ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1204 Dionia VS Greek Allied Forces
For the first suggestion, the vast majority of the generals agreed, and for the second suggestion, everyone also agreed, but there were some different voices.

"We agree with your opinion, General Iphicrates. It is very important to ensure the safety of our retreat. Chrysis must be in our hands!" This was a positive response from the generals of the Athenian maritime allies.

"Thebes is a traitor. It was their collusion with Dionia that led to the terrible situation in Greece today. They must be punished! Not only must we control Cleucis, but we should also allow other city-states in the Boeotian Alliance to obtain Independence!" This is the cry from the people of Phokis and Locris.

"We have a large number of people, and Thebes should agree with our suggestion. We don't need to stimulate the Thebes any more to prevent them from giving up their neutrality and falling to Dionia. Now we should first defeat them. The Dionian army is the most important thing!" This is the opinion of the generals of Corinth, Argos, and Megara.

Only a few of the Boeotian generals who had joined the Greek alliance remained silent.

Iphithrax's suggestion was quickly recognized by the generals, which made Jason realize that just relying on a large number of troops could not ensure that he could command the entire coalition army.

A few days later, the Greek alliance's troops began to gather towards Corinth.

At this moment, the messenger sent by Clotokatax arrived in Mandinia.

"Commander Dionia hopes that we will withdraw all the people stationed in Tegea, and first defend the city of Mantinia for a while..." Lycomedes, who had read the letter, said to the other members of the council with a solemn expression .

As one of the advocates of establishing the Arcadian Alliance, Lycomedes was originally elected by the citizens of Mandinia as the main member of the Arcadian Alliance, shouldering the important task of forming and improving the alliance.But after Mandinia annexed Tegea, conflicts of interest occurred with other city-states in the alliance. Although the quarrel was temporarily subsided in the end, rifts had already arisen between Mandinia and other city-states. Several Mandinian MPs headed by Si were obviously alienated and excluded by other city-state MPs.

And just at this time, the envoys of the Greek Alliance came to Megalopolis, threatening the Arcadia Alliance "must immediately tear up the covenant with Dionia and join the Greek Alliance, otherwise they will be attacked by the coalition forces."

After learning about the staggering number of Greek coalition forces, and because the main force of the Dionysian army has now completely retreated into Spartan territory, the Arcadian Alliance faced the threat of the Greek coalition forces and felt a lot of pressure, so most congressmen began Hesitation, and a few people made it clear that they could accept the envoy's request. Only Lycomedes and several other Mantinian MPs firmly opposed it. Their fierce emotions also caused the Arcadian Alliance to not respond to the envoy.

But at night, the envoy secretly contacted and discussed with representatives of several city-states, but did not come to Lycomedes.

So at the Arcadian League meeting on the second day, when the issue continued to be discussed, the resolution to "sever ties with Dionia and join the Greek League" was passed by a plurality of votes. Lycomesko could not accept this. As a result, he angrily criticized the alliance's short-sightedness, believing that such treacherous behavior would inevitably be punished by the gods.

Lycomedes then led several Mantinian councilors to decisively leave Megalopolis and return to the mother state, which actually meant the break between the Mantinian and Arcadian alliances.

At this time, after listening to Lycomedes' words, the MPs in Mantinia all felt nervous. Someone asked urgently: "Now that the Greek League has gathered a large army in Corinth and is about to invade south, we in Mantinia are not like other Acres." The city-state of Dia also betrayed its covenant with Dionia and will surely become the first target of attack by this army. Shouldn’t Dionia fulfill its covenant and rescue us?!”

Facing the excited Mantinian parliamentarians, the messenger Carias said calmly: "Judging from the current battle situation, the enemy's strength clearly exceeds our Dionysian army in the Peloponnese. , it is not a rational approach to confront them head-on at this time, so His Highness Crotokatax hopes that you can hold on to the city of Mantinia first and wait for the new reinforcements from Deolia to arrive in Boro Pennesa, fight the enemy again!

Our Dionysian country is powerful, with no less than 20 regular troops. As long as there is enough time for them to reach the Peloponnese, they will definitely win this war!Of course, the enemy force is strong now. If you feel that there are not enough manpower, we will send reinforcements to help you defend the city. "

The MPs from Mandinia were a little surprised when they heard that the Kingdom of Dionia had no less than 20 soldiers, and gradually calmed down.In their opinion: Dionia's army is very powerful. It only sent an army of 3 people to easily conquer the tyrannical Spartans, and there are so many soldiers in the country. With tens of thousands of people, it is definitely not difficult to defeat the so-called Greek coalition.

