ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1217 Pharsalus Surrenders
Polydorus had a gentle and stable personality, and had a kind attitude towards the soldiers. The citizen soldiers recognized him as a commander. His death was very strange, which made the soldiers suspicious.Asidamas and the other six ministers were all very famous people in several large city-states in Thessaly. They were specially selected by Jason to help him unify the entire Thessaly region. Riveron was killed on trumped-up charges, how could this not make the citizen soldiers from all the city-states feel angry, but they only temporarily endured it in fear of Polyfuron's despotic power.

When the fierce and fast attack of the Dionian soldiers led to an unfavorable situation in the battle, the Thessalian soldiers who had no strong fighting spirit quickly gave up the fight and chose to escape. There were even Philae citizen soldiers who were dissatisfied with Polyfulon's actions and rebelled against the army. Killed Polyfulon who was also fleeing.

The whole army in Thessaly was defeated, and the soldiers had no restraint, and each wanted to escape back to their home state. They fled in all directions, causing the entire area to be full of defeated troops, which seemed to be somewhat detrimental to the post-war pursuit of the Dionian army.

Matonis and Lizalu did not expect that Thessaly's army would be defeated so quickly, but they both thought that the victory of this battle would help them capture the city of Philae, which may have been completely defenseless, and completely eliminate Dio. The problem of the supply of rations for the Nian army was originally the purpose of their march eastward, so the two ordered the light armored soldiers, light infantry brigades and cavalry regiments who did not contribute much in the battle and had good physical strength not to chase the rout soldiers, but to hurry up. Towards Philae.

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While the armies of Matonis and Lizaru were fighting with the Thessalian army in the northern plains, Patroclus had led the army over the mountains and entered the equally flat southern plains of Thessalian. Tired, they continued marching toward the hilly areas in the northeast, and by the afternoon they arrived at Pharsalus, the center of the southern plain.

Before the Dionysian army landed in the Mariakos Bay, the Lamians had sent messengers to ask Phasalus for help, so the Phasalus people were prepared for the arrival of the Dionysian army, and they even He also sent a messenger to Philae for help, but when the messenger arrived at Philae, Polyphoron had already led his army to Larissa, and what he got was "Assi, respected by the Phasalusians." The news that Damas was killed had not yet been sent back to the city-state.

The people of Pharsalus did not expect that the Dionian army would come so quickly and in such large numbers. The citizen soldiers looked down from the city and could only see the endless black surging, which was frightening. .

The city of Pharsalus was built on a hill. It had already been prepared in advance, and it was already late. In addition, the Dionian soldiers had been marching for a long time and lacked physical strength, so Patroclus ordered the army to be close to France. They camped and rested less than a mile from the city of Salus.With such a close distance between the two sides, it was easy for them to be attacked, but Patroclus, with his overwhelmingly superior force, not only did not worry, but was happy to see the outcome.

But just when the soldiers began to dig trenches and build camps, he received a report from the reconnaissance cavalry: there were many Thessaly troops in the north.

After Patroclus thought for a moment, he immediately issued an order: let some of the troops who were building the camp immediately surround the city of Pharsalus to prevent any broken troops from escaping into the city.At the same time, cavalry legions, light infantry, and light armor troops were sent to hunt down Thessaly's defeated troops.

These Thessaly troops who had been running away for several hours thought they had escaped the pursuit of the Dionian army, but unexpectedly they ran into another huge Dionian army head-on. This extremely tired pair of them It was a big blow to them, and many of them simply chose to surrender.

Before dusk, the pursuit was coming to an end. The Dionian army captured nearly 2000 Thessalian soldiers, most of whom were Pharsalus.

Through interrogating them, Patroclus learned about the general actions of Martonis and Lizaru's troops in the north in the past few days, which not only helped them successively attack Peleus and Larissa, but also defeated the main force of Thessaly. He was happy with the results, but also reminded himself to speed up military operations to avoid the loss of his prestige due to too few achievements when the two armies met, even though he had taken the initiative to land on the most difficult southern coast.

Therefore, Patroclus selected 5 prisoners with higher status and certain reputation from the captured troops of Pharsalus. He first gathered the army and asked these prisoners to follow him to inspect the tens of thousands of high-spirited soldiers. soldiers, and then called the guide to Lamia to explain to him "the fact that the Dionian army has occupied Lamia, Heraclea, and Thermopylae in the south.

