Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Efekratus nodded in relief. With Jason’s remarks, at least his efforts were not in vain.

He looked at the Thessaly Barracks, where the fire was already blazing, countless torches gushing out of the camp gate, extending to the north, and gradually forming a winding fire dragon...

Ifekrates prayed silently with a solemn expression: May Athena bless, and all the Sesari will go well!

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Due to the departure of Thessaly's army, the military spirit was fluctuating. In the following days, the Greek coalition forces could not be closed. At the same time, out of fear, they had to strengthen their defenses.

While Efekratus was busy appeasing the coalition generals and soldiers, he sent people to inform the allies of the Peloponnese and warned them to strengthen their defenses.

As expected, Cloto Kataks, who had ascertained the enemy’s situation, dispatched the First Army from Sparta to the siege of Mandinia, following the advice of Plintors. The coalition forces, the Greek coalition forces that had been ordered by Iphikratus took the initiative to retreat, and Mandinia was temporarily relieved.

However, the 1st Corps, which failed to fight the Greek coalition forces, continued northward and went straight to Corinth, located on the Isthmus.

Ifekratus, who received the news, did not lead the army to rescue, but kept the main coalition forces at Camp Leprion, and at the same time put on a posture that they would attack the Dionia camp in Messenia at any time to force Dionia did not dare to easily move away from the army in Messenia. Only the Greek coalition forces that had besieged Mandinia followed the First Army, but once the First Army turned to attack, they quickly avoided.But their presence prevented the First Army from launching an attack on Corinth, which seemed to be more heavily defended.

Two days later, the First Army, which failed to achieve the purpose of mobilizing the main force of the Greek coalition forces, did not dare to stay in a completely unfamiliar enemy territory for a long time. In addition, the rations it carried had already been consumed a lot, so it turned back south again and returned to Lagnia. .

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Just when the fighting in the Peloponnese subsided temporarily and the two sides presented a weird confrontation, Jason had led his army across the Gulf of Corinth, landed on Chleusis in Thebes, and quickly went north through Pio. In the summer area, enter the Phokis area.

The Phokes at this time no longer repelled the Thessaly as much as a few months ago. After all, the two sides are now allies, and Phokes is facing the threat of the Dionian army stationed in the north, and the Thessari army is urgently needed. So the Thessaly’s army was welcomed by the Phokes, and there were Greek reinforcement generals rushing to greet them.

After some discussions, Jason got a general idea of ​​the situation in the north: The Dionian army occupied Heraclia, and at the same time, they captured Hot Spring Pass, and for a while they continued to go south and surrounded Kitignan. Fortunately, With timely reinforcements from the Athenians in advance, the Phokes repelled the attack on the Dionian army several times. Yesterday the Dionians may have detected the news that the Thessaly army returned to the division. Evacuate and return.

After some consideration, Jason decided to lead his army northward along the coast, first seizing the hot spring pass, and then entering the Lamia region. The reason why he made this choice was that he considered that it is difficult to trek in the northern mountains of Central Greece. It is conducive to the march of the army, and the Dionian army also occupied Heraclia, guarding the gateway to the north of the mountain. He has already seen the defensive ability of the Dionian army in the Peloponnese, and if it fails to attack Herak in time Leah, it is extremely dangerous for tens of thousands of troops to be blocked in the mountains.

Jason knew very well that although the Hot Spring Pass was known as Greece for being easy to defend and difficult to attack, the Greeks built this pass to defend against the barbarians in the north (mainly Thessaly). Therefore, it was a defense against the north but not the south. The single-sided pass, which is why the Persian army sent the marvelous soldiers to bypass the hot spring pass from the trail, and they could easily capture it. Therefore, the Thessari army directly attacked from the south and it should be relatively easy to capture the pass.

But when Jason led his army to the steamy coast, he was dumbfounded: a Dionian barracks stood in front, stuck between the mountains and the cliffs by the sea, and behind it was the familiar hot spring gate stone wall. ...

It turned out that Effiart led the army’s main force to attack Wenquan Pass at the same time with both positive and odd sides. Although Wenquan Pass defenders were also prepared for the mountain road, they had too few troops. After a day of fighting, the Twelfth Army successfully occupied Wenquan. turn off.

As a result, Effiart quickly discovered the flaws of this pass. The main task of the Twelfth Army was to block the Sesari army returning to the division, but the hot spring pass was unable to defend against enemies from the south.But it’s not difficult to help Aifeiart. After all, the terrain here at Wenquanguan is narrow, and the superior force cannot be deployed. It is beneficial to prevent more with less. This feature is the same for both the south and the north. So he called the engineering battalion and commanded more than half of the troops. The soldiers built a camp next to Wenquan Pass, and he himself led 3,000 soldiers from the coast to the inland, surveying the terrain all the way, and quickly encircling the city of Kinnan after discovering it.

