After conquering the kingdom of Babylon, Cyrus found himself the ruler of almost all of Western Asia. At that time, the mainstream view was that there were still vast lands on the outskirts of the Persian Empire, but those places were deserted, some places were too hot, some places were too cold, some places were deserts, and some places were long swamps, which were not suitable for human survival at all. In Cyrus's time, for example, beyond the northern frontier of the Persian Empire was the Caspian Sea— which was thought to extend all the way to the Arctic Ocean, with lands in between almost completely undeveloped.
To the west of the Caspian Sea are the Caucasus Mountains, which were considered by Western Asia and Europeans of that era to be the highest mountain in the world. Here, the translator Jun said that our country believes that the highest mountain in the world is Kunlun Mountain and Buzhou Mountain, and facts have proved that in this regard, china's ancients are still more intelligent than the ancients in the West. Near the Caucasus Mountains lived an uncivilized semi-barbarian people, who at the time were collectively referred to as the Scythians, meaning indigenous tribes outside of civilized society.
Bronze sword of the West Xuya (Steki), Source: Figureworm Creative
However, some of the Scythians already had some more mature technology, and although they could not smelt steel, they could smelt other metals, such as copper and gold. Tribes with these smelting techniques would be equipped with spears or javelins with copper tips, and they would also know how to make armor for self-protection; they would also make some decorations from gold and wear them on their heads and waists. Like all other northern peoples, the Scythians were not afraid to die in battle, and because of the large number of horses in the north, they were almost all naturally good riders, just like the cossacks of modern times, the Scythian army consisted mainly of cavalry.
Through the war of conquest, Cyrus, who had been on the throne for 30 years, conquered the three kingdoms of Medes, Lydia, and Babylon, giving his Persian Empire a vast territory. However, as Emperor Wu of Wei's poem says, Cyrus was also a martyr in his twilight years, and his heart was full of excitement. At that time, he made plans for the Northern Expedition, preparing to incorporate the northern lands into Persian territory. At that time, in the north of the Persian Empire, there was a state founded by the Masagatai, a branch of the Steki or northern people, whose ruler was Queen Tomiris. Tomiris's husband had died, but her son Sparspis had grown up like Cyrus's son, and her son was not only heir to the throne, but commander of their country's army.
Cyrus's first plan was to annex the kingdom of Masaguete by marriage, so, while raising an army to the north, Cyrus also sent an envoy to the kingdom of Masagatai, and the emissary's task was to propose to Queen Tomiris. However, the queen knew clearly that Cyrus did not really want to marry her, but to annex her country by means of this. Therefore, she rejected Cyrus's marriage proposal and asked the emissary to bring a message to Cyrus, telling him to abandon his plan, stop advancing, and lead his army back to his country.
However, Cyrus ignored it and continued to lead his army forward. However, in the process of marching, he found that the further north he went, the worse the natural environment became. His army had discovered many barbaric tribes that fed on grass roots, and in every way these people were not much different from the beasts wandering in the surrounding forests. In this way, Cyrus led his army through the mountains and forests and wilderness inhabited by wild people to the banks of the Arras River. The Arras River, which bordered his Persian Empire and the Mazaguete Kingdom of Queen Tomiris, flowed from west to east and eventually into the Caspian Sea.
When he reached the river, he began to think about how to cross the river, and eventually, he decided to build a pontoon bridge over the river. Although he could allow his soldiers to cross the river in boats and rafts, this way of crossing the river was not safe, and it was too slow, and once the enemy was ambushed nearby, if he suddenly attacked while his army was halfway across, because of the obstruction of the river, his army would be divided into two, it would be difficult to take care of each other, and the troops who were crossing the river would also be in a dilemma. If this happens, his army may collapse completely. Therefore, Cyrus decided to build a pontoon bridge and let his army cross the river in a neat formation, so that even if the enemy attacked, they could calmly enter the battle.
