This is very helpless.
And the Lysander in front of him is trustworthy.
But he is not like the dead Brasidas, who was able to turn decay into magic.
"Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
"The Corinthians can't help us, and Athens can't protect itself. Do we have the ability to take back Athens from the Byzantine Kingdom? According to the Corinthians' report, the Byzantine Kingdom's navy is much larger than the combined fleets of Corinth and Sparta, and even stronger than the entire Athenian fleet. We simply can't deal with such a Byzantine Kingdom at present."
"But we're not going to do anything?"
"Yes."
Archidamus nodded heavily.
"There's nothing we can do."
"Ugh……"
Lysander scratched his head helplessly.
"Although Athens was once our enemy, it was our ally when foreign enemies invaded. However, we cannot help it overcome the current difficulties..." Archidamus stood up, walked to Lysander, and patted his shoulder. "Lysander, you are the general I trust most now. I also know that you have always wanted to lead the Spartan navy to fight and make achievements. However, I must tell you that we are not yet qualified to fight."
"Yes, I understand!"
Lysander also heard it clearly.
He really wanted to lead the fleet north to rescue Athens.
But now is not the time for him to act.
There was nothing wrong with what Archidamos said, but the most serious situation now was that the Byzantine fleet was too large. Moreover, the purpose of besieging the port of Piraeus was not to really take over the city of Athens, but to use the purpose of besieging Athens to encircle and annihilate the Athenian fleet that came to support it.
When the city of Athens was besieged.
As expected, the Athenian fleets in all directions began to converge.
Athens has more than 300 warships, which are divided into many squadrons and are now arriving here continuously. These fleets are indeed very terrifying fleets in the whole of Greece or the Aegean Sea, but they are simply insignificant in front of the Byzantine Navy. What's more, the Byzantine Navy also has the Oracle of the Sea, Rhodes, in charge.
such a situation.
This meant that the Athenian fleet's counterattack was doomed to be ineffective.
And now, it is the seventh day of the siege.
The fear in Athens grew stronger.
Now, Nicias has become the temporary consul, who was suddenly elected by the Citizens' Assembly. In fact, Nicias did not intend to become such a person, because the current mess... he has no solution.
Chapter 5, Section 8: Athens's intention to surrender
Athens had been under siege for seven days.
During these seven days, the Byzantine Empire basically did not move.
The Byzantine army that occupied Sounke has been entrenched here, and has not done anything. The gates of Athens are now closed, but in fact, Athens has not suffered too much military pressure. From the northwest gate of Athens, people and caravans can still pass through this place freely, and are not affected by the current Byzantine Kingdom army. Therefore, the Athenians now can be said to be very nervous, but in fact they are not that nervous... No one can say what will happen next.
But the fear is growing.
Keep growing...
This made Nicias begin to suffer.
I thought about it for seven days.
Nicias could not come up with any solution to the current situation. Even when he asked for help from Lady Hera, there was no response. Athens also contacted surrounding allies or city-states with interests in Athens, such as Thebes. However, after the Athenian envoy left, there was no news seven days later, and no one knew where they were now. However, even if Thebes brought news, Nicias actually had no extra thoughts. He did not think that Thebes would help him.
After all, I'm afraid Thebes itself can't even protect itself.
So, there is no way now.
Praying to the gods is impossible.
Lady Hera did not save Athens.
Nicias' despair could not be written directly on his face. He was now the archon of Athens. Facing such a situation, all Nicias could do was to endure, endure, and endure again - but enduring for a long time would be meaningless. Moreover, Nicias now knew the real purpose of the Byzantine Kingdom. They planned to surround the port of Piraeus, force the Athenian fleet to assemble, and finally attack the powerful Athenian fleet.
The Byzantine Empire knew this.
Once the fleet that Athens was proud of and trusted was gone.
Athens was completely powerless to fight back.
It is also impossible to compete with other city-states on the sea.
Nicias knew the enemy's plan, so he naturally couldn't let the Athenian fleet gather. But now, the Byzantine Kingdom had directly blocked the city of Athens, and no messenger there could leave Athens to communicate with the Athenian fleet on the sea... And what the Athenian fleet could do now was to gather all its strength to break the Byzantine Kingdom's blockade.
But if they did so, they would fall completely into the conspiracy of the Byzantine Kingdom. Although the Byzantine Kingdom's fleet had now surrounded the entire port of Piraeus, and the Athenian fleet had attacked the Byzantine Kingdom's navy trapped in the port from outside the port, it was actually a very advantageous situation.
However, such an advantage would be completely equalized by the huge gap between the naval forces of the two countries. In the face of the absolute advantage of the Byzantine fleet, even if the Athenian fleet assembled all the warships of the city-state, it would not be able to cause much damage and trouble to the Byzantine Kingdom, but would fall into the trap of others.
So it’s a dead end right now.
No matter what you do, there is basically no solution.
Faced with such a situation.
What Nicias was doing now was to try his best to appease the restless mood of the Athenian people and explain to them that the Byzantine Empire was not that terrible and that this war might not break out as everyone worried. Only in this way would the city of Athens not collapse from within, thus leaving the other side with a chance.
And the other party did not act according to what they said.
Originally, Athens was not to be opened.
So he released water to flood Athens.
Nicias led the people of Athens to prepare for the flood, but seven days later, the flood did not come. The Byzantine naval fleet just floated on the sea as if nothing had happened.
