Yesterday afternoon and dusk, under the cover of the feint attack of the 1st Fleet, nearly 400 infantry of the fleet quietly landed on the promontory east of the Gulf of Laconia, where they lurked in the mountains, prepared to rest on the spot for the night, and then went north on the morning of the second day to the beach where the main infantry of the fleet was to land.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the mountain, they ran into a shepherd herding sheep on the mountain, and in order to prevent his whereabouts from leaking, they detained him.

The shepherd came from Minoa, a small town facing the sea to the east of the cape (not the city of Minoa on the island of Sicily in the Kingdom of Dionia, but a small town on the edge of Sparta's territory, and the inhabitants were mainly Piriassi) not far from the mountain where the infantry of the fleet was hiding, and at the request of the family of the missing shepherd, the inhabitants of Minoa went up the mountain early on the second day to look for them, and the infantry of the fleet had to avoid the Minoan people in order to avoid early detection, so they took some long detours, and when they hurried to the vicinity of the battlefield, Fierce fighting is raging between the two sides.

Despite the anxiety of the infantry of the fleet, the commander who temporarily served as the commander of the surprise attack did not blindly command the troops to immediately enter the battle, he stood on the high ground of the mountains and forests, carefully observed the situation on the battlefield, and quickly formulated a plan of action: 50 soldiers with torches were assigned to the camp at the rear of the battlefield; He led more than 300 soldiers to the left flank of the Spartan army, attacking its flank and rear.

This move quickly paid off: the Black Laborers, who were already struggling to support themselves, were attacked from the rear and began to retreat; When the retreating Helots saw the fire burning in the camp in the rear, he shouted in horror, and panic quickly spread through the Spartan army......

The Helots and Periasians scattered and fled, but only the Spartan warriors continued to fight.

Xenophon saw that the defeat was irreparable, sighed, and joined the ranks of the fleeing, he must hurry back to Sparta, maybe he can give some advice to the Spartan elders who are panicking.

By the time Sekrion landed on the shore in a small boat, the battle on the coast was not completely over: more than 360 Spartan warriors (including some veterans) formed a circle and continued to fight, surrounded by the infantry of the fleet and the soldiers of the Seventh Legion.

Knowing the situation, Secorian thought that the Spartans were completely surrounded, and of course they would resist stubbornly, so he ordered: give way to the north.

The order was quickly carried out, and he had expected the Spartans to retreat quickly so that the soldiers could pursue them. But the Spartans were still fighting, and they didn't see any intention of retreating.

Sekrion thought about it for a moment, and simply told the soldiers to retreat, distancing themselves from the Spartans.

He was not at all worried that the Spartans would take the opportunity to counterattack, because the Dionian soldiers besieging here had an absolute superiority not only in numbers, but also in physical strength, after all, the infantry of the fleet belonged to the light armor, and the soldiers of the Seventh Legion joined the battle later. And how much physical strength can the Spartan warriors who have been fighting with all their strength until now have left, but they are only supported by the dense circular formation defense, and once they want to switch from defense to offense, the formation will naturally be difficult to maintain.

The Dionian soldiers retreated cautiously and slowly, and the Spartan warriors with rich combat experience remained in place. They stood in dense crowds side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and the outermost row of warriors all straddled their horses, holding a round shield in one hand and a bayonet spear in the other, most of their bodies were hidden behind the round shield, only half of their heads were peeking out from the top of the round shield, and their indifferent eyes looked out vigilantly through the narrow helmet eyelets.

The comrades behind them not only supported them with shields against their backs, but also protruded their bayonet spears from above their right shoulders to assist them in their ...... The formation of the entire Spartan warrior was like a hedgehog that had to hold its body together in case of danger.

But when both sides were out of battle and the sound of fighting had disappeared, they could clearly hear their rapid breathing, and see the copper shields they held trembled slightly due to weakness. Around the circle lay the corpses of Spartan warriors, and the few wounded soldiers were so badly injured that they could not move at all, and could only let out a low, sigh-like wail.

Seeing this, Sekrian felt more confident in his peace of mind, and he stepped out of the array of Ionian soldiers, and said in a smug voice: "I am the commander of this Ionian army, Sekerion!" Spartans, you have failed! Surrender, I can spare you from dying! ”

The whole circle did not move, and the Spartan warriors were unaware.

