Ipamironda's words were fulfilled. If the thousands of Athenian soldiers sent to the Peloponnese did not go to reinforce the Greek coalition in the Peloponnese, but went to Phorgis, which only made the Thebans suspicious, then a few days later the Thessalian army broke away from the Greek coalition, hastily landed on the port of Chrysis, and marched north desperately, which proved once and for all that what they had heard from the Phocis was true—Dionyas had sent an army to land in Thessaly!

This was indeed a surprise to Ipamironda, who envisioned that Dionysia might take advantage of the exhausting Greek coalition and then increase his forces in the Peloponnese. He really did not expect that Dioonia would send a huge fleet of ships around the Greek mainland and land tens of thousands of soldiers in Thessaly, far away from the battlefield, this is an extremely wonderful military operation, what a grand spirit!

When Ipamironda learned the news, he couldn't help but be amazed and fascinated, but he also knew very well: daring to formulate such an extraordinary military plan and put it into action, backed by strong national and military power, the Piosia alliance led by Thebes could not do it at all.

However, even if Dionya sent an army to raid Thessaly, the top of Thebes did not dare to conclude that Dionysa had an absolute advantage, after all, the Thessaly region was vast and populous, and it was not so easy to conquer, and Iason was returning with his army, and the slightest negligence of the Dionian landing army was in danger of defeat.

The fears of the Theban leadership about the Dionian landing force did not last long, and Iason's forces were defeated from the north and fled into Athens in disarray.

Dionya landed an army of 100,000 and conquered Thessaly in more than half a month, and the Thessalian army collapsed without a fight, and Iazon was seriously wounded...... The news from the mercenaries shocked the brains of every Theban high-ranking person, leaving them dumbfounded, including Ipamironda, who was once again shocked by the courage of the king of Dionya and the sheer strength of Dionia.

At this time, every Theban high-ranking person realized that the landing army of Theonia would soon move south, and the defeat of the Greek coalition was assured, and Thebes could no longer maintain neutrality in the face of such a general situation, and a decision must be made as soon as possible in order to ensure the safety of the Piosia alliance and win the benefits of Thebes before the end of this war.

Therefore, when the Dionian cavalry corps rushed to the city of Thebes, the Council of Thebes had passed a resolution and agreed without hesitation to all the demands of the Dionian army: first, to allow the Dionian army to pass through the area of Piosia safely and smoothly, and to be stationed in any part of the territory; secondly, urgently lent some military rations to the Dionian army (the soldiers of the army led by Patroclus only carried rations for 5 days, and after entering Central Greece, they advanced rapidly southward, and the transportation of military rations could not be supplied for a while); Thirdly, the port of Derion was opened to the Dionian fleet (Derian was a city-state on the northeast coast of the Piosia region, one of the few port towns in the Piosian League, not far from Aulops, which had taken refuge in Athens, and once it was opened to Oria, grain ships from Philae could pass directly through the sea lanes between Euboea and Central Greece to enter the port of Derión to unload, and the food supply of the Dionian army became extremely convenient).

Even Thebes offered to immediately take back the port of Cleucis, which had been seized by the Greek League, and give it to Dionysia for free. And Thebes was willing to fulfill the military alliance treaty signed with Dionia, sending troops to fight alongside the Dionian army.

When Patroclus learned that the Thebans had not only readily agreed to his request, but were also willing to actively cooperate in the war, although he despised the Theban speculation, he readily agreed to Thebes' request.

Thus, on the fourth day of entering Central Greece, 40,000 Dionian troops joined up with 5,000 urgently formed Theban soldiers near Thebes.

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When Athens learned that the Dionian landing army was about to go south, it was not first told by the Iason's mercenaries who had fled to Athens. Ever since learning of the arrival of the Dionian army in Thessaly, Athens had a number of merchant ships visit the vicinity of the Gulf of Mariakos every day to reconnoiter the enemy.

Why choose only the Gulf of Mariakos? This was due to the fact that the Gulf of Pagasa, which belonged exclusively to Thessaly, was too closed to be easily spotted by cruising Dionian warships, while the Gulf of Mariakos was home to a large number of ships, mainly from the city-states of Euboe, Phokis, Lokris, and Lamia (after Lamia was annexed to Dionia, the Dionian army allowed it to reopen its port), and Athenian merchant ships were mixed in to make it easier to hide.

After Patroclus led his army into the Lamia region, the merchant ships sent by Athens discovered the situation, and they quickly reported the news to the General's Executive Committee, and Callistratos and others deliberated that although the Thessalian army led by Iason was still working hard to break through the defense line of Thermopyla, did the Dionians increase their troops in the Lamia region, did this mean that they had conquered Thessaly? Although unlikely, Athens must be prepared.

