Chapter 1225
Ipamilonda's words came true. If the thousands of soldiers sent by Athens did not go to reinforce the Greek Coalition Army in Peloponnesus but went to Phocis instead, it only made the Thebes suspicious. Then, a few days later, Thessaly's army left the Greek Coalition Army, hurriedly landed at the port of Kleusis, and desperately marched north. This completely proved that the news they heard from the people of Phocis was true — Diónia had sent troops to land in Thessaly!
This was indeed beyond Ipamilonda's expectation. In his imagination, Diónia might first use the defense to tire out the Greek Coalition Army, and then send more troops to Peloponnesus to reverse the situation. He really did not expect that Diónia would send a huge fleet to circle around the Greek mainland and disembark tens of thousands of soldiers in Thessaly, far away from the battlefield. This was an extremely brilliant military operation. How magnificent was this!
When Ipamilonda learned of this news, he could not help but exclaim in admiration. But he was also very clear that the Pioscia Alliance led by the Thebes would not be able to make such an extraordinary military plan and put it into action with the support of a strong national and military force.
However, even if Diónia sent troops to raid Thessaly, the top Thebes did not dare to conclude that Diónia had an absolute advantage. After all, the Thessaly area was vast and had a large population. It was not so easy to conquer. Moreover, Iazon was leading the army back. If the landing troops of Diónia were even slightly careless, they would be in danger of being defeated.
The top Thebes' worries about the landing troops of Diónia did not last long. Iazon's troops retreated from the north and fled into Athens.
Diónia landed 100,000 troops and conquered Thessaly in less than half a month. Thessaly's army collapsed without a fight, and Iazon was seriously injured … The news from the mercenaries hit the brains of every top Thebes, leaving them stunned, including Ipamilonda. Once again, he was shocked by the courage of the king of Diónia and the strength of Diónia.
At this time, every top Thebes realized that Diónia's landing troops would soon move south, and the defeat of the allied forces of Pioscia was inevitable. In the face of such a general trend, the Thebes could no longer remain neutral. They had to make a decision as soon as possible in order to ensure the safety of the Pioscia Alliance and win benefits for the Thebes before the end of the war.
Therefore, when the Diónia Cavalry Legion arrived at the city of Thebes, the Council of Thebes had already passed a resolution and agreed to all the demands of the Dionysian Army without hesitation. First, the Dionysian Army would be allowed to pass through the Pioscia region safely and be stationed anywhere in the territory. Second, the Dionysian Army would be lent some military rations urgently (the army led by Patroclus only carried five days' worth of rations. After entering Central Greece, they moved quickly to the south, and the military rations could not be supplied for the time being). Third, the port of Delion would be opened to the fleet of Diónia (Delion was a city-state on the northeast coast of the Pioscia region. It was one of the few port towns in the Pioscia Alliance, and was not far from Oropus, which had defected to Athens. Once it was opened to Diónia, the grain ships from Philae could directly pass through the sea route between Eubia and Central Greece and unload at the port of Delion. Thus, the supply of grain to the Dionysian Army would become extremely convenient).
The Thebes even proposed that they were willing to immediately take back the Port of Cleucis that was occupied by the Greek Alliance and hand it over to Diónia for free. Moreover, the Thebes were willing to fulfill the military alliance treaty signed with Diónia and send troops to fight side by side with the Dionysian Army.
When Patroclus learned that the Thebes not only readily agreed to his request, but were also willing to actively cooperate in the battle, although he despised the opportunistic approach of the Thebes, he did not reject the benefits that were delivered to his doorstep. So, he gladly agreed to the request of the Thebes.
Therefore, on the fourth day after entering Central Greece, the 40,000 Dionysian Army met with the 5,000 hastily formed Thebes soldiers near Thebes.
… …
When Athens learned that the Diónia's landing army was about to move south, it was not the Iazon mercenaries who had fled to Athens who first informed them. Ever since they learned that the Dionysian Army had landed in Thessaly, in order to be prepared, Athens had sent some merchant ships to the Mariakos Bay every day to scout the enemy's situation.
Why did they only choose the Mariakos Bay? This was because the Pagasa Bay, which belonged solely to Thessaly, was too closed and could easily be discovered by the patrolling Diónia warships. There were many ships near the Mariakos Bay, mainly from the city-state of Euboea, the city-state of Phocis, the city-state of Locris, and Lamia (after Lamia surrendered to Diónia, the Dionysian Army allowed it to reopen its port). Athens' merchant ships were mixed among them, which made it easier for them to conceal themselves.
After Patroclus led his army into the Lamia area, the merchant ships sent by Athens discovered the situation. They quickly reported the news to the General Executive Committee. After a discussion, Kalistratos and others concluded that although the Thessaly Army led by Iazon was still working hard to break through the defense line at Hot Spring Gate, Diónia had increased its troops to the Lamia area. Did this mean that they had conquered Thessaly? Although the possibility was not high, Athens had to prepare in advance.
