Chapter 921
Although Xenophon did not agree with Agesilaus's actions of shielding the selfish and foolish general who attempted to plunder Athens, this was Agesilaus, a king who valued friendship very much. Xenophon had no choice but to comfort him. "Now, Cleombrotus (another Sparta king) has led his allies to fight in Central Greece for several months and has not been able to make much progress. If the war continues to be in a stalemate, it will not be beneficial for Sparta. Some of the city-states who were originally dissatisfied with Sparta might join the alliance of the Thebes of Athens and strengthen the resistance against Sparta. By then, the Sparta people may remember you again."
Agesilaus did not respond to Xenophon's words. On the one hand, he did not want to see Sparta fall into such a predicament. On the other hand, he did not want to judge the performance of another Sparta king in Central Greece and appear to be narrow-minded. So he changed the topic and said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Xenophon, you are from Athens. Do you want Athens to be defeated?"
Xenophon said seriously, "I do not want Athens to be defeated, nor do I want 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."
"… Very good idea," Agesilaus looked at Xenophon and finally said.
After sending Xenophon off, Agesilaus returned to the house and saw the book on the table. He was in a daze for a while. He did not tell Xenophon the truth about "Sparta supporting the fugitives to counterattack Apulia" because he did not oppose it in the council of elders.
"More than 500 warships, 100,000 soldiers! Agesilaus muttered in a low voice. When he first heard about the number of troops that the Kingdom of Diónia had sent after the outbreak of war (Carthage's side did the same), he was indeed frightened. He had carefully estimated that even if Peloponnesus, Central Greece, and Northern Greece were united, they would barely be able to gather such a huge number. However, Diónia could do it relatively easily. This made him feel fearful because he knew very well that although Sparta and Diónia were still allies, due to the close distance between them and their ambitions, there would inevitably be a war due to the conflict of interests. Therefore, he hoped that Carthage would win this war. Although it was a foreign race, Persia was also a foreign race. Weren't they working well together now? After all, the current situation in the Western Mediterranean was different from the era when Dionysius dominated Sicily.
Thinking of this, Agesilaus felt that time was running out again. Just as Xenophon said, Cleombrotus had led the army to fight in Central Greece for so long, but there had been no significant progress so far. If this continued, it would be very disadvantageous for Sparta. Should he take some action?!
… …
Due to the looting of Sparta's generals and their subsequent acquittal, Athens declared war on Sparta and formed an alliance with the Thebes. Soon, Caius, Byzantium, Rhodes, Euboea, and other city-states joined this new alliance. This new alliance was named the Second Athens Alliance (after all, the establishment of the alliance was led by Athens, and most of the city-states that joined the alliance were city-states that had allied with Athens in recent years). In order to distinguish it from the Delian Alliance established by Athens during the Peloponnesus War, the Alliance declared that the purpose of the alliance was to protect the independence of the Greek states and resist the oppression of Sparta.
In order to recruit and hire more soldiers to fight against Sparta, the Athens Assembly also passed a resolution to resume the collection of property taxes. In order to collect taxes more quickly and easily, the Athens government also reformed the collection method.
The newly established Thebes government focused all its energy on military affairs. They relied on the strong city defense to resist the first wave of attack from the Sparta coalition.
With the arrival of autumn, the soldiers of the Sparta coalition returned to their respective city-states to prepare for the autumn harvest. King Cleombrotus of Sparta had less than 3000 Sparta warriors left under his command. He did not want to waste the precious Sparta warriors in the siege, so he temporarily led the army to retreat to Plataea.
The Thebes government seized this precious time to mobilize the people of the city to surround the city of Thebes, digging trenches, building ramparts … taking all measures to strengthen the city defense to defend against the next attack of the Sparta coalition. At the same time, they also actively united with the neighboring city-states of Pioscia that had become independent and actively assisted them to strengthen their defense in order to block Sparta outside the territory of the Thebes.
At the same time, the Sparta government also gathered the citizens in the city and conducted military training every day. The person in charge was Epaminonda. His outstanding performance in the previous battle had won the recognition and respect of the people of the city. Everyone actively participated in the training plan that he had formulated, and no one questioned the plan.
