Chapter 1277
In the marathon, almost half of the runners failed to finish the race. There were even many runners who fainted in the middle of the race and were sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. This made the audience sigh.
That night, a celebratory banquet was held in the Palace of Diónia. It was the final arrangement for the Games. It also followed the tradition of the various Games in Greece. However, Diónia made it extraordinarily grand. Not only did they invite the champions of all the events, but they also invited all the important ambassadors of the friendly city-states who participated in the Games.
The King of Devers personally hosted the banquet. The atmosphere was very warm.
At the banquet, he clinked glasses with Karalistratus, Iphicrates, Ipamilonda, Agesilaus, and others. Now, he, who was high above and had the power of the entire Greek world, treated these historical figures like he treated other people. He was not too curious about them, and he did not talk too much with them to avoid misunderstandings from the ambassadors of the other city-states. This made Agesilaus' idea of making some requests to the King of Devers, whom he had finally met with, fall through.
At the end of the banquet, the Devers announced two things. First, in view of the success of the Games, the Holy Kingdom of Diónia would hold a Games in the summer every four years. They would try their best to make it the grandest celebration in the entire Mediterranean world. Second, the Greek Parliament would hold an important enlarged meeting the next day. Not only were the ambassadors of the Greek city-states who participated in the Games invited to participate, but the ambassadors of other allied states were also invited to participate. There were important matters to discuss.
Important matters?! The ambassadors returned to the hotel where they stayed with all kinds of speculations. Some of them did not even sleep well the whole night.
On the second day, the Greek Union Conference, the Devers also attended and hosted the meeting.
In front of the messengers and councilors from various cities, he solemnly proposed to declare war on Persia and form an allied army to attack Asia Minor. Everyone was shocked.
As a matter of fact, the King of Devers was not the first person to make such a suggestion in front of the messengers of the Greek city-states. Ten years ago, the orator of Athens, Isocrates, declared many times in the Greek Games and other public occasions: "The Greek city-states should stop all conflicts and internal friction, unite and defend against the threat of Diónia in the west while bravely launch an attack on their arch-enemy Persia in the east. They should completely annihilate the main culprit of the civil strife in Greece and obtain enough land for the Greeks to support more people …"
Although Isocrates' speech was scoffed at by the higher-ups of the Greek city-states, it had a certain impact on the Greek people. After the Greek War, this advocate was expelled by the citizens with potsherds a few years ago and went into exile in Asia Minor because there were rumors in the city of Athens that "without Isocrates' incitement, Athens would not have joined the anti- Diónia alliance, which led to the current predicament".
Now, after the King of Devers made this suggestion, he immediately announced that regardless of whether the Greek Conference agreed or not, the Holy Kingdom of Diónia would send more than 100,000 troops to attack Persia!
This shocked the messengers greatly.
At the same time, the Devers also proposed that as long as the allied states sent their troops to form an allied army, Diónia would equally share the spoils of war with the allied states after each victory. After defeating Persia, according to the contributions of the allied states in the entire war, a part of the conquered Persia territory would be divided as the overseas territories of the allied states in Asia Minor …
As everyone knew, Persia was a rich kingdom, and the king of Persia was the wealthiest in the world. For the Greek city-states, which were small, poor, and financially strapped, it was of course a good thing to earn wealth from Persia and nourish themselves.
For Athens, Thebes, and other powerful Greek states, Diónia's control of the Greek Union had left them with no room to expand their power. If they could defeat Persia and obtain the territories of Asia Minor, it would give them another way to develop their national power … Therefore, most of the allied states of Diónia were moved by the Devers' proposal. Moreover, Diónia had some unwavering supporters in the Greek Parliament, such as Messenia, Arcadia, and Zakynthos … Therefore, the resolution of "declaring war on Persia" was finally passed.
The next step was to discuss the formation of the Greek Coalition Army and formulate a plan to attack Persia.
A few days later, the news of "Diónia declaring war on Persia" spread throughout the kingdom. The enthusiasm of the people, which had not completely faded because of the successful sports held by the kingdom, was reignited.
While the people were discussing this major event in the streets and alleys of various cities and towns, the Devers summoned Leotychides to the office of the palace.
"Did you watch the sports meet?"
"Because many of the games were held at the same time, I only watched a part of them."
"What do you think?"
