"Every time I talk to you, I always get rid of a lot of troubles." Pelopidas said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "I won't talk to you any more, and then I have to visit other members of Congress... Yes Now, we should let the Dionians know how much pressure and effort we have endured to maintain this alliance. It is best that you quietly send someone to Messenia tomorrow and let the Dionians know Knowing this, prepare early."
"Okay, leave it to me." After Ipamironda sent Pelopidas out, he returned to his study and looked at the floor plan of the Dionysian military camp drawn on the papyrus. He picked up the pen again, but His thoughts were too chaotic, and he couldn't calm down to write for a while. He subconsciously tapped the word "Dionia" on the paper with the pen, thinking only of one thing: no matter how beautifully Peropidas conceived it, But first of all, it depends on whether Dionia can completely defeat the Spartans as soon as possible...
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These days, First Fleet Commander Cykrion is in a bad mood, not because of the new army commander Clotokatax, although when he first arrived, Cykrion was out of the reservedness of the veteran. He didn't go to greet him, but on the second day, the prince personally visited the First Fleet camp near the coast, and he was very courteous to Sekerian, and finally moved Sekerian, and he took the initiative to promise: willing to Led the fleet to fully cooperate with the army in combat.
The reason for Secorian's unhappiness: Although he had taken the island of Kythira in the Gulf of Laconia and completely blocked the coast of Sparta, the mercenaries recruited by Sparta from outside the homeland had landed. The Peloponnese made it more difficult for the army to conquer Sparta.
Although this is not the fault of the First Fleet, and before Secorian left Turii, Davos once instructed him: After the First Fleet arrived in the waters south of the Peloponnesus, try not to cross Lagooni. Asia Gulf, patrol the eastern coast of the Peloponnese, and even further north, to avoid dissatisfaction with coastal city-states such as Argos, Corinth, and even Athens.
Secorian has always strictly followed the teachings of King Davos, but he did not expect that the cunning Spartans not only let the mercenaries land in the port of Corinth, but also frequent grain ships entering the port of Corinth these days. With enough mercenaries and a steady supply of rations, the Spartans have the confidence to fight the Dionysian army...
Just as Sekelian was sitting in the tent sulking, the staff officer walked into the tent: "Lord Commander, I just received a report from the clipper and found that there were five cargo ships full of soldiers heading for the Isthmus of Corinth. "
Sekelian stood up abruptly: "Where did you find it? Which city-state's ship was it?"
"It should be near the island of Naxos (not Naxos in Sicily, but an island in the Aegean Sea), and it is estimated that it has entered the port of Corinth. As before, these cargo ships are respectively linked to Milli. The flags of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor, Samos, Ephesus, Halicarnassus, etc." The staff officer replied slightly angrily.
"Bang!" Sekelian kicked the seat, his face was as cold as frost, he paced quickly inside the tent, but his hands were clenched into fists.
Suddenly he stopped and shouted like thunder: "Order the crew to push the boat into the sea and prepare to sail!"
The staff officer immediately understood his intention and hurriedly persuaded: "Lord Commander, please calm down! His Majesty Davos has given an order—"
"That's not an order, it's just a reminder, and His Majesty used the word 'try your best'!" Saikrian said excitedly: "We didn't want to conflict with these city-states, but these Greek city-states colluded with the Persians, Taking advantage of our forbearance, we continue to deliver food to the Spartans, and now we once again deliver soldiers to Sparta. If things go on like this, the war between us and Sparta will become very difficult, which will affect the kingdom's The interests have caused huge losses, so our navy can no longer stand by and must act!"
Having said this, he eased his tone: "You are still young, and you are not yet familiar with His Majesty's style. He never gives death orders to generals who go on expeditions, but allows them to independently formulate combat plans according to the actual situation of the battlefield. . Now is the time when we should change our combat strategy!"
"My lord, I understand." The staff officer quickly accepted Sekelian's point of view. In fact, he was also filled with fire: "Which squadron are you going to send?"
Secorian answered decisively: "All the warships of the First Fleet!"
"The entire First Fleet?!" The staff officer was greatly surprised: the more than 500 warships of the First Fleet, just to sink a few troop and grain ships, it is simply killing chickens.
Sekelian saw through his thoughts and said in a deep voice: "This time, it is not only about capturing or sinking all the ships that were transporting grain and troops to the Corinth port, but also completely hurting them, so that they will never dare to help in the future. Spartans! At the same time, this is also an armed voyage of our Dionian 1st Fleet into the Aegean Sea, to show those Greek city-states our great strength, and let those city-states who want to go against us reconsider whether they Have this ability!"
