Chapter 179 Athens Joins the War

It turned out that although the Carthaginian Senate had made a decision to let Marco serve as the commander of the Sicilian army, the elders headed by Hanno refused to let Carthage citizens die in the last battle because of the heavy casualties. Taichi organized the army to go to Sicily, but suggested that Marco should lead the Iberian army, which had not suffered casualties, to go out.

Of course, the elders headed by Pretakuba would not agree to this proposal. While they strongly called for "requiring further accountability for the failure of the last war", they also helped the allied messengers from Sicily, and trumpeted in the city what is now in Sicily. The tragic experience of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians attempted to incite the common enemies of the Carthaginian citizens, and pushed the Senate to pass the proposal of "reorganizing the army from the city of Carthage and setting off on Sicily".

Time slipped away day by day in the dispute between the two sides. Although Marco, who was far away in the south of Iberia, was anxious, he still declined the request of the Senate to urge him to send troops immediately on the grounds that he was "collecting troops". After all, he was consumed alone. The military strength of Iberia allowed Hanno to get what he wanted, which is unacceptable to the current Marco.

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When the Italian peninsula and Sicily were plunged into war, a major event also occurred in the Greek mainland.

The Spartan king Cleombrotus finally led the assembled Spartan allies, crossed the Isthmus of Corinth, entered Central Greece, and gathered Spartan troops in various places in this area, preparing to conquer the bottom again. Bis, reshapes Sparta's authority in Central Greece.

But in the process, the Spartan general Sfedrias, who was originally stationed in Tespia, was afraid of being accused by the new king of Sparta because he did not send troops in time to assist in the suppression of the riots in Thebes. , out of the psychology of redemption, and also out of the ambition to gain glory and compete with Phoebe Das, he made a plan-night attack on the port of Piraeus.

He believes that by capturing Athens, this important business center, it can not only make up for the loss of Thebes, but even win him the glory of Phoebedas (although many Greek city-states secretly despise it, but the citizens of Sparta still have Still think Phoebe Das's sneak attack on Thebes was a huge feat).

Since the messenger of the new king of Sparta was already on his way, Sfedrias did not have time to do more careful planning, so he led his troops to set off that night and headed for the port of Piraeus in the southeast. The troops led by him were unfamiliar with the terrain, and he underestimated the difficulty of the journey. As a result, it was already dawn before they reached the port of Piraeus.

The Athenians in the port found their traces and immediately mobilized to prepare for defense.

Seeing that the sneak attack failed, Sfedrias had to return along the way. While retreating, the troops ravaged the Athenian territory they passed through in order to understand their anger.

Such unprovoked provocation immediately aroused great anger among the Athenians.

Sparta had sent messengers to accuse two Athenian generals of participating in the riots at Thebes, and Athens executed the two generals who acted without permission in order to prove their innocence. But the Spartan messenger did not leave, but continued to stay in Athens, claiming to be carrying out the order of the Spartan Council of Elders and continuing to monitor Athens' performance for the next period of time.

Now, the angry Athenians immediately arrested the Spartan messenger and asked angrily: Why did Sparta send troops to invade the Athenian territory for no reason and plunder the Athenian people? !

The Spartan messenger, who was feeling inexplicable at the anger of the Athenians, learned of what had happened in Piraeus in the morning, and scolded Sfedrias for his audacity. The action was a stupid act of the Spartan general's own opinion and had nothing to do with the Spartan government!

Moreover, he firmly stated that the Spartan Council of Elders will quickly judge Sfedrias and give Athens a just account.

The Spartan messenger's justification did not completely appease the Athenian anger.

The leading figure in Athenian politics, Thrasybulus, died in battle a few years ago, but a democrat named Callistratus came to the fore in the outstanding Athens, who was not only an orator, but also a A very capable political figure, elected to the ten generals of Athens for several years, he persuaded the restless Athenians, reminding them that if Athens was not ready to go to war with Sparta, then it is better to trust Sparta what the messenger said.

Although the citizens of Athens were angry, they also knew the strength of Sparta's military, so they finally agreed to release the Spartan messenger.

The Spartan messenger immediately rushed to the residence of the Spartan king, Cleombrotus, and reported to him what had just happened in Piraeus and the protests of the Athenians.

Only then did Kleombrotus know what Sfrideria was doing, and in a rage, he immediately sent someone to arrest him and send him back to Sparta.

