When the response from Fūr reached Sikandar, the ambitious monarch assembled his most seasoned and wise commanders to lead his vanguard. He set out with a formidable army toward India, covering the earth until nothing remained visible but sea and soldier. Yet the journey proved harrowing; rugged mountains and treacherous paths extinguished the warlike fire in the soldiers' hearts, slowing the army's momentum.
At a camp along the way, a faction of Roman officers gathered before Sikandar, pleading for retreat. They lamented the destruction of their horses, the endless suffering, and the futility of waging war against barren stone and treacherous terrain. Incensed by their complaint, Sikandar rebuked them fiercely, declaring that he required neither their aid nor their goodwill, for Divine favor and the brave warriors of Iran would suffice to trample the heart of any dragon.
Fearing his wrath, the Romans fell to their knees, begging forgiveness and swearing to fight to the death—even on foot should their steeds perish. Reassured, Sikandar reorganized his host: thirty thousand elite Iranian warriors formed the vanguard, followed by forty thousand Roman cavalry, forty thousand Egyptian swordsmen, twelve thousand noble descendants of the Kayanian line, and sixty renowned astrologers and sages.
Meanwhile, King Fūr prepared a massive defensive host, anchoring his vanguard with a terrifying wall of war elephants. Informants warned Sikandar that these beastly colossi stood like moving mountains, their trunks reaching toward the heavens, terrifying battle horses from miles away. Sikandar summoned over twelve hundred master blacksmiths from Rome, Egypt, and Persia. Together, they devised a brilliant stratagem: forging hollow iron horses and riders mounted on wheeled chariots, filled with black naphtha, destined to be set ablaze to ignite and scatter the elephant corps of Hind.