Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

At this moment, an astonishing news came: a large number of Spartan troops entered Arcadia from the north!

The councillors of the city-states of the Arcadian League were shocked, especially the Mandinians headed by Lucomides.

Isn't Sparta in the southeast of Arcadia, why does its army appear in the north?

It turned out that Sparta had used the gold and silver provided by Persia to hire a lot of soldiers in North Greece, Ionia, and Asia Minor. Persia also provided ships to transport them to Greece, but they did not land on the coast of Sparta. , Because it has been blocked by the Dionian fleet, but with the acquiescence of Athens and Corinth, it enters the Saron Bay east of the isthmus and enters the port of Corinth.After the mercenaries came ashore and assembled, Archidamus led them to the south.

Lycomides is anxious, because Mandinia is located in the northeastern part of Arcadia, which is the only way for the Spartan army, and Mandinia, as an advocate of the Arcadian Alliance, It was a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of the Spartans.

Lycomides screamed in the alliance: "The army formed by the Spartans with the help of Persia entered Arcadia without permission. They did not come for peace. They came to destroy the Spartans. In order to threaten the Arcadian Alliance, they must re-enslave the Arcadians to fight for the benefit of Sparta! If the Arcadian Alliance does not form an alliance with Dionian soon, let the Dionian army To stop the brutal Spartan mercenary army, then the alliance that was formed not long ago will soon perish, and everyone who supports the formation of the alliance will become the soul of the Spartan club!"

The congressmen were moved by Lycomides' words, and then they got the news that the Spartan soldiers who invaded Arcadia wreaked havoc and ravaged the land of Frios.

Finally, the Arcadia Alliance passed this agreement with a small number of advantages.

In the early spring of 370 BC (the 24th year of the Kingdom of Dionian), the Arcadian Alliance and Dionian formed an alliance, and then Cloto Catax led the first, fourth, and sixth legions , Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, 1st Cavalry Regiment, half of the 7th Regiment (3000 soldiers stationed in Messenia), a total of about 32,000 soldiers marched north and entered the Arcadian region.

At this time, the Spartan mercenaries led by Archidamus were already attacking Mandinia, and the Spartan Council of Elders had learned from the pro-Spartan faction in its neighbors to the north that the "Acadia Alliance" The news that they will form an alliance with Dionia" hates Mandinia, the leader of the alliance. Since the timely arrival of the mercenary army has boosted their confidence, they decided to take the lead in hitting Mandinia and shock the Arcadian Alliance. Forcing it to fall back to Sparta.

The Spartans dared to make such a decision because the hugely funded army had 8,000 heavy infantry, mainly hired from Miletus, Ephesus, Samos, Chios, and Lesbos. , Ioria and other Greek city-states belonging to the western coastal areas of Persian Asia Minor; 4,500 Thracian light shield soldiers, mainly hired from Thracians located north of the Kingdom of Macedonia, near the Aegean Sea, and near the Rhodope Mountains Tribes; 1,500 cavalry are mainly hired from the Kingdom of Macedonia; 1,200 archers and slingers are from Crete and Rhodes, and there are more than 4,000 light armoured soldiers from Ionian islands in the Aegean Sea... More than 20,000 soldiers need to pay at least 10,000 Dalic gold coins every month and consume countless food. Of course, these are provided by the Persians.

For the first time, Archidamus led such a large and complete army. He was confident that Mandinia would be captured in a short time.

But when he led the army into the territory of Mandinia, the people of Mandinia had already hid in the city, so Azidamus began to storm the city of Mandinia.He originally thought that with the superior force he possessed, he should be able to capture Mandinia very quickly, but he did not expect to hit a hard nail.

Once the city of Mandinia was washed away by Spartans, the Mandinians, who had been in exile for many years, returned to their homes. They would never allow their city to be captured by the Spartans. Ingenious design.

The Mandinians chose a very high place on the Orpheus River as the site of the city, and then dug a new river nearby, so that the Orpheus River was divided into two at the upper reaches of the city, bypassing the new city site. , Meeting downstream, the river that was originally a huge threat has been transformed into a natural moat for the city.

They also laid a solid stone foundation for the entire city. The city walls are all made of bricks, but the city walls are not completely continuous because the entire city is divided into 10 separate parts, each part of the city wall and another part They are not connected, but there are overlaps with each other. There are gates in this overlapping place, so Mandinia New City has 10 gates.

