Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1304: Persia's Strategy (2)

"Enough time?" Orontes said coldly. "I doubt it! Didn't our earlier reports state that the Theonians detached part of their forces to march west and capture Issus, Castabulum, and other cities, clearing the route from Cilicia to Syria? Pharabazus is doing nothing more than harassing them. He doesn't dare face the Greek expeditionary army head-on. Once the Greek expeditionary army passes through the Taochis Mountains, they will have an unobstructed path straight into Syria to meet up with the Daionian Army. That will undoubtedly give the enemy a massive boost in strength!"

With that, Orontes turned, bowed respectfully to the King of Persia, and spoke with solemn gravity. "Your Majesty, Greek soldiers are formidable in close combat, and this time the Theonians have gathered the strongest forces of the Greek city-states—the Spartan, Athenian, and Theban armies. While Pharnabazus's battle report claims that the betrayal of the Greek mercenaries caused the collapse of the entire engagement, it is equally possible that the Greek forces led by the Spartan, Athenian, and Theban soldiers simply routed our left flank, triggering the sudden collapse of the battle lines. We must crush the Daionian Army here in Syria as quickly as possible before the Greek expeditionary army arrives. Only then can we secure final victory in this war!"

Years ago, Orontes had been ordered to intercept a Greek expeditionary force, only to suffer a disastrous defeat. The terrifying charging power of the Spartan Warriors had left a profound impression on him. Thus, this great figure—who had ruled as the satrap of Ameria for decades like a sovereign lord in his own right—temporarily set aside his Persian aristocratic arrogance to deliver this warning.

His words immediately darkened Artaxerxes's expression, as he harbored similar memories. During the great battle against Cyrus the Younger, he had personally witnessed over ten thousand Greek Heavy Infantry shatter his left flank in a single charge—a sight that had nearly driven him to despair.

To the other generals in the room, the Greek army had twice repelled Kings Darius and Xerxes, and over the ensuing decades, had maintained a winning record in their engagements with Persian forces. Naturally, they demanded far more caution than the Daionian Army, which had yet to secure a single brilliant victory against the Persian army on its own. (The disastrous defeat of the Persian Fleet at Cyprus had not deeply rattled the Persian nobility, as naval warfare was not a Persian specialty and barely any ethnic Persians served in the fleet. As for the major engagement in western Asia Minor, Artaxerxes had kept the true details a secret. Consequently, Pharnabazus's battle report misled them into believing that the Persian army's defeat stemmed primarily from the betrayal of their Greek mercenaries.)

Seeing every eye in the room fixed upon him, Tiribazus felt his heart tighten. He knew exactly what this was. From the moment the meeting began, Mardonius, Harpagus, and Orontes had successively questioned the strategy the Persian army had been employing. They were, in truth, expressing their dissatisfaction directly at him.

The friction between Tiribazus and these top-tier Persian aristocrats ran deep, fundamentally stemming from jealousy. The King of Persia viewed Tiribazus as a confidant and readily accepted his counsel—a status these powerful ministers, stationed far from the royal court, could not hope to match. Naturally, this also touched upon the underlying conflict between the entrenched old nobility and the rising new elites. Ever since the grand army assembled, they had voiced their grievances against Tiribazus time and again, but the king had always shielded him, ensuring nothing ever came of it. Today's united front, however, was different. Reading the look in Artaxerxes's eyes, Tiribazus sensed something amiss: this militarily mediocre king was starting to waver on whether to continue implementing his proposed strategy!

Fortunately, he had come prepared. Unhurriedly, he drew an object from his robes and spoke in a steady voice: "This is a Camp Map of the Daionian Army, meticulously drawn by Lord Mactonus's most capable agents after multiple reconnaissance missions and a great deal of time. I had a copy specially traced. See for yourselves."

With that, he unrolled the white silk in his hands and laid it out on the empty floor in the center of the room.

Mardonius, Orontes, and Harpagus strolled over at a sluggish pace and cast casual glances downward. But within moments, a look of surprise appeared on their faces, and they bent down to scrutinize the details.

Seeing this, Artaxerxes ordered a eunuch to bring over a table and spread the map across it.

While the three men stared intently at the map, Tiribazus spoke in a solemn voice: "Five years ago, the Daionian Army invaded Greece. The Greek city-states banded together to form an army of nearly a hundred thousand men. They actually had a chance to repel the Daionian Army, but the Theonians constructed a highly complex defensive camp and lured the large Greek army into attacking it. The Greek soldiers outnumbered the Theonian defenders two or three to one. Yet, after besieging them for over two months, they achieved very little. Instead, the Theonians exploited the Greeks' fruitless siege and weakened rear to dispatch troops to land in Thessaly. In the end, Greece fell to Daionia. Alas..."

