ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1173: Forced by the situation
When was the last time most of the Greek city-states formed a coalition?The Greco-Persian War a hundred years ago!This is to treat Dionia as an enemy like Persia!This was very uncomfortable for Clotokatax and Printoles, who had Greek blood and Greek complexes.

Therefore, when the messenger left, both of them looked very solemn.

Printors first broke the silence and comforted Crotokatax: "Your Highness, you don't have to worry too much! The Thebans have already said that it will not take long to form such an alliance that includes most of the Greek city-states. Time can do it, and we still have enough time to conquer Sparta first.

Once Sparta is conquered, Messenia is ours again, the Arcadian League is still our ally, and Ellis has expressed goodwill to us, in this way we will have stabilized most of the Peloponnese, and then In addition, Thebes also supports us. Even if other city-states form a coalition to fight against us, their strength has been greatly weakened. We can completely defeat them with our existing strength and then dominate the situation in mainland Greece! "

Clotokatax pondered for a while and said cautiously: "Our arrival is like poking a hornet's nest. I didn't expect that Delphi, Olympia, and Corinth would hate us so much. This may make Greece The situation has become complicated, and many things may become uncertain... Indeed, the most important thing for us now is to seize the time to defeat the Spartan army and clear out this powerful enemy first. And defeating Sparta will help increase our The prestige is also a shock to other Greek city-states."

"Your Highness is right!" Printors nodded in agreement: "I think we can-"

"Report!" The voice of the palace guard captain suddenly sounded outside the tent.

"what's up?"

"An urgent message from Messenia!"

Clotokatax opened the letter, his eyebrows gradually furrowed, and he fell into thought.

Although Printols was curious, he couldn't take the initiative to ask.

After a while, Clotokatax put down the letter and said: "Senator Tisias wrote to say that Nafpaktos sent an envoy, hoping to allow some of their people to return to their motherland of Messenae. Sub-life”.

"Nafpaktos?" Printors thought for a while and then said with some confusion: "I remember that this city-state seems to be located on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth, near the exit of the bay. During the Peloponnesian War , it is not only an ally of Athens, but also the naval base of Athens in the Gulf of Corinth. The Athenian naval admiral Formio once won a naval battle with a small number and the Athenian army general Demosthenes once used it as a military base. , almost conquered the Acarnania, Ambunakia, Aetolia, and Locris regions... But why does this city-state make such a request?"

"Lord Printors is worthy of being the chief of staff, and is very familiar with the military battles that have taken place." Clotokatax praised him, and then explained in detail: "Before the Peloponnesian War, , Sparta once had a large-scale riot dominated by Messenians. Sparta was unable to put it out with the help of Athenian reinforcements, and finally reached a compromise with these helots and allowed them to leave Sparta. Bada territory.

Athens helped some of the escaped Messenians to establish Nafpaktos. It is said that it came from Pericles' suggestion. This famous Athenian chief general did have a long-term vision, so during the Peloponnesian War Nafpaktos has always been a staunch ally of Athens and played an important role.

After the war, Nafpaktos was forced to dissolve the alliance with Athens. However, in the past few years, Sparta was exhausted from the war and its strength was greatly weakened. Nafpaktos once again had close contacts with Athens..."

Printors was born as a commoner in Turiyi and was talented and intelligent, but because of his poverty, he did not receive much education when he was young. Later, when Dionia was established, he was the first to respond to Davos's call and participate in the adult class of Turiyi School. study.After he escaped from illiteracy, he has not stopped studying to this day, but after all, he is old, so he mainly focuses on studying military affairs.The new generation of Dionian citizens have received a relatively comprehensive education since childhood, with rich knowledge and wider exposure. As a prince, Crotokatax not only has to receive school education, but also complete the tasks given to him by Davos. The learning tasks assigned, the amount of knowledge possessed is relatively extensive, and cannot be compared with ordinary peers.

