ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1218 Conquering Thessaly

It just so happened that during this period, in order to reserve sufficient food for the Thessalian army fighting on the Peloponnese Peninsula, Archidamas had to purchase food from outside (originally Jason had gone south to conquer the Greek mainland). According to the military plan, a lot of food was stored in advance. However, due to the sudden invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dionian army, the original plan was disrupted. Jason led his army to fight south for nearly two months, and the originally stored food had been It is almost exhausted, but the war seems to be far away from ending. It is already August, and there is not much food left in the city-states of Thessaly. However, the harvest season in September has not yet arrived, so it is necessary to purchase from outside. Food to survive this relatively difficult time), the food from Yuk Xinghai naturally became Philae's first choice.

To this end, the Ministry of Military Affairs found Sostatus, who had trade channels throughout the Mediterranean. Sostatus agreed to actively cooperate. He asked the fleet responsible for trade in the Uk Star Sea to pretend to be merchant ships from city-states in the Uk Star Sea. It carried food to Philae many times for sale, and most of the fleet's sailors were soldiers from the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade. After going back and forth, the managers and patrol teams at the Philae port became familiar with this fleet from the Yuk Star Sea. .

So just the day before the Dionian army landed in Thessaly, Saustatus' fleet deliberately arrived at the port of Philae in the afternoon. After unloading the food, it was already past dusk, and they were sailing in the Aegean Sea in the dark. After all, it was dangerous, so the entire fleet "had" to stay at the dock. When the Dionian fleet suddenly blocked the port of Philae on the second day, Sostatus' fleet was naturally unable to leave.

In the next few days, the Dionian fleet has been cruising in the nearby waters and crashed many merchant ships trying to escape Philae. Sostatus' fleet has been staying in the port of Philae for safety reasons. Of course, there are many merchant ships from other countries that have also chosen this meandering method, so there are many ships parked in Philae's port, making Sostatus' fleet inconspicuous among them.

But what Taygetus didn't expect was that Philae suddenly strengthened the management of the port. Not only did they prohibit foreign sailors from walking around the port at will, but they were not allowed to enter the city, and they also sent additional troops to the port.

In fact, this was a precaution taken by Arcidamas when he saw too many foreign ships and crews in the port and was worried about accidents during the war.Although it was impossible for Asidamas to know that the Dionian army was already lurking in the port, he still made the right decision with his years of experience in government affairs.But he never expected that Polyfulon killed Polydorus, and then brutally killed him and several other ministers. All the top officials of Philae were wiped out, which already made other officials panic. Riveron also mobilized most of Philae's citizen soldiers, and the order to monitor the port was no longer carried out. This gave members of Sostatus' fleet an opportunity to sneak into the city.

"Captain Keomenis, what good news have you heard?" Tagetus asked a little eagerly.

Keomenis, a citizen of Dionia, one of the captains of the fleet under Sostatus, is responsible for the trade of the Uk Star Sea. After these years of running around, he has earned a lot of wealth. In the Thurii Chamber of Commerce He was somewhat famous, but in front of Taygetus, he didn't dare to boast at all. After all, this was a famous hero of the kingdom.

He rubbed his face vigorously with his hands, and his drunken appearance quickly disappeared, and he said with a serious face: "Didn't I invite a few port officials I knew well to drink in a restaurant before? Guess what, it didn't cost me anything at all." I thought about what they were saying, and after just a few sips of wine, they took the initiative to tell me something... It turns out that the reason why the port suddenly relaxed its blockade in the past two days was because a big change happened in Philae City. !”

"What happened?!" An officer of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade next to him asked urgently.

"After that Tagus Jason of Thessaly led the army to leave, he temporarily handed over the military command of the entire Thessaly to his younger brother Polydorus, and handed over the administrative power to Asida. Mas and several other ministers, guess what happened?"

Keomenes said word by word: "Polydorus suddenly died suddenly in the military camp outside Philae. It is said that he was killed by an assassin sent by us, but the murderer was not caught -"

"This is impossible!" Tegetus shook his head: "The Ministry of Military Affairs has not formulated an assassination plan against Polydorus, let alone assassinating the commander in a heavily guarded military camp. Even we who have been trained for a long time can't. It’s hard to do, let alone escape smoothly.”

"Those officials quietly told me that many people suspected that Polyfulon killed his brother——" Keomenis saw the surprised expressions on the faces of the three people, and continued to expose the city of Philae with some satisfaction. The secret: "Because according to them, as soon as Polyfulon took over the military command, he brutally killed Archidamas and other ministers they respected, and then hurriedly mobilized most of the citizen soldiers in Philae City. , led by him personally to attack our army at Larissa.

