Herald of Steel

Chapter 422 The Flanks

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Each row of legionary was designed to fight for 10 - 15 minutes, until the soldiers became tired, whereupon the captain (500 men commander) would blow a wooden whistle, and the legionnaires would take one step to their right, while their comrades immediately behind them would step forward to fill their previously occupied space, and immediately start engaging the enemy.

While at the same time, the tired troops would take a step back, and with their comrades protecting their backs, the troops would turn back and be able to safely retreat to the back, letting the whole cycle continue.

And in this way, entire companies and even the entire legion can be seamlessly switched without having to disengage with the enemy, enabling an army to fight for hours without tiring, with individual soldiers maybe fighting a total of 10-15 minutes per battle.

And this was a huge morale boon for especially the untrained peasants who just had to grit their teeth and hang on for this short amount of time, with the knowledge that after then they will be free.

A luxury that unfortunately the opposing phalanx could not afford.

This was because phalanxes were compact units with no gaps between the men and the formation primarily worked by grinding through the opposing infantry, with the front rows sticking out their spears, and the other rear rows literally shoving them forward, thus drilling a bloody path through the enemy army.

And in such a formation, front-line replacements only occurred when someone died or got injured, meaning a phalanx lost morale much more quickly than a legion formation the former had all its casualties concentrated on one spot risking a rout of the front lines, whereas the legionary could spread out its death evenly throughout the entire formation.

And not only that, a phalanx unit also got weaker much more quickly than a legionary system as it had no way to cycle its rows, which was also why Alexander created that custom-made troop-switching technique.

Of course, it needed to be said that it was not like the phalanx unit had no redeeming qualities.

In a straight-up front melee, a phalanx was the superior attacking formation, their spears' greater range posing a great threat to the legionaries equipped with short swords.

And they did have a way to rotate their entire unit, bringing in fresh new meat to replace the tired ones, though it was nowhere near as efficient as the legionary system.

Thus the two troop formations decided to duke it out, to see which was the superior one, as they engaged in brutal combat ceaselessly for hours with no signs of it stopping.

While Alexander's center was rock solid at the moment, his flanks appeared far shakier when facing the ruthless mercenaries and the ranged units, at least initially.

The Jahal mercenaries wanted to start the attack like they always did, with a melee charge, because even if the crossbowmen were protected by a row of stakes, sometimes, if the troops were unmotivated enough, there was a chance they could break even during that, fearing the animals would be able to jump for the narrow ditch.

And it especially worked for them because they rode camels, which to many were exotic creatures, and most had no idea of their capabilities.

Perhaps they could really assail the fortifications, many thought.

And with that hope the Jahal mercenaries lined up their camels ready to charge, just seeing which some of the cowardly crossbowmen felt their knees weaken.

But fortunately, on the left flank, Menicus was there to hold the boat steady.

"You coward punks! What are you afraid of?" Look behind you! We have already killed ten thousand men. And lost not one!" He pointed his finger to the trapped charioteers who were being slaughtered to boost morale.

And seeing this great evidence of victory, the left flank calmed down and steadily pointed their weapons at the lined-up cavalry.

*Shoo*, *Shoo*, Shoo*,

And since the mercenaries were already within the 200 meters range of the large crossbows, the men had no reason to not greet them, letting out an initial volley of bolts.

"What! How are they shooting from so far?" And as the bolts completed the arch and descended upon the mercenaries, they were stunned by the range, barely having the time to raise their light shields to protect themselves.

This was because normally bows of this time had a max range of 80m to 100m.

And though the arrows had lost most of their powers in their flight, simply pinging off the mercenaries' leather and wooden bucklers and dealing minimum damage, their effectiveness against the psychology of the mercenaries was far greater.

"Darm, those archers are gonna be a problem. Charge! Let us try to do a charge!" Azab shouted, hoping that the enemy had low morale.

And thus, even through the arrow fire, which was relatively light due to the long reloading speed of the crossbows, the mercenaries quickly made up the distance and were just 50 meters from their target with their spears pointed and ready to go.

But that was where they encountered another one of Alexander's nasty tricks, the caltrops.

*Bleat*, *Bleat*, *Bleat*,

As the metal spikes pierced into the soft feet of the camel, the animals reacted violently, buckling and swerving to the sides in an attempt to avoid the painful sensation, which caused a cascading effect across the entire lines, causing many deaths in the process, and destroying the momentum of the charge.

"Haha, see that! See that you punks! That is the lord you are fighting for. Now shoot! What are you standing there for? Shoot!" Menicus encouraged his soldiers, as the green recruits finally gained the courage to stand their ground.

Alexander knew that his right flank was the weakest part of his army, one which was particularly green, and so had placed his most experienced commander Menicus there,

And it appeared Alexander was right in his judgment, as the old man had the combination of strictness and friendliness to make these peasants unite under a common cause.

While Menicus rejoiced in his success, Azab was livid, shouting, "Fuck! How do they have so many spikes? Has that Jakqum used every bit of iron in Zanzan?"

Alexander had peppered the front 50 meters of both his flanks in a field of caltrops hidden among the grass, something the riders missed.

And though Azab was no stranger to caltrops, in his experience they would only be used sparingly, in choke points and narrow passages.

Because steel was bloody expensive and short in quantity.

And so seeing this huge area covered with it was something completely novel to him.

In fact, Alexander had wanted to do the same for his center but found that employing caltrops over such a huge area would be a waste.

Because caltrops were really only useful against cavalry, while the infantry could simply use their feet to push avoid the obstacles, or simply use their hands to pick it.

Which they would be free to do as just as the caltrop field prevented the enemy from approaching Alexander, Alexander was also prevented from approaching them.

And this was the very thing that was happening right now as finally the archers reached the left flank of Alexander, and some of them started clearing out the obstacles as others provided covering fire.

The Jahal mercenaries too recovered from their initial debacle, the speed at which they did showing their experience and expertise, and started returning counterfire.

They attacked in waves, with multiple groups of ten riders charging and circling the stationary crossbowmen, lobbing out barrage after barrage of arrow fire as each line of mercenaries who exhausted their arrows would be followed up by the next wave, thus keeping up constant pressure.

While the preceding riders would go back, restock their supply, and come back, just creating a constant storm of arrows.

It was a brutal tactic that would eat away at any army, no matter how trained or well-disciplined it was, as they would be eventually chipped away if they had no way to strike back.

If the infantry tried to charge, the much faster mobile cavalry would be able to just run away, and might even take advantage of the out-of-formation infantry to charge and break through them.

And if they tried to use archers to counter them, its efficacy was doubtful.

Because the archers would be stationary while the mercenaries were mobile, meaning the former's accuracy was dismal compared to the latter.

And then there was the fact these mercenaries had a range of around 80- 100 meters, a bit better than the archers of this time.

And the way that the weak bows of this time, made even weaker by their smaller size, necessitated by their need to be able to be used mounted, were able to accomplish that was by virtue of the mount's speed.

The running motion of the camels would impart some speed to the arrows which would enable them to just outrange their counterpart.

And this was the greatest secret of the Jahal mercenaries, the secret sauce behind their invincible status.

Which was why Azab was so distressed when he witnessed the insane range of the crossbow.

And this fear proved to be correct, as even when the crossbowmen were outnumbered 2 to 1, using their superior range, Alexander's men could hit more of the Jahal mercenaries and the opposing archers than they could hit back, while at the same their pre-prepared pavises allowed them to shield them against arrows much better than their counterpart.

And thus that part of the battlefield too reached a stalemate for the time being.