Chapter 171: Collapse without a fight

It was not because they had much sympathy for the impending defeat of Iason, although the tyrant of Philae was not too brutal, but he did not lack bloody means in the process of conquering the whole of Thessaly and becoming Tagus, although later, with the assistance of Assidamas and others, the means of unifying and governing the city-states of Thessaly gradually softened, but only a few years have passed, and everyone's memory has not faded.

Fearing that the coming war would cause casualties among the citizens of their city-state in the Iazon army, the councillors of the Thessaline bereaved to Patroclus to persuade the civic soldiers in the Iazon army to surrender.

Patroclus achieved his goal, but instead of letting the men leave for Thermopylae immediately, he first convened an emergency military meeting, which was attended by himself, the three military commanders, Matonis, and Lizaru, as well as the governor of Thessaly, Shiros, and after some consultations, the four finally agreed:

Nearly 26,000 men of the Fifth Legion, the Ninth Legion, and the First Cavalry Regiment of the Second Legion were temporarily stationed in Thessaly to continue to stabilize order in the newly conquered region and prevent unrest and recurrence, while also being wary of the Epirus in the mountains to the west, as one of the kings of Ipilus, Alcaitas, was said to have a close relationship with Iasong and was likely to help him. In addition, Matonis assists Shiros in protecting the impending wheat harvest in the Thessaly region, as well as providing protection for the baggage convoys that will carry the rations later.

And Patroclus and Lizarus will lead the rest of the troops, a total of more than 40,000 soldiers, to the south at once (Patroclus has a lot of water to say to those Thessalians, and the Dionian army in Thessaly at this time does not have 100,000 men, because it is necessary to exclude the nearly 20,000 infantry of the Dionian navy and the 12th Army Corps defending at Lamia), and after solving the hidden danger of Iason, march into Central Greece.

For these generals of the kingdom, it was undoubtedly a great honor to be able to lead the army into Central Greece and finally conquer Athens, washing away the shame of being degraded as barbarians by the Greeks led by Athens. The reason why Matonis agreed to stay was due to the persuasion of Shilos on the one hand, and on the other hand, as a Thessalian, he was also willing to contribute to his hometown from the bottom of his heart.

Having solved the problem of choosing the remaining Thessaly, Patroclus led his army over the mountains to the south and into the Lamia region, and the previous scene continued.

The Thessalian councillors were all celebrities from their respective city-states, and the Thessalian soldiers quickly recognized them and immediately rushed to ask them about their home states.

By the time Iason heard the news, the news that "Dionia's 100,000-strong army had landed in Thessaly and had conquered all the city-states, and the people of the city-states were anxious for the citizens and soldiers to return home safely" spread rapidly among the soldiers, which had a great impact on the morale of the army. The citizen soldiers of the various city-states had gathered around the councillors of their city-states, eagerly discussing the matter of returning home, and the whole army had begun to fall apart.

Enraged, Iason sent mercenaries to arrest them on the grounds that "the councillors had surrendered to Dionya and were traitors to Thessaly", trying to isolate them from the citizen soldiers and then pacify the army soldiers, but the mercenaries' arrest provoked resistance from the citizen soldiers and even led to skirmishes.

Seeing that the riots were likely to turn into a civil war, Iason had to urgently withdraw the mercenaries, looking at the angry faces, he felt that he had lost control of these citizen soldiers, and he simply walked into the citizen soldiers alone, and loudly assured them that he had no intention of harming these Thessaly councillors, but only wanted to know the truth about Thessaly from them.

Eventually, several councillors with whom he had a good relationship told him in detail about the events that had taken place in Thessaly during this time, in the presence of numerous citizen soldiers, and answered his questions earnestly.

During the whole process, the guards of the surrounding citizen soldiers gradually became more sympathetic to Iazon, but Iazon's face became more and more ugly, and finally he walked out of the crowd with a gloomy face, turned on his horse, and did not look at the agitated citizen soldiers and the councillors who caused this terrible scene, but turned his horse's head and left the place surrounded by mercenaries.

On the way back to the rear camp, Iason remained silent, but at the moment he entered the camp, he suddenly fell off his horse, vomited blood, fell into a coma, and was rescued by the military doctor, his condition improved slightly.

