Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

It is not because of their sympathy for Jason’s impending defeat. Although the tyrant of Philae is not too cruel, he does not lack bloody means in the process of conquering the entire Thessaly and becoming Targus. Although afterwards, with the assistance of Asidamas and others, the integration and governance of the city-states of Thessaly gradually became softer, but only a few years have passed, and everyone's memory has not faded.

These Thessaly city-state councillors were worried that the coming war would cause considerable casualties to the citizens of their own city-state in the Jason army, so they asked Patroclus to persuade Jason. Citizen soldiers in Song's army came and landed.

Patroclus achieved his goal, but he did not let these people set off to the hot springs gate immediately. Instead, he first called an emergency military meeting. The three military commanders, including himself, Matonis and Lizaru, participated in the meeting. Officials, and Shiros, the chief executive of Thessaly region. After some consultations, the four finally reached an agreement:

Matonis led the 5th, 9th, and 1st Cavalry Corps of the Second Army to temporarily garrison Sesali with nearly 26,000 people to continue to stabilize the order in this newly conquered area, prevent turbulence and repetition, and be vigilant in the West The people of Epirus in the mountainous area, because it is said that Alkaitas, a king of Epirus, has a close relationship with Jason, it is likely to help him.In addition, Matonis will also assist Hiros to protect the upcoming wheat harvest in Thessaly area and provide protection for the subsequent delivery of military rations.

And Patroclus and Lizaru will lead the rest of the troops, a total of more than 40,000 soldiers will immediately go south (Patroclus has a lot of water on what the Sesari people said, at this time in the territory of Thessaly The Dionian army does not have 100,000 people, because it is necessary to exclude the nearly 20,000 infantrymen of the Dionian Navy and the 12th Army in the defense of Lamia). After solving the hidden danger of Jason, enter the army. Greece.

For these generals of the kingdom, it is undoubtedly a great honor to be able to lead the army into Central Greece and finally conquer Athens, and to wash away the shame that has always been denounced as barbaric by the Greeks headed by Athens.The reason why Matonis agreed to stay was due to the persuasion of Hiros on the one hand, and on the other hand, as a Sesari, he was also willing to contribute a little to his hometown from the bottom of his heart.

Solving the problem of staying behind Sesali's candidate, Patroclus led the army across the southern mountains and into the Lamia area vigorously, and then the previous scene appeared.

These Sesari councillors were all celebrities in their respective city-states. The Sesari soldiers quickly recognized them and immediately scrambled to ask them about their home states.

When Jason heard the news, the news that "Dionia’s 100,000 troops landed in Thessaly has already conquered all the city-states, and the people of all the city-states are eager for the citizens to return home safely." The news spread quickly among the soldiers. , Had a great impact on the morale of the army.Citizen soldiers from various city-states gathered around the councillors of their own city-state one after another, eagerly discussing the matter of going home, and the whole army has begun to show a tendency to fall apart.

The frustrated Jason sent mercenaries on the grounds that "these congressmen surrendered Dionia and are traitors to Thessaly", prepared to arrest them, and wanted to isolate them from the citizens before going. To appease the soldiers of the army, but the arrest of the mercenaries aroused resistance from the citizens and even triggered small-scale conflicts.

Seeing that the riot may gradually evolve into a civil war, Jason had to withdraw the mercenaries urgently. Looking at the angry faces, he felt that he had lost control of these civilian soldiers. He was unwilling to do so. Walking into the citizen soldiers alone, he loudly assured them that he did not intend to harm these Senators of Sesali, as long as he wanted to learn the true situation of Sesali from them.

In the end, several congressmen who had a good relationship with him told him a series of things that had happened in Sesali during this period in front of many citizen soldiers, and also answered his various questions seriously.

During the whole process, the surrounding civilian soldiers gradually showed more sympathy in their guard eyes when they looked at Jason, but Jason’s face became more and more ugly. Finally, he walked out of the crowd with a gloomy face and turned on his horse. After looking at the turbulent citizen soldiers and the congressmen who caused this terrible scene, they turned their horses around and left here surrounded by mercenaries.

On the way back to the rear camp, Jason never said a word. However, as soon as he entered the camp, he suddenly fell off his horse, vomiting blood, and fell into a coma. Under the rescue of a military doctor, his condition improved slightly. .

