Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 236: Carsidis’s suggestion

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Karsidis thought for a while, and said: "In addition, I learned a piece of news from Naukratis merchants who went to Cyprus to trade. Recently they were expelled by Cypriots and their merchant ships were forbidden to enter. The waters of Cyprus, and some time ago, people often saw a large number of warships appearing in the eastern waters of the island of Cyprus... We have analyzed that it is likely that the Persians have concentrated most of the warships of their fleet at the ports in the eastern part of Cyprus..."

Daves 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!"

Daves did not respond, but looked at Calcidis again: "Next we will attack Persia. What advice do you have for this?"

Karsidis' expression became dignified, he considered it for a while, and then said softly: "Your Majesty, the military plan for attacking Persia from Egypt made by the Ministry of Military Affairs...I think it may need to be revised..."

"Oh?" Daves looked at Calcidis who was slightly nervous, tapped the wooden chair with his hand, and said in an encouraging tone: "None of us have experience in fighting in Egypt. You are the most Speaking right, you tell us in detail why the plan needs to be revised?"

Daves said this, and the other generals also got serious. When Daves signaled that Henipolis put up the wooden map of Egypt and Persia with the army in the middle of the hall, they all surrounded them.

"Your Majesty, Legion Chiefs!" Facing everyone's gaze, Calcidis took a deep breath and pointed to the Dafinai City icon on the map. Although his voice trembled slightly, he said in a strong tone: " The city of Dafinai is a fortress built by the Egyptians on the easternmost part of the Nile Delta to defend against Persian invasion. From Dafinai city to the east, reaching the border of Egypt, it is about two hundred miles. The land is full of deserts, there is no human population, and no supply points. According to the speed of the kingdom’s army marching in this terrain, it will take three to four days at the earliest to pass..."

While speaking, Calcidis’s words became fluent. He gestured the marching route on the map with his fingers, and finally stopped on a circular icon marked with the word "Gaza": "Distance from Egypt Less than twenty miles from the border is Gaza City, a fortress built by the Persians. It is reported that there are usually 1,500 Persian soldiers stationed in the city, and it may increase to 4,000 now—"

"There are not many 4,000 people. Our army is going north. It should be easy to capture it." Second Army Commander Lizaru interjected.

"I am afraid it will not be easy." Karsidis said solemnly: "Gaza City was originally a supply town for the Persians to invade Egypt, but since the last time we strengthened Egypt and repelled the Persians, the Persians may We were worried that we would attack them in turn through Egypt. So two years ago, Jews and Phoenicians were recruited to build a fortress in Gaza. According to the information we have, although the city is small in size, it has thick walls. , And reserves sufficient military supplies. It is not easy to capture it.

Moreover, the term'Gaza' comes from Canaan, meaning that it is surrounded by sand. It is a fortress built on gravel, and the nearest Canaan Oasis is at least twenty or thirty miles away. This means that we cannot obtain any resources from nearby Gaza City to build large siege equipment such as siege towers, mobile towers, and siege trucks. It is even difficult to build siege platforms and causeways because there is only sand. Without soil, it is not easy to solidify, but these are not the biggest difficulties—"

Karsidis looked around at the generals, finally looked at Daves, and said in a more serious tone: "The desert that has the greatest impact on us! I once led the army from Dafinai and tried to march east, but it was a taste. A lot of pain! Marching in the desert, during the day is very hot, windy and sandy, and the ground is soft. The soldiers wear armor and walk very hard and get tired easily. Usually the legion marches normally, at least 50 miles a day, but it may even be a day when marching in the desert. Half the distance can’t be reached.

At night, the desert became very cold, and the soldiers could not sleep unless they were wrapped in blankets. The guides said that fortunately this is spring. If it is summer, the entire desert is like a big furnace. Few people dare to walk on it, and there are only more than three months left before the summer here..."

"It has been 10 days since I led the army here. I obviously feel that the climate in Egypt is much hotter than that of Great Greece. Is there a reason why the weather is too hot for the soldiers in Egypt?" Shanda asked curiously.

"I haven't asked the Egyptians about this question." Karsidis said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty and the commanders of the army, please pay attention! If we are to lead our army through the desert and capture Gaza City, it will be the greatest The threat is water! During this long march of nearly 400 miles, there is no source of water, and soldiers marching in the desert are very thirsty and need to drink a lot of water. It has successfully captured Gaza in a short period of time, and is still facing the danger of water shortage!..."

