Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Since there is not enough time to build a complete defensive camp, the Athenian army relies more on its condescending geographical advantage to defend, but whether it is Lucanians, Samonais, or Gauls are fierce mountain races , Fighting in the mountains is their strength, not to mention that they now have Dionian high-quality armor and weapons as their backing, and the number is still dominant. After fighting for most of the day, they broke the line of defense.

In particular, the hideous appearance of the Gauls holding large swords and slashing fiercely made the Athenian soldiers terrified. They couldn't help preaching the terrible enemy army during the rout, which caused the people in Fili, a town not far from Mount Parnitha, to be frightened. Bad, they flee with the defeated soldiers with their family and their mouths, so that the army led by Lizaru successfully occupied the town, and then continued south, and soon encircled another small town, Megalo Uno.

The people of this small town had no time to escape and had to make a desperate resistance. Megalo Uno’s resistance was not in vain. They bought some time for the Athenian soldiers and mercenaries defending in the south, especially Jason. These mercenaries have rich combat experience. Seeing the great power of the Dionian army, they have no hope of Athens’ plan to defend against the enemy outside the country. They have long been thinking of "retreat as soon as there is a storm". This made Patroclus’s plan of “containing in the south and attacking from the north, once the defense line is breached, the army will quickly move south and encircle the enemy in the south defense line” plan cannot be fully realized, but in the end more than 1,000 escaped mercenaries were captured. .

Iphikratus led more than 10,000 soldiers along the coastline and finally entered the city of Athens more smoothly when the Athens border defense line collapsed.

Before he was cleaned up, he ran into the Athens City Hall eagerly. The 9 generals in the room who were discussing urgently saw his arrival and immediately surrounded him like a long drought and the nectar, the first sentence they asked Both: "How many soldiers did you bring back Efekratus?"

"16,000 soldiers."

"Why is that so little force?" Callistratus looked stunned. He thought: Even if Thessaari army leaves, Iphikratus will be able to bring back at least thirty or forty thousand troops, because as far as he knows When the Greek coalition was at its peak, it used to be as high as 100,000 (some city-states in Arcadia and Alice were close to the battlefield, and there were a large number of citizens who participated in the war as an aid, but they did not have much combat effectiveness).

Iphikratus seriously gave a brief account of the battle in Peloponnese.

After listening, everyone looked frustrated, and some even couldn't help but say: "It's over...Athens is over..."

"The Ellis, the Arcadians, the Phokiss, the Rocris... They are simply stupid! They should understand that it's all about this time. There is no point in going home busy, only to unite and defeat Only Dionia, a powerful enemy, can guarantee the safety of his city-state!" Someone said angrily.

"Oh...When the danger really comes, these narrow-eyed city-state citizens can only see the dangers of their own home state, how can they be able to fight against the enemy and fight together! After all, the Greek Alliance is just a hastily formed alliance. , It is destined to be impossible for long!" Kallistatus sighed helplessly.

Everyone was silent.

At this time, Efekratus had the opportunity to ask: "By the way, when I entered the city just now, I saw some rout soldiers yelling and saying that they were defeated, which caused the city to panic. So what happened?!"

Kalisstratus told Iphikratus with a heavy heart that "the Greek army was defending at the border and suffered a crushing defeat."

This veteran of Greece, who has always been calm and wise on the battlefield, yelled angrily after listening: "You all know that the incoming Dionian army is large in number and powerful, so why do you want to take our few youths? The middle-aged citizen sent to the city to die! Who is it?! Who made this stupid suggestion?!"

Effekrantes' eyes widened and glared at everyone, some people lowered their heads unconsciously.

Karalistratus stepped forward and said in a deep voice: "It is our common decision, but it is also the request of the people! When the remnants of Thessaly fled into Athens, we knew that the Dionian army was in the north. It will soon be attacked, and Kabrias has made a suggestion, "Hurry up and inform the people of the Attica area to avoid the city, rely on the wall to defend against the attack by the Dionian army, and wait for your army to return before you counterattack. ...'