Just as Cyrus's soldiers were busy building the pontoon bridge, tomérice's emissaries came again. The messenger said to Cyrus, "My Majesty the Queen Tomiris has asked me to tell you that you should abort your plan of conquest and withdraw your troops." Our Majesty the Queen said that this is your wisest choice, and for the sake of your own little life, you should accept the advice of our Queen.com. Although you have the favor of Heaven and win every battle, Heaven cannot always take care of you, and if you really dare to lead an army into our land, our Majesty the Queen will certainly give you a taste of failure. Our Majesty the Queen has also said that she expects that you will take her advice to the forefront, so if you are really going to fight, you will not have to spend much effort to build a pontoon bridge on the Arras River. Her Majesty our Queen has the following two suggestions: the first is that her Majesty the Queen shall order our army to retreat and let your army cross the river safely, and then we shall fight a fair battle on our land; the second is that you lead your army to retreat, and our Majesty the Queen will lead the army across the river and fight directly on your territory. Our Majesty the Queen gives you the right to choose freely. ”
Cossack Toy Cavalry, Image Source: Figureworm Creative
So Cyrus summoned his men and summoned a meeting to discuss the matter. When Cyrus spoke out about Tomiris and asked for the opinions of his men, everyone said, "We should choose the last piece of advice, that is, we should retreat and wait for the enemy to come." "But it was at this time that the former king of Lydia, Crois, spoke, and although he was not an official general under Cyrus and was said to be unable to attend such a meeting, Cyrus kept him with him after conquering Lydia, and kept him with him even when he was leading an expedition. He was not so much a captive as a friend of Cyrus, and at least the relationship between him, the king of the fallen kingdom, and Cyrus, the conqueror, was very good. And according to historical records, we can also see that Crois advised Cyrus and helped him through many crises, so it can be said that he became Cyrus's adviser. Thus, Cyrus was present at the meeting, and he offered a different opinion.
He said, "Although I am a prisoner, I would like to take the liberty of speaking out about my advice. The so-called eat a trench, grow a wisdom, because of the previous unfortunate encounter, I also gained some experience. I think your best bet is to move forward rather than backwards. First of all, retreating is equivalent to retreating, which is a very humiliating thing for you and will also affect the morale of the army; second, if you retreat, it will be detrimental to the future war situation. If you lose, Tomiris's army will take advantage of the victory and go straight into your country—and since they've been on the road for three days, why not keep going. If you win and want to continue north, it will take an extra three days. Therefore, my suggestion is as follows: You lead your army across the river, and after advancing the agreed distance, leave a force to lure the enemy at the agreed place, and leave a large amount of weight and other valuables, preferably a large amount of fine wine, after which your main force will retreat secretly and ambush near the agreed place. Once the enemy defeats your enticing forces, once they find the supplies you have left there, as soon as they feel that you have been completely destroyed, they will let down their guard, and they will even make a mess of looting, and as soon as they find the wine you have left behind, they will surely open their stomachs to drink. And if you can take advantage of their revelry to return to the division and strike a blow, then you will be able to annihilate the enemy army. ”
Eventually, Cyrus decided to take Crois's advice, and he ordered Tomiris's emissaries to tell Tomiris that he had chosen her first suggestion, and that if she could lead her army to retreat, he would lead his army across the river quickly. After receiving the reply, the messenger returned. When Tomiris received the reply, she really retreated and fulfilled her promise. After that, she ordered the army to be stationed at the agreed location and let her son command the army.
After arriving at his destination, Cyrus, according to Croys's plan, stationed only a force there to lure the enemy, while leaving a large amount of weight and other valuables in the camp, as well as a large amount of wine. Then, he led the main force to retreat a distance and directly ambushed. Everything went as Royce had predicted, and the mass of the Masaguetes attacked the Cyrus camp, crushed the army that remained in the camp, occupied the camp, and "intercepted" the weight of the Cyrus army and countless other trophies.
To celebrate the victory, the Masaguetaeans who entered the Cyrus camp began to revel in revelry. From Herodotus' records, we can know that the people who lived there had a very peculiar custom. There is a plant that, if the fruit of this plant is thrown into the fire, after a while, a fragrance will emanate around the fire, which can make people excited, and the effect is similar to wine. Therefore, when celebrating a festival or a victory, these people will gather around the fire and throw some of that fruit into the fire. Soon, because of that fragrance, the people around the fire will become excited, and after the excitement, they will put more fruit into the fire, and the more fruits they put in, the more excited they will become. So, in the end, those gathered around the fire will sing and dance excitedly, falling into a state of intoxication. In this way, the revelers all entered into a state of intoxication, and, because of the seizure of a large amount of fine wine, they drank freely, and almost all of them were drunk, even their commander, Sparspis, the son of Tomiris, was drunk.
At that moment, the main army of Cyrus, which had been ambushed for a long time, unexpectedly killed and crushed the enemy who had no counterattack at that time. In the end, as Crois had predicted, his plan succeeded, and Cyrus won a great victory, not only regaining the weight he had lost, but also completely annihilating the enemy troops who had entered the camp, and even capturing their commander, Spargaspis. When Cyrus's men brought the hands-bound Sparspis to Cyrus, Cyrus ordered him to be kept under close guard.
