Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Ipamironda's words came true.If the thousands of soldiers sent from Athens did not go to reinforce the Greek allied forces in the Peloponnese, but went to Phokes, only to make the Thebes feel suspicious, then the Thessaly army would leave after a few days. The Greek coalition forces hurriedly landed in Port Chleusis, and desperately marched northward, which thoroughly proved that the news they had heard from the Phokes population was true-Dionia sent troops to Thessaly!

This is indeed beyond the expectations of Ipamirunda. In his vision, Dionia may first use the defense to exhaust the Greek coalition forces, and then increase troops to the Peloponnese, thus regaining the disadvantage.He really did not expect that Dionia would send a huge fleet around the Greek mainland and land tens of thousands of soldiers in Thessaly, far away from the battlefield. This is an extremely splendid military operation, how ambitious it is. The boldness!

When Ipamirunda learned of the news, he couldn't help but screamed and fascinated, but he also knew very well: dare to formulate such an extraordinary military plan and put it into action, with the support of powerful national and military forces behind it. The Piosha Alliance led by Thebes simply couldn't do it.

However, even if Dionian troops raided Thessaly, the high-level Thebes did not dare to conclude that Dionian had an absolute advantage. After all, the land in Thessaly area was vast and populous, and it was not so easy to conquer. Jason is leading his army back, and the slightest negligence of the Dionian landing army is in danger of defeat.

The high level of Thebes’ concerns about the Dionian landing troops did not last long, and Jason’s troops retreated from the north and fled into Athens embarrassedly.

Dionia landed an army of 100,000 and conquered Thessaly within half a month. Thessaly army collapsed without fighting. Jason was seriously injured... News from the mercenaries hit every The brains of the high-level Thebes left them stunned, including Ipamirunda, who was once again shocked by the courage of King Dionia and the strength of Dionia.

At this time, every high-level Thebes realized that Dionia’s landing army would soon go south, and the defeat of the Greek coalition forces was set. In the face of such a general trend, Thebes could no longer remain neutral and must make a decision as soon as possible. , Before the end of this war, to ensure the safety of the Piosha Alliance, and to gain benefits for Thebes.

Therefore, when the Dionian Cavalry Army rushed down to the city of Debes, the Council of Thebes had passed a resolution and agreed without hesitation to all the requirements of the Dionian army: first, allow Dionia The army passed through the Piotja area safely and smoothly, and can be stationed in any area within the territory; secondly, some rations were lent to the Dionian army (the soldiers led by Patroclus only carried rations for 5 days and entered the After Greece, the rapid southward advance, the rations could not be supplied for a while); third, the port of Dion was opened to the Dionian fleet (Drian is a city-state on the northeast coast of the Piotia region and is part of the Piotia Union One of the few port towns, not far from Olympus, which calls in Athens. Once it opens to Oria, the grain ship from Philae can directly pass through the sea between Euboea and Central Greece The waterway, to the port of Drian to unload, the food supply of the Dionian army becomes extremely convenient).

Even Thebes offered to immediately take back the Port of Chleusis occupied by the Greek Alliance and hand it over to Dionia for free.And Thebes is willing to fulfill the military alliance treaty signed with Dionian, sending troops to fight alongside the Dionian army.

After Patroclus learned that the Thebes not only readily agreed to his request, but also willing to actively cooperate in the fight, although he despised the speculative practices of the Thebes, the benefits should not be for nothing. , He readily agreed to Thebes' request.

So on the fourth day of entering Central Greece, the 40,000 Dionian army joined the urgently formed 5,000 Thebes soldiers near Thebes.

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The news that Athens learned that the "Dionia Landing Army was about to go south" was not first told by the Jason mercenaries who fled to Athens.Since learning that the Dionian army has landed in Thessaly, in order to be prepared, Athens has sent some merchant ships to the Gulf of Mariakos every day to investigate the enemy.

Why choose only Mariakos Bay?This is because the Pagasa Bay, which belongs to Thessaly, is too closed and can be easily spotted by the patrolling Dionian warships. There are many ships near Mariakos Bay, mainly from the Euboea city-state. The city-states of the city, the city-state of Locris, and the city-state of Lamia (after Lamia returned to Dionian, the Dionian army allowed it to reopen the port), and the Athens merchant ships were mixed in, making it easy to hide.

After Patroclus led the army into the Lamia region, the merchant ship sent by Athens discovered this situation. They quickly reported the news to the General Executive Committee. After discussion, Callistratos and others believed that: Azong led the Sesali army still working hard to break through the hot spring pass, but the Dionians increased their troops to Lamia. Does this mean that they have conquered Sesali?Although the possibility is unlikely, Athens must also prepare in advance.

