ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1305 Persian Strategy (End)
"This is simply ridiculous!" Mardonius loudly interrupted Trebassus and angrily rebuked: "It is already shameful to retreat without fighting and allow the enemy to occupy our land! We also have to let ourselves Go and drive the people away and destroy their property. Do you think they don’t hate the army enough and want to provoke them to riot?”

"My lord, now that Dionia's army is invading the country and the situation is tense, Trebasus' use of this ridiculous strategy will only disrupt the kingdom and affect the army's operations. I request that he be severely punished!" Halpergus also Criticism immediately followed.

Artaxerxes also looked hesitant, but remembering that Trebassus had always been very resourceful and his favorite, he suppressed the displeasure in his heart and asked coldly: "Trebassus, Why do this?"

Trebasus ignored Mardonius and the others' censure and said calmly: "Your Majesty, King Dionia is a greedy man. In the past few decades, he has annexed one city-state after another and controlled the entire Western Mediterranean. . This time he invaded the kingdom, not just to occupy Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, and Canaan. His goal must be our entire kingdom, so he brought nearly 20 troops from thousands of miles away.

However, the consumption of these 20 troops every day is very huge. It is not enough to rely solely on the areas they occupy to provide supplies. The transportation route to transport food and materials from the Western Mediterranean thousands of miles away is too long and requires It consumes a lot of time and manpower, not to mention that once the Dionian army continues to advance eastward from Syria, it will be more difficult to transport supplies. The best way for the Dionian army is to collect food and supplies on the spot. .

Mesopotamia is rich in the world, and now the people have just completed the food harvest, which can fully meet the needs of the Dionysian army, but -" Trebassus said with emphasis: "Once we take the measures I just took, With those measures mentioned, the Dionysian king must be very anxious because he is worried that his army will not be able to obtain supplies on the spot after it invades the Mesopotamian plains. , and Babylon is a famous fortified city with heavy defenses. It cannot be conquered by them in a short time. Therefore, in order to avoid such a bad situation, he will definitely take the initiative and seek a decisive battle with us! "

"Haha, it's so simple, but what if the Dionysian army is not fooled and still cowers in the camp!" Orontas sneered and questioned.

"Lord Orontas, haven't you understood what I mean?" Trebassus also responded with a sneer: "The Dionian king went on a thousand-mile expedition and wanted to conquer our huge kingdom. He could only quickly Victory, maintaining such a large force in Syria for a long time without taking any action will only greatly consume the national power of Dionia, and the king of Dionia will not be so stupid!"

"Perhaps he will wait for the Greek coalition forces to join before attacking eastward." Halpurgus then questioned.

"Then we can have enough time to evacuate all the people west of Babylon without leaving a grain of food for the Dionian army. Then the Dionian army with a larger lineup will have to march more than 1000 miles to Babylon, and there will be no way to Get supplies nearby, and our powerful cavalry can also bypass the main force of the Dionian army and constantly attack their baggage transport teams. In this way, I am afraid that the Dionian army will collapse before it reaches Babylon... Then The ambitious King of Deolia would never want to see this happen, so I think he will definitely lead his army to pursue us!"

Harpurgus sneered: "They will definitely come after you?! Trebassus, the Dionians are not your men and will listen to you like this. What you said are just guesses, but the kingdom It’s simply not worth paying such a high price based on your guesses!”

Not to be outdone, Trebassus said sarcastically: "It's really rare for Master Halpurgus to actually start caring about the people of the Mesopotamian plains! I remember that the army you led was related to this region. The people who had the most disputes were those who refused to change their ways even after the king issued new military orders."

Halpergus became furious and cursed: "What kind of thing are you, how dare you—"

"Okay!" Artaxerxes patted the seat hard and shouted solemnly: "This is not a place for you to curse each other and show your personal grudges! Trebassus, are you sure that the Dionian army will leave the camp and take the initiative to fight with you? Shall we have a decisive battle?!"

After the argument just now, and seeing the three Mardonios sneering silently at the side, Trebasus was already in a difficult position. He took a deep breath and said resolutely: "As long as you follow what I just said If the plan is implemented, the Dionysian army will definitely take the initiative! We will pay a heavy price, but as long as we can defeat the Dionysian army, then your king will not only be able to recover Syria, Phoenicia, Canaan, and western Asia Minor , Cyprus, you can also take the opportunity to recapture Egypt, regain control of Greece, and threaten the mainland of Dionia again... so it is all worth it!"

