Printors continued: "But according to the latest information, the king of Persia has not fulfilled his promise well, and therefore the city-states have great complaints, and it is very likely that the Greek coalition fighting in Asia Minor will be supported by them in the future.

More than 20 years ago, Agosilaus led a Spartan coalition of mercenaries, to conquer western Asia Minor, and had long held the advantage. And now the situation in the whole of Asia Minor is more favorable to the kingdom, and our coalition forces with the corps as the main body can attack Asia Minor more invincible-"

"Wait a minute, I think there's a problem here." Bagul couldn't help but interject: "I have seen the map of Persia, the territory of Asia Minor is very large, and it is mostly mountainous, even if we have the advantage at the beginning, but as the army advances eastward, the food supply will be a big problem, the land transportation line is too long, and from the sea transportation -

The Persians will not sit idly by, they also have a strong fleet, and they will definitely attack our transport groups and cut off the sea lines, so that our army will be in trouble......"

"Lord Bagul is right!" Printors replied with a serious expression: "But in fact, attacking Asia Minor is only the first step in our military plan, and the second and most important step is to defeat and destroy the Persian fleet!"

The kingdom and Persia are thousands of miles away, separated by the vast eastern Mediterranean, and if we want a large army to fight on Persian soil and be less troubled by logistics, we must control the dominance of the eastern Mediterranean, especially the Persian seas.

Therefore, we need to assemble the first, second, third, and fourth fleets, and combine the ships of the allies to form a large fleet, stationed in Piraeus or the port of Philae, and once the Persian fleet moves westward into the Aegean Sea and comes to attack the convoy of the Greek coalition that has landed in Asia Minor, then our combined fleet can take the opportunity to attack and start a decisive battle with the Persian fleet, and once it is defeated, the combined fleet can take advantage of the situation to advance east——"

Haka coughed loudly a few times, interrupted Printors' speech, and then asked slowly, "The Persian fleet is equally strong, I would like to ask Lord Printors, why is the Ministry of War so confident that our fleet can defeat them?" ”

Printors said confidently: "Your Majesty! Ladies and gentlemen! After repeated analysis and deduction, our military department precisely believes that compared with the Persian army, it is not the army that has absolute superiority, but the navy! ”

This surprised some ministers.

Printors replied confidently: "Persia was mainly inland, it was never a seafaring people, and its fleet consisted mainly of Phoenicia, Cyprus, Syria, Asia Minor, and the Greek coastal city-states in Persia...... The ships and crews they provided were a patchwork. Due to its complex origins and great differences in language and culture, it is not easy to form a unified fleet that is completely obedient to command and dares to fight to the death, which is why in the past, the Greek fleet led by Athens had many fewer ships than the Persians, but it always won repeatedly. And our fleet acts in strict accordance with military law, adheres to military training for a long time, is tactically flexible, and fights bravely, which is stronger than the combat effectiveness of the fleet of the Greek city-states.

Secondly, the Persian fleet has hardly participated in major battles for decades, has a serious lack of experience in naval warfare, and in this respect it is clearly not comparable to ours. Also, the main force of the Persian fleet is the Phoenicians—"

Printors glanced at Haka as he was thinking, and then said, "We had a naval battle with the Phoenician fleet more than 10 years ago, and the Phoenician fleet that rescued Carthage was almost completely wiped out. But according to the information we have obtained, the Persian fleet has not learned the lessons of this defeat, and their naval tactics have not changed much in the past 10 years, and the warships have not improved much.

On the contrary, several of our fleets have been training in the past few years with Persia as an imaginary adversary, and they have also worked with the Dionian Academy and shipyards to improve our ships...... In the case of the fact that the number of ships we have with Persia is not much different, the well-prepared kingdom navy has an absolute advantage!

The only thing that fell short was that the main position of the Persian fleet was too far away from us, so we had to rely on the attack of the Greek coalition in western Asia Minor to lure the Persian fleet into the Aegean Sea and then defeat it completely! ”

Printors shook his fist vigorously, and his voice became fierce: "The victorious kingdom fleet can seize the opportunity of the greatly weakened Persian navy and continue to advance eastward, or use the ally Egypt as a temporary naval base, or capture the island of Cyprus with the support of Egypt, and completely block the coast of Syria and Carthage." Therefore, Egypt is very important to us, and we must maintain its friendship with the kingdom and ensure the stability of its internal order.

