ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1127 The Persian Conspiracy

Pelopidas looked at Luticli again, and then said calmly: "On the other hand, you Spartans have never heard of you owning the whole of Greece, but in recent years, whether it is Central Greece or Northern Greece, you have We can see that you sent troops to provoke war. Our Thebes was once occupied by you, and the port of Piraeus in Athens was also innocently harmed by you. It seems that Sparta is the biggest obstacle to the restoration of peace in Greece. ! Tamagoras, do you think I am right?"

Tamagoras was silent and did not respond.

Luticli wanted to refute excitedly, but Trebasus said loudly: "Sparta should indeed bear a lot of responsibility for the Greek wars in these years! The king gave Sparta a lot of support, but Sparta It is indeed a pity that Da has betrayed the king’s trust!”

Having said this, Trebasus saw Luticli's face turned pale and sneered secretly in his heart: Vulgar, rude, stupid and incompetent Spartan barbarian!If you were not still needed and the king's efforts over the years were not in vain, other Greek city-states would have united to destroy you!Just wait, I will settle the accounts with you Sparta one day!
"But the king believes that Sparta will definitely learn from the lessons of the past and shoulder the heavy responsibility of maintaining peace in Greece. Of course, this will also require the full assistance of other city-states such as Athens and Thebes! As for how you negotiate and sign a new peace treaty, we Persia will not intervene, but the king hopes that it will be best based on the previous contract. For any city-state that does not negotiate seriously, or even deliberately obstructs, and wants to continue the war, they will bear the wrath of the king, and Persia will use all its strength. The enemies who support it will completely eliminate it!!”

The last few words Trebasus said so loudly shocked Pelopidas and others, and they felt that the Persian king was indeed very concerned about the restoration of peace in Greece.

Trebassus suddenly sighed and said: "The reason why the king cares so much about Greece is because you Greeks have few thalassemia, but you have always been able to compete with our powerful Persia, which makes him admire very much! In his In his mind, he always had this idea-the Greeks were the masters west of the Mediterranean.

But now the situation has changed. During the years when you had frequent wars, a country called Dionia appeared in your colony, Magna Graecia. It was like a monster. In just 20 years, Over the years, it not only conquered many foreign races, but also annexed many Greek states. Even Carthage became its vassal.

Now, it has become the overlord of the sea area west of Greece. Next, it may turn its greedy mouth towards Greece, which is very close to it. If Greece does not end the dispute as soon as possible, unite to resist this powerful force. Enemy, all that awaits you is destruction, just like the annexed city-states of Crotone, Locri, Catanai, and Syracuse!Therefore, the king hopes that after reaching peace, you can re-form a new alliance to protect the security of Greece! "

It can be said that the war in the Western Mediterranean that took place thousands of miles away a few years ago had nothing to do with Persia. However, the destruction of the East Phoenician fleet and the subsequent Persian envoys to Dionia and their request for an armistice were severely rejected. This incident greatly hurt the self-esteem of King Artaxerxes of Persia: Even the most unruly Sparta and Athens finally crawled at my feet. How dare a small barbarian kingdom be so arrogant! 'What is it that the Western Mediterranean is the territory of Dionysia? If Persia wants to intervene, send troops if you have the courage! '... This was the angry mood Artaxerxes felt when he heard the envoy's return and enriched his story.

Although Dionia is thousands of miles away and out of reach, Artaxerxes has always held a grudge, and now he finally found an opportunity to fight back against the Kingdom of Dionia who dared to offend his dignity.

After listening to Trebasus's words, the three envoys had slightly complicated expressions and thoughts in their minds.

I heard that in the Western Mediterranean War, the Persians sent a fleet to participate in the war, but suffered a disastrous defeat... It seems that this is true. No wonder the King of Persia received us so kindly this time and was so eager for us to reach peace!However... it is in the interests of Athens and the requirements of the people to jointly resist a Dionia that is very aggressive in military and trade, but should we establish another alliance?But if this alliance were to be dominated by Sparta again, would it harm Athens' interests again? ... I'm afraid we have to go back and discuss these before we can make a decision... This is Tamagoras's idea.

Form an alliance to fight Dionia? ! ... Lutikli felt a little complicated.

