ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1126 Persian Mediation

Pelopidas's proposal was supported by Ipaminondas. Since Ipaminondas' former teacher was Lysis of the Pythagorean school of Tarantum, he was very interested in the Kingdom of Dionia. I know a little more about it.

But apart from that, other Theban senior officials expressed strong opposition to this. The reason is very simple: The Theban government has never had any contact with the Kingdom of Dionia before. On the contrary, their enemy Sparta has This kingdom in the west maintained a 20-year peace agreement and rashly invited the other party to get involved in the disputes on the Greek mainland without knowing the details of the other party. Once Dionia changed its mind and supported Sparta, Thebes I'm afraid Si won't even have time to cry.What's more, the power of Persia is well known, and Dionia may not necessarily dare to take the risk to support Thebes and offend Persia, which supports Sparta (the Thebans do not know that the Kingdom of Dionia is in the West Stalemate with Persia in the Mediterranean War).

Most Theban parliamentarians chose to seek support from Persia. Although Persia was nominally a supporter of Sparta in these years, the Greek city-states had dealt with Persia a lot, and they knew that the Persians were capricious and could change things. Hands are raining, and supporting Sparta now is just out of profit. You must know that Sparta defeated the Persian army miserably in West Asia before this. Therefore, as long as the Theban envoy behaves better, he may not be able to defeat Persia. Fight for it.

After some debate, the Theban government decided to send an envoy to Persia as well, headed by the charismatic leader of Thebes, Pelopidas.

By the time Pelopidas arrived in Persia and came to Babylon, the capital city where the Persian king Artaxerxes now lives, it was already the 20th year of the Holy Kingdom of Dionysia (372 BC) and he entered the main city. Open the door and step onto the famous Parade Street. You will see the ground covered with colorful glazed bricks and the magnificent street scene as far as the eye can see.

Pelopidas was really shocked for a while. He raised his eyes and looked forward. The first thing that caught his eye was the most amazing building in Babylon - a magnificent tower temple with a height of [-] meters. Standing in the center of the city, overlooking this huge city, any Babylonian people would admire it with great admiration. This is Etemenanki (also known as the Tower of Babel), which the Babylonians called "the Tower of Babel". The palace between worlds."

At the end of Parade Street is the magnificent palace of the King of Persia. This palace is also made of colorful bricks and is also inlaid with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, ivory, cedar wood and other precious materials. It is extremely splendid and highlights the In view of the wealth and luxury of the Persian royal family, the Babylonian people lowered their heads when passing by it to show their obedience to the royal authority.

Pelopidas heard that the envoys from Sparta and Athens had been received by the King of Persia, and was worried that the Eastern king, who held great power, would refuse to receive him because of the bad words of the first two envoys, but he did not What comes to mind is that Artaxerxes not only received him, but also listened carefully to his story about Thebes being persecuted by the Spartans in recent years and had to resist the Spartans in order not to be destroyed. What happened during the war.

Pelopidas spoke sincerely and realistically, not as flamboyant as the Athenian envoy, nor as arrogant as the Spartan envoy. This aroused a great impression of Artaxerxes, who praised his He behaved like a noble nobleman, and even briefly discussed with him with interest about what opinions Thebes would have on the terms of the armistice if Thebes and Sparta reached an armistice...

After the interview, Artaxerxes also ordered his men to receive Pelopidas well.

Pelopidas was heartened by the kindness shown to him by the Persian king.

When the Athenian envoy Temagoras and the Spartan envoy Luticli learned the news, they both felt nervous and hurriedly moved around.

In fact, Artaxerxes was so friendly to the Theban envoy, partly because of the charm of Pelopidas, but more importantly because he hoped to achieve peace in Greece, and there was no Thebes in charge of this goal. A compromise was impossible to achieve.

It has been almost 30 years since Artaxerxes ascended the throne of Persia. Except for the initial disturbance caused by Cyrus the Younger's attempt to usurp the throne, the political situation in the country has been relatively stable since then, but his performance in the war was... He was criticized by the Persian people.

When Artaxis Declared independence, drove away the army stationed in Egypt, and confiscated the fertile land allocated to many Persian nobles; King Agesilaus of Sparta led an army to invade Asia Minor, defeating the armies of several Persian governors; he was finally Yi Yi organized an army in an attempt to re-enslave Egypt, but encountered a rare flood of the Nile River, and the generals were at odds with each other, and finally returned without success...

