Chapter 537: Sudden changes in the war situation
“Friendly negotiation? How?” Leucippus frowned and asked.
Suddenly, the entrance to the meeting place was pushed open, and the ephor Endius came in.
Leucippus, the presiding elder, was very dissatisfied and shouted, “This is the most sacred place in Sparta! As an ephor, don’t you know the procedures that one must go through to enter here?!”
“I apologise, esteemed elder Leucippus!” Endius bowed to apologise. However, he still couldn’t hide the excitement on his face, “Because the elders stressed the need to know the progress of the Corinthian war at all times, so I-”
“It seems that there is some good news.” Leucippus looked at him and slowly said, “Speak up and share the joyous news as there is too much unpleasant news during this time.”
“From the war report in Corinth, King Agesilaus captured the Port of Lechaion.” Said Endius loudly.
“Port of Lechaion” The elders immediately became excited.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
As the isthmus city-state of the Peloponnese leading to central Greece, Corinth was the main battleground in this war between the Spartan Alliance and the anti-Spartan League armies.
Half a month ago, the fierce battle that lasted more than half a year left the Corinthians with heavy casualties and massive losses, resulting in the people in the city feeling confused about the prospect of the war. Some pro-Spartan citizens began taking action and were ready to launch a riot to overthrow the ruling oligarch faction and let Corinth surrender to Sparta. But the ruling faction learned of their plan and immediately took action by brutally arresting and killing the pro-Spartan faction.
The massacre weakened Corinth’s strength and shook the people. Hence, the victims’ families quietly opened the city gate and let Praxitas lead a thousand heavy infantries into the outer perimeter of the city of Corinth.
The Corinthians responded by quickly mobilising heavily armed troops to encircle them, while their allies Argos and Thebes also sent reinforcements. And the two sides fought numerous fierce battles: Although they could not repulse the Spartans completely, the Spartans did not gain more ground. Thus the Spartans occupied part of the outer perimeter of Corinth and were in a stalemate.
But Sparta’s Gerousia was fed up with Praxitas’ long-term failure to make progress in Corinth, so they decided to replace him.
When Praxitas learned about it, he was furious. In addition, he was distressed by the endless attacks of the enemy inside the city that he simply led his troops to retreat from the outer perimeter without taking any further offensive action, giving the Corinthians a chance to breathe. Then the Athenians led many carpenters and craftsmen to urgently repair the damaged walls, restoring the Corinthian soldiers’ morale.
On the west side of the southern end of the isthmus is the city of Corinth and on the east side is the city-state of Argolis, which was mainly defended by the Argives. The two cities were connected by a long wall that completely blocked the land route through the isthmus. On the other hand, the reinforcements from Thebes and Athens were at the north of the city and could reinforce the east and west through the isthmus at any time.
So when Agesilaus arrived outside Corinth to take over the army, he faced the enemy’s rising morale and reinforced city defence. After knowing the battlefield situation, he did not continue the strategy of a frontal clash by the former commander Praxitas.
Agesilaus pretended to attack the city of Corinth by force but tasked his younger brother – Teleutias, to quietly lead the elite troops to ride in the ships, bypass Corinth, and land in the port of Lechaion by surprise, which is located in the north of Corinth and close to the Corinth Canal.
Taking the Lechaion defenders unprepared, the Spartans soon occupied the whole territory.
So when the Gerousia received the pleasant news, Agesilaus had repeatedly defeated the army sent by Corinth to recapture the port. Afterwards, he commanded the army to capture the port of Solygea, which was not far from Corinth and also belonged to the anti-Spartan League.
A few days later, Agesilaus continued his efforts and led his army and ships to capture the port of Pireon, a port further north in Corinth and was the only traversable route connecting Corinth to Boeotia. After Sparta captured it, the Spartans now surrounded Corinth in all directions except for the eastern side connected to Argolis. But more importantly, Agesilaus used this port as a base and sent his army north along the west side of the isthmus and soon entered the Boeotia region, capturing Sicion, Cleonae and other city-states one after another, shaking the city-states in Boeotia, and resulted in the rest of the city-states to send envoys to Agesilaus’ camp to beg for peace. In the end, even Thebes sent an envoy under the people’s petition.
With such a trend, even the Corinthians began to falter.
During this time, Agesilaus was shrouded in the aura of victory, looking as if he was the arbiter of all Greece, washing himself of the humiliation of being ‘crippled’ for the past decades.