After that, Patroclus had a formal talk with them and told them clearly: Dionysia had sent 10 troops to attack Thessaly, and the main force of its army was far away in Thessaly, Peloponnese. The city-state is definitely difficult to resist, but as long as Fasalus surrenders to Dionia, he can swear in the name of 'Hades, the Protector of the Kingdom of Dionia', that the Dionia army will not harm Fasalus People, don’t plunder people’s property at will.But if Fasalus still refuses to surrender before dawn, he will execute the more than 2000 Fasalus prisoners, and then lead the army to attack the city of Fasalus. Become a slave of Dionia.

Soon, Patroclus let the prisoners who served as messengers enter the city of Pharsalus.

The captives hurried to the Pharsalus Council and conveyed the Dionian demands to the members who had not yet left, and also told them what had happened in Thessaly in the past few days.

The Pharsalus MPs were shocked after hearing this: The Dionians actually sent 10 troops to conquer Thessaly (although the prisoners based their views on the Dionian army they saw in the southern and northern plains of Thessaly). number, answered in the affirmative, but the councilors still had some doubts about such a huge number), Peleus, Larissa, Lamia, Heraclea, Thermopylae ( This information is less suspicious).On the side of the Thessalian Alliance, not only was the temporary commander Polydorus murdered, but the only defense-capable army in Thessally had just suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle. What made the Pharsalus people even more angry was their backbone. ——The respected Archidamas was actually executed by Polyfulon as a traitor...

The invasion of the Dionian army has become irresistible, and the Jason family is not trustworthy. Where should Pharsalus go?

At dusk, the bells in the city of Pharsalus rang, and the parliamentarians urgently held a citizens' meeting. As one of the most powerful states in Thessaly, less than 2000 citizens participated in the meeting, and less than 500 young and middle-aged citizens, most of whom Citizens either became prisoners of Dionia or were still in the army led by Jason.

In fact, the citizens of Pharsalus have been frightened by the huge Dionian army outside the city. Now they know that the enemy is stronger than what they have seen and that they are already isolated and helpless, so The vast majority of citizens agreed to surrender to Dionia.

The citizens' assembly quickly passed a resolution. They declared to the outside world that the reason for passing the resolution was to save the lives of compatriots outside the city, and to prevent the destruction of Pharsalus (after all, the Tegeans betrayed the covenant and were eventually defeated by Dionysus). The tragedy that Asia was completely destroyed and turned into an empty city has spread throughout Greece due to the efforts of thoughtful people, and the people of Pharsalus do not want to repeat the same mistake).

That night, Pharsalus sent an envoy out of the city to discuss surrender with the Dionian army.

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Among the powerful states in Thessaly, Philae is special. It is surrounded by undulating hills. Due to the restriction of the terrain, its urban area is not large, and there is no flat and fertile land in its territory. The reason why it is rich is because It relied on maritime trade, especially after Jason became the tyrant of Philae, he vigorously expanded the port, making the port area account for almost half of the entire city, so it was difficult to completely separate it from the main city. .

There were more than a dozen cargo ships moored at a pier in the port. A fat middle-aged man staggered towards the pier. While burping with wine, he greeted the owners of nearby merchant ships until he approached. When he reached the innermost ship among the dozens of cargo ships, he stopped and pretended to be drunk. However, after taking the opportunity to scan around quietly and finding nothing unusual, he staggered and jumped. Got on the boat and wandered into the cabin.

Compared with the sleeping crew members lying all over the deck, there are three people sitting in the small cabin, discussing something in a low voice.

"Captain, I'm back!" the sailor who jumped on board whispered.

The man known as the captain is about 40 years old. He has an unusually burly physique. There are several conspicuous scars on his face and body. The current captain of the reconnaissance group—Tegtus.

Why did Tegetus, who was supposed to fight in the Peloponnese with Clotocathax, appear in the port of Philae?

It turns out that the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade was an important part of the military plan formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs for the landing and assault on Thessaly. Since the landing army must capture Thessaly as soon as possible to alleviate the problem of tight food supply, how to successfully capture Thessaly? Philae, the center of Lee, became a top priority.Sending a small group of troops to infiltrate in advance and cooperate with the main siege force inside and outside is an important means for the Dionian army to capture the city in previous wars, and the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade happens to be the best at this tactic. It has made many decisions because of this. As a result, he was assigned to infiltrate Philae.

(End of this chapter)