"Your Majesty, our army is engaged in a war with Sparta in the Peloponnese, and the consumption of military rations and supplies is huge, and it is mainly transported from the port of Turiyi. Right now...... The Royal Administration Office and the Ministry of Military Affairs also informed the regions that they were required to assemble the legions, which required the preparation of more military rations and more transport ships to prepare for the coming big war.

As the governor of the Turii district, how can I not lead by example, and how can I order my officials to work diligently. ”

"Looks like you're having some resentment! Do you know where we will attack first in the next war that will expand? ”

"Your Majesty, I've been out of the army for years—"

"It's Thessaly!"

"Thessaly?!"

"It's been over 30 years since we left Thessaly, and you've forgotten what your hometown is like...... When we left Thessaly, the city-states of Thessaly were still fighting each other, but now Thessaly has a Tagus, this Iason, who is not weak, has made Thessaly join the Greek alliance, and is gathering troops to fight our army in the south, which may be a big trouble for our army. ”

"So Your Majesty, are you going to take advantage of the fact that Iason is leading the army south, and let the army raid the territory of Thessaly by boat?"

"I also said that you have been away from the army for many years and feel unfamiliar with the military, but your intuition on the battlefield is still very keen!"

"It's not easy to conduct such a long-distance and large-scale landing operation!"

"It's not easy, but it will also surprise the enemy, and we have the advantage at sea, as long as the army is carefully prepared and trained, they will definitely be able to do it!"

"Your Majesty, the army has landed in the territory of Thessaly, and after conquering those city-states, will it dispose of all of Thessaly in the future?"

"You also know that the Greek city-states are capricious, and even if we win the war this time and finally force them to submit, maybe in a few years, the Greek city-states will stand up against us and eventually form an anti-Dionian alliance...... That's why Thessaly is very important to us! It is bordered by Macedonia to the north and the Greek states to the south, and as long as we have it in our hands, we can completely suppress the expansion of the power of the Greek city-states in the south, punish them at any time, and submit to Macedonia, a kingdom that seems to be ignorant, backward and chaotic, but has a vast territory and great potential, to the north......"

"What do you mean...... Let the city-states of Thessaly become vassals of the kingdom? ”

"Nope! I'm not going to make Thessaly the 2nd Carthage, and I'm not going to make them the 2nd Tarantum! I want to turn all of Thessaly into a part of the kingdom, and make our former compatriots citizens of the kingdom! That is why I have called you here today, and I would like to ask for your opinion on the appointment of you as the Administrator of the Thessaly District.

Of course, it is uncertain whether Thessaly will be successfully captured, and even if Thessaly is captured in the future, it will still be a difficult task to integrate Thessaly into the kingdom, not to mention that you are now the administrator of the central region of the kingdom, and you are suddenly transferred to a region far away from the kingdom where everything is uncertain...... Alas, it's really too hard for you! It's okay if you don't agree, I can choose someone else-"

"Your Majesty, I am willing to go to Thessaly!"

……

Shilos did not regret accepting King Davers's appointment so readily, on the contrary, he was excited by the news that "the landing army had passed through the valley pass without any problems", and he was now only worried about whether the army would be able to take Larissa further and more smoothly, which was his hometown, after all.

…………………………………………………………

Just as the soldiers of the Second Legion landed on the shores of Peleus, Patroclus' large fleet reached the northern end of the island of Yuboea, and each ship quickly folded its sails and began to turn westward.

Greece has many offshore islands and a winding coastline, and although most of the captains of the fleet have more experience sailing in the Aegean Sea, they still steer their ships carefully in order to navigate the long, narrow waterways.

At the northern end of Euboea was a city-state called Artemisium, and the people of the city-state were horrified when they saw the sudden appearance of numerous ships in the waters near the port. They closed the gates and the port, and the young and middle-aged citizens were armed and went up to the city to be on guard.

Under their horrified gaze, the huge fleet did not approach the shore, but slowly moved westward.

Finally, this fleet of Dionyas entered the bay of Maliakos.

Between the mountains of the southern border of Thessaly and the mountains of the northern border of Central Greece flows a river called Spelkeos, which has flowed for thousands of years to form a narrow plain along the river, and at its mouth there is also a considerable range of tidal flats, except for a pebble beach and a harbour on the northwest side of the bay.

