Chapter 1254
"By the way, what has Ptolemy, the regent of Macedonia, who married the widow of Amyntas (stepmother of Alexander, Paticas, and Philip), done recently?"
"Your Majesty, I was about to report to you. Our spies in Eger have discovered that in the past six months, there have been merchants from Asia Minor entering and exiting Ptolemy's mansion from time to time. "
"Merchants from Asia Minor …" Devers pondered and asked, "Are you saying that Ptolemy may have colluded with Persia?"
Aristiras said cautiously, "In order to avoid alerting Ptolemy, the Intelligence Department did not further investigate the merchant from Asia Minor. However, the relationship between Paticas and Ptolemy has been very tense during this period. Paticas has publicly accused Ptolemy of taking too much power and wanting to be king, and Ptolemy has also publicly retorted, 'Paticas is childish, and his rewards and punishments are unfair. If it were not for his supervision, Macedonia would be in a mess' …
It is reported that when Philip sneaked to Turií, Paticas once suspected that his brother was being held hostage by Ptolemy, and even sent his guards to inquire. I think if it were not for the protection of Diónia, the powerful Ptolemy might have rebelled. "
"You are right. A few years ago, after our army helped Macedonia to quell the rebels, the Intelligence Department found evidence of Ptolemy's collusion with the rebels. This shows that he has long been ambitious for the throne of Macedonia, but he has been holding back because he is afraid of us. Now he dares to have a conflict with Paticas, and is no longer afraid of us, Diónia. Who gave him the courage? It can only be Persia! " Devers said with certainty, and then reminded again, "But your Intelligence Department only needs to send someone to monitor him, and you don't have to worry about anything else."
As Devers said this, he was thinking in his heart, 'Wouldn't it be great if we could solve the kingdom's only strong enemy and potential danger at the same time?'
"Yes …" After Aristiras responded, he still had no intention of leaving. Devers could not help but ask, "Is there anything else?"
Aristiras hesitated for a moment, and said softly, "Your Majesty … I have a request!"
"Speak." Devers was curious: the usually cautious intelligence chief rarely made requests of him.
"Your Majesty, I've never left Turií ever since I served you! This time, I hope that I can follow you on the expedition to Persia! "Aristiras said earnestly.
Devers looked at him and was silent for a moment. He didn't know if Aristiras's main purpose in making this request was to resign from his position as Director of Intelligence, especially since Devers had just rejected his resignation.
"Your Majesty, this is just a little selfish of mine. If I can follow you and share some of the glory of conquering Persia, the powerful eastern country, I can proudly tell my descendants when they ask me about it in the future. And if I go to Persia, it will be more convenient and faster to mobilize the personnel of the Intelligence Department, spy on Persia, and disrupt the domestic order … "
Aristiras said earnestly again, "You don't have to worry about the safety of the country. In fact, for the past six months, I have basically not cared about the specific affairs of the Intelligence Department. The specific affairs of the Intelligence Department have been specifically handled by Deputy Director Tratus, and with the full assistance of Secretary Maximus, the work efficiency of the Intelligence Department will only be stronger than before!"
Devers looked at him and suddenly laughed. "Good Aristiras, it's rare to see you speak so much from the bottom of your heart! In order to go out and relax, you don't hesitate to belittle yourself! You've already done this, how can I not agree? But during this period of time, you have to arrange the affairs of the Intelligence Department. Oh, and … when the expedition to Persia is announced to the people, you have to admit to Asuna that it was you who wanted to go, not me, hahaha … "
Looking at Aristiras's back as he left, Devers was deep in thought. It seemed that Aristiras had seen through his intention to replace the old minister and pave the way for Cloto Catax. If I agree to let him go to Persia, then the important positions of the kingdom have basically been taken over by the young and strong ministers … Oh, there's also Sedorum, who has been reluctant to go. It seems that I have to find the right person to wake him up at the right time …
… …
Perhaps because most of the residents of Crete were immigrants from Laconia, the political system of the city-states of Crete was somewhat similar to that of Sparta. For example, they all had the Council of Elders, the Assembly of Citizens, and the Censor System. The boys of the city-states of Crete had to receive education (mainly military training) from an early age …
Of course, due to Crete's narrow terrain and lack of resources, it was unable to unify Laconia like Sparta. Although the city-states had established an alliance, they still maintained their independence. Therefore, they did not have enough financial and material resources to develop heavy infantry. Instead, they focused on training archers according to the actual situation of the island. ReadWeb
Five years ago, after the Greek war broke out and Sparta was conquered by Diónia, the city-states of Crete were shocked. A few months later, when a large fleet of Diónia sailed around the coast of Crete, the Council of Elders of the city-states of Crete quickly made a decision: join the New Greek Union and surrender to Diónia.
