Chapter 1237
On the 5th of January, the New Hellenic Alliance Conference was held. It was chaired by Cloto Catax and assisted by Hilos. Nearly 200 city ambassadors attended the conference. Even though the framework of the Alliance had been established, the ambassadors still had a heated debate over some of the smaller details.
On the 11th of January, the final agreement was finalized. The main contents of the agreement were as follows:
First of all, the first clause was that Diónia, Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Agos … all the Greek cities voluntarily formed the New Hellenic Alliance and voluntarily elected Diónia as the permanent leader of the Alliance.
After the establishment of the New Hellenic Alliance Conference, each city would recommend one of its citizens to become a member of the Alliance. The change would take place every three years, but the member of Diónia would always be the chairman of the Alliance.
Members of the Alliance were not allowed to wage war against each other. Otherwise, the Alliance would form an army under the leadership of Diónia to suppress the initiator of the war.
Any conflict between members of the Alliance would be reported to the Alliance Conference. Diónia would form an investigation team to discuss and resolve the conflict.
If a member of the Alliance was invaded by an enemy, the Alliance would form an army under the leadership of Diónia to repel the enemy and ensure the safety of the members of the Alliance.
If a member of the Alliance wanted to wage war against an enemy, they could make a request to the Alliance Conference. If the Alliance passed the request, help would be provided. If the request was not passed, the Alliance would not ensure the safety of the territory. Furthermore, Diónia had a veto.
If other cities wanted to join the Alliance, they would have to obtain the consent of the Alliance Conference. However, Diónia had a veto.
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In addition, under Diónia's deterrence and strong insistence, the New Hellenic Alliance also confirmed the areas of influence of the main members of the Alliance.
Recognizing Athens as the entire Attica Peninsula, including Eyna and Salamis Island.
Recognizing Sparta as Lagonia, including Kissira Island. (Due to Argus' timely surrender at the end of the Greek War and actively sending troops to assist the Dionysian Army, Diónia returned Tytia, which Sparta had occupied for hundreds of years, to Argus. At that time, Sparta was still worried about their own fate and did not have the heart to object.)
Affirm that Thebes will establish the Piosa Alliance, which will be led by Thebes. This alliance will include the entire Piosa region, including Oropus.
(Thebes was the only Greek state that did not oppose Diónia during the Greek War, and supported Diónia in the later stages of the war, which led to the quicker arrival of victory. Of course, Diónia had to repay the Alliance Conference by fully satisfying the dreams of Pelopidas, Ipamilonda, and other leaders of Thebes.
However, regarding the assignment of Oropus to Thebes, the emissaries of Athens, led by Callistratus, strongly opposed it. They believed that Oropus had always been close to Athens and viewed Thebes as an enemy. Oropus had always been considered a part of Attica and should be assigned to Attica instead of Pioscia.
As Pelopidas also strongly argued, this issue was debated endlessly during the negotiation process. In the end, Cloto Catax mediated. He proposed that Eyna, which was occupied by Diónia, should be returned to Athens, while Oropus should be assigned to the Pioscia Alliance. Eyna was obviously more important to Athens than Oropus. Callistratus finally agreed, and Pelopidas' wish was fulfilled.
For Diónia, since Athens had become an ally, it was natural for Eyna to be returned to Athens. This was killing two birds with one stone.)
Mandinia established the Arcadia Union with Mandinia as the leader, and the former territory of Tegea belonging to Mandinia. This was the biggest reward that Cloto Catax gave to Mandinia, who had always firmly supported Diónia in the war, and also fulfilled his previous promise. Hilos even threatened the other Arcadia states that opposed this issue, saying, "If they don't agree, then Diónia will come and settle the score with them for betraying Diónia in the war. Tegea will be their example." The emissaries of the Arcadia states did not dare to oppose in the end.
Confirming that Olympia was under the jurisdiction of Aerys, but Aerys had no right to stop the people of the Arcadia Union from worshipping Zeus, or to cancel their right to participate in the games. It could be said that Aerys was able to regain control of Olympia in the end thanks to the pleading of Ionicus and other former Aerys citizens who had joined Messenia. When Cloto Catax sent troops to surround Olympia to threaten its priests, the Aerys fully cooperated.
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On the 12th of January, the emissaries of the Arcadia states signed the treaty one after another. Then, a famous Greek engraver engraved the treaty and the signatures on a three-meter-tall, one-meter-wide bronze pillar. Then, the emissaries of the Arcadia states would face the engraved bronze pillar and solemnly swear in the name of the twelve Greek gods that their states would abide by the treaty and would never betray it.
