Chapter 266 The Holy Team of Thebes

Although Xenophon did not agree with Agesilaus's way of defending the stupid general who was selfish and trying to plunder Athens, this was Agesilaus, a king who valued friendship very much, so he had to comfort him again. Said: "Now that Cleombrotus (another Spartan king) has been fighting for several months in Central Greece with the Allied forces, and has not made great progress, if the battle remains so deadlocked, the It's not good for you. Some city-states that were originally dissatisfied with Sparta may join the alliance of Athens and Thebes one after another to strengthen the forces against Sparta. At that time, the Spartans may think of you again. ."

Agesilaus did not respond to Xenophon's remarks, on the one hand he did not want to see Sparta in such a predicament, on the other hand he did not want to judge the performance of another Spartan king in Central Greece, thus appearing He was narrow-minded, so he changed the subject, half-jokingly, and half-seriously: "Xenophon, you are an Athenian, do you want Athens to be defeated?"

Xenophon said seriously: "I don't want Athens to be defeated, nor Sparta to be defeated. Athens and Sparta have their own strengths and complement each other. They should not be enemies. If the two city-states unite, Then the whole of Greece can be united and we can compete with other powerful forces in the Mediterranean."

"...Good idea." Agesilaus finally said something while looking at Xenophon.

After sending Xenophon away, he returned to the house and saw the book on the table. Xenophon did not tell the truth, because he did not object at the council of elders.

"More than 500 warships, 100,000 troops!..." Agesilaus whispered, still a little frightened in his tone. He first heard that the kingdom of Dionia had invested in the war after the outbreak of the war. The military strength (the same on the Carthaginian side) really frightened him. He seriously estimated that even if the city-states of Peloponnesus, Central Greece, and Northern Greece were all united, they would probably be able to Reluctantly made up this huge number, but Dionia was able to do it relatively easily, which made him feel fear, because he knew very well: although Sparta and the Kingdom of Dionia are still allied, but due to The two sides are too close, and both are ambitious, and one day there will be a war because of conflicting interests, so he is looking forward to Carthage to win this war, although it is a foreign race, but Persia is also a foreign race, not now. Does it work well? After all, the current situation in the Western Mediterranean is different from the time when Dionysius dominated Sicily.

Thinking of this, Agesilaus felt the urgency of time again: but as Xenophon said, Cleombrotus led his army to fight in Central Greece for so long, and so far there has been no major progress. Going down is not good for Sparta, should I take some action? !

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Due to the looting of the Spartan generals and the subsequent acquittal, Athens went to war with Sparta and allied with Thebes, and soon there were Chios, Byzantium, Rhodes, Eubia ...The city-states joined this new alliance, and this new alliance was named the Second Athenian Alliance (after all, the establishment of the alliance was mainly based on Athens, and most of the city-states that joined the alliance were the city-states that had allied with Athens over the years). The Delian League, established by Athens during the Loponnesian War, declared that its purpose was to protect the independence of the Greek states against Spartan oppression.

In order to convene and hire more soldiers to fight against Sparta, the Athenian Citizens Assembly also passed a resolution to resume the collection of property taxes. In order to collect tax money more quickly and easily,

The Athenian government also reformed the way of expropriation.

The newly established Thebes government focused all its energy on military affairs, and they relied on a solid city defense to resist the first wave of the Spartan coalition attack.

With the advent of autumn, the soldiers of the Spartan coalition returned to their respective city-states one after another to prepare for the autumn harvest. The Spartan king Cleombrotus had less than 3,000 Spartans left, and he was unwilling to do so. The precious Spartans were wasted in the siege battle, so they temporarily retreated to Platia.

The Thebes government seized this precious truce time and mobilized the entire city to surround the city of Thebes, dig trenches, build barriers... and take all measures to strengthen the city's defense to defend against the next attack of the Spartan coalition. At the same time, they also actively united the neighboring city-states of Pioxia that had been independent, and actively assisted them in strengthening their defenses, so as to block Sparta from the territory of Thebes.

At the same time, the Spartan government also convened the citizens of the city to conduct military training every day. The person in charge was Ipaminonda. His outstanding performance in the previous battle won the hearts of the people of the city. Recognized and respected, everyone actively participated in the training plan he developed, and no one questioned this plan.

