Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 266: The Thebes Holy Team

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Xenophon did not approve of Agsilius’s practice of guarding the selfish and stupid general who attempted to rob Athens, but this was Agsilius, a king who values ​​friendship, so he had no choice but to He comforted him and said: "Now Cleombrotus (another Spartan king) has been leading the Allied forces in Central Greece for several months, and has been unable to make great progress. If the battle remains stalemate like this, It’s not good for Sparta. Some city-states that were originally dissatisfied with Sparta might join the Athens-Thebes alliance one after another to strengthen their resistance against Sparta. By then, the Spartans might again. I think of you again."

Agsilus did not respond to Xenophon’s remarks. On the one hand, he did not want to see Sparta in such a predicament, and on the other hand, he did not want to judge the performance of another Spartan king in Central Greece. , So he appeared narrow-minded, so he changed the topic, half-joking, half-seriously said: "Xenophon, you are an Athenian, do you want Athens to be defeated?"

Xenophon said seriously: "I neither hope that Athens will be defeated, nor do I want Sparta to be defeated. Athens and Sparta have their own strengths and complement each other. They should not have become 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."

"...great idea." Agcilius looked at Xenophon and finally said.

After sending away Xenophon, I went back to the house and saw the book on the table. Agcilius left a daze about "Sparta supports the fugitives to counterattack Apulia". , He did not tell the truth to Xenophon, because he did not object to the elders' council.

"More than 500 warships, 100,000 troops!..." Agcilius muttered in a low voice, still with a bit of horror in his tone. He first heard of the outbreak of war in the Kingdom of Dionia. The amount of troops invested (the same is true for the Carthage side), this really scared him. He seriously estimated that even if the city-states of Peloponnese, Central Greece, and North Greece are united, probably He could barely come up with this huge number, but Dionia was able to do it relatively easily, which made him feel terrified, because he knew very well in his heart: Although Sparta is still an alliance with the Kingdom of Dionia. , But because the two sides are too close to each other and both are ambitious, there will inevitably be a war due to conflicts of interest someday, so he is looking forward to Carthage to win this war. Although it is a foreign race, Persia is also a foreign race. Isn’t it working well now? After all, the current situation in the Western Mediterranean is different from the time when Dionysius dominated Sicily.

Thinking of this, Agsilius felt the urgency of time again: But as Xenophon said, Cleombrotus led his army in the battle in Central Greece for so long, and so far there has been no major progress. If this continues, it will be very detrimental to Sparta, shouldn't he take some action? !

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Due to the looting and subsequent acquittal of the Spartan generals, Athens went to war on Sparta and allied with Thebes. Soon there will be Caios, Byzantium, Rhodes, Ubia...The city-states joined this new league, and this new league was named the Second League of Athens (after all, the establishment of the league was based on Athens, and most of the city-states that joined the league were allied with Athens in recent years), In order to distinguish it from the Delian League established by Athens during the Peloponnesian War, the League declared that the purpose of the alliance was to protect the independence of the Greek states and resist the oppression of Sparta.

In order to gather and hire more soldiers to fight against Sparta, the Athens Civic Assembly also passed a resolution to restore the collection of property taxes. In order to collect taxes more quickly and easily, the Athens government also reformed the collection method. .

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

With the advent of autumn, the soldiers of the Spartan coalition army returned to their respective city-states to prepare for the autumn harvest. There were only less than 3,000 Spartans left under the command of Spartan King Cleombrotus. He was unwilling to consume precious Spartans in the siege, so he temporarily retreated to Platia.

The Thebes government seized this precious time of truce, mobilized the people of the city, around Thebes, digging trenches, building barriers... Take all measures that can strengthen the city to defend against the next attack of the Spartan coalition. . At the same time, they also actively united with the neighboring Piosha city-states that had become independent, 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 gathered the citizens of the city to conduct military training every day. The person in charge was Epameronda. His outstanding performance in the previous battles won the whole With the recognition and respect of the people in the city, everyone actively participated in the training plan he developed, and no one questioned the plan.

