Chapter 1132
"I recommend a person to be the envoy of Sparta to Diónia. I believe he will be able to complete this mission!" Agesilaus looked at the puzzled eyes of the crowd and said loudly, "This person is Xenophon!"
Cleombrotus was taken aback and immediately retorted, "You're out of your mind! Xenophon is not a citizen of Sparta, how can he be the envoy of Sparta! "
Agesilaus was not angered by Cleombrotus' impolite words. He calmly said, "Xenophon has lived in Sparta for more than 20 years and has participated in many battles with the citizens. Even when facing his mother state, Athens, he did not stop waving his spear. His achievements are no less than our warriors. Moreover, he also used the pen in his hand to promote the excellence of our Sparta political system to the Greek city-states, increasing our influence on our allies. This is something that we, Sparta, cannot do!
In addition, his son has always served Sparta and is still fighting in the Pioscia region. Such a Greek scholar who has made so many contributions to Sparta, even if he does not have the identity of a citizen of Sparta, his actions have proven that he is a citizen of Sparta and an excellent citizen of Sparta!
As for why I recommend him to be the envoy to Diónia, it is because he participated in the Persia expedition and later became a mercenary leader in the expedition. I once heard from Chrysops that during the Persia expedition, Xenophon had a deep friendship with the current King of Diónia and the Devers. I believe that with him as the envoy to Diónia, the effect will definitely be better than others! "
Despite Agesilaus' full recommendation and Xenophon's good reputation in Sparta, the conservative Sparta elders and censors still had a heated debate about this.
Finally, at the end of the 22nd year of the Kingdom (372 BC), the Sparta council of elders finally made a strange decision. They appointed a Sparta general as the envoy and Xenophon as the deputy envoy to Diónia, but all the negotiations with Diónia would be handled by Xenophon.
This was Xenophon's first trip to the Western Mediterranean Sea. The moment he stepped onto the passenger ship, he could not help but feel emotional.
In the past few decades, it was not that he had never thought of "visiting Diónia". Even after Diónia held the Greek Scholars Conference, they had sent him many invitations, but he did not go in the end. One of the reasons was that he knew that Sparta, where he settled, was hostile to Diónia, and Agesilaus, the King of Sparta, who had always taken care of him, was even more wary of him. If he rashly went to Sparta, the people of Sparta would definitely hold a grudge. Another reason was that he had rejected the invitation sent by the Devers when they went to Great Greece. Now that the Devers had established a great career in the Western Mediterranean Sea, he could not go there in excitement. After all, he had his own pride.
Now that Sparta had given him this mission, he finally had the opportunity to see the Kingdom of Diónia established by his former good friend, the Devers, with his own eyes.
The route Xenophon took to Turií was almost the same as the route Chrysops took to Turií, but after more than 10 years of development, the situation was completely different.
Not long after the passenger ship passed by Kekkyla Island and crossed the midline of the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, it encountered a patrol fleet of Diónia.
It was a fleet consisting of four three-oared warships and eight small and medium-sized warships. When the captain of the passenger ship told him that it was a patrol fleet of Diónia, he could not believe it. The strength of such a fleet was close to the naval configuration of some of the medium-sized city-states in Greece. Some city-states were even weaker than them. And this was just a patrol fleet of Diónia?
So Xenophon asked twice. After getting a definite answer, he was still skeptical. He even thought that Diónia was deliberately expanding the size of its patrol fleet to intimidate the surrounding forces.
The passenger ship landed at the port of Odlum.
Today's port of Odlum was several times larger than when Chrysops was sent to Turií, and the scale of its sea trade had also increased several times. The main reason was that Diónia's conquest of Mountain Gaul had deterred the forces in central and northern Italy. The Veneti, Umbrians … had taken the initiative to express goodwill and form an alliance with Diónia. Even the influence of Diónia had spread to some of the Illyrian coastal city-states on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. When these forces took the initiative to approach Diónia, Diónia, of course, seized the opportunity to strengthen ties with them through trade and cultural infiltration.
The Adriatic Sea was a natural sea route. Many of the towns of Diónia bordering the sea and the newly joined Diónia's alliance became unusually frequent. Odlum was just one of them. However, its geographical location was special. Not only could it enjoy the benefits of trade in the Adriatic Sea, but at the same time, some merchant ships from the Eastern Mediterranean also docked here …
In order to be able to meet the growing needs of trade and tourists, Odlum not only expanded the port, but also built two additional ports next to it. Its urban area had also expanded again and again. The size of the entire city of Odlum was even close to the center of the region, Oudié. It was no longer the small town of Mesapi in the past.
