Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 1287

[Chapter 236 The Advice of Calcidis]

“Mediterranean Overlord of Ancient Greece ()”

Karsidis thought for a while, and then said: “In addition, I learned a piece of news from the Naukrates merchants who went to Cyprus to trade. They were recently expelled by the Cypriots, and their merchant ships were prohibited from entering the Cypriot waters again. And some time ago, it was often seen that a large number of warships appeared in the eastern waters of Cyprus… After analysis, we believe that it is very likely that the Persians have concentrated most of their warships in the port of eastern Cyprus…”

Davos was still pondering after listening, and Matonis said loudly: “It seems that the Persians are gathering their navy and army to prepare for our attack from Egypt!”

Davos did not respond, but looked at Karsidis again: “We will attack Persia next, what advice do you have for this?”

Karsidis’ expression became solemn, he considered it for a while, and then said softly: “Your Majesty, the military plan for attacking Persia from Egypt previously formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs… I think it may need to be revised…”

“Oh?” Davos looked at the slightly nervous Karsidis, tapped the wooden chair lightly with his hand, and said in an encouraging tone, “None of us have experience fighting in Egypt, you have the most say. , can you tell us in detail why we need to revise the plan?”

When Davos said this, the other generals also became serious. When Davos signaled Henepolis to place the wooden map of Egypt and Persia that he was carrying with the army in the center of the hall, they all gathered around.

“Your Majesty, Lord Legionnaires!” Facing everyone’s gazes, Karsidis took a deep breath and pointed to the icon of Daphne City on the map. Although his voice trembled slightly, he said in a strong tone: “Daphine. The city is a fortress built by the Egyptians in the easternmost part of the Nile delta to defend against the invasion of the Persians. From the city of Daphne to the east, it reaches the border of Egypt, which is about two hundred miles away. In the desert, there are no people and no supply points. According to the marching speed of the Kingdom’s army in this terrain, it will take three to four days at the fastest to pass…”

As he spoke, Karsidis’s words became fluent, he used his fingers to trace the marching route on the map, and finally stopped on a circular icon marked with the word “Gaza”: “Not far from the Egyptian border. Twenty miles is a fortress built by the Persians – Gaza City, it is reported that there are usually 1,500 Persian soldiers stationed in the city, and now it may increase to 4,000 – ”

“There are not many 4,000 people. Our army is going north. It should be easy to capture it.” Lizaru, the commander of the second army, interjected.

“I’m afraid it will not be easy.” Karsidis said solemnly: “Gaza City was originally a frontier supply town for the Persians to invade Egypt, but since the last time we reinforced Egypt and repulsed the Persians, the Persians may be worried about us. They will attack them in turn through Egypt, so two years ago, Jews and Phoenicians were recruited to build a fortress in Gaza. According to the information we have obtained, although the city is not large, it has high walls and reserves. With sufficient military supplies, it is not easy to capture it.

Moreover, the term ‘Gaza’ comes from the Canaanite language, which means that it is surrounded by sand. It is a fortress built on the gravel, and the nearest Canaan oasis is at least 20 to 30 miles away, which means As we can’t get any resources near Gaza city to build big siege machines like siege towers, mobile towers, siege vehicles, even building siege platforms and causeways is difficult because there is only sand and no dirt, It’s not easy to solidify, but these are not the biggest difficulties-”

Karsidis looked around the generals, and finally looked at Davos, saying in a serious tone: “The desert that affects us the most! I once led the army from Daphne to try to march eastward, but I have suffered a lot. Marching in the desert, the day is hot, the wind and sand are strong, the ground is soft, the soldiers are wearing armor, walking is very strenuous, and it is easy to fatigue.

Usually the legion marches normally, at least 50 miles a day, but in a day in the desert, it may not even reach half of the distance.

And at night, the desert became so cold that soldiers couldn’t sleep without being wrapped in blankets.

The guides said that fortunately it was spring, if it were summer, the whole desert would be like a big furnace, few people dare to walk on it, and there are only more than three months left before the arrival of summer here…”

“I have led the legion here for 10 days, and I clearly feel that the climate in Egypt is much hotter than that in Greater Greece. Is there a reason why the soldiers in Egypt are not wearing armor because it is too hot?” asked a question.

“I have never asked the Egyptians this question.” Karsidis said solemnly: “Your Majesty and the commanders, please pay attention! If we want to lead our army through the desert and capture the city of Gaza, the biggest threat to us is water. During this long march of nearly 400 miles, there is no water source, and the soldiers are very thirsty when marching in the desert and need to drink a lot of water. Nei has successfully captured Gaza, but still faces the danger of water shortage! …”

After listening to Kalsidis’ words, the faces of the officers became solemn.

