ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1133 The decision of Thebes
Agesilaus was so taken away by Epamironda's sonorous and powerful words and the fearless look on her face that he was stunned for a moment.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Callistratus was about to speak to resolve it.

But the Persian envoy Datis said sharply: "After signing the contract, you must act in accordance with the contract, stop all wars, and restore peace in Greece. This is the desire of the people of the Greek city-states, and it is also an urgent request of the great Persian king to you! After that, if any city-state dares to start another war and invade other states, Persia will strongly support other city-states that signed the contract to form a coalition and impose severe punishment on them! People of Thebes, I advise you to perform the contract obediently! "

Ipamilonda sneered a few times and looked directly at the Persian envoy, with a cold light in her eyes: "Because we believed in your words from Persia, we signed the King's Contract and dissolved the Boeotian Alliance. The result! The result was that the Spartans You violated the contract, attacked Thebes, captured our acropolis, and enslaved our people! What did you, Persia, do for this shameless violation of the contract? Nothing! So... Haha, what kind of peace! What independence! Let them all go to hell! We in Thebes only believe in ourselves now!"

When Ipamironda got excited, she even clenched her fists, causing the Persian envoy to take several steps back subconsciously.

However, Epamilonda did not punch the Persian envoy in the face, but turned around resolutely and walked out of the venue, followed by several other Thebans.

The Theban envoys left in a hurry, and no one stopped them. For a while, there was silence in the venue.

"Does this Theban signature count?" Callistratus' voice broke the silence.

"Of course not!" Agesilaus said angrily with a sullen face: "Since the Thebans have no intention of signing, there is no need for us to force them in. I suggest that this signature be deleted!"

The envoys of each city-state expressed their agreement successively, and the envoys of Athens did the same.

"The Thebans are arrogant and unreasonable. I'm afraid they will continue to wage war after they return. The King of Persia will never allow such a thing to happen!" At this time, the Persian envoy Datis shouted angrily: "We in Persia will strongly support you in forming an army. An army to punish Thebes and maintain the sanctity of the peace treaty!"

"Datis is right, we should do this!" Agesilaus immediately looked at Callistratus: "What do you Athenians think?"

Callistratus said without hesitation: "We in Athens also support this decision. If Sparta wants to punish the Thebans, we will provide naval support, just like we helped the Thebans."

The Thebans have no navy at all, and the navy provided by Athens is completely useless... Agesilaus knew this, but he did not raise an objection because he felt that regardless of whether Athens provided a navy, it would be of practical use to Sparta. With the help of Sparta, the fact that Athens took this action is of great significance, allowing other city-states in mainland Greece to see that Athens is on the side of Sparta, and with this first support, there will be a second The second time, the third time...there will still be a long time to come.

So Agesilaus immediately expressed his gratitude to the Athenian envoys.

While the envoys from each city-state continued to discuss the contract, the Theban envoys had already ridden out of Sparta and headed straight for the seaside port.

At this time, a Theban envoy had time to complain: "Epamirondas, although your speech at the meeting just now was exciting, it will definitely anger Sparta and strengthen its attack on our Thebes! "

Epamironda looked back at them and said in a deep voice: "Before, some of us still had some illusions about this peace talk, but I believe that now they can give up completely! Our ally Athens betrayed us, and they No more than the Spartans do we want Thebes to unify the entire Boeotian region!”

"Epamilonda, you are right!" Another Theban envoy said angrily: "Although the contract said that it was necessary to ensure the independence and freedom of each city-state and to dissolve the various alliances or alliances established, but He also said that 'city-states can voluntarily help each other'. Even if Athens and Sparta disbanded their alliance, with the influence and strength of their city-states, those original allies would still voluntarily rely on them and be driven by them. And once we disband the Boeotian Alliance, it will soon become a mess!"

"Athens and Thebes are worried that we will be able to confront them after integrating the Boeotia region, so they will try their best to stop us. We must never give in!" Ipamelonda said firmly.

"But this time Sparta has the support of Athens and Persia, and the attack on us will be more violent!" The Thebes envoy said worriedly.

"We are not fighting alone. The Thessalians will fully support us, and we can also seek help from the Kingdom of Dionia." Ipamironda comforted them.

"Dionysia has been in friendly contact with Sparta for more than ten years. Will they choose to help us?"

"I discussed this issue with Pelopidas and agreed that Persia and Dionia must have enmity. Why did Sparta reach a contract now, destroy the friendly agreement with the Kingdom of Dionia, and choose Persia? Then Dionia is likely to accept our suggestion and form an alliance with Thebes."

