Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"Every time I talk to you, I always get rid of a lot of troubles." Pelopidas said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "I won't talk to you more, and then I will visit other councillors... By the way, we should let the Dionians know how much pressure and effort we have put in to maintain this alliance. It is best that you quietly send someone to Messenia tomorrow to let Dionians People know this and prepare early."

"Okay, leave it to me." Ipamironda sent Peropidas out, returned to the study, looked at the plan of the Dionian barracks drawn on papyrus, and lifted the pen again, but His thoughts were too chaotic, and he couldn't calm down for a while to write. He subconsciously tapped the word "Dionia" on the paper with his pen, only thinking about one thing: No matter how beautiful Peropidas thought, But first it depends on whether Dionia can completely defeat the Spartans as soon as possible...

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These days, the First Fleet Commander Sekelian is in a bad mood, not because of the new army commander Cloto Kataks, although Sekelian was out of the veteran’s reserved when he first arrived. He did not go to greet him, but on the second day, the prince personally visited the first fleet camp near the coast, and he was very respectful to Sekerlian, and finally moved Sekerlian. He took the initiative to make a promise: Yes. Lead the fleet to fully cooperate with the army operations.

The reason why Sekerian was unhappy was that although he had occupied Kithira in the Gulf of Laconia and completely blocked the coast of Sparta, the mercenaries recruited by Sparta from outside the land still landed. The Peloponnese has increased the difficulty for the army to conquer Sparta.

Although this was not the fault of the First Fleet, and before Sekerian left Turíy, Daves had instructed him: After the First Fleet arrived in the waters south of the Peloponnese, try not to cross Laggoni. Sub-Bay, to patrol the east coast of the Peloponnese, and even the waters further north, to avoid causing dissatisfaction with coastal cities such as Argos, Corinth, and even Athens.

Sekerian has always strictly followed the teachings of King Daves, but he did not expect that the cunning Spartans not only let mercenaries land in the port of Corinth, but also frequent food ships entering the port of Corinth these days. With enough mercenaries and a continuous supply of rations, the Spartans will have confidence to fight fiercely with the Dionian army...

Just when Sekelian was sitting in the military tent and sulking, the staff officer walked into the tent: "Your Excellency Commander, just received the report from the Clippers and found 5 cargo ships full of soldiers heading for the Corinth Isthmus. "

Sekelian stood up abruptly: "Where did it find it? Which city-state's ship was it?"

"It should be near the island of Naxos (not Naxos in Sicily, but an island in the Aegean Sea), and it is estimated that it has now entered the port of Corinth. As before, these cargo ships carry Mili respectively. The flags of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor such as Du, Samos, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, etc." The staff officer replied slightly angrily.

"Hey!" Sekelian kicked over the seat, his face was as cold as frost, and he paced quickly in the tent, but his hands were tight into fists.

Suddenly he stopped and shouted like thunder: "Order the crew to push the boat into the sea and prepare to sail!"

The staff officer immediately understood his intentions, and hurriedly persuaded him: "Your Excellency Commander, please calm down! Your Majesty Daves has given orders--"

"That's not an order, it's just a reminder, and your Majesty used the word'try your best'!" Cykerian said emotionally: "We didn't want to conflict with these city-states, but these Greek city-states colluded with the Persians. Taking advantage of our tolerance, we continue to transport food to the Spartans, and now we are once again transporting soldiers to Sparta. If this continues, our war with Sparta will become very difficult, which will be very difficult for the kingdom. Benefits cause huge losses, so our navy can no longer stand by and must take action!"

Having said that, he eased his tone: "You are still young and you are not familiar with your majesty's style. He never gives death orders to the commanding generals who go on an expedition, but allows them to make their own battle plans based on the actual conditions of the battlefield. . Now is the time we should change our combat strategy!"

"My lord, I understand." The staff officer quickly accepted Sekerian's point of view. In fact, he was also suffocating in his heart: "Which squadron are you going to send?"

Sekerian replied decisively: "All the ships of the First Fleet!"

"The entire First Fleet?!" The staff officer was shocked: There were more than 500 warships in the First Fleet, just to sink a few troop and food ships, it was nothing short of killing a chicken.

