Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"This is also no way. Only by uniting the entire western part of Asia Minor can we have enough strength to fight against that great king!" Aliobazenis said in a deep voice, "Stridatus is a cautious man, since he Dare to take the initiative, which shows that he is confident of persuading the other governors and can keep secrets."

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After the Dionian army occupied the territory of Sparta, the remaining Greek city-states headed by Athens were actively organizing coalition forces and preparing to fight against it.

At the same time, the Ministry of Military Affairs of Dionia conveyed the order of King Davos to Leotichides to speed up the assembly of the Eighth and Fifteenth Army in Lili (the military camp is in Syracuse, The source of troops came from the Syracuse area), the 16th Army (barracks in Agrigento, and the source of troops from the south coast of Sicily), and the 17th Army (barracks in Lilibo, and the source of troops from western Sicily). The Legion, the Fourth Cavalry Regiment, and the Numibian Hussar Regiment, waited until the transport fleet arrived, and immediately proceeded to Egypt.

At the same time, another order from the Ministry of Military Affairs was sent to Midolades, asking him to lead the 2nd Fleet to prepare for the escort of the expedition to Egypt.

In addition, King Davos issued an order to the Phoenician allies headed by Carthage along the coast of Africa, requiring them to immediately form a large number of transport fleets to be responsible for transporting the Dionian army gathered in Lilivia to Egypt. .

At the same time, the Ministry of Military Affairs transferred the former commander of the 14th Army Corps and the current northern border commander Patroclus, who was still quelling the Liguria riots, back to Turei, and Hasdruba replaced him.

At the same time, the Ministry of Military Affairs also issued orders to military camps in various regions: Except for the Peloponnese expedition and the army that is about to go to Egypt, all the remaining troops in the kingdom began to gather.In addition, it was specifically proposed that the Po area must provide 6,000 fighters and 2,000 Gallic cavalry.

In addition, the Ministry of Military Affairs transferred the 3rd Fleet, which is responsible for the security of the kingdom’s west coast, to Brindisi to prepare.

Although the issuance of these orders means that a large military operation will take place, what each barracks announces is to conduct joint training of the entire corps. Since such military training will take place at least once within two months, people everywhere Did not feel anything strange.

However, the principal officials of the various departments of the Dionian Kingdom in Turii have already begun to be busy, preparing for the next war.

On the surface of Dionia, there is still a peaceful scene, but there are already war clouds in the Greek mainland.

In June, Cesaritagus Jason led nearly 40,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, surpassing the hot spring pass and entering Central Greece.

Although he made a high-profile statement, "This time he led the army to help the Greeks in the south and repel the invading aliens." The people of Central Greece still felt nervous. People from various city-states hid in the city, closed the city gates, and strengthened their guard.

Jason said that he must do it. He tried his best to restrain the troops. Although there were still some incidents of soldiers looting the property of villages outside the city, the military discipline of his army was generally good, which greatly relieved the senior leaders of the city-states. .

After entering the Piotsha area, Jason sent envoys into Thebes and asked the council: Thessaari army wanted to establish a longer-term camp in Thebes.

The high-level Thebes, headed by Pelopidas and Ipamirunda, tactfully argued: Both Thessaly and Dionia are allies of Thebes, and they both provided great help to Thebes because In this way, Thebes had to remain neutral to avoid hurting the friendship of one party. If the request of Thessaly was agreed, it would make Dionia misunderstood and mistakenly believed that Thebes had joined the anti-Dioni. The Asian League, so they had to refuse.

Jason’s request was actually only a test of the attitude of the Thebes, so he was rejected. He was not angry, but patiently asked the returning courier. At that time, the attitude of everyone in the Thebes Council The reaction gave me a bottom line.

A few days later, Thessaly’s army arrived at the northwestern border of Attica in Athens and built a camp near Oropus, the city state of Piosia, which has close relations with Athens. This was negotiated with Athens in advance, because Oropus The port of Sri Lanka is not small, and the sea distance between Philae and Philae is very close, which is convenient for transportation of materials and soldiers.

Athenian high-level leaders headed by Calistratus warmly welcomed the arrival of Jason’s army led by Thessaly, and a day later held a military meeting of the Greek alliance in Megara on the Isthmus of Corinth, and the city-states that joined the alliance The generals expressed their opinions.

