Chapter 1135
Two days later, a grand banquet was held in the palace of Diónia. Other than the Devers and Xenophon, there were also Hilos, Alexis, Amyntas, Felicius, Agathia, Tormid, Capus, Antonios, Epthenis, Matonis, Olivers, Giogris … Even Princess Cristoya attended the banquet.
At the banquet, everyone recalled their adventures in Persia and thanked the Devers, Xenophon, and other mercenary leaders for finally bringing them out of danger. They toasted to them one after another, and the atmosphere was quite warm.
There were also people who lamented the rich life they enjoyed today and felt sorry for the wrong choices made by Cleano, Timason, and Xenophon.
Of course, there were also people who advised Xenophon to leave Sparta and settle down in Diónia to enjoy the rest of his life with his former comrades, but Xenophon perfunctorily brushed them off.
When the banquet was about to end and Xenophon toasted to the Devers, he boldly asked with the help of alcohol, "Now that Diónia is so powerful, why is it so lenient towards Sparta for ending the friendly agreement in advance?"
The Devers squinted his drunken eyes and calmly told the story, "A few years ago, Mauritania, in order to show its respect, sent a few elephants to the kingdom and kept them next to the royal residence. The hounds in the residence barked at the elephants from afar out of fear, but the elephants remained quiet and ignored them. Not long after, the hounds stopped barking, and both sides lived in harmony … "
Xenophon had visited the zoo in the past two days and knew how huge an elephant's body was. After listening to the story, he was silent for a moment.
Sparta's emissaries quickly returned to Sparta. After learning that the King of Diónia had calmly accepted the matter of "Sparta ending the friendship agreement" and did not intend to punish them, the elders and inspectors heaved a sigh of relief.
However, when Xenophon visited Agesilaus, he described in detail what he saw in the Kingdom of Diónia, and reminded him solemnly, "Although Diónia has no ill intentions towards Sparta, it's best to sign a new contract with Diónia as soon as possible to restore our friendship!"
It was an obvious question, but Agesilaus thought about it for a while and said with a serious expression, "You're right. We must hold the peace talks with Thebes and Athens as soon as possible. The contract must be signed as soon as possible. Only then will Sparta have the confidence to negotiate with Diónia."
… …
In the spring of 371 BC (the 23rd year of the Holy Kingdom of Diónia), the War of the Thebes, which had lasted for many years, finally ushered in the dawn of peace. With the support of Persia, the two sides of the war would hold peace talks in the city of Sparta.
As it was the home ground of Sparta, the main city-states of the Peloponnesus Alliance had sent emissaries to participate in the peace talks. They were the first to arrive at the meeting place. They were followed by the emissaries from Athens. The chief general of Athens, Kalistratus, was the main person in charge, and his assistant was Kalias, the torchbearer of the Eleusis Ritual. The last to arrive was the emissaries from Thebes, led by Ipamilonda. In addition, Persia had also sent emissaries to participate in this meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Athens launched an attack on Sparta. Kalias and Kalistratus successively accused Sparta of acting arbitrarily and oppressing their allies, which was the main culprit of the war. At the same time, they bemoaned the state of the universe and pointed out the harm caused by the war to the Greek city-states, which resonated with the emissaries from the various city-states present.
Agesilaus and Archidames, who attended the meeting in Sparta, seemed to feel that they were in the wrong and did not immediately refute. Therefore, all the emissaries present quickly reached a consensus: stop the war.
It seemed that the people of Athens were still on the side of the Thebes against the people of Sparta, but in fact, through the contact between Taimagoras and Lutyklis in Persia, the two sides had secretly reached a certain tacit understanding. Therefore, in the following discussion of the signing of the contract, this tacit understanding was revealed.
Both Athens and Sparta declared that according to the proposal of Persia, the basis of the peace was still based on the principles set out in the 'Great Contract,' which was that all city-states must withdraw their troops (whether it was land or navy) stationed in other states, and any alliances must be dissolved, allowing all Greek city-states to maintain their independence.
In this way, there was a big problem. This was also a problem that could not be solved after the end of the Corinth War and the signing of the 'Great Contract': the Athens Alliance and the Peloponnesus Alliance did not comply with the rules and should be dissolved.
For this reason, Ipamilonda, who had been quietly watching the performance of the people of Athens, immediately pointed out this problem loudly.
