ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1212 Landing in Thessaly ([-])
The Lamians are not too panicked about this. Over the past hundred years, they have continued to transform the hills around the city, making the hillsides on the side of the city completely unfavorable for climbing, and the top of the mountain is parallel to the city. A hundred meters away, shooting arrows at the Lamians in the city from a condescending height, the threat was greatly weakened.

But soon the Lamians began to panic: palm-sized boulders kept whizzing down from the tops of the mountains on both sides, and even the strongest houses were easily smashed by them like paper. The people were unfortunately hit by one, and even more so. The death was miserable, and even the temple of the Acropolis could not escape its attack. After just over 10 minutes, the core city of Lamia became chaotic.

Just when Lamia was panicking, Patroclus sent an envoy and made a stern request: As long as Lamia surrenders immediately, Dionia will ensure the safety of the people of Lamia, otherwise the city will be completely destroyed. , turning all the people in the city into slaves!
Nowadays, the war of Dionia in Greece has become the focus of attention of the whole Greek people. Of course, the Lamians know the tragic experience of the people of Tegea before, not to mention that they have just seen the Dionia who brought Olia The army's huge numbers and fierce tactics made it difficult to resist, so they had no choice but to surrender in Kaicheng.

Patroclus fulfilled his promise and did not harm the surrendered people of Lamia, but he sent two large armies to garrison the acropolis in the city and completely controlled the city-state.

It was already afternoon, and it was no longer realistic to lead the army over the mountains to the north and into Thessaly. However, Partroclus did not let the soldiers rest, but issued an order to attack south.

In fact, except for the 12th Legion and the Gallic Brigade, the other legions did not participate in the battle. They got enough rest in front of the city of Lamia. They were more eager to win a victory with their own hands.

So the soldiers of the 11th and [-]th legions and the [-]rd cavalry legion energetically followed the route that the Persian army had taken when they invaded Greece decades ago, quickly crossed the Sperceos River, and arrived at Hercules at dusk. Lacria.

Heraclea is opposite the city of Lamia, only a dozen miles away. It is located at the northern foot of the mountains in northern Central Greece. It is the northern gate into Central Greece from Thessaly.There are two roads to the south through it. One is to go directly south, trekking through the trails between the mountains, and finally entering Doris. However, the mountains on the northern border are continuous and towering, and the mountain roads are bumpy and difficult to navigate. The transportation is extremely inconvenient and is not conducive to the passage of large troops. Therefore, The Persian army did not choose to take this route at first. Instead, after reaching Heraclea, they turned eastward, passed through Thermopylae near the coast, and then went south along the coast. As a result, the Spartan king Leonius The legendary story of Da led 300 soldiers to resist the Persian army alone and finally died heroically.

After Sparta defeated Athens and became the overlord of Greece, it kept Heraclea and Thermopylae in its hands.After the Battle of Leuctra, Jason led the Thessalian army to destroy Heraclea and control Thermopylae, but he soon regretted it, because Thermopylae was just a pass, and the area there was extremely narrow and was not conducive to large-scale expansion. The troops were stationed for a long time and could only rely on the logistical support of Heraclea, which was very close to it.

In order to control the road south for a long time, Jason had to rebuild the city of Heraclea.But a few months later, the Dionian army landed in the Peloponnese, triggering a new war. When Jason led the army south again, Heraclea had just built a circle of earth walls and did not even have a city gate. , he left 3000 soldiers to garrison, and hurried southward.

3000 soldiers is a large number for any Greek city-state. Even if the city is not perfect, but it occupies a dangerous position, it is enough to block possible attacks from these Greek city-states in the south and ensure the retreat of Thessaly's army. Safety.

But Jason never expected that the attack came from the north, and that the number of soldiers was so large and the attack was so fierce. Three thousand Thessalian soldiers were soon surrounded and defeated by the Dionian soldiers who poured into the city crazily. .

At this time, night was almost falling, and Patroclus stood on the earth wall, looking to the east.The afterglow of the setting sun coated the earth with a layer of gold, and the scenery that caught his eyes was extremely clear, but even so, he couldn't see the outline of the nicknamed "hot spring pass" (there are many hot springs near the hot spring pass, causing It's always hot there, hence the name).

Putting down the regret in his heart, he ordered: the soldiers camped on the spot to replenish their spirits in preparation for fighting again tomorrow.

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When the Dionian armies in the south gathered in the city of Lamia, the legions in the north also passed through the valley passes, 4 infantry legions and a cavalry legion, plus a Balearic slinger brigade (2000 (people), a total of nearly 4 people took a break at the mouth of the valley, and Matonis and Lizaru ordered at the same time: March southward, targeting Larissa.

This time, the army did not carry out a rapid march. The soldiers arranged themselves into a column with a wide front, marching southward along the south bank of the Pinhos River on flat and soft land. The Third Cavalry Corps walked in front of The front of the queue.

