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Vol 04 Chapter 136-1: The Third Persis-Kirisia War

During the time when Almus and his allies were fighting against the siege on the Adernian Peninsula…

Straight to the east of the Adernian Peninsula, the Kirisian Peninsula was on the verge of a historic great war.

The Third Persis-Kirisia War.

The trigger was the invasion of Kirisia by Emperor Xerxes of the Persis Empire, who was called the ‘king of kings’. Emperor Xerxes had amassed a grand army of four hundred thousand and a fleet surpassing seven hundred ships to storm the Kirisian Peninsula.

The aim was to suppress the independence movements of the Kirisian cities within the Persis Empire. Another goal was to seize control of the maritime sovereignty of the Eastern Tethys Sea.

In response, the Kirisian city-states, led by the major cities of Alto, Terbai, Claris, and Reim at the time, formed the ‘Anti-Persis Grand Alliance’.

They prepared an army of one hundred thirty thousand infantry and four hundred trireme ships.

Both armies confronted each other on a vast plain.

「How about it, Xexe? Think we can win?」

◇

「We have three times more soldiers. Do you think we cannot?」

At the Persis military headquarters, a middle-aged man with blonde hair and a beautiful woman with blonde hair and tan skin were entangled with each other, both completely naked.

They were in the midst of having sex.

The woman, Aisha, the leader of the Aram tribe, traced her fingers across the broad chest of the man, Xerxes III, the Emperor of Persis.

「But but, Xexe, your father and grandfather lost with this difference in troops, didn’t they?」

「That’s because our soldiers were weak.」

The First and Second Persis Wars. In both great wars, the Persis Empire had been defeated by the Kirisian coalition.

There were two reasons for this.

First was the difference in morale. The soldiers of the Kirisian coalition were determined to protect their homeland with a firm resolve. In contrast, the soldiers of the Persis Empire were peasants and mercenaries forcibly levied by the emperor.

This difference led to a significant disparity in morale.

The second reason was language. The official language of the Persis Empire was the Persis language, but only a third of the soldiers spoke Persis. The inability of non-commissioned officers to communicate the orders between units caused confusion in the chain of command.

「So, so, are your soldiers stronger this time?」

「No, they have not changed.」

Xerxes shook his head. Aisha tilted her head in confusion.

「Then why do you think we can win?」

To that, Xerxes replied with a sly smile.

「Diplomacy and the difference in weaponry.」

The sound of a gong resonated across the battlefield. Drowning out the gong, the sound of thousands of soldiers’ footsteps and the clashing of armor echoed.

A total of five hundred and thirty thousand troops from both armies were assembled in the plains.

As the troops from both armies moved, the earth itself trembled.

The first to make a move was Persis Empire’s pride, a chariot brigade of fifty thousand. Each colossal chariot, drawn by four horses, carried a driver, an archer, and a spearman.

Giant scythes were attached to the wheels. These chariots had trampled the enemies of the Persis Empire many times before, expanding its territory as their ultimate trump card.

「Ha ha ha!!! Kneel in terror before the might of the Persis Empire’s chariot brigade!」

The general leading the chariot brigade laughed heartily as he raced at the forefront, followed by fifty thousand chariots.

They charged with a roar towards the Kirisian infantry. The wheels of the chariots crushed Kirisian soldiers underfoot, and their scythes sliced through flesh.

The Kirisian army’s formation seemed to crumble in an instant.

「Push them over from the sides!!!」

「What? What?!」

The general’s chariot began to tilt. Once it started to lean, it quickly fell over.

「Wait!! I am the Emperor’s brother…」

「Dieee!!!」

The general died quickly.

With the general’s death, the chariot brigade began to fall one after another.

From the two previous wars, the Kirisians knew that the chariots were the trump card of the Persis Empire. Naturally, they had prepared countermeasures.

◇

「Ha ha ha!! Look, Aisha! That guy, he’s dead!!」

Xerxes laughed cheerfully while sipping on grape wine.

Aisha gave a wry smile.

「He was your little brother, wasn’t he? And you just lost your prized chariot brigade…」

「That’s precisely why. His death now secures the throne for my son. What a joyous occasion!! In the first place, such an incompetent deserved to die. I’ve repeatedly told him that chariots can simply be toppled from the side, yet he stubbornly clung to them. Ha ha ha… The era belongs to the cavalry now. Chariots are outdated!!」

「To take joy in a comrade’s defeat… Isn’t that why you lost? Twice.」

Aisha’s face showed her astonishment.

With the chariot brigade defeated, the morale of the Kirisian army soared while the morale of the Persis army sharply declined.

However, Xerxes seemed unconcerned.

He ordered the deployment of his true trump card.

◇

「I’m counting on you, King Partodia.」

「I will present a mountain of Kirisian corpses to His Imperial Majesty.」

The King of Partodia—the ruler of a nomadic equestrian tribe on the fringes of the Persis Empire—bowed to the Emperor. Mounting his horse and raising his bow, he called out:

「Charge!!」

The Partodian cavalry maneuvered to the right flank of the Kirisian army, a typical vulnerability of the heavily armored infantry.

Of course, the Kirisians were well aware of this. Thirty thousand Kirisian cavalrymen prepared to confront the Partodian riders.

「Kill the barbarians!!」

The Kirisian cavalry roared as they charged at the Partodian cavalry, who coolly faced the oncoming assault.

「All forces, begin firing. Teach these fools how to handle a horse.」

As the King of Partodia gave the command, a rain of arrows descended upon the Kirisian cavalry.

「What! Riding horses and…ughhh!」

The captain of the Kirisian cavalry was struck by an arrow in the chest and fell from his horse. One by one, Kirisian riders were pierced by arrows and toppled from their mounts.

The momentum of their charge was halved.

