Chapter 55 Jason

In the Western Mediterranean War, the Dionysian army in the defensive battle made Hasdruba suffer, and in the frontal battle, although there was only one confrontation, the Daionian army led by Leotides The Onia coalition was defeated, but on the right flank of the real Diorian Legion, Hasdrubal's heavily relied Phoenician infantry was beaten back and forth, which made him have a strong affinity for the Diorian Legion. interest.

The Ministry of Military Affairs is busy with the formation of the Frontier Corps, and the Ministry of Finance is also busy. The new "Taxation Bill" has been announced and is gradually accepted by the people of the kingdom. Although there are still several months before the direct taxation nationwide, the newly appointed Treasurer has Minister Archibides has begun to urge the tax offices of the cities and towns to estimate the income of the people under their jurisdiction this year in advance, so as to calculate the possible total tax revenue according to the new tax collection ratio, and then based on this figure, formulate a new tax. the financial distribution plan and submit it to Davos King for reference.

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The new Immigration Act, the new Tax Act, the formation of new legions, the formation of new administrative divisions... A series of new measures are being implemented in an orderly manner, which means that the development of the kingdom has entered a new era. On the track, the rule is more efficient, the finances are more prosperous, and the military security is more secure.

It was also in this year that the war in Greece entered a new stage. After the Battle of Tiezia, the Thebes became famous. They seized the opportunity to drive away the Spartan garrison around Thebes and gradually united the neighboring Piosia city-states around them, thus further enhancing their strength. , and also sent troops to attempt to occupy the city of Thisbe, which was supported by the Spartans in the north of the Gulf of Corinth and in the southern area of ​​Piosa, so as to prevent the Spartans from landing from here again and directly threaten the security of Thebes from the south.

After receiving this news, Sparta had to send King Cliomblotus to command the army again, and cross the Gulf of Corinth by boat to help the Thebes and repel the invaders of Thebes.

And just as the two sides started a new round of fighting, an envoy from the city-state of Pharsalus in Thessaly came to Sparta.

This messenger is called Polydamus, and he has a high prestige in the city of Pharsalus. Whenever Pharsalus fell into internal strife, the people would unanimously agree to hand over the Acropolis to him, and entrust him with the financial revenue and expenditure of the city-state, whether it is religious affairs or administrative management. , he can act in accordance with the law and arrange all aspects in an orderly manner. At the end of each year, he also submits a detailed account of the city-state's finances, and if there is a shortfall, he will make up for it out of his own pocket. Therefore, he was not only respected by the people in Pharsalus, but also well-known throughout Thessaly.

When such a person came to Sparta, he naturally received a grand reception by the council of elders, and agreed to his request, and held a special meeting for him.

And at this meeting, Polidamas mentioned one thing.

Thessaly is located in the north of Central Greece.

To the north is the continuous high mountains that separate it from the Macedonian territory, and the kingdom of Zeus revered by the Greeks, Mount Olympus, is among them. It is bordered to the west by the mountains of Epirus, to the east by the Aegean Sea, and to the south by the Marian region, including the Thermal Pass.

Geographically, Thessaly is surrounded by mountains, and countless small streams flow down from the mountains and converge into many rivers. In addition to the development of agriculture, Thessaly's many sloping hillsides provide natural high-quality pastures for raising horses, and the flat principles at the foot of the mountain provide horses with a vast open space for galloping, so Thessaly is famous for its horses and cavalry throughout Greece. . (Note: In history, Alexander the Great's famous war horse Bucephalas came from Macedonia, and most of the 5,000 cavalry he brought in his expedition to Persia also came from Thessaly.)

Although Thessaly has such good geographical conditions, the city-states of Thessaly have many contradictions and constant wars, so they have never become an important force in the entire Greek mainland.

But this split has begun to change in recent years. Philae is the only coastal city-state in Thessaly with a prosperous port trade, plus its own agriculture and animal husbandry is also developed, so it is also the richest city-state in the entire Thessaly.

There is a citizen of Philae city-state named Jason. His father named him this ancient hero when he was born (Jason is the protagonist in the legend of the Golden Fleece), hoping that he will have something to do when he grows up. as. Jason lived up to his father's hopes. When he grew up, he eventually became Philae's tyrant through various means. But he was not satisfied with this. He took advantage of Philae's wealth and recruited 6,000 mercenaries, trained them rigorously, gave generous rewards to soldiers who showed valor in battle, and gave good care to wounded soldiers. If he died in battle, he would arrange a grand funeral for him, so the mercenaries were loyal to him and willing to fight to the death for him.