Davos sucked in a breath. He suddenly remembered that the Kingdom of Jerusalem, established by the Crusades in the Middle Ages of Western Europe in the history of the previous life, rashly assembled a large army, entered the desert area, and launched an attack on the Egyptian monarch Saladin. But because of lack of water, it almost collapsed without a fight…

“The city of Gaza is also built in the desert. Don’t the Persians lack water?” Trotiras, the commander of the Third Army, asked a question.

“There should be wells dug in the city of Gaza, and the number of Persian soldiers is not large, unlike us, which have as many as 200,000 people, and a large number of labor, horses and livestock. Just digging a few wells cannot meet the demand. It is very difficult to dig out groundwater in the desert, and it may not be successful.”

“We may be able to march east along the coast, let the fleet follow, and be able to dock at any time to provide us with water and other supplies…” Matonis said hesitantly.

“I once had this idea, but after careful thinking, I found that this method is not appropriate, because to provide supplies to such a large army, it also needs a huge fleet, and the sea trade is underdeveloped. Egypt can’t meet the needs at all. It can only be recruited from the mainland of Greece and the kingdom. This takes a lot of time, and the more ships there are, the more crew members are needed, which itself will consume more materials, plus The fleet docks every day to load and unload fresh water, and the process takes a lot of time, which will seriously delay the marching speed of the army and prolong the time for us to pass through the desert…”

When Karsidis said this, he moved his finger up on the map: “You should have noticed that the coast where we are marching is not too far from the island of Cyprus and the coast of Phoenicia, these two areas are the main navies of Persia. Base, with a large number of warships. I have said before that the Persians are likely to have assembled their fleets in the naval ports of Cyprus, and they are likely to attack our fleet.

And if we have naval escorts, but there are no ports on the long coast from Naukrates to Gaza to dock and replenish, the fleet will not be well rested, the warships will not be maintained, and when the Persian fleet strikes, Considering the protection of the fleet, the whole war situation is not very favorable for our navy…”

Calsidis clearly thought about it carefully, he patiently listed the difficulties one by one, and the legion commanders frowned and fell into deep thought.

Davos sighed and said: “It seems that both I and the Ministry of Military Affairs have made the mistake of talking about soldiers on paper, and both underestimated the difficulties of fighting in the desert. If it wasn’t for Karsidis, you found out in time, we might have suffered It’s a big trouble! Since you can find the problem, you must have come up with a solution to the problem, tell us in detail how you want to revise the battle plan!”

Facing Davos’ encouraging gaze, Karsidis cheered up and said loudly, “I think the first target we should attack is not Gaza, but here – Cyprus!”

Everyone’s eyes immediately focused on the icon on his finger.

“There are three purposes for attacking it.” Karsidis explained his well-thought plan: “First of all, Cyprus is a big island, with large lakes and rivers, and large plains in the north. UU read www.sonicmtl. com has a large population, sufficient food and material reserves, and has several well-equipped military ports. It is also easy to land and fight. As long as we capture it, we can use it to park our fleet and support our army in the nearest battle.

Secondly, the island of Cyprus is a barrier to the coast of the Persian Near East, we occupy it, and we can land on the north, attack the Gulf of Issus, attack Syria and Phoenicia to the east, and threaten Canaan to the southeast … the entire coast of the Near East. are under our threat, thus giving us more control over the war—”

“Since the island of Cyprus is so important to Persia, the Persians must also attach great importance to it. You mentioned just now that Phoenicia and Cyprus are the main sources of the Persian navy, and they are also gathering their own warships, and look at this map. Phoenicia is very close to Cyprus, and they can dispatch a fleet in time to intercept our transport fleet!” Lizaru interrupted Karsidis and asked questions keenly.

Karsidis said calmly: “This is the third purpose I want to mention! We have traveled thousands of miles to attack Persia. The long transportation line is the biggest weakness of our army, but as long as we master the east The dominance of the Mediterranean Sea is not a problem. Therefore, the military plan formulated by His Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs considered the need to destroy the Persian fleet first. Therefore, the Greek coalition first landed in Asia Minor and wanted to lure the Persian fleet northward, but the effect was not effective. Ideally, only the Persian Asia Minor fleet will be annihilated in the end, and the main force of the Persian fleet will still stay in the Near East waters! But if we attack Cyprus, the Persian fleet will have to come out in full force, I think this should be what we expect!”

Speaking of which, Kalsidis looked at Davos.

Davos folded his arms and stared at the map, still thinking.