Because of the dissatisfaction of the people, when the Dukiya people in the Armenian mountains in northern Persia rioted the year before last, he finally decided to go on a personal expedition, hoping to conquer these barbarians and demonstrate his martial arts.Although he only led 3 infantry and 5 cavalry, the Armenian region is full of high mountains and ridges, making travel extremely difficult. To obtain food and fill the soldiers' stomachs, and it was impossible to import the required amount in a short time from other areas, the only way was to slaughter the beasts of burden carrying the items... In the end, Artaxerxes could not even feed himself. Supplies were insufficient, and they were almost surrounded by the Ducians. Finally, they were able to escape with the help of the minister Trebasus.

Artaxerxes was already 60 years old. This fright on the battlefield made him seriously ill, and temporarily extinguished his fantasy of personally obtaining unparalleled martial arts and shining in the annals of history like his ancestor Darius.After recovering from the illness, he immediately took in a concubine to dilute his depressed mood with happy events, and this young concubine was his biological daughter Amestris.

Of course, the Persian people did not think there was anything wrong, because this was the tradition of the Persian royal family. For example, King Cambyses once married his two sisters, and they were later married by the usurper Darius. , gave birth to the incomparably noble fourth Persian king Xerxes.

Now, envoys from Sparta, Athens, and Thebes have arrived successively, allowing Artaxerxes to see an opportunity coming to his door, a good opportunity for Persia to better control the mainland of Greece, and this is possible without war. achieve.Therefore, he gave a grand reception to the envoys from the three parties without distinguishing between them.

A few days later, he summoned all three envoys together and let his most trusted minister Trebasus serve as the host of the talks.

It was a meeting, more like a small banquet. There was a dining table in front of everyone, filled with delicacies, and accompanied by beautiful Persian maids. However, the three envoys did not feel relaxed at all, because they understood : After several days of contact, the Persians finally want to express their attitude and who they want to give more support to.

Trebasus saw the tension on their faces. In comparison, the Theban envoy Pelopidas was more calm and calm: No wonder the king admired this Theban man more, even though he Unlike the other two envoys, they were not humble enough in front of the king...

Countless thoughts passed through his mind. Trebasus coughed lightly, and after attracting the attention of the three people, he said loudly: "Three envoys, before our gathering, the king specially asked me to express my gratitude to you. Thank you for your trust in the king and traveling thousands of miles to seek help from him. The king has always shown great kindness to the Greek city-states since he came to the throne, although during this period there were Greeks who helped the evil traitor (that is, the little traitor) Cyrus) disrupted Persia, and later the Spartans invaded Persia's Asia Minor region—"

Although Tribasus did not look specifically at the Spartan envoy when he said these words, Luticli still felt embarrassed, because both of these things were directly or indirectly related to the Spartans.

"But the king did not hold a grudge against this, and his goodwill towards the Greeks did not change because of this. So when the Crisis War broke out, various Greek city-states fought each other out of hatred, completely ignoring the fact that the people were displaced and their wives and children were separated because of the war... ...The King made great efforts to bring the warring states to the negotiating table, and then the 'King's Contract' was signed. Among the city-states that signed the contract were Sparta, Athens and Thebes.

But not even a few years after you had peace in Greece, war broke out again, and it has not subsided until today. This makes the king very sad!Fortunately, you have realized the dangers of war and are actively seeking solutions. Your Majesty’s opinion is——”

The three men of Pelopidas immediately straightened their faces and listened with their ears raised.

Trebasus was satisfied with their response and said with emphasis: "The king hopes that all parties involved in the war will negotiate as soon as possible and restore peace! And in the peace agreement, try to protect the independence and freedom of all parties involved, and try to maintain the independence and freedom of all parties involved. The interests of the state——"

Before Trebasus finished speaking, Luticli couldn't sit still. He immediately interjected: "Try to safeguard the interests of all parties? What does this sentence mean! The Thebans shamelessly declared, 'The whole skin All the Osha region should belong to Thebes, and we have attacked many city-states in the Boeotian region on this grounds. Do we also want to support such arrogant demands?!"

"Master Trebassus must know that in the war decades ago, when the army of the noble Persian King Xerxes entered Central Greece with the help of us Thebans, the Thebes-centered The Boeotian region is a whole, but the frequent wars over the years have caused it to be torn apart. Now we in Thebes just want to return to the past."

　Thanks to Xian Yi Furu Ma Jian Zhi Jiang and Sniper No. 11 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)