The Persian guards archers drew their bows and arrows and began shooting at the galloping elephants.

As a result, the front-line soldiers of the Greek coalition could only raise their shields for defense, and no longer engage in a completely one-sided killing.

"Humph! That legendary King Stobi is nothing more than this!"

Seeing that the situation began to turn in Persia's favor, Xerxes, who was watching the battle from afar, uttered two sarcastic remarks.

Then, without changing the order, Xerxes reiterated that the 100,000 men must charge decisively, begin crossing the first trench, and then attack the first earthen wall of the Greek coalition.

“Ah…, ah…, ah…”

I rushed to the edge of the trench and just jumped in when a series of screams began to be heard.

The Persian soldiers then discovered that the trenches were already filled with sharp wooden stakes. If they were not careful, they would be stabbed!

What's more troublesome is that opposite the trench is the first earth wall built by the Greeks.

It is obvious that the Greeks dug a ditch and took the soil, and built a high wall directly on the east side of the trench.

One positive and one negative, the relative gap doubled out of thin air.

It is extremely difficult to climb up the earth wall from the bottom of the trench!

These 100,000 men had few tools for climbing the city walls, and most of them could only stand at the bottom of the trench and stare blankly.

However, the ten war elephants fully utilized their height advantage.

The surviving Persian guard archers on the backs of the war elephants were standing at a higher position than the earth wall of the Greek coalition forces.

They shot with great skill from their bows on the backs of their war elephants, and many of the Greek allied soldiers stationed on the wall were shot down.

If the war elephants did not dare to jump into the ditch, they could only walk back and forth in front of the trench.

It is very likely that the Greek coalition's first line of defense has been lost.

"Use Greek fire!"

Seeing the battle becoming tense, Hector finally played his trump card.

Several Greek fire machines that had been deployed on the earth wall began to spray flames with a roar, directly hitting the ten elephants that still had combat effectiveness.

Stones couldn't kill them, and arrows couldn't penetrate them. Those ten well-trained elephants were supposed to be fearless!

However, animals are instinctively afraid of fire.

Seeing the raging flames of Greek fire, the war elephants finally became frightened.

They all let out loud cries and turned around and ran away.

Many Persian soldiers who followed behind them and planned to use the huge bodies of the war elephants for protection were all in trouble.

Many people were trampled to death by frightened elephants.

Those who barely managed to dodge were instantly burned by the Greek fire and lost their combat effectiveness.

The defeat was like a landslide!

Even without receiving Xerxes' orders, the survivors of this army had to choose to retreat.

By the time they retreated to the attack launch point, only less than 30,000 of the 100,000 troops remained.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xerxes decided to call it a day.

Without communicating with anyone, he simply ordered to stop the attack and set up camp on the spot.

Then, he retreated back to his huge military vehicle, sat cross-legged and began to think.

Like Seleucus before him, Xerxes did not think today's test was worthless.

On the contrary, with the eyes of a strategist, he immediately summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the Greek coalition forces.

The Greek coalition had three major advantages.

First, the defense was completed in advance, and the defense line of deep trenches and high walls has been built!

Second, they possessed a super weapon, the catapult, which could launch an attack before their own troops entered the attack range and defeat the Persian army!

Third, they possessed Greek fire, which could shoot flames. This could repel war elephants, which were very sensitive to fire!

But at the same time, the shortcomings of the Greek coalition were also obvious.

The stones from the catapult had limited power and could not cause a fatal blow to the well-defended war elephants.

The reload time of the trebuchet is too long. It takes half a minute to fire the second time.

If your side moves fast enough, after two rounds of hurling stones, you can reach the enemy and make the catapults dare not fire again.

We can even take advantage of the time difference.

First lure the catapult into firing for the first time, and then the large army will immediately launch a charge.

In this way, they only need to withstand a round of stone rain to rush to the trenches of the Greek coalition forces!

As for those sharp wooden stakes, Xerxes didn't care about them.

That kind of trap was the only one that could catch one's team off guard. As long as one was mentally prepared, there were many ways to break it.

What about Greek Fire?

This weapon was powerful, but unfortunately had a limited range. It was fine for defending a city, but across a vast frontier where tens of millions of troops were engaged, the number of weapons available was too small to be deployed. Expecting it to have a decisive effect was clearly impossible.

After such an in-depth analysis, Xerxes already had an idea of ​​how to fight tomorrow.

He only hoped that the sun would rise quickly so that the flags of the Persian army could be planted all over the mountains and rivers in Troy!

Today's test also left a deep impression on the Greek coalition forces.

Both Antigonus and Hector secretly groaned, discovering that the combat effectiveness of the Persian main force was far superior to the army commanded by Seleucus.

In the same exploratory attack, the Seleucid army simply suffered heavy losses, while the main force of the Persians almost broke through their own defense line.

What's more troublesome is that in order to defend against the war elephants, which are a type of troops that can show off their power, all the cards have been played in the first round of defense.

Catapults and Greek fire were used without reservation.

If Xerxes changes his formation again later, our side will have no backup measures at all!

At most, they could only trade space for time. If one line of defense was breached, they would retreat to the next!

In this way, it is truly extraordinary that Achilles and Alexander could command the army and confront Xerxes' main force head-on without being at a disadvantage.

Compared with those two people, Antigonus and Hector had to admit that the gap was too big.

However, Antigonus and Hector did not lose faith.

Because, there is a stabilizing force behind them - King Stoby!

Both of them felt that King Stobi was the unrivaled God of War!

With the king here, there is nothing to worry about!

Wang must have conceived some brilliant tactics long ago, which could be used to make the final decision at the critical moment.

Xerxes' test today only forced the two men to reveal their true cards!

The real trump card of the Greek coalition is actually in the hands of the king.

What exactly it is, no one can guess!

Of course, in reality, what trump card does Xia Zhe have in his hand?

Xia Zhe also watched the entire battle during the day.

He was also deeply impressed by the annoying war elephants.

In order to play the role of "wise and brave" well, Xia Zhe tried his best to smile and remain motionless while watching the battle.

But inside, the world was already in turmoil!

OMG!

These war elephants are not an army at all, they are clearly gods descending to earth!

Any type of our troops are completely vulnerable in front of it!

Fortunately, Greek fire drove them away. Otherwise, I'm afraid they would have run away on the first day!

No, I can't stand so close to the front tomorrow!

Otherwise, if the enemy really breaks through quickly and the soldiers in front collapse, it will be very difficult for me to escape!