Half an hour later, the Dionian soldiers saw the city on the coast, saying that it was an important town, but in fact it was only a small stone city, stuck in the narrow land between the mountains and the coast, and at the head of the city stood a row of soldiers dressed in red stalks, the bayonet guns in their hands reflected the sunlight, and it was impossible to see from a distance whether their faces were afraid or excited, and they always stood motionless, such a gesture seemed to be a stimulus to the Dionian legionnaires, and their fighting spirit soared rapidly.

"Quiet it all for me! Soon we will land on the beaches of Messenia, and you will have a chance to fight the Spartans! Max shouted at the excited soldiers on the troop carrier: "But for now you all keep me quiet, take care of your strength, and when the ship docks, give me the first one to rush up!" ”

"Don't worry, Captain! We will definitely not fall behind the other detachments, and we will definitely be the first to break through the enemy's defenses! One soldier said loudly, and the other soldiers responded positively.

"I hope so." Max seemed to answer quite indifferently, but he was excited inwardly because the morale was available.

Holding the side of the ship with one hand, he looked down at the blue waters, and couldn't help but recall the embarrassed appearance of the first time he landed on the Trina naval base on a warship, but then he followed the army to Sicily, defeated Carthage's army of 100,000, and then landed in Africa, conquered Carthage, and had already overcome the problem of seasickness.

After the end of the Western Mediterranean War, Max and some Roman nobles were assigned to live in the region of Turiy, where he was fortunate enough to be incorporated into the First Legion, and later went north to conquer Gaul, where he was promoted to captain of the detachment for his exploits, thus joining the ranks of Dionian officers.

Fortunately, he adapted to life in Dionya and was reluctant to associate with former Roman nobles who still held grudges against the kingdom, and as a result, many Roman nobles were arrested in the rebellion of Turiyi a few years earlier, but he was not implicated, or even interrogated and censored, in which his superiors played a significant role.

Adoris is his immediate boss, the captain of the third brigade of the First Legion, Max went around and around and returned to his command, it is really fate, Adoris really takes care of him......

Max was still thinking about the past, and the cheers of the soldiers on the ship brought him back to his senses: "We have crossed the cape, the fleet has turned around, we are almost there!" ……”

The southern coastline of the Peloponnese Peninsula is in an "M" shape, it forms two bays, the Gulf of Laconia to the east and the Gulf of Messenia to the west.

In the process of heading north, countless troop carriers gradually expanded, spreading out the sea surface of the entire bay, and together with the baggage ships that followed the troop carriers closely, the entire bay was almost filled with ships.

Max was in the forefront, and as he moved forward, the vision became clearer: on either side were the outlines of lush mountains, in the center were flat and wide plains, white sand beaches, and in the middle a white line was divided into two from south to north...... There are no seaside towns in such a fine bay, only a few villages, a rudimentary dock, and a few boats, but a flock of seagulls in the sky, flying up and down, chirping, quite interesting......

Accustomed to the prosperity and bustle of the port of Turiy, and the barely explored bay, Max's eyes lit up.

But the mood soon flashed away, for some Spartan soldiers had already appeared on the beach.

…………………………………………

The Spartans experienced three wars in the process of conquering Messenia, especially in the first two wars, the Messenian soldiers relied on fortresses and towns to resist the attack of the Spartans, which made the war last for a long time and caused great trouble to the Spartans, so after the complete conquest of Messenia, the Spartans demolished all the towns on this plain, resulting in only villages and no towns on this plain, which is the largest plain compared to other parts of the Peloponnese.

But in the middle of the plain there was a larger barracks, where the Spartans trained their warriors, and where they could raise an army at any time to suppress the rebellion of the Helots.

In the war with Thebes, due to the participation of Athens in the war, the strength of the Athenian navy posed a threat to the sea area controlled by Sparta, in order to ensure the security of the Messenian region, Sparta also sent some additional soldiers to Messenia, but after the signing of the Calias contract, Sparta immediately withdrew the redundant citizens, and now there are less than 500 Spartan warriors left in the entire Messenia.

