Chapter 1148
Half an hour later, the Diónia soldiers saw the city on the coast. Although it was called an important city, it was actually just a small stone city, wedged between the mountains and the coast. On top of the city stood a row of soldiers in red cloaks. The bayonets in their hands reflected the sunlight. From afar, it was hard to tell whether they were afraid or excited. They stood there motionlessly. Such a posture seemed to stimulate the Diónia soldiers, and their fighting spirit soared.
"Quiet down, all of you! We will be landing on Messenia's beach soon. You will have plenty of opportunities to fight the Sparta! " Márquez shouted at the excited soldiers on the transport ship. "But for now, all of you better stay quiet and conserve your strength. When the ship docks, be the first to charge forward!"
"Don't worry, Captain! We will never fall behind the other squads. We will be the first to break through the enemy's defense line! "a soldier said loudly. Immediately, the other soldiers responded enthusiastically.
"I hope so," Márquez answered nonchalantly, but deep down, he was excited because he could use the morale.
He held the side of the ship with one hand and looked down at the blue sea. He could not help but recall the first time he boarded a warship and landed on the Triene naval base. Later, he followed the army to Sicily and defeated Carthage's 100,000 soldiers. Then, he landed on Afrika and conquered Carthage. He had long overcome his seasickness.
After the war in the western Mediterranean, Márquez and some nobles of Rome were arranged to live in the Turií region. He was lucky enough to be included in the First Legion. Later, he went north and conquered Gaul. He was promoted to a captain and entered the ranks of Diónia's officers.
Even more fortunately, he adapted to life in Diónia and did not want to associate with the former nobles of Rome who still held grudges against the kingdom. As a result, many nobles of Rome were arrested during the Turií rebellion a few years ago, but he was not implicated. He was not even interrogated or investigated. His superior played a big role in this.
Adoris was his immediate superior, the leader of the Third Brigade of the First Legion. After going through so many twists and turns, Max was once again under Adoris' command. It was truly fate. Adoris had indeed taken good care of him …
Márquez was still reminiscing about the past. The cheers of the soldiers on the ship brought him back to reality. "We have passed the cape! The fleet is turning around! We are almost there! … "
The southern coastline of the Peloponnese Peninsula was shaped like an "M". It formed two bays, the Gulf of Laconia on the east and the Gulf of Messenia on the west. When the fleet rounded the promontory formed by the mountain ridge, the warships of the First Fleet's First B Squadron, which was sailing at the forefront, split into two groups. A small portion of the warships turned north and approached the beach ahead, while the majority of the warships turned south and began to line up on the east side of the bay to guard against possible enemy ships and ensure the safety of the landing ships.
Numerous troop carriers gradually spread out as they sailed north. They were spread out across the entire bay. Coupled with the supply ships that followed closely behind the troop carriers, the entire bay was almost filled with ships.
Márquez's ship was at the forefront. He looked ahead and as the ship moved forward, the scenery in his eyes became clearer. On both sides of the bay were the outlines of lush mountains, in the middle was a flat and wide plain with a white beach. In the middle, there was a white ribbon that divided it into two from the south to the north. There were no coastal towns built on such a fine bay. There were only a few villages, simple docks, and few ships. On the contrary, there were flocks of seagulls flying up and down in the sky. It was quite an interesting sight.
Having been used to the prosperity and bustle of the port of Turií, Márquez's eyes lit up when he saw the bay that was almost undeveloped.
However, this feeling quickly disappeared because some Spartan soldiers had already appeared on the beach.
… …
The Sparta had experienced three wars in the process of conquering Messenia. In the first two wars, the Messenian soldiers relied on fortresses and towns to resist the attacks of the Sparta. The wars lasted for a long time and caused a lot of trouble for the Sparta. Therefore, after the complete conquest of Messenia, the Sparta demolished all the towns on this plain. As a result, compared to the other areas of the Peloponnesus Peninsula, there were only villages and no towns.
However, there was a large military camp in the middle of the plain. It was where the Sparta trained their soldiers. It was also the base where they could form an army at any time and suppress the rebellion of the Black Rogues.
During the war with the Thebes, due to the participation of Athens, the strength of the Athens Navy posed a threat to the waters controlled by Sparta. In order to ensure the safety of the Messenia region, Sparta also sent some soldiers to Messenia. However, after the signing of the Treaty of Kalias, Sparta immediately withdrew the extra citizens. Now, there were less than 500 Sparta soldiers left in the entire Messenia region.
