Chapter 1236
The two former leaders of the powerful Greek states looked at each other for a moment and sighed at the same time.
At this moment, they heard voices around them, "Hey, let me tell you, I know that lame old man. He's the King of Sparta, Agesilaus. I saw him with my own eyes when I was doing business in Corinth more than ten years ago!"
"I know the man who's talking to him, too. He's the chief general of Athens, Callistratus!"
"That's nothing! I saw the military chief of the Pioscia Alliance, Ipamilonda! Why do you think the leaders of these Greek city-states suddenly came to Phyllis?! "
"You still don't know?! We, Diónia, informed the leaders of the Greek city-states to attend the official establishment ceremony of the New Greek Alliance in Larissa, and they came. "
"We, Diónia? Hmph, Eukris, you traitor, Diónia is the invader, but you're willing to be their lackey! "
"Isn't it good for Diónia to rule Thessaly? The taxes are obviously reduced, but the port trade is obviously enhanced, and our income has increased … Lackey! Hmph, aren't you enjoying the same benefits? How dare you say this! If you're so capable, leave Thessaly, which is ruled by Diónia! "
"I'm from Phyllis, why should I leave?!"
"I say, Eukris, there's another advantage for Diónia to rule Thessaly. You didn't mention that the people in the south used to regard us as barbarians, but now, with just a word from Diónia, their noble generals have to come here obediently. Let's see who dares to look down on us, the people of Thessaly!"
"That's right, even the King of Diónia is a person of Thessaly! Now those Peleus people are arrogant, and it's said that they want to raise funds to build a luxurious cemetery for the deceased parents of the King of Diónia. "
"That's right. Even the people of Larissa have become arrogant when talking to us. Who asked the governor of Thessaly appointed by Diónia to be from Larissa? How dare they change the center of Thessaly to Larissa!"
"That's not Governor Thessaly, but Regional Administrator Thessaly."
"I don't think there's any difference. It's not much different from our Tarkus, except that there's a king on top of it. Sigh, why isn't there anyone from Philae among the ministers of the Kingdom of Diónia? Otherwise, they could have taken more care of us. "
…
The argument between Kalistratus and Agesilaus had attracted the curiosity and heated discussions of the people of Felei. They did not care about their identities at all.
The two of them didn't dare to stay any longer. Supported by his entourage, Agesilaus quickened his pace and only heaved a sigh of relief when they entered the hotel.
The entourage went out to check in. Kalistratus, who was resting at the side, could not help but say, "I didn't expect the Devers to be Thessaly's people!"
"I've known that for a long time. Back then, the Sparta general who led them back from Persia even proposed to the Elder Council to invite the Devers to serve Sparta, but the Elder Council rejected it. Now that I think about it, I regret it!" Agesilaus looked upset.
"Even if the Elder Council agreed, I'm afraid the Devers would reject it," Caprias interrupted.
"Who knows, he was still young at that time …" Agesilaus still could not forget about it.
"No wonder the people of Diónia could conquer Thessaly so quickly!" Kalistratus said with a complicated expression, "It seems that the alliance ceremony was held in Larissa this time because Diónia wanted to show their strength to the people of Thessaly."
"There's no doubt about it," Agesilaus sighed. Although he could no longer lead the army into battle, the strategic vision that he had honed for decades on the battlefield was still there. "Thessaly has fertile plains, a large population, strong cavalry and light infantry. Iazon was already scary enough. Now that Diónia is in control, it's like a huge rock is pressing down on our heads. If the city-states make any moves, Diónia doesn't even need to send troops from Italy. Thessaly's army can quickly move south, pass through Hot Spring Pass, and enter the heart of Greece … Sigh, Diónia is getting stronger and stronger. The Greek city-states have no chance of resisting Diónia!"
The three of them fell into silence. Finally, Caprias could not help but whisper, "There's also Persia …"
This was a sensitive topic. Kalistratus immediately changed the topic, "King Agesilaus —"
Agesilaus interrupted him, "I forgot to remind you just now. Sparta no longer has a king. From now on, just call me by my name."
Kalistratus was shocked. He looked at Kalistratus and immediately asked with concern, "Agesilaus, can you tell me what's the situation in Sparta now?"
Agesilaus was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "I think you will know soon. Now, the people of Sparta are like the people of Athens … They are all trying their best to survive …"
Could he tell the people of Athens that after Diónia conquered Sparta, they liberated the Helaoshis and made the Helaoshis and Piriaci citizens of the new Sparta, and took away the land that should have belonged to the people of Sparta?
Could he tell the people of Athens that when the Greek allied forces entered Peloponnesus and the main Dionysian Army was defending in the north of Messenia, the Sparta warriors attempted to rebel, and if he did not do his best to dissuade them, they would have had to fight against the Helaoshis and Piriaci soldiers, and the result would have been unimaginable!