Eppamineda 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 relieve Spartan’s threat to Thebes. Thebes ushered in a real rise. Therefore, while training the citizens, he also put forward a new proposal to Pelopidas and the others-that is, to establish an elite heavy infantry company, so as to be able to compete with Sparta’s famous Greek King’s Guard, and even He also proposed that the unit should be composed of homosexual couples based on the characteristics of more homosexuals among the citizens of Thebes. He believed that it is because these couples have a close relationship that they can inspire and assist each other in battle. Go to life and death together.

Although homosexuality is highly respected in Greece, the army formed exclusively by homosexuality has never appeared in the previous Greek states. If this proposal appears in other Greek city-states, even Athens, it may be criticized by many people. Doubts, but the emerging Thebes government is composed of radicals headed by Pelopidas. They are young, energetic, passionate, adventurous, and innovative, so they realize that the plan of Ipermenonda will help After greatly increasing the combat effectiveness of Thebes citizen soldiers, it was passed and executed immediately.

Pelopidas and Ipamenonda personally selected among 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 born in The Nobles of Thebes, and basically all have long-term training in wrestling schools, all of them are tall and strong, with agile movements.

Ipermenonda began to train them more rigorously for heavy infantry.

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In Sicily, the Carthage army officially began its offensive against Dionia.

Has Druba led 30,000 soldiers from Gela straight northward and began to attack Hena.

At the same time, Margo led more than 50,000 soldiers from the territory of Kamenlina, entered the territory of Syracuse, and set up a camp in the northwest of his territory. The goal of the attack was not far from the camp. Of Paragonia.

Syracuse also summoned more than 10,000 soldiers, led by General Falekus, through the Iksa Gate, and attacked Taunis, not far to the north.

The southern border of the Dionian Sicilian Territory has been attacked by a three-way army, but the cities of Dionian Sicily and their allies, who have been prepared for a long time, are not panicked. They are orderly following the prior deployment defense.

After the trek led by Hasdruba and his army arrived in Herna, he was a little bit troubled, because the city of Herna was not only built on a hill, but also adjacent to two large lakes on its north and south sides. This made it difficult for the Carthaginian army to encircle it, and the army could not be fully deployed during the offensive, and the advantage of the large number of people could not be fully utilized.

Furthermore, at the beginning of the war, the chief executive of Heena, Kleiro, was mobilized on the advice of Leotizides, and used these two lakes to dig a wider area under the hill. The moat, which created obstacles for the Carthage army’s siege equipment to approach the city.

In addition, Leotizides sent 3,000 Eighth Army soldiers to Hena, and the citizen soldiers in Hena, the total strength of the city is more than 5,000.

After several days of meticulous preparation, Hasdruba began to attack the city with all his strength. The result was a fierce battle for a day without even attacking the head of the city. In the following days, the offensive was also defeated, as the soldiers suffered many casualties. , Hasdruba had to stop the attack and take a break.

Margo’s army is also in trouble. The Dionian soldiers who stayed behind in Paragonia for months have been building defensive facilities with the help of the people of Katane. They set up traps and traps outside the village. Build outpost towers outside, dig trenches outside the towers, and arrange traps outside the trenches...This way, one after another, it extends southward for several miles, holding the mountains and ridges that lead to the Catania Plain from the south coast. The only flat lot in the city.

In order to get through this road, Margo's army suffered from the torture of traps and the attack of tower archers. After several days, it cleared less than 1/3 of the roadblocks, but the morale of the soldiers was low.

After two days of rest, Margo finally decided to change the offensive route, over the mountains, and head to Leonid.

On the east coast, Siracusa’s army had already arrived under Taunis, but it took them 5 days to build the camp. After the first siege failed, they stayed in the camp. Anything is happening.

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Sartnicom, this unfortunate town of Wolsey has been broken and occupied by the Romans last year. This year it encountered war again and was besieged by the Dionian army for nearly two months. The most recent period Every day, family members of Roman citizens under the watch of the Dionian army shouted to the soldiers on the city to persuade them to surrender.