As for the first proposal, the vast majority of the generals agreed, and for the second proposal, everyone also agreed, but there were some different voices.

"We agree with you, General Iphiclateus, that it is very important to ensure the safety of our rear road, and Chrysis must be in our hands!" This was a positive response from the generals of the Athenian maritime allies.

"Thebes are traitors, it was their collusion with Dionyas that led to the terrible situation in Greece today, and they must be punished! Not only do we need to control Chrysis, but we also need to give independence to the other city-states of the Piosia League! "It's a shout from the people of Phukis and Locris.

"We are outnumbered, and Thebes should agree to our suggestion, so we don't need to provoke the Thebans any more, so that they don't give up their neutrality and turn to Dionia, and now it is still the most important thing to defeat the Dionian army first!" This was the opinion of the generals of Corinth, Argos, and Megara.

Only a handful of the generals of the city-state of Piosia, who joined the Greek alliance, remained silent.

Iphitrax's suggestion was quickly accepted by the generals, and Iason realized that a large army alone would not guarantee command of the entire coalition army.

A few days later, the armies of the Greek alliance began to gather in advance towards Corinth.

Just then, a messenger sent by Klotocatax arrived in Mandinia.

"The Commander of Dionya wants us to withdraw all the people stationed in Tegeya and hold the city of Mandinia for a while......," Lycometes, who had read the letter, said to the rest of the council with a solemn expression.

As one of the advocates of the establishment of the Arcadia Alliance, Lycoides was originally elected by the citizens of Mandynia to serve as the main member of the Acadia League, and shouldered the important task of forming and perfecting this alliance. However, after Mandynia annexed Tegya, there was a conflict of interest with the other city-states in the alliance, and although the quarrel eventually subsided for the time being, a rift had already arisen between Mandynia and the other city-states, and several Mandinian councillors led by Lycomedes were clearly alienated and excluded by the other city-states.

At this time, an emissary from the Greek League came to Megalopolis and threatened the Arcadian League that "the alliance with Dionya must be broken at once and join the Greek alliance, or else it will be attacked by the coalition." ”

After learning of the staggering number of Greek coalition forces, and because the main force of the Dionian army had now completely retreated into Spartan territory, the Arcadian alliance felt a lot of pressure in the face of the threat of the Greek coalition army, so most of the councillors began to hesitate, and a few people made it clear that they could accept the emissary's request, only Lycomedes and several other Mandinian councillors were firmly opposed, and their fierce emotions also made the Arcadian alliance not respond to the emissary.

In the evening, however, the envoy secretly approached and consulted with the councillors of the city-states, but did not come to Lycometes.

On the second day of the meeting of the Arcadian League, when the discussion continued, the resolution to sever ties with Dionya and join the Greek League was passed by a large number of votes, but Lykomedesco could not accept such an outcome, and he angrily attacked the short-sightedness of the Alliance, believing that such treachery would inevitably be punished by the gods.

Lycometes then led several Mandinian parliamentarians to decisively leave Megalopolis and return to their home state, which effectively meant a break between Mandynia and the Arcadian alliance.

At this time, the parliamentarians of Mandynia were all nervous after listening to Lycomedes's words, and someone asked urgently: "Now that the Greek alliance has gathered a large army in Corinth and is about to invade south, we in Mandinia have not reneged on the covenant with Dionya like other Arcadian city-states, and will definitely become the first target of this army, shouldn't Dionya fulfill the covenant and rescue us?!" ”

Facing the excited Mandinian councillors, the envoy Karias said unhurriedly: "Judging from the current battle situation, the enemy's strength clearly exceeds our Dionian army in the Peloponnese, and it is not a rational approach to confront them head-on at this time, so His Highness Klotocatax hopes that you can hold on to the city of Mandinian first, wait for the new reinforcements of Theoria to arrive in the Peloponnese, and then decide the victory with the enemy!"

We in Dionya are a powerful nation, with a regular army of no less than 200,000 men, and if there is enough time for them to reach the Peloponnese, we will surely win this war! Of course, the enemy is now strong, and if you feel that you are short of manpower, we will send reinforcements to help you defend the city. ”

The Mandinian parliamentarians were a little surprised to hear that there were no less than 200,000 soldiers in the Kingdom of Dionia, and gradually calmed down. In their opinion: the Dionian army was very strong in combat, and it was easy to conquer the powerful Spartans with only 30,000 troops, and there were so many soldiers in the country, and it was definitely not difficult to defeat the so-called Greek coalition army with tens of thousands of troops.

