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Chapter 1145

This wave even spread to Agos. In fact, Sparta had never been able to control the city-states of Agos. However, due to its strength, a group of pro-Sparta councilors gradually emerged in the political arena of Agos. Now, most of these wealthy councilors were beaten to death by the angry civilians with sticks.

The Thebes, without a doubt, benefited the most from this wave. As the victors of the battle, the Thebes' influence in Greece increased greatly. Not only did the remaining city-states of Pioscia take the initiative to approach the Thebes, but even the Phocians, the Locrians, who were friendly with Sparta, and the Locrians, who were located in the southwest and northwest of Pioscia respectively, and even the Eubians, who were friendly with the Thebes, wanted to form an alliance with them.

The reason was that they saw the weakening of Sparta's power and wanted the military support of a new power to help them resist the threat. The Phocians and the Locrians were worried about Thessaly, while the Eubians were worried about Athens.

The Thebes had mixed feelings about this. They were happy that their power had been greatly increased, but they were worried that the threat of Sparta had not been eliminated yet. They might have to face a few more powerful enemies. Needless to say, there was already a rift between the two sides in Athens. Although Thessaly was an ally, Iazon's previous performance had already shown his ambition. At this time, he was even recruiting troops in the north. When he led his army south, it was likely that the two sides would meet.

Under the strong suggestion of Perópidas and Ipamilonda (the battle of Leuctra had made Ipamilonda the most prestigious person in the Thebes), the Thebes government decided to form an alliance with the Phocians, the Locrians, and the Eubians. They wanted to increase their own power as soon as possible in order to cope with future challenges.

Since then, almost all of Central Greece, except for the Attica region (Athens), was under the influence of the Thebes.

However, the Thebes were not the biggest threat to Sparta. The biggest threat came from the Arcadia Region of Peloponnesus.

Arcadia was located in the middle of the Peloponnesus Peninsula. Geographically, the Laconia region where Sparta was located was separated by towering mountains to the east and west, and the sea to the south. Only the north, which was connected to the Arcadia Region, was relatively low-lying, making it more convenient for troops to enter and leave. Therefore, ever since the rise of Sparta, it had been to interfere with the affairs of the city-states in Arcadia, trying to completely control them.

Due to the long-term suppression of Sparta, compared to other regions of Greece, the Arcadia Region had never had a city-state that had a certain degree of influence in Greece. Even before the War of Corinth, due to Mandinia's disobedience (Mandinia was located in the northeast of Arcadia Region), Mandinia's territory was invaded and completely destroyed by a water attack. The brutality of Sparta did temporarily deter the Arcadians, but it also made them more vigilant and uneasy.

More than a decade had passed. While Sparta was busy fighting the Thebes, the exiled Mandinians gradually returned to their homeland and began to work hard to rebuild their homes. This made Sparta vigilant. Soon, they sent messengers to warn the Mandinians that they should get out of this land immediately, or else Sparta would send an army to expel them.

However, within a few days, the other city-states in the Arcadia Region sent messengers to Sparta to plead for the Mandinians.

At this time, because of the continuous war, Sparta was short of manpower and resources. It relied more on its allies, and the Arcadians contributed a lot. So, Sparta had no choice but to reluctantly agree to their request. Of course, the Mandinians had to promise that Sparta would once again be their leader, and they would send their citizens to help Sparta in the war.

The problem seemed to have been solved, but it was not. The Mandinians began to build walls and rebuild the city. To prevent the city from being flooded again, they even dug a new channel and changed the flow of the Orpheus River. The newly designed city was more sturdy, unique, and difficult to conquer.

While the Mandinians were building the city, they were also secretly carrying out another important task. During the years of exile, one of their leaders, Lycomedes, gradually realized that the city-states of Arcadia must unite and build an alliance. Only then would they have the confidence to say no to the unreasonable demands of Sparta, and only then would they be able to protect the safety of the Arcadians.

Therefore, Lycomedes spared no effort to persuade the other city-states of Arcadia. Things went smoothly, because these city-states had been suffering from Sparta for a long time. With Lycomedes taking the lead, except for a few city-states, everyone agreed to form an Arcadia Alliance.

However, the problem of which city-state to choose as the capital of the alliance arose again. Because the city-states of Arcadia were not too different in strength, there was no particularly outstanding city-state that could suppress the others. However, if any city-state was randomly chosen, it could quickly grow stronger after the establishment of the alliance, which was something that the other city-states did not want to see.