Therefore, the General's Executive Committee quickly sent messengers to inform Iphiclates in the Peloponnese that he should lead his army back to Attica as soon as possible.

This action by Athens preceded the entry of the Dionian landing army into Central Greece.

After the Thessalian army left, the Greek coalition remained in the camp of Leprion for the first few days, even when the Dionian army (the First Legion) stormed the Arcadia region to relieve the siege of Mandinia, and even threatened Corinth by the north, Iphicrates was unmoved, and was busy in the camp to pacify the generals of the city-states and stabilize the morale of the army.

It was not until he felt that the situation had improved that he began to lead his army to approach the Dionian camp on the northern border of Messenia, but only to make some tentative attacks, and not to do heavy fighting.

Iphiclates knew very well that the departure of the Thessalian army had left the Greek coalition no longer in possession, and the Dioonians were preoccupied with defense, so that the coalition army was no longer fighting here, and it was a waste of rations. But he couldn't stop fighting, or lead his army away, because that would mean admitting defeat, and I was afraid that it would lead some of the grumbling city-state generals to lead the team away, and the entire Greek coalition army would face disintegration, and it would undoubtedly be more difficult to regroup, not to mention that there was a Dionian army next to it.

Through this period of fighting, Iphiclates has realized that Dionia is an extremely difficult opponent, and this strong opponent who has been defending has not used all his strength so far, he is very uneasy, but now he has to do his best to maintain the integrity of the Greek coalition. On the one hand, he hoped that Iasonn would successfully drive out the landing army of Dionysia, and return to the Peloponnese as soon as possible to join the coalition forces; On the one hand, it was hoped that the Persian promised assistance would come as soon as possible to strengthen the power of the Greek coalition...... Of course, he also had a vague idea in his heart, that is, to negotiate peace with Dionya while the Greek coalition still had the advantage.

However, Athens finally got out of the shadow of the defeat of the Peloponnese, and the national strength gradually recovered, and now Sparta is declining, and many Greek city-states (including the city-states of the Peloponnese) have joined the Greek alliance led by Athens, and Athens ushered in the best period to become the Greek overlord again. So Iphiclates could only think about it in his heart.

Just as he was urging to keep the Greek coalition intact, he received news from Athens, which immediately magnified the uneasiness in his heart, unlike Calistratus who was in the rear, he had a sharper intuition about the battle situation on the battlefield: although it was unlikely that the Dionian army would conquer Thessaly in such a short time, what if they dared to increase their troops in Lamia because they really conquered Thessaly?! Then Iason's army was in danger of collapsing quickly, and without his army to stop it in the north, the landing army of Dionya would quickly move south, and Athens would be in danger!

Moreover, the Athenian messenger, who had arrived at the barracks, told the news that as he passed through the isthmus, he saw the Dionian ships in the Gulf of Corinth.

Iphiclates was shocked again, because since the Dionian army invaded the Peloponnese, no warship had been sent into the Gulf of Corinth, so Iphiclates dared to suggest that Iason go north by boat, and now it seems that the Diocrates are very likely to be expecting Iason to return as soon as possible with his army, this is a conspiracy!

Thinking of this, Iphiclates broke out in a cold sweat, and he immediately sent his men to convey the order to the Greek coalition army: gather the whole army and retreat to Corinth!

As soon as this order was issued, it immediately attracted questions from many generals of the Greek city-states.

Whoever asked, Iphiclates replied that the Thessalian army led by Iasons was not in a good position in Lamia, that the landing force north of Dioonia was likely to move south, and that the Greek coalition needed to return to the Isthmus to take care of the security of Central Greece.

Iphiclates said this reasonably, but many of the city-state generals did not think so, they persuaded again and again, and seeing that Iphiclates still insisted, the general of the unified army from Ellis angrily said that they would part ways, because once the army withdrew to Corinth in the northeast corner of the Peloponnese, it would be far away from Alyss in the northwest corner, and there were mountains in between, and now the main force of the Dionian army in the south was on the northern border of Messenia, very close to the Alys region, in case it attacked Ellis, The Greek coalition forces in Corinth were too late to help.

Not only the generals of Ellis, but also the generals of the city-states of the Arcadia Alliance also expressed similar intentions, but with more tactful words. After all, the Arcadia region is also adjacent to Messenia and Lagenia controlled by Dionia, once the Greek coalition forces leave, Dionya counterattacks, the first to suffer is the city-states of the Arcadian Alliance, not to mention that the Arcadian Alliance betrayed the alliance before, and it will definitely be retaliated by Dionia.