ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1286 Chalcides’ suggestion
Chalcedis thought for a while and then said: "In addition, I learned a message from the Naucrates merchants who went to Cyprus for trade. They were recently expelled by the Cypriots and their merchant ships were prohibited from entering Cyprus waters. And some time ago, people often saw a large number of warships appearing in the eastern waters of the island of Cyprus... After analysis, we believe that it is likely that the Persians concentrated most of the warships in their fleet to the ports in the east of Cyprus..."

Davos was still pondering after listening, and Matonis said loudly: "It seems that the Persians are gathering their navy and army to prepare for our attack from Egypt!"

Davos did not respond, but looked at Chalcedis again: "Next we will launch an attack on Persia. What suggestions do you have for this?"

Calcidis's expression became serious, and he considered it for a while before he said softly: "Your Majesty, the military plan formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs to attack Persia from Egypt... I think it may need to be revised..."

"Oh?" Davos looked at the slightly nervous Chalcedis, tapped the wooden chair with his hand, and said in an encouraging tone: "None of us have experience fighting in Egypt, you are the most qualified to speak. , can you tell us in detail why you need to modify the plan?"

When Davos said this, the other generals also became serious. When Davos signaled Henepolis to place the wooden map of Egypt and Persia that he carried with the army in the center of the hall, they all gathered around.

"Your Majesty, all the legion commanders!" Facing everyone's gaze, Chalcedis took a deep breath, pointed to the icon of Daphne City on the map, and although his voice trembled slightly, he said forcefully: "Daphne The city is a fortress built by the Egyptians in the easternmost part of the Nile Delta to defend against the invasion of the Persians. From the city of Daphne all the way east to the border of Egypt, it is about two hundred miles, and all the places it passes are There are no human settlements or any supply points in the desert. According to the marching speed of the Kingdom's army in this terrain, it will take three to four days at the fastest to pass..."

As he spoke, Chalcedis's words became fluent. He traced the marching route on the map with his fingers, and finally stopped at a circular icon marked with the word "Gaza": "Less than 1500 meters from the Egyptian border." Twenty miles away is Gaza City, a fortress built by the Persians. It is reported that there are usually 4000 Persian soldiers stationed in the city, and now the number may have increased to [-]——"

"4000 people are not many. Our army is heading north, so it should be easy to capture it." Lizaru, commander of the Second Army, interjected.

"I'm afraid it won't be easy." Chalsidis said solemnly: "Gaza City was originally just a forward supply town for the Persians to invade Egypt, but since the last time we reinforced Egypt and defeated the Persians, the Persians may be worried about us. They would attack them in turn through Egypt, so they recruited Jews and Phoenicians two years ago to build a fortress in Gaza. According to the information we have received, although the city is not large in area, it has high walls, thick walls, and reserves. With sufficient military supplies, it is not easy to capture it.

Moreover, the term 'Gaza' comes from the Canaanite language, which means that it is surrounded by sand. It is a fortress built on sand. The nearest Canaan oasis is at least twenty or thirty miles away, which means Since we cannot obtain any resources from the vicinity of Gaza City to build large siege equipment such as siege towers, mobile towers, and siege engines, it is even difficult to build siege platforms and causeways because there is only sand and no soil. It’s not easy to solidify, but these are not the biggest difficulties——”

Calcidis looked around at the generals, finally looked at Davos, and said with emphasis: "The desert has the greatest impact on us! I once led the army from Daphne to try to march eastward, but I have suffered a lot. Marching in the desert, the daytime is very hot, the wind is strong, the ground is soft, the soldiers wear armor, walking is very strenuous, and they are prone to fatigue. Usually, the army marches normally, at least 50 miles a day, but marching in the desert may cover half of the distance in a day. Neither can be achieved.

And at night, the desert became so cold that the soldiers could not sleep without wrapping themselves in blankets.The guides said that fortunately it was spring. If it were summer, the entire desert would be like a big furnace, and few people would dare to walk on it. And there are only more than three months left until summer here..."

"I have led the legion here for 10 days, and I clearly feel that the climate in Egypt is much hotter than that in Magna Graecia. Is it because the Egyptian soldiers don't wear armor because it is too hot?" Melisander, commander of the Fourth Legion, was curious. asked.

"I have never asked the Egyptians this question." Chalsidis said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty and all the army commanders, please pay attention! If we want to lead the army through the desert and capture Gaza City, the biggest threat to us is water. !During this long march of nearly 400 miles, there was no water source. Soldiers were very prone to thirst when marching in the desert and needed to drink a lot of water. Even if we carried a lot of water when we set off, if we could not do it in a short time Although Gaza was successfully captured within [-] years, we are still facing the danger of water shortage!..."

