Their courage still made them stand in front of the Byzantines.
"Where are you from?"
"Step aside!"
The Byzantine officers raised their maces.
At this moment, Alcibiades saw this scene and reached out to stop the man.
"Don't harm these brave young people."
When seeing these young men taking up arms, Alcibiades couldn't help but recall that he had also experienced a similar period of time. There were only about a hundred people anyway, and the cavalry of the Byzantine Empire could easily crush these people. Alcibiades felt that such killing and fighting was meaningless.
However, these young men were stunned for a moment, and some of them quickly recognized Alcibiades by his handsome face.
“Y-Yes, Mr. Alcibiades!?”
"you know me?"
"You are Mr. Socrates's disciple, but you..."
The man was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted.
Not to mention Alcibiades, even his teacher, Socrates, has now fled to the Byzantine Kingdom. Many famous figures in Athens now live in Byzantium. Moreover, everyone knows that Alcibiades, an Athenian, is now an important official in the Byzantine Kingdom and is deeply loved and trusted by Queen Hilde.
Alcibiades looked at the young men.
He said earnestly:
"I don't want to have any conflicts or contradictions with you now."
"Now, you have seen the strength of our enemy. You are only a hundred people, and there are nearly ten thousand Byzantine cavalry behind you. So, I don't want to harm the lives of young people like you, nor do I want to harm the lives of any Athenians. It's just that our two countries have different political views, and now we can't help but fight. As an Athenian, born and raised in Athens, I hope you can lay down your weapons and return to Athens. Even if we really have to fight, it shouldn't be you who come out."
"...Yes, Mr. Alcibiades."
The young people in charge.
Much older than the others.
I guess it won’t be long before she completes her border patrol mission.
The lieutenant beside Alcibiades glanced at him with a meaningful expression. He frowned slightly, as if thinking about something, but Alcibiades did not notice such details.
for him.
Once you get here, it means you are very close to Athens.
Alcibiades was an Athenian. He never thought that one day he would lead an army to the gates of Athens. This was also a fate. He did not hate it, nor did he think that he was an Athenian and there was nothing wrong with leading an army to attack Athens. But now at this time, he could not help but feel a little emotional.
But on second thought, isn't the Byzantine King, Queen Hilde, an Athenian? As the daughter of Pericles, a real Athenian, and the patron saint of Athens, Athena's oracle, Hilde should have been the protector of Athens, but now she led tens of thousands of troops from the far north of the Aegean Sea and surrounded the city of Athens.
Maybe, this is fate.
Alcibiades couldn't help but sigh.
"Notify all troops that if they encounter the Athenian youths on the road, they are prohibited from actively attacking them."
"But……"
"These young people have nothing to do with this battle."
Although the adjutant was somewhat dissatisfied.
But after all, the commander of the front cavalry was Alcibiades, and he could only take over the order.
The Byzantine army entered Attica in three waves. The first wave was the heavy cavalry led by Alcibiades. These cavalry were mainly for reconnaissance and breakthrough. Now, they have entered Attica. The second wave was the Scythian cavalry led by Tomyris. They were mainly a mixture of light and heavy cavalry. They entered Attica immediately after the heavy cavalry broke through and entered Attica, expanding the victory and opening up a passage.
As for the third wave.
That was naturally the main force led by Hilde.
The Athenians had completely withdrawn themselves into the city.
Now, the Athenians did not dare to come out and locked themselves in the city.
On the road that the Byzantine army had to take, the commanders were still worried that the Athenians would set up an ambush. As a result, nothing happened along the way. Even after entering Attica, the young Athenians were still leisurely patrolling the border area, and they didn't seem to be participating in the war at all.
But this cannot be blamed on Athens.
The Athenians believed that the Thebans could hold out, at least for a while.
I didn't expect that it would be the first day of the siege.
Thebes was destroyed.
The Athenians hoped that the Thebans could delay the advance of the Byzantine Empire, but the Byzantines were too fast. Not only did they capture Thebes at an extremely fast speed, they also advanced into the Attica region at an extremely fast speed.
Tone 8, Section 2, Tomyris the Tell-Tale
Now it was the Athenians' turn to be dumbfounded.
After entering Attica, the Byzantine army temporarily stopped advancing. After the vanguard troops led by Alcibiades gained a foothold in the plains, they set up camp and waited for the arrival of the follow-up troops. After half a day, the Scythian cavalry led by Tomyris also entered the safe territory of Attica and joined Alcibiades.
"Lord Tomyris!"
When Tomylis was less than ten kilometers away from the scheduled meeting point.
A messenger came riding over.
When the messenger came in front of Tomyris, he immediately jumped off his horse and knelt on one knee on the ground.
"I have something important to report to you."
"Go ahead."
"This matter is confidential."
Hearing the other party say this, Tomyris turned around and looked at the officer next to him.
The officers also knew what it meant, so they retreated one after another, leaving Tomyris with an absolutely empty space. After making sure that no one else could hear, the messenger lowered his voice and said, "This morning, Lord Alcibiades ordered the Athenian young soldiers to be released, causing thousands of Athenian young soldiers to begin to withdraw to the city of Athens."
"Okay, I see."
Tomyris nodded.
Then, she raised the whip in her hand and shouted to the officer behind her:
"go ahead--!"
"Yes!"
The Scythian cavalry trampled the farmland and roads of the Athenians with their iron hooves. The Athenians probably never thought that one day, their territory of Attica would be invaded on a large scale by barbarians like the Scythians. Tomyris' cavalry marched quickly all the way and soon arrived at their destination and joined Alcibiades' army.
