Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"It's ridiculous!" Mardonius loudly interrupted Terebassus and angrily rebuked him: "It is disgraceful enough to retreat before a battle and allow the enemy to occupy our land! Do you think they hate the army enough to want to provoke them into rioting?

"Great King, now that the Dionysian army is on the offensive and the situation is tense, Trebassus will only disturb the kingdom and affect the army's operations with this ridiculous scheme, I request that he be punished severely!" Halpergus also immediately launched a rebuke.

Altaxerxes also looked hesitant, but remembering that Trebassus had always been quite wise and was his favorite minister, he forcibly endured his displeasure and asked coldly, "Trebassus, why are you doing this?"

Trebassus ignored Mardonius and the others' rebuke and said calmly: "My lord, the king of Dionysia is a greedy man, and in the past few decades he has annexed city-state after city-state and controlled the entire Western Mediterranean. This time when he invaded the kingdom, he did not just want to occupy Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan, his goal was definitely our whole kingdom, so he brought nearly 200,000 troops from thousands of miles away.

But the daily consumption of these 200,000 troops was so great that it was not enough to supply the regions he occupied, and the route to bring food and supplies from the Western Mediterranean, thousands of miles away, was too long and consumed a lot of time and manpower.

Mesopotamia is rich and now that the population has just completed a good harvest, it will be able to meet the needs of the Dionysian army. The Dionysian king would have been very anxious about the gesture of clearing the field and returning to defend Babylon, for he would have been worried that his army would not be able to get supplies on the ground after invading the Mesopotamian plains, and Babylon was a famous fortified city, heavily fortified, which they could not conquer in a short time, so to avoid such a bad situation, he would have taken the initiative and sought a decisive battle with us! "

"Oh, it's so easy to say, but what if the Dionysian army doesn't fall for it and still turtles up in camp!" Ojontaus smirked and challenged.

"Don't you understand me, Lord Ojontaus?" Terebasus also responded with a sneer: "That Dionysian king, who has travelled thousands of miles to conquer our huge kingdom, can only win a quick victory; maintaining such a large force in Syria for a long time without taking any action will only greatly deplete the power of Dionysia.

"Perhaps he would wait for the Greek allies to rendezvous before attacking east." Halpergus then challenged.

"Then we could have enough time to evacuate all the people west of Babylon without leaving a single grain of food for the Dionysian army, then the much larger Dionysian army would have to march more than a thousand miles to Babylon, without being able to get supplies close by on the way, and our powerful cavalry could still bypass the main body of the Dionysian army and keep attacking their supply convoys. I'm afraid that the Dionysian army will collapse before it reaches Babylon ...... The ambitious King Dionysian would never want to see that happen, so I think he will come after us with his army!"

Halpergus sneered, "Surely they'll come after us?! Trebasus, the Deionians are not your men and would listen to you so much, and what you say is nothing but speculation, and the kingdom is paying such a price based on your speculations that it's not worth it!"

Trebassus was not to be outdone in his sarcasm: "It's rare that Lord Halpergus actually begins to care about the people of the Mesopotamian plains! I remember that the army you led was the one that had the most disputes with the people of this region, and repeatedly failed to change its ways even after the King issued new military orders."

Halpergus became irritated and cursed, "What are you, that you dare-"

"All right!" Altaxerxes slapped the seat hard and solemnly shouted, "This is no place for you to bash each other and display your personal grievances! Trebasus, are you sure that the Dionysian army will leave the camp and initiate a decisive battle with us?"

After the debate, and seeing the three Mardonius sneering silently from the side, Trebassus was already on the verge of getting under the tiger's skin, so he took a deep breath and resolutely said, "As long as the plan I just described is implemented, the Dionysian army will definitely take the initiative to come out. It will cost us a lot, but if we can defeat the Dionysian army, then you will not only recover Syria, Phoenicia, Canaan, western Asia Minor, and Cyprus, but you will also be able to take back Egypt, regain control of Greece, and threaten the Dionysian mainland once again. ...... So it will be worth it! "

Defeat Dionysia, recapture Egypt, take control of Greece, and regain hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean ...... The words of Terebasus moved Artaxerxes, and the aging king longed for a glorious victory to wash away his past defeats. The silent beloved: Pesetidai, what do you think?"

Percetidai knew that although he was a prominent man, he was still far from these important ministers of the kingdom, so he had no intention of getting involved in the quarrel, but now, faced with the Persian king's question, and considering that he and Trebassus were both close retainers of the king and that Trebassus usually took good care of him, he considered his words and said politely. "If we attack the Dionysian camp, the cavalry will be completely useless and the archers' power will be greatly reduced. If we can lure the Dionysian army into a battle in Mesopotamia, the vast plains will allow the cavalry to gallop at will, and the arrows will be able to shoot at the enemy without any hindrance, and we will be more certain of victory."

Altaxerxes nodded, and after a moment's silence, finally made up his mind, he looked around at the crowd and suddenly raised his volume, making his voice somewhat hoarse: "I have decided-adopting the advice of Terebasus, to evacuate the people around and west of Tapsacus, burn all the villages, and destroy the city of Tapsacus, while all the troops are withdrawn to Netherfonia-"

As soon as he saw that the three Mardonius men wanted to speak, he waved his hand to stop them, and with a sharp look at Trebassus, he said sternly: "If the Dionysian army had not caught up with us, as you say, but had continued to huddle in the camp, I would not have proceeded with such a measure, and you-" he said. -And I will not go easy on you!"

The failure of the attack on Egypt, the rebellion in Asia Minor, and the loss of control over Greece had led to a great loss of prestige and discontent among his subjects, so he dared to make only a small attempt this time, rather than leaving half of the Mesopotamian plain homeless and avoiding total passivity.

Trebassus was disappointed, but he also knew the king's reasons for doing so, so he could only pretend to accept it. As if they had seen the tragic end of their political enemies, Mardonius and his men no longer questioned it. This is how the top brass of the Persian army came to an agreement.

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After hearing Izzam's detailed description of the Persian army, all of the surviving Dionysian captains strongly urged a decisive battle with the Persian army as soon as possible, while the retired veterans, with the exception of Felicius and Giorgis, who were more cautious and wished to wait until they had joined the Greek army, Alexis and Amyntas also suggested that "we should move east as soon as possible, while the morale of our own army is high and the organization of the Persian army is still disorganized, in order to find opportunities.

The generals' enthusiasm for battle was strong and strengthened Devers' determination.

On the second day after he gave the order to "prepare for the eastward march," the legionaries began to pack their baggage, the supply battalions began to load supplies, and the engineering battalion checked equipment and prepared some wood. ......

At the same time, Davos also informed the commander of the combined Dionysian fleet, Meadows, that he would bring his fleet to the camp as soon as possible, and after the departure of the Dionysian army, all the infantry of the fleet would immediately take over the camp to ensure the safety of the rear base.

Although the Dionysian army was well-trained, it required detailed planning and rigorous operational organization for such a large army to attack the Persian army in an unfamiliar battlefield, so it took three or four days for the entire Dionysian army to be ready to move east.

On the fifth day, when the main body of the army was mobilized, the scouts hurried back to report that the Persian army near Tapsacus was driving the population eastward, burning fields and villages, and even destroying the city of Tapsacus. ......

This news came as a surprise to Davos, but it did not stop him from reconvening the whole army to discuss what the Persians were up to.

In his opinion, whether the Persians were choosing the tactic of clearing the field and retreating, or luring the Dionysian army into an adventurous retreat, it would not change the Dionysian army's plan of action, but would strengthen their determination to fight it.