Oliver's face changed, and he immediately realized that he had almost made a big mistake. If he did this, and let His Majesty Davers know about it, he would definitely think that he had taken the lead in embarrassing Crotocatacs, and then he would have faced His Majesty's wrath......

So, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Haha, drinking is all to scare Kristus, let's just eat and chat tonight!" You're in for a treat! The Gulf of Messenia used to be very closed, so the seafood was delicious, and the oysters were plentiful, fatty, and big, and you could eat them until you died! ”

"Then I'll have to try it!" Tegaltilos quickly answered, realizing at this moment that he had just said the wrong thing.

Printors breathed a sigh of relief, and now he couldn't help but glance at Trotilasgau.

………………………………………………

Klotocatax and his party came to the camp, no, it should be said that they came to the city of Messenes (after more than a month of joint efforts by the soldiers of Theoyoua and the Messenians, this former Spartan camp can barely be counted as a city), entered the military tent, and carried out a military handover with Leoticides.

"This is my first time as an army commander, and I don't have much confidence that I will be able to fulfill the important tasks entrusted to me by my father." Crotokatak said frankly: "General Prosus, you are a famous general of the kingdom who has been in a hundred battles and has a deep understanding of the Peloponnese, can you give me some advice?" ”

Originally, after the handover of military affairs, Leoticides was ready to pack his bags immediately and leave here early, but he didn't expect Klotocátácáques to make such a request, he looked at the prince with a sincere look in front of him, and looked around: in addition to them, there were also Printolls and Mukru in the tent, and the two were whispering something (although Leoticides was transferred, the staff officer Tagru would still stay behind as Printols' subordinate to deal with trivial military affairs......

Leoticides hesitated for a moment, and said coldly: "I am the prince of Sparta, my suggestion...... Would you believe it? ”

"My father firmly believed that you would not betray the kingdom, so when he received your first letter, he rejected the proposal of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and still let you continue to be the commander, until he received your second letter, and you offered to resign from this position, and he hesitated for a long time before choosing to agree. He told me, 'The reason why people are human is because they have a lot of emotions, and it makes perfect sense that you can't fight against the people back home.' ’…… And he also sighed and said to me, 'I didn't expect Prosous to look like a wooden man, but his heart is so affectionate and righteous!' ’…… These are the exact words of my father. Although I don't know you about the general, my father believes in you, and I have no reason not to believe you! Crotocatacs was still honest.

After hearing these words, Leoticides' heart fluctuated slightly, but his expression was still indifferent, and then he asked: "After defeating the Spartan army, how will His Highness deal with Sparta?" ”

Crotocatacuses said solemnly: "Sparta is the most important city-state in Greece, and it is also an important part of the various forces in Greece, if it is completely eliminated, it will not only make other Greek people resentful, but also lead to an imbalance of power in the whole Greece and the entire Peloponnese, which is not what my father wants to see, and it is not in the interests of the kingdom!"

So we will treat the defeated Sparta as we did with Carthage, Sparta will lose its former glory, its political system may change somewhat, but it will continue to survive, and even the ordinary people of Sparta may live better than they do now, because as far as I know, the living conditions of the people in Sparta are worse today......"

When Leoticides heard this, he did not speak, but slowly walked to the side of the main seat, pulled a wooden chair and sat down, turned back and said, "Mukru, help me bring me the map of the Peloponnese." ”

The plank map was placed on the table, and Leoticides glanced at Klotocatax, and then said in a deep voice: "Now that we have occupied Messenia, we are only separated from Sparta by Mount Tegetos, but it will not be easy to conquer its territory.

Two Paths! First, the army landed on the coast of Sparta by boat, repeating the method we had done in the first place to capture Messenia. But the reason why we were able to successfully take Messenia in the first place was because of the suddenness of the action, which made the Spartans have no time to defend themselves, and the Spartans were obviously weakened in strength after the defeat at the Battle of Leuctra, and the military strength in Messenia was obviously insufficient, which allowed our army to land successfully. But to land on the shores of Sparta, it was much more difficult.

First of all, although the number of Spartan warriors may have been less than 2,000, this only refers to young and middle-aged citizens, and the elderly over 50 years old can still fight in armor, and the combat effectiveness is not too weak, so that Sparta can temporarily form a force of nearly 4,000 people.