After hearing what Chalcedis said, the faces of the generals became solemn.

Davos even took a breath of cold air. He suddenly remembered that in the history of his previous life, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the Crusades during the Western European Middle Ages, rashly gathered an army, entered the desert, and launched an attack on the Egyptian monarch Saladin. But due to lack of water, he almost collapsed without a fight...

"Gaza City is also built in the desert. Don't the Persians lack water?" Trotilas, commander of the Third Army, asked.

"There should be wells dug in Gaza City, and there are not many Persian soldiers. Unlike our 20 soldiers, there are also a lot of labor, horses and livestock. Just digging a few wells cannot meet the demand. Not to mention the need It is very difficult to dig out groundwater in the desert and may not be successful."

"Perhaps we can march eastward along the coast and have the fleet accompany us. They can dock at any time and provide us with water and other supplies..." Matonis said hesitantly.

"I have had this idea before, but after careful consideration, I found that this method is not appropriate, because to provide supplies for such a large army, it also requires a huge fleet, and maritime trade is underdeveloped. Egypt simply cannot provide enough supplies to meet the needs and can only recruit from mainland Greece and the kingdom. This takes a lot of time, and the more ships there are, the more crew members are needed, which itself will consume more supplies, plus The fleet docks every day to load and unload fresh water, and the process takes a lot of time, which will seriously delay the marching speed of the army and prolong the time we need to pass through the desert..."

Chalcides said this and moved his finger on the map upward: "You should have noticed that the coast we are marching to is not too far from the island of Cyprus and the coast of Phoenicia. These two areas are the main naval bases of Persia. The base has a large number of warships. I have said before that the Persians have probably assembled a fleet in the military port of Cyprus, and they are likely to attack our fleet.

And if we let the navy escort, but there are no ports on the long coast from Naukratis to Gaza to dock and replenish, the fleet will not get a good rest and the warships will not be maintained. When the Persian fleet attacks, We also need to consider protecting the fleet, and the entire war situation is not very beneficial to our navy..."

Chalcides had obviously thought carefully, and he patiently listed the difficulties one by one. The legion commanders all frowned and fell into deep thought.

Davos sighed and said: "It seems that the Ministry of Military Affairs and I have made the mistake of talking on paper and underestimated the difficulty of fighting in the desert. If you hadn't discovered it in time, Chalcedis, we might have suffered. You're in big trouble! Since you can find the problem, you must have figured out a way to solve it. Tell us in detail how you want to modify the battle plan!"

Facing Davos's encouraging gaze, Chalcedis cheered up and said loudly: "I think the first target we have to attack is not Gaza, but here - Cyprus!"

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on the icon on his finger.

"There are three purposes for attacking it." Chalsidis explained the well-thought-out plan: "First of all, Cyprus is a large island with large lakes and rivers, and a large plain in the north. It has a large population and food supplies. The reserves are also relatively sufficient, and it has several well-equipped military ports. It is also easy to land and fight. As long as we capture it, it can be used to park our fleet and support our army's operations nearby.

Secondly, the island of Cyprus is a barrier to the coast of the Persian Near East. If we occupy it, we can land to the north and attack the Gulf of Issus, attack Syria and Phoenicia to the east, and threaten Canaan to the southeast...the coast of the entire Near East. are all under our threat, allowing us to take more initiative in war——"

"Since the island of Cyprus is so important to Persia, the Persians must also attach great importance to it. You also mentioned just now that Phoenicia and Cyprus are the main sources of the Persian navy. They are also gathering their own warships. Look at this map Phenicia is very close to Cyprus, they can send a fleet in time to intercept our transport fleet!" Lizaru interrupted Chalcedis and asked the question keenly.

Chalcedis said calmly: "This is the third purpose I want to mention! We traveled thousands of miles to launch an attack on Persia. The long transportation line is the biggest weakness of our army, but as long as we master the east Dominance of the Mediterranean Sea is not a problem. Therefore, the military plan formulated by His Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs considered the need to destroy the Persian fleet first. Therefore, the Greek coalition first landed in Asia Minor in an attempt to lure the Persian fleet northward, but the effect was ineffective. Ideal, in the end, only the Persian fleet in Asia Minor was annihilated, and the main force of the Persian fleet still stayed in the Near East waters! But if we attack Cyprus, the Persian fleet will have to come out in full force, I think this should be what we expect!"

Having said this, Chalcedis looked at Davos.

Davos crossed his arms and stared at the map, still thinking.

(End of this chapter)