However, Epaminonda was not satisfied with just defending the city of Thebes. He realized that only by defeating the Sparta in the battle could it be possible to completely remove the threat that Sparta posed to the Thebes. Only then could the Thebes usher in a real rise. Therefore, while he was busy training the citizens, he also made a new proposal to Pelopidas, which was to establish an elite heavy infantry company that could compete with the famous King's Guard of Sparta in Greece. He even proposed that the Thebes should be composed of homosexual couples, based on the fact that there were more homosexuals among the citizens of Thebes. He believed that it was because of the intimate relationship between these couples that they could motivate each other in battle, help each other, and go through life and death together.
Although homosexuals were highly respected in Greece, an army specifically composed of homosexuals had never appeared in any of the Greek states before. If this proposal was made in other Greek states, or even Athens, it might be questioned by many people. However, the new Thebes government was composed of radicals led by Pelopidas. They were young, energetic, passionate, adventurous, and innovative. Therefore, when they realized that Epaminonda's plan could greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Thebes' militia, they immediately approved it and carried it out.
Pelopidas and Epaminonda personally selected the citizens of the city, and soon formed a heavy infantry company of 300 people (150 couples). These soldiers were about 20 years old, all born into noble families of Thebes, and basically all had undergone long-term training in wrestling schools. They were all tall, strong, and agile.
Epaminonda began to give them more rigorous heavy infantry training.
… …
In Sicily, Carthage's army officially began the attack on the territory of Diónia.
Hasdrubal led 30,000 soldiers straight north from Gela, and began the attack on Hena.
At the same time, Margo personally led more than 50,000 soldiers from Kamalina into the territory of Syracuse, and set up camp in the northwest of the territory. Their target was Paragonia, which was not far from the camp.
Syracuse also gathered more than 10,000 soldiers, led by General Falekus, through the Iksa Gate, and attacked Taunis, which was not far to the north.
The southern border of Diónia's territory in Sicily was attacked by three armies, but the cities of Sicily and their allies of Diónia did not panic, and they methodically defended according to their previous deployment.
When Hasdrubal led his army to Hena, he was in a bit of a pickle. Not only was Hena built on a hill, it was also bordered by two sizable lakes to the north and south, which made it difficult for Carthage's army to surround it. His army could not spread out during the attack, and his advantage in numbers could not be fully utilized.
At the beginning of the war, the governor of Hena, Kreylu, under Leotychides's suggestion, mobilized the people, and used the two lakes to dig a wider moat under the hill. This was an obstacle for the siege weapons of Carthage's army to approach the city.
In addition, Leotychides sent 3000 soldiers of the 8th Legion to Hena, and the militia in Hena, there were more than 5000 soldiers in the city.
After several days of careful preparation, Hasdrubal began to attack the city with all his might. However, after a day of fierce fighting, he did not even manage to break through the top of the city wall. The attacks that followed were also failures. Due to the large number of casualties, Hasdrubal had to stop the attack and rest.
Margo's army was also in trouble. For months, the Diónia soldiers who stayed in Paragonia had been building defensive facilities with the help of the people of Catanai. They laid traps outside the village, built watchtowers outside the traps, dug trenches outside the watchtowers, and set traps outside the trenches … Like this, they extended for a few miles to the south, guarding the only flat area between the south coast and the mountains of Catanai.
In order to open up this road, Margo's army was tortured by the traps and harassed by the watchtower archers. After a few days, they only managed to clear less than one-third of the roadblocks, but the morale of the soldiers was low.
After two days of rest, Margo finally decided to change the route of attack. He crossed the mountains and went to Leotini.
On the east coast, Syracuse's army had already arrived at the city of Taunis, but it took them five days to build their camp. After the first attack failed, they stayed in the camp and did not make any movements.
… …
Saturnicum, the unfortunate Volsci town, was attacked and occupied by the people of Rome last year. This year, it was besieged by the Dionysian Army for nearly two months. Recently, every day, the families of Rome's citizens, under the custody of the Dionysian Army, would shout at the soldiers on the city wall to persuade them to surrender.
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