"Thucydides, can we hand over to you first?" Zhou Yu continued, as all those in the room turned to the Historian and former Warrior and Commander himself. Andrew and Kai turned in excitement, with Dom realising that this was their first time involved in such a senior meeting that must feel like an intense cut scene for them. They had their own meetings with the crews as they had progressed, but nothing as formal as this in a Palace with genuine figures from History.
"Before I go in to my research, which I had began doing before our forces under Lord Lazarus left for Battle in support of the Sun forces, I will give everyone a quick back story in to the Battle of Mycale." Thucydides began, some were already aware, whilst others it was their first time hearing the proper details. "After the defeat at Salamis, the Persian Fleet low on moral, retreated to the coast of Samos. Where as their land forces retreated to Plataea to regroup and attack again in the new year, a sea separating the Army and the Navy. We will discuss Plataea later, however for now we will concentrate on Mycale. The Spartan King Leotychides was in overall command of the Greek Alliance at Mycale, with Xanthippus the leader of the Athenian contingent. Their fleets had a short clash with the Persians under a combination of leaders such as Masistes, the brother of King Xerxes and Artayntes, the son of one of Xerxes top Generals."
Thucydides then stood up, walking around the edge of the table as two guards at the doors quickly pushed them open. As the doors opened, a large table was carried in to the centre of the room by six Warriors, which had a large hand drawn map on top of it.
"This is a map to my own understanding of the area and of those that also have knowledge." Thucydides explained as others began to stand up and head around the table that had been brought in to have a look. Andrew and Kai were impressed, whilst Dom tried to think of what advantages they could take with this knowledge.
"After an initial clash as Samos between the Persian and Greek Fleets, each with around two hundred and fifty ships, the Persians retreated to the Ionia Coast where they beached their ships and retreated to a Palisade Fort that they had constructed on the slopes of Mount Mycale with their army detachment and Ionian allies. The Persians did this in the attempt to avoid a fight, however King Leotychides was a Spartan King and had no intention of backing away from a fight." Thucydides continued as he pointed to the Island of Samos and then to the location of Mount Mycale on the Ionian coast. "The Green Alliance fought against the Persian forces at Mount Mycale, whilst the Persian's Ionian allies switched sides during the battle. The Persians put up a brave defence but were eventually routed with a large slaughter as they ran. It is said that the Athenians had better terrain and were the first in the fight, but I expect the Spartans in the room would disagree with me."
There was some smiles across the different Warriors in the room, the Spartan, Athenian and Thebian Centurions and Warriors all being from different City states that were in constant competition and shifting alliances for hundreds of years.
"Thank you Thucydides." Zhou Yu stated as he stood beside the experienced commander, who could be a Hero in his own right if he so wished. "That is the brief outline of Mycale, there are some key points that we need to take in to consideration, but first I think it's key we here a brief on the other battle, the Battle of Plataea."
"Thank you Commander." Thucydides responded, before pointing across his map to the other side where the large outline of the Greek coast could be seen. "The overall leader of the Greek Alliance was the Spartan Regent Pausanius with several commanders under him, including the Athenian General Aristides, Plataean General Arimnestos and Spartan Generals Euryanax and Amonpheratus. They fought against the Persian army led by Mardonius, Masistius and Artabazos. The Greek Alliance had around eighty thousand Hoplite and the Persians had around three hundred thousand warriors."
"That is a big number difference!" Andrew commented, before going quiet as everyone looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, please continue."
"It took thirteen days at the Greeks final position for them to come to battle, with several skirmishes in between them arriving and that point. The Greeks had better terrain where their numbers could be better used, and Mardonius could not get them to meet him on the ground he had prepared as he wished. Eventually Masistius was killed in a minor skirmish when he was harassing Greek Lines, causing a major morale drop in the Persian forces." Thucydides continued, "Both sides looked to retreat as the Greeks had limited resources due to Persian tactics and the Persians wanted to come back fresh in the new year. The Greeks couldn't as they would be easily attacked from behind, whilst the Persians couldn't as it wouldn't look good for Mardonius."
Everyone listened on intently, even the couple of Warriors in the group that had actually fought at Plataea. It was clearly a battle that's outcome changed the direction of History, however Thucydides paused for a moment and they couldn't wait much longer in anticipation.
"Eventually the Greeks began to retreat on one flank, the Persians heard of this and decided to give up their position and attack." Thucydides explained with a slight grin at the look of shock on some of the faces in the room that didn't know what happened. "But not all of the Greeks were retreating and not all of the Persians attacked. There was too many Leaders with their own camps that didn't communicate with each other. The Greek lines were long and were engaged with the Persian Army and their allies, which included the Thebians!"
Everyone looked at Centurion Phillip of the Sacred Band of Thebes who shrugged his shoulder as if to say, I wasn't there, don't blame me. There were some smiles in the room that broke the tension slightly, before Thucydides continued.
