Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

According to Greek tradition, the defeated side after a battle can also send someone to clean the battlefield and take away the compatriots who died in order to give him a decent funeral.In the past, Dionia seldom fulfilled this tradition, because they were victors most of the time, and in order to expand the results, they were good at pursuing after the victory. The other party was afraid of fleeing, and there was no desire to do other things.Only during this period of time the Dionian army defended against the Greek coalition attack, this Greek military tradition can be well carried out.

Tens of thousands of exhausted Greek coalition soldiers began to slowly retreat to Leprion’s camp.

Leprion is less than 20 miles from the northern border of Messenia. This small town located in the southern part of Alice was originally attached to Alice, but was later taken by Sparta. After Alice joined the Greek Alliance, he was confident again. Take it back.As the Greek coalition forces were frequently harassed by Dionian soldiers when they were camping during the attack on the Lagnia region, after moving their troops to attack Messenia, Ifekratus learned a lesson and stationed the army in Leprion, far from the battlefield, is mainly for safety.

On the way back to the camp, the commanding generals of many other city-states came to complain to Iphikratus, telling "their soldiers suffered a lot of casualties in today's battle..." etc. Outsiders revealed similar meanings, they were unwilling to engage in such a tragic siege.

In fact, after the attack on the northern part of the Lagnia region suffered a loss, the city-state armies had scrupulous about attacking the Dionia defensive camp. If it were not for the fact that they had captured a Dionia camp some time ago, they would reinvigorate Confidence, and today Iphikratus takes most of the Athenian troops first to fight as an example, and also issued the order of a full-scale offensive. Other city-state troops will not fight so hard.

However, the facts proved that the small victory of the previous few days was just an illusion. The defense of the Dionians was not weakened, but strengthened. Although the siege ability of the Greek coalition forces has been improved (in the continuous attack on Dio A lot of experience was learned during the battle in the Nia camp), but it was still not enough to break through the complex camp defense system of the Dionian army.

For the cryptic expressions of these generals, Iphikratus gave the same answer: the coalition forces will no longer attack the Dionia defense camp!

The generals were surprised by the affirmative answer of Ifekratus, but the coalition commander did not say anything more.

Returning to the military tent at Leprion camp, Ifekratus just took off his armor, and the guards outside the tent came in and reported: "General, General Jason, please."

"Hurry up and invite him in."

Jason strode into the military tent. Before Ifekrates could speak, he said straightforwardly: "I heard that you announced that you will give up attacking the Dionia camp in Messenia. This is true. ?!"

Looking at Jason, who looked like a teacher, Effikratus calmly said: "General Jason, I was about to send someone to find you, but I didn’t expect you to come first. That’s right, I did. This word, but—"

"This is a stupid decision!" Jason looked at him directly, and said in a firm tone: "We can't give up the offensive just because today's loss is great. We have many casualties, and the Dionians are not much better. Go, before you withdraw, my soldiers have attacked the wooden wall several times. Although they were finally driven down by the enemy, it shows that our offensive is effective! As long as we maintain this offensive force in the next few days, You will be able to break through the line of defense of the Dionians!"

Speaking of this, Jason showed a fierce look: "Don't listen to the excuses of those city-state generals, you should continue to order the storm like today! If you really want to stop attacking the Dionia camp, Then I’m sorry, I will no longer participate in your war with Dionia, and lead the army back to Thessaly!"

Facing Jason’s threat, Efekratus blinked his eyes and showed a helpless smile: "Dear General Jason, of course I know that as long as I continue to attack, I will break the Dionia camp, but I The reason for this decision was not because of fear of excessive casualties, but because—"

Efekratus paused, and said in a more serious tone: "I just received a message from Athens. Four days ago, the Dionian Navy suddenly blocked the Saron Bay and prevented our ships from leaving the port. The fishermen still found an unusual situation. A large number of Dionian ships carrying soldiers bypassed Euboea and entered Mariacos Bay—"

"The Dionians are going to attack my Thessaly!" Jason changed his face suddenly, and he glared at Iphikratus: "Why didn't you tell me such important news?!"

"For such a large-scale war, you must be cautious in making any decisions. After receiving this news, my Athens council tried every means to find out the truth. For this reason, many ships were lost, and Dionia was finally confirmed. The army did land in Thessaly, and the General Executive Committee urgently sent messengers on fast horses to come here around the clock—"

"How many people are in the Dionian army that landed in Thessaly?!" Jason interrupted him unceremoniously and asked eagerly.

