Chapter 1054
The news that Diónia had defeated Carthage and forced him to sign a truce agreement spread throughout the Kingdom of Diónia, and the people of Diónia were in jubilation.
Not long after, the news also spread to Greece, shocking many city-states, especially Sparta.
Once, when Diónia was besieged by many forces, Sparta had secretly instigated the fugitive forces in Apulia to recapture their former territory. But now, with its own strength, Diónia had cleanly destroyed Rome, subdued Sammonae, and defeated Carthage. It was undoubtedly the most powerful force in the Western Mediterranean.
Sparta, on the other hand, was now in a quagmire of war. The elders of Sparta, who had a guilty conscience, were worried that their previous actions could not be hidden from the knowledgeable people of Diónia. If Diónia suddenly turned against Sparta, it would undoubtedly make the situation worse.
Therefore, Sparta hurriedly sent messengers to Turií to congratulate Diónia on winning the war against Carthage. At the same time, they also tentatively made a request: they hoped that Diónia could provide some assistance to Sparta in the war.
The Devers had long seen through the intentions of Sparta. He did not openly accuse Sparta of the filthy things they had done during the war in the Western Mediterranean, nor did he agree to Sparta's request. Instead, he tactfully said that Diónia had won the war, but after the war, there was a series of thorny issues such as rebuilding their homeland, reorganizing the order, appeasing the people, and resuming trade. So, the kingdom still needed to work together to gradually restore the prosperity before the war. Therefore, they did not have the energy and time to care about the affairs of other countries.
Sparta was temporarily relieved.
The Devers used similar words to respond to the messengers from Athens who later came to ask for help.
As for the Thebes, they were still besieged by the Sparta army. They were tired of dealing with all kinds of attacks. They did not know much about what was happening in the Western Mediterranean, nor did they have the energy to understand it.
Although the Devers had reassured Sparta, the Sparta Council of Elders still felt the urgency of the situation. They were dissatisfied with the Sparta King Cleombolotus' long campaign without any progress, and finally decided to use the more resourceful Agesilaus as the commander of the entire army.
Agesilaus accepted it generously and declared: Since the elders and the people think that he is the best candidate, he will definitely do his best!
He led his army to the border of Sparta to offer sacrifices and showed the soldiers that it was a good omen, so the morale of the army was high.
As the mountain range on the southern edge of the Pioscia region, which was adjacent to the Corinth Isthmus, was heavily guarded by the Thebes, and in addition to the fact that Athens and the Thebes had joined forces, the road from the Corinth Isthmus to the Pioscia region was not only difficult, but also full of danger.
Agesilaus led his army to the port of Sigyon, which was not far west of Corinth. After crossing the Corinth Bay by boat, they landed on the beach of the Pioscia region. As he had already sent someone to inform a Sparta army stationed in the area in advance to capture a mountain pass not far from the landing place, the army crossed the mountain without any hindrance and entered the plains of the Pioscia region. They quickly joined forces with the Sparta's supporters, Thepiospia, which was only 20 miles west of the Thebes.
Originally, Agesilaus thought that his rapid military action would disrupt the Thebes' defensive deployment, but he found that the Thebes and their allies had built fences and earthen ramparts, built trenches, and placed deer abatis at all the strategic locations around the Thebes city …
If the Sparta army wanted to approach the city of Thebes, they had to capture these strategic locations one by one, and the Thebes army would not let them do so. Wherever Agesilaus led his army to attack, the Thebes would send a large number of troops to guard the place.
As the Thebes fought on the interior lines, they could mobilize their troops more flexibly and quickly. Moreover, the Thebes army would not just defend, they would also attack at the right time, attacking the Sparta soldiers who had separated from the main force or were eating and resting … This series of defensive strategies was mainly devised by Ypaminonda, which gave Agesilaus a headache. After half a year of campaigning, he still could not achieve any breakthrough.
In autumn, the soldiers of the Sparta alliance returned to their hometowns. Agesilaus also wanted to lead the Sparta warriors back home, so he appointed Phoebidas to lead the mercenaries to stay in the Tayspia area and wait for an opportunity to attack the Thebes.
Phoebidas, who was hated by the Thebes, adopted an even more vicious strategy. He sent out many small troops, bypassing the Thebes' defensive locations, killing the Thebes who were hiding behind them, and constantly destroying their fields …
The Thebes were furious. They ignored Ypaminonda's advice and hastily sent out their army to attack Tayspia.
As a result, Phoebidas was prepared. He targeted the formation and repelled the attack of the Thebes army in the battle. In order to expand the results of the battle and weaken the Thebes' strength, he personally led the army to chase after the routed soldiers. As a result, the Thebes cavalry and some infantrymen panicked and fled into a canyon that they could not pass through.
