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The matter of the high priest came to a temporary end after causing a commotion in the city of Athens.
Athens continued to return to its previous calm.
And Hilde's subsequent investigation also yielded new discoveries.
After leaving their homeland, the Spartans originally went to Magna Graecia in the west. Among them, most of the Spartans settled in Syracuse, the largest city-state in Magna Graecia, and were protected by the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse. The idea behind this is self-evident.
Of course, since they were going to Syracuse, these things were worth talking about. The warships of the city-states of Magna Graecia were numerous. If all of them were deployed, it would be possible to transfer all the Spartans away. However, Hilde did not believe that there was no help from the gods in this matter. That meant that the gods had not given up their plan, but intended to continue like this. They wanted to use Magna Graecia as the main base and then counterattack Greece.
In that case.
Hilde will definitely not give you a chance.
I guess Syracuse also wants to take advantage of this opportunity.
Expand his influence to mainland Greece.
Now, the province of Epirus, located in the west of the Greek peninsula, has become the top priority. Epirus is located on the east side of the Ariad Sea, only a short distance from Italia. If troops are deployed, it only takes more than a day to reach Croton from Actium, the capital of Epirus. Therefore, if Hilde wants to use troops against Magna Graecia, she must transfer the army to the province of Epirus.
Now it was winter, and the cold north wind was blowing southward, bringing damp, cold and rainy weather to the area, which was not suitable for a large-scale transfer of troops. After thinking about it, Hilde asked Tomyris to start preparing for the expedition to Magna Graecia.
The so-called preparations are nothing more than a few.
This included repairing the road from Athens to Actium, the capital of Epirus.
Then start training new legions.
In Hilde's plan, the population of the Greek peninsula was close to four million, which was already an extremely large scale. Moreover, since the citizens of many city-states had to bear the cost of arming and military training themselves, there were many mature soldiers. Even if the legion was recruited, it would not take too long to train before they could be put into battle. Therefore, Hilde ordered the training of three legions in the Greek region, centered in Attica, Peloponnese and Boeotia, supplemented by cavalry from Thessaly, light infantry and archers from Epirus and Illyria.
The compulsory system has long been popular in city-states.
Now it has been replaced by the Empire's professional army.
All recruited soldiers are basically separated from the organization. These soldiers will fight with the army until they are 30 years old. They can choose to continue fighting or return home.
After the promulgation of such a policy.
It caused a lot of reactions from people.
The enthusiasm for the Greek Empire gradually spread to mainland Greece, and the recruitment work went extremely smoothly.
The new legion, which was mainly composed of Atticans and whose troops came from Euboea, Athens, Megara and other places, was named the Ninth Legion, codenamed "Atticans". The Tenth Legion was codenamed "Peloponnese" and the Eleventh Legion was codenamed "Boeotia". The total number of the three legions was 33,000, which was not a big deal for Greece, which had a population of more than four million.
By now, Hilde already had eleven standing legions and one guard legion, with a total of 150,000 people. Such a large army size also corresponds to Hilde's strong economic foundation. As the enemies in the Greater Greece region mainly fight naval battles, Hilde feels that at least seven legions are needed to complete the conquest of Greater Greece. Moreover, the area of Greater Greece is very vast, and the local city-states are located in a place of four wars. Each of them has a high city wall and a deep moat, and the city defense system is extremely strong.
Therefore, the three newly recruited legions are necessary.
Since the Spartans have passed.
This battle must be fought.
Chapter 9: Preparations before the War
Before sending troops to conquer Greece.
Hilde never thought that the war would spread to the entire Mediterranean.
Look at the signs on the map.
Hilde knew very well that this would be a grand battle.
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When the winter rain gradually stopped.
Spring has come to this land.
For Hilde, she found that she was not used to the winter in Athens. It was always gloomy and uncomfortable. It was very different from the straightforward weather in Byzantium. After feeling the arrival of spring, Hilde realized that she had lived in Athens for four or five months. And she had not been back to Byzantium for a long time.
However, it is really too troublesome to go back.
Regular reports on the situation in Byzantium were sent to Athens on merchant ships.
This is also the role of the bureaucratic system established by Hilde.