For the Spartan army, such a unique and irregular city must be captured one by one in order to completely occupy the entire city.The city walls of Mandinia are independent of the topography, which not only prevents the Spartans’ superior forces from fully deploying, but also exposes the siege soldiers to long-range attacks from multiple sides of the defensive side. There is an Orpheus River as a barrier.

Archidamus used the traditional Greek siege method to launch several attacks on the city of Mandinia. Instead of making any progress, some soldiers were killed or wounded, forcing him to change the attack into a siege and send a messenger back to Sri Lanka. Bada reported on the situation.

At the same time, Cloto Kataks has led his army into the southwest of Arcadia. This area belongs to the rare hilly area of ​​Arcadia. The Helison River runs through the entire area from south to north.In the mountains to the east of the central part is Lycaen, the main sacred mountain where the Arcadians held religious rituals, and Megalopolis, the new central town of the Arcadian Alliance, is located on the Helison River Between the east bank of the city and the sacred mountain of Lycaen.

Due to the outbreak of the war with the Spartans, the construction of the new city of Megalopolis has stopped. The city wall as the outline of the city has only been built halfway, and the most important temple of Zeus for the Arcadians has just been erected. Root pillars... Scaffolding and piles of stones can be seen everywhere in the city. There is only one building that is simple but has been completed. That is the Chamber of the Arcadia Alliance. It is the foundation of the entire alliance. The three councillors elected by the people of the city-state lived here for a long time, and in accordance with the rules set by the alliance, they discussed and decided on the diplomatic and military affairs of the alliance.

At this moment, dozens of Union councillors walked out of Megalopolis, standing on a high altitude and looking south: I saw countless Dionian soldiers in the distance wearing sophisticated armor and weapons, arranged in neat rows. The column, crossing the pontoon they quickly built on the Hellison River, although the footsteps, armor collisions are quite noisy, and the dust is filled with dust, few people complain loudly. The whole army is like a silent long black dragon. Swim forward without stopping...

The members of the Arcadia stood and looked at it for a long time, unable to see the head or tail of the long dragon, and their hearts were somewhat impressive.

At this time, the long dragon separated another one and went straight north.When approaching them, the young general riding a tall horse and wearing a golden crown raised his right hand and waved it down. Then the army behind him stopped advancing instantly, and the soldiers stood silently... The parliamentarians were surprised.

Lu Komedes immediately walked down the heights to greet him, and other congressmen followed suit.

Cloto Katax also dismounted, leading Printoles, Mukru and the court guards to the front.

"General Cloto Catacs, thank you very much for your timely assistance!" Lycomides solemnly bowed to Prince Dionia.

Cloto Catacs hurriedly supported him, and said sincerely: "Master Lu Komedes, now the Arcadian Alliance and Dionia are allies, this is what we should do! Please rest assured According to Dionia’s military law, our soldiers will not do anything to destroy the friendship between the two peoples on the land of our allies! If there are soldiers who violate, they will be severely punished!"

When these words came out, many Arcadia councillors were relieved.

Abruptly, some of the congressmen asked loudly: "How many soldiers did you send?"

Plintors took the conversation: "Considering that there are many Arcadia mountains and the troop strength is not easy to deploy, we only brought more than 30,000 soldiers, and there are still more than 10,000 garrisons in Messenia (Prin Thors counts both the Messenians and the Fleet Infantry of the First Fleet).

Most of the congressmen took a sigh of relief, and then let out a sigh: more than 40,000 soldiers with complete equipment!They have never seen such a large army in their lives!No wonder Dionia's marching troops meander so long, you can't see the beginning and the end at all!

We must know that the last time such a large number of troops appeared on the mainland of Greece was during the Hippo War a hundred years ago. The city-states of Greece gathered more than 100,000 soldiers (heavy infantry is two-fifths of the total number). The Persians fought decisively; once again, it was the Peloponnesian War decades ago. It is said that Athens sent an army of about 30,000 to expedition to Syracuse, Sicily, and suffered a crushing defeat.

But these two years have passed away, and they have not seen it with their own eyes. A small number of parliamentarians have personally experienced the Battle of Leu Ketra that only happened not long ago. The Peloponnesian coalition led by Sparta has more than 10,000 people. There are about 20,000 people on both sides of the war, and in their eyes it is already a large-scale battle.