At the same time that Sfedrias was taken back to Sparta, a troop of ambassadors from Athens also arrived in Sparta, forcing the Spartan Council of Elders and the prosecutors to speed up the investigation of the disobedience. , arbitrarily provoked the trial of the Athenian generals.

Sfedrias seemed doomed, but his son, who was close to Agesilaus' son Archidamus, urgently asked Archidamus for help.

Archie Damus did not hesitate to plead with his father for his best friend.

Agesilaus made no promises.

But during the interrogation, Agesilaus spoke for Sfedrias.

He said: "Sfriderius is undoubtedly guilty, but we cannot put a good man to death. Whether as a child, youth or adulthood, this heroic Spartan citizen lived a decent life. , diligently contribute his strength to Sparta, Sparta needs such warriors!  …”

Today's Agesilaus is very prestigious in Sparta. His speech made some neutrals in the council of elders choose to support Sfedrias' innocence, and some elders felt that he should not be punished. Spartan general.

They believed that the riots at Thebes had damaged the prestige of Sparta in mainland Greece, and it was the time when war was needed to restore prestige. If Sparta punished its generals at this time, it would not only hurt the citizens of Sparta Aggressive fighting spirit and self-defeating behavior will make other city-states look down on Sparta.

In the end, the Council of Elders passed the resolution of "Sfridilia's innocence" with a majority vote, and the prosecutors who had the right to decide were originally selected from Spartan citizens, who were younger, more radical, and of course agreed made this decision.

The citizens of Athens, who were looking forward to it, were shocked when they learned of Sparta's verdict: In the face of Sparta's accusations, the Athenians executed two of their generals! Now, in the face of Athens' accusations, Sparta easily acquitted the perpetrators!

The domineering arrogance of the Spartans thoroughly angered the citizens of Athens, who demanded that the Athenian government must retaliate against Sparta.

Sparta's approach was beyond the expectations of the Athenian generals. Since the signing of the Great King's Peace Treaty, the generals headed by Callistratus and Aristotles, in view of the tyranny of Sparta in the Greek mainland, Therefore, a neutral policy of wait-and-see is adopted. However, they did not sit idle, but continued to establish alliances between Athens and many city-states along the coasts of Thrace, the Aegean Sea, and Asia Minor. The frequent economic and trade exchanges and mutual assistance in diplomacy led to the fact that Athens is now more powerful than Corinth. before the war.

But the anger of the citizens now makes it impossible for Athens to continue to keep a low profile. Although this is not what Callistratus wants to see, the firm support of the vast majority of citizens at the Citizens Assembly Sparta declared war, and Athens finally passed the resolution.

Athens' declaration of war shocked the city-states of the Greek mainland, not only made the Thebes feel happy, but also made the Spartan king Cleombrotus, who was about to attack Thebes, feel uncomfortable. He was afraid of attacking Thebes with all his strength. At the time of the invasion of Thebes, the Athenian army attacked from the east again, and thus became hesitant in the military action against Thebes.

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Camelus decisively led his army away from Rome and marched westward to attack Ostia.

Of course, Davos couldn't let the opponent's plan succeed. He had to send the soldiers of the First Army, the Fourth Army, the Sixth Army and some of the Fifth Army, or take the cargo ship of the Chamber of Commerce and rushed to the port of Ostia, or They marched along the north bank of the Tiber River to the mouth of the river, and then were ferryed by warships to the city of Ostia on the south bank. So far, about 35,000 soldiers (including the temporary reserve formed by Telis) have gathered in the city of Ostia to fully defend against the siege of the Roman army, which has less than 60,000 people.

Since Davos was still in Rome, he could only appoint Amyntas as the temporary defense commander of Ostia. After pondering, he believed that Amyntas, who had rich combat experience and was qualified, could make The other legion commanders obeyed the command and could fully defend the small town.

However, in order to prevent him from overheating, Davos strictly ordered him to "can only defend the city and not go out to fight!"

In addition, Davos also appointed Clotokatax, who was fighting in Ostia, as Amyntas' personal staff. On the surface, he asked him to study military affairs with Amyntas, but secretly gave him a Issue a warrant, once Amyntas acts without authorization, Clotokatax can take out the warrant, replace Amyntas' position, and replace Olivers as the commander.

This was the first time for Clotokatax to take on an important task, and he accepted the task happily, which enabled Davos to achieve another purpose: to cleverly keep his son away from the battlefield and protect his safety.