"Commander Dionya told us to abandon Tegya, is this a temporary abandonment? Or a long time to give up? Lycomedes asked, this is because Mandynia broke with the Arcadia Alliance, which caused his previous hard work to be in vain, and the root cause was because of Tegua, he didn't want to wait for the end of the war Mandynia to get nothing.

"Temporary abandonment, of course." Karias knew more or less the minds of the Mandinians, so he said aloud: "Since we Dionyas have promised that the land of Tegya will be owned by the Mandinias. That promise will never change! In addition, I have brought with me another promise made by His Highness Clotokatax—"

As he spoke, Karias pulled out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Lycomedes.

Lycomedes took the letter, and after reading it, looked at Karias with a surprised face.

"Our wise and wise King Davers once said, 'Only in times of danger do you know who your true friends are.'" 'Although we have not been here for a long time, we have experienced many betrayals, but you Mandynia have always stood firmly on our side, and have not wavered even when the enemy army has pressed the border!

Your performance has earned the trust of Dionia, which is why His Highness Clotocatacuses has made a promise, 'After the victory in the war, you will fully support Mandynia in re-forming the Arcadian Alliance!' ’”

Karias's words made the entire councillor in the hall excited, and they all said: Mandynia will defend this city with all his strength according to Dionia's request, and wait for the arrival of Dionian reinforcements!

And at this moment, Lycomedes also swept away the previous depression and began to conceive in his heart: this new Arcadian alliance must no longer be as indistinguishable as before, but should be like Thebes in the Piosian League, with Mandinia as the absolute center!

………………………………………………

A few days later, the allied Greek forces entered Arcadian territory. After persuasion failed, the city of Mandinia was surrounded.

And on the second day, the most active Thessalian army took the lead in attacking the city, but the Mandinian defenders, who had already been reinforced by two Dionian brigades, thwarted the coalition offensive with relative ease.

In the days that followed, the coalition siege also made little progress and had to be temporarily turned into a siege, and its main force continued southward in search of a decisive battle with the Dionian army.

Two days later, the Thessaly army, which was the vanguard, captured the city of Tegea.

Although Tegea was an empty city at this time, and there was no fighting, the news shook the rest of the Peloponnese, who did not know the truth.

Soon, the Arcadian Alliance fulfilled its new covenant and sent 3,000 soldiers. Ellis, who had been hesitating, finally sent an emissary and asked the coalition forces to "join the alliance". Even the city-states of Achaia, which had been neutral until now, sent emissaries to make the same demand.

For a time, the power of the Greek alliance increased greatly, and its prestige was greatly shaken.

The generals of the coalition led by Iphiclates and Iason decided after deliberation that the armies of Ellis, the Arcadian League, and the city-states of Achaea would attack Messenia, and the main forces of the coalition would attack Sparta.

The Greek coalition continued to move south and reached the border of the Arcadia region, but what they did not expect was that since the Dionian expeditionary force occupied the territory of Sparta, according to the instructions of King Davers, the military ministry issued an order: pointing out that the Greek city-states were forming an alliance in a vain attempt to defeat the expeditionary force, so they asked Crotocatacus to lead the army to hold the territory of Messenia and Laconia first, so as to wait for the opportunity to counterattack.

Klotocatax obeyed the order and accepted the advice of several generals such as Printors to build a number of defensive camps on the communication arteries and mountains on the northern border of Sparta and Messenia, with the participation of tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as the Piriasi and the proto-Helaus......

Thus, in just two months, the Ionian army had initially established a relatively systematic defense of the two borders.

The allied Greek forces were soon hampered by these intricately constructed Dionian defensive camps. Especially in the north of Sparta, where the mountains were continuous and the passable terrain was narrow, the superior forces of the coalition forces could not be deployed at all, and camping and rest became a big problem. The Dionian army, on the other hand, held on to the dangerous terrain, not only holding back the enemy's offensive, but also inflicting casualties on the Greek allied soldiers who had to camp in all directions through night attacks.