ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1188 Military meeting of the First Fleet

The distinguished commander of the First Fleet put his hands on his hips, looked at the squadron commanders under his command, and said in a deep voice: "The day before yesterday, we received a letter from Prince Clotokatax. Their situation is not good, the Greek city-states are preparing to quietly unite against us Dionia!

If the land army cannot defeat Sparta as soon as possible, it is likely that it will fall into the siege of the Greeks. But now that Sparta has received assistance from Persia, its strength has increased, and the young prince does not dare to launch a rash attack. , so he wrote to us for help.

Now that the main force of the Spartans has been attracted to Tegea, the defensive power in its territory has been greatly weakened. It is the final moment for our 1st Fleet to re-land on the Spartan coast, capture Sparta, and create the great glory of our navy. Great time!Let you go back and think about it for a day yesterday, how is it?Have you figured out a good idea? ! "

As soon as he finished speaking, the first fleet infantry commander Sephidorus stood up and said decisively: "Sir, I have a way to successfully land our fleet infantry and avenge the brothers who died last time!"

"Come and tell me!" Sekerian looked at his fleet infantry commander with a pleased expression, glad that his fighting spirit had not weakened because of the last failure.

"I think there are several reasons for the failure of the last landing." Cepheidorus said with a bit of regret in his low tone: "First of all, we underestimated the enemy. Although the Spartans suffered consecutive failures, they It also has a certain strength. We all saw that day that Sparta had at least 5000 infantry in battle. Our fleet infantry is equipped with light armor. How could it be possible to confront it head-on! According to the letter just sent by the Army, Sparta has at least 6000 soldiers leaving the territory to go to Tegea, most of them are heavy infantry, so that we will face much less offensive pressure when we land next time;

Secondly, the Spartans built a lot of wooden piles near the coast, which made it impossible for our warships to get close to the coast. We could only land troops by small boats. The entire fleet, including clippers, was less than 100 ships. Each ship can carry up to 20 troops, and it is impossible to transport a large number of soldiers to the coast at one time.When our fleet infantry could only land on the coast in loose formations, the Spartans had already formed a dense phalanx to attack the soldiers who landed on the beach, and quickly defeated us.

As far as I know, each squadron is collecting cargo ships from everywhere these days. It is said that the number has exceeded 200, which has greatly improved our ability to project troops to the coast at one time.

In addition, our fleet infantry also figured out a way. They can disembark far from the coast in a place where the water is still deep, and then wait in place until the second and third batches of troop-carrying boats arrive to join their comrades. After we meet up and assemble into a phalanx, we will march to the coast together—"

"But what if the Spartans attack while our soldiers are still waiting?" A squadron commander asked: "And if the soldiers stand in the sea for a long time, they will consume a lot of energy in vain. "

Sephadorus smiled confidently: "All the infantry in my fleet are good swimmers and good at fighting in sea water. I wish for the Spartans to go to sea to fight. As for standing in sea water for a long time, they will indeed Losing some stamina, but that's better than launching an attack in a hurry without having a large number of people in formation.

Also, last time we were not familiar with the sea conditions in the Gulf of Laconia. During the landing operation, the wind and waves suddenly became stronger. The ballistas on the warships could not aim accurately, so we did not provide good help to the fleet infantry. I believe such a bad situation will not happen again this time. "

Sekerian listened carefully, and when he saw that Sephidorus suddenly stopped talking, he asked in a hurry: "Is that all?"

Sephidorus straightened his chest and said loudly: "Of course it's more than that. This time to attack Sparta, I suggest that you change your strategy. It would be best to adopt the strategy used by His Majesty Davos in the Battle of the Trionto River. The strategy adopted was to first send a small group of soldiers across the river, and then attack together with the larger force."

"The Battle of Trionto River?" Sekerian thought about it carefully, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately asked: "Are there any specific measures?"

"In the past few days, I have taken a boat to carefully survey the entire coast of Sparta's territory." Sephidorus pointed to the simplified map of Sparta's sea area drawn on the wooden table and said in a deep voice: "The center is Sparta. The focus of human defense is also the focus of our fleet infantry attack.

The western promontory is an extension of the Taygetos Mountains and there is no place for landing, but the Spartans still did not relax their vigilance there because they had to guard against a sneak attack by our troops in Messenia.