However, the Spartans were convinced that even with only a few men stationed there, Messenia would remain stable, because decades of brutal rule and year after year of bloody slaughter (i.e., Sparta would allow young warriors to hunt and kill any helots they saw at will at fixed times, on the one hand, so that young people could see blood and exercise their courage; On the other hand, it can prevent the overpopulation of the black laborers), the black laborers have long been tamed like cattle and sheep, and even when foreign enemies invade, they can organize the black laborers to act as auxiliaries, increase the size of the army, and resist.

The situation was now like this, the Spartan patrol ships hastily withdrew to Messenia, and reported to the barracks: a huge fleet of Dionyas had appeared in the coastal waters, menacing, and I am afraid that it would be ill-intentioned.

The commander of the barracks, Dorios, who had undergone the brutal military training of Aggo since he was a child, and became one of the best warriors among them, was selected into the King's Guard as an adult, and in his 20-year military career, he fought dozens of battles and made many achievements, and his military experience can be described as rich, and he was appointed military governor of Messenia the year before last, responsible for the defense of the region.

Upon hearing the news, Dorios immediately became vigilant, and not only quickly gathered the soldiers in the barracks, but also sent people to inform the magistrates of the various villages (these magistrates were old and frail former Spartan warriors who had retired from the army, and they were appointed to govern the villages of Messenia, with three main tasks: supervising the work of the helaborers, preventing them from being lazy, collecting most of the harvest after the autumn harvest, and supervising the daily life of the helaborers, and immediately notifying the barracks to hunt and kill if there was any abnormality), Let them organize all the young and strong black laborers.

The envoys sent by the Spartan camp boarded the Dionian ships entering the bay in small boats, ready to ask them why they had suddenly invaded Spartan territory without prior notice.

However, before the messenger could board the Dionian ship, the boat was overturned, and the hostility of the Dionians was revealed.

Upon receiving the news, Dorios immediately led the Spartan warriors to the seashore, and at the same time ordered the magistrates of the villages to arrive as soon as possible with the troops of the Helots.

Hurrying to the beach, Dorios looked at it and couldn't help but be dumbfounded: his vision was full of Dionia's ships, and there was no end to it......

This overwhelming momentum made the battle-hardened Dorios feel numb.

The Spartan region of Messenia was not without invasions, and the Athenian fleet repeatedly harassed it during the Peloponnesian War, but it landed in small numbers, and most of the time they fled by boat before Spartan reinforcements arrived, and even if they attacked the camp once, they were defeated by Spartan warriors with fewer soldiers than they did......

At that time, the Athenian army rarely fought head-on with Spartan warriors on land, and it was the first time that Dorios encountered such a large-scale landing operation as today, but fortunately, the Helots team arrived one after another, and the number of the entire army gradually increased to 3,000 people, even if most of the Helots were only armed with a spear, not to mention armor, not even a shield, which also made Dorios feel a lot more comfortable.

But then he frowned again, for he saw that the ships on the sea were spread out so widely, and that the situation was preparing for a full-scale landing: the coast where he could land was more than twenty miles, and he had only such a small number of troops in his hands, how could he be completely defended! What's more, the number of Helots in this team is several times that of the Spartan warriors, and once they are out of the control of the Spartan warriors and go to defense alone, it is difficult to guarantee their loyalty. And if the Spartan warriors were to be dispersed among the various ranks of the Helots, the combat effectiveness of the entire army would be greatly reduced, especially in the face of the rumored and not weak Deorian army......

Dorios did not dare to take this risk, so he decided not to disperse his army, but to concentrate on the defense of this beach west of the mouth of the Parmisus River.

…………………………………………

"There seem to be quite a few soldiers in Sparta!" Tisias, who had already followed Leoticides from the flagship of the First Fleet to another ship, said loudly that the ship he was on was less than two miles from the coast, so he could see it relatively clearly.

"A lot of them are Helots, and they won't fight for the Spartans!" Ionicus put his hand on his forehead, looked ahead, and reminded loudly.

The staff officer Mukru, who was on the side, pointed to the coast in front of him and also reminded the army commander: "My lord, the Spartans are concentrated and have not dispersed their defenses. ”

Leoticides looked intently at the shore, and the battle that was about to begin suppressed his slightly fluctuating emotions, and he said slowly: "Notify the warships to attack!" Get the soldiers ready for the landing! ”