After listening to Calcidis, the generals' faces became serious.

Daves even took a breath. He suddenly remembered the Kingdom of Jerusalem established by the Crusades in the Middle Ages in Western Europe and rashly gathered its troops into the desert and launched against Saladin, the Egyptian monarch. Attacking, but because of lack of water, it almost collapsed without a fight...

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

"There should be wells dug in Gaza City, and the number of soldiers in Persia is not large. Unlike us, there are as many as 200,000 people. There are also a lot of labor, horses and livestock. Just digging a few wells cannot meet the demand. Moreover, it is very difficult to dig out groundwater in the desert, and it may not be successful."

"We may be able to march east along the coast, let the fleet travel with us, and be able to dock at any time, to provide us with water and other supplies..." Matonis said hesitantly.

"I had this idea once, but after careful consideration, I found that this method is not very appropriate, because to provide supplies to such a large army, it also requires a large fleet, maritime trade The underdeveloped Egypt can't meet its needs at all. It can only recruit from the mainland of Greece and the kingdom. This takes a lot of time, and the more ships there are, the more crews are needed, which in itself consumes more materials. In addition, the process of loading and unloading fresh water by the fleet will take a lot of time, which will seriously delay the marching speed of the army and extend the time we pass through the desert..."

At this point, Calcidis, press his finger on the map and move it up: "You should have noticed that the coast where we are marching is not too far from the coast of Cyprus and Phoenician. These two regions are Persia. The main naval base has a large number of warships. As I said before, the Persians are likely to have assembled their fleet in the naval port of Cyprus, and they are likely to attack our fleet.

And if we let the navy escort, but there is no port on the long coast from Naukratis to Gaza to call and replenish, the fleet will not be well rested, the warships will not be maintained, and wait until the Persian fleet arrives. When attacking, we must also consider protecting the fleet. The entire battle will not be beneficial to our navy..."

Calcidis apparently after serious thinking, he patiently listed the difficulties one by one, and the legionnaires frowned and fell into contemplation.

Davers sighed and said: "It seems that both the military department and I have made the mistake of talking about soldiers on paper. We have underestimated the difficulty of fighting in the desert. If it weren't for Calcidis, you found out in time, we really You may suffer a lot of trouble! Now that you can find the problem, you must have figured out a solution to the problem. Tell us in detail how you want to modify the battle plan!"

Faced with Davers's encouraging gaze, Calcidis cheered up and said loudly: "I think the first target of our attack is not Gaza, but here-Cyprus!"

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

"There are three purposes for attacking it." Calcidis explained his well-thought-out plan and presented: "First of all, the island of Cyprus is a large island with large lakes and rivers, and a large plain in the north, with a large population. , The food and material reserves are 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 berth our fleet and support our army operations nearby.

Secondly, the island of Cyprus is a barrier to the coast of the Persian Near East. We occupy it. We can land northward, attack the Gulf of Issus, attack Syria and Phoenicia eastward, and threaten Canaan to the southeast... the entire Near East. The coasts of the region are under our threat, so that we have more control over the war—"

"Since the island of Cyprus is so important to Persia, the Persians must also attach great importance to it. As you mentioned earlier, Phoenician and Cyprus are the main sources of the Persian navy, and they are also gathering their warships. Phoenician on this map is very close to Cyprus, and they can dispatch a fleet in time to intercept our transport fleet!" Lizaru interrupted Karsidis and asked the question sharply.

Karsidis said calmly: "This is the third purpose I want to mention! We have traveled thousands of miles to launch an offensive against Persia. The long transportation line is the biggest weakness of our army, but as long as With the dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, this is not a problem. Therefore, the military plan formulated by His Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs considered the elimination of the Persian fleet first. Therefore, the Greek coalition first landed in Asia Minor and wanted to lure the Persian fleet northward, but The effect was not satisfactory. In the end, only the Persian Asia Minor fleet was annihilated, and the main force of the Persian fleet remained in the Near East seas. But if we attack Cyprus, the Persian fleet will have to come out. I think this should be what we expect. Of!"

Speaking of which, Calcidis looked at Daves.

Davers put his arms around his chest, staring at the map, still thinking.