Therefore, the incident with the Persians did not affect Hilde's next plan too much. She carefully planned the next plan and determined that the next target would be Chalcedon across the sea. Although a direct attack on Chalcedon might cause other city-states to be wary of her, she could not care so much now. Taking Apollonia had actually made many city-states worried.
"Amyntas."
At this time, Hilde said to Amyntas beside him:
"Three days later, attack Chalcedon."
"Yes!"
Chalcedon is located on the other side of the strait from the city of Byzantium. It can be reached by crossing the strait. Therefore, it is very easy for the Byzantines to capture Chalcedon. Moreover, in order to deal with the possible military threat from the Lydians in the east, Chalcedon built a wide city wall facing the east. However, the port and coastal areas facing the west lacked sufficient defense. Hilde could use warships to quickly transport troops to the port.
This time, Hilde didn't plan to do it himself.
She handed over the command of the troops to Amyntas.
As for Hilde himself, he had to speed up the industrialization of weapons production.
After Amyntas was given the task of attacking Chalcedon, he knew that his task was very difficult, so he was allowed to mobilize 1,500 elite troops. Among them, the vanguard was the former Thracian soldier, Sitalces. Sitalces led 300 heavy infantry to attack Chalcedon in the first wave.
Three nights later.
The action begins.
"Sitarses, I leave it to you."
"Please... rest assured, General."
Sitalses stood on the boat with a battle axe as tall as a man in his hand, looking majestic.
"I will capture the beachhead of Chalcedon even at the cost of my life."
"May the gods bless you."
At this time, the 300 elite troops of Sitalces had boarded the ships and were ready to set off for Chalcedon. After sending them to Chalcedon, these ships would immediately turn back and send the rest of the troops to Chalcedon in four batches. However, in the eyes of Amyntas, these elite troops did not need any reinforcements at all. Only 300 people could defeat Chalcedon without any chance of fighting back.
"Set off--!"
Amyntas gave the order.
The ten triremes began to move forward.
It only takes an hour to reach the port of Chalcedon from the port of Byzantium.
Sitalces stood at the bow. From the Byzantine city, he could see the cool lights of Chalcedon and the lighthouse at the harbor. Now was Sitalces' first battle as a soldier of the Byzantine Kingdom. He was grateful for Hilde's kindness, so he decided to repay the Queen's trust with a beautiful battle.
Soon, the ship arrived at the mudflats outside the port silently.
The soldiers went directly into the shallow water and then came to the beach.
As expected, Chalcedon did not respond at all.
"Prepare...attack..."
Now, Chalcedon is not far from here.
Sitalses' mission was to capture the port and arsenal and then wait for reinforcements.
This method of attack is exactly the same as the attack on Apollonia.
The fifth tune and the seventh section took Chalcedon
The army led by Sitalces was the elite of the Byzantine army, of which there were 100 Thracians and 200 Byzantines. Although such a force had only 300 people, it could pierce the heart of the enemy like a sharp knife when facing ordinary troops. Therefore, it was imperative for Sitalces to attack Chalcedon.
But suddenly, there were loud shouts all around!
"shoot!"
Many archers suddenly rushed out from behind the surrounding trees and buildings, drawing their bows and arrows and shooting at Sitalses. Sitalses simply hit the ground with his axe, and the surrounding soldiers immediately raised their round shields to form a hemispherical defense array. The arrows from all directions all hit the round shields, and these bronze arrows simply could not pierce these steel shields.
"Hold on..."
Sitalces knew.
The enemy's bows and arrows couldn't hurt them at all.
At this time, the heavy infantry of Chalcedon rushed out from the surroundings and tried to surround Sitalces.
After the archers shot three rounds, they retreated hastily, preparing to return to the city to defend it.
"rush--!!!"
Sitalses took the initiative, roared, and ran like a giant, wielding a huge axe, and rushed towards the heavy infantry phalanx of Chalcedon at a very fast speed. Behind him, the Byzantine heavy infantry also gathered together, charging towards the enemy formation in a dense formation and at a high speed.
"drink--!!!"
Sitalses shouted loudly and swung the giant axe in his hand down fiercely.
Under the huge impact force, one man was directly split into two halves by the giant axe.
But before the other soldiers had time to react, Sitalces continued to swing his axe, chopping the surrounding soldiers to the ground one after another, and directly smashed a huge gap in the enemy formation. In an instant, the death of more than a dozen people made the heavy infantry of Chalcedon feel a strong fear. After the large force arrived, this 500-man heavy infantry team was directly overwhelmed.
Military morale, combat quality and weapons and equipment.
These formed an important part of ancient warfare.
Although the number of people on Sitalces' side was smaller, they had an absolute advantage in all three aspects. Facing such an attack, Chalcedon had no power to fight back and was defeated. After sacrificing nearly a hundred people, the heavy infantry had all dropped their weapons and surrendered. Then, Sitalces led 150 people and rushed directly into the city of Chalcedon.
The heavy infantry is gone.
What greeted Chalcedon was only failure.
The battle in the city finally ended in the early morning of the next day.
Chalcedon, who put up a strong resistance at the beginning, eventually surrendered after losing 150 people. After all, it was a medium-sized city-state with 10,000 people, so the resistance was stronger than Hilde had expected, but in the end it was still a complete defeat. Especially after more than 100 people died, the citizens in the city-state were in deep grief. The families collected the bodies of the fallen soldiers, and the funeral procession went from the port of Chalcedon all the way to the east gate of the city-state.
And the next morning.
Hilde walked quickly along the streets of Chalcedon with the officers.
As the second city-state she conquered, she has now become accustomed to this feeling.
