Chapter 38: Slingers of Rhodes

It was impossible for the hoplites to catch up with the lightly armed archers, let alone the faster cavalry. The hoplites charge could not last and when they stopped to rest, the Persian archers began to attack once more.

The Greek hoplites hid under their round shield, which greatly reduced the chance of injury, but that’s not to say they wouldn’t. First of all, their arms and thighs were unprotected, and secondly, their thick armor is made of linen, although it can prevent the arrows from penetrating, but some flesh wounds can’t be avoided.

If they can’t get close to the enemy, then they won’t be able to exert the strength of the hoplites, while the enemy only need to stand and shoot arrows. Cleanor did not dare to dispatch the peltast because their javelins won’t be able to reach as far as arrows, and their protection wasn’t as strong as the hoplites, it will only increase their casualties.

At this time, Timasion dispatched 200 Cretan archers to reinforce them in haste.

Cleanor, who had expectations for them was soon disappointed. In the Greek city-states, the Cretan archers was known for their archery, but their range wasn’t as far as the Persian archers who dominated the Mediterranean. On the contrary, in order for them to shorten the range, they had left the hoplites’ protection, which had caused dozens of casualties…

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At this time, the entire mercenary troops halted, and the leaders were trying to find a solution.

Davos also listened anxiously to the heralds of the left wing. At this time, Tolmides came riding on a horse, “Leader Davos, Cheirisophus wants you to dispatched troops and you need to take a detour in order to avoid the scouting of the enemy, then go behind the enemy and attack them.”

When Davos thought about it, he understood the plan of Cheirisophus. He looked at Philesius who was beside him, and Philesius nodded at him

“Asistes, go and inform Kapus to come!” Davos ordered.

“Yes!”

Philesius thought that Davos would consult with him about who to send, but he instead directly made a decision, and it was the most suitable person. It seems that him asking for advice throughout the journey wasn’t just a front, and the young leader’s ability to learn is really strong.

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When Kapus led the hoplite unit, Hieronymus, who was on the other side, also sent a hoplite unit, and all of them were trying to circle behind the Persians, then cooperate with Cleanor to surround and annihilate them.

However, the experience Artaozus had long been on guard. The two wings of the goose formation were the Persian archers and mounted archers, they are very loose and can also be used as a scout, and soon they discovered the anomalies, so they quickly retreated and made the attempt of the mercenary to fail.

The prudent Kapus immediately withdrew as soon as he saw the plan failing. While Xenophon, who was the leader on Hieronymus’ side, was unwilling, so he took the initiative to seek a fight and continued pursuing. As a result of chasing and stopping, instead of injuring the Persians, it had caused him more than a dozen of people to be injured. If not for the arrows of Artaozus’ troops running out, then Xenophon’s unit would have lost more. So when he came back, he got reprimanded by Hieronymus.

Without the harassment of Artaozus, the Greek troops increased their pace and finally arrived at the village that was mentioned by the guide before the sun had set. Although most of the villagers had fled, it still renewed the soldiers’ spirit. Davos had no intention in stopping the soldiers to pillage, and he only suggested that Mersis should capture some Persian slaves and promise them freedom in exchange for their sincere help. He then rushed to the commander’s quarter.

He heard the complaint of Cleanor, before he could enter, “These Persians are like flies, we can’t get rid of them without a fight and there is nothing we can do about them since we don’t have enough cavalry.”

Davos and Philesius went inside, and everyone nodded to them. Compared with yesterday’s alienation, a lot of them took the initiative today. Obviously, Davos’ performance won the recognition of everyone, it was just because they were worried about the attack of Artaozus that they were not able to show their enthusiasm.

“What should we do if the Persians still attack us like they did today?” Cleanor said worried, because he had suffered the most casualties today.

“What is even more worrying is that if we can’t quickly find a way to defeat the Persians, the Persians will surely think that this method of attack is the most effective against us and they will not only continue using this method, and the next time they come will not only be few hundreds of people, but instead will be thousands of archers and mounted archers! I think that this will be our disaster!” Xenophon depressingly said, since he had suffered a lot today.

The other leaders were equally serious. They had easily won in the previous battle with the Persian king, and the tolerance of Tissaphernes made them believe in their own strength. But now, a small Persian troops, composed entirely of archers and mounted archers had made the hoplites that they are proud of, suffer. They then suddenly realized the shortcomings of their troops.

“We have to have the same or longer range than the Persians -” said Cheirisophus.

“The slinger of Rhodes!!” Xenophon suddenly shouted.

Davos brows skip. He heard Antonios say that the Rhodians are good at throwing rocks among the Greek city-states. They can sling a rock up to 400~500 meters and with a high precision within 100 meters. Therefore, the Mediterranean city-states likes to employ the Rhodian slinger as an important reserve force of their army.

The reason why Davos is familiar with the name of Rhodes, wasn’t only because of the slinger, but it was also because of “One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” that was widely circulated in his previous life, – The Colossus of the Sun God of Rhodes that was built on this island, but it seems that it have been built after Alexander the Great.

Davos thought to himself. In fact, the Greek city-states have many unique and elite military units, such as the Archers of Crete, the Cavalry of Thessaly, the Slingers of Rhodes, the Hoplites of Sparta, and the Navy of Athens… if Greece was united and these force are integrated then they will surely be able to dominate the Mediterranean! Unfortunately, the Greeks who love freedom have always been a scattered sand. Athens, who was the last one that wanted to make this effort has been defeated and now the hegemon of Greece, Sparta, without looking at history, was impossible to do so because of their extremely closed and conservative political system…

When Davos sighed in his heart, Timasion said with regret, “Unfortunately we don’t have Rhodian slingers!”

“But we have people from Rhodes!” Xenophon said excitedly, “Everyone, throwing rocks is a skill that the Rhodians had practice since childhood and they make a living from it, just like how the Cretan makes a living with their archery. When we were recruiting mercenaries in Eurasia, many Rhodians have joined us, but because of the generosity of Cyrus the Younger, made them abandoned their slings due to the large amount of weapons and picked up the round shields and spears that they were only able to afford for a large sum of money, but now it’s time for them to once more pick up their slings!”

“Xenophon is right, we should immediately assemble them and form slingers to fight the Persian archers.” Cleanor immediately said.

Everyone agreed.

Cheirisophus nodded and said, “Then let’s do that right away. We have a lot of sheep, we can slaughter a part of them and use their intestines as slings.”

“In addition, we still need cavalry. Otherwise, we will not be able to catch up with the Persians when they retreat. I suggest that each camp will gather their surplus packhorses and select soldiers who are good at horse-riding and form a cavalry units.” Xanthicles said.

“Agree!”

“Agree!”

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In the face of this crisis, the leaders united and quickly reached an agreement.

The whole mercenary troops immediately acted. Soon, more than 300 Rhodians, who were good at slings, were organize and more than 50 packhorses were assembled. Most of the cavalryman that was selected came from Davos camp, and most of the soldiers in his camp are Thessalian.

When Xenophon recommended the Athenian, Lycius, as the captain of the cavalry unit, Davos expressed his disagreement and believed that his own camp, the Thessalian Ledes (recommended by Philesius) was more appropriate.

Since most of the cavalry were Thessalian, the leaders eventually agreed.

The next day, instead of continuing the march, the mercenaries took a day off to conduct assault training for the newly formed slinger company and cavalry unit.