Since the Spartans had participated in the Persian expeditionary force, they had long noticed Dionia, which was founded by mercenary leaders, and knew more about Dionia than other Greek city-states. It gradually transformed from a weak city-state when it was founded. During the entire process of the powerful kingdom, Sparta had not used tricks and stumbling blocks to hinder its development, because they kept in mind the threats that King Dionia had said to them, so even if The peace agreement has been taking effect, and they are always worried about retaliation from Deolia, especially now that Sparta is deeply involved in the war in Thebes, so the Persian proposal is very popular with Lu. Tikli is tempted, because if it can be realized, it will undoubtedly give Sparta a guarantee of safety, but at the same time, he is also worried that the establishment of this alliance will really anger Dionia?Can it really withstand a possible attack from Dionia?After all, the Spartans knew somewhat about the strength of the Dionysians.

Pelopidas looked at Trebassus in surprise. He seemed to hear another meaning from the Persian king's favorite: Strange, the Persians seemed to be afraid of Dionia? !Is the strength of the Kingdom of Dionia really that strong? ! …

He pondered for a moment and then asked: "Lord Trebasus, the advice of the King of Persia is very good, but I have a small problem."

"What's the problem?" Trebasus looked at him.

"As far as I know, Sparta has always had close ties with the Kingdom of Dionia you mentioned just now, and has signed a long-term alliance agreement. It is possible for such a city-state to lead the Greeks against Dionia. ?!--"

"Shut your mouth! If you don't know, don't talk nonsense!" Lutikli interrupted him and emphasized loudly: "What Sparta and Dionia signed is a non-aggression treaty. In fact, our Spartan The relationship between Bada and Australia is not good!  …”

"The king is aware of these situations, so the king still proposes that Sparta lead the Greeks to defend against the possible invasion of Dionia, but in order to relieve the doubts of other city-states, Sparta had better draw a clear line with Dionia as soon as possible , Cut off contact!"

Trebasus looked at Luticli coldly, then looked at the other two envoys, and said in a deep voice: "The king is very concerned about the security of Greece and will support you in restoring peace! He will also fully support you in forming an alliance to defend Dai Onia! But if any city-state is still provoking war or refusing to join the alliance, defend against the Dionians, or even secretly collude with them, then we in Persia will call on other Greek city-states to unite and destroy them! If Dionia really invaded Greece one day, and the king promised that he would assist the Greek alliance with a huge amount of wealth and supplies, as well as a powerful navy, to fully assist the Greeks in repelling this evil wolf in the west! ... "

Trebassus' categorical words not only contained a strong threat, but also showed the generous good intentions of Persia. The three Pelopidas were just envoys of the city-state and could not make a direct commitment to this, but only made calculations in their hearts. Considering and weighing the pros and cons in order to return to the city-state and persuade the people to make a certain choice, all three of them remained silent in unison.

But for Trebassus, he had completely conveyed the intention of the Persian king to the three envoys, and the purpose had been achieved. He did not want to stay here with the Greeks any longer, so the banquet ended hastily.

However, after the three people returned to their rooms, the Athenian envoy Tamagoras, who had been the most silent at the banquet, quietly knocked on the door of the Spartan envoy. After seeing Luticli, he said sternly : "Athens and Sparta need to have a good talk..."

Before the three envoys left Persia, Artaxerxes once again received them. After reaffirming his hope that Greece would restore peace and form an alliance to defend Dionia, he showed his generosity and gave The three envoys received generous rewards. Among them, he also gave the Spartan envoy Luticli a corolla soaked in ointment that he always carried. He also heard that the Athenian envoy Tamagoras loved to drink milk, so he also He was specially given a dozen good cows as gifts, but he did not show anything special to Pelopidas, which was somewhat contrary to his previous performance in receiving the three envoys.

In addition, he summoned Luticli again alone, specifically mentioning the "friendly agreement signed between Sparta and Dionia", and reminded him seriously: Sparta must make peace with Dionia. Break off ties, or Persia will turn to support its enemy, Thebes.

Due to the pressure exerted by the Persian king, Lutikli appeared to be preoccupied on the way back.

Pelopidas was also uneasy. Even though the Persian king in Babylon had a good attitude towards him, he could feel that the Persians believed in and supported Sparta more, and they specifically mentioned that sentence in the previous meeting. , "It is best for the peace talks to be based on the king's contract", which made him worry a lot.

(End of this chapter)