"Enough time?" Orontas also said coldly: "I don't think so! The news that came before was not that the Dionysians split part of their army to the west to capture Issus and Castablum. Waiting for the city to open the road from Silesia to Syria. Farabazos is just harassment, and he does not dare to block the Greek coalition forces. As long as the Greek coalition forces pass the Taukis Mountains, they can reach Syria smoothly all the way. The Nia army will meet, which will undoubtedly greatly contribute to the strength of the enemy!"
Having said this, Orontas turned around, bowed respectfully to the Persian king, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, the Greek soldiers are very capable of melee combat, and this time the Dionians will also be in the Greek city-state. The most powerful Spartan, Athenian and Thebes armies gathered together, although according to the battle report of Phanabazus, it was the mutiny of the Greek mercenaries that led to the failure of the entire battle, but it may also be the case of Sparta. The Greek army led by soldiers from Athens and Thebes first defeated the left flank guarded by our army, which led to the sudden change of the whole war situation, so we must defeat the Dionian army in Syria as soon as possible before the Greek coalition forces arrive. to win the final victory in this war!”
At that time, Ojuntas was ordered to intercept the Greek expeditionary force, but suffered a fiasco. The terrible impact of the Spartan warriors left a deep impression on him, so this man who had been governor of Amelia for decades, like a soil emperor Ordinary big men can temporarily abandon the arrogance of the Persian nobles and issue a warning.
His words immediately made Artaxerxes' face become ugly, because he also had the same memory: in the battle with Cyrus the young, he witnessed tens of thousands of Greek heavy infantry charging with his own eyes. rout his left flank, nearly leaving him in despair at the time.
As for the other generals present, the Greek army was able to repel Darius and King Xerxes twice, and maintain the advantage of winning more or less in the battle with the Persian army in the following decades. It is obviously It is more worthy of their attention than the Diotian army, which has not yet achieved a brilliant victory over the Persian army alone (the first battle of Cyprus, the disastrous defeat of the Persian fleet, did not shock the Persian nobles, because naval warfare is not the Persian's goodness, the whole There were almost no Persians in the Persian fleet. As for the battle in western Asia Minor, Artaxerxes did not announce the real situation, so the battle report of Phanabazus made them have a wrong judgment. The defeat came mainly from the betrayal of the Greek mercenaries).
Seeing that everyone in the room was focused on him, Trebass's heart tightened, and he knew very well: at the beginning of today's meeting, Mardonios, Halpergus, and Ojuntas He successively questioned the strategy adopted by the previous Persian army, which was actually an expression of dissatisfaction with him.
The conflict between Trebassus and these top Persian nobles has a long history, and the root cause is jealousy. The King of Persia regarded Trebassus as his confidant and obeyed him. This was obviously incomparable to several important ministers of the kingdom who were far away from the royal court. Of course, this also involved the contradiction between the old Persian nobles and the emerging nobles. Since the army reunited, they have expressed their dissatisfaction with Trebassus many times, but with the protection of the Persian king, the matter finally came to an end, but today their joint attack has allowed Trebassus from Artaxerxes. There was something wrong in the look in his eyes: the monarch, who was mediocre in military performance, was shaken about whether to continue to implement the strategy he proposed!
Fortunately, he had prepared in advance, took out something from his arms without haste, and said softly: "This is the most capable subordinate sent by Lord Marktonos. After many investigations, it took a lot of time. The carefully drawn map of the Dionysian army camp, I have copied a copy for you to take a look."
Saying that, he unfolded the white cloth in his hand and placed it on the open space in the center.
Marktonos, who was originally on the sidelines, walked over first, looked down at the cloth on the ground, and said, "This is indeed the map of Camp Dionia drawn by my men."
Mardonios, Orontas, and Halpergus walked over slowly and looked at them casually, but soon their faces showed surprise, and they bent down to examine them carefully.
Seeing this, Artaxerxes asked the eunuch to bring a table and put the map on it.
