Since there was not enough time to build a complete defensive camp, the Athenian army relied more on condescending geographical advantages to defend themselves. However, both the Lucans, the Samones, and the Gauls were fierce mountain races, and fighting in the mountains was their strength. What's more, now with the high-quality armor and weapons of Dionia as a support, the number of people was still superior. After fighting for most of the day, they broke through the defense line.

Especially the Gauls held large hands and fierce swords and slashed fiercely, which made Athenian soldiers frightened. They couldn't help but promote the terror of the enemy during their escape, which caused the people of the town of Fili, not far from Panisa Mountain, to be frightened. They fled with their families and their families, which made the troops led by Lizaru successfully occupy the town, and then continued to move south, and soon surrounded another town, Megalouno.

The people of this town had no time to escape and had to resist desperately. Megalouno's resistance was not futile. They won some time for the Athenian soldiers and mercenaries who were defending the south, especially Jason's mercenaries had rich combat experience. Seeing that the army of Dionia was powerful, there was no hope for Athenian's plan to defend the enemy outside the country. They had long had the intention of "retreat immediately when there was any disturbance". This made the plan formulated by Paltrowros to "retain the south, attack the north, once the defense line was broken, the army quickly moved south and encircled the enemy on the southern defense line" not fully realized, but in the end, more than 1,000 fleeing mercenaries were captured.

It was in the face of a major defeat in Athens' border defense line, Iphicratus led more than 10,000 soldiers along the coastline and finally entered Athens' city smoothly.

Before he could wash away the dust, he ran into the Athenian city hall. When the nine generals who were discussing urgently in the room saw his arrival, they immediately surrounded him like a long drought. The first sentence he asked was: "How many soldiers have you brought back?"

“16,000 soldiers.”

"Why are there such a small amount of troops?" Kalistratus looked stunned. He thought that even if Thessalian army left, Iphicratus could bring back at least 30,000 to 40,000 troops, because as far as he knew, at the peak of the Greek coalition, it had reached 100,000 people (some city-states and Elis in Arcadia were very close to the battlefield, and a large number of citizens had participated in the war as auxiliary forces, but they actually did not have much combat effectiveness).

Iphicratus carefully described the situation in the Peloponnese.

After listening, everyone looked depressed, and some even couldn't help saying, "It's over... Athens is over..."

"The Elis, Arcadia, Fokis, Lochris... They are simply stupid! They should understand that it is time to go home, and it is meaningless to be busy with the help of being busy. Only by uniting and defeating the powerful enemy of Dionia can we ensure the safety of our city-state!" someone said angrily.

"Ah... when the danger really comes, these narrow-minded city-state citizens can only see the danger of their mother states, and they can still share the same hatred of the enemy and fight against the powerful enemy together! After all, the Greek Alliance is just a hasty alliance and is destined to be impossible to last!" Kalistratus sighed helplessly.

Everyone was silent.

At this time, Efikratus had the chance to ask: "By the way, when I entered the city just now, I saw some defeated soldiers shouting and saying that they were defeated, which made the city panic. What happened?!"

Kalistratus told Efikratus in a heavy mood that "the Greek army was defending the border and suffered a crushing defeat."

After hearing this, this Greek veteran who had always been calm and wise on the battlefield actually shouted angrily: "You know that the army of Dionia is large and powerful, why do you still send one of our few young and middle-aged citizens out of the city to die! Who is it?! Who made this stupid suggestion?!"

Efikrantes widened his eyes and glared at everyone, some of whom were unconsciously lowering their heads.

Caralistratus took a step forward and said in a deep voice: "It is our common decision, but it is also the demand of the people! When Thessali's remaining troops fled into Athens, we knew that the Dionian army in the north would soon attack. Cabrias made a suggestion, "Hurry notify the people in Attica area to avoid entering the city, rely on the city wall to defend against the Dionian army's attack, and wait for you to lead the army back and then launch a counterattack..."

We all agreed to this decision at that time, but..." A trace of shame flashed in Kalistratus's eyes: "But in the subsequent citizen meeting, most of the citizens disagreed. They refused to abandon their homes without resistance and let the Dionians ravage and trample on them... You know, during the Peloponnese War, the entire Attica area except Athens was almost destroyed into ruins by the Spartan coalition forces. The citizens did not want such a tragedy to happen again...

