Five hundred and seventeenth chapter siege but not attack
Shen Bing did not pay attention to the cavalry battle and left it all to Wang Ben.
Because cavalry fighting is the least of concern, from the moment the enemy army left Babylon, the Seleucid coalition was restrained everywhere.
The main thing is reconnaissance... Almost all countries use cavalry to conduct reconnaissance, but since the Qin army's hundreds of cavalry can easily defeat thousands of coalition cavalry, the coalition forces are basically unable to conduct reconnaissance, and instead use infantry with a black eye. The phalanx advances.
This is not a big problem for the coalition forces, because the Seleucid army is very familiar with the terrain from Babylon to Homusan, and the terrain along this road is flat and it is difficult to set up an ambush... In fact, even if an ambush can be set up, it will be of no avail. Even if the cavalry sets up an ambush circle, it will exceed Even if the pikemen surrounded them, there was nothing they could do.
Therefore, Akevs simply canceled the reconnaissance expedition and ordered the troops to advance towards Homusan at full speed.
However, precisely because there were no rangers, the coalition forces had little idea of the situation at Homussan, and Antiochus III was worried that the Qin army would escape.
"We can't continue like this!" Antiochus III anxiously said to Akeves: "We know nothing about Homusan. It is very likely that by the time we arrive at Homusan, the Silk people have already left. !”
"So what can we do?" Akefs replied: "Isn't what we want just to drive away the Silk people and take back Homusan?"
"You think it's just like this?" Antiochus III angrily retorted: "When we have a hundred thousand troops, my general only wants to take back Homusan!"
"But what can we do?" Akefus spread his hands: "The Silk Army is cavalry, and we are infantry. They can leave at any time if they want, and we can't catch up!"
"Why don't we send cavalry to hold them back?" Antiochus III suggested: "Send out ten thousand cavalry!"
"That's a death sentence!" Akevus cast doubtful eyes on Antiochus III: "Your Majesty, you know how powerful the cavalry of the Silk Army is!"
"Yes, I know!" Antiochus III insisted on his own thoughts: "But general, why don't you think about what other options the Silk Army has? They only have more than 30,000 troops in Homusan, maybe even less. If If they leave our cavalry behind to defeat us, they will be surrounded by our infantry who will arrive later. Otherwise, our cavalry will be safe, right?"
Antiochus III's words made Akevus fall into deep thought.
There is some truth to this statement, that is, the cavalry is used as bait to prevent the Silk Kingdom army from escaping.
In particular, the cavalry actually has another option, which is to dismount immediately when engaging with the Silk Kingdom army and turn some of them into spear and shield soldiers to cover the cavalry... This is the tactic Akeves has been considering to deal with the Silk Kingdom cavalry. Akavs also wanted to try it.
After some hesitation, Akevus agreed.
Akevus' tactics did work at first. When he saw the Silk Kingdom cavalry coming up from a distance, the Seleucid cavalry immediately dismounted and formed a square formation, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. If the enemy cavalry dared to attack at close range, they would Counterattack with javelins and crossbows.
As a result, the Silk Army was really helpless against them.
This enhanced Akaevs' confidence, and the coalition countries also cheered, thinking that victory was waiting for them ahead.
Akevus never thought that this was actually Wang Ben's way of showing weakness to the enemy, and his purpose was to separate the Seleucid cavalry from the infantry further and further away.
Then, when the Seleucid cavalry was three days away from the main force, the Silk Kingdom cavalry suddenly surrounded the Seleucid cavalry.
This siege was not difficult for Wang Ben, because as soon as he saw the Qin army's Seleucid cavalry, they would immediately turn into infantry... This indeed increased the defensive power, but at the same time, it also lost its mobility.
Then, Wang Ben was not in a hurry to attack. He just divided the 10,000 cavalry into three groups and took turns to circle around these Seleucid cavalry. Another 10,000 cavalry were camped on standby.
Then the Seleucid cavalry understood what they were facing. They had to stand and maintain a defensive posture. As soon as they relaxed, they would be attacked immediately, even if there were only a few thousand enemy cavalry in the circle.
The Seleucid general Ferdo, who commanded these 10,000 cavalry, persisted for more than two hours and then loudly asked his subordinates: "How long will it take for our infantry to come up?"
The subordinate replied with a voice trembling with fear: "At least three days, General!"
But it actually took four days, because at this time the Qin army also began to harass the enemy's main force... The cavalry appeared from time to time in front of the coalition forces to shoot a batch of arrows, and then disappeared like the wind before Seleucid organized a defense.
In their sight, or a batch of rockets suddenly fired at night and set their tents on fire.
The result of weak cavalry is that they must endure endless harassment from the enemy.
To the coalition forces, these cavalrymen were like a swarm of flies, noisy around them all the time, hitting and chasing them away, which caused the morale of the troops to continue to decline, and the marching speed also slowed down significantly.
But in fact, there is no need to harass, as the trapped cavalry in front cannot hold on.
Because the cavalry led by Ferdo had only two choices when they were surrounded: either maintain defense for three days, or mount their horses and escape.
It's almost impossible to hold on for three days, but it's also not a good idea to mount a horse and run away.
During this period, Ferdo even thought of a way, which was for the phalanx to take turns moving to a safe area in the middle to eat and rest.
But this has no effect.
Because 10,000 people can barely lay out a primary phalanx with only about 2,000 people on each side. This primary phalanx cannot enclose a large "safe area" at all.
Once the Seleucid cavalry began to rest or eat, the Silk Army would rush forward and shoot a large number of arrows into the middle.
This is true whether day or night.
Antiochus III also thought about sending reinforcements to these 10,000 cavalry troops, but if the reinforcements wanted to arrive quickly, they could only send cavalry... When he thought that the cavalry would still be besieged, Antiochus III gave up this idea.
idea.
Akefus complained bitterly: "We underestimated the enemy too much. I told you before that this won't work!"
"This at least proves that the Silk Army did not escape!" Antiochus III replied: "Don't worry, Akevs, we will get back these losses doubled soon!"
While Antiochus III and Achaeus were saying these words, Ferdo's cavalry troops had collapsed.
They desperately mounted their horses to break out... Breaking out on horseback was not a good option, because the Qin army's heavy cavalry was already waiting for them on their way to escape.
The exhausted Seleucid cavalry collapsed as soon as they engaged in the battle. In the end, only a few hundred people managed to escape, and even Ferdo became a prisoner of the Qin army.