Who knew that the people of Athens and Sparta were already prepared. Callistratus immediately admitted that the original 'Great Contract' was indeed inappropriate. He thought that it should be amended to change the provisions to: no city-state could be forced to become a member of the alliance, but different city-states could cooperate with each other according to their will, but there was no need to sign a treaty to make it mandatory.
Agesilaus immediately agreed to this. He thought that such a change was more reasonable and more acceptable to the city-states.
The envoys of the other cities of Peloponnesus also expressed their agreement one after another. Together with the support of the envoys of Persia, the terms of the contract were confirmed, and all that was left was to sign the oath.
One by one, the envoys of the cities of Peloponnesus rushed to sign the name of the city, followed by the envoys of Athens and Sparta. Finally, it was the turn of the envoys of Thebes. Everyone's eyes were focused on them.
Ipamilonda stood up with a solemn expression and solemnly swore in the name of Zeus. He then picked up a pen and wrote his name on the oath.
Most of the people in the hall breathed a sigh of relief, but they heard Agesilaus say in a deep voice, "People of Thebes, you've signed the wrong name.
Ipamilonda said very confidently, "I've confirmed it, there's no mistake!"
At this time, the other people in the hall felt that something was wrong. They rushed to pick up the oath and saw that it was clearly written: Pioscia, Ipamilonda.
Agesilaus said angrily, "Ipamilonda, are you fooling us? Everyone knows that Pioscia is a region, and the Thebes are just a city-state in this region. What right do they have to sign on behalf of all the city-states in the Pioscia region! "
Ipamilonda was not afraid at all. He looked at Agesilaus and said calmly, "What's so strange about this? You can think of Pioscia as Laconia (Laconia is the region where the people of Sparta live), or —"
Ipamilonda turned his head to look at Calestratus and said very firmly, "Attica, not the Peloponnesus Alliance or the Athens Sea Alliance!"
As soon as this was said, the emissaries of the other city-states in the hall were shocked. The ambition of the Thebes was obvious. They wanted to unify Pioscia!
Calestratus immediately retorted, "When the Greeks talk about Athens, they don't just mean Athens, but the entire Attica region. When the Greeks talk about Sparta, they are also referring to the entire Laconia region. But when people talk about Thebes, are they referring to the entire Pioscia region? Obviously, they are only referring to the city-state of Thebes.
Why is this so? That's because Athens and Sparta have integrated a region a long time ago, and after a long time, the other Greeks have recognized this. Unfortunately, they can't recognize that the Thebes represent Pioscia, because until now, many city-states in the Pioscia region are still independent. "
Agesilaus then said sternly, "According to this oath, the Thebes must disband your newly established Pioscia Alliance and let every city-state in Pioscia under your control gain independence and freedom!"
Ipamilonda did not show any weakness and rebutted Agesilaus, "If you Sparta let every city in Laconia gain independence, then the Pioscia Alliance will be disbanded!"
Then, he looked at Agesilaus and Calestratus with a firm expression and argued, "You Sparta have no right to interfere with the internal affairs of Pioscia, just like we Thebes have no right to interfere with the internal management of Laconia. Laconia, Pioscia, and Attica represent different political systems, and under the witness of Zeus, each political system is legitimate. The alliance of Pioscia and the development of Attica into a city are natural things. This process is as legitimate as the development of Laconia into an oligarchy under Sparta —"
Agesilaus' son, Archidamus, interrupted him loudly, "You are talking nonsense! You Thebes just want to continue waging war and attack other city-states in Pioscia to deprive them of their independence and freedom. This is absolutely not allowed! "
Ipamilonda sneered, "Didn't you Sparta people do this before? You shamelessly attacked our city and stationed troops and officers in other Pioscia city-states to deprive them of their independence and freedom. It is because of your invasion that we, the Pioscia, realized that we must unite to ensure the freedom of the Pioscia people! "
Archidamus was speechless.
Ipamilonda then said to Agesilaus sternly, "For the sake of this Pioscia alliance, we Thebes have indeed used some forceful measures, but you Sparta people have no right to interfere. This is because in the ancient times, when no one could accurately measure time, your ancestors adopted even more forceful measures. This kingdom that you maintain is built by them using this forceful method.
Now, the friendly alliance of Thebes and Pioscia has decided to adopt the same method as Sparta, to establish a united and unified Pioscia Alliance that includes all the city-states in Pioscia. In order to achieve this great goal, our citizens will not fear death! "
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