The routed Thebes soldiers who had nowhere else to go gathered and decided to fight to the death. At this time, because the speed of the pursuit was too fast, the heavy infantrymen of Tayspia fell far behind. Only Phoebidas and a few hundred Thracian light shieldbearers stood in front of the Thebes cavalry.
Everything happened too suddenly. Just as Phoebidas ordered the Thracian mercenaries to get into formation, the Thebes cavalry recklessly launched a frontal assault. The momentum produced by the galloping of hundreds of War Horses was undoubtedly terrifying.
After running for a long time, the Thracians who were already very tired were afraid. Before the Thebes cavalry arrived in front of them, the Thracians had already started to retreat.
The Thebes army took advantage of the situation and attacked fiercely. The Thracian mercenaries retreated on all fronts. Phoebidas mixed in with the routed soldiers and attempted to escape.
However, how could the Thebes cavalry let him escape? They kept a close eye on him. Very soon, they surrounded him and stabbed him to death with their spears. After that, they drove the routed soldiers to confuse the heavy infantrymen of Tayspia who rushed over. The allied forces of the Sparta army suffered a crushing defeat.
The Thebes army chased after them until the sky turned dark. Only then did they withdraw and return to their camp.
In this battle, the Thebes were defeated first and then won. Not only did they kill their most hated enemy, Phoebidas, but they also weakened the strength of the Thebes, Tayspia. The citizens of the Thebes cheered for this. This also made the citizens of the other city-states of Pioscia that were controlled by Sparta feel excited.
Taking advantage of this favorable opportunity, the Thebes even sent out their army again and took the initiative to attack Tayspia and the surrounding city-states that were affiliated with Sparta. This forced Sparta to send out an army during the winter to help defend Tayspia.
In the early spring of the next year (377 BC, 17 years of the Kingdom of Diónia), the Sparta Council of Elders and the Censors appointed Agesilaus as the commander of the allied forces once again.
This time, Agesilaus led his army to travel by land and quickly marched through the Isthmus of Corinth. Taking advantage of the fact that the Thebes were unprepared, he broke through their defensive line in the mountains and attacked the area east of the city of Thebes. Using Plataea as a base, he ravaged the land. Although he had obtained some victories, the resistance of the Thebes was still very tenacious, causing the Sparta army to be unable to make any breakthrough.
In autumn, Agesilaus had no choice but to withdraw his army again.
At this time, the Thebes had a serious shortage of food. Because of the destruction of the war, their land had not been able to harvest anything for two years. In the history of the previous life, the Thebes had sent a fleet to the northern Thessaly town to buy food. However, this time, Perópidas suggested that they go to the Kingdom of Diónia across the Adriatic Sea to buy food.
Some people objected that: Diónia and Sparta had always signed a friendly agreement and had a close relationship with each other. It was impossible for Diónia to buy food for the Thebes.
Perópidas's answer was: Anyway, the distance is close and the journey is very convenient. It is not a big deal to give it a try. But if we succeed, not only will we open up a new channel to buy food, but we will also be able to find out the attitude of the Diónia towards this war. This is very important!
In the end, Perópidas's suggestion was approved. The Thebes sent three three-decker oar warships carrying ten Taliente. Taking advantage of the winter when the Sparta army was resting and the sea blockade of Corinth Bay was relaxed, they took the risk to sail out of Corinth Bay, crossed the Adriatic Sea, and arrived at the port city on the east coast of the Kingdom of Diónia – Odlum.
When the governor of Odlum heard that the Thebes had come to buy food, he did not dare to make a decision without considering the political implications behind it. He immediately sent a messenger to Turií to ask for instructions.
When the Devers heard about it, they used a seemingly joking sentence to set the tone of the matter, "If the Sparta can let the fugitives of Apria travel to our country, why can't we give the Thebes a little help? Besides, this is just an ordinary business transaction."
Therefore, the city of Odlum not only sold the food to the Thebes at a low price, but also sent cargo ships to help transport it.
In fact, the Sparta fleet had already received the news that the Thebes had sent a fleet out to buy food. They had already made arrangements and were waiting for the Thebes fleet to return to Corinth Bay to capture them.
As a result, when the Sparta fleet saw the Thebes' ships with the flag of the Kingdom of Diónia painted on their sails, they did not dare to act rashly. They watched the Thebes' ships disembark at the north side of the bay and unload the goods unhurriedly.
After the incident, the commander of the Sparta fleet hurriedly reported the matter to Sparta. The Council of Elders and inspectors were shocked and hurriedly sent messengers to Turií.
The Devers did not show up at all. The Senate's rotating president, Antares, received the messengers. Faced with the Sparta's questioning, he casually replied with the king's own words, "This is just an ordinary business transaction. It's not worth making a fuss about."
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