"Commander Dionia asked us to abandon Tegea. Is this a temporary abandonment? Or a long-term abandonment?" Lycomedes asked worriedly. This is because Mantinia broke with the Arcadian Alliance. , causing his previous hard work to be in vain, the reason was because of Tegea. He did not expect that after the war was over, Mantinia's bamboo basket would be empty, and he would get nothing.

"Of course it is a temporary abandonment." Karias understood the thoughts of the Mandinians to some extent, so he said loudly: "Since we Dionia have promised, the land of Tegea belongs to Mandinia. 'Then this promise will never be changed! In addition, I have brought another promise made by His Royal Highness Clotokatax—"

Callias said, taking out a letter from his arms and handing it to Lycomedes.

Lycomedes took the letter, and after reading it, he looked at Callias with surprise.

Karias said loudly and solemnly: "Our wise and wise King Davos once said, 'Only in times of crisis will you know who your true friends are.' We came to Peloponnese Although we have not been together for a long time, we have already experienced many betrayals. Only you, Mandinya, have always stood firmly on our side. Even if the enemy's army is pressing down on the border, you have not wavered!

Your performance has won Dionia's trust, so His Highness Crotokatax made a promise, 'After the victory of the war, he will fully support Mandinia in re-forming the Arcadian Alliance! '"

Karias's words made the entire council members excited. They all said: Mandinia will follow Dionia's request to defend the city with all its strength, waiting for the arrival of Dionia reinforcements!

At this moment, Lycomedes also swept away his previous depression and began to conceive in his mind: This new Arcadian alliance must no longer be as indifferent as before, but should be like Thebes in the Boeotian alliance. , with Mantinia as the absolute center!

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A few days later, the Greek allied forces entered the territory of Arcadia.After the persuasion failed, the city of Mantinia was surrounded.

And on the second day, the Thessalian army, which was the most active, took the lead in launching an attack on the city. However, the Mandinian defenders, who had been reinforced by the two Dionian brigades, easily defeated the coalition's offensive.

In the following days, the coalition's siege failed to make much progress and had to temporarily turn into a siege. Its main force continued to move south, seeking a decisive battle with the Dionian army.

Two days later, the Thessalian army in the vanguard captured the city of Tegea.

Although Tegea was an empty city at this time and no fighting took place, the news still shocked the rest of the Peloponnese city-states who did not understand the truth.

Soon, the Arcadian Alliance fulfilled the new covenant and sent 3000 soldiers.Ellis, who had been hesitant, finally sent an envoy to the coalition forces and asked them to "join the alliance."Even the city-states in Achaia, which had remained neutral before, sent envoys to make the same request.

For a time, the Greek Alliance's power and prestige increased greatly.

After discussion, the coalition generals headed by Iphicrates and Jason decided: the armies of Elis, the Arcadian Alliance and the Achaean city-states would attack Messenia, and the main force of the coalition would attack Sparta.

The Greek coalition forces continued to move south and reached the border of the Arcadia region, but what they did not expect was that since the Dionysian expeditionary force occupied the Spartan territory, according to the instructions of King Davos, the Ministry of Military Affairs issued an order : Pointing out that the Greek city-states are forming a coalition force in an attempt to defeat the expeditionary force. Therefore, Crotocartax is required to lead the army to hold the territories of Messenia and Laconia firmly, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

Clotocathus obeyed the order and accepted the advice of several generals such as Printors. He built multiple defensive camps along the traffic arteries and mountains on the northern border of Sparta and Messenia. Tens of thousands of soldiers participated, and the Piliasians and former Helots also responded positively...

Therefore, in just two months, the Dionian army has initially established relatively systematic defense facilities on the two borders.

The Greek coalition forces were soon stymied by these complex Dionian defense camps.Especially in the northern part of Sparta, where there are continuous mountains and narrow passable terrain, the superior strength of the coalition forces cannot be deployed at all, and camping and rest have become a big problem.The Dionian army held on to the dangerous terrain, not only blocking the enemy's offensive, but also through night attacks from time to time, constantly causing casualties to the Greek coalition soldiers who had to disperse and camp.

(End of this chapter)