When the governor of Odlum learned of the arrival of the Sparta emissary delegation, he specially sent people to welcome Xenophon and his entourage. He even held a banquet to welcome them.
Xenophon politely declined and even praised that Odlum's port was exceptionally prosperous. It would definitely be one of the top towns in the Kingdom of Diónia. If it continued to develop like this, it would definitely be comparable to the port of Piraeus in Athens.
The governor of Odlum hurriedly expressed that there were many port towns like Odlum in the Kingdom of Diónia. If Odlum wanted to become one of the top port towns, it would need to put in more effort.
Many? When Xenophon heard this, he could not help but blink. He felt that he seemed to have discovered a characteristic of the Diorians: they liked to exaggerate the strength of the Kingdom to outsiders.
After bidding farewell to the governor of Odlum, Xenophon and his entourage sat in a carriage and headed west.
Along the way, Xenophon saw the road built by the people of Diónia. It was flat, wide, sturdy and beautiful. The carriage moved smoothly on it at a fast speed. He was amazed by it.
However, when he heard from the coachman that roads like this had already been laid all over the kingdom, connecting various towns, his previous prejudice made him subconsciously think that the other party was boasting again. Because in his impression, even in Greece, such roads were only comparable to the road from Piraeus to Athens. Odlum's port was prosperous, so it was understandable that the road connecting to the outside world was better, but it was hard to say for other places.
However, Xenophon gradually began to feel that this excellent road was built a little too long. After the carriage had traveled for more than half a day and passed by a town or two, the road was still extending. His prejudice in his heart was wavering.
As they passed by Tarantum, Xenophon could not help but look at it. All these years, the people of Sparta who were on good terms with him would occasionally talk angrily about this Sparta state that was forcibly taken away by the people of Diónia. This was also one of the reasons why the people of Sparta were hostile to Diónia.
At this moment, he very much wanted to go in and see what Tarantum, which had become a free city in the Kingdom of Diónia, was like now. However, the person in charge of the Odlum convoy who was responsible for transporting them refused. He believed that it was their duty to send the Sparta emissaries safely to Turií as soon as possible. There should be no delay in the middle of the journey to avoid accidents.
Xenophon was a little dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do.
The convoy finally arrived at the naval base not far from Tarantum. It was already dusk. After the guards of the base carefully checked the official documents of the Sparta emissaries and Odlum, they were allowed to enter.
As it was already late, the Sparta emissaries could only rest in the camp for the night.
When Xenophon learned that this was the naval base of Diónia, he wanted to take the opportunity to take a look at the armaments of the Diónia navy.
However, the guards in the camp restricted them to stay in the residence and were not allowed to walk around.
Of course, the accompanying Sparta people were dissatisfied, but before they left, Agesilaus solemnly warned them that they should try their best to befriend the people of Diónia during the journey, and not provoke them to avoid bringing disaster to Sparta.
Therefore, the Sparta emissaries chose to bear with it.
Unexpectedly, the next day happened to be the training day of the naval base of Tarantum. Two sub-fleets of the 1st Flotilla of Diónia sailed into the port early for formation and confrontation training.
When Xenophon and the others left the dock on a clipper, they were just able to see a corner of the fleet training. Amid the loud sound of bugles, nearly 200 warships were docked in the wide bay, constantly changing formations as they sailed at high speed. It was a spectacular and lively scene.
Naval warfare was not Sparta's forte (Xenophon himself had never participated in a naval battle). They could not see anything from this training, but the number of triple-hulled warships still left them speechless.
The size of this fleet is close to the naval level of the Athens Navy at its peak, so it's understandable that the patrol fleet has such a configuration … Xenophon thought to himself.
Seeing their surprise, the captain of the clipper could not help but proudly remind them, "These are not the only naval warships of Diónia. In addition to this naval base of Tarantum, there are also several naval bases such as Brindisi, Catania, Lili … There are more than a thousand warships!"
Xenophon's heart skipped a beat. Although this time he still felt that the people of Diónia were bragging again, some of what they said might be true. Although Xenophon did not know much about other naval bases, Brindisi was close to Peloponnesus, and the people of Sparta had a certain understanding of it. Therefore, it was likely that Diónia, which had multiple naval bases, really had multiple naval bases.
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