Chapter 2 The Beginning of the Holy Team of Thebes

The Spartan emissary asked Dionysus to make a promise that he would not aid Sparta's enemies next time.

Antaoris responded with the original words of King Davos, but with more anger in the words: "You can make it easy for the Apulian rebels who fled to the Peloponnese to return to Traveling within the kingdom, why can't we sell some grain to Thebes. Sparta should be thankful that we Dionia are only selling grain, not anything else!"

The Spartan messenger returned in anger, and the words of the Dionysian made all the Spartan elders and inspectors heightened their vigilance and made them realize that the Dionysians had always had a grudge against Sparta.

This made them more urgent, but in the new year, when the spring returned to the earth (376 BC, 18 years of the kingdom of Dionia), Agesilaus was in bed, unable to go out, and the censors were not allowed to go out. Denying the appointment of another Spartan king, Cliombrotus, as the commander of the army, he continued to attack Thebes.

After the coalition forces had gathered, Cleombrotus decided to take the route of Agesilaus's first attack on Thebes - sailing across the Gulf of Corinth, landing in western Pioxia, and connecting with Tespia. People meet.

However, the Thebes had already suffered a loss, so how could they be fooled again? They had been ambushed in the mountains south of Tespia, and when the landed Spartan army passed through the valley pass, they suddenly attacked and attacked them. retreat.

Seeing that the Thebes had occupied the main road, Cleombrotus thought it was impossible to enter Thebes through this, so he led his army back to Peloponnese.

Afterwards, the envoys of the allies gathered in Sparta. They were dissatisfied with the fact that Sparta had recruited its citizens to conquer Thebes for many years, but there was no obvious progress. They complained that the citizens were becoming more and more lax about this war. If they continue to fight like this, I am afraid they will refuse to fight again.

They put forward a new proposal: the Thebes have a heavy defense in the south, and it is really difficult to make a breakthrough, but the coalition has more warships than the Athenians, why not use a fleet to transport an army, bypass Athens by sea, and What about landing on the north of Central Greece, uniting with the Phokis, and attacking Thebes from the northwest?

In the end, Sparta took this advice and sent a fleet of 60 three-deck oars, but while circumnavigating the waters around Athens, they also hijacked grain ships from the Black Sea to Attica.

Athens almost fell into famine, and immediately sent 80 warships to catch up with the Spartan fleet near Naxos (the city of Naxos on the island of Sicily, the kingdom of Dionia). defeated, resulting in the failure of the previously planned military operation.

Inspired by the victory, and at the request of the Thebes, the Athenians decided to also send a fleet of 50 three-tiered oars to circumnavigate the Peloponnese and attack the Spartan Confederate navy,

harass its allies.

The Athenian council appointed Timothius, son of Conon, who had served in Persia, one of the heroes of the revival of Athens, as commander-in-chief of the fleet.

In 375 BC (the 19th year of the Kingdom of Dionia), Timothy set sail with his fleet and did not land on Peloponnese on the way, but he did an important thing, landing in Kerkyra Island, but he neither enslaved the local residents nor forced them to change their political system. As a result, all the city-states on the island were willing to join the sea alliance of Athens.

You must know that Corkyra is the Greek land closest to the Kingdom of Dionia, which means that Athens' maritime power has extended to the vicinity of the Adriatic Sea, but the Kingdom of Dionia has nothing to say about it at this time.

Since the Athenian fleet circumnavigated the Peloponnesian Peninsula, the Spartan coalition had to be on guard against it, so they did not launch a large-scale attack on Thebes. The Thebes seized this favorable opportunity and boldly attacked everywhere in an attempt to liberate and conquered the neighboring city-state of Pioxia, which was controlled by the Spartan army.

One of the most famous is a military operation under the command of Peropidas.

When the Thebes received information that the Spartan army originally stationed in the city of Orhominos was transferred, Peropidas saw this as a good opportunity to conquer the neighbors to the north (Orhominos and Thebes is separated by a Lake Copais), so he led 300 infantry and dozens of cavalry hurriedly marched north around Lake Copais.

As he approached the city of Orhomenos, he received depressing news: the Spartan garrison had returned to the city.

Peropidas was reluctant to force the siege, because it would lead to more casualties among the soldiers, so he had to lead the army back without success.

Unexpectedly, when the army was passing through a place called Tesia, it suddenly encountered a Spartan army from the north.

It happened hastily, beyond Pelopidas' expectations, and the Spartan army outnumbered the soldiers he led.

There is a strong enemy blocking the road in front, the city of Orhomenos in the rear is not far away, the Spartan garrison in the city may attack at any time, and there is Lake Copais blocking the side, the Thebes army is in a desperate situation, unable to To escape, Peropidas could only lead his army to the death.

