"It was he who insisted on it, I'm afraid he wanted to personally protect the few remaining Spartan citizens, and besides, I think he is old, but his body is still relatively strong, if he is just a commander of the army, it should not be a big problem." Davers said seriously: "What's more, he has fought in Asia Minor for many years, and he is very familiar with the situation there, and can provide valuable reference for you to lead the coalition forces to attack western Asia Minor at any time, so I suggest that you communicate with him as much as possible during the war." ”

Hearing this, Leoticidesmune's expression changed a little, and he was silent for a while, and then asked: "Your Majesty, all the soldiers, food, and ships provided by the allies are recorded in this booklet, but it doesn't say how many troops the kingdom is going to send?" ”

Davos smiled and said understandingly: "The Greek allies have sent a total of 30,000 troops, and if you don't have enough kingdom troops around you, it will not be conducive to you commanding the battle, so I discussed with the Ministry of Military Affairs and decided to send the 10th Legion, the 11th Legion, the Twentieth Legion (that is, the Thessaly Legion), and the 6th Cavalry Regiment (composed of the Thessalian cavalry), as well as the allies of Central Greece such as Wolsey, Herniki, Sabine, and Ekou, who have been allied with us for a long time and are on the Italian peninsula. The relationship is closer, and it can be counted as one of my own, and I will put the army they have formed under your command...... In this way, the number of troops provided by the kingdom has exceeded 30,000, and the total strength of the coalition army is more than 60,000 people. ”

Leoticides did not respond directly, but went on to ask: "Your Majesty, on the naval side?" ”

"During the landing of the coalition forces in Asia Minor, the Fourth Fleet was temporarily under your command (the Fourth Fleet was mainly adapted from the Thessalian warships captured by Dionia, with a total of 100 ships. After the annexation of Thessaly by Dionia, the Almiros wetlands were drained and the Almiros military port was built, which became the base of the 4th Fleet), but it would then merge with the other fleets to carry out important tasks...... In addition, more than a hundred Greek warships provided by the allies of Athens, will also be at your command. Davers explained cursoryly.

Leoticides' heart moved, and then he asked, "Apart from letting me lead the Greek coalition to attack Persia in Asia Minor, the kingdom should have other offensive plans, right?" ”

"Of course, you don't ask, I am also about to say it, so that you can have a detailed understanding of the entire military plan for attacking Persia formulated by the Ministry of War, and be familiar with the whole situation of the upcoming battle, which will also help you make the right decision." Davos asked Henipolis to bring a map of the Eastern Mediterranean, then pointed to the map, and explained seriously: "The kingdom has received the news, since the Egyptian successor Pharaoh Jehao died in a storm on the way to Turiy, the Egyptian general Nikitanipos who got the news has launched a rebellion, Tanib, who is seriously ill in bed, is angry and falls into a coma, and the city of Memphis is in chaos.

In order to fulfill the covenant and punish the rebellion, I have appointed Calcides as the commander of the reinforcements, and hastened to gather several legions in Sicily to rush to Egypt as soon as possible, defeat the rebels, and restore stability to the political situation in Egypt. At the same time, the Ministry of War had informed the First and Second Fleets to complete their mobilization as soon as possible, and then rush to the southern Peloponnese Bay to be stationed, where a wartime merger would be carried out, with Sekerian as naval commander, looking for fighters and a decisive naval battle with the Persian fleet.

The Ministry of War will also mobilize the other main army corps in the kingdom's territory, which I will personally lead, and then go to the Eastern Mediterranean...... Now the tentative plan is to land in Egypt, but whether there will be changes at that time depends on the development of the war situation...... Eventually, the three armies met in the Persian Near East and marched together to the heart of Persia for a decisive battle with the Persian army. ”

Davers spoke plainly, but Leoticides had already felt the magnificent picture of the war from his words, and his heart could not help but be a little agitated: this is an unprecedented war!

He tried his best to calm his agitated mood and asked, "How much time do you give these allies to gather their troops?" ”

"Two months, because they need to finish harvesting the farmland before they can go out to fight." Davers said calmly: "Although it is a little slower, but from another point of view, this is also a good thing, at least after the coalition forces land in Asia Minor, they can raise food on the spot and reduce their dependence on logistics supplies." They would then rush to Philae in Thessaly in 15 days to complete the final build-up of the coalition forces...... This is what I ask of all the allies who participated in the Persian war, and they have agreed.

