v9 Chapter 255： Persian strategy (end)

"It's ridiculous!" Maldonos loudly interrupted Trebasus, and angrily reprimanded: "It is shameful enough to retreat without a fight, and let the enemy occupy our land! We have to let ourselves. To drive out the people and destroy their property, do you think they don't hate the army enough and want to provoke them to riots!"

"My lord, now the Dionian army is in prison and the situation is tense. Trebasus' use of this ridiculous strategy will only disrupt the kingdom and affect the army's operations. I request that he be severely punished!" Halpergs also Immediately criticized.

Altaxerxes also hesitated, but remembered that Trebasus had always been quite resourceful and his favored minister, resisting the unhappiness in his heart, and asked coldly: "Trebasus, Why do you want to do this?"

Trebasus ignored Maldonios and their accusations, and said calmly: "The King, King Dionia is a greedy man. In the past few decades, he has annexed city-state after city-state and controlled the entire Western Mediterranean. . This time he invaded the kingdom, not just wanting to occupy Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenician, Canaan, his target must be our entire kingdom, so he transported nearly 200,000 troops from thousands of miles away.

However, the daily consumption of this 200,000 army is very huge. It is far from enough to rely on the supply of these areas under his occupation, and the transportation routes of food and materials from the Western Mediterranean thousands of miles away are too long. It consumes a lot of time and manpower, not to mention that once the Dionian army continues to advance eastward from Syria, it will be more difficult to transport supplies. The best way for the Dionian army is to scrape food and materials on the spot. .

Mesopotamia is rich in the world, and now the people have just completed a good harvest of food, which can fully meet the needs of the Dionian army, but -" Trebasus said in a heavy tone: "Once we take what I just did. With the measures mentioned, assuming a posture of standing firm and clearing the country and returning to Babylon, the King Dionia will be very anxious, because he will worry that his army will not be able to get supplies on the spot after invading the Mesopotamian plains. , And Babylon is a famous fortified city with heavy defenses, which cannot be conquered in a short time. So in order to avoid such a bad situation, he will take the initiative to attack and seek a decisive battle with us! "

"Hehe, it's so simple to say, but if the Dionian army is not fooled, they still stay in the camp without moving!" Orontas sneered and questioned.

"Master Orontas, don't you understand what I mean?" Trebasus also responded with a sneer: "The king of Dionian expedition for thousands of miles, wanting to conquer our huge kingdom, can only quickly Victory, maintaining such a large force in Syria for a long time without taking any action will only greatly consume Dionia's national strength. That King Dionia would not be so stupid!"

"Perhaps he will wait for the Greek coalition forces to rendezvous before attacking eastward." Halpergs then questioned.

"Then we can have enough time to evacuate all the people west of Babylon without leaving a grain of food for the Dionian army, so the larger Dionian army will march for more than a thousand miles to go to Babylon on the way. We can’t get supplies nearby, and our powerful cavalry can bypass the main force of the Dionian army and continue to attack their cargo transport team. In this way, I am afraid that the Dionian army will collapse before it reaches Babylon... That ambitious King Dioria would never want to see this happen, so I think he will lead his army to chase after him!"

Halpergs sneered and said: "I will definitely chase you?! Trebasus, the Dionians are not your subordinates, they will listen to you like this. What you say is just speculation, but the kingdom Based on your guesses, paying such a high price is not worth it at all!"

Trebasus was not to be outdone, ironically said: "Master Harpergus actually started to care about the people of Mesopotamia. This is really rare! I remember that the army you led was related to this area. The most disputes among the people have been repeated after the king issued a new military order."

Halpergs became angry and cursed: "What are you, how dare you—"

"Alright!" Altaxerxes slapped the seat hard and shouted solemnly: "This is not a place for you to abuse each other and show personal grievances! Trebasus, you are sure that the Dionian army will leave the camp and take the initiative Are we in a decisive battle?!"

After the argument just now, I saw the three Mardonos sneer silently. Trebasus was already riding a tiger. He took a deep breath and resolutely said: "Just follow what I just said. The plan is carried out, and the Dionian army will take the initiative! We will pay a high price, but as long as the Dionian army can be defeated, you will not only be able to regain Syria, Phoenician, Canaan, and Western Asia Minor. , Cyprus, can also take the opportunity to retake Egypt, regain control of Greece, and threaten the mainland of Dionia again... So all this is worth it!"