Therefore, the General Executive Committee quickly sent messengers to inform Iphicrates in Peloponnesus to lead his army back to Attica as soon as possible.
This action taken by Athens was two days earlier than the landing of Diónia's army into Central Greece.
After the departure of Thessaly's army, the Greek allied forces stayed in the Leprion camp for the first few days. Even when the Dionysian Army (First Legion) rushed into the Arcadia Region to rescue Mandinia, and even went north to threaten Corinth, Iphicrates remained unmoved. He had been busy in the camp comforting the generals of the city-states and stabilizing the morale of the army.
It was not until he felt that the situation had improved that he began to lead his army to the Diónia camp on the northern border of Messenia. However, he only made some tentative attacks and no longer fought fiercely.
Iphicrates knew very well that the departure of Thessaly's army meant that the Greek allied forces no longer had the upper hand, and Diónia was focused on defense. There was not much meaning for the allied forces to fight here, and it would only be a waste of food. However, he could not stop fighting or lead his army away, because that would mean admitting defeat. He was afraid that it would lead to the departure of some of the disgruntled generals of the city-states, and the entire Greek allied forces would face disintegration. It would undoubtedly be more difficult to regroup, not to mention that there was still the Dionysian Army eyeing them covetously.
Through this period of battle, Iphicrates had realized that Diónia was an extremely difficult opponent to deal with, and this powerful opponent who had always been on the defense had not yet used its full strength. He was very uneasy, but he had no choice but to do his best to maintain the integrity of the Greek allied forces. On the one hand, he hoped that Iazon could successfully drive away the Diónia army and lead his army back to Peloponnesus as soon as possible to join the allied forces. On the other hand, he hoped that the promised strong support from Persia would arrive as soon as possible to strengthen the strength of the Greek allied forces. Of course, there was also a vague idea in his mind, which was to negotiate with Diónia while the Greek allied forces still had the upper hand.
However, it was not easy for Athens to walk out of the shadow of defeat in Peloponnesus, and its national power was gradually recovering. Now that Sparta had declined, many Greek city-states (including those of Peloponnesus) had joined the Greek alliance led by Athens. Athens had ushered in the best time to become the overlord of Greece again. If they negotiated peace with Diónia at this time, with the strength of Diónia, Athens would definitely lose some benefits. This would not only cause dissatisfaction among the other Greek city-states, but also lead to the disintegration of the Greek alliance. It would also lead to protests from the people. So, Iphicrates could only think about it in his mind.
Just as he was urging to maintain the integrity of the Greek allied forces, he received news from Athens and immediately felt uneasy. Unlike Callistratus and the others who were in the rear, he had a more acute intuition about the situation on the battlefield. Although the possibility of the Dionysian Army conquering Thessaly in such a short time was not high, what if they dared to send more troops to Lamia because they had really conquered Thessaly? Then Iazon's army was in danger of collapsing quickly. Without his army blocking in the north, the Diónia army would quickly move south, and Athens would be in danger!
Moreover, the messenger from Athens who rushed to the barracks also brought another piece of news: when he passed through the isthmus, he saw Diónia's warships in Corinth Bay.
Iphicrates was shocked again because since the Dionysian Army invaded Peloponnesus, they had never sent warships into Corinth Bay. That was why Iphicrates dared to suggest that Iazon go north by ship. Now it seemed that Diónia was most likely expecting Iazon to lead the army back as soon as possible. This was a conspiracy!
Thinking of this, Iphicrates broke out in a cold sweat. He immediately sent his men to convey an order to the Greek allied forces: gather the entire army and retreat to Corinth!
As soon as this order was issued, it immediately attracted many questions from the generals of the Greek city-states.
No matter who asked, Iphicrates' answer was the same: the Thessaly army led by Iazon was not doing well in Lamia, and the northern troops of Diónia were likely to move south. The Greek allied forces needed to return to defend the isthmus in order to take care of the safety of Central Greece.
Iphicrates' words were reasonable, but many of the generals of the city-states did not think so. They repeatedly tried to persuade Iphicrates, but Iphicrates still insisted. The generals from Elis angrily said that they wanted to go their separate ways. Once the army retreated to Corinth in the northeast corner of Peloponnesus, it would be far away from Elis in the northwest corner, and there were mountains in between. Now, the main force of the Dionysian Army in the south was at the northern border of Mersenia, which was very close to the Elis area. If it attacked Elis, the Greek allied forces far away in Corinth would not be able to rescue it in time.
Not only the generals of Elis, but the generals of the city-states of the Arcadia Union also expressed similar opinions, but their words were more tactful. After all, the Arcadia Region was also adjacent to Mersenia and Lagonia, which were controlled by Diónia. Once the Greek allied forces left, Diónia would counterattack, and the city-states of the Arcadia Union would be the first to suffer. Moreover, the Arcadia Union had betrayed the covenant, and Diónia would definitely retaliate.
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