At this time, his purpose of doing this is no longer to expand the results, but to attract the attention of the enemy and ensure the smooth construction of the camp.

Now, Jason looks at the Dionian camp ahead and feels a headache. In the Peloponnese, his army has eaten enough to attack the Dionian camp, but at this moment he can't retreat, he can only break through with all his strength. This camp was able to return to Sesali.

After the order of the offensive was issued, Thessaly soldiers who were eager to return to their homes were divided into teams and continued to attack Dionia camp along the narrow coast.

After the Hippo War a hundred years ago, another bloody battle broke out on a grand scale near Wenquan Pass.

However, compared to the Spartan army guarding here a hundred years ago, the Dionian army on the defensive side now has more advantages.

The first is that Dionia's defense forces are not at an absolute disadvantage.The 12th Corps had 8,000 soldiers, and in order to prevent accidents, Efiart also forced Lamia, who had surrendered to Dionia, to recruit 1,000 civilian soldiers as a reserve force for the defense of the hot spring pass.Except for the 1,000 Dionian soldiers garrisoned in the Acropolis of Lamia and Heraclea, they cannot be mobilized. Effiart can have 7,000 soldiers into the battle. These soldiers will continue to pass through the hot springs and enter the camp. , Take turns to participate in defensive operations.At this time, the Thessaly army had been fighting in the Peloponnese during this period, and it had been reduced from the original 40,000 to more than 36,000. The strength of the army was only more than four times that of the defending army, unlike the Persian army in the past. Up to hundreds of thousands.

Secondly, Effiart learned the lessons of the Spartan army, and built small defense facilities on several known mountain trails, guarded by Samona soldiers who are good at mountain warfare, to prevent the Sesari from sneak attacks. .Moreover, the 12th Corps has a diverse range of arms, with a reasonable combination of heavy infantry, light armor, javelin, and archer. Defending in a narrow coastal camp can effectively deter the Sesari's offensive.

In addition, Efiart also asked the soldiers to move several ballistas from the regiment to the head of Wenquan Pass. The stone bullets fired could fly over the camp, giving the intensive attacking Thessaly soldiers the greatest damage.

Therefore, Thessaly army launched a fierce attack on the camp for several days. Not only did it have little effect, but it also paid a lot of casualties.

Just when Jason in the rear was so anxious that he could never break through the Dionian line of defense, the Sesari soldiers who were preparing to attack the camp again were stunned to see the wooden door of the camp suddenly opened and dozens of them came out. A Sesali man dressed in casual clothes, they shouted that they were XX of a certain city-state of Thessari, while demanding to meet the citizens of their own city-state.

It turned out that when Jason led his army towards the hot spring pass, Efiart immediately sent a messenger to Thessaly and informed the commander-in-chief Patroclus that the main force of Thessaly had returned.

At this time, more than half a month has passed since the landing army captured Philae and forced the surrender of Fasalus. As the main power of Thessaly has been controlled by the Dionian army, the landing army continued to divide its forces and grab the land. The city-states of Surrey either surrendered or were conquered, so during this time the Dionian army basically conquered the southern and northern plains of Thessaly.

The army is advancing vigorously, and the officials under the leadership of Shiros, the chief executive of Thessaly, are also working intensely.While promising to give benefits to civilians, it also wins over celebrities from various city-states. In addition, they are all born in Thessaly. Many people in Thessaly begin to accept them, so there is a saying that soon in Thessaly. It has spread: King Dionia is a Sesari and is a descendant of Hades, the king of Hades. Compared with the tyrant Jason, he is more capable of protecting Sesali and more suitable to serve as Sesari Tagus. ...

At the same time, the legend of "Daves creating the Kingdom of Dionian and the rapid rise of the Kingdom of Dionian" began to spread among the people of Thessaly.

After receiving the news from Efiart, Patroclus was prepared. He immediately asked Shiros, who had handled the entire Thessaly affairs in Philae, to help him, and summoned the various Thessaly who had returned to the Kingdom of Dionia. The prestigious council members of the city-state then clearly told them: Jason is leading the army to return, and Dionia is preparing to gather the 100,000 army in Thessaly and defeat it completely.

Many of the councillors of these Sesari city-states have witnessed the huge army of Dionia and their terrible combat effectiveness. Although the number of troops led by Jason is also large, most of them do not think Jason In the end can win.They are very worried about this.