Of course, Xia Zhe didn't know all this.
At this moment, the fleet he led had sailed thousands of nautical miles south and was about to reach the continent of Crete.
This was a big surprise for the Athenian and Spartan fleets who had arrived at the designated sea area as planned.
In fact, Themistocles and the 3,000 warships he led had no bad intentions this time.
Themistocles had known that King Stobius had come forward and overpowered King Leonidas of Sparta, preserving Athens's thousand-year-old foundation.
Themistocles believed that victory or defeat in battle depended on skill. If one's own skills were inferior to those of the opponent, there was nothing to say in the defeat.
But it is an indisputable fact that King Stobius was indebted to Athens.
Since I have been ordered to protect King Stobi this time, I should of course do my best.
Therefore, upon receiving the news that King Stobi had already sailed south, Themistocles immediately turned the Athenian fleet southwest, heading straight for the Porites.
At the same time, the Spartan and Achaean combined fleet, a total of 3,000 warships, slowly approaching from the west, also began to turn southeast, their target also being the continent of Crete.
However, their purpose was exactly the opposite of that of the Athenian fleet.
This trip out to sea was not done with good intentions.
At the meeting in Salamis, only Leonidas and his men from the Peloponnesian League attended.
Eulibiad, as well as Agamemnon, king of Achaea, were not around.
Eurybiades had fought alongside King Stobi before and was well aware of his power. He also greatly admired Xia Zhe's character.
Therefore, when Eurybiad first received the king's order to send troops to pursue King Stobi, he was quite happy, thinking that he could fight alongside King Stobi again.
However, when he saw the end of the king's order, Eurybiades was dumbfounded.
Leonidas' real request was not to help King Stobi.
On the contrary, Leonidas wanted to seize this opportunity to kill King Stobi at sea!
All Greek armies were waiting for the Persian army in the north, and an unprecedented war was about to break out.
Leonidas felt that although this was dangerous, it was also a huge opportunity!
If both sides of the war were defeated, they would take the opportunity to kill the terrible King Stobi.
In the end, Sparta can still dominate Greece!
Therefore, he only symbolically dispatched a few hundred thousand ordinary troops to the Great North to participate in the alliance. He did not send a single main force of heavy infantry guards.
At the same time, it was a clear signal to Eurybiades to find an opportunity at sea, launch a sudden attack, and kill King Stobi directly!
Eurybiades was somewhat resistant to this order, but because he could not disobey the king's order, he reluctantly went out to sea.
Along the way, he kept delaying deliberately in the hope of not catching up with King Stoby.
That way, Eurybiades could avoid going to war with his idol.
However, this little plan was completely unsuccessful after they joined forces with the Achaean fleet.
Because Agamemnon, king of Achaia, was an even more cruel and ambitious man than Leonidas.
He has always hoped to use Sparta's dominance to become an important figure in all of Greece!
Leonidas was well aware of Agamemnon's ambitions.
He invited Agamemnon to lead the fleet in person in order to urge Eurybiades, who was not ruthless enough.
In this case, Eurybiad had no chance of delay and could only order a full speed advance.
The first to arrive at the continent of Crete was the small fleet led by Xia Zhe.
He landed at a small port called Heerepna.
The continent of Crete is long from east to west and short from north to south, like a long string bean.
Haierlepna is located at the easternmost end of Doujiao.
There are lush forests here, but there is little land and the population is not large.
Even within the free and easy continent of Crete, this is the most Buddhist place.
The local natives were not surprised by the arrival of tens of thousands of people from Stobi.
Historically, losers in continental wars or hermits who were tired of fighting and killing often came to Crete by boat.
The locals of Hellepna have no interest in these outsiders at all.
Anyway, you guys can build cities and lands and have fun with them.
Don't drag us into it.
Instead of spending your free time working and fighting, you might as well lie on the beach and bask in the sun!
So what if the clothes are worn out?
So what if the food and expenses are simple?
In the Cretan concept, a person's life is determined at birth.
Whether you work hard or enjoy yourself, it's all a lifetime.
In this case, it is certainly better to enjoy yourself.
This logic was well understood by the knowledgeable ministers in Stobi, such as the prime minister and the high priest.
However, Xia Zhe did not bring them this time.
At the beginning, Xia Zhe suffered a lot because of this.
Based on the information he obtained from the sand table, Xia Zhe judged that the yellow heart of the king on the continent of Crete should be in Knossos, the largest city in the central part of the continent.
However, after sending out men to look for a guide for several days, not a single local was willing to lead the way.
Xia Zhe increased the reward three times, but still no one was interested.
Everyone feels that it is not worth it to work hard to make money.
Wouldn’t it be better to spend that time eating, drinking and having fun?
So what if I have no money?
The sunny beaches, green trees and wild fruits in the southern Aegean Sea are all free!
Only a fool would work so hard to lead a foreigner's way just to make money.
Fortunately, Xia Zhe brought a compass on board.
Relying on the positioning of this thing, Xia Zhe finally decided not to use a guide and to move forward on his own.
However, as soon as one problem is solved, the second, third, and fourth problems follow.
There are obviously many residents here, but there are not enough migrant workers to work.
Not only were the roads dilapidated and in disrepair, but even in this place known as the birthplace of civilization, the people had forgotten even the basic skills of farming.
If they didn't have language, wear animal skins, and know how to make fire and eat cooked food, Xia Zhe would have regarded them as a group of monkeys!
In desperation, the Stobi Army had to rely on themselves to provide all their food, clothing and other expenses.
The roads were in bad condition, and the march to the center of the continent could not be fast.
The bumpy ride in the carriage was so uncomfortable that Xia Zhe had to sit in a sedan chair for the first time and let two soldiers in front and behind carry him.
Such an extremely primitive way of marching made Xia Zhe dislike the continent of Crete even more.
He swore secretly in his heart.
As long as you get the Heart of the King, don't waste a minute and hurry back to the civilized world!
I don’t know how many days they have been walking, but according to the instructions on the map, Xia Zhe feels that they should soon arrive at Knossos, the largest city on the Crete continent.
However, as we walked along, the population became increasingly sparse.
The locals they finally saw quickly hid away from Xia Zhe and his group. They were completely lacking the laziness and optimism of the Hellepner people.
This made Xia Zhe feel extremely strange.
Could it be that the legendary land of pleasure, Crete, is only like that around Helepna?
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