The guards guarding the big tent that night heard Jason’s muttering: "Dorus, my good brother!... Asidamas, I'm sorry!... Polifuron, You devil!... Damn Dionia, you ruined everything about me!... Dorus, my good brother..."

Throughout the night, Jason's sorrowful self-talk never stopped.

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The arrival of the councillors of the city-states of Thessaly completely disintegrated Jason’s army. In just one day, the citizens who were eager to go home followed the requirements of the Dionian camp, put down their weapons and lined up. They passed the camp and the hot spring pass in an orderly manner, and then they saw thousands of Dionian soldiers spreading across the depressions of the Lamia Plain. Not only did they completely believe the congressmen’s words, but they also had some luck in their hearts. Swept away.

The citizen soldiers of Thessaly left Jason. Seeing that the situation is not good, the native mountain soldiers who were recruited by Jason will naturally not be able to fight for Jason anymore, but most fighters are unwilling to let go of their hands. Weapons, so they chose to cross the mountains and travel long distances to return to their hometown. Of course, this would be very risky.

There are only nearly 8,000 mercenaries (after he was in Targus, Jason once increased the number of mercenaries to tens of thousands. This time he fought in the Peloponnese and left 3,000 mercenaries to Pori. Commanded by Dorus and garrisoned at Thessaly) In return for Jason’s care and trust in them over the years, he was still loyal to him. When the army was falling apart and the situation was critical, they quickly gathered and guarded the incomplete Sober Jason retreated south.

The sentry sent by Wenquanguan Barracks quickly reported the news to Patroclus, the commander-in-chief who had come to Lamia.

The news that Jason’s army collapsed without a fight made Patroclus very excited. He issued an order: The Thirteenth Army escorted these 20,000 unarmed citizens to return safely to Thessaly.The remaining Legionnaires seized the time to rest and march into Central Greece tomorrow morning.

On this day in early September, Patroclus led an army of 40,000 through the hot spring pass. The soldiers lined up in neat columns, sang "Song of the Legion" vigorously, and went south along the coastal road. After many miles, the troops turned to the south and began to trek through the low mountains and hills. Without any hindrance, they entered the plains of the Phokis region in the morning of the second day.

The Phokes farmers who were harvesting in the wheat fields panicked and hid in the town, but the Dionian army neither attacked the towns of Phokes, nor did they wreak havoc on the farmland and villages outside the city. The whole army kept going. Continue to march south, and apart from thanking the gods for their blessings and making them escape, the fragile city-states of Phokis did not dare to send troops to stop the march of Dionia.

In the afternoon, the cavalry regiment, which was the vanguard, had entered the area of ​​Piotsia and approached Caronia, the westernmost city of Piotsia.

The Caronian people felt very nervous when facing the black and oppressed Dionian cavalry under the city.But the Diorian envoy who entered the city gave them a reassurance: Thebes is an ally of Dionia, and Caronia is an ally of Thebes, so long as Caronia is not against the Diorian army. Taking any hostile actions, the Dionian army will not cause any damage to the Caronian region.

The Caronian people relaxed and said: Dionia is the alliance of Thebes, and of course it is also the alliance of Caronia. Caronia will do its best to help allies.

After receiving a satisfactory answer, the Cavalry Corps did not stay longer, and continued to travel south, obtaining similar promises from the city-states of Piotia one by one. The road from Caronia to Bis is smooth. Although the cavalry corps was walking and resting, it still arrived under Thebes at noon on the second day.

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In this war between Dionia and the Greek Alliance, Thebes and the Piotsia Alliance remained basically neutral, but they have also been watching the battle on the Peloponnese Peninsula. For Ipamirunda For the top leaders of Thebes, such as Pelopidas, they are most worried about the victory of the Greek League, because that means that the prestige of Athens and Thessari will increase greatly. Once the two major forces of the East and the North vacate their hands to share It would be a huge trouble for Thebes to calculate old accounts.Therefore, even though Thebes had to provide some help at the request of the Greek Alliance, such as providing the port of Chleusis, they still hope that Dionian will win. It is just that the Dionian army is in the current situation. The disadvantage makes them a little anxious.

However, Ipamilunda often comforted his colleagues: he firmly believed that the advantages of the Greek coalition forces improvised by the city-states could not be lasting, and the powerful Kingdom of Dionia would surely fight back.