Chapter 1235
After the death of Cyrus the Younger, due to the turbulent situation in the kingdom, Artaxerxes did not severely punish the officials and nobles of Asia Minor who had supported Cyrus the Younger. However, he had always been wary of Asia Minor. He originally hoped that Tisafunis, whom he trusted, could bring Asia Minor back under his complete control. However, he did not expect that Agesilaus, the king of Sparta, would invade Asia Minor. Tisafunis was defeated in every battle. The queen mother of Persia, who hated Tisafunis for killing Cyrus the Younger, took the opportunity to execute Tisafunis. Artaxerxes deliberately refused to help Asia Minor because he was secretly hoping that after Sparta completely destroyed Asia Minor, he would clean up the mess. However, when the Corinth War broke out, Agesilaus had to return to Greece in advance, and the nobles and people of Asia Minor who had their homes destroyed had a lot of complaints because of the inaction of the king of Persia.
In particular, the other governor of Asia Minor, Fanabazos, in order to take revenge on Sparta, asked the general of Athens, Konon, to lead his fleet to directly assist Athens in the war against Sparta. Even when Konon took the entire fleet for Athens, Artaxerxes pretended to not see it.
However, Artaxerxes accepted the advice of his advisor and supported Sparta. He also asked Fanabazos to take back the warships that he had given to Athens.
This aroused strong dissatisfaction from Fanabazos. Not only did he not obey the order, but he also refused to recognize Sparta as an ally of Persia. As Fanabazos was a great nobleman of Asia Minor, he had a lot of influence in the western part of Persia. In the end, Artaxerxes had to marry his daughter to Fanabazos' son to appease the governor. However, since then, the rift between Asia Minor and the king of Persia had become deeper and deeper.
The officials of Persia who were transferred to Asia Minor by the king of Persia could never get the cooperation of the local nobles and people. Artaxerxes had also been deliberately weakening the local forces of Asia Minor, such as conquering the Dukea Mountains, invading Egypt … Artaxerxes had asked Asia Minor to provide more soldiers and supplies. The key point was that every major war had ended in failure, causing Asia Minor to suffer great losses. One could imagine the resentment in the hearts of the nobles and people. Moreover, the failure of these wars had also lowered the prestige of the king of Persia, causing the governors and nobles of Asia Minor to have wild ambitions.
For this invasion of Egypt, although Artaxerxes did not ask Asia Minor to provide more soldiers, he asked them to fully support Sparta and Athens. That was also a huge consumption of supplies. As a result, a rebellion finally broke out. Not only Frisia rebelled, but Lydia, Missia, Silesia, Bithynia, Lycia, Pisidia … Most of the eastern and western parts of Asia Minor rebelled, and it even affected Syria.
To be honest, Artaxerxes was now very frustrated. His original plan was to attack Egypt two or three years later, because by then, the turmoil caused by the Dukea people would have passed. The situation in the country would be more stable, and the military preparations against Egypt would be more complete. Under such circumstances, the governors of Asia Minor might not dare to openly rebel against Persia, but when he heard the news that the Dionysian Army had invaded Peloponnesus and had an absolute advantage in the battle against Sparta, he could not sit still. Once Diónia controlled Greece, it would become more difficult for Persia to smoothly conquer Egypt. He had no choice but to take advantage of the time when the Dionysian Army was pinned down in Greece to launch an attack on Egypt in advance. However, he did not expect that it would incite a rebellion in Asia Minor.
"Tribassus, now that there is a rebellion in Asia Minor, do you have … hmm, what suggestion do you have?" Artaxerxes looked at the brocade box on the table that contained the decorated severed head of Timo. His seemingly angry expression could not hide his nervousness.
"Your Majesty, the army of the kingdom is fighting in Egypt, and there are not enough troops in the Mesopotamian plains. Once the rebel army of Asia Minor advances eastward, it may threaten the capital …" Tribassus was indeed a favorite subject of the king of Persia. He knew very well what the king of Persia was worried about at the moment. He continued, "Your Majesty, I believe that when the generals who are fighting in the frontlines hear about the rebellion in Asia Minor, they will definitely write letters to you to put down the rebellion and restore peace to the kingdom as soon as possible!"
Artaxerxes nodded with satisfaction and said, "Go and arrange it."
As the most honorable king of Persia, he had already lost a great deal of prestige when he personally fought against Dukea. This time, if he returned to Egypt without achieving anything, he would definitely be ridiculed by the people of Persia. Of course, if the generals first collectively asked for a suspension of the war against Egypt, and he reluctantly agreed, he could more or less save some face.
