The highly decorated captain of the First Fleet crossed his hands on his hips, looked at the captains of the detachment under him, and said in a deep voice: "The day before yesterday, we received a letter from Prince Klotocatax, and now their situation is not good, and the Greek city-states are preparing to quietly unite against our Dionia!"

If the land army did not defeat Sparta as soon as possible, it was likely that it would be surrounded by the Greeks, but now that Sparta had been strengthened with the aid of Persia, the young prince did not dare to launch a strong attack, so he wrote to us for help.

Now that the main forces of the Spartans have been drawn to Tegea, and the defenses in their territory have been greatly weakened, it is the perfect time for our 1st Fleet to re-land on the shores of Sparta, capture Sparta, and create the great glory of our navy! How about letting you go back and think about it for a day yesterday? Have you figured out a good idea?! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Sephidorus, the commander of the First Fleet Infantry, stood up and said categorically: "My lord, I have a way to make our fleet infantry successfully land and avenge the brothers who died last time!" ”

"Tell me about it!" Sekrian looked at his fleet infantry commander with a look of relief, glad that his fighting spirit had not been weakened by the defeat last time.

"I think there were several reasons why the last landing failed." Sephedorus said in a low tone with a bit of remorse: "First of all, we underestimated the enemy, although the Spartans suffered successive defeats, they still have a certain strength. We all saw that day, Sparta had at least more than 5,000 infantry into battle, and our fleet infantry was all lightly armoured, how could it be possible to confront it head-on! According to the letter just sent by the army, at least 6,000 Spartan warriors, most of them heavy infantry, left the territory and went to Tegea, so that we would face much less offensive pressure when we landed next time;

Secondly, the Spartans laid a lot of wooden stakes near the coast, so that our warships could not get close to the coast, and could only land by transporting troops in small boats, and the entire fleet, counting clippers, was less than 100 ships, and each ship could transport up to 20 troops, so it was impossible to transport a large number of soldiers to the coast at one time. And when our fleet infantry could only land on the coast in loose formations, the Spartans had already formed a dense phalanx to attack the soldiers who had landed on the shore, and soon routed us.

As far as I know, these days the various fleets are collecting cargo ships, and it is said that there are more than 200 of them, which greatly improves our ability to project troops to the coast at one time.

In addition, the infantry of our fleet has also come up with a way to disembark at a distance from the coast and in a deep water, and then wait where they are until the 2nd and 3rd groups of troop carriers arrive, meet up with their comrades, assemble in a phalanx, and then march together to the coast——"

"But what if the Spartans attack while our soldiers are still waiting?" A detachment commander asked: "And if the soldiers stand in the sea for a long time, they will consume a lot of physical strength in vain." ”

Sephidorus smiled confidently: "The infantry of my fleet are all good swimmers and are good at fighting in the sea, and the Spartans want to go down to the sea to fight, and I can't ask for it." As for standing in the sea for a long time, you do lose some stamina, but it is still much better than rushing to attack with a small number of people and before you have formed a formation.

In addition, the last time we were not familiar with the sea conditions in the Gulf of Laconia, in the course of the landing operation, suddenly the wind and waves became stronger, and the ballistas on the ships could not be aimed accurately, so we did not give good help to the infantry of the fleet, and I believe that this time there will not be such a bad situation. ”

Sekrian listened carefully, and when he saw that Sephidorus suddenly didn't speak, he hurriedly asked, "That's all?" ”

Sephedorus straightened his chest and said aloud, "Of course there's more to it. In this attack on Sparta, I suggest that you change your strategy, preferably using the strategy adopted by His Majesty Davers in the Battle of Trionto, which is to send a small number of soldiers across the river first, and then attack with a large army. ”

"The Battle of the Trionto River?" Sekrian thought about it carefully, his eyes lit up, and he immediately asked, "Are there any specific measures?" ”

"In the past few days, I have carefully surveyed the entire coast of Spartan territory by boat." Sephidorus pointed to a sketchy map of the Spartan sea area drawn on the wooden table, and said in a deep voice: "The central part is the focus of the Spartan defense, and it is also the focus of our fleet's infantry attack.

The western headland is an extension of the Tigertos Mountains, and there is no place for landing, but the Spartans have not let their guard down there, for they have to guard against a surprise attack by our Messenian army.