In the end, Lycomedes put forward a proposal: gather the strength of the alliance and build a new city as the capital of the alliance.

In the end, his proposal was unanimously approved by everyone. After many discussions, the location of the new city was selected, and the political structure of the entire alliance was discussed in more detail …

In short, in 371 BC (the 23rd year of the Kingdom of Diónia), the preparations for the Pan- Arcadia Alliance were basically completed, and the implementation began in full swing.

Sparta learned that Arcadia was building an alliance, but at this time, its war against the Thebes was at a critical stage, and it really had no spare power to stop this matter. Moreover, the city-states of Arcadia had been sending troops and supplies to help it in the war, so the Sparta people pretended that they did not know about it. They wanted to wait until the problem of the Thebes was solved before dealing with this matter.

However, they did not expect that the battle of Leuctra would suddenly change the situation in Greece, and the few remaining city-states of Arcadia also began to waver. Therefore, under the active persuasion of Lycomedes, they also began to actively request to join the Pan- Arcadia Alliance.

Among these city-states was Tygia. Tygia was located in the southeast of the Arcadia Region, and had always been regarded by Sparta as a staunch ally and a strong gateway to the northern frontier. Now that Tygia had changed sides, the Sparta finally could not tolerate it, so the procurators sent messengers to threaten the city-states of Arcadia, demanding that they immediately disband the alliance, or else they would face the wrath of the Sparta army.

Of course, the Arcadians would not give in, but they also knew that Sparta was powerful, and they could not fight against it with their own strength, so they had to seek outside support. The first person they thought of for help was Athens.

After the battle of Leuctra, while Athens was happy about the decline of Sparta's power, it was also worried about the rise of the neighboring Thebes. So it made a move. It invited its own sea alliance city-states and the city-states of Peloponnesus to represent Athens to re-swear the previous Great King's Agreement, and solemnly stated that in the event of an enemy attack, the members of the oath should help each other.

It seemed that this move by Athens was a continuation of the previous Treaty of Kallias signed in Sparta, and it was also a show of support for Sparta and its allies, who had been defeated on the battlefield. But in fact, Athens was trying to expand its influence in the Peloponnesus peninsula, usurping the leadership of Sparta, and at the same time, trying to win over Persia.

Many city-states of Mandinia and Arcadia also participated in the oath ceremony. According to the agreement, Athens was obliged to provide help, so the Arcadians sent messengers to Athens.

While the messengers from Arcadia were on their way to Athens, a huge fleet was sailing across the Adriatic Sea, heading towards the Peloponnesus peninsula. It was the army of Diónia that was going to conquer Sparta.

According to the mobilization speed of the army of the Holy Kingdom of Dionia, after the order to set out was issued, the various regions would usually be assembled within four to five days (for a region like Lucania which was more vast and covered in mountains, it would take a lot of time for the military camp to notify the various towns and cities, and for the citizens of the towns and cities to gather at the military camp). Even if King Dyvers had to discuss with the Ministry of Military Affairs to make some military preparations, the time needed would not exceed 15 days.

The reason why the army was ordered to go to war two months later was that the armistice between the Thebes and Sparta, and a series of anti- Sparta waves in the Peloponnesus peninsula had attracted the attention of the higher-ups of Diónia. They specially suspended the military operation to observe the development of the situation, and it was not until two months later that they resumed the military operation.

In order to prevent the news of the expedition from being discovered by the Sparta in advance, Diónia announced to the public that it was "going to crusade against the Lusitanians who had repeatedly attacked the southern region of Iberia", so the place where the army embarked was not set in Brindisi, but in Crotone.

The barracks of Legio IV were originally in Crotone, and the first and Legio VI were in the north and south respectively, not too far apart. The three legions soon boarded the long-prepared fleet at the port of Crotone, and under the escort of the 1st Flotilla, they sailed eastward.

The huge fleet passed through the heel of Italy and rested for a night in Odlum. The next day, after sailing across the Adriatic Sea, they sailed south along the west coast of the Greek mainland.

Wherever the fleet passed, the towns and cities, such as Kekkila Island, were all terrified. The people of Greece had never seen such a huge fleet before. There were more than 300 transport ships, more than 500 cargo ships, and 550 warships. In total, there were more than 1,200 ships. They were spread out on the surface of the sea, spanning five to six miles. This was because the entire fleet had chosen to set out on a few days when the sea conditions were better, so the ships were arranged more closely together.