Defeating Dionia, regaining Egypt, taking control of Greece, and regaining the supremacy of the Eastern Mediterranean... The words of Trebasus moved Artaxerxes, the elderly king longed for a glorious victory to wash him off The failures encountered in the past, but this decision is of great importance after all, he is still a bit hesitant, so he set his sights on the confidant who has been silent: Persitiday, what do you think? "

Persitiday is self-aware. Although his status is considered prominent, he is still far behind these great ministers of the kingdom, so he did not intend to participate in the quarrel of these great men, but now In the question of the King of Persia, considering that he and Trebasus were close ministers of the king, and Trebasus took good care of himself at ordinary times. He considered his words and said euphemistically: "The king, our army's The advantage lies in the cavalry and archers. If you attack the Dionian camp, the cavalry will not be able to function at all, and the archer’s power will be greatly reduced. If you can lure the Dionian army into a battle in Mesopotamia, it will be vast The plains allow the cavalry to gallop at will, and let the arrows shoot at the enemy without any hindrance, and we will be more confident of victory."

Altaxerxes nodded, and after a moment of indulgence, he finally made up his mind. He looked around at the crowd and suddenly raised the volume, making his voice a little hoarse: "I decided to take Trebasus’s suggestion and put Taposaku The people around and to the west of Sri Lanka were evacuated, all the villages were burned, and the city of Taposakus was destroyed. At the same time, all the troops retreated to Nisefonia—"

Seeing that the three of Maldonos wanted to speak, he immediately waved to stop, and at the same time looked sharply at Trebasus, and said sharply: "If the Dionian army does not catch up as you said. , But continue to hide in the camp, I will not continue to implement such measures, and you--I will never be merciless!"

Artaxerxes only adopted half of Trebasus’ suggestions, and he was compelled to do so. In the past few years, the failure to attack Egypt, the rebellion in Asia Minor, the loss of control over Greece, and a series of failures made Artaxerxes’ prestige. He was greatly lost and his subjects were dissatisfied, so this time he only dared to make small attempts, and did not dare to make most of the residents on the Mesopotamian plains homeless to avoid letting himself fall completely passive.

Although Trebasus was a little disappointed, he also knew the reason why the Persian king did this, so he could only accept it pretendingly. And Maldonos seemed to have seen the tragic end of their political opponents, and they no longer questioned it. The high level of the Persian army reached an agreement in this way.

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After listening to Izam's introduction of the details of the Persian army, all the incumbent Dionian army commanders strongly urged for a decisive battle with the Persian army as soon as possible. Among the retired veterans, except for Felicius and Georgris Aside from being more cautious and hoping to wait for the confluence with the Greek coalition forces, Alexis, Amintas and others also proposed that “we should take advantage of the morale of our own army and the organization of the Persian army is still more chaotic. Lead the army eastward as soon as possible to find fighters."

The generals were full of fighting spirit, and they strengthened Davers' determination.

On the second day, he issued the order "to prepare for the eastward advance," the soldiers of the corps began to pack their luggage, the heavy battalions began to load supplies, the engineering battalion checked various equipment and prepared some wood...

At the same time, UU Reading Daves also notified Midolades, the commander of the Dionian fleet: to lead the fleet to the camp as soon as possible. After the Dionian army leaves, all the infantry in the fleet will immediately Take over the camp to ensure the safety of the rear base.

Although the Dionian army is well-trained, it takes three or four days for such a large army to go to unfamiliar battlefields and attack the Persian army. It requires detailed planning and rigorous operations. Time, Dionia's entire army was ready to advance eastward.

When the main force of the army began to pull out on the fifth day, the scout hurried back to report: the Persian army entrenched near Taposakus was driving the local people to retreat eastward, and at the same time they burned fields and villages, and even destroyed them. Taposacus...

This news surprised Daves, but he did not stop the whole army's operations, reconvened military meetings, and discussed the purpose of the Persian move.

In his opinion: whether the Persians are choosing the tactics of fortifying the wall and clearing the country, retreating and defensively, or using fraudulent retreat to lure the Dionian army into rashly, not only will it not change the action plan of the Dionian army, but will strengthen its progress. The determination to fight.

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