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Chapter 1230

At that moment, Karias walked into another military tent. Cloto Catax and Printos were waiting there. Karias lied. The two of them did not go to Argos. In fact, Clotho Karias could have directly refused to meet with the envoy from Athens, but the well-mannered prince thought that doing so would be a humiliation to a city-state like Athens, so he found such an excuse. He could also use the matter of "Argos' surrender" to provoke Athens.

"Karias, what's the result of the negotiation?" Cloto Catax asked with interest.

"Your Highness, the chief general of Athens said that he wants to go back and discuss the matter, but I don't think Athens will agree," Karias told his judgment truthfully.

"Athens is already in such a predicament, and they still don't intend to surrender. Are they prepared to be destroyed together with Athens?!" Cloto Catax was both surprised and a little regretful. Although he could not enter the Diónia Academy, he had always been good at Turií School. Since most of the teaching materials came from Athens, especially grammar, rhetoric, and speech (after all, the people of Athens created the glory of Greek civilization), he had always had a good impression of Athens.

"After all, Athens was once the overlord of Greece, and now it is one of the strongest states in Greece. It is understandable that they are unwilling to admit defeat." Printos saw through his thoughts and reminded him, "But if we want to attack Athens, we must first conquer Corinth."

"But the walls of Corinth are high and thick. I am afraid it will not be easy to conquer it in a short period of time," Cloto Catax said, but he still looked at Printos with hope.

"Your Highness is right. The city of Corinth is not like an ordinary Greek city. Its defensive facilities have obviously been meticulously built. It is impossible to take it down without a bitter battle," Printos said solemnly.

"I think this may have something to do with the Sparta coalition attacking Corinth for several years during the Corinth War. After that fierce battle, the people of Corinth must have more experience in how to defend Corinth," Karias interrupted.

"This is a bit troublesome …" Cloto Catax looked a little worried. Although he was a little reluctant when the Devers asked him to be the commander of the expeditionary army, after a period of training on the battlefield, not only did he adapt to life on the battlefield, but he also began to enjoy the glory brought by the victory on the battlefield like the other generals. So at this time, he was really eager to go north to join Patroclus and share the glory of conquering the great city of Athens.

At this moment, a guard came in and reported, "Lycomedes requests an audience."

"Quick, let him in!" Cloto Catax said. He immediately tidied up his attire and went to the entrance of the tent.

The reason why Cloto Catax treated Lycomedes so courteously was not only because Lycomedes was the leader of Mandinia, which was currently the firmest and only ally of Diónia on the Peloponnesus Peninsula. (Messenia and Lagonia were currently controlled by Diónia, and were completely under the command of Diónia. They were not considered allies, and Agos was forced to surrender, so their loyalty was still to be tested.) Moreover, Lycomedes had personally led his army to join the Dionysian Army and participated in the battle against Agos' army. After the army of Agos was wiped out, he even took the initiative to ask Cloto Catax to "surrender to Agos", and finally succeeded. Therefore, Cloto Catax valued him so much.

"Your Highness Cloto Catax, I would like to ask for your permission to surrender to Corinth."

Sure enough, Lycomedes never went to the temple for no reason. As soon as he opened his mouth, he gave Klotokatax a pleasant surprise. Klotokatax hurriedly asked: "Lord Lycomedes, are you sure that you can make the Corinthians open the gates and surrender?"

Lycomedes said seriously, "I am not completely confident, but I can give it a try. I know the people of Corinth quite well. Although Corinth is a strong nation, the people of Corinth are not good at fighting. They do not have fertile land for farming, and the only thing they can rely on is using the isthmus to trade on land and sea. Therefore, most of the people of Corinth are good at doing business. They do not have much persistence, and what they are best at is following the wind. For their own interests, they can even do unbelievable things.

I heard you talking about the Corinth War just now outside the tent. In fact, the reason why the people of Corinth were able to resist the attacks of Sparta's coalition for such a long time was mostly due to the continuous military and material support from Athens and the Thebes. At that time, many of the people of Corinth secretly joined forces and surrendered to Sparta. If it were not for the timely reinforcements, the outcome of the war would have been completely different.

Now that we have defeated the Greek coalition, Peloponnesus is basically under our control. I heard that another Dionysian Army has landed in Thessaly and has joined forces with the Thebes to attack Attica. This way, not only will the people of Corinth have no one to rely on, but they will also be in great danger of being attacked from both sides. I think the smart people of Corinth will be able to see the situation clearly and will not be stupid enough to stop us from advancing north. "

"That's great! Then I'll have to trouble my lord to personally go to Corinth again! "Cloto Catax said happily.