But suddenly, the Athenian strategos Iphicrates led 3,000 mercenaries he personally trained, entered the city of Argolis and finally Corinth through the road on the east side of the isthmus.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rudiae, the capital of the former Messapi kingdom, is located in the centre of southern Apulia, surrounded by flat fields and dense forests, where agriculture and animal husbandry are relatively well developed. And it is still the central town of the Messapians.
In the council hall of Rudiae, the archons of the Messapian city-states, such as Alytia, Uzentum, Manduria, Mesania, and Orria, had gathered together…and at the centre of the room was the archon of Rudiae, Pasimeus. This tall and imposing Messapian noble was a distant relative of the former Messapian King, Artas, and had far superior political skills. After years of hard work, he pretty much controlled the council of Rudiae so that he could easily get elected as archon every year. There is even a rumour about him spreading in the city ‘we sent off the old king and welcomed a new one!’
“Pasimeus. There is no need to wait as it seems that our allies won’t come.” The archon of Uzentum – Karminus uttered.
“Be patient; the Peucetians will come. As the Peucetians are the farthest from here, it is only natural that they will be late.” Admonished Timogeras, the archon of Alytia.
“Timogeras, I heard that Alytia has recently been in close contact with the Peucetians. It’s no wonder that you speak up for them as Alytia is now almost the territory of the Peuceti!” Brindisi’s commanding officer – Tyus’ sneered. After Brindisi’s recapture, the Messapian city-states elected the tribe of Tyus, a former great noble of Rudiae, to settle in Brindisi because the original Messapian residents in Brindisi had been killed or resold as slaves by the Tarantine. According to the prior agreement between the two sides, his clan and a Peucetian clan would each occupy half of the urban area of Brindisi. Hence it was inevitable for the two sides to have conflicting interests, especially in the management of the port, which made Tyus resent the Peucetians more.
“Who said that we, Peucetians, won’t come?!” A loud voice rang out from outside the council hall as Poulo, the Peucetian king’s subordinate, pushed open the room and strode in, “If you hadn’t repeatedly delayed our attack on Taranto, that made us think you were going to cancel the plan again, we would have come long ago!”
Pasimeus smiled and said, “That was for us to wait for a better opportunity, and that time has now come! After the Tarantine suffered a heavy defeat against the Theonians, they lost most of their citizens. Furthermore, Theonia defeated Taranto’s ally – Syracuse, in Crotone. And now that the two sides are facing each other in Scylletium, it is now the best time for us to attack Taranto confidently!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the backyard of the great chieftain of Potentia, Pamot was negotiating with Ulle.
The tribal chieftain impatiently said,
“Great chieftain, with Theonia occupying Compsa, I can now lead my tribe back as my tribe’s territory is no longer in danger…but you should know that the evil Samnites burnt down my territory, and my tribe’s warriors suffered heavy casualties… Now, I don’t even have enough labour to rebuild our settlement. So would it be possible for you to give me some Samnites prisoners and enough food?!”
Pamot felt embarrassed, “Unfortunately, even though Davos gave us a lot of food before he left, those tribes who returned to their territory took a lot. Hence the city’s food supply is still tight, and I can only give you a part of the amount you requested. However, if you want your tribe to survive this winter, it would be best if you could think of a solution yourself.”
“Why should I be the one to think of a solution and not the other tribes?!” Ulla felt it was unfair.
“Because your tribe is close to Compsa.” Pamot uttered.
As someone who became a chieftain, Ulla was certainly not a fool, so he quickly understood the great chieftain’s intention, “What if Compsa doesn’t have enough food as well?”
“If Compsa were short of food, Polet would’ve asked me for help.” Then Pamot calmly said, “Ulla, the Samnite prisoners are not ordinary slaves. Can you tame them with your tribe having little warriors left?”
“Don’t worry, great chieftain. Have you forgotten which Potentian tribe has the most experience dealing with Samnite prisoners? There is no one else but our tribe!” Ulla proudly said.
Pamot stopped talking as if it was indeed a fact. In the past, Ulla’s tribe was adjacent to the Samnites, so whenever there was a conflict between the two races, they would often hand over the Samnite prisoners to Ulla’s tribe to deal with. Moreover, most of Ulla’s tribesmen could speak the Samnite language.
“Besides, If you hadn’t asked us to free those Greek slaves, I wouldn’t be here anxiously asking you for prisoners.” Ulla complained again. But when he saw that Pamot was about to speak, he hastily added, “I know! I know! Elea is now our ally, and we need to get on good terms with them!…”