As the time entered the new year, when the Persian army was also converging in Phrygia, and some of the army had advanced to the eastern border of Misia, Leoticides felt some pressure and began to gather his scattered troops.

At the beginning of February, the Persian coalition forces of Asia Minor convened an important military conference in the capital of Phrygia, chaired by the Western Commander Fanabazos, which was attended by the governors of all regions, with the exception of one general, who was in a very special position - the former Thessalita Gusý Iason.

After his army had been routed by the Dionian army five years earlier, he fled to Persia and, unlike many of the Greek expelled celebrities who preferred to stay in western Asia Minor, he went directly to Syria to meet the king of Persia.

At that time, Artaxerxes was originally preparing to conquer Persia in person, but he did not expect a fire in his backyard and a great rebellion in Asia Minor, so he had to return to his division to quell the rebellion.

Iason, who unified Thessaly as the Tagus, and served as the main force in the anti-Dionian coalition of Greek forces, once gaining the upper hand in the war...... These deeds had already reached the ears of the Persian king through the mouth of Dattis, who not only warmly received Iason, but also promised that if he was willing to serve Persia and be loyal to him, he would finance his return to Thessaly and regain the throne of Tagus when Persia went to war with Dionya in the future.

Iason, of course, could not ask for it, and immediately accepted Artaxerxes' appointment as commander of the Greek mercenaries to which Persia belonged. With the abundant financial support of Persia, Iason soon recruited nearly 10,000 Greek soldiers from western Asia Minor and even the Ionian Islands, trained and fought at the same time, and won no small feats in the entire Persian war of rebellion, and also won the trust of Artaxerxes.

By the end of the war, the number of mercenaries under the commander of Iason had increased to 15,000, and Artaxerxes did not ask him to reduce his soldiers, but instead had him lead mercenaries in Silesia.

Silesia is located in the south-central part of Asia Minor, with exceptionally fertile plains, where the population is small but the people are very wealthy, and the kingdom was established very early. During the conquest of the Persian king Darius to the west, Silesia was surrounded by mountains as a barrier, which was originally difficult to conquer, but the king of Silesia voluntarily surrendered, so the throne was retained.

At the beginning of Artaxerxes' accession to the throne, the Silesian kings and his wife also actively sponsored Cyrus the Younger to compete for the throne, and finally Cyrus the Younger was defeated and died, but at that time, Artaxerxes was afraid of causing turmoil in Asia Minor, and did not dare to deal with the regional governors and kings who had collusion with Cyrus the Younger, but quietly weakened their power, until this time the rebellion in Asia Minor was completely quelled, and he finally completely cleared the royal family of Silesia and took this fertile land into his own hands. Not only did he send his henchmen to serve as governors, but also feared that the local people would revolt, so he also sent Iason, who was good at fighting, to sit in Silesia.

Of course, Artaxerxes had a deeper consideration: Silesia was rich enough to support the Greek mercenaries and reduce the burden on the Persian finances, while Iasong led the army in Silesia, so that he could come to the rescue in time if there was a rebellion in other parts of Asia Minor.

Only a few years later, the rebellion did not appear again, but waited for the invasion of the Greek coalition.

When Phanabazos assumed the post of military commander of western Asia Minor, he asked the king of Persia to send Greek mercenaries to help in the war, because Iason's army was directly subordinate to the king of Persia and was not under the command of any local governor.

Artaxerxes agreed, and Farabazos soon sent a call to Iason.

However, Iason, who had been living in Persia for several years, was no longer as eager to prove himself as he had at the beginning, and he was worried that if he went to Phrygia too early, he would be used as cannon fodder by the Persians and sent to the front line first, so he found various reasons to delay, and finally became one of the last troops to reach Phrygia, which made Fanabazos a little unhappy.

At this military council, most of the governors were of the same opinion: since the number of soldiers in their own army was now more than 80,000, far greater than the number of Greek troops detected by the scouts, they should boldly lead their army westward and fight a decisive battle with the Greeks, and completely defeat them, and could not wait any longer, for the number of enemy troops continued to increase as the Greek army landed in Asia Minor.

Iason, on the other hand, objected, arguing that with his knowledge of Dionya and the Greek city-states themselves, they must have sent the most elite soldiers of their own city-states to invade Asia Minor this time, and because the Persian infantry was not strong, they had always been inferior in the previous wars with the Greeks, and now if they took the initiative to engage in a frontal battle with the Greek coalition army, there was a great possibility of defeat, and then the situation in the whole of Asia Minor would become very bad. On the contrary, if you are not in a hurry to engage in a battle with the Greek coalition army, let the army take the initiative to retreat, and at the same time remove or burn all the materials that can be used by the Greeks, lure the Greek coalition army deep inland, and then use the advantage of your own familiarity with the terrain and more cavalry to constantly harass the enemy and raid the grain transportation behind it, so as to achieve the goal of exhausting the Greek coalition army, and wait until the Greek coalition army becomes weak, and then find an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with it, and the chances of victory are great.