He placed 300 infantry in the middle, with cavalry on the flanks.

As soon as the formation was formed, the Spartans stormed over. Not long after the two sides fought, the Thebes cavalry on both flanks were routed.

But in the middle, the Spartan army, which had more soldiers than its opponents, struggled hard, because they faced the Thebes specially formed by the government of Thebes and specially trained by Ipaminonda. Holy Army.

These 150 gay youths from Thebes were not afraid to face a powerful enemy. They not only attacked fiercely, but also cooperated very well. They also encouraged each other during the battle, so their morale was always high.

After a period of fierce fighting, the Spartan army began to retreat step by step under their onslaught, and to make matters worse, their commander died in the battle, and the Spartan army was eventually routed.

Because he was in a dangerous place, Peropidas did not dare to order the pursuit, and led the victory division back to Thebes in a hurry.

In this battle, the number of people on both sides does not exceed 1,000. Although the scale is small, it is more significant. Unlike the battle that killed Phoebedas, this time it was won in a head-to-head battle. There were many real Spartans in the defeated Spartan army, so the victory shocked the whole of Central Greece. , inspired many people in the Central Greek city-states controlled by the Spartan army to rebel, and also made the fledgling Holy Army of Thebes famous in the Greek mainland.

………………………………

"Di! Di! Di!..." In the early morning, the manic copper whistle of the Turii slave camp sounded.

Under the urging of the foreman, the slaves quickly got up to wash, and then lined up to enter the cafeteria for breakfast.

The cafeteria of the slave camp is somewhat similar to the cafeteria of the Turii military camp, except that the area is smaller. It is a square tetrahedron building. More than 20 columns support a 4-meter-high stone flat roof. The three sides are open and unobstructed. On one side is the kitchen, and the spacious hall is neatly and densely placed with dining tables and benches, enough to accommodate two to three hundred people at one time.

The slaves smelled the fragrance of the food in the air, but they did not rush up. They still lined up in long queues and walked to the steaming window in accordance with the order. You must know that these slaves were not so disciplined at the beginning, they only learned to understand the rules after many severe punishments.

"Uncle, what's good for breakfast today?" A slave asked impatiently after he had just stood in front of the window and handed in his wooden plate and crock pot.

Most of the cooks and helpers who served as slave camps were also slaves or freed slaves, so they tended to treat the slaves who came to the cafeteria to eat in a good manner, and sometimes took extra care of them.

The middle-aged chef with a wooden spoon in his hand said with a smile: "You guys have a good time today! Not only do you have bread, porridge, and broth for breakfast, but there is also a piece of pastrami per person, and each piece of bread is smeared with honey! "

"real?!"

"Do I still need to lie to you!" The chef held the prepared breakfast on a wooden plate and handed it to him: "Take a good look at yourself."

"Wow, there is real meat!" the slave shouted excitedly.

Hearing his shout, the slaves in the back rowed into a commotion.

"What's the matter! Quiet!" A shout from the foreman immediately brought the team back to quiet, but every slave's face was full of longing.

"Leave quickly after getting breakfast, don't get stuck there!" the foreman urged in a stern tone.

The slave bit the honey bread and carried the wooden plate, and hurried to the nearest table to sit down.

The cook was a slave-freed foreman who was not at all frightened. Instead, he tapped the copper pot full of broth with a wooden spoon and said loudly to the slaves, "Do you know why today's breakfast is so rich? I heard it was Because more than 20 slaves fainted at the construction site of the quarry yesterday, and ... several slaves were injured (actually 7 slaves died), when the doctors were treating them, they found that the reason why they fainted was because Because I was too hungry... Later, for some reason, His Majesty knew about this and gave instructions specifically to keep you full and healthy to ensure your health.

After receiving the order, Lord Icarus did not rest well at night, so he immediately approached us to discuss, and also urgently sent people to the Turii market to buy food... In the future, not only will your breakfast be very rich, but dinner will also be very good. Abundant, we will transport food to the construction site at noon to give you extra meals! "

The slaves cheered immediately, and the whole mess hall boiled.

The foremen changed their faces and were about to shout angrily.

The chef had already shouted: "Let us thank the merciful His Majesty Davers together!"

"Thanks to your gracious Majesty Davos!!!" There was cheers in the cafeteria.

More than half of these slaves came from the Western Mediterranean war a few years ago. Each has its own deity, but under the long-term influence of other slaves and the environment in the camp, most of them began to worship Hades.

High-speed text handwriting Ancient Greece: Mediterranean Overlord Chapter List