Chapter 1219
Standing in front of the familiar yet strange city of Larissa, Hilos could not help but sigh. More than 30 years ago, he had lost his land and his life was difficult. In order to survive, he had to accept the Sparta's offer to recruit soldiers and go on an expedition. When he left, his mood was gloomy. The stories he had heard about the Thessaly's mercenaries made him feel that he would probably die on the battlefield like most of them, never to return home. He had never thought that he would return home as a conqueror.
Hilos sat on the War Horse in a daze. Most of the officials behind him already knew that Larissa was the home of this important minister of the kingdom, so no one went forward to disturb him. However, Hilos quickly recovered from his melancholy. He took a deep breath, turned around, and said to the officials, "Let's go. Let's go into the city."
When the officer in charge of guarding the city gate saw Hilos and his entourage, he immediately came forward and saluted. "Sir Hilos, we pay our respects to you! Commander Matonis and Commander Lizaru are waiting for you at the governor's mansion! "
After that, he turned around and led the way.
Hilos slowly walked into the city on his War Horse. He looked around: the streets were clean and tidy, and it was obvious that they had been carefully cleaned. Occasionally, he could see bloodstains on the ground. There were no pedestrians on the road, only fully-armed legionnaires standing straight on the roadside. However, through the gaps in the doors and windows of the houses on both sides of the street, he could see pairs of eyes intertwined with anger and fear.
The governor's mansion was near the square in the center of the city. This building had existed since Hilos left. It was the residence of the tyrant at that time. Due to the passage of time, he could no longer remember the name of the tyrant.
"Captain, you're finally here!" Seeing Xilos walk into the courtyard, Matonis took the initiative to greet him with a smile on his face. His voice was as loud as a bell. "Yesterday, Lizaru and I led our brothers to run more than 100 miles without rest. Then, we launched an attack on Larissa. By the time we took down the city, our brothers were almost all exhausted! I remember your instructions and strictly enforced the military law with Lizaru. Since we entered the city, there has not been a single incident of looting or harming the people of Larissa. What do you think? Are you satisfied?! "
Even though Matonis addressed Hilos as the mercenary in the past to show his closeness, Hilos still said bluntly, "What's the use of satisfying me? The key is whether you can satisfy His Majesty and the kingdom! The expedition to Thessaly is an important decision made by His Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs. Whether we can completely conquer Thessaly and further control Greece depends on whether you can strictly implement the strategy formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs! "
Speaking up to this point, his brows relaxed. "Commander Lizaru, Commander Matonis, congratulations! From the moment you've landed until now, you've led the army to achieve the initial target smoothly, and you've made a good start for the upcoming battle! "
As he spoke, he solemnly clenched his right fist and placed it on the left side of his chest. He lowered his head and gave a military salute to Matonis and Lizaru.
Matonis and Lizaru hurriedly returned the salute respectfully. Not only Matonis, but Lizaru had also served under Xilos in the past, so he was quite respectful toward this senior officer. Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited here with Matonis.
After the military salute, Hilos said in a serious tone, "But I still have to remind you that time is of the essence for the assault. Although we've gained some advantages, you shouldn't be satisfied and continue to rest here. You should seize the time and lead your army to continue the attack. Don't give the enemy any time to breathe, and occupy the entire territory of Thessaly as soon as possible to achieve the strategic goal formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs!"
Matonis explained with some dissatisfaction, "It's not that we don't want to seize the time to continue the attack, but our brothers fought continuously yesterday and are very tired. They need sufficient rest before they can continue the battle. After discussing with Lizaru, we've decided to gather the army tomorrow morning and march to Phelai."
Lizaru immediately said, "Matonis is right. Many of the soldiers have not woken up yet. They are indeed very tired. We've already sent the supply camp to Larissa to buy cattle and sheep. We're going to give the soldiers a good meal so that they can recover as soon as possible …"
"Of course, we've also solemnly reminded the supply officer not to force them to buy or sell. We'll follow the seller's wishes and trade according to the market price," Matonis quickly added.
Hilos nodded and remembered what he had to do next. He said, "Matonis, since you're only leaving tomorrow, lend me your armor to wear for half a day."
"Why do you want to wear my armor?" Matonis was a little confused. He looked at Hilos and suddenly understood. "Oh … You're going to meet your old friends. You want them to know that you're now a big shot in the Kingdom of Diónia!"