"The people of Nafpaktos requested to join Messenia on the grounds that they are descendants of Messenia..." Printors carefully savored what Clotokatax had just said, and was very surprised. He quickly reacted and said in a deep voice: "But they have close contact with Athens. I'm afraid there is secret instigation from Athens... Now the First Fleet's patrol in the Aegean Sea has made Athens dissatisfied, and now there are priests from Delphi and Olympia secretly Activity……

Once Messenia becomes unstable due to their participation, not only will the kingdom's efforts in Messenia be undermined, but it will also cause problems for the army's back path. We have to guard against it! "

"Lord Tisias is also aware of this problem, so he wrote to ask for instructions." Clotokatax raised the papyrus roll in his hand, but there was some hesitation on his face: "But we have already issued a call to the whole of Greece. , ‘Welcome Messenian immigrants back to their motherland’, these words were just spoken not long ago, how can we regret it now?”

"Your Highness, we don't need to repent." Printols suggested: "We just need to push this matter back and say, 'Messenia agreed in principle to their return to their motherland, but due to There are too many people returning, and there are not enough houses and land in Messenia for the time being. When Messenia is fully prepared, I will take the initiative to inform them to return.'”

Crotocathax thoughtfully said: "You mean... we will wait until we defeat Sparta and stabilize the situation in the Peloponnese before agreeing to the Nafpaktos' request?"

"Even after we take control of the situation in Greece, we can inform Nafpaktos. After all, Messenia is under our control. The time is of course up to us to decide. Anyway, we have not broken our promise."

Clotokatax nodded, picked up a pen and paper, thought about it for a while, and prepared to write a reply.

At this time, the guard outside the tent came to report again: "Your Highness, the team officer responsible for patrolling the Xiying Gate has brought a man, saying he is from Ellis and has very important news to tell you."

Alice? ... Crotokatax was curious and confused, put down his pen, and said: "Let him come in."

Under the supervision of two palace guards, a Greek man dressed as a shepherd walked into the tent with a nervous expression. When he saw Clotocartax sitting at the head, he immediately shouted: "My lord! My lord! I The owner is Ionicus of Ellis. He wrote a letter and asked me to hand it over to the commander of the Dionysian army. I took the letter, afraid of being discovered, I didn’t dare to walk on the avenue, and ran away I didn’t eat much during the two days of mountain walking, so I was so tired—”

"Don't talk nonsense, take out the letter quickly!" Printors said in a deep voice.

The man was struck by Printors' sharp eyes, and immediately trembled in fright, and quickly took out the letter from his arms.

The guard immediately presented the letter.

Clotokatax opened the letter, and the content in the letter made his heart suddenly sink. He stared at the letter for a long time. After his mind calmed down, he raised his head and said to the guard: "Take him down first. After you have a good meal, tell the financial officer and give him 5 silver coins as a reward!"

"Yes!"

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!..." The man was so happy that he bent down and saluted repeatedly. Then he remembered something and said hurriedly: "Please write a reply, so that my master can rest assured!"

Clotokatax nodded, and after the guards and messengers withdrew, Printols immediately asked: "Your Highness, has something big happened?" Although Clotokatax could hide it well. Yes, but Printols still saw some clues.

Krotokartak handed him the letter silently.

Printors quickly read the letter and his expression became solemn: "Your Highness, the letter said, 'The Olympian priests and the Pisa people persuaded the Council of Elys to join the Greek Alliance and fight against us on the pretext of surrendering to Elys. 'The letter also said, 'At the Council of Elys, the Olympian priests declared that their people would soon convince the Okomenians to rebel against the Arcadian League...' If the situation is true as stated in the letter Yes, the situation will be very unfavorable to us!"

Clotokatax clasped his hands tightly. Although he seemed a little nervous, he still analyzed seriously: "When I was in Messenia, I heard Lord Tisias say that this Ariel named Ionicus Senator's father is a Messenian. He once witnessed our army recapture Messenia from the Spartans, and he also stayed in Messenia for a while, with Ticias and the others. Liberating Helots has a certain fondness for the Kingdom of Dionia, so he wrote to us immediately after learning the news.

He is probably also worried that if we suffer a defeat, the newly independent Messenia will be occupied by the Spartans again... so he should not lie to us. "

"If Ellis turns against us, and Okomanus or more Arcadian city-states also rebel, then our retreat is threatened, and Messenia is likely to be attacked. This battle with Sparta will be difficult!" Printors said in a deep voice.

Clotokatax rubbed his hands and asked hesitantly: "Should we... lead the army back to Messenia first, see the changes in the situation, and then re-determine the next military action?"

(End of this chapter)