Therefore, the General Executive Committee quickly sent a messenger to inform Iphikratus in Peloponnese to lead the army back to Attica as soon as possible.

The action taken by Athens predates the entry of the Dionian army into Central Greece by two days.

After the departure of Thessaly’s army, the Greek coalition forces stayed in Leprion’s camp for the first few days, even though the Dionian army (the First Army) stormed into Arcadia to relieve Mandinia, and even went north. Threatening Corinth, Efekratus remained unmoved and was busy in the camp to appease the generals of the city-states and stabilize the military.

It wasn't until he felt that the situation had improved before he began to lead his troops towards the Dionia camp on the northern border of Messenia, but only made some tentative offensives instead of violent fights.

Ifekrates knew very well: The departure of Thessaly's army no longer had the advantage of the Greek coalition forces, and the Dionians focused on defense. The coalition forces had no meaning in fighting here, and instead consumed their troops.But he couldn't stop fighting or lead his army to leave, because that would mean admitting defeat, and I am afraid that some city-state leaders who had complained would leave, and the entire Greek coalition forces would face disintegration. If they want to regroup, It is undoubtedly more difficult, not to mention that there is a Dionian army staring at him.

Through this period of battle, Iphikratus has realized that Dionia is an extremely difficult opponent, and this powerful opponent who has been defending has not exerted his full strength so far. He is very disturbed, but now it is difficult to ride a tiger. , Had to do everything possible to maintain the integrity of the Greek coalition forces.On the one hand, he hoped that Jason would smoothly drive off Dionian’s landing army and lead his army back to Peloponnese as soon as possible to join the coalition forces; on the other hand, he hoped that the great assistance promised by Persia could come as soon as possible to strengthen the Greek coalition forces. The forces of...Of course, he still has a vague idea in his mind, that is, to negotiate a peace with Dionia while the Greek coalition forces still occupy the advantage.

However, Athens finally got out of the shadow of the defeat of the Peloponnese, and its national strength gradually recovered. Now Sparta is in decline. Many Greek city-states (including those in the Peloponnese) have joined the Greek alliance headed by Athens. Here comes the best time to become the hegemon of Greece again. If you negotiate with Dionia at this time, with Dionia’s strength, Athens will definitely lose some benefits. This will not only cause dissatisfaction with other Greek city-states, and lead to the Greek alliance. The disintegration will also trigger public protests, so Ifekratus can only think about it in his heart.

Just when he encouraged to maintain the integrity of the Greek coalition forces, he received the news from Athens, and immediately magnified the anxiety in his heart, which was different from Callistratus and the others, who were on the battlefield. Has a more keen intuition: Although it is unlikely that the Dionian army will conquer Thessaly in such a short time, what if they dare to increase troops to Lamia because they really conquered Thessaly? ?!Then Jason’s army is in danger of a rapid collapse. Without his army to stop him from the north, Dionian’s landing army would quickly go south, and Athens would be in danger!

And the messenger from Athens who rushed to the barracks also told a piece of news: when he passed the isthmus, he saw a warship of Dionia appearing in the Corinth Gulf.

Ifekratus was surprised again, because since the Dionian army invaded the Peloponnese, they had not sent warships into the Gulf of Corinth, so Ifekratus dared to suggest that Iasson travel by The ship went north, and now it seems that the Dionians are very likely to expect Jason to return as soon as possible. This is a conspiracy!

Thinking of this, Efekrates was shocked in a cold sweat, and he immediately sent his men to convey an order to the Greek coalition forces: gather the whole army and retreat to Corinth!

As soon as this order came out, it immediately drew questions from many Greek city-state generals.

No matter who asked, Iphikrates always answered: the Thessaly army led by Jason was not in a good situation in Lamia. The landing force north of Dionia is likely to go south, and the Greek coalition needs to return. Prevent the isthmus to take into account the security of China and Greece.

What Efekratus said was reasonable, but many city-state generals did not think so. They tried to persuade him again and again. Seeing that Efekratus still insisted, the commanding generals from Alice angrily expressed that they would part ways. Because once the army withdrew to Corinth in the northeastern corner of the Peloponnese, it would be far away from Ellis in the northwest corner, and there were mountains in the middle. Now the main force of the Dionian army in the south is in the United States. Senia’s northern border is very close to the Alice area. If it attacks Alice, the Greek coalition forces in Corinth will not be able to rescue it.

Not only the generals of Alice, but also the generals of the Arcadian Alliance city-states also expressed similar wishes, but the words were more euphemistic.After all, the Arcadia region is also adjacent to Messenia and Lagnia controlled by Dionia. Once the Greek coalition forces leave, Dionian counterattacks, the first to suffer is the Arcadian alliance city-states. What's more, the Arcadian Alliance has betrayed the covenant before, and it will definitely be retaliated by Dionia.