"I want them to know that I'm now an important person. Only then will they be willing to cooperate with us and stabilize the order in Larissa!" Hilos said with a straight face.
It was not that he did not know that he had retired from the army. It was not appropriate for him to wear the armor of a legion commander. However, as a senator of the Senate and the regional governor, his pure white Bolton armor with black embroidery was a symbol of nobility in the eyes of the people of Diónia. However, in the eyes of the people of Larissa, it was only of good quality and nothing special. The armor of a general, on the other hand, directly showed the status of the general. It could save a lot of time and effort. For this reason, he even borrowed a team of guards from Matonis.
Matonis did as he was told. However, when Hilos was about to leave the mansion, he finally could not help but ask, "Captain, when His Majesty gave us the order to attack Thessaly, he did not give any special instructions to Peleus … Did he tell you anything about Peleus?"
Hilos stopped and answered without hesitation, "Yes! His Majesty told me that I don't have to take special care of the city of Peleus. I just need to govern it like the other towns in Thessaly. "
He then sighed softly, "However, I still secretly sent someone to inquire about it yesterday … Back then, the Macedonians raided the village where His Majesty lived, killed all the villagers, and burned it down. The bodies of his parents were burned to the point where they could not be identified, just like the other bodies. Finally, they were buried in a hurry … Now, it is a wasteland overgrown with weeds. No one remembers the specific location of the burial site …"
"Damn the Macedonians!" Matonis roared angrily.
Wearing Matonis' armor, Hilos led a team of heavily armed guards to the civilian area of Larissa. Along the way, he attracted a lot of attention. Soon, he found some of his former neighbors and friends.
When they learned that Hilos, who had left Larissa for more than 30 years, had become an important minister of the Kingdom of Diónia, they were very surprised.
Back then, the young Hilos was willing to help others and was good at fighting for justice. He had a good reputation in the civilian area. Therefore, although he returned to his hometown as an invader, he did not arouse the resentment of his former friends. Instead, they believed him when he said that Diónia would implement some policies for the occupied towns in Thessaly and were willing to publicize it for him.
More than 10 years ago, when Diónia conquered Rome, in order to win the trust of the civilians in Rome, they specially selected slaves from Rome and entrusted them with important tasks. Only then did they gradually dispel the doubts of the civilians in Rome. Now that Hilos was a citizen of Larissa, he had a good reputation in the area. Using this method to stabilize and govern Larissa was naturally twice the result with half the effort.
… …
On the morning of the third day, Matonis and Lizaru left 2,000 soldiers to help Hilos stabilize the order in the city of Larissa. They led the main force out of the city and marched eastward. On the way, they encountered the Thessaly army that was rushing over.
At first, Polifron, who had just received the news, was excited because he did not have to rush to Larissa to defeat the main force of the Dionysian Army. But then he saw enemies in black helmets and black armors coming from the distance, causing the Diónia army to stretch out on both sides. He suddenly realized that the number of Diónia soldiers might be far more than 20,000, and they were moving quickly. Obviously, they were well-trained.
Polifron panicked a little. Although he had always fought bravely, it was always under the command of his elder brother, Iazon. He had never had the experience of commanding such a large-scale battle independently. At this moment, all he could do was to remove the messengers and urge the generals to line up according to his deployment as soon as possible. He even rode anxiously to the rear of the army, shouting hysterically, "Tell the soldiers to speed up the formation. Anyone who is slow will be severely punished after the battle!"
Just as this army, which was temporarily put together by the various city-states of Thessaly, was unfolding in a mess, the Diónia army suddenly changed. It suddenly broke from the center, and the distance between them grew larger and larger until it split into two parts, each corresponding to the left and right wings of Thessaly's army.
The reason why the Dionysian Army did this was because Matonis and Lizaru were commanders of the same rank. In order to facilitate the command and avoid conflicts, they each commanded their own troops to fight. The second reason was to disrupt the enemy's deployment, so the two troops were deliberately combined at the beginning.
The sudden change in the Diónia army's formation confused the inexperienced Polifron. For a moment, he did not know how to deal with it. At this moment, the Dionysian Army launched an attack.
It did not take long for the two wings of Thessaly's army to collapse, and the collapse quickly spread to the entire army.
Polifron's rapid collapse was not only because of his lack of experience and poor command, but also because of the strong dissatisfaction of Thessaly's militia.
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