Ipamironda's words made the remaining Theban envoys fall into deep thought.

"But no matter who we form an alliance with, we in Thebes must rely on our own strength to become stronger!" Ipamironda looked forward resolutely.

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Two days later, the Athens envoys also left Sparta and returned to their motherland.

On the way, Callistratus was satisfied and said to Callias: "We in Athens have benefited the most and gained the most from this peace negotiation."

Callias was a little puzzled: "Under the favor of the Persian envoy, we had to assist Sparta in attacking Thebes. This actually re-recognized Sparta's status as leader. It should be Sparta's biggest gain." right."

Although Callistratus somewhat despised this mediocre Athenian envoy, as the torch bearer of the Eleusinian Mysteries, Callias also had a distinguished role not only in Athens but also in the Peloponnese. He has a small influence, otherwise this contract would not be named after him in the end: Kalias Contract.

Since Callistratus agreed to assist Sparta in attacking Thebes, he would definitely be criticized by some political opponents after returning to Athens. He needed the full protection of Callias, so he patiently explained to him : "Our Athens has been completely weakened since the Peloponnesian War. Not only was it controlled by Sparta, but it was also forced to dissolve all its allies. This is undoubtedly an extremely important event for Athens, which relies on maritime trade to prosper. A blow. It was only after the Corinthian War that our Athens' national strength recovered, but the signing of the King's Contract forced us to once again disband the allies who had surrendered to us, until this time the contract was signed——"

Callistratus said with emphasis: "Sparta has recognized the existence of the Athenian Maritime Alliance, which has actually put Athens on the same footing as Sparta. As for our agreement to assist Sparta in fighting , that is just a false name for Sparta. In fact, there is no need to use the navy to fight Thebes. Even if Sparta wants us to send an army in the future, we can find a way to deal with it.

Sparta is now our ally, but it will also compete with Athens in the future; Thebes once became our ally because of Sparta, but don't forget that it was an enemy of Athens for a long time because What.

This time Thebes did not sign the contract in the end, which will inevitably lead to the war between them and Sparta continuing. This is a good thing for us.Thebes' current national strength has greatly increased. Sparta will not defeat it so easily. The continuation of the war will consume the strength of both sides. When the time is right, we, Athens, will intervene to determine the final victory. Negative, so as to earn the maximum benefit! …”

Callias was persuaded by him.

After the envoys returned to Athens, Callistratus received an urgent notice from the council: secret news came from Thebes, and they sent Pelopidas as envoy to Dionia in an attempt to Make an alliance!
Callistratus was taken aback.

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Even though he had been king for many years, experienced a lot, and met many famous people, Davos still couldn't restrain his curiosity and looked at the Theban envoy standing in the center of the palace hall, because this man was so legendary. .

When Sparta conquered Central Greece and Northern Greece successively, and almost all Greek city-states succumbed to the force of the Spartans, this young man, who was still unknown at the time, led a few like-minded friends and bravely Sneaking back to Thebes, he assassinated the puppets supported by the Spartans, and called on the people to drive away the Spartan army in Thebes; when many Greeks thought that Thebes's resistance was just a flash in the pan, with his Not only was the Theban government formed by the leader not destroyed by the continuous attacks of the Spartan army, but Thebes gradually grew stronger during the war, and in the end it was even able to compete with the Spartans.

Pelopidas...Davos chanted this name in his heart. In his previous life, he didn't know much about the history of ancient Greece. He only remembered one Ipamirondas about Thebes. Now he thinks that the person in front of him is the same. He is also an amazing person.

Pelopidas was also looking at King Dionia curiously. He thought that he had done a lot of great things so far, but compared to the one in front of him, he was nothing. He was far behind: When he had just come of age and was still keen on attending banquets, competitions, and watching plays, this man had already led his mercenaries through thousands of dangers and returned from the hinterland of Persia, winning a great reputation; and then went to Magna Graecia, using less than a thousand men. The troops defeated the natives, occupied Thurii, created the Kingdom of Dionia, defeated Crotone, Syracuse, and Carthage. In just over 20 years, this kingdom became a real kingdom in the Western Mediterranean. Overlord!

He had been to Persia and witnessed the prosperity of Babylon. When he set foot on the land of Dionysia, he observed carefully along the way, especially the grand scale of the city of Thurii and the prosperity of the port. He felt that it was not much worse than Persia. So he was surprised and excited, thinking he was in the right place.

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(End of this chapter)