The eastern headland, an extension of the Parnon Mountains, is narrower than the western one, and there is no place for the fleet to dock, but Spartans are rarely patrolled here, and now that the main Spartan force has been transferred to Tegea, they do not have enough men to defend the eastern side......

There are several places where we can pick up soldiers who are good at climbing and swim through small boats, climb over reefs, climb cliffs, and then lower the ropes for the next soldier to reach the cape...... I think that the mountains are high and dense enough to hide two or three hundred soldiers in a short time without being discovered, and by the second day our main forces will attack from the front, and then they will attack from the flank and rear of the Spartans, and they will definitely be able to crush the Spartans! ……”

"I think this method is very good and can be implemented!" After hearing this, Sekrian immediately expressed his support excitedly: "Let's formulate a new landing plan according to the suggestions made by Sephidorus, everyone puts forward suggestions, improve it, and we must succeed in the next landing operation!" ”

……………………………………………………

Xenophon was old and didn't get as much sleep, so he woke up early.

After washing, and having eaten the breakfast specially prepared by the servants, he left the mansion of Agosilaus.

At this time of day, there were already sporadic candles in Sparta, and at this time of year, there would have been a lot of black laborers carrying farm tools and rushing to the fields to work, but at this time of this time, there were few pedestrians, and the occasional barking of dogs was particularly clear in the silence of the town.

But Xenophon walked down this quiet street, but was interrogated three times by heavily armed Spartan warriors who came out of nowhere, and Xenophon responded by going out for morning exercises.

The Spartans were proud of their military strength, proud of their physical fitness, and ashamed of being bloated and fat, so it was almost a tradition for Spartan citizens to be trained from an early age and still exercise according to their habits when they were old. Xenophon was not a citizen of Sparta, but he lived in Sparta's territory for decades and had the same habits as the Spartans.

In addition, he was not only the hero of two expeditions to Persia, but also participated in the wars of Sparta and other Greek city-states many times, and made numerous achievements. He also wrote books and speeches, and his words were filled with praise for the Spartan polity and traditions, so he was a guest of Sparta and enjoyed considerable prestige among the citizens of Sparta. And this time Sparta was in danger, and he took the initiative to stay in Sparta and was willing to fight with the Spartans, which made the people grateful, so the Spartan soldiers on duty not only did not embarrass him, but all kindly reminded him to pay attention to safety during morning exercises, not to be too far away from the city, to avoid accidents.

Strictly speaking, Sparta is not a city, although there are many temples, houses, and a large population, but it has no walls, and the more you go to the center, the denser the houses, and the more you go to the periphery, the more sparse the houses become, and when you see the farmland in the east and west, it means that Xenophon has left the city.

Xenophon walked briskly south along the road on the east bank of the Yorotas River, and after more than three hours, the sky was already bright, and his legs were swollen and he knew that he had arrived at his destination when he saw the countless tents in front of him.

When the Spartans learned of the "invasion of Messenia by sea by the Dionian army", at the suggestion of Agosilaus, they put the center of their defense on the coast, established a camp on the coast, and placed the main force of the mobilized army here, and at the same time organized a large number of Periasis and Helots, and together with the warriors, they nailed stakes and built watchtowers in the coastal seas...... It was thanks to this series of decisive measures that the Spartan army managed to thwart a landing of the Dionians.

This seaside camp has no walls and no trenches, this is because it only serves the purpose of resting and being ready to fight at any time, and it is not intended to be used as a fortified fortress, once the Dioonians have landed successfully, it is meaningless for the Spartan warriors to garrison the camp, because everyone knows that Spartan has no walls, and the Dionian army can completely bypass the camp and attack Sparta, which will be a disaster for Sparta. Therefore, instead of fortifying the camp, it is better to spend time on facilities that prevent the landing of the Dionian flotilla.

Xenophon saw Spartan warriors lying outside their tents basking in the sun, and some people gathered together to happily play a ball game unique to Sparta......

Seeing this situation, Xenophon breathed a sigh of relief for the time being: the reason why the Spartan warriors dared to relax like this is that there has not been any hostile situation so far today, you must know that yesterday's Dionian warships had approached the coastal sea on a large scale, and the army in the camp was urgently preparing for battle, probably seeing that the Spartans were heavily guarded, and the Dionian warships finally left after holding each other in the coastal waters for a long time.