Defeat Dionia, recapture Egypt, control Greece, and regain hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean... Trebassus' words moved Artaxerxes, and the old king longed for a glorious victory to wash away his Despite the failures he had encountered in the past, this decision was of great importance after all. He was still a little hesitant, so he turned his attention to his beloved general who had been silent: Pesitiday, what do you think? "

Pesitidai is self-aware. Although his status is considered prominent, he is still far behind these important ministers of the kingdom. Therefore, he did not intend to participate in the quarrels of these important figures, but now he is facing Regarding the question of the King of Persia, considering that he and Trebasus were both close ministers of the king, and that Trebasus usually took good care of him, he considered his words and said euphemistically: "Your Majesty, our army's The advantage lies in the cavalry and archers. If the Dionian camp is attacked, the cavalry will be completely unable to function, and the power of the archers will be greatly weakened. And if the Dionian army can be lured into a battle in Mesopotamia, the vast The plains allow cavalry to gallop at will and arrows to shoot at the enemy without any hindrance, and we will be more certain to win."

Artaxerxes nodded, and after pondering for a moment, he finally made up his mind. He looked around at everyone, and suddenly raised his voice, making his voice a little hoarse: "I have decided to adopt Trebasus's suggestion and transfer Taposaku Evacuate all the people around and to the west of Sri Lanka, burn all the villages, destroy the city of Taposacus, and at the same time all troops retreat to Nicephonia——"

Seeing that the three of Mardonius wanted to speak, he immediately waved to stop him. At the same time, he looked sharply at Trebasus and said sternly: "If the Dionian army did not catch up as you said, , but continue to huddle in the camp, I will not continue to implement such measures, and you——I will never let you go lightly!"

Artaxerxes only adopted half of Trebassus' suggestions and was forced to do so. In the past few years, a series of failures such as the failure to attack Egypt, the rebellion in Asia Minor, and the loss of control of Greece had weakened Artaxerxes' prestige. He suffered a big loss and his subjects were dissatisfied, so this time he only dared to make a small attempt, but did not dare to make most of the residents on the Mesopotamian plain homeless to avoid completely falling into passivity.

Although Trebasus was a little disappointed, he also knew the reason why the King of Persia did this, so he could only pretend to accept it calmly.Mardonios and the others seemed to have seen the tragic fate of their political opponents and no longer questioned it.The top brass of the Persian army reached a consensus in this way.

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After listening to Izam's introduction to the details of the Persian army, all the current commanders of the Dionysian army strongly requested a decisive battle with the Persian army as soon as possible. Among the retired veterans, except for Felicius and Geogris In addition to being more cautious and hoping to wait for the rendezvous with the Greek coalition before taking action, Alexis, Amyntas and others also proposed that "we should take advantage of the fact that the morale of our own army is high and the organization of the Persian army is still relatively chaotic. Lead the army eastward as soon as possible to look for fighter opportunities."

The generals were full of fighting spirit, which also strengthened Davos' determination.

On the second day, he issued the order to "prepare to march eastward." The soldiers of each legion began to pack their luggage, the transport battalions began to load supplies, and the engineering battalion inspected various equipment and prepared some wood...

At the same time, Daves also informed the commander of the Dionian joint fleet, Midorades, to lead the fleet to the camp as soon as possible. After the Dionian army leaves, all fleet infantry will immediately take over the camp to ensure the rear. Base security.

Although the Dionian army is well-trained, such a large army going to an unfamiliar battlefield and attacking the Persian army requires detailed planning and rigorous organization of operations, so it took three or four days. After a while, the entire Dionia army was ready to march eastward.

When the main force of the army set off on the fifth day, the scouts hurried back to report: The Persian army entrenched near Taposacus was driving the local people to retreat eastward. At the same time, they were burning fields and villages, and even destroying The city of Taposakus...

This news surprised Davos, but he did not stop the actions of the entire army and reconvened a military meeting to discuss the purpose of the Persians' move.

In his opinion: Regardless of whether the Persians are choosing the tactics of clearing the wall, retreating and defending, or using a false retreat to lure the Dionian army to advance, not only will it not change the action plan of the Dionian army, but it will intensify the fight against it. determination to fight.

(End of this chapter)