There were even some brave Athenians who used their own small boats to sell the goods to the Byzantine warships in order to prevent their goods from being stranded in the port and wasted. They could earn some money from this and avoid too much loss. Faced with such a situation, Nicias had no way to stop it and could only acquiesce.
In the current situation, it would be good enough if the people's panic could be reduced to some extent. Anything else would be wishful thinking. Nicias could not expect more.
just now.
Nicias had to consider a very serious question.
That is……
The question of surrender or not.
Athens now had no way to compete with the Byzantine Empire, and if it continued to be stubborn, the Athenian fleet would soon be assembled and would inevitably head towards Athens to try to save Athens. In this extreme case, if Athens did not surrender in time, the Athenian naval fleet would most likely not be able to be saved, which would be a big problem.
Athens could not do without a navy.
If it were gone, even if the Byzantine Empire left.
Athens will also lose its current hegemonic position.
Moreover, the Athenians were already tired of war, and many Athenians would not be willing to go to war with the Byzantine Empire. However, Nicias did not think that there was anything wrong with surrendering to the Byzantine Empire. This was for the future of Athens and the future of the citizens of Athens, to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary losses... Therefore, Nicias felt that his idea was correct.
But Nicias knew better.
He is an oracle.
It is wrong for the oracle to have such an idea.
Nicias knew that Hera's goal was to let Nicias take charge of Athens, and then let Athens led by Nicias become the vanguard of resistance against the invasion of the Byzantine Empire. But now, before the resistance, Nicias was ready to surrender. If Hera knew about this, she would probably explode.
So Nicias was in a dilemma.
Hera does not appear.
No one can save Athens.
(I finally came out of a series of blows. As a result, my physical fitness has declined during this period. I caught a severe cold and now I have almost lost my ability to work. I am really sorry for the delay in updating. September was really an eventful month. Too many things happened that I didn't want to see. My entire life had to be disrupted and reshuffled. I need some time to adapt. Sorry, everyone)
Chapter 9 of the fifth tune: Rhodes starts to think
However, Rhodes was in the Byzantine fleet.
I understand this principle very well.
If the city of Athens surrendered directly, it would be more in the interests of the Byzantine Kingdom.
After all, Hilde's goal was not to completely destroy Athens, but to conquer Athens and use Athens as an example to disintegrate the plan of the Olympian gods and integrate the military forces of the Greek peninsula. Therefore, if he could surrender without a fight, Rhodes was willing to do so. Now, after seven days, the Athenian fleet has begun to gather in the outer waters. It is estimated that a naval battle will definitely break out in a while.
So, Rhodes called Amyntas.
"Should we warn Athens?"
"warn?"
Hearing what Rhodes said, Amyntas was also stunned.
But he reacted quickly.
"Are we going to flood Athens now?"
"Flood part of it."
Rhodes also didn't want to hurt too many people.
Therefore, we should flood a part of the area first to minimize the damage, and then consider other things. After all, seven days have passed, and Athens has not said a word, as if it does not take the current situation seriously at all. Even the good-tempered Rhodes is a little angry now. Athens' behavior is indeed a bit unreasonable.
So, Rhodes thought about it again and again and decided to teach Athens a lesson.
War always hurts ordinary people.
No matter which area Rhodes planned to flood, the people who would suffer the most would still be the civilians of Athens.
However, Rhodes still did not want this incident to cause too much harm to civilians, so Rhodes, who was familiar with Athens, thought about it and decided to avoid the port of Piraeus if it was going to be flooded. There were many merchants' shops here. If the flood rushed directly there, who knows how many merchants would go bankrupt because of this incident. As for Athens, no matter where it was flooded, it would cause many casualties. There was only one place, although it might be a little difficult, but... it would definitely cause the strongest shock.
That is - Ares Mountain.
Areopagus, as the name suggests, is a mountain in the city of Athens.
On top of the mountain are the famous Acropolis and buildings such as the Parthenon. Those who live there are basically clergymen.
However, Ares Mountain is a mountain. It is simply a fantasy to flood the top of the mountain. But Rhode can do it now. She can make the seawater come directly to the top of Ares Mountain and pour it directly down. The water flowing down from the mountain will spread through the streets of Athens. This is a warning. Rhode does not really want to flood Athens or anything, he just wants to scare people.
So, Rhodes decided.
"I figured it out."
"Excuse me, what are you going to do?"
"Flooded the God of War Mountain!"
When Rhodes suddenly said this, Amyntas was also stunned.
After all, Amyntas was also an Athenian and had lived in Athens for such a long time, but the current situation was that Rhodes told Amyntas that she planned to flood the highest part of Athens?
What kind of operation is this! ?
"Um, Lord Rhodes."
Amyntas was too embarrassed to point it out directly.
"Maybe you misunderstood something."
"what happened?"
"War God Mountain is a mountain."
"I know."
"So, if you plan to flood a mountain, then the city of Athens at the foot of the mountain will definitely be completely submerged. So... you are planning to destroy the entire Athens."
Hearing Amyntas say this.
Rhodes couldn't help laughing.
"Look at you, it's like I don't know about this kind of thing."
"Ah, this..."
"Don't worry, you'll be fine."
Rhodes shook the trident in his hand slightly.
A large amount of seawater suddenly floated in the air from the seawater beside the ship, like clouds in the sky. Seeing the water, Amyntas understood what Rhodes was thinking, so he immediately bowed and said, "I'm really sorry! I misunderstood your meaning!"
"fine."
Rhodes clapped his hands.
