"keep going!"
After a round of volleys, the captains of each team poked their heads out from behind the big trees and asked the soldiers to continue forward.
Immediately, the disciplined Stobi light infantry started running again.
"Quickly draw the bow and string the string, the enemy is approaching very fast!"
This result was beyond Pompey's expectation. He did not hesitate and immediately ordered the second volley to be prepared.
"volley!"
Seeing that most of the archers had already drawn their bows, Pompey could not wait to order a second volley.
After another round of arrow rain, more than a thousand of Stoby's shield-armored light infantry fell.
"Archers, fire freely! Spear throwers, start throwing spears!"
The enemy was so close that it was too late to fire a volley, so Pompey could only order a free fire.
This was far from the effect he expected!
Originally, the standard Greek legion that Pompey expected would definitely have heavy infantry in the center.
This formation, which is mainly composed of archers, is designed to be a trap for heavy infantry.
If those slow heavy infantry came in a line, their archers could use the cover of the trees to shoot them to their heart's content.
Pompey even had a backup plan of shooting and retreating at the same time.
Our own archers carry less weight and can move faster in the jungle than heavy infantry.
After shooting an arrow, retreat a few dozen steps and use the time to string the second arrow. This way you can always maintain your distance and keep shooting until all the enemies are dead.
Anyway, the archers are in a scattered formation and are more flexible, so they don't need to maintain formation deliberately.
Pompey has gained a deep understanding of this style of play over the past month.
However, surprisingly, the center of the opposing Stobi coalition forces was actually composed of flexible light infantry.
And they launched a charge right away.
While expressing admiration for the enemy general's use of troops, Pompey immediately made new and detailed calculations.
The light infantry is faster than their archers, so I'm afraid it's impossible for them to shoot while retreating.
But the chances of winning are still good.
A volley of more than 300,000 arrows is enough to cover most of the enemy troops in the front.
Even if twenty arrows only hurt one person, they are enough to knock down ten or twenty thousand people.
Under the attack of our rain of arrows, the enemy will hesitate and their advance speed will slow down.
That way, there could be at least five salvos before entering free-fire range.
After five rounds of salvos, the enemy lost more than 100,000 people.
For any army, casualties of this magnitude would have a significant impact on morale.
Perhaps, before they can even get a free shot, the enemy in front will collapse and turn around to flee.
However, the facts are completely inconsistent with the calculations.
The ones who really took advantage of the cover of the trees were not their own archers, but the enemy's light infantry!
Now, 600,000 people have been killed, but less than 3,000 have been shot, which is a negligible number.
This is simply the rhythm of collapse!
Unexpectedly, infantry in the jungle can also defeat archers!
Who was this enemy general, so deeply versed in jungle warfare?
Moreover, we can predict in advance that our side will mainly deploy archers!
If we deploy heavy infantry, no matter how agile their light infantry are, they will not be able to defeat us in a head-on battle!
At this moment, Pompey felt extremely regretful.
However, it was too late.
The free firing and spear throwing lasted only a few seconds.
The central armies of both sides soon became entangled.
The Roman javelin skirmishers had no choice but to use javelins as weapons and fight against the Stobi light infantry who had shields.
Although they were physically stronger, they suffered a great disadvantage in terms of equipment and were completely at a disadvantage when fighting against the Stoby shield-armored light infantry.
As for the archers, they had lost their distance, and the only weapon they had available was a small dagger.
Seeing Stoby's light infantry armed to the teeth rushing towards him, he didn't even have the courage to fight. He just threw away the longbow that would slow him down and turned around to run away.
Many of them were originally genuine heavy infantrymen, but they temporarily changed their equipment before the war.
Unexpectedly, hand-to-hand combat was still necessary. The soldiers hated Pompey and Crassus with gnashing teeth!
"All 50,000 reserve troops, change into standard close combat swordsman equipment, and immediately go to the front! Try to delay the enemy, give the archers time to retreat and change equipment!" Pompey ordered.
The situation in the central army was extremely urgent. Without hesitation, Pompey made a new arrangement.
Fifty thousand reserve troops began to run forward to replenish key positions.
The strength of the Roman swordsmen is indeed strong.
Although they were far behind in numbers, they managed to maintain the front line and did not collapse immediately.
Seeing this, Pompey felt relieved and immediately ordered his men to reorganize the archers who had fled from the front and change them into swordsmen's equipment.
These archers were so frightened that not even three out of ten of them obeyed the instructions and changed their uniforms.
In desperation, Pompey had no choice but to enforce military law and brutally kill a group of soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit.
Only then did they manage to gather hundreds of thousands of swordsmen and send them to the front line.
However, in this way, the situation was completely reversed, with 500,000 against 600,000. Although the Roman soldiers were slightly fewer, their combat effectiveness was much stronger.
Now the two sides were locked in a struggle. Stobi still had over 500,000 men, while Rome had less than 200,000 left.
In this kind of jungle melee without any formation, the side with obviously fewer people will suffer a great loss.
All the battle reserves have been used up. A complete victory in the center is no longer possible.
Pompey only hoped that the central corps could hold on to the front and leave the hope of victory to the two wings.
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