"Although the Greek city-states have achieved some good results in traditional sports, almost all the first, second, and third place in the games closely related to the military were won by the athletes of our kingdom. This shows that the military quality of the citizens of Diónia is far better than that of other allied states."
"You! You! "The Devers could not help but laugh." You always talk about the military. "
"Your Majesty, you didn't ask me to come here just to chat with me, did you?" Leotychides asked calmly.
"I can hear the resentment in your words. Are you still dissatisfied with the fact that I transferred you from the First Legion to the Turís barracks to serve as the chief instructor of the reserve legion commanders?" The Devers said half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Leotychides remained silent.
Two years ago, the Devers issued a new instruction to the Ministry of Military Affairs: the position of Commander would be established above the Legion Commander. As the highest rank among the frontline officers, the Legion Commander who had commanded multiple legions or allied forces and won many victories could be promoted to this position after passing the examination of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Not only was it a great promotion in terms of salary and position for the military officers of the Kingdom of Diónia, but it also gave them the honor of entering the Senate without being elected. In times of war, the Kingdom could directly appoint these Commanders as the commander-in-chief of the army.
This was a great incentive for all the military officers of the Kingdom of Diónia. However, the Devers knew that transferring those generals with outstanding military achievements and high prestige away from the army during times of peace would definitely displease those generals like Leotychides who did not care much about their positions and devoted themselves to the army. However, in order to maintain the stability of the Royal Family and the Kingdom in the future, the Devers must try his best to perfect the system of the Kingdom of Diónia's army while he was still on the throne. This would reduce the burden on Cloto Catax and his descendants.
Of course, the Devers would not reveal his secret thoughts at this time. He just coughed a few times and said in a gentle tone, "Have you heard the news that the Kingdom of Diónia has officially declared war on Persia?"
"I already know. I'm afraid it has something to do with this, Your Majesty," said Leotychides calmly.
The Devers said slowly, "After discussing with the Ministry of Military Affairs, I think you are the best candidate to be the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces that is about to be formed. What do you think?"
The wooden expression on Leotychides's face suddenly changed. He immediately said, "Your Majesty, I'm willing to take on this responsibility!"
The Devers smiled. He picked up a booklet on the table and said, "If that's the case, the candidate for the commander-in-chief of the Greek Allied Forces will be you! These are some of the preliminary matters that have been decided during the Greek Alliance meeting. Take a look first. "
Leotychides immediately took the booklet and carefully flipped through it. Suddenly, his expression changed. He asked, "Your Majesty, why is there a separate line behind the line that Sparta will send 3,500 soldiers and 40 tons of wheat … Agesilaus will send 500 soldiers to Sparta?!"
The Devers looked at him and said meaningfully, "That was added after Agesilaus talked to me alone. Agesilaus will personally lead all the Sparta soldiers in the land of Lagonia to participate in this military operation. He hopes that after defeating Persia, the kingdom will give the real Sparta a good territory in the western part of Asia Minor …"
"Agesilaus wants all the people of Sparta to move out of Lagonia and colonize Asia Minor?!" The usually calm Leotychides showed a hint of surprise.
"Yes." The Devers nodded and said softly, "After the new government was formed in Lagonia, the political situation was relatively stable at first. However, when the original Helaohs gradually got used to their new citizenship and eliminated their fear of Sparta, their hatred for Sparta also increased day by day … Sigh, this is also where I didn't think it through! After all, after so many years of persecution by Sparta, countless Helaohs died in their hands. This kind of hatred cannot be easily erased!
Although the Helaohs do not dare to openly clash with Sparta due to the kingdom's rules, they can still suppress Sparta through the citizens' assembly or other political means. After all, more than half of their citizens are in Lagonia, and the Piriaci also have a grudge against Sparta. So, for the past year or so, Sparta's life has not been good. Colonizing Asia Minor may be a better choice for them … "
In the past few years, Leotychides had deliberately blocked the news from Sparta, so he did not know that the people of Sparta were living in poverty. After listening to the Devers, he could not help but feel a little guilty, but at the same time, he was also very disappointed. After all, Lagonia was the homeland of Sparta for hundreds of years. …
After a while, he refocused his attention on the name list and raised his question. "The Spartan warriors are very strong, and I have no objections if they want to go out alone. But why did they let Agesilaus lead the troops? He is almost 80 years old, can he fight? "
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