However, the Sparta people firmly believed that even with such a small garrison, Messenia would still remain stable. Because of decades of cruel rule and years of bloody killings (Sparta would allow young soldiers to kill any Black Rogues they saw at a fixed time. On the one hand, it was to let the young people see blood and build up their courage. On the other hand, it was to prevent the Black Rogues from overpopulation), so the Black Rogues had long been tamed like cattle and sheep. Even when foreign enemies invaded, they could organize the Black Rogues and use them as auxiliary troops to strengthen the size of the army and resist.
The current situation was like this. The Sparta patrol ships hurriedly withdrew to Messenia and reported to the military camp that a large fleet of Diónia had appeared in the coastal waters. They were menacing and seemed to be up to no good.
The commander of the military camp, Dorios, had undergone the cruel military training of Aggo since he was a child and became one of the best soldiers. Thus, when he grew up, he was selected to join the King's Guards. In his 20 years of military career, he had fought dozens of battles and made many achievements. His military experience could be said to be rich. The year before last, he was appointed as the military commander of Messenia, responsible for the defense of the region.
After hearing the news, Dorios was immediately alerted. Not only did he quickly gather the soldiers in the military camp, but he also sent people to notify the security officers of the villages (these security officers were old and frail former Sparta soldiers who were appointed to manage the villages of Messenia. They had three main tasks: to supervise the work of the Black Rogues, to prevent them from slacking off, to collect most of the harvest after the autumn harvest, and to supervise the daily life of the Black Rogues. If there were any abnormalities, immediately notify the military camp to arrest and kill them), so that they could organize all the young and strong Black Rogues.
The envoy sent by the Sparta military camp boarded a small boat and met the Diónia warship that entered the bay, ready to question why it suddenly invaded Sparta's territory without prior notice.
However, before the envoy could board the Diónia warship, the boat was knocked over. The enmity of the Diónia people was obvious.
Dorios, who received the news, immediately led the Sparta soldiers to the beach. At the same time, he ordered the security officers of the villages to bring the Black Rogues to the beach as soon as possible.
When he hurried to the beach, Dorios could not help but be dumbfounded. All he could see were the endless ships of Diónia …
This kind of earth-shattering momentum made Dorios, who had experienced hundreds of battles, feel his scalp go numb.
In the past few decades, Messenia, which was ruled by Sparta, had been invaded. During the War of Peloponnesus, the Athens fleet had attacked this area many times. However, the number of Athens' soldiers who landed on the shore was not large. Most of the time, before the Sparta reinforcements arrived, the Athens fleet had fled by ship. Even when they launched an attack on the camp, they were defeated by the Sparta soldiers who outnumbered them …
At that time, the Athens army rarely fought with the Sparta warriors on land. It was the first time that Dorios encountered such a large-scale landing operation. Fortunately, the Black Rogues arrived one after another, and the entire army gradually increased to 3,000 soldiers. Even though most of the Black Rogues were only armed with a spear and did not even have a shield, Dorios was still relieved.
But then he frowned again, because he saw that the ships were spread out on the sea, and it seemed that they were ready to land. The shore that could be landed was more than 20 miles wide, and he only had so few troops in his hands, how could he defend all of them! What's more, the number of Black Rogues in this army was several times that of the Sparta warriors. Once the Sparta warriors left the control of the Sparta warriors, it would be difficult to guarantee their loyalty. And if the Sparta warriors were scattered among the Black Rogues, it would greatly weaken the overall combat power of the entire army, especially against the rumored Diolian army …
Dorios did not dare to take this risk. So he decided not to disperse his army, but to focus on defending the beach west of the Peloponnesus estuary.
… …..
"The number of Sparta soldiers seems to be quite large!" At this time, Tisias, who had followed Leotiades from the flagship of the First Fleet to another warship, shouted loudly. The warship he was on was less than two miles away from the coast, so he could see it quite clearly.
"Many of them are Black Rogues. They will not fight with all their strength for the Sparta!" Ionikus reminded loudly, putting his hand on his forehead and looking forward.
Beside him, Mukhru pointed at the coast and reminded the commander, "My lord, the Sparta soldiers are concentrated together. They are not scattered."
Leoticides looked at the coast attentively. The battle that was about to begin had caused his slightly fluctuating emotions to be suppressed. He spoke slowly, "Inform the warships to attack! Get the soldiers ready to land! "
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