The Dionian fleet approached without stopping, and Patroclus followed the 12th Army to land first, and instead of letting the landed soldiers attack the small port not far from it, he ordered the 12th Army to hurry westward.

These soldiers from the plains of Campania and the mountains of Samonai had been under the command of Patroclus a few years earlier, and had created the glory of annihilating the invading army of Gaul, so they trusted Patroclus's command and did not hesitate to form a column, and their feet in leather sandals stepped on the hard and slippery pebbles, and stumbled westward.

The city of Lamia was about 15 miles from the landing site, and about an hour later, the soldiers of the 12th Legion rushed to the city out of breath.

When Patroclus saw that the gates of Lamia were closed and the city was full of soldiers, his heart sank: the Lamians were already on guard!

Patroclus was already prepared for this, after all, the slow speed of the fleet in the narrow channel was very likely to give the Lamians time to be fully guarded.

Since the surprise attack failed, Patroclus quickly adjusted his mentality, called the herald, asked him to ride to the landing place on horseback, and informed the troops behind that they would take the port first, and then rush to rendezvous.

After the herald left, he ordered the soldiers of the 12th Legion to rest and regain their strength, and he himself led his guards to observe the defensive deployment of Lamia City and the surrounding geography.

Lamia is somewhat similar to Peleus, it was also founded by the Thessalians, and due to its location outside the traditional territory of Thessaly, coupled with the lack of transportation, the other city-states of Thessaly were alienated from it, and some even believed that Lamia was not a Thessalian city-state.

The Lamians themselves despised their Thessalian identity and preferred to get close to the Greeks to the south, and although some Greeks regarded them as barbarians, they did have deeper ties with the Greek city-states to the south, and of course because of the easier maritime communication with the Greek city-states to the south.

After Iason became Thessalitagus, he did not rush to force Lamia to join the Thessalian League, because he was afraid of arousing the vigilance of the Greek city-states to the south. It wasn't until the Battle of Leuctra and the defeat of the Greek overlord Sparta that he finally did not hide his ambitions, and when he led the army north from Thebes to return to Thessaly, he destroyed the city of Heraclia (not the city of Heraclia of the Kingdom of Dionya in Greater Greece) and occupied the Thermopylae Pass, Lamia succumbed under his military deterrence, but he was still a little unwilling, so this time when Iason carried out military mobilization, Lamia did not provide too many soldiers.

Now the Lamians were glad that they still had enough strength to defend themselves against the surprise attack of the Dionian army.

An hour later, the 10th Legion, the 11th Legion, the 3rd Cavalry Legion, and the Gallic Brigade arrived......

The citizens of Lamia stood on the city walls, breathing almost to a halt: countless Dionian soldiers in black armor and black armor stood on the riverside plain south of the city of Lamia, like the black tide roaring from the coast of Mariakos, with no end in sight. Particularly striking are the Dionian soldiers (actually Gallic soldiers) standing under the city, they are tall and strong, with fierce faces, wearing horned helmets, wearing armor, holding large swords, and roaring like thunder, like a humanoid beast, which makes people's hearts palpitate......

While the Lamian militia was intimidated by the might of the Dionian army, Patroclus did not immediately give the order to attack the city, he had carefully observed the city before: the Lamians must have learned the habits of the Greeks in building cities, and instead of building the city on a flat riverside plain, they approached the mountains to the north, encompassing a low hill in the city and making it its acropolis, and the north and left and right sides were surrounded by hills more than 200 meters high, although they provided a barrier to the city, But it also limited the expansion of the city, so the Lamians could only expand the city to the southern plain, making the entire Lamia city shaped like a long-necked and round-bottomed clay bottle, such a geographical location made the Lamians feel that they had a good defensive advantage, and they only needed to focus on defending the southern city wall to ensure the safety of Lamia City.

Patroclus ordered the Twelfth Army and the Gallic Brigade to attack the hills on the north and south sides, respectively.

Although the height of the hill was not too low, the slope was gentle, and although the Lamians had a defensive camp on the top of the hill, they did not have many troops, and more than half of the Twelfth Legion were Samonai soldiers, and they and the Gauls were very skilled in mountain warfare, and after paying some casualties, they took the top of the hill.