of the valley to receive, then there will not be a big problem ..."
Davos's prudent thinking eventually overpowered the chiefs in the room, and they agreed with Davos's suggestion: to add an ambush force.
Hakritsopus, who had always looked down on Davos for his youth, could not help but feel a sense of appreciation for his talent, and the Spartans loved their juniors differently, "Davos, would you like to take command of this force that is going to the ambush?"
Davos froze, what he saw in the eyes of Kerisops was trust and anticipation, he thought carefully, and despite the obstruction of Felicius, he met the complex gaze of the crowd and gave a heavy nod, "I can!"
...............
The next day, before dawn, the Greeks rose at the urging of the bugle, packed their bags, gathered their gear, and set off sleepily.
It was only when we reached the mouth of the gorge that a glimmer of light appeared in the sky.
Davos led three squadrons of heavy infantry and one squadron of light shields to separate from the main body. The chiefs sent their best wishes.
"Zeus will be with you!" These are the words of Chrysopus.
"May Ares give you strength!" These are the words of Timazon.
"May Athena give you luck!" These are the words of Xenophon.
...
The whole army was united in order to fight the Persians with all their might.
"Chief take care! Come back safely!" Felicius said solemnly.
"Don't worry, Felicius, we'll take care of the chief!" Antonius interjected.
"You take care too!" Davos said, giving Felicius a strong hug. Then, to the eyes of the soldiers and squad officers left behind, who had begun to grow a little awe-struck, he led his troops down the foot of the hill and hurried toward the forest on the left ...
...............
Indeed, Artaozus acted earlier than the day before, for his ranks had become large, amounting to about 4,500 archers and 1,500 bow cavalry, which increased his confidence, and he longed for an early rout of the Greek army, in order to obtain at an early date the post of adjutant, which Tissaphernes had promised him.
The scouts reported that the Greeks had long since broken camp and crossed the ravine, twenty miles from the Persian army.
He took it for granted that the Greeks were moving so swiftly in order to avoid his attack, and was a little anxious when he thought of the oath he had made with Tissaphernes: they must not be allowed to get far, and they must be routed to-day!
So he urged his troops to march faster, and when he passed through the ravine he did not stop, for the scouts told him that the Greeks were five or six miles from the exit of the ravine.
............... ...
"The Persians have entered the canyon, Chief Davos!" Ashestus ran back into the woods in a huff and reported back to Davos.
"How many?" Antonius asked from the sidelines.
"They have a long line, I'm afraid there are thousands of them!" Acistus gasped and said.
"That's a big fish in the net!" Amyntas whistled softly.
"Then immediately implement the second plan we discussed last night." Davos was nervous, but his facial expression was well controlled.
"Brothers, start catching up on your work!" Capps shouted in a deep voice.