Iason's proposal was strongly opposed by the vast majority of the Persian governors, who had no experience in dealing with the Greeks in the core of Persia, but still regarded Greece as barbarians in their hearts, and their pride in their bones would not allow the Persian army to adopt such cowardly tactics against the Greeks they despised, and the governors of Misia, Lydia, and Phrygia strongly demanded a quick victory, because they did not want to see their lands ravaged by the Greeks.

Some of the governors even made personal attacks on Iason, accusing him of the generosity of the king of Persia, who did not despise him as a foreign person who had fled, but only reused him, but did not want to repay the trust of the king of Persia, but was bent on delaying the war at this critical moment.

It was even pointed out that after receiving the conscription order, Iason did not immediately lead his well-organized Greek mercenaries to Phrygia, but delayed until the end, fearing that he would have different intentions, and in order to avoid his sudden fall to the Greeks in the middle of the battle, it was better to deprive him of his military rights and interrogate him.

Although he was a little weak-hearted, he had a great temper and quarreled with the governors.

In an atmosphere in which the governors unanimously demanded that the Greek army be repulsed as soon as possible, Fanabazos was finally forced to take their advice and take the initiative to seek a decisive battle with the Greek coalition.

At the end of the meeting, he left Iason alone to appease him, making clear his confidence in him, and promising that he would report his exploits to the king of Persia and help him return to Thessaly in the future, as long as he excelled in the ensuing battle.

As the Persian general in Asia Minor, Fanabazos not only experienced the humiliation of besieging the Greek expeditionary force and finally letting the other side get out of the siege, but also experienced the pain of being blasted by the army led by Agosilaus, he was well aware of the strength of the Greek army, so he agreed with Iason's opinion, but when so many governors unanimously demanded a quick victory, he had to agree against his will, although he was the new military commander of western Asia Minor and the son-in-law of Artaxerxes, But his status as a nobleman from Asia Minor meant that he did not gain more trust from the Persian king than some of the Persian governors present, and perhaps a secret letter from anyone would have increased the suspicion of the suspicious king of Persia.

Although he was a little jealous of the combat effectiveness of the Greek coalition army, he believed that the army under his command had gathered the elite of the entire western Asia Minor, not only surpassed the Greek coalition army, but also had the assistance of the Greek mercenaries who could fight well, and had a great chance of winning the battle, so he confidently led the western coalition army of Asia Minor, left Phrygia, entered Misia, and pressed towards the Greek coalition army.

After hearing the news, Leotic Deston sighed in his heart: That old fellow is right!

It turned out that after the various units of the Greek coalition army had assembled, the commander of the coalition forces, Leoticides, convened a military meeting of the generals of the various armies.

At the meeting, the allied generals such as Ipamironda, Lycomedes, and Iphicrates all agreed that the allied forces were strong, and that they should seize the time and lead their armies eastward to seek a decisive battle with the main forces of the Persian army, and that as long as they were victorious, the whole of western Asia Minor would no longer be able to stop the Greek allied army's attack.

But there were also those who were worried, because by this time they had already discovered that Fanabazos had been appointed military commander of Asia Minor by the Persian king, an experienced veteran who was likely to choose to avoid war, and that the Greek coalition would be in trouble for a long time away from the coast and deep into the unfamiliar interior.

The old Agecilaus confidently told the generals: "You don't have to worry that the Persians will avoid the war, and you don't have to take the initiative to find the Persians for a decisive battle, because the Persian army will take the initiative to find the coalition for a decisive battle!"

Because the people of western Asia Minor were originally resistant to the officials from Persia, and from the recent news, the people of western Asia Minor have a great distrust of the new Persian governors, if these governors lead the army to retreat without fighting, and let the coalition army destroy the farmland and villages, then the people here will be full of resentment for the governor's death, which is very detrimental to their future rule, and those arrogant Persians generally will not make this choice.

As for the Persian military commander Phanabazos...... I know him well, he is indeed a good Persian general, and he also has a lot of fame in western Asia Minor, if he decides to retreat, the soldiers will be obedient, and the people may be able to accept it, but this man is tactful, good at making friends, and generous, so when he was governor in western Asia Minor, whether it was his colleagues around him, or his officials, and even the local people got along with him, but he was indecisive in doing things, and he was too emotional, which was precisely the taboo of being a commander. I think it would be difficult for him to refuse the pleas of the governors and abandon the populace of Misia and Phrygia and retreat! ”