Could he tell the people of Athens that when the news of the Greek allied forces being defeated and Athens surrendering reached Sparta, the people of Sparta were in despair, and a few of them even chose to commit suicide, while he and Xenophon got drunk and cried on each other's shoulders!
Could he tell the people of Athens that this time, after receiving the notice from the people of Diónia, the new Sparta government sent not only him, but also the messengers of Helaoshis and Piriaci, a total of three messengers, and that he was ashamed to be with the two of them, so he deliberately set off later to Philae! …
No! Agesilaus only had one belief in his heart: As long as he was alive, he would always silently shoulder the burden of the survival of the people of Sparta!
Kalistratus and Kalistratus watched the old Agesilaus being helped up the stairs by his entourage, and their hearts were filled with an indescribable heaviness …
… …
The next day, after the messengers from Athens had breakfast, they left the city with Agesilaus and went to Larissa. Along the way, they met many messengers from the Greek city-states, of course, including the Thebes that they hated.
Now, these messengers no longer had to look at the eyes of the former powerful states of Athens and Sparta. They walked together according to the interests of their respective city-states.
For example, the messengers from Phocis and Locris were together, the messengers from Thebes and other Pioscia were together, the messengers from Elis and the messengers from Achaia were together, the messengers from Mandinia and the other two messengers from New Sparta and the messengers from Messenia were together (although Messenia was now controlled by Diónia, out of consideration for the future, Diónia still let the Messenian Council send messengers to participate in this ceremony as an independent force), Corinth, Argus, and the messengers from Megara were together, the messengers from Euboea and some messengers from the Ionian city-states were together, and some messengers from Ionia took the initiative to approach Agesilaus and the others. The messengers from the Crete city-states also took the initiative to approach Agesilaus …
Some of them were happy, some were excited, some were silent, and some were worried. However, the ones who were most worried were the messengers from the Arcadia Union. They first allied with Diónia and then chose to betray it. It was rumored that "Diónia hates betrayers the most and will punish them severely", so no messengers from the other city-states were willing to get close to these unlucky fellows.
Although the messengers from the various city-states gathered here and there, they formed a long queue on the road to Larissa, which was undoubtedly quite eye-catching. Many people from Thessaly who witnessed this scene spread the news that "Diónia has ordered the Greek city-states to come to Larissa for a meeting".
The messengers also passed by the new barracks that Diónia was building. When they saw more than 20,000 Dionysian Army training, they were secretly alarmed.
After the surrender of Athens, more than 100,000 troops and thousands of warships from Diónia returned to the Western Mediterranean one after another, leaving only three legions stationed in Thessaly. The first reason was to continue to stabilize the order in Thessaly and strengthen the rule of Diónia here. The second reason was to prevent the invasion of the surrounding indigenous forces. Of course, in the plan of the Ministry of Military Affairs, these regular legions would be replaced by the re-established border legion after a few months. With the development of military training in the Thessaly area and the establishment of its own legion, Thessaly would have sufficient defense capabilities.
The barracks that the Greek messengers saw was only one of the ones built by the Diónia soldiers in Thessaly. After all, Thessaly was vast. Whether it was for the needs of military training or security defense, one barracks could not meet the requirements. Therefore, another barracks was also being built in the southern plains of Thessaly near the edge of the mountains. This way, it could ensure that the southern towns such as Pharsalus and Arcadia, as well as the citizens of Lamia in the south of the mountains, could participate in the military training in a timely manner. The barracks that Iazon originally built outside the city of Phylai was located in the northeast corner of Thessaly's territory. Its location was too remote, so it was abandoned.
The messengers entered the city of Larissa one after another, each carrying out their own diplomatic mediation. The ones in charge of this alliance ceremony were the Prince of Diónia, Cloto Catax, and the regional governor of Thessaly, Hilos. Both of them showed a positive attitude, received the messengers, and listened carefully to their opinions.
Note: In history, the rebellion in Asia Minor was a major event in the later period of Artaxerxes' reign. The rebellion lasted for several years, greatly weakening the national strength of Persia. At the time of the rebellion, the army of Persia was attacking Egypt, which caused Artaxerxes' plan to recover Egypt to fall short of success. At that time, in order to resist the attack of the army of Persia, the Pharaoh of Egypt hired many Greek soldiers. After the defeat in the battle of Leuctra, Agesilaus, in order to raise funds and build an army to fight against the Thebes, which had become stronger, accepted the invitation of Egypt at the age of 70 and became the main leader of the Greek mercenaries. However, because he was not put in an important position, he turned to support the rebels in Egypt and drove out the original Pharaoh. Due to the internal struggle in Egypt, the plan of Egypt to counterattack Persia and support the rebellion in Asia Minor was canceled. This gave Artaxerxes a buffer, and finally, the rebellion in Asia Minor was quelled.
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