After Tribassus left the tent, Artaxerxes remembered that Diónia had already conquered the mainland of Greece and established a so-called New Greece Union. And the military plan that he had prepared for a few years to conquer Egypt had to be stopped because of the rebellion … The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He could not help but angrily smash his fist on the wooden table. The brocade box flipped over, and the bloody severed head of Timo rolled out. The pair of eyes that had already lost their luster were still open, as if they were staring coldly at the king of Persia.
Artaxerxes was startled and shouted in panic, "Quickly take it away! Take it away! "
The eunuch in the tent hurriedly put the severed head into the brocade box and handed it to the guards outside the tent. Another eunuch asked with concern, "Your Majesty, you are tired and need a good rest. Should we ask Princess Atossa to come and take care of you?"
After all, Artaxerxes was old and needed someone to take care of him when he went to war. Therefore, he brought along his favorite and youngest consort, Atossa (who was also his daughter).
At this moment, after venting his extreme emotions, Artaxerxes felt that his head was heavy and his limbs were weak, so he nodded.
… …
On the 1st of January 369 BC (Year 25 of the Kingdom of Diana), many merchant ships flooded into the port of Philae in Thessaly. Although the number of merchant ships from Diónia increased every month due to Diónia's conquest of the entire territory of Thessaly, the scene of the entire port being congested like today had never happened before.
Cabrias finally got off the ship and began to complain, "Since the people of Diónia informed us to come to Thessaly, they should have made preparations in advance. How could they let the order of the port be so chaotic and delay us for more than half a day? If they're making fun of us with the attitude of a victor, that's too ungentlemanly of them!"
"I'm afraid that the people of Diónia did not expect that all the city-states, including us, would immediately send their messengers to Philae upon receiving the notice …" Calistratus said in disappointment as he looked at the various docks in the port.
After hearing this, Cabrias immediately understood, "It seems like they're the same as us. They want to come here as soon as possible and fight for more benefits for their city-states before the alliance conference starts and the treaty of alliance is signed."
"From this incident, we can see how powerful the Kingdom of Diónia is in Greece now …" Calistratus sighed softly.
Cabrias instantly became silent. Yes, first they defeated Sparta, then they conquered Thessaly, then they defeated the Greek allied forces and forced Athens to surrender … Moreover, the people of Greece already knew that in order to make Greece surrender, Diónia had sent more than 100,000 troops and thousands of warships. How could the people of Greece not tremble in fear at such a powerful military force!
"Eh? Cabrias, you have good eyesight. Quick, see if that person is Agesilaus! "Calistratus suddenly pointed to the side in front of him.
Cabrias fixed his eyes on the direction and shouted excitedly, "That's right, it's Agesilaus!"
"Let's go, hurry up and catch up with him!" Calistratus immediately ordered his followers to carry their luggage and hurried forward.
Although the two of them were not too far apart, the crowd at the port was too dense. They only caught up with each other when they entered the city.
"Goddess of Athens bless me. It's a pleasure to see you again, King Agesilaus!" Calistratus said sincerely. During the signing of the Peace Treaty of Kallias, the two of them had a tacit understanding of each other. When Sparta was conquered by Diónia, there were rumors that Agesilaus had died in battle. He was sad for it.
"I'm not happy to see you." Agesilaus said bluntly, "You know, when the news of Athens surrendering to Diónia reached Sparta, I was in so much pain that I almost wanted to commit suicide. Fortunately, I survived in the end."
"The people of Diónia are too powerful! The people of Athens were besieged for less than a month, and they strongly demanded to surrender. If we didn't agree, I'm afraid the people's anger would be vented on us … "Calistratus recalled the scene at that time and was still a little worried. He could not help but say," For a city of Diónia that was only built for a few decades to become so powerful, Sparta is partly responsible for this! As the most powerful city-state in Greece, you should have strangled them in the cradle long ago instead of letting them grow. Otherwise, there wouldn't be today's disaster! "
"How can you blame us for this!" Agesilaus retorted in dissatisfaction, "If it wasn't for the people of Athens playing tricks behind the scenes and inciting Corinth and Thebes to go against us again and again, so that we couldn't deal with Diónia at all, how could it be today! In the end, it's all the fault of Athens! "
Seeing that the two of them were about to quarrel, Cabrias quickly stepped forward to calm them down, "Please calm down! There's no point in arguing about this now. Whether it's Athens or Sparta, they are just fish on the chopping board of Diónia.
Upon hearing this, the two of them were immediately discouraged. Athens and Sparta had been fighting for decades, and there were countless casualties. The hegemony of Greece was eventually usurped by a foreign upstart, and all their ambitions and dreams were in vain.
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