"After listening to Lord Lycomedes, I have a small suggestion," Printos interrupted, "Just now, the envoy from Athens came to the camp to ask for a truce and peace —"

"The people of Athens are going to surrender so soon?!" Lycomedes was a little surprised.

"They only asked for a truce, but we rejected it. Moreover, the envoy from Athens is Calistratus," Calistrus said.

After hearing this, Lycomedes's heart skipped a beat, and his face immediately lit up. "I understand. I will mention this in front of the people of Corinth. I believe it will be easier to persuade them to surrender!"

After leaving the military tent, Lycomedes went straight to Corinth City. He used to be a little dissatisfied with how Diónia gave the territory of Tegea to Mandinia, because this directly led to Mandinia being isolated by the other city-states of Arcadia. However, things had already come to this, and Lycomedes had no choice but to accept the reality. He quickly changed his mind and firmly believed that the only way out for Mandinia was to follow Diónia closely!

Therefore, when the Dionysian Army retreated to Lagonia and the Greek coalition surrounded Mandinia, it was he who convinced the people to stand their ground and not surrender, which led to the good situation they were in today. Now, he only hoped to do his best to help Diónia win the Greek war as soon as possible, so that Diónia's promise to Mandinia could be fulfilled.

Corinth was indeed a smart man. Although Calistratus claimed that he went to see the commander of Diónia to retrieve the bodies of the citizens of Athens who had died in the war, this could not fool them. They already knew that the Dionysian Army had invaded Attica, so they suspected that the people of Athens wanted a truce and a peace negotiation. If the people of Athens surrendered, Corinth would be a fool to continue to stand their ground!

Therefore, when Lycomedes entered the city and explained the purpose of his visit to the leaders of Corinth, it was exactly what they wanted.

Moreover, the request made by Lycomedes was easy for Corinth to accept: to join the new Greek coalition led by the Holy Kingdom of Diónia.

Lycomedes did not ask for Corinth to dissolve his coalition, nor did he ask for this when he lobbied Agos. In fact, Diónia only asked for Athens, because the maritime alliance of Athens not only included many islands in the Aegean Sea, but also some of its allies in Macedonia, the coastal city-states in the Thrace region, and the coastal city-states in the Yoke Sea. This scope was too wide, and it was not allowed by the Devers who wanted to unify the Mediterranean Sea.

Joining the new Greek coalition or joining the Peloponnesus coalition or the Greek coalition made no difference to Corinth, who had been reduced to a powerful state and did not have much ambition. In fact, the people of Corinth even felt that this would be of great benefit to Corinth's maritime trade in the future. Since the establishment of Diónia, Corinth had been the city-state that had the most trade with Diónia.

Cloto Catax led the army into Corinth without a hitch, and then went north along the eastern coast of the isthmus, and soon approached the city-state of Megara in the middle of the isthmus.

Megara had mountains to the south and north as barriers. If it wanted to defend, it could stop the Dionysian Army for a while. However, the northern part of Megara bordered the Attica region. A few days ago, the people of the city-state had just seen the soldiers of Athens fleeing in panic and the scene of the Dionysian Army invading Attica aggressively. The people of Megara were terrified and did not think that they could resist the powerful Dionysian Army's two-pronged attack. Under the persuasion of Corinth, Megara obediently joined the new Greek coalition.

Cloto Catax led the army through the territory of Megara with ease, entered the Attica region, and met up with the army of Patroclus.

The citizens of Athens at the top of the city wall saw another mighty Dionysian Army coming from the Diónia barracks outside the city, and all of them felt their hearts palpitate.

In the few days that Callistratus was away, the city of Athens had been carrying out an emergency military mobilization. All the citizens and foreigners who could fight were organized (there were a large number of foreigners in Athens. They lived in Attica for a long time, paid taxes like citizens, and even took part in the military service, but they never had the citizenship of Athens) and prepared to defend. Not only did they have to ensure the safety of Athens, but they also had to protect the port of Piraeus and the long wall that connected the port to the city.

Several well-known orators of Athens, led by Isocrates, gave speeches at the Agora Market in Athens, the Theatre of Dionysus, the Nene Square in Athens, and other crowded places, encouraging citizens and foreigners to defend Athens and fight bravely against the Dionysian Army.