But Polydorus didn't know that after the order was given, Polyfron, who was in the front team, turned pale, and the war horse under his crotch was pulled off by him, and he neighed in pain......

Late at night, the Thessaly army returned to their camp outside Philae, and the exhausted soldiers soon fell asleep.

Plagued by the tension in front of him, Polydorus tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Suddenly, he heard several loud noises outside the door one after another, subconsciously sat up, and shouted: "Philox (the guard on duty at the door), what happened outside?" ”

No one answered, but then he heard the sound of "knock knock" footsteps, and a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of him, it was Polyflon, with a hideous face and a glittering dagger in his hand.

Polydorus was startled, and immediately shouted loudly: "Third brother, you are—"

Poliflon's eyes widened, and he swung his dagger quickly and hard, cutting a bloody gash in Polydorus's face, and the blood and pain brought his screams to an abrupt halt, and he fell on his back on the bed.

Without hesitation, Polyfron stabbed his brother in the chest with a series of short swords, splashing blood on his face, until Polydorus stopped struggling, he stood up, glared at his brother who was lying in a pool of blood, and whispered viciously: "Coward, you should have died a long time ago!" I'll let Iason know that only I can save Thessaly! ”

…………………………………………………………

At dusk, the messengers of Aulopus rode to Athens.

An emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Athenian Generals was soon convened.

"Guys, I just got word from the Dropsians." Callistratus said with a serious expression: "Their crew has found a large number of Ionian warships and troop transports entering the bay of Mariakos and Pagassa, and staying for a long time......"

The other eight generals were shocked when they heard the news, and some couldn't help but exclaim: "The Dioonians are going to land in Thessaly!" ”

Some people also said worriedly: "It's not just about landing in Thessaly, if the Dioonians land successfully in the Gulf of Mariakos, they can capture Heraclia and Thermopylae, and then continue south, they can attack the city-state of Phorgis......"

"Since the beginning of the war, we in Athens have been on guard against the possible landing of the Dionians, and Thessaly should be on guard against it, and the Dionian army may not be able to land successfully." One of the generals said uncertainly.

"It depends on how many troops the Dioonians have sent?" Cabrías asked, "Did the Aurobians say how many Dionian troop carriers there were?" ”

"I asked." Callistratus replied: "They could not name a specific number, but one thing they were sure of was that they must have seen more than a thousand Dionian warships and troop transports. ”

"A thousand ......," Cabrias estimated, "if the whole fleet of Dionyas were to be counted at 1,000 ships, even if half of them were troop carriers, there would be about 25,000 soldiers." And we all know very well that the number of warships and convoys is mixed, and the number of warships often accounts for only 1/4 of the entire fleet, or even less, and excluding some ships transporting supplies, I estimate that the Dionian army that landed was at least 30,000 men......"

"30,000! ......" Several other Athenian generals looked at each other, and one of them said with luck: "It is reported that there are more than 30,000 Ionian troops defending against the attack of our Greek coalition in the Peloponnese, could it be that they transported the main Dionian army defending in Messenia and Sparta to the north?" ”

"Probably not!" "If the Dionicians had withdrawn their army in the Peloponnese, the remaining soldiers would certainly not be enough to resist the attack of the Greek coalition, and once Messenia and Sparta were recaptured by us, it would be tantamount to cutting off the rear of their army that had just landed in the north, and I don't think the Dioonians would make such a big mistake!"

Besides, Dionya had sent 100,000 troops to the war with Carthage a few years earlier, and the Dionian landing army to the north was probably a new army that had just been sent from their country......"

"The news that Dionya dispatched 100,000 soldiers to fight Carthage is just a rumor, and it is not certain that it is true, who knows if Dionya deliberately exaggerated the facts to scare the surrounding forces." The general still stubbornly retorted: "Even if that is true, it is only because they were fighting on their own soil at that time, and now from Dioonia to transport tens of thousands of soldiers to land in Thessaly, hundreds of miles away, how much consumption and cost there is, you should be very clear about the navy in command over the years, I don't think Dioonia has the strength to redeploy troops from their territory!" ”

Cabrias said seriously: "During the Peloponnesian War, we in Athens were able to send 40,000 troops to Syracuse, and now the Kingdom of Dionya controls a much larger territory than we did then, and of course they are more able to do it." ”

The general sneered: "The territory of the Dionya Kingdom is indeed much larger than our Athens, but most of them are barbaric and barren, how can it be richer than Athens at that time, when we controlled the entire Aegean trade!" ——”

"Everyone, stop arguing!" Calistratus said with a serious expression: "Whether the Dionian army that landed in Thessaly was drawn from the Peloponnese or re-transported from the territory of the Dionian Kingdom, the current problem is that the defense in Thessaly should be very empty, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist such a large army, what should we do about it?!" ”