Before I left Sparta, I remember that the number of Piriasi was three times that of the Spartans, and now there may be a significant decline, but it should not be much of a problem to form a team of 5,000 people, and according to Spartan tradition, as long as there is a war, the Piasius must provide sufficient soldiers, and Sparta has fought frequently in these years, so the fighting power of the Piasius should not be weak.

Sparta also inhabited a large number of Helots, whose ancestors were conquered by Sparta earlier, and Sparta was stricter in their administration, and they were more loyal to the Spartans than the Messenians. In my memory, the number of helots was 7-8 times that of Sparta, and now that even if Messenia is lost, there are at least three times as many helots remaining, so it should not be much of a problem to temporarily assemble a contingent of 10,000 people. In this way, the Spartans could temporarily raise a reliable army of about 20,000 men to defend against our landing.

Secondly, the Spartan coast was much narrower than the Messenian coast, which made it easier for the Spartans to defend. Also, I received news from the navy that during this time the Spartans had laid countless stakes near the coast with all their might...... In such a situation, we have to force a landing, and even if we win in the end, we will have to pay a huge price.

There is one thing...... I am afraid that you may not know that some time ago the First Fleet occupied the island of Kythera (an island in the Gulf of Laconia), and Sekrian persuaded me to lead an army to land on the coast of Sparta, but I refused, and he could not help but send the infantry of the fleet alone to attack the coast of Sparta, but he suffered a defeat, and I heard that hundreds of people died......"

Klotocátáx looked at Printors in surprise.

Príntolston's face was solemn: "The Ministry of Military Affairs has not received a battle report in this regard. ”

Leoticides said lightly: "Maybe the war report is still on the way...... He's on Kythira now, so you can ask him directly. ”

Klotocatax felt a bit of a headache: he thought that getting the officers of the expeditionary army to obey would be his biggest problem as a commander, but he actually forgot about the navy, and Seklian, the father of the navy and the hero of the kingdom, was the most difficult to deal with!

Leoticides didn't care what the two men in front of him were thinking, he pointed to the map: "The other way is from the north of Messenia, through the southern part of the Arcadia region, thus bypassing Mount Tegetos and into the northern part of Sparta's territory...... But whether the Arcadians will allow our troops into their territory is the key question.

The city-states of Arcadia were once allies of Sparta, but recently they have formed an Arcadian League to become independent from the Peloponnesian League, so they are threatened by Sparta, and if it were not for our arrival, they would have been at war with Sparta.

The Arcadians had sent emissaries to Thebes, and Thebes suggested that they ask for help from us, and they had also sent emissaries to Messenia to intercede on behalf of the Arcadians—"

"You mean the Thebans sent emissaries?!" Klotockataks asked.

"I came three days ago, and the messenger is still Ipamironda." Leoticides paused deliberately.

Sure enough, Klotocatax asked in surprise, "Is that the military prefect Piosia who led the army to defeat the Spartan army at Leuktra?!" ”

"That's him." Leoticides said seemingly calmly: "However, I did not talk to him in detail, I told him that the new commander was about to arrive, so he was willing to stay and wait." ”

"The Arcadians didn't send a messenger?" Printors asked, and he and Crotocátarchs were equally puzzled: if Thebes was interceding for the Arcadian Alliance, why had the Theban messengers arrived and the Arcadians had not yet arrived?

"I heard from the messenger of Thebes that the envoy of the Acadian Alliance, who had been with him, had not yet been able to enter the territory of Messenia, and was suddenly called back, because Sparta had sent an envoy to sue for peace with the Arcadians......"

Klotocatax was stunned for a moment, then understood, and couldn't help asking, "Sparta wants to make a truce with the Arcadians and then concentrate all their forces on us. But will the Arcadians, who were oppressed by Sparta, agree?! ”

"Your Highness." Leoticides sat firmly on the wooden chair, pointed to his feet, and said in a deep voice: "In the land of the Peloponnese, you must remember one sentence, 'Do not trust any agreement of any city-state!'" For the sake of better survival and interests, most of the city-states here are allies today, enemies tomorrow, and peace is restored the day after tomorrow...... This is a common occurrence.

The Arcadians had been Sparta's allies for decades, but they were frequently dragged into war by the Spartans over the years, dissatisfied with the Spartans' domineering and domineering, and wanted to separate from the Peloponnesian League. If Sparta had taken the initiative to recognize the alliance they had established and stopped the war against them, it is likely that relations between the two sides would have returned to friendship and even joined hands against us......"