ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1219 Jason Returns

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.In the past, Dionia rarely fulfilled this tradition, because they were the victors most of the time, and in order to expand the results, they were good at continuing to pursue after the victory. The opponent was afraid of not being able to escape, so there was no way to do other things.Only during this period of time did the Dionysian army defend against the attack of the Greek coalition forces, and this Greek military tradition could be well fulfilled.

Tens of thousands of physically and mentally exhausted Greek coalition soldiers began to slowly retreat toward Leprion's camp.

Leprion is less than 20 miles away from the northern border of Messenia. This small city located in the southern part of the Elis region was originally attached to Elis, but was later taken away by Sparta. After Elis joined the Greek League, it became confident again to take it back.Since the Greek coalition forces were frequently harassed by Dionian soldiers when they attacked the Lagnia area, after moving their troops to attack Messenia, Iphicrates learned his lesson and stationed his army in Leprion, who was far away from the battlefield, was mainly for safety.

On the way back to the camp, many generals from other city-states came to complain to Iphicrates, saying, "Their soldiers suffered a lot of casualties in today's battle..." and so on. The foreigners expressed similar thoughts, they were unwilling to engage in such a brutal siege battle again.

In fact, after suffering losses in the attack on the northern part of the Lagnia region, the city-state armies had some scruples about attacking the Dionia defense camp. If it were not for the fact that they captured a Dionia camp some time ago, they were re-energized. Confidence, and today Iphicrates put most of the Athenian army into battle first as an example, and also issued an order for a full-scale attack. The armies of other city-states would not fight so hard.

But it turns out that the small victory a few days ago was just an illusion. The defense of the Dionians has not weakened, but has strengthened. Although the siege capabilities of the Greek coalition have improved somewhat (they continue to attack Dion A lot of experience was learned from the battle in the Dionia camp), but it was still not enough to break through the complex camp defense system of the Dionia army.

Regarding the cryptic expressions of these generals, Iphicrates gave the same reply: the coalition forces will no longer storm the Dionia defense camp!
Iphicrates's affirmative answer surprised the generals, but the commander-in-chief of the coalition did not say another word.

Returning to the military tent in the Leprion camp, Iphicrates had just taken off his armor when the guards outside the tent came in and reported: "General, General Jason wants to see you."

"Invite him in now."

Jason strode into the military tent, and before Iphicrates could speak, he said bluntly: "I heard that you announced that you would give up attacking the Dionian camp in Messenia. This is true. ?!"

Looking at Jason, who looked like he was raising an army to accuse him, Iphicrates said calmly: "General Jason, I was about to send someone to find you, but I didn't expect you to come first. Yes, I said that. This word, but——”

"This is a stupid decision!" Jason looked directly at him and said firmly: "We can't give up the attack just because today's losses are large. We have suffered heavy casualties, and the Dionians are not much better. Go, before you withdraw, my soldiers have already attacked the wooden wall several times. Although they were finally driven down by the enemy, this shows that our attack is effective! As long as we maintain this offensive intensity in the next few days, We will definitely be able to break through the Dionians’ defense!”

Speaking of this, Jason showed a fierce look: "Don't listen to the various excuses of the city-state generals, you should continue to give orders to attack like today! If you really want to stop attacking the Dionia camp, Then I'm sorry, I will no longer participate in your war with Dionia, and lead the army back to Thessaly!"

Facing Jason's threat, Iphicrates blinked and showed a helpless smile: "Dear General Jason, of course I know that as long as I continue to attack, I will definitely break through the Dionia camp, but I The reason why we made this decision was not because we were worried about excessive casualties, but because——"

Iphicrates paused and said with emphasis: "I just received a piece of news from Athens. Four days ago, the Dionysian navy suddenly blocked the Saron Gulf, preventing our warships from leaving the port, but our north coast The fishermen still discovered an unusual situation. There were a large number of Dionian ships carrying soldiers around Euboea Island and entering the Gulf of Mariakos——"

"The Dionians are going to raid my Thessaly!" Jason's expression suddenly changed, and he glared at Iphicrates: "Why didn't you tell me such important news earlier?!"

"In such a large-scale war, any decision must be made with caution. After my council in Athens got the news, they tried their best to find out the truth. For this reason, many ships were lost, and finally the Dionia was determined The army did land in Thessaly, and the General’s Executive Committee urgently dispatched messengers on fast horses to come here day and night—”

"How many people are there in the Dionian army that landed in Thessaly?!" Jason interrupted him unceremoniously and asked eagerly.

