ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1203 Forming the Greek Coalition Army
"There is no other way. Only by uniting the entire western Asia Minor can we have enough strength to fight against that king!" Aliobazenis said in a deep voice: "Stridatus is a cautious man. Since he Dare to take the initiative, which shows that he is very confident in convincing other governors and can keep secrets."

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After the Dionian army occupied the Spartan territory, the remaining Greek city-states led by Athens were actively organizing coalition forces to prepare to confront it.

At the same time, the Dionysian Ministry of Military Affairs conveyed the order of King Davos to Leoticides, asking him to gather the Eighth Army and the No. 15 Army in Lilibaba (the military camp is in Syracuse, The troops come from the Syracuse area), the No. 16 Corps (the military camp is in Agrigento, the troops come from the south coast of Sicily), and the No. 17 Corps (the military camp is in Lilibi, the troops come from the western region of Sicily). The Legion, the Fourth Cavalry Legion, and the Numibian Light Cavalry Legion waited until the transport fleet arrived and immediately headed for Egypt.

At the same time, another order from the Ministry of Military Affairs was sent to Midorades, asking him to lead the 2nd Fleet to prepare to escort the army on the expedition to Egypt.

In addition, King Daves also issued an order to the Phoenician allies headed by Carthage along the African coast, asking them to immediately form a large number of transport fleets to transport the Dionysian army gathered in Lilybi to Egypt. .

At the same time, the Ministry of Military Affairs transferred Patroclus, the former commander of the No. 14 Legion and current commander of the northern border, who was still quelling the Ligurian riots, back to Torii, and Hasdrubal replaced him.

At the same time, the Ministry of Military Affairs also issued an order to the military camps in various regions: except for the expedition to the Peloponnese and the legions about to go to Egypt, all the remaining troops in the kingdom began to assemble.In addition, it was also specifically proposed that the Po River area must provide 6000 warriors and 2000 Gallic cavalry.

In addition, the Ministry of Military Affairs also transferred the 3rd Fleet, which is responsible for the security of the kingdom’s west coast, to Brindisi to make preliminary preparations.

Although the issuance of these orders means that there will be a large military operation, what the military camps announced is that they will conduct joint training for the entire army. Since such military training occurs at least once in two months, people everywhere I didn't feel anything strange.

However, the main officials of various departments in the Kingdom of Dionia in Thurii have begun to be busy preparing for the next war.

There is still a peaceful scene in Dionia on the surface, but there are already clouds of war in mainland Greece.

In June, Jason of Thessaly led nearly 6 infantry and 4 cavalry across Thermopylae and entered Central Greece.

Although he declared in a high-profile manner that "this time he led the army to help the Greeks in the south and repel the invading aliens." However, the people of Central Greece still felt nervous, and people from various city-states hid in the city, closed the city gates, and stepped up vigilance.

Jason kept his word, and he tried his best to restrain the troops. Although there were still some incidents of soldiers looting property from villages outside the city, overall the military discipline of his troops was pretty good, which greatly relieved the top brass of the city-states. .

After entering the Boeotian region, Jason sent an envoy into the city of Thebes and made a request to the council: The Thessalian army wanted to establish a longer-term camp in Thebes.

The Theban senior officials, headed by Pelopidas and Ipamilonda, argued tactfully: Thessaly and Dionia are both allies of Thebes and have provided huge help to Thebes. Precisely because In this way, Thebes has to remain neutral to avoid hurting the friendship of a certain party. If it agrees to Thessaly's request, it may cause Dionysia to misunderstand and mistakenly think that Thebes has joined the anti-Dionysia. Asian League, so they had to say no.

Jason made this request just to test the attitude of the Thebans, so when he received a rejection, he did not feel angry. Instead, he patiently asked the returning messenger about the attitude and attitude of everyone in the Theban Council at that time. The reaction gave me peace of mind.

A few days later, the Thessalian army arrived at the northwest border of Attica in Athens and built a camp near Orops, a Boeotian city-state that had a close relationship with Athens. This was discussed with Athens in advance, because Oropus The port of Sri Lanka is not small, and the sea distance from Philae is very close, making it convenient for transporting supplies and soldiers.

The top leaders of Athens, headed by Callistratus, warmly welcomed the arrival of the Thessalian army led by Jason, and one day later a military meeting of the Greek Alliance was held in Megara on the Isthmus of Corinth to join the city-states of the alliance. The generals expressed their opinions one after another.