A relief in Persepolis, a relic of the Persian Empire– a lion swooping down on a horse
The whole army of Cyrus believed that they had achieved a complete victory and that the kingdom of Masaguete was about to be conquered by them. What they did not expect, however, was that the enemy they annihilated was only part of the army of the Kingdom of Masagatai. At that time, before attacking Cyrus's enemy camp, Tomiris sent scouts to carefully recontroll the Cyrus army, learned about the size of the Cyrus army's camp, and estimated the strength of Cyrus from it. On this basis, she felt that there was no need for the whole army to press, so she only sent one-third of the army, and the remaining two-thirds of the army remained stationary.
It can be said that if she had not worried about her son's safety, she would not hesitate to lead the remaining army to attack Cyrus. However, because her son was captured by Cyrus, the mother, who was worried about her son, suppressed the anger in her heart, restrained the desire for revenge, and temporarily resisted the impulse to send troops. In order to return her son, she again sent emissaries to Cyrus.
The Messenger told Cyrus, "Her Majesty our Queen, let me tell you that you should not be complacent because of the small victory you had before, for our Majesty the Queen still holds two-thirds of the country's army in her hands. She can easily beat you if she wants to. However, our Majesty the Queen has said that if you can release our prince and withdraw from our country, her majesty can let you go. If you remain obsessed, our Majesty the Queen said, she will swear to our great sun god that even if you are a bloodthirsty devil, she will never drink blood again. ”
How could Cyrus be so frightened by such a threat that he refused to surrender his captive, Spargaspis, and even more refused to withdraw his troops, so that the atmosphere on both sides became tense and they began to prepare for war. It was at this point that Spargaspis committed suicide. At the time, because he was drunk, Spargaspis did not know what had happened when he was captured. But when he woke up from his drunkenness, when he learned what had happened to him, he felt a deep sense of shame. After being captured in this way, he felt that even if he were free again, he would not be able to forget such a shame, he would not be able to wash away such a disgrace in other ways, and he would have no way of regaining the honor he had once had. So he begged Cyrus to loosen his restraints and not to insult him excessively, and Cyrus agreed to his request. Finally, Spargaspis seized the opportunity to snatch the guard's weapon without the guards noticing, and committed suicide with that weapon.
Upon learning of this, his mother, Tomiris, was devastated and furious, believing that the culprit was Cyrus, who had wantonly invaded her country, destroyed the peace of her kingdom, and killed her son. Therefore, she immediately ordered the soldiers to prepare for war, and Cyrus also ordered the soldiers to step up their preparations, and the final battle was about to break out.
Finally, the great armies of Cyrus and the armies of Tomiris met on the battlefield, and the battle began. Before the short engagement, after entering the archery range, the archers on both sides were frantically firing their bows and arrows at the enemy; then, when the soldiers on both sides approached the enemy with the rain of arrows, the soldiers threw their javelins; when the enemy came to the vicinity of the army, the spears that had been prepared for a long time were greeted; and finally, the two sides began to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
In this battle, the Persian soldiers tried their best, because they had penetrated deep into the enemy country, and once they could not defeat the enemy, they would be killed or captured. Because the Arras River blocked their retreat, it was difficult for them to flee back home if they failed. The Masagatai were even more ferocious, because of the invasion of the enemy, because of the anger of the queen, they all took out twelve points of strength. The two sides fought fiercely and stalemated for a long time, but as time passed, the Masaghtai slowly gained the upper hand. Finally, when night fell, Cyrus's Persian army was almost completely destroyed, and Cyrus, who had been fighting for more than thirty years, also died on the battlefield.
Later, the Masaghathais found the body of Cyrus while cleaning the battlefield, so they delivered it to their queen, Tomiris. To vent her anger in her chest, Tomiris unloaded Cyrus's body in eight pieces, cut off his head, put it in a leather sac, and then ordered the Persian blood to be poured into the leather sac, so that the blood did not pass Cyrus's head. She roared hysterically, "You devil, you devil who invaded my country and killed my son, eventually died at my hands." I will honor my vow to the sun god, and you will drink the blood of your Persians in this leather bag, and one day you will never be able to drink it again. ”
The mausoleum of Cyrus, located in present-day Iran
This is the end of Cyrus, after being killed on the battlefield, the head is cut off by the enemy and placed in a leather sac filled with blood.