After conquering Chalcedon, the next thing to do is to establish the Chalcedon Province. This scope includes the city-state of Chalcedon, as well as some surrounding villages and small cities. This conquest brought Hilde a population of nearly 20,000. Now, the population of the Byzantine Kingdom has reached 60,000. After controlling Chalcedon, Hilde has pinched the mouth of the Black Sea. In the future, Hilde can naturally expand his territory in the Black Sea.
However, population is still the most important factor.
This is still what Hilde is worried about.
So, Hilde still killed the uncooperative archon of Chalcedon.
With thundering means, Chalcedon was controlled.
To the east of Chalcedon, there have always been Lydians who are ready to take action against Chalcedon. However, Hilde also got an important piece of information, that is, as the activities of the Persians become more and more frequent, the Lydians must be sufficiently vigilant against the Persians who may return, so they focus on the east instead of Chalcedon. After all, the Lydians lost their Lydian Kingdom after being conquered by Darius a hundred years ago.
Now, although the Lydians were in a state of division, they finally had a chance to breathe when the Persians left, and they could even seize the opportunity to rebuild a glorious Lydian Kingdom. However, now it seems that the Persians have taken Miletus, so the Lydians without a unified command will not seem to be a match for the Persian Empire. Therefore, after taking Chalcedon, Hilde did not sit back and relax.
Chapter 8 of the Fifth Tune: Sissi, a Slightly Forgetful Person
What exactly are the Persians planning?
Hilde can't do anything about it now.
The plan has been finalized. We will surrender if the Persians attack us.
Afterwards, the fall of Miletus created a butterfly effect in the Ionian region.
The largest city-state, Miletus, disappeared and was occupied by the Persians. Other city-states also fell into panic. Just as Aspasia and Hilde said at the time, the Ionian Alliance was a fragile existence. When one link was broken, the entire alliance would immediately collapse. And now, this is what happened.
Miletus was gone, and other city-states immediately fell into a huge panic. The first to be affected were many people in the city-states who were ready to leave their homes and settle in safer places. At this time, due to the strict requirements of the ancient Greek city-states for outsiders, many immigrants could not find a suitable home to live in. The autism of this small city-state with few people left these refugees desperate. However, the open national policy of the Byzantine Kingdom gave these refugees a chance.
The national policy of the Byzantine Empire.
As long as a Greek came to the Byzantine Empire, he would be given land and farmland.
Then become a citizen of the Kingdom.
This is different from the Thracians.
If the Thracians defected to the Byzantine Empire, they could also obtain land, but their status would be one or two levels lower, at most they would be legal foreigners. This is because, although there were 10,000 or 20,000 Thracians in the Byzantine Empire, its main ethnic group was still the Greeks, with the Ionians as the main ethnic group. In other words, the Byzantine Empire was still a country where the main ethnic group was Greek.
Therefore, various preferential policies must be mainly aimed at Greeks.
Thus, a month after the fall of Miletus.
Large numbers of people from the countryside of Miletus and other Ionian city-states poured into the Byzantine Empire.
And Hilde also obtained a lot of very important information.
Among them, the most distressing news for Hilde was that her mother, Aspasia, was captured. The Persians did not know why, but after entering Miletus, they not only reduced all the citizens of Miletus to slavery, but also captured Aspasia. This made Hilde particularly worried. After all, she knew very well that although Aspasia was a woman over 40, she was still the pearl of Ionia in terms of appearance.
If I get caught...
Hilde didn't dare to think further.
Although this was all too common in the Greek world.
So Hilde was very distressed about this.
Sophia, who was serving on the side, noticed Hilde's distress.
"Sissi, are you okay?"
"Ah... I'm fine."
"I think you seem a little absent-minded."
"I am...Sophia, tell me, if my mother is captured by the Persian emperor, will there be any unexpected things happening? After all, you know that Aspasia is very beautiful. If the Persian emperor is attracted by her beauty, what should I do?" Hilde hesitated for a long time, and finally expressed his worries.
However, Sophia couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Sissi, you worry too much."
"Why am I worrying too much?"
"The Persian emperor is a woman."
Hearing this, Hilde was also stunned.
In Hilde's memory, the Persian Emperor Xerxes II was supposed to be a man. How come he became a woman in this world? However, Hilde felt that she couldn't show her feelings in front of Sophia that she didn't know about this, so Hilde explained: "What's wrong? It's not okay to be a woman? I'm still a woman, didn't I eat you too?"
"That's different."
Sophia smiled shyly.
"Besides, you have met with the Persian emperor."
"Seen?"
"Yes, have you forgotten?"
Hilde really couldn't remember that she had met such an awesome person before.
Sophia explained, "Alas, when you were seven years old, a Persian delegation came to Athens. At that time, you had a very good relationship with the Persian princess. You even made her cry several times. Later, when you parted, she was reluctant to leave you. Have you forgotten all this?"
"..."
Hilde couldn't help but lower her head.
"Sorry, I can't remember."
"Oh...the Persian emperor will be sad."
Of course Hilde couldn't remember.
What about making a girl cry? There must be dozens of girls who have been made to cry by Hilde, if not hundreds. How could Hilde remember them all? So Hilde could only shake her head and said, "Anyway, I can't just sit there and watch, but..."
"Sissi, don't worry too much."
Sophia gently hugged Hilde from behind.
She knew that Hilde was under a lot of pressure.
His mother was taken away and he was powerless to do anything.
Chapter 9 of the Fifth Part: The Real Purpose of Surrender
Facing Sophia's concern.
Hilde patted her arm gently and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
"Well, if there's anything I can help you with, remember to tell me." Sophia smiled and gently stroked Hilde's hair. "No matter what, you have to hold on. I will always be behind you."