Every three months, each province would submit a series of reports on recent events, financial situations, etc. to the central government of Byzantium. After the government compiled the reports, the merchant ships would deliver them to Hilde. Now, what Hilde had in his hands was the first report since the establishment of the Greek Empire, which detailed a series of data on population, financial situation, and siege construction.
Through these, Hilde can have a general understanding of his empire.
In the blink of an eye, the Greek Empire now has a population of million.
Moreover, with the conquest of the Greek peninsula, the proportion of Greeks in the empire has been greatly increased. The proportion of so-called "barbarians" in the empire has been decreasing, and now it has dropped to a point where it can be almost ignored. 300,000 Thracians, as well as Scythians, Getes and other ethnic groups, seem very small in front of the 5 million Greeks.
At the same time, because of Hilde's radical immigration policy.
Many Greeks plucked up their courage and began to colonize the interior of the empire.
In four months, the number of Greeks on the Greek peninsula decreased by tens of thousands, while a large number of Greeks poured into the border provinces.
At this rate, the number of immigrants in border provinces will reach 100,000 by the end of this year.
Although it is a good thing to be able to continue to develop the border areas, the increase in the proportion of Greeks has also caused some unnecessary problems. Greeks account for an absolute majority, but they are not satisfied with the proportion of Greeks in the government and the army. The excessive number of generals of barbarian origin has caused many Greeks to have strong opinions and put forward their own ideas through the municipal assembly.
The tribunes of the municipal assembly compiled the information.
Then handed it to Hilde.
Called for the removal of barbarian generals and the appointment of Greeks as generals.
This call is quite widespread.
Hilde couldn't help but sigh when she saw these reports. These Greeks who have lived in a democratic city-state for a long time are still stubborn and have deep-rooted xenophobic ideas. But there is no other way. This is also the disadvantage of expanding the country. Hilde must bear this. As for their request to replace the general, Hilde naturally doesn't need to pay attention. Now there are eleven legions in the Greek Empire, and the commanders of five legions are barbarians. Hilde thinks there is nothing wrong with this ratio.
After all, Hilde never thought of himself as a conqueror.
Look at the Thracians and Scythians.
And the same.
After a winter of training, the three newly formed corps have become combat-ready.
The new weapons, armor, and shields shipped from Byzantium had already begun to be equipped to the troops, but the armor collected from these city-states could still be used. The linen heavy armor made in Athens was very exquisite, so Hilde made full use of it and distributed more than 20,000 sets of linen heavy armor from the Athenians and Thebans to the soldiers of the three legions.
Although the defensive power of these armors is not as good as iron armor.
However, armor was expensive and took a long time to manufacture.
Hilde could only put this matter aside for the time being.
Soon, it was time for the spring harvest.
Winter wheat grew through the winter and turned golden in the early summer. This was the first harvest after the Greek peninsula was ruled by the Greek Empire. It was also the day when Hilde gave the order to go to war. Hilde led the Guards and the Attica Legion from Athens and headed west to Epirus.
The golden wheat fields around the road are very eye-catching.
Sophia saw this scene and smiled with relief:
“Ah, things are growing well here.”
"correct."
"That way, there will be enough food for everyone."
"So much good land was wasted before. Now that the land has been distributed to the civilians, they will work harder to cultivate the land because they have their own land." Hilde pointed to the villages not far away. Those small brick and tile villages were now habitable. Such villages were springing up all over Greece like bamboo shoots after a rain. This was one of the results of Hilde's land reform.
Converting a large number of slaves into farmers provided the country with sufficient sources of manpower and food.
This is essential to maintaining the functioning of a great empire.
Greek heavy infantrymen in gray-white linen armor marched along the road. The newly formed Attica Legion was in high spirits, and its general was a native of Athens named Lamachus. He was recommended by Thucydides, who was currently living in Byzantium. Hilde considered his political qualities and military abilities, so he promoted him to the commander of the Attica Legion. After being appointed, he immediately rushed from Byzantium to Athens happily and finally became a general.
And Hilde was more interested.
He was the lieutenant general of the Attica Legion.