While the three of them were looking at the map, Trebassus said in a deep voice: "Five years ago, the Dionysian army invaded Greece, and the Greek city-states united to form an army of nearly 100,000 people. There was a chance to repel the Dionian army, but the Dionians built complex defensive camps to lure the Greek army to attack. The number of Greek soldiers was two or three times the number of Dionian soldiers in the defensive camps, but After being besieged for more than two months, they did not achieve much. Instead, the Dionysians took advantage of the Greeks' long-term unsuccessful attack and empty rear defense to send troops to land in Thessaly. In the end, Greece fell to Dionysus. Ya, alas…”
This sigh seemed to be twisted in the heart of Artaxerxes, making him lean back in his chair: if it weren't for the rebellion of the Asian Minor, Persia would have been recaptured by him, and even with the nearby support of Asia Minor, Greece would not Surrender so soon! …
"The Dionysian army is trying to repeat the old trick this time, you see - its camp is surrounded by mountains on both sides, and there is a bay at the back, we can only attack from the front, and the width of this front is narrow, obviously not conducive to We play to the advantage of having more troops.”
Trebassus gestured on the map, and said earnestly: "Look again—the camp they built actually built two layers of wooden walls. It is 4 meters high, the two walls are 30 meters apart, and there is a trench in the middle. Although our spies can't detect the depth of the trench, but according to the situation of the Dionian army in the defense of the Peloponnesian, it is very important. It is difficult to cross easily, and it will be difficult for our soldiers to get under the wooden wall at the back, and it will take a lot of time. And you see - on the wooden wall at the back, the towers are dense, and the Dionians are bound to be there. A large number of archers were placed on it to carry out fierce long-range attacks on our attacking battalion.
In addition, Harpergus-sama's subordinates also mentioned a piece of information that needs our attention. During this period of time, the Dionysian army sent a large number of soldiers to set up traps in front of the camp without stopping... According to what we have learned, we can know that the Dionysian camp is very well-defended, and our army only needs to Attacking the real wooden wall of the camp, it may cost a lot of casualties, let alone a long siege. It only takes one or two failed storms, and those affiliated troops may lose their fighting spirit. If people launch a full-scale counterattack, the situation of our army will be very dangerous! "
The three Persian nobles have been commanders of the army for a long time, and they are all proficient in military affairs. Comparing this map, they naturally understand that Trebasus’ words are not alarmist. Although they hate this person, they do not bluntly refute, but stare at the map. , thinking hard, hoping to find a solution to the problem.
After a brief silence, Orontas asked reluctantly, "Are we going to stay here forever and do nothing, just watch the Dionian army and the Greek coalition join forces?!"
Trebassus waited for the other party to ask this question, and he replied calmly: "The Dionysian army invaded our country aggressively, and successively captured Canaan, Feifei, and Syria. We originally thought that they would continue to attack our country. The east invaded Mesopotamia, so the king himself led his army to Taposacus, but the Dionysus suddenly stopped advancing, trying to consume us through defense, while waiting for the rendezvous of the Greek coalition. , of course, we can't let the Dionians do what they want, so we must force them to leave the camp and take the initiative to attack us, and the whole war will be better for us."
Halpergus sneered: "Since the Dionysian army can suddenly turn from a smooth offensive situation to a defensive one, it can be seen that their king is more cautious and wants him to abandon the camp he has built and lead far more than us. A small army, take the initiative to attack us, unless he is a fool, this is impossible!"
Trebassus replied confidently: "I have learned about King Dionia in detail. This is a very confident and bold Greek. He has led an army that was smaller than the enemy's many times and launched an attack on his own initiative. This is one of the reasons why Dionia has rapidly expanded in just a few decades and has become our opponent. It can be seen that he is not a person who does not dare to take the initiative to attack because of the small number of troops. On the contrary, he loves The risk is only because the king led the army to arrive in time, and the difference in strength between the two sides is too great, so he temporarily took the defensive position to wait for reinforcements, but as long as we pay some price, I believe he will have to give up the defense and actively seek us for a decisive battle!"
"What price?!" Artaxerxes asked eagerly.
Trebassus looked at the Persian king with an extremely serious look, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the reason why Phanabassus was able to hold back the Greek coalition was mainly because he burned and evacuated the villages and towns along the advance route of the Greek coalition. , so that the Greek coalition forces cannot collect any grain and materials, making it difficult for them to transport and supply them. Now we can also adopt similar tactics, evacuating all the people in the vicinity of Taposakus, burning villages and materials that cannot be taken away, Let the area between Tabosacus and Syria become a white field—"