ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1214
But Polydorus didn't know that after the order was issued, Polyfulon, who was in the front team, turned pale, and he violently pulled a handful of mane off the horse under his crotch, and he neighed in pain...

Late at night, the Thessalian army returned to the camp outside Philae, and the exhausted soldiers soon fell asleep.

Troubled by the tension at hand, Polydorus tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Suddenly, he heard several loud noises outside the door. He subconsciously sat up and shouted: "Philox (the guard on duty at the door), what happened outside?"

No one responded, but then he heard the sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps, and a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him, but it was Polifuron. He had a ferocious face and a dagger with a cold light in his hand. .

Polydorus was startled and immediately shouted: "Third brother, what are you—"

Polyfulon's eyes widened, and he swung his dagger quickly and forcefully, cutting a bloody gash on Polydorus's face. The blood and severe pain made his cry stop abruptly, and he fell on his back. On the bed.

Without hesitation, Polyfulon stabbed his brother's chest with his dagger continuously, and blood splashed all over his face. It was not until Polydorus stopped struggling that he stood up and stared at him as he fell in a pool of blood. Brother, whispered viciously: "Coward, you should have died a long time ago! Next, I will let Jason know that only I can save Thessaly!"

..................................................................

At dusk that day, Oropus's messenger arrived in Athens on horseback.

The Executive Council of the Athenian Generals soon held an emergency meeting in this regard.

"Everyone, I just received news from the Orops." Callistratus said with a serious expression: "Their crew found that a large number of Dionian warships and troop transports entered Mariakos Bay and Pagasa Bay, and stay for long periods of time…”

The other eight generals were shocked when they heard the news. Some people couldn't help but exclaimed: "The Dionians are going to land in Thessaly!"

Some people also said worriedly: "It's not just landing in Thessaly. If the Dionians successfully land in the Mariakos Gulf, they can completely capture Heraclea and Thermopylae, and then continue south to attack the Buddha. The city-state of Keith..."

"Since the start of the war, we in Athens have been prepared for the possible landing of the Dionians. Thessaly should also be prepared. The Dionian army may not be able to successfully land." A general was uncertain. said.

"The key depends on how many troops the Dionians have sent?" Cabrias asked: "Have the Orops said approximately how many Dionian troop transport ships there are?"

"I asked." Callistratus replied: "They can't tell a specific number, but one thing they are sure of is that the number of Dionian warships and troop transports they saw must be more than A thousand ships."

"Thousands..." Cabrias estimated: "If Dionia's entire fleet is calculated as 1000 ships, even if the troop transport ships account for half, there will be approximately 25 soldiers. And we We all know that the mixed formation of warships and transport fleets, the number of warships often accounts for only 000/1 of the entire fleet, or even less. Excluding some ships transporting supplies, I estimate that the Dionia that carried out the landing There are at least 4 troops in the army..."

"3 people!..." Several other Athenian generals looked at each other, and one of them said with luck: "It is reported that there are more than 3 Dionian troops defending our Greek coalition in the Peloponnese. Could it be that they transported the main force of Dionia defended in Messenia and Sparta to the north?”

"Probably not!" Kabrias said with certainty: "If the Dionysians removed the army in the Peloponnese, then the remaining soldiers would definitely not be enough to withstand the attack of the Greek coalition. Once the Messenians The recapture of Asia and Sparta by us is tantamount to cutting off the retreat of their army that just landed in the north. I don't think the Dionians will make such a big mistake!

Besides, 10 troops were dispatched when Dionia and Carthage fought a few years ago. The Dionia landing army in the north is probably the new army just dispatched from their country..."

"The news that Dionia dispatched 10 soldiers to fight Carthage is just a rumor, and it cannot be confirmed to be true. Who knows if Dionia deliberately exaggerated the facts to scare surrounding forces." The general still said Stubbornly retorted: "Even if that is true, it is just because they were fighting locally at the time, and now they are transporting tens of thousands of soldiers from Dionia to landing in Thessaly, which is hundreds of miles away. And how much it costs, you should be very clear when you have commanded the navy in these years, I don’t think Dionia has the strength to redeploy troops from their territory!”

Kabulias said seriously: "During the Peloponnesian War, we in Athens could send 4 troops to attack Syracuse. The territory controlled by the Kingdom of Dionia now is much larger than ours at that time. More, of course they are more capable of doing it.”

The general sneered: "The territory of the Kingdom of Dionia is indeed much larger than ours in Athens, but most of it is barbaric and barren land. How could it be as wealthy as Athens at that time? At that time, we controlled the entire Aegean Sea trade!——"

"Everyone, stop arguing!" Callistratus persuaded with a serious look: "No matter whether the Dionian army landing in Thessaly was drawn from the Peloponnese or re-entered from Dionysus, It was brought from the territory of the Kingdom of Asia. The current problem is that the defense in Thessaly should be very empty. I am afraid it will be difficult to resist such a large army. What should we do about this?!"