Now, the two armies met at a place about 30 kilometers northwest of Athens. It was almost night, and Alcibiades's advance cavalry had already set up camp here and established a temporary military camp. The scale of the military camp was not large. After all, it was just an outpost. When the follow-up troops caught up, the military camp would definitely be demolished.
Tomyris rode his horse to the outside of the military camp.
Alcibiades rushed over upon hearing the news.
After seeing Tomylis walking towards him, exhausted.
Alcibiades smiled and said:
"Thank you for your hard work, Master Tomyris."
"fine."
Tomyris frowned slightly, and she looked at Alcibiades carefully, but she didn't say much. She just bowed slightly and said expressionlessly: "This time, you successfully established a temporary base in Attica to provide support for the follow-up troops. All the credit should be attributed to you, Lord Alcibiades."
"I am over-flattered."
Alcibiades naturally noticed Tomyris's expression.
Tomyris has always been a very straight person.
She is not good at lying or hiding things in her heart.
Because of this, Alcibiades sensed something was not right, but he did not ask any more questions. Instead, he immediately arranged for Tomyris and her Scythian cavalry to find a place to rest. As for Tomyris, Alcibiades personally brought her to the temporary tent.
After walking inside.
Tomyris looked around the big tent and saw that there was no one there.
He frowned and asked:
"When I came here, I heard that you seemed very kind."
"Lady Tomyris, please speak frankly."
Alcibiades probably guessed something.
"You were the one who let the young Athenians go."
"Yes."
"why?"
"His Majesty Hilde once said that our march into Greece this time is not to start a bloodbath or create a blood feud. We need to integrate all the forces we can use and concentrate all our forces to deal with the future Persia... Therefore, we should pay attention to any possibility that may damage the future alliance between us and the Greek peninsula. These soldiers of the Youth Army are all young people and have no desire to fight. Fighting with them is completely a one-sided massacre. If we capture them as prisoners, it will also slow down the speed of my cavalry's advance, so I let them go."
"What you said makes sense."
Tomyris exhaled.
He nodded immediately.
"But what if these young men return to Athens and become our enemies? You should at least capture them, and then make a decision after His Majesty arrives. If you let them go now, it won't be long before Athens knows that our army is approaching, and these young men will most likely join the Athenian army."
"You're worrying too much."
Alcibiades was also very rude.
He immediately retorted.
"Even if we captured these young men, there would be farmers or farmers who would report our entry into Attica to Athens. Athens would not be unaware of it. Moreover, according to the planned marching speed, it would take two days for Your Majesty to arrive here. During this period of time, no matter how careful we are, Athens will definitely know that we are approaching the city of Athens. Moreover, according to Your Majesty's intention, the purpose of our troops is to make the Athenians feel our pressure and force them to surrender."
"I released these young soldiers. On the one hand, it showed the magnanimity and goodwill of our Byzantine Kingdom. The young soldiers were released back to Athens intact, which would inevitably shake the determination of the peace-seeking faction in the Peloponnesian War, the current Archon Nicias. On the other hand, these young soldiers would definitely exaggerate how terrible the enemy they encountered was, which would also shake the determination of the Athenians. The more young people who returned, the more likely the Athenian civilians would be shaken."
After listening to Alcibiades' explanation.
Tomyris was also a little confused.
In her opinion, Alcibiades's behavior of letting the young soldiers go was problematic.
Even for this purpose, we should wait until Hilde comes back.
Finally, Tomyris coughed twice to cover up her embarrassment, and then explained: "Okay, since what you said makes sense, let's do it this way first. However, you still need to explain this matter to His Majesty in person."
"Of course, I will explain."
Alcibiades bowed slightly.
He smiled and replied:
"I have already prepared myself mentally for this."
"That's good."
Chapter 3 of the eighth chapter: Distrust of the general
Alcibiades knew very well that Tomyris knew this matter so clearly, which meant that someone must have informed on her. However, Alcibiades was not afraid of informing on her. He believed that Her Majesty Hilde would enforce the law impartially, and that his loyalty would be believed by everyone. Otherwise, Hilde would not have allowed Alcibiades to lead the army and enter Attica first.
People from somewhere else.
I would definitely be worried.
Alcibiades is an Athenian after all, so would he attack Athens?
What other thoughts do you have?
But for Alcibiades himself, Amyntas is also an Athenian, and now he is a general assisting Rhodes in the navy. Hilde is also an Athenian, and the daughter of Pericles, which means more to Athens. In the army of the Byzantine Kingdom, there are countless officers from Athens. It can be said that the blood of the Byzantine Kingdom is destined to be inseparable from Athens. However, when these former Athenians chose to swear allegiance to the Byzantine Kingdom, they would not stand on the side of Athens.
After all, the Greeks were not that loyal to their city-states.
And Hildre believed in Alcibiades.
After all, in history, Alcibiades was the guy who led the Spartans to defeat Athens.
He was an idealist who was willing to go to a place where he could display his talents, whether it was Athens or Sparta. Because of this, Hilde was not worried that Alcibiades would do something he shouldn't do during this operation, and was naturally willing to hand over this more important task to Alcibiades.
Sitalses also has objections to this.
The main force led by Hilde is now approaching the border area of Attica. Since the two armies of Alcibiades and Tomyris have already opened up a route in advance and ensured that this route is safe, Hilde's main force can advance without any worries without sentinels and scouts.
On the road, the infantry general Sitalses was riding on a horse, following behind Hilde and others.