Once we have taken control of the Eastern Mediterranean, the kingdom can send its main army, consisting of a dozen legions, to the east without any qualms, either to land in Egypt or to land in Canaan, to conquer Phoenicia and Syria, into Mesopotamia, and into Babylon......

If the Persian army was still fighting the Greek coalition in Asia Minor at this time, it would probably not have had time to rush back to the rescue. Even if the main force of the Egyptian army was not sent to Asia Minor and could be intercepted in time, there was still concern whether the Greek coalition would circle its rear from the north and form a flanking attack with the main army of the kingdom. In such an unfavorable situation, in a decisive battle with our army, which is in high morale, the Persian army has basically no chance of victory-"

"It is also possible that the Persians will choose to hold on to Babylon instead of engaging in battle with our army." "I have heard that Babylon is a great city, with unusually tall and strong walls, and the wide Euphrates River as a barrier," Arcistus reminded, "and that it was not something that could be conquered in a short time. If the siege continues for too long, our army will be short of food and supplies, and the Persians may also be relieved, causing the situation to change unfavorably for us. ”

"Lord Acistrius, you are right, if Persia adopts a defensive strategy, it will indeed cause us a lot of trouble." After a tactful response, Printors shifted his tone: "However, the trouble for Persia is greater. Because although Persia is a large country and has a vast land, it is not like a kingdom that can effectively govern various regions, and its rule is not too strong, and many regions rely on local ethnic self-care, so there was the independence of Egypt before, and the rebellion of the Dukya people, followed by the rebellion of Asia Minor...... Artaxerxes' ineffective repression led to a low prestige and unconvincing nobility and popularity.

Once our army enters the Mesopotamian plain, the heart of Persia, the Persian army hides behind high walls and watches us destroy villages and farmland, which will inevitably bring disillusionment with Artaxerxes and may lead to new rebellions and divisions. He will only be able to regain the trust of the Persian people if he gathers a large army to repel us, so I think a decisive battle is inevitable! ”

After Printors had finished a cursory account of the plan drawn up by the Ministry of Military Affairs, there was silence in the hall, and the ministers looked at me and I looked at you, silently making eye contact, but no one spoke.

After a moment, Davers spoke: "Klotocatax, what do you think of the plan of the Ministry of War?" ”

Although a few years earlier, in Greece, Printorcas had actively assisted Klotocatax in the war, and the two had established a friendship since then, and had frequent correspondence since returning to Turiyi, the consul of the kingdom glanced at Printors, and then faced his father, and said calmly: "Your Majesty, this plan drawn up by the Ministry of War sounds very reasonable, we have a great advantage over Persia, and it seems that we will easily win if we carry it out." However, fighting thousands of miles away with troops means a huge risk in itself, and both the transportation of military rations and the transmission of information will be more difficult than before. What's more, the attack is on a large country with a vast territory, whether it is for generals or soldiers, it is a completely unfamiliar land, the situation is complicated, and accidents may occur at any time.

Just like during the Greek Wars, we initially wanted to try not to arouse the hatred of the Greek city-states in mainland Greece, starting with Sparta, conquering the powerful states one by one, and finally controlling the whole of Greece. The Greek city-states soon united to form a Greek alliance to confront us, forcing us to commit more troops, thus rapidly expanding the war.

The reason why the kingdom was able to change its plans in time and respond correctly was because Greece was so close to us. But now that Persia is too far away from us, perhaps by the time we receive the news and are discussing a contingency plan, the army in Persia will encounter new difficulties, and even suffer defeat, and once they fail, they will face the danger of total annihilation, so I think we should be cautious about the use of troops in Persia!

In addition, although the political situation in the kingdom is relatively stable now, as Lord Haka has just said, the Gauls outside the mountains in the north pose a threat to our territory, and the natives of northern Iberia also infest our southern territories from time to time, and the mountain natives on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea also threaten the security of our Thessaly region and our Greek allies......

There are still so many insecurities in the kingdom's sphere of influence, in other words, there are so many lands in the vicinity of the kingdom that we need to conquer in order to ensure the peace and tranquility of the people of the holy kingdom of Dionia, and we should concentrate on these things first, rather than be tempted by the wealth of Persia to seek the near and far. ”

Even if we defeat the Persian army, it will be difficult to conquer the people there and integrate them into the kingdom, because they are a powerful race completely different from us, with a culture and splendor that does not belong to us at all, and they will not be willing to be ruled by us, maybe we will need to invest huge manpower and material resources to maintain the rule of Persia, but is it worth it? After all, the roots of the Divine Kingdom of Dionya are in the Western Mediterranean, in Italy—"