Antigonus and Hector, who were mentally prepared, understood that the real battle was about to begin!
This time, it was definitely not a tentative attack.
Xerxes deployed more than 300 war elephants on the wide front.
After all the fighting and consumption, this was all the belongings Xerxes could take out!
Behind the war elephants, there are tens of millions of troops ready to go.
Among them are the powerful Undead Legion, as well as top-level troops such as the Persian Guard Archers and Parthian Cavalry Archers!
But what is puzzling is that Xerxes did not arrange for archers to ride on the elephants. Each war elephant was operated by a single elephant slave wearing super heavy armor.
Neither Antigonus nor Hector could understand the deep meaning of this for a while.
Woo woo woo…
Boom boom boom…
Without giving the Greeks much time to think, Xerxes, seeing that his troops were already in place, gave the order to attack.
Then, the more than 300 war elephants marched slowly towards the Greek coalition's position with heavy steps.
"Trebuckets, throw stones! Trebuchets, throw stones!"
Over three hundred elephants marched in unison, their tread making the ground tremble. This terrifying pressure made every face in the Greek coalition pale. Without hesitation, Antigonus immediately gave the order to throw stones.
Whoosh whoosh…
A blanket of rocks fell from the sky with a huge sound of breaking through the air.
Many war elephants were hit by stones and let out wails.
However, not a single war elephant was knocked down. They simply staggered and continued to march forward.
At the same time, a new round of war drums sounded again in the Persian army.
The drumbeat is the order.
The Persian army of more than 10 million, which had been ready in the rear, launched a group charge in a black mass, following closely behind the war elephants.
That kind of terrifying momentum is completely incomparable to the army of Seleucus!
"Oh no! Xerxes is trying to gain a time difference! First, he uses war elephants without knights to lure our army to use a round of catapults. Then, they take advantage of the time when our army is reloading to start the real charge!" Antigonus suddenly woke up and cried out in surprise.
"Oh no! With the loading speed of our trebuchets, the enemy vanguard will reach the edge of the trench after one more stone throw! Pass my order, the entire army will immediately gather on the first layer of earth wall and prepare for battle! All Greek fire, aim freely. Wait for my order and start spraying immediately!" Hector came to his senses after hearing Antigonus' words.
Their first round of ultra-long-range attacks hadn't wiped out a single enemy! Now they only had one chance left to defeat the Persians, and neither Antigonus nor Hector knew how effective it would be.
Although there were sharp wooden stakes in the trenches, the Persian army brought a large number of huge shields and obviously intended to use them to fill the pits and build bridges!
Although there is Greek fire on the earth wall, the range of the Persian guard archers is longer than that of the Greek fire!
As long as the second round of stone throwing attacks is over, our side will no longer have the opportunity to attack the enemy without getting hurt!
The subsequent battles will turn into a real melee mode of attrition!
Our side only has 5 million haphazard troops, while the enemy has 20 million elite main forces.
If the battle really comes to hand-to-hand combat, I’m afraid we won’t be able to hold out for even half a day!
At this moment, Antigonus and Hector were filled with regret.
We shouldn't be so arrogant and put most of the main forces on the first line of defense, hoping to give the Persians a warning!
Now I’m afraid I can’t establish my authority and I can’t even retreat.
Once the Persians break through this line of defense, the defense line behind will face a serious crisis of having no soldiers available!
Whoosh whoosh…
Just as they were getting anxious, the catapult army had already launched a second round of stone attacks.
Because they were distracted by observing the battlefield, Antigonus and Hector forgot to give the order for the second round of attack.
Seeing the dark balls flying overhead, they both breathed a sigh of relief and secretly praised the trebuchet commander for his cleverness. He made a prompt decision instead of waiting there foolishly.
But then, confusion appeared on both of their faces.
This is strange. When did our army prepare so many black and round stones of exactly the same size?
And the sound they make breaking through the air is quite strange, as if they are hollow!
Antigonus and Hector exchanged a glance, both thinking of a possibility. However, in this most brutal moment of battle, was it really appropriate to use such a useless weapon and sacrifice a precious opportunity to strike the enemy?
Both of them frowned unconsciously, worried that these round black things would not be able to cause any effective damage!
If both rounds of stone throwing fail, today's battle will be disastrous!
"Look, my king! Archimedes has thrown his newly invented bomb!"
Far away on the city wall of Troy, Lillian shouted, alerting Xia Zhe who had just walked up to the wall.
Although he had just arrived, Xia Zhe could already sense the crisis of his own army at a glance.
The overwhelming Persian main force on the opposite side made Xia Zhe even more frightened.
He made a decision secretly.
As long as Archimedes' bomb attack fails, he will run away immediately without wasting a second!
With crackling sounds, the iron balls that fell from the sky landed among the advancing Persian army.
Since it is a hollow sphere, the sphere wall is not designed to be thick in order to ensure that it can be successfully broken after the explosion.
Things like this have effective potential energy, and when they hit people, they are obviously much lighter than the stones in the first round.
Many Persian soldiers who did not have time to dodge were hit and just staggered and groaned a few times, but did not fall to the ground and completely lose their fighting ability.
Seeing this, not only the Persian soldiers, but even Xerxes himself laughed.
"What the hell are these things that were thrown away? They are just a trick and useless! Although King Stobi is very strategic, he has too many rookies under his command. He lost his composure and made such a low-level mistake at the critical moment! If the situation continues to develop like this, it is not impossible for our army to attack the Byzantine city today!" Xerxes said.
"My king is mighty!"
"When the enemy hears the mighty name of our king, they will fall into disarray without a fight!"
…
Xerxes' complaints immediately attracted the admiration of many generals around him.
Everyone felt that victory was in sight for their side in this battle.
boom…
Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and a fireball exploded among the charging Persian army, scaring everyone.
The Persian soldiers within a dozen meters of the explosion center fell to the ground and wailed.
Blood gushed out of their bodies, and the burning smell in the air was instantly thick with blood.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Xerxes spoke in surprise, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
boom…
boom…
boom…
As if in response to Xerxes' question, a series of explosions began to sound throughout the Persian army.
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