ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 919 The Thebes Holy Team

Although Xenophon did not agree with Agesilaus's way of protecting that stupid general who was selfish and trying to plunder Athens, but this is Agesilaus, a king who values ​​friendship very much, so he had to comfort him again. Said: "Cliombrotus (another Spartan king) has led the Allied Forces to fight in Central Greece for several months, and has not made much progress. It's not good for you. Some city-states that were dissatisfied with Sparta may join the Athens-Thebes alliance one after another to strengthen their forces against Sparta. At that time, the Spartans may think of you again. here."

Agesilaus did not respond to Xenophon's words. On the one hand, he did not want to see Sparta fall into such a predicament. On the other hand, he did not want to judge the performance of another Spartan king in Central Greece, thus appearing He was narrow-minded, so he changed the subject and said half-jokingly, half-seriously: "Xenophon, you are an Athenian. Do you want Athens to lose?"

Xenophon said seriously: "I don't want Athens or Sparta to be defeated. Athens and Sparta have their own strengths and complement each other. They shouldn't be enemies. If the two city-states unite, Then the whole of Greece can unite, and we can compete with other powerful forces in the Mediterranean."

"...A very good idea." Agesilaus looked at Xenophon and finally said.

After seeing off Xenophon, he returned to the house and saw the book on the table. Agesilaus was stunned for a while. Regarding the matter of "Sparta supporting the fugitives to counterattack Apulia", he said: Xenophon was not telling the truth because he did not object in the council of elders.

"More than 500 warships, 10 troops!..." Agesilaus muttered in a low voice, still with a bit of panic in his tone. After first hearing that the war broke out in the Kingdom of Dionia, he had invested in The strength of the troops (the same was true for Carthage) really frightened him. He carefully calculated that even if the city-states of Peloponnese, Central Greece, and Northern Greece were united, they would probably be able to He barely made up this huge number, but Dionia was able to do it relatively easily, which made him feel scared, because he knew very well: Although Sparta is still in alliance with the Kingdom of Dionia, due to The two sides are too close to each other, and both are ambitious, and there will inevitably be a war one day due to conflict of interests. Therefore, in his heart, he hopes that Carthage will win this war. Although it is a foreign race, Persia is also a foreign race, and it is not the case now. Did you work well together?After all, the current situation in the Western Mediterranean is different from the era when Dionysius dominated Sicily.

Thinking of this, Agesilaus felt the urgency of time again: but as Xenophon said, Cleombrotus had led his army to fight in Central Greece for so long, and so far there had been no major progress. Going down is not good for Sparta, should I take some action? !
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Due to the plundering behavior of the Spartan generals and their subsequent acquittal, Athens went to war with Sparta and formed an alliance with Thebes. Soon there were Chios, Byzantium, Rhodes, and Eubia. ...The city-states joined this new alliance, and this new alliance was named the Second Athenian League (after all, the alliance was mainly established with Athens, and most of the city-states that joined the alliance were city-states that had formed an alliance with Athens in recent years). It was separated from the Delian League established by Athens during the Loponnesian War. The League declared that the purpose of its alliance was to protect the independence of the Greek states and resist Spartan oppression.

In order to summon and hire more soldiers to fight against Sparta, the Athenian citizens' assembly also passed a resolution to resume the collection of property taxes. In order to collect taxes more quickly and easily, the Athenian government also reformed the collection methods.

The newly-established Thebes government focused all its energy on military affairs. They relied on solid city defenses to withstand the first wave of attacks by the Spartan coalition.

With the advent of autumn, the soldiers of the Spartan coalition returned to their respective city-states to prepare for the autumn harvest. There were less than 3000 Spartan soldiers left under the command of the Spartan king Cleombrotus. The precious Spartan warriors were lost in the siege, so he temporarily retreated to Plataea.

The Thebes government seized this precious truce time, mobilized the entire city, surrounded the city of Thebes, dug trenches, built barriers... and took all measures to strengthen the city's defense to defend against the next attack by the Spartan coalition.At the same time, they also actively united with the nearby independent Boeotian city-states and actively assisted them in strengthening their defenses in order to block Sparta from the territory of Thebes.

At the same time, the Spartan government also summoned the citizens in the city to conduct military training every day. The person in charge was Epaminondas. His outstanding performance in the previous battles won the support of the people in the city. Recognized and respected, everyone actively participated in the training plan he formulated, and no one questioned the plan.