After the establishment of the New Greek Union, peace and tranquility were finally restored in Greece in the past few years. The citizens of Crete were no longer recruited by the city-states to be involved in the war in Greece. Many of the citizens of Crete were grateful to Diónia.
The year before last, the king of Diónia announced to the public that "a grand sports event" was going to be held, and invitations were sent to the city-states and countries in the Mediterranean Sea. When the city-states of Crete received the invitation letter, the Cretans were surprised to find that archery was one of the events listed in the letter.
In the past, the Cretans also participated in the sports held in Greece, but it was mostly the children of the nobles who participated. This was because their wealthy families could provide enough money for them to receive professional training in public fitness centers. The standard of the commoners was obviously far inferior to them. However, this time was different. Archery was a skill that the Cretans were good at.
Since Diónia only gave a total of five archery spots to the city-states of Crete, the Crete Union held a grand archery competition. In the end, five of the best players were selected. Together with the players who participated in other events, they formed the Cretan team. In early June, they took a ship to Turií. As this time, some new rules would be implemented, and they needed to adapt to them first.
Megachides, a 20-year-old young man from the city of Heraklion, Crete, won the championship of the archery competition. The people of Crete had high expectations of him, and he was full of confidence.
However, when he arrived in Turií and began to adapt to the venue, he discovered that the target used in the archery competition of the Diónia Games was not a human head target, but a novel circular target. The target was painted with five concentric circles, and the closer the arrow was to the center of the target, the higher the score. This required the players who wanted to win the championship to further improve the accuracy of their archery.
When he first started practicing, Megachides's score was not high, and he was a little nervous. However, after 20 days of continuous practice, he began to adapt.
At this moment, he took an arrow from his quiver and put it on the bowstring. He hooked the bowstring with two fingers of his right hand and slowly pulled back. At the same time, his left hand held the bow straight and slowly raised it. His eyes were fixed on the target 50 meters in front of him. When the bowstring was half full, his arm was motionless, and his breathing was steady, he unconsciously released his fingers, and the arrow flew out.
"Nine rings!" The target reporting officer shouted in front of him.
Megachides shook his head slightly with dissatisfaction, and his left hand rubbed his sore right arm.
"This time, I got a total of 26 rings with three arrows. After four rounds of shooting, it's already very good to be able to achieve such a training result!"
After listening to the target reporting officer's praise, Megachides did not feel happy. He unconsciously turned his head to look at the players who were seriously training on the other targets.
Originally, he participated in the games with the mentality of winning. As a result, during these days of practice, he learned that many of the players who participated in the archery event were very good at archery, and most of them came from various regions of Diónia. As far as he knew, these Diónia players also participated in military training since childhood. Teenagers who performed well in archery would have special teachers to help them strengthen their training in this area. When they reached adulthood, the military camps in various regions of Diónia would conduct an archery test for them. Those who performed the best would be selected into the Light Infantry Brigade, and the weaker ones would become members of the reserve team. Then, they would still go through military training year after year, day after day. Sometimes, they would follow the legion to the battlefield and participate in the battle …
He once asked a player from the East Sicilian region of Diónia, and the player told him that the East Sicilian region had held an archery tryout two months ago. As there was no age limit for the archery competition, the number of participants exceeded 5,000. The whole tryout lasted for 10 days, and in the end, three players were selected after extra rounds (each region of Diónia only had three places for archery) …
The number of people who participated in the archery tryout in one region of Diónia exceeded that of Crete, and there were dozens of regions in Diónia. The players selected from such a large number of people were naturally outstanding. Their performance on the training ground really made Megachides feel pressured.
"One more round!" he said in a deep voice.
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