We all agreed with this decision at the time, but..." A trace of shame flashed in Calistratus' eyes: "But in the subsequent citizens' assembly, most of the citizens disagreed. They refused to abandon themselves without resistance. The homeland of the Dionians was left to trample and trample... You know, during the Peloponnesian War, the entire Attica region, except Athens, was almost destroyed by the Spartan forces into ruins. The citizens didn’t want to Let this tragedy happen again...

That’s why we formulated such a plan to set up a line of defense on the western border, first block the Dionian army for a period of time, and wait for your army to return, then find a chance to fight back...Who knew that the Dionian army came so fast, The offense is so fierce...Ah..."

After Kallistatus finished speaking, the other generals couldn't help shaking their heads and sighing.

Efekratus looked at them, who was evasive, and he knew that what Callistratus said was not entirely true, but at the moment it was meaningless to care about these. He breathed out a few breaths and made his mood a little bit different. He calmed down, and then asked, "What about now? What are your plans now?!"

Callistratus said in a deep voice: "While the Dionian army is still far from the city of Athens, we have sent people to notify the villages and towns of Attica so that the people will immediately enter the city for refuge! We have decided to rely on the walls first. Defend against Dionia's offensive, and wait until you lead the army back to find a chance to counterattack, but I didn't expect...you will bring back so few troops..."

Seeing the unconcealed disappointment on Calistratus’ face, Iphikratus said with an unprecedented solemn expression: “From the perspective of my battle with the Dionian army during this period, it is indeed as rumored. As mentioned in the article, the Dionian army is very powerful and has a large number of soldiers. In addition to the Dionian army that has entered Attica, there are also tens of thousands of Dionian troops under the city of Corinth. According to my judgment, Corinth may fall soon, and the two armies will converge... It is impossible for us to defeat such a powerful Dionia on our own, unless Persia sends an army to support—"

"Don't have expectations of Persia!" a general exclaimed angrily: "The Persians deceived us. They won't give us any support at all. The Persian envoy ran away!"

Efekratus was shocked, and hurriedly looked at Calistratus.

The chief general nodded painfully: "The King of Persia has led the army to attack Egypt, and there is no spare capacity to take care of us... We are fooled..."

Ifekrates slumped down on a wooden chair. He had served as a commander in the last Persian war against Egypt. He knew very well that Persia would do its best to launch a war against Egypt, and it was not a short one. It can be over in just a few months.

At this time, El Mijian’s Agul Rios said loudly: “During the Peloponnesian War, the citizens of Athens relied on the defense of the city wall to hold on for decades and were not attacked by the Allied Spartans. We today It can certainly be done! The number of Dionian troops is indeed huge, but because of their size, they will consume a lot of materials. Can the Dionians sustain such a huge consumption for a long time?!"

His words refreshed the spirits of some people. Cabrias, who has been in charge of the navy, finally couldn’t help but reminded: “The reason why we were not afraid of the siege of the Spartan forces was because we controlled the sea and the people urgently needed it. The Spartan’s materials can be transported in by merchant ships at any time, but the Spartan army has nothing to do with it. But now, Dionia is not only a powerful army, but also a powerful navy. During this time, their fleet patrols around the Salong Bay every day. The interception of incoming and outgoing merchant ships has already had a great impact on our maritime trade!

Our warships ventured out many times, and both sides had casualties, but our warships were too few, and in the case of unable to obtain the wood from the outside, we could not build new ships (the Attica area had very few forests), and we would only fight more and more. The less, when the Dionian fleet completely blockades our port, where do we get enough food to meet the needs of the entire Athenian people!"

Agul Rios was speechless for a while when he saw someone rushing in. He sternly asked, "What's the matter?"

"General Agul Rios, generals, the Dionian army has landed in Aegina, and I beg you to send your troops to rescue!"

"What?! Aegina was attacked!" The generals were taken aback, and Cabrias asked urgently: "When did this happen?!"

"According to the person reporting from Aegina...probably...about two hours ago, the Dionian fleet suddenly blocked the port of Aegina, and there were tens of thousands of Dionian soldiers on the island of Aegina. The beach at the southwest corner landed and attacked the city of Aegina...The garrison on the island has not seen our reinforcements, and the situation is very critical. The warships stationed at the port have to venture out of the port. It broke through the blockade of the Dionian fleet and came to report—"

"What about our patrol ship? Why didn't we find the report in time?!" Callistratus asked angrily.