Epaminondas was not satisfied with just defending the city of Thebes. He realized that only by defeating the Spartans in a battle could it be possible to completely eliminate the Spartan threat to Thebes and make Thebes Usher in the real rise.Therefore, while he was training citizens, he also made a new suggestion to Pelopidas and the others - that is, to establish an elite heavy infantry company so that it could compete with Sparta's famous King's Guard in Greece, and even He also proposed that the army should be composed of gay couples based on the high number of homosexuals among Theban citizens. He believed that it was because of the close relationship between these lovers that they could inspire and assist each other in battle. We will live and die together.

Although homosexuality is highly respected in mainland Greece, an army specifically formed by homosexuals has never appeared in the Greek states before. If this proposal appeared in other Greek city-states, even Athens, it would be questioned by many people, but The emerging Theban government was composed of radicals headed by Pelopidas. They were young, energetic, passionate, adventurous, and innovative, so they realized that Ipaminondas' plan would help significantly improve the bottom line. After the combat effectiveness of the Bisi citizen soldiers, it was immediately adopted and implemented immediately.

Pelopidas and Epaminondas personally selected the citizens of the city, and soon formed a heavy infantry company of 300 people (150 couples). These soldiers were about 20 years old and were all born in Thebes. They are nobles and have basically undergone long-term training in wrestling schools. They are all tall, strong and agile.

Epaminondas began to subject them to more rigorous heavy infantry training.

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In Sicily, the Carthaginian army officially began its attack on the Dionysian territory.

Hasdrubal led 3 soldiers straight north from Gela and began to attack Hena.

At the same time, Mago personally led more than 5 soldiers from the Camanlina territory, entered the territory of Syracuse, and set up camp in the northwest of his territory. The target of his attack was Pala, not far from the camp. Gonia.

Syracuse also summoned more than 1 soldiers, led by general Falecus, passed through the Ixa Gate and attacked Taunis not far to the north.

The southern border of the Dionysian Sicilian territory was attacked by three armies successively, but the cities of Dionysian Sicily and their allies, which had been prepared for a long time, did not panic. They carried out defense in an orderly manner according to the prior deployment.

After Hasdrubal led the army to trek and arrived in Hena, he was in a bit of trouble, because the city of Hena was not only built on a hill, but also adjacent to two large lakes on its north and south sides, which made It was difficult for the Carthaginian army to surround it, and the army could not be fully deployed during the attack, so the advantage of large numbers could not be fully utilized.

Moreover, at the beginning of the war, the administrator of Hena, Crelu, at the suggestion of Leotizides, mobilized the people and used these two lakes to dig a wider moat under the hill. It also set up obstacles for the siege equipment of the Carthaginian army to approach the city.

In addition to the 3000 Eighth Legion soldiers sent by Leotizides to Hena, plus the citizen soldiers in the city of Hena, there were more than 5000 troops in the city.

After several days of careful preparation, Hasdrubal began to attack the city with all his strength. As a result, after a day of fierce fighting, he could not even attack the city head. The attack in the following days also suffered a failure. Due to the heavy casualties of the soldiers, Hasdrubal Drupa had to stop attacking and rest.

Mago's army also encountered difficulties. The Dionian soldiers who stayed in Palagonia for several months have been building defense facilities with the help of the people of Catanai. They arranged trap areas outside the village and built outside the trap. The guard towers and trenches were dug outside the guard towers, and traps were placed outside the trenches... This was done one after another, extending southward for several miles, guarding the only link between the mountains on the south coast leading to the Catania plain. Flat lot.

In order to open this road, Mago's army suffered from traps and harassment by archers from the sentry tower. After several days, less than 1/3 of the roadblocks were cleared, but the morale of the soldiers was low.

After two days of rest, Mago finally decided to change his attack route and cross the mountains to Leotini.

On the east coast, Syracuse's army had already arrived at the city of Taunis, but it took them five days to build the camp. After the first siege failed, they stayed in the camp without any movement. .

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Satnicum, this unfortunate Volscian town, has been under fire again this year since it was captured and occupied by the Romans last year. It was besieged by the Dionysian army for nearly two months. The family members of Roman citizens, under the custody of the Dionysian army, shouted to the soldiers on the city to persuade them to surrender.

(End of this chapter)