Many generals of the Chinese and Greek city-states suggested that they should use the geographical advantage of the Isthmus as they did during the Corinthian War ten years ago to hoard heavy troops in Corinth to defend against the attacks of the Dionian army.The Dionians attacked across the sea, which consumed a lot of materials, which was not conducive to long-term combat and could not be attacked for a long time. In the end, they would inevitably choose a truce for peace.

The generals of the Peloponnesian city-state led by Argos and Corinth expressed their opposition. They believed that: Now the Dionian army has conquered Messenia and Sparta, and Arcadia has also become its ally , This makes the Dionians' power in the Peloponnese become very strong. If the coalition forces do not attack actively, but passively defend, the Dionians will definitely turn to attack other Peloponnese. area.

Once it has completely conquered the entire Peloponnese, it will not only weaken the strength of the Greek Alliance, but also the Dionian army can attack Corinth without any worries, and it is difficult to say whether it can finally hold Corinth.Now the number of coalition forces has reached 80,000, far surpassing the number of soldiers in the Dionian army, and they can take the initiative to defeat the Dionian army in Sparta.

After both sides expressed their opinions, Jason said: "Everyone, the purpose of the establishment of the Greek Alliance is to repel the invading Dionia and ensure the freedom of the Greek city-states and the security of their territories. If it is only for defense in Corinth, That would be tantamount to abandoning the entire Peloponnesian Peninsula. This not only goes against the original intention of the alliance, but also makes the city-states joining the alliance complain to each other and undermine the unity. Therefore, I advocate that we should not waste any more time and should immediately lead the coalition. Enter the Peloponnese, quickly fight the Dionian army, defeat it, and let the Spartans regain their freedom!"

Jason with hands on his hips, watching all the generals in the venue, loudly declared: "If everyone disagrees with my opinion, or keeps arguing and wasting time, then I will lead the Thessaly army and go south alone with the Dionian army. Let’s fight!"

Jason’s words fell like a rock into the deep pool. While stirring up waves, they also received positive responses from the generals of Corinth and Argos: "I, a citizen of Corinth (Argos), will follow the army of Thessaly. Attack the Dionians!"

Although Thessaly’s army accounted for half of the soldiers enlisted in the entire alliance, Thessaly, who had been on the edge of traditional Greek forces for decades, did not attract the attention of the Greek city-states. Therefore, Jason was not too in this alliance. Many prestige, but the support of these two powers made Jason a shocking reputation.

Although the number of soldiers sent to Corinth from Athens so far is only half that of Thessaly’s army, when Sparta has declined, most of the Greek city-states are more willing to look only at Athens, so other city-state generals have set their sights. Another person-Athens star Iphikratus.

The battle-tested veteran glanced at Jason, then looked around the crowd, and said calmly: "I agree that the coalition should seize the time to take the initiative and seek a decisive battle with the Dionian army, but at the same time, we There are two things to start.

The first is that we immediately sent envoys to the Arcadian Alliance to persuade them to join our side and fight against Dionia together.With the coalition forces occupying the upper hand, it is very likely that the Arcadian Alliance will fall to us. After all, Dionia is an outsider.If it succeeds, it will increase the strength of the coalition forces and at the same time provide greater convenience for us to fight in the Peloponnese.If rejected, we can also attack the Arcadia Alliance with confidence.

The second is that the reason why Dionia was able to defeat Sparta, and Dionia had a powerful navy, was able to use the fleet to carry troops to land in Messenia and quickly occupy the territory of Messiania. It’s a big relationship, so we must also be careful about the repetition of Dionia’s old tricks, taking advantage of our army to fight in the Peloponnese, and landing at sea through the more empty rear of our defense, cutting off our way of return, threatening our mother Bang, that would be a huge disaster!Therefore, I suggest that part of the army must be left and stationed at the beaches of Central Greece that can be landed, especially the Port of Chleusis in the Piosia area. It must be firmly controlled by the coalition forces!"

"But Chleusis now belongs to the Thebes!" someone reminded.

"As most of our Greek city-states gather to resist invading outsiders, Thebes, as a strong Chinese and Greek state, chooses to be neutral. This really shouldn't be! It's just a war is imminent to avoid unnecessary trouble. , We have temporarily tolerated the willfulness of the Thebes." Iphikratus said with a serious face: "But the inaction of the Thebes will inevitably cause us to distrust them! So we should send them. The messenger went to Thebes and told them clearly that we will temporarily take over Chleusis and return them after the war. If Thebes disagrees, then we will treat them as enemies and crusade against them!"