And Epiminonda was not satisfied with just defending the city of Thebes. He realized that only by defeating the Spartans in the battle would it be possible to completely remove the threat of Sparta to Thebes and allow Thebes Usher in a real rise. Therefore, while he was busy training the citizens, he also proposed a new proposal to Pelopidas and the others, that is to build an elite heavy infantry company, so as to be able to compete with Sparta's famous Greek King's Guard, and even he also According to the characteristics of more homosexuals among the citizens of Thebes, he proposed that the unit should preferably be composed of gay couples. He believed that it was because of the close relationship between these couples that they could inspire, assist and fight each other in battle. life and death.

Although homosexuality is respected in Greece, an army specially formed by homosexuals has never appeared in the previous Greek states. If this proposal appeared in other Greek city-states, even Athens may be questioned by many people, but The emerging Thebes government was composed of radicals headed by Pelopidas. They were young, energetic, passionate, adventurous, and innovative, so they realized that Ipaminonda's plan would help greatly improve the bottom line. After the combat effectiveness of the Bis civics, it was passed immediately and executed immediately.

Pelopidas and Ipaminonda personally selected the citizens of the city, and soon formed a heavy infantry company of 300 men (150 couples), all of whom were about 20 years old and born in Thebes Aristocrats, and they have basically undergone long-term training in wrestling schools, all of them are strong and agile.

Ipaminonda began to give them more severe heavy infantry training.

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In Sicily, the Carthaginian army officially began its attack on the territory of Dionia.

Hasdrubal led 30,000 soldiers straight north from Jera and began to attack Hena.

At the same time, Marco personally led more than 50,000 soldiers, set out from the territory of Kamanlina, entered the territory of Syracuse, and set up a camp in the northwest of his territory, and his attack target was Pala, not far from the camp. gonia.

And Syracuse also summoned more than 10,000 soldiers, led by the general Falecus, through the Ixa Gate, and attacked Taunis not far to the north.

The southern border of the Dionysian Sicilian territory was successively attacked by three armies, but the cities of Dionysian Sicily and their allies, who had already prepared, were not panicked, and they defended in an orderly manner according to the previous deployment.

After Hasdrubal led his army to Hena, he was in a bit of trouble, because the city of Hena was not only built on a hill, but also adjacent to two large lakes on its north and south sides, which made it difficult for him. It was difficult for the Carthaginian army to encircle it, and the army could not be fully deployed during the attack, and the advantage of the large number of people could not be fully utilized.

Moreover, at the beginning of the war, at the beginning of the war, at the suggestion of Leotidides, the chief executive of Hena, Kleirou, mobilized the people and used these two lakes to dig a wider moat under the hills. It also set up obstacles for the siege equipment of the Carthaginian army to approach the city.

Together with the 3,000 soldiers of the Eighth Legion sent by Leotidides to Hena, and the civic soldiers in Hena, there were more than 5,000 troops in the city.

After several days of careful preparation, Hasdruba began to attack the city with all his strength. As a result, he fought fiercely for a day, and he did not even attack the city head. The attack in the following days also suffered a failure. Drupa had to stop the attack and rest.

Margo's army also encountered difficulties. For months, the Dionian soldiers who remained in Paragonia had been building defenses with the help of the people of Catane. They had set up traps outside the village and built them outside the traps. The sentinel tower, the trenches dug outside the sentry tower, and the traps placed outside the trenches... This kind of loop has been extended to the south for a few miles, holding the only place between the mountains on the south coast leading to the Catania Plain. Flat lot.

In order to get through this road, Marco's army was tortured by traps and harassed by tower archers. After several days passed, less than 1/3 of the roadblocks were cleared, but the morale of the soldiers was low.

After two days of rest, Margo finally decided to change the attack route, cross the mountains and head to Leotine.

On the east coast, Syracuse'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 without any movement. .

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Satnicum, the unfortunate town of Wolsey, which has been occupied by the Romans last year, has been under fire again this year and has been besieged by the Dionian army for nearly two months. The families of some Roman citizens, under the custody of the Dionian army, shouted at the soldiers in the city to persuade them to surrender.