Chapter 198 Strategy Against Persia (2)

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Printols continued: "But according to the information recently obtained, the Persian king did not fulfill his promise very well, so these city-states have a lot of complaints, and the Greek coalition forces fighting in Asia Minor in the future are very likely to get their support.

More than 20 years ago, Agesilaus led the Spartan coalition, mainly mercenaries, to fight in western Asia Minor, and had a long-term advantage. And now the situation in the whole of Asia Minor is more favorable to the kingdom, our coalition army with legion as the main body attacking Asia Minor is more invincible—”

"Wait a minute, I think there is a problem here." Bagul couldn't help but interjected: "I have seen the map of Persia. The territory of Asia Minor is very large, and most of it is mountainous. Even if we have an advantage at the beginning, But as the army pushes eastward, the food supply will be a big problem. The land transportation line is too long, and the transportation from the sea——

The Persians will never sit idly by, they also have a strong fleet and will definitely attack our transport team and cut off the sea transport lines, so that our army will be in trouble..."

"Lord Bagule is right!" Plintors replied with a serious expression: "But in fact, attacking Asia Minor is only the first step in our military plan, and the next second step is also the most important one. The step is to defeat and destroy the Persian fleet!

The kingdom and Persia are thousands of miles away, separated by the vast Eastern Mediterranean Sea. If we want the army to fight on Persian soil and be less troubled by logistical supplies, we must control the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, especially the dominance of the Persian waters.

Therefore, we need to assemble the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fleets, and also merge the warships of the allies to form a huge fleet, stationed in the port of Piraeus or Philae, once the Persian fleet Go west, enter the Aegean Sea, and come to attack the transport fleet of the Greek coalition forces that landed in Asia Minor, then our combined fleet can take the opportunity to attack and start a decisive battle with the Persian fleet. Once defeated, the combined fleet can take advantage of the situation to advance east— —”

Haka coughed a few times loudly, interrupting Printols' speech, and then asked slowly: "The Persian fleet is equally powerful, I would like to ask Mr. Printols, why is the Ministry of Military Affairs so confident that we Will the fleet be able to defeat them?"

Printols said confidently: "Your Majesty! Ladies and gentlemen! After repeated analysis and deductions, our Military Affairs Department believes that compared with the Persian army, the Dionysian army has an absolute advantage, not the army, but the navy! "

This statement surprised some ministers.

Printoles answered confidently: "Persia's main dominion is inland, it has never been a seafaring people, and its fleet consists mainly of Phoenicia, Cyprus, Syria, Asia Minor, and the Greek coast in Persia. City-states...the warships and crews they provide are pieced together. Due to their complex origins and huge differences in language and culture, it is not easy to combine them into a unified fleet that fully obeys the command and dares to fight to the death. This is why the Greek fleet headed by Athens in the past was far less than Persian in number of warships, but it always won many times. However, our fleet acted strictly in accordance with military law, insisted on military training for a long time, flexible tactics and brave combat. Stronger than the Greek city-state fleet.

Secondly, the Persian fleet has hardly participated in major battles for decades, and is seriously lacking in naval combat experience, which is obviously not comparable to our fleet in this regard. Also, the main force of the Persian fleet is the Phoenicians—"

Plintors glanced at Haka who was thinking about it, and continued: "We had a naval battle with the Phoenician fleet more than 10 years ago, and the Phoenician fleet that finally rescued Carthage was almost completely destroyed. But According to the information we have obtained, the Persian fleet has not learned the lessons of this failure, and their naval tactics have remained unchanged for more than 10 years.

And the warships haven't improved much either.

On the contrary, several of our fleets have been using Persia as a hypothetical opponent for the past few years, conducting targeted training, and also cooperated with the Dionysian Academy and the shipyard to improve our warships... When the number of Persian warships is not much different, the well-prepared Kingdom Navy has an absolute advantage!

The only shortcoming is that the main station of the Persian fleet is too far away from us, so we have to rely on the offensive of the Greek coalition in western Asia Minor to lure the Persian fleet into the Aegean Sea, and then completely defeat it! "

Plintos swung his fist vigorously, and his voice became excited: "The victorious kingdom fleet can seize the opportunity that the Persian Navy's strength has been greatly weakened and continue to advance eastward, or use the ally Egypt as a temporary naval base, or With the support of Egypt, the island of Cyprus was captured, and the coasts of Syria and Carthage were completely blocked. Therefore, Egypt is very important to us, and we must maintain its friendship with the kingdom and ensure the stability of its domestic order.