That soft sigh seemed to twist Artaxerxes's heart, making him lean back hard against his chair: if not for the rebellion in Asia Minor, he would have brought Persia back under his full control long ago, and with the nearby support of Asia Minor, Greece wouldn't have surrendered so quickly!...

"The Daionian Army aims to repeat its old trick," Tiribazus said. "Look—both sides of its camp rely on the mountains, and its rear faces the bay. We can only launch an assault from the front, and this frontal width is narrow, which is clearly disadvantageous for leveraging our numerical superiority."

Tiribazus gestured over the map and spoke with grave earnestness: "Look again—they have actually built two layers of wooden walls for their camp. The front wooden palisade is very low, only about a meter high, while the rear wooden wall is four meters tall. The two walls are thirty meters apart, with a trench running between them. Although our spies couldn't discover the depth of the trench, judging by the Daionian Army's defensive operations in the Peloponnese years ago, it will not be easily crossed. It will be quite difficult and time-consuming for our soldiers to reach the base of this rear wooden wall. And look here—the rear wooden wall is densely packed with towers. The Theonians will inevitably station a large number of archers on them to launch fierce long-range attacks against our besieging troops.

"Furthermore, Lord Harpagus's men mentioned a piece of intelligence that requires our attention. During this period, the Daionian Army has dispatched large numbers of soldiers to continuously set traps in front of the camp without rest... Based on what we know, it is clear that the defenses of the Davos Camp are extremely tight. Our army might suffer massive casualties just trying to fight our way to the true wooden wall of the camp. Let alone a prolonged siege, just one or two failed forced assaults could cause those auxiliary troops to lose their will to fight. Once the well-rested Theonians launch a full-scale counterattack, our army's situation will be exceedingly dangerous!"

The three great Persian nobles had all commanded troops for a long time and were well-versed in military affairs. Comparing his words against the map, they naturally understood that Tiribazus was not being alarmist. Much as they loathed the man, they did not bluntly refute him, but instead stared at the map in deep thought, hoping to find a solution to the problem.

After a brief silence, Orontes asked unwillingly, "Are we just going to stay here and do nothing, helplessly watching the Daionian Army and the Greek expeditionary army meet up?!"

Tiribazus had been waiting for precisely this question. He answered calmly, "The Daionian Army menacingly invaded our borders, consecutively capturing Canaan, Pheligi, and Syria. We originally assumed they would continue marching east into Mesopotamia, which is why His Majesty personally led the grand army here to Thapsacus. But the Theonians craftily halted their advance, aiming to wear us down through defense while awaiting their rendezvous with the Greek expeditionary army. We certainly cannot let the Theonians have their way; therefore, we must force them to abandon their camp and take the initiative to attack us. Only then will the overall battle situation become more favorable to us."

Harpagus sneered, "Since the Daionian Army can suddenly transition from a smooth offensive posture into a defensive one, it shows their king is relatively cautious. Expecting him to abandon an already constructed camp and lead an army far smaller than ours to proactively attack us—unless he is a fool, that is simply impossible!"

Tiribazus replied with utmost confidence: "I have studied the King of Daonia in detail; he is a very confident and bold Greek. He has taken the initiative to attack on multiple occasions while leading a force smaller than the enemy's, and has achieved victory every time. This is also one of the reasons Daionia has expanded so rapidly in just a few decades and become our adversary. It is clear he is not a man who shies away from taking the offensive simply because his army is smaller. On the contrary, he loves to take risks. He has only temporarily adopted a defensive posture to await reinforcements because His Majesty arrived in time with the grand army, creating too great a disparity in troop strength. But as long as we are willing to pay a certain price, I believe he will be forced to abandon his defenses and actively seek a decisive battle with us!"

"What price?!" Artaxerxes asked eagerly.

Tiribazus gazed at the King of Persia with an extremely solemn expression and said in a heavy voice, "Your Majesty, the main reason Pharnabazus has been able to delay the Greek expeditionary army is that he burned and evacuated the villages and towns along their path of advance. This prevented the Greek expeditionary army from foraging any grain, fodder, or supplies, severely crippling their transport and provisions. We can adopt a similar tactic now: evacuate all the people from the areas around Thapsacus, burn the villages, and destroy any supplies we cannot take with us, turning the entire corridor between Thapsacus and the Syrian Region into a barren wasteland—"