"Immediately send people to inform the city-states of Phokis and Locris of the news that the Dionians have landed in Thessaly, so that they can strengthen the defense of the city and send people as soon as possible to detect the presence of the Dionians in Thessaly. "We should also send people to the Peloponnese immediately to tell Jason the news. He will definitely lead his army back to Thessaly as soon as possible and defeat Dai." Onian army, eliminate the hidden danger in the north, and we should also send troops to reinforce when necessary."

"Cabrias, I can only agree to half of your proposal." A slow voice came from the corner. The speaker was a gray-haired old man. He had been closing his eyes to rest, but This opening immediately attracted everyone's attention.

His name is Agullios, an Athenian nobleman and one of the former leaders of the democrats. He has been elected as the general of Athens many times. Together with Thrasibulos, he worked together to help Athens gradually get over the shadow of its defeat with Sparta. He began to regain his former strength, and he pursued the principle of "city-state interests first", which directly contributed to the creation of the theater subsidy system, so he was very loved by the people of Athens.But in recent years, he no longer participated in the election of the generals of Athens. He was too old for one reason. More importantly, he was the father of Callistratus. He wanted to make way for his son who had already become famous and had greater ambitions. .

Two months ago, a democratic general was seriously ill and unable to serve on the council, so he recommended him to replace him. The citizens' assembly finally passed this somewhat ridiculous resolution. The possible reason was that Callalistratus successfully signed the agreement with Sparta. The contract, which squeezed out Thebes, was a great benefit for Athens and won him great prestige.In addition, in the face of major changes in the Greek mainland situation such as the invasion of the Dionysian army, the decline of Sparta, the rise of Thebes, and Thessaly's ambitions, Agu, who had experienced the Peloponnesian War and the Corinthian War, The fact that Elrios sits on the General Executive Committee is probably more reassuring to the Greek people, so there is an anecdote about a father and son serving as generals in Athens at the same time. This has never happened since Athens adopted a democratic system.

"Currently, the Greek coalition is aggressively attacking Messenia and Sparta occupied by the Dionians. They are at an absolute advantage. It may take a few or more days to break through the Dionian defenses. , completely drive them out of the Peloponnese... If we tell Tagus at this time that Thessaly was attacked by the Dionysian army, he will definitely lead the army back to Thessaly immediately, It will be at least two or three months before it is possible to rejoin the Greek coalition..."

Agurrios glanced at everyone with a deep gaze, and finally fell on his son: "It is even possible that he will not lead the main force southward to avoid Thessaly being attacked again! According to Iphicrates's report, Thessaly Not only did the Thessalian army account for half of the Greek coalition forces, but their combat effectiveness was also very strong. They were the main force in the coalition's attack on the Dionian army. Once the Thessalian army leaves, the combat effectiveness of the coalition forces will be greatly weakened, and it will also destabilize other Greek city-states. The confidence of the army, by then the Greek coalition will not only no longer have the upper hand, but may also suffer defeat!"

Callistratus' heart moved, and he said with some hesitation: "Father, what you mean is... we will not tell Jason the news for the time being. But in this way, Thessaly will be in danger. Once Dai Dai Onia has occupied Thessaly. Not only can they threaten Central Greece from the north, they may even threaten our subsidiary state of Amphipolis in the north of Macedonia... In the long run, our gains outweigh our losses!"

Agurrios did not respond immediately. He stared ahead with cloudy eyes, and with a little memory, he said unhurriedly: "You all know that I was once the battle of Amphipolis (Peloponian battle) A crucial battle in the Caesar War, in which Athens was defeated and its food channel from the Eucine Sea to Athens was cut off), but you do not know that I was in Thessaly before that battle. After a while, I got to know Thessaly to a certain extent...

The land there is flat and vast, the population is large, the city-states are constantly fighting with each other, and the surrounding mountains are filled with fierce and aggressive natives. There are constant wars with the Thessalians... Jason was able to finally unify them, which actually surprised me.A unified Thessaly is the main force resisting Dionia, but it is also a threat to Athens. I think Jason has fully demonstrated his ambition before!
I don’t think that Dionia, as a foreign alien, can completely conquer Thessaly and its surrounding areas with just these 3 soldiers. It is more likely that they will arouse the anger of the xenophobic Thessalians, just like Like Sparta's previous invasion of Boeosia, it was completely plunged into the quagmire of war.And a Thessaly that falls back into chaos is no longer a threat to us in Athens..."

Note: According to historical records, after Jason was assassinated, his brother Polydorus took over as Tagus. He and Polyfulon died suddenly on the way to Larissa, and Polyfulon succeeded him. Succeeded by Thessaly Taggus.Because Polydorus died suddenly without any warning, many people at the time believed that Polyphoron killed Polydorus while he was sleeping at night.

(End of this chapter)