Once we have control of the Eastern Mediterranean, the kingdom can send its main army of a dozen or so legions to the east without hesitation, or to dock in Egypt, or land in Canaan, conquer Phoenicia and Syria, and enter the United States. Sopotamia, approaching Babylon...

If the Persian army was still fighting against the Greek coalition in Asia Minor at this time, it might not have time to come back to rescue. Even if the main force of the Egyptian army was not dispatched to Asia Minor and could be intercepted in time, there was still concern about whether the Greek coalition would circle to its rear from the north and form a pincer attack with the kingdom's main force. Under such an unfavorable situation, in a decisive battle with our army, which is in high spirits, the Persian army basically has no chance of winning—"

"The Persians may also choose not to fight with our army, but choose to stick to Babylon." Asistes reminded: "I heard that Babylon is a huge city, with unusually tall and strong walls, and a wide Euphrates River. As a barrier, it cannot be conquered in a short time. Once the siege continues for too long, our military supplies will be tight, and the Persians may also slow down, resulting in changes in the situation that are not conducive to us."

"Lord Asisters, you are right, if Persia adopts a defensive strategy, it will indeed cause us a lot of trouble." After a euphemistic response, Plintos changed his words: "But , causing more trouble to Persia. Because Persia is a big country and has a vast land, but it is not like a kingdom. It can effectively govern various regions, and its rule is not too strong. Many regions rely on local races to take care of themselves. Therefore, before There was Egypt's independence, the Duqa people launched a riot, and then there was a rebellion in Asia Minor... Artaxerxes' repression was not effective, resulting in his low prestige, and the aristocrats and the people were not convinced.

Once our army enters the core area of ​​Persia - the Mesopotamian plain, the Persian army hides behind high walls and watches us destroy villages and farmlands, which will surely disappoint the local people to Artaxerxes , which could lead to new rebellions and divisions. He can only regain the trust of the Persian people if he gathers a large army to repel us, so I think a decisive battle is inevitable! "

After Plintos roughly finished the plan drawn up by the General Affairs Department, the hall was silent.

After a moment, Davos spoke: "Clotokatax, what do you think of the plans of the Ministry of Military Affairs?"

Although a few years ago, in mainland Greece, Printols actively assisted Clotokatax and finally won the war. Since then, the two have established a friendship and have often communicated after returning to Turii. , but at this time the kingdom's consul glanced at Plintos, then faced his father and said calmly: "Your Majesty, this plan made by the Ministry of Military Affairs sounds very reasonable, we have a great deal of Persia. Advantages, it seems that it will be easy to win if you follow it. However, fighting thousands of miles away with troops means a huge risk in itself, and whether it is military food transportation or information transmission will suffer greater difficulties than ever. What's more, the attack is a big country with a vast territory. Whether it is a general or a soldier, it is a completely unfamiliar land. The situation is complicated and accidents may happen at any time.

Just like during the Greek War, we initially hoped not to arouse the same hatred of the Greek city-states as much as possible, starting with Sparta, conquering those powerful states one by one, and eventually taking control of the whole of Greece. Unexpectedly, the Greek city-states soon joined together to form a Greek alliance to confront us, forcing us to invest more troops, thus rapidly expanding the war.

At that time, the reason why the kingdom was able to change its plans in time and make the correct response was because Greece was very close to us. But now that Persia is too far away from us, perhaps when we receive the news and are discussing contingency plans, the army in Persia will encounter new difficulties and even fail. Once they fail, they will face the whole army. The danger of being overwhelmed, so I think we should be careful when using troops against Persia!

In addition, although the political situation in the kingdom is relatively stable now, Lord Haka has just said that the Gauls outside the mountains in the north pose a threat to our territory, and the natives of northern Iberia also harass our southern territory from time to time. The mountain natives on the east coast of the Dria Sea are also threatening the safety of our Thessaly region and our Greek allies...

There are still so many unsafe factors within the kingdom's sphere of influence. In other words, there are still so many lands near the kingdom that we need to conquer to ensure the peace and tranquility of the people of the Dionysian Holy Kingdom. We should first Concentrate on doing these things well, and don't be tempted by Persian wealth to go farther and farther. "

Even if we defeat the Persian army, it will be difficult to conquer the people there and integrate them into the kingdom, because they are a powerful race completely different from us, with a culture and splendor that does not belong to us, they will not be content to be ruled by us, Maybe we need to invest huge manpower and material resources to maintain the rule of living in Persia, but is it worth it? After all, the root of the Dionysian Holy Kingdom is in the Western Mediterranean, in Italy—"