"According to our judgment, it will not be less than 30,000."

Without saying anything, Jason walked out of the military tent with an anxious look.

Ifekrates also hurriedly called his adjutant: "Hurry up and send someone to notify the generals of the city-states, and say... "Since the traces of the Dionian army are found in Thessaly, the Thessaly army will rush Go back to the rescue, let them not be nervous, and control their soldiers'..."

The adjutant also felt nervous after hearing this, and said quickly: "I will do it right away."

"Also—" Ifekrates said solemnly: "You go to the Thessaly Barracks in person, tell Jason, and say that I suggest that he lead the army directly northward, through the Ellis area, from Crossing the Corinthian Gulf by boat from the port of Patras or Cape Rion... this route will save a lot of time."

As he said, he took out a few more letters from his arms: "This is a letter I wrote to Ellis, Patras, and Cape Leon in the name of Athens. I hope they can help the Sesari. These letters are delivered to Jason."

After sending off the adjutant, Efekrates also walked out of the military tent, looking in the direction of Thessaari barracks through the thin night, where the Masi shouted, completely exploding the pot.

In fact, Ifekrates lied to Jason. The letter from the General Executive Committee of Athens not only asked him to increase his offensive against Dionia, but also ordered him to conceal the news from the Thessaly. Only in another letter written to him by Kallistatus who had a good relationship with him, he mentioned in a tactful sentence: He can make a decision that best suits the interests of Athens based on the conditions of the battlefield.

During the confrontation and battle with the Dionian army, Iphikratus has realized that the Dionian army has a strong ability in defensive operations, while the city-state troops of the Greek Alliance have obviously not experienced it. After such an intensity of siege operations, he did not dare to bear too many casualties. Therefore, he always worked in previous offensive battles, but did not do much, including the Athenian army itself.After receiving the order from Athens, Efekratus finally issued a death order today and launched a storm, but the result was still disappointing. Not only did he fail to break the enemy, but the sharp increase in casualties not only caused the allied generals to fight. After retreating, he was shocked.

If, as Jason said, continue to launch a strong offensive, I am afraid that the Greek coalition forces will be torn apart before the Dionian line is broken, and he himself may be impeached by the Athens Citizens' Assembly.What's more, even if the Greek coalition forces pay a heavy price and eventually defeat the Dionian army in Messenia, the Kingdom of Dionian will send a new army to Greece, just like they sent another army to Thessa. Like Li, the Greek coalition forces, who have already suffered heavy losses by then, will use what to resist their invasion!

Iphikratus has realized that the war with Dionian cannot be ended with just one or two battles. To fight against the powerful Dionian army for a long period of time, Cessa must be win over. Liren.During the period of fighting side by side, Iphikratus discovered that Thessaly’s army not only accounted for half of the Greek coalition forces, but also its combat effectiveness was the strongest among the coalition forces. In particular, the nearly 10,000 mercenaries not only fought bravely, And strict discipline.As the commander-in-chief of Thessaly's army, Jason had some contradictions with Iphikratus because he failed to become commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition forces, but he took every battle seriously and focused, and his command ability was also very strong.

As an enemy, Thessaly’s army is undoubtedly terrifying, but as an ally against a strong enemy, Thessaly’s army is undoubtedly the best support. That’s why Ifekratus decided to disobey the general’s executive committee’s order and delay. After a day’s time, he personally told Jason that “Thessaly was attacked by the Dionian army.” Even if the general executive committee would ask about this matter in the future, he could spoof that “Jason got the Message from the Li messenger", anyway, Athens cannot completely block the roads from Sesali to the Peloponnese.

However, he was still preparing to send his confidant servants back to Athens and secretly reveal the matter to his friend Callistratus. He believed that with Callistratus' vision, he would definitely support him, because of this. Everything is for Athens!

Just as Ifekratus was standing outside the accounts, his adjutant had rushed back to report to him: "General, I have handed the letter to Jason. He thanked you and said to wait. After he drove away the Dionian army in Thessaly and stabilized the rear, he would definitely lead his army to come again and fight against the Dionian forces with the Greek coalition..."