The lieutenant was usually the captain of a battalion in the legion. A battalion was responsible for commanding 1,500 people. Similarly, the deputy to the legion commander was also called a lieutenant. The lieutenant of the Attica Legion was a young man named Xenophon. He was recommended by Alcibiades. Like him, he was a student of Socrates, knowledgeable, and had participated in many battles with the Spartans.
Xenophon...
Hilde had naturally heard of this name.
Lamachus and Xenophon are both famous figures in Athenian history.
The most interesting thing is——
In history, Lamarcos died in the attack on Sicily. Now, history has changed dramatically, but Lamarcos' next task is to attack Sicily again.
The Tenth Tone, Section 1: The Power That Cannot Be Borrowed
Of course, Hilde would never let Lamarcos die in Sicily.
Hield has changed enough history.
This last one doesn't matter.
Thinking of this, Hilde looked at Lamarcos who was walking in front of him.
As the commander of the 11th Legion, he now wore Byzantine-style linen heavy armor. After being repainted and refurbished, his original blue cloak was replaced with red, and his weapon was changed from a bronze dagger to a steel dagger. He rode on a warhorse equipped with a high-bridge saddle, looking very vigorous and powerful. At the same time, the helmets confiscated from Athens and other places were also re-dyed, and the horse manes on the helmets were dyed red or red and white, replacing the blue that the Athenians liked to use.
The Thracians and Scythians, who had been conquered previously, lacked adequate weapons.
The Ionians who came later were too heavily influenced by Persia.
As a result, their weapons, equipment and armor had to be remade.
But the situation was different in the Greek peninsula, which had fought for decades. Soldiers, weapons and armor were ready-made, and they could be used after being reinforced and refurbished. Of course, advanced weapons and equipment were Hilde's magic weapon for victory. Therefore, although the three legions were still equipped with old weapons, Hilde had already transported the steel spears, swords and other weapons used by the three legions from Byzantium to Epirus by sea, and completed the weapon replacement locally.
This expedition.
Hilde was in a pretty good mood.
Although she still didn't understand the truth behind the tragic death of the high priest.
Moreover, as time went on, Xerxes's affairs became more and more urgent.
Xerxes naturally looked like he didn't care. Hilde asked her what she thought about this matter, and Xerxes said that he didn't care at all, and that he was in good health. Going to Sicily also met Xerxes' expectations for Hilde. Therefore, Xerxes was very willing to see Hilde launch this conquest. After all, if the Spartans were not dealt with, the Greeks in Sicily might choose to backstab Hilde when she was fighting against Persia.
It would be better to just wipe out all the enemies here.
Now, Xerxes was wearing a robe commonly worn by Greeks and following Hilde.
She and Sophia were on the left and right.
It was as if she was showing off that she was also an important woman around Hilde.
Especially now that the army is going out, tens of thousands of troops set out from Athens and cross most of Greece, this is a goal that the Persian ancestors did not achieve. Xerxes was very proud, as if he had conquered Greece himself. However, this is indeed the case. After all, to some extent, the Byzantine Kingdom was a vassal state of Persia before, and the current Greek Empire also maintains this bloodline. Hilde is still the nominal governor of Persia.
"Sissi."
Xerxes looked at the farmland around him.
I couldn't help but ask.
"Tell me, if Persia was under your rule, would it become so good?"
"Hard to say."
Hilde shook her head helplessly.
"The problem with the Persian Empire is that there are too many ethnic groups, and the management is chaotic. There are serious bureaucratic corruption and redundancy problems. Unless all those guys are killed, it will be difficult for Persia to have such a change."
"Is it?"
Xerxes lowered his head, as if thinking about something.
Hilde pointed it out directly.
"You don't wonder if I'll make Persia a better place if you die?"
"Yup!"
“Don’t expect too much.”
Hilde sighed.
"You know the problems of the Persian Empire much better than I do. But even a powerful person like you can hardly completely solve Persia's stubborn problems. It is even more absurd to rely on foreigners to govern Persia. If the Greeks went to Persia, they would only form small closed groups. It would be difficult for Persian culture and Greek culture to blend. In other words, for the vast majority of Persians, they just changed their rulers."
"Alas, even you can't do anything?"
"Well, besides, it can only take effect for a while."
Hilde understood the rise and fall of dynasties all too well.
