"Greece is so barren." Yang Congrong, director of the Department of Eastern Europe of the Great Song Dynasty, said calmly on the horse. At this time, the director of the Eastern European Department of the Great Song Dynasty had arrived outside Athens with the troops. His horse was parked on a small slope, and most of the place in sight was undulating, and there were many stones in the ground. As a Han Chinese, Yang calmly and instinctively felt that this kind of place was not suitable for farming, and naturally belonged to a barren area.

As for the Greek city itself, Yang Congrong didn't care at all. Even with a faint view of the Greek temple at the top of a hill in the distance, Yang calmly does not have the feeling of a pilgrimage to Greek civilization in the 21st century.

At least in the 2nd year of the Great Song Dynasty, that is, in 1292 Western calendar, there was nothing special about Greece. In the training course of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang calmly studied European history, and his evaluation of Greece was relatively simple.

In the Homeric era before the Common Era, the Homeric Epic, which was written by the bard Homer, was the early history of Greece. Thucydides' Peloponnesian War is the middle history of Greece.

After that, it was probably the Ptolemaic period.

The expedition of Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, which began in 4 BC, was essentially an invasion of a vast area of Asia and North Africa by the Macedonian and Greek armies, mainly Macedonians. After the death of Alexander the Great in 2 BC, Greek history entered the "Hellenistic Age". After decades of war, a number of "Hellenistic states" mainly appeared in the vast territory of Europe, Asia and Africa, mainly the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Seleucid Kingdom, and the Macedonian Kingdom.

In 299 BC, Roman forces began to invade the Balkan Peninsula. As the Hellenistic kingdoms fell, the Romans gradually became the masters of the Greek destiny. The history of ancient Greece came to an end when Rome destroyed the last Hellenistic state, the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt, in 0 BC.

So the city of Athens was neither the beginning nor the end of Greece. Thinking that for a long time in the future, the center of the Great Song Dynasty's rule in Europa will be in this Athenian city, and it is likely that Yang Congrong, who will become the secretary of the Great Song Dynasty and the secretary of the European Europe Province of the Great Song Dynasty, feels very disappointed.

At this time, the city of Athens was already full of gunfire, and the Great Song army was besieging this small city. At this time, the outer city had been easily breached, and the war had already begun inside the city. After a while, the correspondent ran back to Yang Congrong, "Report to Commander Yang, our army has conquered the Duke's Palace." May I ask the commander whether he wants to enter the city, or bring the duke out. ”

"Bring it out." Yang calmly said. Watching the correspondent leave quickly, Yang calmly wanted to see what kind of guy his prisoner was.

The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader states established by Western European feudal lords on the ruins of the Eastern Roman Empire after the Fourth Crusade. Founded in Athens in 1205 by the Burgundian knight Otto de la Rohe. The Duchy possessed the Attica Peninsula centered on Athens and was subordinate to the Kingdom of Thessaloniki (before 1224) and the Duchy of Achaea (after 1224). The duke himself was stationed on the Acropolis. The Duchy of Athens gradually established a Western-style feudal system in central Greece, replacing the original centralized administrative system of the Byzantine Empire.

Before this dispatch, the Eastern Roman Emperor begged Yang Congrong that if he caught the Duke of Athens, he must ask Yang Congrong to secretly send the Duke to the Eastern Roman Emperor.

Not long after, the duke who was tied with ropes and the Orthodox bishop in the city who was the inner response appeared in front of Yang Congrong. The Orthodox priest who came with Yang Congrong hurriedly stepped forward to greet the bishop. After they confirmed, the guy who was caught was indeed the Duke of the Duchy of Athens.

Looking at the shivering man condescendingly, Yang Congrong couldn't see anything different about him. Recalling the uncontrollable malice of the Eastern Roman Emperor when he talked about the Duke of Athens, Yang Congrong even sympathized with his captives.

The Eastern Roman Republic was a centralized state, so there were many deterrent punishments. For example, cutting dicks, noses, ears, gouging eyes, and peeling skins. Anyway, there are a lot of tricks. With the mood of the Eastern Roman Emperor at that time, the duke of the Duchy of Athens had a great opportunity to savor what the Eastern Roman Emperor had inflicted on the duke.

"Take it away." Yang calmly and calmly said. It is also a good thing to be able to make the Eastern Roman Emperor happy, and to be calm with Yang.

The Song army successfully conquered Athens, and there was an internal response in the city, so the screening work was much easier. The Song army wiped out the nobles, officials, and Catholic forces in the city and sent them to Rhodes. The rest of the forces continued north, and their goal was Hot Springs.

Greece is a mountainous country, or the whole country is on a hillside. The Great Song Dynasty was not prepared to occupy the whole of Greece, so it would require too many troops to defend. Greece's natural danger is the hot springs. When the Persians attacked Greece, it is said that there were hundreds of thousands of troops, and they were blocked by thousands of Greeks under the Hot Springs, so they could not invade Greece. Defend the hot springs and control the Attica Peninsula centered on Athens. To the south of the Attica Peninsula is the Peloponnese. If you want to attack these two peninsulas, if you can't break through the natural danger, you have to rely on the navy.

Although far from the Great Song Dynasty, the Great Song naval forces in the Mediterranean still have a strong self-confidence and can crush any enemy from the sea. Regardless of whether the enemy had a hundred ships or ten thousand ships, the Great Song naval army could achieve a complete victory.

As the commander, Yang Congrong arrived at Hot Spring Pass with the troops. Looking at this important battlefield that has been specially recorded in the history books, Yang Congrong feels that the natural dangers in the past have their own reasons. Thermal Springs: A narrow passage between Mount Calizromon and the Bay of Mariachos on the east coast of central Greece. This place is backed by mountains and sea, and the terrain is extremely dangerous.

As long as it is a mountain, there are various mountain trails. But that kind of mountain road can allow a few people to pass, but there is no way to pass a large army. The passage of large troops requires a lot of logistical baggage, and there is no way for vehicles or mules and horses to pass through the roads that many people can pass. So it doesn't make much strategic sense.

The strategic significance of the hot spring pass is that after passing through here, you enter the relatively steep mountainous terrain, and the army can move freely. Stuck in the hot springs, the Attica Peninsula with Athens as the center is impregnable. The Attica Peninsula is fine, and the Peloponnese, as a farther hinterland, will not be affected.

On the eighth day of the first month of the second year of the Great Song Dynasty, Yang Congrong ordered to send a letter to the Great Song court. The Song army had already captured the city of Athens and the Thermothermal Pass, and while deploying defenses, they began to exterminate the forces of the princes in various parts of the Duchy of Athens. Yang Congrong asked the Great Song Emperor Zhao Jiaren to officially announce the establishment of the Great Song Province of Europa.