Flags are fluttering!
The war drums are booming!
The messengers faithfully conveyed the message to the legions on the front.
Immediately, the front-line soldiers, composed entirely of Achilles' 150,000 elite troops, formed a formation that had been practiced long ago.
Huge silver shields were erected layer upon layer.
The bright reflected sunlight made it difficult for the Macedonian soldiers at the front to open their eyes.
On the contrary, facing the rising sun, the Stoby coalition forces, whose vision should have been obstructed, could see exceptionally clearly.
Snap…
Snap…
Snap…
The heavy infantry in the front rows of both sides finally collided with each other.
Under the huge impact force, the huge shields swayed but still stood firm.
The Macedonian soldiers in the front row were unable to move their hands and feet at all.
Then, a giant spear nearly ten meters long pierced out from the gap in the giant shield with great force.
The Macedonian soldiers were caught off guard and fell down in an instant!
At the head of the two armies, blood and flesh flew everywhere in an instant!
"It's time! Order the light cavalry on both wings to make a detour and encircle the Macedonian phalanx! Half will attack the Macedonian phalanx from the side and rear. The other half will directly raid the Macedonian camp!" Achilles calmly gave the order again.
Upon hearing this, the messenger raised a new red flag, which fluttered high in the wind.
Hundreds of thousands of barbarian light cavalry, several kilometers away, immediately mounted their horses and rushed out from their hiding places.
Go around the front of the two armies and head straight for their respective predetermined targets!
"Oh no! General, please look! The enemy has sent out two new reinforcements to attack our main camp!"
The guards around Antigonus noticed something was wrong and immediately sounded the alarm.
After hearing what his guards said, Antigonus looked at the two wings, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately realized that he had been fooled.
However, at this moment the two armies were engaged in a head-on confrontation, and a hasty retreat would surely lead to repeating Sinthia's mistakes.
Acting decisively, Antigonus immediately ordered all 50,000 reserve troops to be deployed to the two wings to fight to the death to withstand the attack of the Stoic coalition light cavalry.
Then, the front legions took turns to provide cover and slowly retreated towards their own camp.
It was impossible to win this battle, so Antigonus had to settle for the second best and try to preserve his remaining strength.
As long as we can retreat back to the camp and the entire army shrinks into a circle, we can engage in a standoff!
In that case, it would be very time-consuming and laborious for the Stoby coalition to eventually eat up so many of their own people.
Antigonus believed in Alexander.
It doesn’t matter if you lose!
As long as Achilles can be delayed, the reinforcements Alexander sent from Pella will surely capture Thessaloniki!
By then, Achilles was attacked from both sides and had no choice but to retreat north.
The final victory in the Battle of Thessaloniki still belonged to Macedonia.
"Alas! Antigonus is no ordinary man. I underestimated him! He made the only right choice!"
Seeing the Macedonian army make such a change, Achilles sighed.
At this moment, if Antigonus chose to retreat, his central army, and even most of the flanks, could still escape unscathed.
That way, at least 200,000 troops can be retained!
However, no one expected that Antigonus would choose to retreat and defend himself!
In this way, the Macedonian army cut off its own retreat and allowed itself to be surrounded by the Stobi coalition forces.
If he gave it time and slowly nibbled away at the enemy, Achilles believed that he would be able to completely wipe out these 450,000 enemy troops.
But time is not on my side!
According to reliable sources, Alexander personally led an army of more than 300,000 and has been advancing rapidly eastward from Pella!
We will probably reach the river west of Thessaloniki tomorrow.
He only left 30,000 troops garrisoned by the river, and they were a ragtag group of troops from several small city-states.
How could they successfully prevent Alexander from crossing the river?
If Alexander's reinforcements had completed the crossing of the river, it would have been easy to recapture the completely undefended Thessaloniki!
What's even more troublesome is that Alexander will definitely continue to move eastward to rescue Antigonus.
By then, we will be attacked from both sides and we will not be able to fight this battle!
However, it is impossible to retreat at this moment!
Even though Antigonus was beaten badly, his main force was still alive!
If I retreat, with Antigonus's command level, he will definitely chase after me and keep the Stobi coalition forces tightly under control!
In that case, it will still end up being a situation where we are attacked from both the east and the west!
"What a shame! How much better it would be if I still had 200,000 well-trained heavy infantrymen!"
Thinking of this, Achilles frowned and shook his head helplessly.
"What's wrong? Doesn't our army already have an absolute advantage? Why are you still frowning?"
Odysseus, who was standing by, didn't understand and asked in surprise.
Without hiding anything, Achilles immediately revealed the profound meaning behind Antigonus's change of formation.
Although he was not a first-class battlefield commander, Odysseus immediately understood the problem.
Antigonus is worthy of being called a famous general.
He sacrificed himself to hold back his own army.
As a result, Thessaloniki was almost defenseless, and even its back was completely exposed to Alexander.
If we are in Stobi or the territory of an ally, we can also temporarily recruit soldiers to find a way to fill this hole.
But now we are playing away from home on Macedonian soil.
The people are not on their side, and temporary conscription will not only be ineffective, but will also easily recruit spies who will cause sabotage.
Achilles was right.
If there were still 200,000 well-trained heavy infantry, they could defend the river bank and prevent Alexander from crossing the river!
But, no!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