Sekelian saw through his thoughts and said in a deep voice: "This time it is not only about capturing or sinking all the ships transporting food and troops to the Corinthian port, but also completely hurting them so that they will never dare to help again. Spartans! At the same time, this was also an armed voyage of our Dionian First Fleet into the Aegean Sea, showing our mighty power to those Greek city-states, and letting those city-states who want to fight us reconsider whether they Have this ability!"

"Yes! I will immediately notify the entire fleet to set sail!"

More than an hour later, Sekerian boarded his flagship, raised the flag for sailing, and the bugle was sounded. In addition to the two ship columns anchored on Kythira, a total of 50 warships were to be blocked. Off the coast of Sparta, (after the Western Mediterranean War, under Daves’ instructions, the Ministry of Military Affairs made some adjustments to the navy, not only changing the four major fleets into three major fleets, but also re-changing the fleet’s organization. It is stipulated that the sub-fleet has 100 warships under its jurisdiction, consisting of 4 columns, each with 25 warships, so the warship column has become the smallest unit of the Dionian Navy.) All other warships, about 500 The ships, arranged in a four-way column, sailed eastward formidable.

After the fleet had bypassed the cape and turned northward, Sekerian issued another order: In view of the numerous islands in this sea area, the fleet was not familiar with the sea conditions here, so it slowed down and moved along the east coast.

After giving the order, Sekelion returned to his seat to rest.

After the end of the Western Mediterranean War, the Ministry of Military Affairs had discussed the issue of "whether the flagships of the fleets need to be redesigned and improved" with the fleet commanders and shipbuilding engineers.

Some people suggested that "Carthage's two-headed dragon seat ship was the blueprint to build the flagship of the fleet"; others suggested that "the former Carthage four-layer paddle warship can be improved as the flagship of the fleet"...

Sekerian raised an objection, believing that whether it is a two-headed dragon on a ship or a four-layered warship, it is too clumsy and bloated, and the admiral will never let a ship slow down the entire fleet because of greed for enjoyment. Sailing speed affects combat efficiency...

Sekerian's opinion was supported by the 2nd Fleet Commander Midorades and the 3rd Fleet Commander Stefakas, and the final change of the flagship was nothing.

Except for the slightly larger hull and higher mast, Sekerian’s flagship is not much different from the Raven Warship.Sekerian sits at the stern of the ship. The stern of the warship is tilted upwards like a scorpion, forming a pocket with a wooden chair inside. Since the top can block the sun, he sits more comfortably inside.

Sekelian held the wooden chair handles with both hands and looked out of the warship: the sea here was exceptionally blue, and the wind and waves were very small, and the warship sailed very smoothly. Turning his head to look left, the strange rocks on the coast not far away, The strange peaks stand tall, because it is the good time of spring, the cliffs are full of green trees and red flowers, pleasing to the eye; looking up at the sky, white clouds float leisurely on the clear sky, and flocks of seabirds are singing and passing by from time to time , The cold water carried by the gentle sea breeze flicked gently across the face, which was refreshing...

While Sekerian was enjoying a rare moment of comfort, the residents on the shore were terrified.This part of the coast is still Spartan territory. Although most of them are cliffs, there are still some small seaside villages and towns.

Wars have occurred frequently over the years. People in villages and towns here often see fleets passing by nearby seas, not from ships from Athens and allied states, or fleets from the Peloponnesian League, but they have never seen such a terrible scene: Countless warships boundlessly covered most of the sea that they could see. Each ship was pitch black as ink, as if it had soaked the blue water into black...

Just as they ran north along the coast in a panic, to inform the people in Sparta of the shocking news, the forward of the black fleet had already turned to the northeast.

After bypassing the peninsula to the east of the Argos Territory, the 1st Fleet entered a large bay-Salong Bay, like entering a lively and unusual town from a sparsely populated village, with hundreds of thousands everywhere. Ships loaded with cargo in and out of this large bay. Most of them sailed to Athens to the north, some to Corinth to the east, and a few to Megala to the southeast, even during the war. During this period, it was the same every day, so long ago it became one of the most prosperous bays in the Mediterranean.

But at this moment, the First Fleet of Dionia is like a hungry wolf breaking into the flock. It makes the panic-stricken ships evade, and it doesn’t take long for the unusually lively bay to become quieter again. , No other ships appeared around the ships of the First Fleet.

The captains of the 1st Fleet obviously didn't care about such a change. According to their prior plan, they turned the warship to the east and went deep into the bay.