"According to our judgment, it will not be less than 3 people."

Without saying a word, Jason strode out of the military tent with an anxious look on his face.

Ifikrates also hurriedly called his adjutant: "Hurry up and send someone to notify the generals of the city-states, and say...'Because the traces of the Dionian army were found in the territory of Thessaly, the Thessaly army wanted to drive them away. Go back to the rescue, tell them not to be nervous and control their soldiers'..."

The adjutant also felt nervous after hearing this, and said quickly: "I'll do it right away."

"And -" Iphicrates said solemnly: "Go to the Thessaly military camp in person and tell Jason that I suggest that he lead his army directly north, pass through the Ellis area, and start from Take a boat across the Gulf of Corinth from the ports of Patras or Cape Rayon... Taking this route will save a lot of time.”

As he spoke, he took out a few more letters from his arms: "This is a letter I wrote in the name of Athens to Ellis, Patra, and Cape Rhion, hoping that they can help the Thessalians. Please send Give these letters to Jason."

After seeing off his adjutant, Iphicrates also walked out of the military tent. Through the still thin night, he looked in the direction of the Thessaly military camp, where there was a complete explosion of horses neighing and people shouting.

In fact, Iphicrates lied to Jason. The letter from the Athenian General Executive Committee to him not only asked him to increase his attack on Dionia, but also strictly ordered him to conceal the news from the Thessalians. , only Callistratus, who had a good relationship with him, wrote to him in another letter, tactfully mentioning that he can make decisions that are in the best interest of Athens based on the situation on the battlefield.

During the confrontation and battle with the Dionian army, Iphicrates has realized that the Dionian army has strong capabilities in defensive operations, while the city-state armies of the Greek Alliance obviously have not experienced After such an intense siege battle, they did not dare to withstand too many casualties, so they always worked but did not put in much effort in previous siege battles, including the Athenian army itself.After receiving the order from Athens, Iphicrates finally issued a death order today and launched a strong attack. However, the result was still disappointing. Not only did he fail to break through the enemy, but the sharp increase in the number of casualties not only caused the allied generals to fight. He retreated, which made him feel frightened.

If, as Jason said, he continues to launch a strong attack, I am afraid that the Greek coalition forces will be torn apart before the defense line of Dionia is broken, and he himself may be impeached by the Athens Citizens' Assembly.What's more, even if the Greek coalition forces paid a heavy price and finally defeated the Dionian army in Messenia, the Dionian Kingdom would still send new troops to Greece, just like they sent another army to land in Messenia. The Greek coalition forces, which had already suffered heavy losses by then, would have no choice but to use them to resist their invasion!
Iphicrates has realized that the war with Dionia cannot be ended by winning one or two battles. If he wants to confront the powerful Dionia army for a long time, he must win over Sessa. Benefit people.During the period of fighting side by side, Iphicrates discovered that the Thessalian army not only accounted for half of the Greek coalition forces, but also had the strongest combat effectiveness among the coalition forces, especially the nearly [-] mercenaries who not only fought bravely, And very disciplined.As the commander-in-chief of the Thessalian army, Jason had some conflicts with Iphicrates because he failed to become the commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition forces, but he treated every battle seriously and focused, and his commanding ability was also very strong.

As an enemy, Thessaly's army is undoubtedly terrifying, but as an ally against a powerful enemy, Thessaly's army is undoubtedly the best help. That's why Iphicrates decided to disobey the order of the General's Executive Committee and delay After a day, he personally told Jason the news that "Thessaly was attacked by the Dionysian army". Even if the general executive committee inquired about the matter in the future, he could falsely claim that "Jason got Thessaly." "In any case, it is impossible for Athens to completely block all roads from Thessaly to the Peloponnese."

However, he was still going to send his confidant servants to rush back to Athens, and secretly revealed the matter to his friend Callistratus. He believed that with the vision of Callistratus, he would definitely support him, because this All for Athens!
Just as Iphicrates was standing outside the tent thinking about it, his adjutant had rushed back to report to him: "General, I have given the letter to Jason. He expressed his thanks to you and said that he would wait for a while. After he has driven away the Dionian army in Thessaly and stabilized the rear, he will definitely lead his army back to fight with the Greek coalition against the Dionians..."

　Thanks to Jiang Feng Yushou for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)