「You are too green to fight the Partodians on horseback, try again after training for a thousand years!」

With that shout, King Partodia, switching from bow to sword, charged into the Kirisian cavalry. The other Partodian riders followed suit.

The Kirisian riders were quickly cut down, utterly devastated.

◇

「See, the era belongs to cavalry, right?」

「But those aren’t Persis troops, are they?」

「Don’t sweat the details. We’ll form the Persis cavalry corps after this war ends. We’ll use the money saved from not having to maintain the chariot brigade anymore!」

◇

Meanwhile, at the center, the Persis infantry was about to clash fiercely with the Kirisian infantry. The Kirisians were heavy infantry, armed with long spears and round shields.

They formed a phalanx and charged at the Persis forces.

「Prepare the crossbows! …Fire!!」

The bolts released by the Persis crossbow units pierced through the round shields of the heavy infantry. One by one, the heavy infantrymen fell.

「What? I’ve never seen that weapon before. What is it?」

「It’s called a crossbow. We sourced it from the Far East. It’s not very well-known around here. The advantage is that even women and children can kill a person with its arrows, but the downsides are the long reload time and, more importantly, the exorbitant cost of equipping a large number of them.」

Xerxes explained to Aisha that the crossbow was the weapon he had got in an effort to compensate for the weaknesses of the Persis’ soldiers. It was only with the industrial capabilities of the Persis Empire that the weapon could be made practical.

「But they’re not stopping,」

「The training level of the Kirisian army is indeed frightening.」

The Kirisian heavy infantry, stepping over their fallen comrades, continued their advance toward the Persis lines with undiminished vigor and without hesitation.

「Prepare the long spears!」

At the general’s command, the Persis army, although slowly, began to prepare to meet the Kirisian charge. The Persis army, numerous but disunified in command, was hardly quick in their movements.

As the Persis army finalized their preparations, the Kirisian heavy infantry made contact with them. The charge of their phalanx distorted the Persis formation significantly.

Despite being outnumbered three to one, the brave Kirisian citizen-soldiers skewered the soldiers of the Persis army with their spears.

In the past two battles, the Persis army had been breached deeply and defeated in such encounters. But this time was different.

The Persis army began to slowly push back.

「What’s going on? Xexe, isn’t this the usual weak Persis army that would lose in such a situation?」

「It’s the difference in weapons. Even the weakest can fight decently if equipped with the right weapons.」

The weapon of the Persis army was the iron long spear. On the battlefield, the longer the spear, the more advantageous it generally is.

However, the situation is not that simple.

As a matter of fact, the longer a spear is, the heavier it becomes. Thus, extending a spear to a certain length actually requires higher skill to manage effectively.

Vulnerable to attacks from the flanks, particularly by cavalry units excelling in mobility, the soldiers armed with long spears found it difficult to withstand such assaults. They were also powerless against skirmishers armed with swords.

In Earth’s history, the Roman army’s phalanx was defeated by the barbarian Celts, who used skirmish tactics. Subsequently, the Roman army switched to more flexible tactics and overcame the Macedonian phalanx, which had been popular in Greece since Alexander’s time.

There are no invincible tactics. So, how did Xerxes transform the Persis army?

Firstly, he eliminated the use of shields and minimized armor to only what was absolutely necessary.

This allowed the soldiers to carry much longer spears.

Furthermore, he positioned the reliable Partodia cavalry on the flanks, alleviating concerns about side attacks.

The issue was the increase in casualties due to reduced defense and the potential for soldiers to flee, however…

「If anyone tries to flee, the elite of our army, the Immortals, along with a massive crossbow unit and ballistae positioned at the rear, will turn the cowards into chunks of meat.」

「What a wasteful allocation, using the elite of the army to prevent soldiers from fleeing! Classic Xexe. Tyrannical thinking!」

Aisha openly scorned Xerxes. He seemed unfazed, likely because he was well aware of his own methods.

Despite being pushed back, the Persis infantry endured the Kirisian charge and gradually tightened the encirclement.

The Partodia cavalry, having defeated the Kirisian cavalry, maneuvered to the Kirisian rear.

The encirclement was nearly complete when it happened.

The Persis infantry began to be pushed back significantly.

「That’s…」

「The elite of Kirisia… those damn homos and the muscle-brains.」

Terbai’s Sacred Squad and the Reim heavy infantry came to the front. Even among the already strong heavy infantry of the Kirisian Peninsula, these two units were regarded as the pinnacle of prowess. In this critical situation, the Kirisian general had played his last trump card.

It was a significant gamble to save his strongest units for the very end of the battle. There was a risk that the Kirisian forces might be overwhelmed and defeated before these elite units could be used.

However, the gamble paid off for Kirisia. The sudden appearance of these formidable units caused the Persis infantry to falter.

Until now, the Persis infantry had been able to fight due to their numerical superiority and the fear of having the immortals at their backs. However, their morale was greatly disrupted due to the fear of the Kirisian elite units.

Once the formation began to break, it collapsed quickly. The Persis infantry began to throw down their spears and flee.

Arrows rained down on the fleeing soldiers, and the spears of the Immortals pierced through them. But once the dam has burst, the water does not return.

◇

「…Sigh.」

Xerxes held his head. This was a defeat for him.

「I did want to defeat Kirisia at least once…」

「It can’t be helped, Xexe. You did well! That these weak soldiers fought as well as they did is thanks to you. Any ordinary emperor would have lost long ago. It’s quite an achievement. So…」

Aisha held a spear made of dragon Damascus steel with one hand, as thick as an adult’s leg.

She swung it around while smiling.

「Leave the rest to us.」

「I really wanted to win this with Persis alone, but it can’t be helped. I’m counting on you.」

Emperor Xerxes let go of the monster’s reins and set it free on the battlefield.