"Yes! I will immediately inform the entire fleet to prepare to sail!"
After more than an hour, Cykrian boarded his flagship, raised the flag of sailing, and the bugle was blown, except for the two ship columns moored at Kythira, a total of 50 warships were to be blocked. Beyond the coast of Sparta, (after the Western Mediterranean War, under the instruction of Davos, the Ministry of Military Affairs made some adjustments to the navy, not only changing the four major fleets into the three major fleets, but also re-organizing the fleet to make it clear It is stipulated that the squadron has 100 warships under its jurisdiction, consisting of 4 columns, each of which is 25 warships, so the warship column has become the smallest team unit of the Dionysian Navy) All the remaining warships, about 500 The ships, arranged in four-way columns, sailed mighty eastward.
After the fleet bypassed the cape and turned north, Cykrian gave the order again: Given the large number of islands in this area, the fleet was unfamiliar with the sea conditions here, so it slowed down and moved along the east coast.
After the order was given, Cykrian returned to his seat to rest.
After the end of the Western Mediterranean War, the Ministry of Military Affairs once discussed with the fleet commanders and shipbuilding engineers on the issue of "whether the flagships of the fleets need to be redesigned and improved."
Some people propose to use "Carthage's two-headed dragon ship as a blueprint to create the flagship of the fleet"; some people propose that "the former Carthaginian four-tier oars can be improved to serve as the flagship of the fleet"...
Sekelian raised an objection, arguing that whether it was a two-headed dragon ship or a four-tier oared warship, it was too clumsy and bloated, and the admiral would never let one ship slow down the entire fleet just for the sake of enjoyment. Navigation speed affects combat efficiency...
Cykrian's opinion was supported by 2nd Fleet Commander Midorades and 3rd Fleet Commander Stefankas, and the change of the flagship was finally settled.
Apart from the slightly larger hull and taller mast, the Cykrian's flagship is not much different from the Raven warship. The place where Sekelian sat was at the stern of the ship. The tail of the warship was raised like a scorpion's tail, forming a pocket, and a wooden chair was placed in it. Since the top could block the sunlight, he was more comfortable to sit in it.
Sekelian held the handle of the wooden chair with both hands and looked out of the warship: the sea water here is exceptionally blue, and the wind and waves are very small, and the warship sails very smoothly; turning his head to the left, there are strange rocks on the coast not far away, The strange peaks stand tall, because it is the good season of spring, there are green trees and safflowers everywhere on the cliffs and cliffs, which is pleasing to the eye; looking up at the sky, there are white clouds floating leisurely above the clear sky, and from time to time there are groups of seabirds chirping and passing by. , the cold water carried by the gentle sea breeze gently brushed from the face, which is refreshing...
Just as Sekelian was enjoying a rare moment of comfort, the residents on the shore were terrified. This coast is still the territory of Sparta. Although most of them are cliffs, there are still some small seaside villages and towns.
There have been frequent wars in these years, and the villagers and townsmen here often see fleets passing by the nearby waters, either ships from Athens and its allies, or the fleet of the Peloponnesian Alliance, but they have never seen such a terrible scene: Countless warships covered most of the sea as far as they could see. Every ship was as black as ink, and it seemed that the blue sea was dipped into black...
Just as they panicked and ran north along the coast to inform the people in Sparta of the shocking news, the forward of the black fleet had already turned to the northeast.
After bypassing the peninsula to the east of the Argos Territory, the 1st Fleet entered a large bay-Salong Bay. It was like entering a lively town from a sparsely populated countryside. There are hundreds of thousands of people everywhere. Ships came in and out of this great bay with loads of cargo, most of them heading north to Athens, some to Corinth to the east, and a few to Megara to the southeast, even during the war. This is also the case every day, so long ago it became one of the most prosperous bays in the Mediterranean.
But at this moment, Dionysian First Fleet was like a hungry wolf breaking into the sheep, causing chickens and dogs to jump for a while, and the panicked ships avoided one after another. It didn't take long for the unusually lively bay to become quiet again. , and no other ships appeared around the ships of the First Fleet.
The captains of the 1st Fleet obviously did not care about such a change. According to the previous plan, they turned the warship to the east and went deep into the interior of the bay.