The city of Larissa is located in the center of the northern plain of Thessaly, on the banks of the Plios River. It has vast farmland and a large population. It was once a powerful state in the northern plain of Thessaly and has long been the central city of Thessaly. .But after the rise of Philae, Jason conquered this neighboring city-state and deliberately suppressed it, causing its strength to be much weaker than before.When Jason carried out military mobilization this time, he also specifically emphasized that Larissa must provide no less than 5000 soldiers.

For this reason, Larissa recruited most of the young and middle-aged citizens to join the army, and just a few hours ago, they received an order from Polydorus: The Dionian army is landing on the coast of Mildorus, and the city-states are sending troops as soon as possible. The army is coming for reinforcements!
Larissa had to urgently dispatch another 1000 citizen soldiers.

When Peleus's messenger came to ask for help, the Larissa people had almost no troops to send, but they knew very well that it would be nothing if Peleus was captured, but once the Dionian army was allowed to pass through the valley pass and rush into the fortress, That's something extremely scary on the plains north of Salisbury.

So Larissa had to cobble together nearly 300 soldiers (including some citizens over 50 years old), and asked them to rush to the valley entrance camp to defend themselves, and at the same time sent a messenger to Polydorus for help.

When Larissa's reinforcements reached halfway, they saw that the ground in front was covered by rising dust, and even the earth was trembling slightly.

The army of Dionia has arrived! ...The Larissa people looked at the countless vague silhouettes of soldiers in the dust and fog, and were almost frightened, turned around and ran away.

At the same time, the Dionian Second Cavalry Corps also discovered them and immediately chased them. The Larissa reinforcements who had no fighting spirit raised their hands to surrender.

Although it was already the afternoon, Matonis and Lizaru learned from the interrogated prisoners that the city defenses of Larissa were empty and there was a serious shortage of major generals, and that all the remaining troops in Thessaly were concentrated on the coast of Almiros, facing Dai Dai. Nothing was known about the Onian army's attack from Peleus... Both commanders thought this was an excellent fighting opportunity and immediately ordered the army to speed up.

Larissa is nearly 40 miles away from the mouth of the valley, and it is all a smooth road. The soldiers of the Dionia Legion marched normally all the way, and their physical strength has gradually recovered. After receiving the order, they started running wildly again.

By the time we saw the outline of the city of Larissa in the distance, the sun had already set in the western mountains, leaving only a few rays of afterglow on the horizon, and night was about to fall.

Both Matonis and Lizaru were decisive commanders. Since they had made a decision before, they would never change it easily. The order to "attack the city of Larissa" was immediately issued.

The city of Larissa uses the Pinhos River and its tributaries as a natural barrier. It originally had a defensive advantage. However, they had just sent away the reinforcements a few hours ago and had not received any unusual news. It was already getting late, so they naturally felt worried. So he slacked off, but when the sentry at the top of the city saw the enemy troops coming in like a tide from a distance, they rang the alarm bell in horror.

The panicked Larissa people wanted to close the city gates and urgently mobilize people to defend the city. The city was in chaos and there was no time to burn the pontoon bridge on the river.

The Dionian soldiers stepped on the pontoon bridge on the tributary of the Pinos River and quickly arrived at the city of Larissa. In the process, they did not even suffer long-range attacks from bows, arrows and javelins at the top of the city.When they put up the wooden siege ladders on the city wall, the Larissa people who were rushing to get there took their rusty weapons and hurriedly climbed up to the top of the city. Failure was naturally inevitable.

"Reporting to the two commanders, we have captured the city of Larissa!" The messenger excitedly reported loudly to Matonis and Lizaru.

"Which army captured the city first?" Matonis asked with a smile.

"The Eighth Battalion of the Second Legion."

Matonis smiled even brighter and turned to look beside him: "Oh, Lizaru, I'm sorry, my men won the first prize again!"

Lizaru said coldly: "The Larissa people did not resist at all. Is this considered a credit? The second army just took advantage of being in front of the team!"

"I told you, Lizaru, don't be ignorant of good and evil. If the Second Army had not opened the valley pass in time and I had not informed you in time, you might still be climbing in the mountains of Macedonia with your troops!"

"That's because the Ministry of Military Affairs believes in my ability, so it entrusts me with the most difficult tasks and entrusts you with the easiest tasks."

……

Two veterans in their 50s quarreled with each other like children, and the staff officers and guards around them couldn't come out to dissuade them, so they could only hold back their smiles and stood like clay puppets.

The two quarreled for a while, and Matonis suddenly remembered something and said to the messenger who was standing aside very uncomfortable: "Go and inform the troops entering the city immediately. They are not allowed to rob the people of Larissa of their property or harm their lives. If there is any Violation will be punished by military law!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)