before they would reach/ reached

[joham]

Could 'would reach' be changed into 'reached' in the underlined before-clause without changing the meaning of the sentence below? In what conditions can we use will and would in a before-clause?


(The following two paragraphs are taken from Harcourt's Reading: THE SEARCH FOR THE TROYAN HORSE)
Athena was watching all of these events unfold. She became angry when the Greeks stole the statue from her temple and burned it. Although Athena had helped the Greeks during most of the war, she now wanted to punish them.

As a result, the Greeks ran into all kinds of trouble on their way home. Some of the ships sank on the voyage. Others traveled for many years before they would reach home. Athena got her revenge, or so the story goes.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In my opinion, yes. It should be Trojan Horse.

 

[joham]

Thank you so much, Mike. Sorry, as usual the thank and like buttons just wouldn't work on my pages.

 

[bhaisahab]

You can only change "reach" to "reached" if you delete "would".