Before leaving, he also appointed one of his close men as the lord of Philae City. This new lord of the city has been doing one thing in the past two days. He is busy arresting officials who are dissatisfied with Polyfulon, causing chaos in the city. The order inside is in chaos. Not only are officials like them unwilling to continue performing official duties, but some people are worried about their own safety and have begun to flee..."

Tagetus and others felt incredible after hearing this. The series of things that happened in the city of Philae simply provided huge help to the Dionysian army. If it were not for the Ministry of Military Affairs not giving Shanling before the landing, With the special reminder from the reconnaissance team, Tegetus would even think that the Thessaly general named Polyfulon was a spy sent by the kingdom.

"Have you asked them how many soldiers there are in the city now?" Tagetus asked.

"Of course I will not forget such an important issue." Keomenes said confidently: "When Polyfulon left, he left 500 soldiers for his confidant. They were loyal to Polyfulon. The reason why the people of Lai do not dare to resist the new city lord... As for how many citizen soldiers are left in the city? They are not sure. But there should be not many left. They revealed a message to me. It is said that the new city lord plans to arrive when necessary. The port forcibly recruited foreign crew members like us to participate in the battle."

"Recruiting us? This is a good thing! This way we can take the opportunity to sneak into Philae's army, assist our siege troops, and capture the city of Philae!" a team officer said excitedly.

"Captain, Philae City is in chaos right now and people are panicking. This is a great opportunity! Why don't we launch a surprise attack in the dark and capture Philae City directly!" Another team officer put forward his own suggestion.

Tegetus pondered for a while and said solemnly: "This time we have less than 200 brothers who have sneaked into the city of Philae. We have too few troops and are not very familiar with the terrain in the city of Philae. We are launching a surprise attack in the dark again. , The danger is too great! Once we suffer a failure, not only will our previous efforts be in vain, but our brothers will also lose their lives in vain, so we can’t take any risks!”

Tegetus paused, looked at his two capable captains, and continued to encourage: "You don't have to worry, now we all know that our army not only successfully landed, but also entered the Thessaly Plain. If the Thessalian army leaves the city to fight at this time, it will only suffer defeat. According to the tradition of the kingdom's army, and Philae is also the focus of the landing army's attack, they will continue to pursue the retreating troops to see if they can take the opportunity to capture Philae. This—is our chance!”

"Captain, I understand! I will immediately send a few soldiers to sneak into the city and closely observe the movements at several city gates."

After one team officer finished speaking, another team officer continued: "I asked the brothers to be ready at any time. Once our army reaches the city, they will rush to respond immediately."

Tagetus nodded with satisfaction: "That's it!"

The soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance brigade lurking in the port of Philae did not wait long. At dusk, many Thessaly troops were driven by the Dionysia Cavalry Legion and swarmed under the city of Philae.

The defenders on the city saw the Dionysian army following them. Amid the pleadings and curses of the defeated soldiers, they had to carry out the orders of the new city lord and refused to open the door.

At this moment, the soldiers of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade who received the news took out the daggers and leather shields hidden under the ship's plank, rushed into Philae City, and attacked the south gate wall that was closest to them and had the fewest defenders.

After they defeated the defenders at the top of the city, they quickly opened the city gate, and the defeated troops rushed in. The Dionian cavalry, light armored soldiers, and light infantry followed closely and rushed into Philae City...

On the same day, the southern and northern powerful states of Thessaly surrendered and fell...

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"Woo!...Woo!..." High-pitched bugles kept ringing from the rear of the battlefield, and the Greek soldiers who fought fiercely in front of various defensive camps hurriedly retreated.

Not long after, the battlefield that had been noisy for most of the day fell silent. Only the countless corpses and wounded soldiers on both sides of the trenches and wooden walls showed the brutality of today's battle.

The setting sun has fallen below the mountain, and there are only a few pale traces of blood left on the horizon.

Iphicrates looked at the Dionian camps in front of him that were separated from each other and formed horns with each other. There was both unwillingness and helplessness in his eyes. He stood there for a long time, and finally sighed: "It's still the same as before, sending people to Dionia." The Onianians demanded that the battlefield be cleared.”

According to Greek tradition, after a battle, the defeated party can also send people to clean the battlefield and take away the compatriots who died in the battle in order to give them a decent burial.

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(End of this chapter)