"Send immediately to inform the city-states of Phokys and Lochris' of the landing of the Dioonians in Thessaly, that they may strengthen the city's defenses and find out as soon as possible the movements of the Dionian army in Thessaly." "At the same time, we should immediately send someone to the Peloponnese and tell Iason the news, he will definitely lead his army back to Thessaly as soon as possible, defeat the Dionian army, eliminate the hidden danger in the north, and send reinforcements if necessary." ”

"Cabrias, I can only agree half of your proposal." A slow voice came from the corner, and the speaker was a gray-haired old man who had been closing his eyes until now, but this opening immediately attracted everyone's attention.

His name is Agul Ríos, an Athenian nobleman, one of the former heads of democracy, who has been elected as an Athenian general many times, and worked together with Thrasibulos to gradually bring Athens out of the shadow of defeat with Sparta and begin to restore its former strength, and he pursued the principle of "the interests of the city-state first", which directly contributed to the emergence of the theater allowance system, so it was very popular with the Athenian people. But he was no longer involved in the Athenian general's campaign for the years, only because he was too old, but more importantly because he was the father of Callistratus, who wanted to make way for his son, who was already famous and had greater ambitions.

Two months earlier, a democrat general had been too ill to serve as a councillor and had recommended him to replace him, and the citizens' assembly had finally passed this somewhat absurd resolution, probably because Calalistratus had successfully signed a contract with Sparta to exclude Thebes, and it was Athens who had gained great interest and gained him great prestige. In addition, in the face of the invasion of the Dionian army, the decline of Sparta, the rise of Thebes, the ambition of Thessaly and other great changes in the situation in Greece, Agul Ríos, who had experienced the Peloponnesian War and the Corinthian War, sat on the general executive committee, which is estimated to be more reassuring to the Greek people, so there is an anecdote that a father and son served as Athenian generals at the same time, which has never happened since the adoption of democracy in Athens.

"At present, the Greek coalition is attacking Messenia and Sparta, which are occupied by the Dionians, and is in an absolute advantage, and it may take a few days or ten days to break through the Dionian defenses and drive them out of the Peloponnese completely...... If we had told the Tagus at this time that Thessaly had been attacked by the Dionian army, he would have returned to Thessaly at once with his army, and it would be at least two or three months before he could rejoin the Greek coalition......"

Agul Ríos scanned the crowd with a deep gaze, and finally landed on his son: "It is even possible that he will not lead the main force south again to avoid another attack on Thessaly!" According to Iphiclateus, the Thessalian army not only numbered half of the Greek coalition army, but was also very strong in combat and was the main force of the coalition army's attack on the Dionian army. Once the Thessaly army leaves, the fighting power of the coalition will be greatly weakened, and the confidence of the armies of the other Greek city-states will be shaken, and the Greek coalition will not only no longer be able to gain the upper hand, but may also suffer defeat! ”

Callistratus's heart moved, and he said with some hesitation: "Father, what do you mean...... We won't tell Iason about this for the time being. But then Thessaly would be in danger, and if Thessaly was to be taken by Thessaly, they would threaten not only Greece from the north, but might even threaten our sub-state Amphipolis north of Macedonia...... In the long run, we won't be able to gain more than we lose! ”

Agulrios did not respond immediately, his cloudy eyes looked ahead, with some memories, and said unhurriedly: "You all know that I was a survivor of the Battle of Amphipolis (a crucial battle in the Peloponnesian War, in which Athens was defeated and its grain transport from the Eucortic Sea to Athens was cut off), but you don't know that before that battle, I spent some time in Thessaly and knew a certain amount of about Thessaly......

It was a flat and vast land, with a large population, constant fighting between the city-states, and a large number of fierce and aggressive natives in the surrounding mountains, and constant wars with the Thessalians...... I was surprised that Iazon was able to unify them in the end. A united Thessaly was the main force against Dionia, but it was also a threat to Athens, and I think Iason had already shown his ambition on full display before!

I don't think that the alien Dionyas will be able to completely conquer Thessaly and its environs with just 30,000 soldiers, and it is more likely that they will provoke the anger of the xenophobic Thessalians, just as the Spartans invaded Piosia, and completely fall into the quagmire of war. And a Thessaly that has fallen back into chaos is no longer a threat to us in Athens......"

Note: According to historical records, after the assassination of Iason, his brother Polydorus succeeded him as Tagus, who died violently on his way to Larissa with Polyflon, who succeeded Thesalitagus. Due to the suddenness of Polydorus' death without any prior warning, many people at the time believed that Polyphron killed Polydorus while he was asleep at night.