Thessaly's cavalry is well-known, and the heavy infantry here is also quite famous, all of which are already in his newly formed team, but Jason is still not satisfied, because these years he has paid attention to what happened in Greece south of Thessaly. The war made him realize the importance of the light shield soldiers (the Athenian general Ephetrax was good at commanding the Thracian light shield soldiers to fight and made many achievements), and the mountains around Thessaly were also rich in excellent light shield soldiers.

So he commanded this well-trained and valiant army, which successively conquered the Malachi, the Donops (a race in the mountains north of Thessaly), and Epirus in the mountains northwest of Thessaly people, thereby expanding his mercenary ranks.

Under his mighty rule, Philae grew stronger day by day. Taking advantage of the fact that the Greek overlord Sparta was busy dealing with the wars between Thebes and Athens and was unable to look north, he successively forced several northern Thessaly city-states such as Larissa and Crannon near Philae to surrender to him. Then he turned his attention to Pharsalus.

Pharsalus is located in the center of the Thessaly region. It has always been a strong state in this region. Many Thessaly city-states are the only ones who follow its lead. By conquering it, the entire Thessaly region can be unified more smoothly.

So, Jason led an army of tens of thousands of people to march to Pharsalus in the south.

Pharsalus also hurriedly summoned other allied armies to fight the incoming enemy.

After winning the first battle, Jason did not immediately attack the city of Pharsalus, but sent envoys to enter the city to persuade him to surrender, and also specially found Polydamus, the commander-in-chief of the coalition at the time, to bring him A handwritten letter from Jason.

In the letter, Jason told Polydamus bluntly: With the powerful force in his hands, he could completely annihilate Pharsalus and his allies in one fell swoop. The reason why he did not do so was because he hoped to The Thessaly city-states headed by Pharsalus could convincely join the Thessaly Alliance he established, so that they would not always be ready to conspire to rebel, but would do their best to jointly safeguard the interests of the alliance.

He also hopes that Polydamas will assist him with all his strength and help him become the Tagus of all the Thessaly people (the name of the Thessaly overlords of the whole Thessaly), and he will also give Polydamas thick Report, let him be under one person and over ten thousand people.

In the letter, he also showed his ambitions like Polydamas: as long as Thessaly is under the rule of a Tagus, the years of war will be subsided, sufficient food, a large population, Well-trained mercenaries... enable him to send an army of 6,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 hoplites at any time, and can form alliances with the city-states of Piosia, headed by Thebes, if he can Free them from the Spartans, and they will obey him; at the same time, he can control Macedonia to the north, because it is here that the Athenians get the wood for shipbuilding, from which he can build far more The ships of the southern Greek city-state form a powerful fleet... and his real goal is not the barren land in the south, nor the small small islands in the Aegean Sea, but Persia on the vast continent to the east. The Greek mercenaries and the army of the later Agesilaus were able to fight in and out of Persia, and he had a more powerful army. He was fully confident to conquer the Persian kingdom, thereby gaining unprecedented glory and wealth!

Polydamas was completely stunned by the ambitiousness revealed in his letter.

After Polydamus calmed down, he sent a letter to Jason: He thought that the issues that Jason had mentioned in the letter were indeed worthy of his consideration, but let Pharsalus wait for these to be the Spartan allies. (After Sparta helped the Macedonian king defeat the Carcidia Alliance, it increased its influence on central and northern Greece, and many Thessaly city-states such as Pharsalus also formed an alliance with Sparta). It is immoral and unblessed by the gods to break away from allies and turn to their enemies without any excuse.

Jason responded quickly.

In the letter, he praised Polidamas for being a man who kept his promises and who was more trustworthy.

And he suggested that Polydamas could send messengers to Sparta and ask Sparta for assistance.

At the end of the letter, he said very confidently: "If the gods allow you to convince Sparta to send an army strong enough to fight me, then I can only wait and see and accept any consequences of this war. ; but if they can't give you enough aid, then you'd better do as I asked before, and the whole of Thessaly will be united under me, a new Tagus!"

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