"The Greeks fought against the Persians, with the Persians Immortal Army fighting at the front, whilst the Spartans waited back for the sign of good omens. Thankfully the sign came and the Spartans pushed through and killed Mardonius, creating chaos across the Persian forces." Thucydides explained, "There was chaos enough, as the lighter forces of the Persians and their allies arrived first, but the Cavalry was elsewhere, the Heavy forces still slowly approaching. The Persians were not one block of three hundred thousand Warriors, but many smaller armies with scattered leadership. Soon they retreated to Plataea, where they were attacked by the Greek Alliance and slaughtered and routed."
"Plataea does sound like a very enjoyable battlefield." Subutai commented from the side, a fan of chaos, whilst the others just laughed in response as Zhou Yu stepped forwards again.
"Thank you Thucydides, before we continue, there are some key things to note from what has just been said." Zhou Yu began, "The Battle of Plataea didn't start until thirteen days after they arrived at their final camp, which means that we could arrive any time within those thirteen days."
"Or even before." Xun You added, which received some nods across the room.
"Therefore, we need to plan for both a short, medium and long term campaign for the Battle of Mycale." Zhou Yu explained, "Now, we could arrive just before the Battle at Samos, with those arriving at Plataea arriving earlier, but I do not believe this will be the case."
"I agree, otherwise we can influence each battlefield due to the time, if anything I believe it will only be two to three days before so each battle can't be affected by the other." Xun You agreed, as everyone nodded in agreement. "However, as Zhou Yu stated, we should prepare just in case."
"So we are taking two ships, the Bellona and the Sibylla, both are equipped with Ballista, space for our forces and a small Titanaconda unit each. There will be enough food and water for a week, however with our Wudang and Batavi Warriors, I expect hunting will supplement the food." Zhou Yu continued, nodding his head towards Centurion Chariovalda and Centurion Meng Ai. "I also believe we will arrive just before the Battle of Samos, and therefore we can have a big impact with the Ballista taken from the Louchuan. Our key will be standing out from others that join, keenly building a relationship with both King Leotychides and Xanthippus. This will be easier with the Bellona being the largest ship there, or at least we hope that and with Artemisia's support."
"I know Xanthippus as I have spoken with him before, as well as fought against him. He is a grumpy but talented man who will definitely accept our support." Artemisia commented, "I also know some of the Captains within the Persian and their allied fleet, so this may come in handy."
"You are also known for destroying your allies ships as much as your enemies." Thucydides added, he was born after she had died, but her history was well known to him.
"If I had sank a Persian ally, it's because they weren't my ally." She replied with a warning smile, which Thucydides returned more kindly. "If we arrive way before the Battle we can take our ships in and introduce ourselves. Two Ships against two hundred and fifty is small, but they will have a big impact and Leotychides will definitely want to see the Bellona for his own curiosity to have something similar for himself."
"The Battle at Samos is short with the Persians retreating quickly. However, Samos is our best chance of completing our goals." Xun You explained, "We need ships and we need crews. Our target is to capture and recruit, as we have done many times before. The battle will be different to what Thucydides explained, as we know the history and I am sure that Lords that join the enemy forces will also know some of the history."
"Only people that have ships and some level of intelligence will choose Mycale over Plataea." Kai replied, the first time he had spoken in the meeting but his words were honest. "Not many will have ships to bring, so these will be Lords or small Alliances such as Andrew and myself. So whilst Plataea may have thousands or hundreds of thousands joining both sides, Mycale should be a lot smaller."
"From what I have seen, there aren't many talking about Mycale." Andrew agreed, "which is both ideal and worrying at the same time."
"I agree, if they aren't talking it's because they are keeping their ideas to themselves." Kai replied, whilst everyone in the room listened to them both, some understanding of what was being said and the rest left to mystery. Both of Dom's friends were similar to him and his Heroes seemed to understand that.
"I believe that we have to defeat them at Samos to achieve our goals, stopping them from retreating to Mycale. If they retreat to Mycale and we join the pitched battle there, that would become deadly for the Greek Alliance if the enemies have the knowledge." Zhou Yu put forwards to the room.
"They could split their fleet and prepare the land for a ground battle, a fight up a mountain will be difficult for the Greek Alliance and their allies, especially if the allies are providing Naval support." Gan Ning added as the Generals stepped in to this part of the conversation. "We do have the advantage of the Wudang and Batavian's, but our numbers will have a tiny impact."
"It is also very deadly for the Ionians." Sun Ce explained as he looked down at the map. "If their betrayal is known in advance, you would remove that betrayal. I would rate the survival chance of the Ionian's involved in this battle as low."
"We don't know the Ionian's and will have to leave fate to fate." Subutai put forwards to some nods of heads around the room. Dom didn't disagree with him, but he was always looking for opportunities. "If they have ships, we could try to poach them in advance and bring forwards their betrayal."
"They are only with the Persians through fear and locality. However, if we provide them with the route to safety through a safe haven if they are attacked at sea, then it could be an opportunity." Artemisia nodded in agreement.