Many Central Greek city-state generals suggested that they should use the geographical advantages of the isthmus to accumulate heavy troops in the city of Corinth to defend against the attack of the Dionian army, just like during the Corinth War more than ten years ago.The Dionians' cross-sea attack consumes a lot of materials, which is not conducive to long-term operations. If they cannot win for a long time, they will inevitably choose to cease the war and seek peace in the end.

The generals of the Peloponnesian city-states headed by Argos and Corinth expressed opposition. They believed that the Dionian army had now conquered Messenia and Sparta, and Arcadia had also become its ally. , which makes the Dionians very powerful in the Peloponnese. If the coalition does not take the initiative to attack, but passively defends, the Dionians will definitely turn to attack other parts of the Peloponnese. area.

Once it completely conquers the entire Peloponnese, it will not only weaken the power of the Greek Alliance, but also the Dionian army without worries can attack Corinth with all its strength. It will be difficult to say whether Corinth can be defended in the end.Now the number of the coalition forces has reached 8, which far exceeds the number of soldiers in the Dionysian army. They can take the initiative to defeat the Dionysian army in Sparta.

After both sides expressed their opinions, Jason spoke: "Everyone, the purpose of the Greek Alliance was to repel the invading Dionia and ensure the freedom of the Greek city-states and the security of the territory. If it was only for defense in Corinth, That would be equivalent to giving up the entire Peloponnese Peninsula. This not only goes against the original intention of establishing the alliance, but will also make the city-states joining the alliance complain to each other and undermine unity. Therefore, I suggest that we should not waste any more time and lead the coalition immediately. Enter the Peloponnese, quickly fight with the Dionian army, defeat it, and let the Spartans regain their freedom!"

Jason put his hands on his hips, looked at the generals in the meeting, and declared loudly: "If everyone does not agree with my opinion, or keeps arguing and wasting time, then I will lead the Thessalian army and go south alone to fight with the Dionian army. Let’s have a decisive battle!”

Jason's words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool. While causing waves, they also received positive responses from the generals of Corinth and Argos: "I, a citizen of Corinth (Argos), will follow the Thessalian army." Attack the Dionians!"

Although Thessaly's army accounted for half of the soldiers sent out in the entire alliance, Thessaly, which had been on the edge of traditional Greek power for decades, did not attract much attention from the Greek city-states. Therefore, Jason did not have much influence in this alliance. Although he had much prestige, the support of these two powerful countries made Jason famous.

Although so far, the number of soldiers sent by Athens to Corinth is only half of the Thessalian army, but with Sparta already declining, most Greek city-states are more willing to follow Athens' lead, so other city-state generals have set their sights. Another person - the famous Athenian general Iphicrates.

The battle-hardened veteran glanced at Jason, then looked around at everyone, and said in a calm tone: "I agree that the coalition should seize the time to take the initiative and seek a decisive battle with the Dionian army, but at the same time, we Also start doing two things.

The first is that we immediately sent envoys to the Arcadian Alliance to persuade them to join us and fight against Dionia together.Now that the coalition has the upper hand, it is very likely that the Arcadian Alliance will fall to us. After all, Dionia is an outsider.If successful, it will enhance the strength of the coalition forces and at the same time provide greater convenience for our operations in the Peloponnese.If we are rejected, we can confidently launch an attack on the Arcadian Alliance.

The second is that the reason why Dionia was able to defeat Sparta has a lot to do with Dionia having a powerful navy and being able to use a fleet to carry troops to land in Messenia and quickly occupy the territory of Messenia at the beginning. It has a big relationship, so we must also be careful of Dionia's old tricks repeating themselves. While our army is fighting in the Peloponnese, we can land on the rear where our defenses are relatively empty by sea, cutting off our return and threatening our motherland. Bang, that would be a huge disaster!Therefore, I suggest that some troops must be left behind to garrison various beaches in Central Greece that can be landed, especially the port of Cleucis in the Boeotian region. It must be firmly controlled by the coalition forces! "

"But Cleucis now belongs to the Thebans!" someone reminded.

"When most of our Greek city-states have gathered together to resist the invading outsiders, Thebes, as a powerful country in Central Greece, has chosen to be neutral. This is really not what it should be! It's just that a war is imminent and in order to avoid unnecessary trouble , we have temporarily tolerated the willfulness of the Thebans." Iphicrates said sternly with a serious expression: "But the inaction of the Thebans will inevitably cause us to distrust them! Therefore, we should send The envoys went to Thebes and told them clearly that we would temporarily take over Chrysis and return them to them after the war. If Thebes does not agree, then we will regard them as enemies and attack them!"

(End of this chapter)