The guards who were guarding outside the tent that night heard Iason's muttering: "Dorus, my good brother! …… Asidamas, I'm sorry for you! …… Polyflon, you devil! …… Damn Dionia, you ruined everything for me! …… Dorus, my good brother......"

Throughout the night, Iason's mournful muttering to himself never stopped.

……………………………………………………

The arrival of the councillors of the city-states of Thessaly completely disintegrated the army of Iason, and in just one day, the citizen soldiers who were eager to return home laid down their weapons according to the requirements of the Dionian camp, lined up in a long line, and passed through the camp and the hot springs in an orderly manner, and then they saw thousands of Dionian soldiers scattered throughout the depression of the Lamian plain, and not only completely believed the words of the councillors, but also swept away any luck that might have been in their hearts.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the indigenous warriors of the mountains who had been recruited by Iasong would no longer be able to fight for Iazon, but most of the soldiers were unwilling to lay down their weapons, so they chose to cross the mountains and travel long distances back to their hometowns, which of course would be very risky.

There were only nearly 8,000 mercenaries (after becoming Tagus, Iason had increased the number of mercenaries to tens of thousands, this time in the Peloponnese, he left 3,000 mercenaries under the command of Polydorus, stationed in Thessaly) In order to repay Iason's care and trust in them over the years, he was still loyal to him, and when they saw that the army was falling apart and the situation was critical, they quickly gathered together to escort Iason, who was not yet fully awake, and retreated south.

The sentinels sent by the Thermopylae camp quickly reported the news to Patroclus, the commander-in-chief who had already arrived in Lamia.

Patroclus was thrilled by the news that the Iason's army had been defeated without a fight, and he ordered the Thirteenth Army to escort the more than 20,000 bare-handed citizen soldiers back to Thessaly. The rest of the legionnaires seized the time to rest and march into Central Greece early tomorrow morning.

On this day in early September, Patroclus led 40,000 troops through Thermopylae, and the soldiers, lined up in neat columns, energetically singing the "Song of the Legion", marched south along the coastal road, and after marching more than 10 miles, the troops turned south and began to trek through the low mountains and hills, and on the morning of the second day they entered the plains of the Fokis region without any hindrance.

The farmers of Fokkis, who were harvesting in the wheat fields, fled into the town in panic, but the Dionian army did not attack the towns of Fokys, nor did it destroy the farmland and villages outside the city, and the whole army continued to march south without stopping, and the weak city-states of Fokis dared to send troops to intercept the march of the Dionian army except to thank the gods for their protection.

By the afternoon, the cavalry corps of the vanguard had entered the Piosia region and was approaching the westernmost city-state of Piosia, Chaerone.

The people of Chaeronea were very nervous in the face of the black and oppressive Dionian cavalry under the city. But the Emissaries of Theoria who entered the city gave them a reassurance: Thebes was an ally of Theonia, and Caronia was an ally of Thebes, and as long as Caronia did not take any hostile actions against the Dionian army, the Dionian army would not cause any damage to the region of Caronia.

The people of Chaeronea were relieved and immediately said: Dionya is the Theban League, and of course it is also the League of Cateronea, and Caronia will do its best to help the allies.

When the cavalry regiment had received a satisfactory answer, it did not linger long, but continued its march south, receiving a similar promise from the city-states of Piosia, which had passed through it, that the road from Chaeronea to Thebes was smooth, and that the cavalry regiment reached the city of Thebes at noon on the second day, although they had taken a break as they walked.

………………………………………………………………

In this war between Dioonia and the Greek alliance, Thebes and its Piosian alliance remained basically neutral, but they also kept an eye on the battle in the Peloponnese, and for the Theban leaders such as Ipamironda and Pelopidas, they were most worried about the victory of the Greek alliance, because that would mean that the prestige of Athens and Thessaly would be greatly increased, and it would be a huge trouble for the two major powers, one east and one north, to settle scores with Thebes. Therefore, although Thebes, at the request of the Greek alliance, had to provide some help, such as the port of Chrysis, they still expected Dionysa to win, but the current state of affairs showed that the Dionian army was at a disadvantage, which made them a little anxious.

However, Ipamironda often reassured his colleagues that he was convinced that the advantage of the improvised Greek coalition of city-states would not last, and that the powerful kingdom of Dioonia would fight back.

Literature Museum