Finally, the sacred bronze pillar would be transported to Turín and erected in front of the gate of the Arcadia Union that was being built.
On the 1st of March, a grand triumphant ceremony was held in Turín, the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Diónia.
When the news of the "conquest of Greece" spread to the territory of Diónia, the people of Greek descent were overjoyed. Most of them were either refugees from the Eastern Mediterranean or descendants of immigrants from the Arcadia Union. Even though the country was rich and powerful, there was still a trace of inferiority in their hearts. Now that the Arcadia states that they had once regarded as their mother state had bowed down to Diónia, they could not help but feel proud. They scattered flowers, sang, and danced to welcome the soldiers who had been waiting for this triumphant ceremony for months.
On the platform in front of the Grand Council Hall, the Devers were as overjoyed as the people. Especially when they saw their son striding up, their eyes never stopped looking at him.
When Cloto Catax came up to him, he gave a military salute with great force and shouted in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, the commander of the Greek Expeditionary Force, Cloto Catax, salutes you!"
At that moment, Hades Dafus, who had weathered countless storms and been in power for more than twenty years, actually felt a little excited. His voice trembled slightly as he said, "Child … You've lost a lot of weight, but you look even more spirited! You have done well. You have not let me down! "
His father's kind words melted away the perseverance that Cloto Catax had trained for more than half a year. His eyes suddenly turned red, and he said softly with guilt, "Father, please forgive me. I did not take good care of my brother!"
The Devers comforted him softly, "It is not your fault! Your mother and I do not blame you. Cynthia and Aduy do not blame you either! When the triumphant ceremony is over, we will go home together and worship in front of Adoris's grave! "
He patted Cloto Catax's shoulder hard, handed the golden scepter to him, and said encouragingly, "But now you have to cheer up and celebrate with the people of the Kingdom this great victory that was exchanged with the blood of countless soldiers!"
Cloto Catax nodded and tried to squeeze out a smile. Together with the Devers, he turned to face the thousands of soldiers and people in the square, and raised the scepter in his hand high.
The cheers were like a surging tide, wave after wave.
A month later, the Devers appointed Cloto Catax as the Governor of the Holy Kingdom of Diónia. He would handle the national affairs together with six assistant ministers.
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In the territory of Attica in Athens, there was a mountain called Mount Aegalius. To the east of the mountain was the city of Athens, and to the west of the mountain was a small town called Selesia. Because of the high-quality pottery on the nearby river bank, the town was famous for its pottery industry.
There were many pottery houses and kilns in the town. Every day, countless pillars of smoke would rise from here, day and night. The whole town was shrouded in smoke and dust. When outsiders saw this, they would often worry about the town's residents. Every time this happened, the people of Athens would calmly tell them that this was a good thing. This meant that the pottery industry in Athens would prosper!
In fact, this was indeed the case. Even after the establishment of the New Hellenic Union and Diónia became the new overlord of Athens, the worries of the pottery merchants in Athens did not appear. Not only did the pottery industry in Athens not decline, but the orders were also much higher than before.
Early in the morning, Hesklaus led a caravan from the suburbs of Athens to Selesia.
His pottery factory was located in a large house near the town's gate in the western part of the town. As soon as he entered the house, the foreman in charge of the pottery factory immediately reported to him that the last batch of pottery was about to come out of the kiln.
He immediately rushed to the kiln. As soon as the kiln was opened, pieces of red-hot pottery were revealed in the scorching air filled with black ash. They were of various shapes, but they were all different from the traditional Athenian pottery.
Everyone present was used to this because the pottery was custom-made by the buyer. The designs were also provided by the buyer, and the buyer was a Tulii merchant.
It must be noted that at the very beginning, when Hesclaus had given the new designs supplied by the buyers to the potters, who were in charge of making the prototypes and mouldings, these skilled Athenian potters had refused to make them, considering them to be deviant and wild designs. Hesklaus fired one potter after another because of this. The collective boycott of the potters once put his fledgling pottery business in a desperate situation. But later, more than half of the pottery factories in Selesia received orders from Diónia, and the price was so high that the potters, who had to eat and dress, finally chose to give in.
While waiting for the temperature of the pottery to drop, Hesklaus went to the adjoining vase room, where he wished to express his gratitude and to pay handsomely to Onysimus, the painter, and his assistants, who had painted the designs for the work.
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