After a while, Yodamidas, who was in the center of the array, said loudly with uneven breath: "We...... We can surrender...... You may also be allowed to occupy the ports of Ision and Hiles...... But you must swear to God that you will not lead an army into Sparta! ”

After hearing this, Sekrion laughed and said mockingly: "Spartans, you are still dreaming! Now is not the time for you to dominate Greece and show off your might! We, Dionia, have conquered Messenia, and will soon conquer Sparta, and it may not be long before your family will be slaves, and the Herauths, who were once slaves, will become their masters!

I just saw that you are all warriors, and I can't bear to let you surrender with mercy because you are in the wilderness and become food for wild wolves and seabirds. Of course, I can understand why you chose to die, because after you die, you don't have to face the reality that Sparta no longer exists—"

As he spoke, Sekrian suddenly saw the Spartan warrior in front of him roar angrily and threw the bayonet in his hand at him.

Sekrian was taken aback, and hurriedly dodged back. He and the Spartan circle were about 40 meters apart, and the other side was heavy infantry, so he thought that this distance would be safer, but he didn't expect the other party to suddenly make such a move.

The soldiers on either side quickly rushed forward and shielded him with leather shields.

It stands to reason that the range of the javelins thrown by the trained Spartan warriors with all their might was well over 40 meters, and the leather shields used by the fleet's infantry were not very well defended. However, where did the Spartan warriors who had fought until now still have sufficient physical strength, and the javelins thrown could not penetrate the leather shields, and they were easily blocked, which was nothing but a false alarm.

But Sekrian was enraged, and he withdrew from the array with a gloomy face, but did not give the order to attack.

The two sides held each other strangely.

After a while, the Spartan warriors saw the Dionian soldiers retreat in all directions again, even giving way to a wide opening in the direction of the sea.

Then they saw six wooden shelves more than one man high placed side by side less than a hundred meters away, and some Dionian soldiers were operating something behind them, although the Spartan warriors had not seen the ballistas in detail, but they felt uneasy.

"Launch!" The ballista commander gave the order, the hook string was loosened, the spring arm contracted violently, and the stone projectile whistled out, smashing into the circle of Spartan warriors with a small arc.

And he saw the shield flying, blood splattered, stumps and legs, broken breasts and rotten heads...... The perfectly formed formation that had been fortified in an instant turned into a bloody scene, and the extremely dense array of the Spartans allowed the power of the ballistae to be fully utilized.

The commander of the Spartan army, Yodamidas, did not even have time to utter a scream before he collapsed in a pool of blood.

The living Spartan warrior immediately realized that he could only sit back and wait for his death: "Fight with the Ionians!!" ”

They roared and rushed towards the ballista troops.

The Dionian army, which had long expected the Spartan warriors to do so, quickly closed in......

……………………………………………………

At the end of the battle, none of the Spartan warriors in the encirclement surrendered, and all of them were killed.

The landing of the 1st Fleet was a final victory, but Sekerian was not too excited, as he had seen the corpses of many of the fleet's infantry since he came ashore.

"Hurry up and cremate the remains of the soldiers, but keep their relics and urns in good order and hand them over to their families in the future...... The medical staff were rushed ashore in small boats to treat the wounded soldiers as soon as possible. ”

Sekrian said in a low tone, looked up at the sky, and then turned back to look at the tide: "Soon the tide will begin to recede, order all the crews of the fleet to uproot these stakes in the sea, and open a passage first, so that our military rations can be brought in and unloaded at the port of Hills, otherwise the infantry of the fleet will have nothing to eat tonight, and they will have to rob the Spartans." ”

"Understood, sir! I'll do it right away. The subordinate took the order and left.

Sekrion looked ahead and shouted in high spirits: "Come with me, to Sparta!" ”

In the first battle of the Spartan coast, the Dionian army suffered more than 1,500 casualties, most of whom were wounded, mainly from the attack of the Spartan warriors on the left flank and the long-range fire of the archers of the coast guard towers; The Spartan army suffered about 2,000 casualties, of which all the Spartan soldiers were wiped out and most of the Spartan veterans were also killed, resulting in the loss of the main combat force in the current Spartan territory.

Ssecrian was delayed on the coast for a long time due to the stubborn resistance of the Spartan warriors, and he led 300 soldiers of the Seventh Legion and 1,200 infantry of the fleet to the north, and along the way he saw neither his own troops nor the fleeing enemy soldiers, but only the corpses pecked by crows and the routs lying on the ground, wounded and wailing......

After nearly three hours of travel, the silhouette of the dense houses ahead was visible, and Sekerion saw a large force of the fleet's infantry resting in a wheat field, and soon saw its commander, Sephidorus.

Seeing that Sepidorus's right arm was wrapped in a cloth belt and stained red with blood, Sekrian asked with concern, "Are you injured, is it serious?" ”