The headland to the east is an extension of the Parnon Mountains. It is narrower and longer than the one to the west. There is also no place for the fleet to dock, but Spartans are rarely patrolled here. Now the Spartans The main force has been transferred to Tegea, and they do not have enough manpower to defend the east...

I have taken a fancy to several places. We can choose soldiers who are good at climbing to swim from the boat, climb over the rocks, climb the cliff, and then lower the rope for the following soldiers to climb to the promontory... I think there are high mountains and dense forests. It is enough to hide two to three hundred soldiers in a short period of time without being discovered. When our main force attacks from the front on the second day, they will attack from the side and rear of the Spartans, and they will definitely be able to defeat the Spartans! ..."

"I think this method is very good and can be implemented!" After hearing this, Sekerian immediately expressed his support excitedly: "We will make a new landing plan according to the suggestions made by Sephidorus. Everyone has proposed Make suggestions and improve it. We will succeed in the next landing operation!"

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Xenophon was old and didn't get that much sleep, so he woke up early.

After washing and eating the breakfast specially prepared by his servants, he left the mansion of Agesilaus.

It was just dawn, and there were already scattered candlelights in the city of Sparta. At this time in the past, there would have been many black laborers on the streets carrying farm tools and rushing to work in the fields. However, at this time, there were no pedestrians. The rare and occasional barking sounds are particularly clear in this silent town.

But when Xenophon walked on this quiet street, he encountered three times of interrogation by heavily armed Spartan warriors who came out of nowhere. Xenophon responded by going out for morning exercises.

The Spartans built their country by force, were proud of their physical fitness, and were ashamed of being fat. Therefore, Spartan citizens received training from childhood and continued to exercise according to their own habits when they were old. This is almost a tradition.Although Xenophon was not a Spartan citizen, he had lived in Spartan territory for decades, and his living habits had become the same as those of the Spartans.

In addition, he was not only the hero of two expeditions to Persia, but also participated in many wars between Sparta and other Greek city-states, and made countless meritorious deeds.He also wrote books, and every line of his words was filled with praise for Sparta's political system and traditions. Therefore, he was a distinguished guest of Sparta and enjoyed considerable popularity among Spartan citizens.Moreover, this time Sparta faced a crisis, he took the initiative to stay in Sparta and was willing to fight with the Spartans, which made the people grateful. Therefore, the Spartan soldiers on duty not only did not make things difficult for him, but all of them Kindly remind him to pay attention to safety during morning exercises and not to go too far from the city to avoid accidents.

Strictly speaking, the city of Sparta is not a city. Although there are many temples and houses and a large population, it has no city walls. The houses are denser toward the center, and the houses are sparse toward the periphery. When you see the east When one piece of farmland comes to the west, it means that Xenophon has left the city.

Xenophon walked quickly south along the road on the east bank of the Eurotas River. More than three hours later, the sky was already bright. With his legs sore, he saw countless tents in front of him, and he knew that he had arrived at his destination.

When the Spartans learned that "the Dionian army invaded Messenia by sea", under the advice of Agesilaus, they put the focus of defense on the coast and established a They set up a camp and placed the main force of the mobilized army here. At the same time, they also organized a large number of Piliasians and Helots to work with the soldiers to drive wooden stakes and build watchtowers offshore... It is precisely because of this After a series of decisive measures, the Spartan army successfully defeated a Dionian landing.

This seaside camp has no walls or trenches, because it is only for the soldiers to rest and be ready to fight at any time, and it is not intended to be a solid fortress. Once the Dionians land Success, the Spartan soldiers stationed in the camp is meaningless, because everyone knows that the city of Sparta has no walls, and the Dionian army can completely bypass the camp and attack the city of Sparta, which will be a disaster for Sparta .Therefore, instead of fortifying the camp, time should be spent on facilities to prevent the Dionian fleet from landing.

Xenophon saw twos and threes of Spartan warriors lying outside the tent basking in the sun, and some people gathered together, happily playing a unique Spartan ball game...

Seeing this situation, Xenophon was temporarily relieved: The reason why the Spartan warriors dared to relax like this is that it seems that there has not been any enemy situation so far today. You must know that the warships of Dionia had a large-scale attack yesterday. Approaching the offshore, the army in the camp prepared for war urgently. Perhaps seeing that the Spartans were heavily guarded, the Dionian warships finally left after a long stalemate in the offshore.

　Thanks to Yeyu Linling for the tip!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)