You can assemble the 10th and 11th Legions first, and rush to Larissa in Thessaly a little earlier to prepare for an attack on Asia Minor. ”

Speaking of this, Davers stood up, looked at this commander with outstanding achievements with great expectations, and said with a solemn face: "Persia is vast, and Asia Minor is even more complicated, so I and the Ministry of Military Affairs will not give specific instructions, after all, three years ago, you led some officers and staff officers to Asia Minor to support and observe the operations of the Persian rebel army, you are more familiar with the situation there, and all military operations are decided by yourself, I believe you will do better than Agosilaus back then!" ”

Leoticides perked up and immediately replied: "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will definitely complete the conquest of western Asia Minor as soon as possible, and join the main force of the army led by you as soon as possible!" ”

After seeing off Leoticides, Davers said to Henipolis: "Go, Calcides (commander of the Eighth Army) call in." ”

…………………………………………………………

After several years of quelling the rebellion in Asia Minor, Persia was too depleted to conquer Egypt and had to retreat, which led to the failure of Artaxerxes' second military campaign against Egypt, which led to a further decline in his prestige.

In order to intimidate his subjects, he followed the advice of Tribassus and vigorously liquidated the rebellion in Asia Minor, and many officials and local nobles in Asia Minor were implicated, punished with beheading, a large amount of wealth and land was confiscated, and then transferred to the nobles of eastern and central Persia who supported Artaxerxes, and many Persian noble officials centered on Susa were transferred to western Asia Minor and entrusted with important posts.

Artaxerxes' actions won the praise of the Persian nobles, who no longer urged the Persian king to continue preparing for war against Egypt, but instead spent all his energy on the struggle for this fat piece of western Asia Minor.

And Artaxerxes, who had suffered setbacks in several personal expeditions, completely extinguished his mind to obtain martial arts, and decided to stay in Babylon with peace of mind and enjoy the rest of his life.

Artaxerxes was already old, and he had been looking for a successor to the vast empire a few years earlier, and he had many children, but he did not hesitate to decide to pass the throne to his eldest son, Darius, just as his father had passed the throne to him, and had allowed Darius to wear the crown symbolizing the king of Persia in public.

According to Persian tradition and custom, the heir may publicly ask the patriarch to grant a favor, as long as it is within the scope of the patriarchal authority, and must agree to it, and may not refuse it arbitrarily. And Darius made a request to "give to Aspasia".

Aspasia was once one of Cyrus's favorite concubines, and was later included in the palace by Artaxerxes, of course, he was reluctant, but because of custom, he made a perfunctory declaration: Aspasia was already free, and could not force her to go against his will, and if she was willing to obey Darius, he would be happy to do so.

To his surprise, Aspasia publicly chose Darius as his lifelong dependent, and Artaxerxes had no choice but to give her to his son, in accordance with Persian law, but his heart was full of anger. It wasn't long before he snatched Yaspasia from Darius and sent her to the temple of the goddess Anatis in Iqbatana, where she was dedicated to the gods as a priestess and lived in strict chastity for the rest of her life.

Artaxerxes was very proud that he had punished the woman who had betrayed him in such a gentle way, and also taught his son a lesson, but he did not know that the heir of the kingdom was so angry that he began to plot a rebellion, and it was not long before many people participated in Darius's rebellion, and when he was about to put it into action, a eunuch who participated in the rebellion reported to Artaxerxes out of fear, and the king of Persia was furious, and not only killed Darius with his own hands, but also executed many Persian officials who were implicated, and for a time Babylon was bleeding.

A spy told the king of Persia that Darius also seemed to have lobbied Terebasus, and that he might have been involved in the rebellion.

However, the intelligence services could not produce any conclusive evidence, and the only reason that could be given was that Tribassus and Darius were in the same situation.

It turned out that Artaxerxes had promised to marry his daughter Amestris to Tribasus many years ago in order to win over his confidants, just as he had married his other two daughters to the sons of Orjuntas and Phanabazos, but the king of Persia quickly repented because he himself married Amestrus. So he changed his promise and wanted to marry his youngest daughter, Atosha, to Tribasus. But then he became obsessed with Atosha and couldn't extricate himself, and he didn't keep his promise at all. This made Terebasus a joke of the Persian court, but he himself remained calm and never complained, though the intelligence services believed that he was still resentful, and it was impossible for Darius not to contact him.