That's why we formulated such a plan to set up defense lines on the western border, block the Dionys army for a period of time, and wait for you to lead the army back before finding an opportunity to fight back... Who knows that Dionys army came so fast and attacked so fiercely... Alas..."

After Kalistratus finished speaking, the other generals couldn't help but shook their heads and sighed.

Iphicratus looked at them with his eyes dodging, and knew in his heart that what Kalistratus said was not entirely true, but it was meaningless to care about these things at this moment. He let out a few breaths to calm his mood a little, and then asked, "What about now? What are your plans now?"

Kalistratus said in a deep voice: "With the army of Dionys is still far from Athens, we have sent people to inform the villages and towns of Attica so that the people can immediately enter the city to take refuge! We have decided to rely on the city walls to defend against Dionys' attack first, and wait until you lead the army back to find an opportunity to fight back. But I didn't expect... the troops you brought back would be so few..."

Seeing the unconcealed disappointment on Calistratus's face, Efikratus said with an unprecedented solemn expression: "From the situation where I fought with the Dionys army during this period, it is indeed as rumored that the Dionys army is very powerful and has a large number of soldiers. In addition to the Dionys army that has entered Attica, there are still a Dionys army of tens of thousands under the city of Corinth. According to my judgment, it will take long for Collins to fall, and when these two armies come together... We alone cannot defeat such a powerful Dionys unless Persia sends troops to support-"

"Don't have expectations for Persia!" A general shouted angrily: "The Persians deceived us, and they would not give us any support at all. The Persian envoy ran away!"

Ifikratus was shocked and hurriedly looked at Kalistratus.

The chief general nodded in pain: "The King of Persia has led his army to attack Egypt, and has no spare energy to take care of us...we are fooled..."

Iphicratus sat down dejectedly on the wooden chair. He had served as commander in the last Persian war against Egypt. He knew very well that Persia would do his best to launch a war against Egypt, and it would not be possible to end in just a few months.

At this time, Agurrios, who was strong in the old Armour, said loudly: "During the Peloponnese War, the Athenian citizens relied on the defense of the city walls and held on for decades, but were not compromised by the Spartan coalition. We can definitely do it today! The number of the Dionian army is indeed huge, but because of its hugeness, they will consume a lot of supplies. Can the Dionians support such a huge amount of consumption for a long time?!"

His words lifted some people's spirits. Cabrias, who had been in charge of the navy, finally couldn't help reminding: "The reason why we were not afraid of the siege of the Spartan coalition back then was because we had the sea, and the materials urgently needed by the people could be transported in through merchant ships at any time, but the Spartan army had no choice. But now, Dionia is not only strong in the army, but also in the navy. During this period, their fleets patrol near Salong Bay every day and intercepting merchant ships in and out has had a great impact on our maritime trade!

Our warships took risks and suffered casualties on both sides, but our warships were too few, and we could not make new ships without obtaining ships from the outside world (there are few forests in Attica), and we would only fight less and less. When the Dionian fleet completely blocked our ports, where can we get enough food to meet the needs of the entire Athenian people!”

Agurrios was speechless for a moment and happened to see someone coming in quickly. He quickly asked with a stern face, "What's the matter?"

"General Agurrios, dear generals, the army of Dionys has landed in Aegina, and ask you to send troops to rescue you as soon as possible!"

"What?! Aigina was attacked!" The generals were all shocked, and Cabrias asked even more anxiously: "When did this happen?!"

"According to the people who came to Aegina to report the news...about...about two hours ago, the Dionian fleet suddenly blocked the port of Aegina, and tens of thousands of Dionian soldiers landed on the beach in the southwest corner of Aegina Island and launched an attack on the city of Aegina...The garrison on the island has not seen our reinforcements, and the situation is very critical. We have to send warships stationed in the port to venture out of the port. We finally broke through the blockade of the Dionian fleet and rushed to report the news-"

"Where is our patrol warship? Why didn't we find and report it in time?!" Kalistratus asked angrily.
Chapter completed!