ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1232
After the death of Cyrus the Younger, due to the turbulent situation in the kingdom, Artaxerxes did not severely punish the officials and nobles in Asia Minor who had supported Cyrus the Younger, but he had always been wary of Asia Minor in his heart.He originally hoped that his trusted Tisaphernes could bring Asia Minor under his full control again, but he did not expect that the Spartan king Agesilaus invaded Asia Minor, and Tisaphonis lost consecutive battles and hated his harm. The Queen Mother of Persia who killed Cyrus the Younger took the opportunity to execute him. Artaxerxes was deliberately angry and did not help Asia Minor. In fact, he secretly hoped that after Asia Minor was completely smashed by the Spartans, he would clean up the mess again.Unexpectedly, when the Corinthian War broke out, Agesilaus had to return to Greece ahead of schedule, but the nobles and people of Asia Minor, whose homes were destroyed, complained a lot because of the inaction of the Persian royal family.

In particular, in order to retaliate against Sparta, Pharnabazus, another governor of Asia Minor, asked the Athenian general Conon, who once lived under his roof, to lead his fleet to directly assist Athens in fighting Sparta. Conon even sent the entire The fleet was taken over by Athens, and he pretended to turn a blind eye.

Unexpectedly, Artaxerxes accepted the advice of his advisers and supported Sparta, and also asked Pharnabazus to take back the warships he had given to Athens.

This aroused strong dissatisfaction in Pharnabazus, who not only disobeyed orders, but also refused to recognize Sparta as an ally of Persia.Since Pharnabazus was a great nobleman in Asia Minor and had considerable influence in western Persia, Artaxerxes eventually had to marry his daughter to Pharnabazus' son to appease this man. Governor, but since then the rift between Asia Minor and the Persian court has deepened.

The Persian officials transferred to Asia Minor by the Persian royal court never received the cooperation of the local nobles and people, and Artaxerxes had also been deliberately weakening the local power in Asia Minor, such as conquering the mountains of Dukia and invading Egypt... Artaxerxes Xerxes asked Asia Minor to provide more troops and supplies. The key is that every major war ended in failure, causing Asia Minor to suffer great losses. One can imagine the resentment in the hearts of the nobles and the people.Moreover, the failure of these wars also reduced the prestige of the Persian royal court, allowing the governors and nobles of Asia Minor to grow in ambition.

In this invasion of Egypt, although Artaxerxes did not ask Asia Minor to provide more soldiers, he did ask them to fully support Sparta and Athens. This was also a huge consumption of materials, and finally triggered a rebellion. , not only Frisia rebelled, but Lydia, Mysia, Cilicia, Bithynia, Lycia, Pisidia... most of the eastern and western regions of Asia Minor rebelled, and it even spread to Syria.

To be honest, Artaxerxes is very upset now. He originally planned to launch an attack on Egypt in two or three years, because by then the turmoil caused by the Dukians had passed and the domestic situation was more stable. The military preparations for Egypt are also more complete. Under such circumstances, the governors of Asia Minor, faced with the huge military advantage of the Persian royal court, may not dare to such a blatant rebellion, but he learned that "the Dionian army invaded the Peloponnese" After the news that he had an absolute advantage in the battle with Sparta, he could not sit still. Once Dionia controlled the Greek mainland, it would be more difficult for Persia to successfully conquer Egypt. They had to take advantage of the period when the Dionian army was contained in mainland Greece to launch an attack on Egypt in advance, but unexpectedly it triggered a rebellion in Asia Minor.

"Trebassus, there is a rebellion in Asia Minor now. Do you have...well, what suggestions?" Artaxerxes looked at the brocade box on the table that contained Timotheus' head, with a seemingly angry expression. He still couldn't hide his nervousness.

"Your Majesty, the kingdom's army is fighting in Egypt. There are insufficient troops in the Mesopotamia plain. Once the rebels in Asia Minor march eastward, they may threaten the royal capital..." Trebassus is worthy of being the favorite of the King of Persia. , knowing very well what the King of Persia was worried about at this moment, he continued: "Your Majesty, I think the generals fighting on the front line will definitely write to you when they know the news of the rebellion in Asia Minor, to put down the rebellion and restore peace to the kingdom as soon as possible! "

Artaxerxes nodded with satisfaction and said, "Go ahead and make arrangements."

As the most noble king of Persia, he had lost his prestige when he returned from his last personal expedition to Dukiya. If he returns from his personal expedition to Egypt this time without success, he will be ridiculed by his countrymen. Of course, if the generals submit a collective letter to request If he reluctantly agrees to suspend the war with Egypt, he can save some face.

After Trebassus left his account, Artaxerxes remembered that Dionia had conquered the Greek mainland and established a new Greek alliance. However, he had prepared a military plan to conquer Egypt for several years, but because of the rebellion, And had to stop... The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but punched the wooden table angrily. The brocade box turned over, and the bloody head of Timothy rolled out, and the pair of eyes that had lost their luster His eyes were just open, as if he were staring at the Persian king indifferently.

Artaxerxes was suddenly startled and shouted in panic: "Take it away quickly! Take it away!"

The eunuch inside the tent hurriedly put the head into a brocade box and handed it to the guards outside the tent.Another eunuch asked with concern: "Your Majesty, you are tired and need a good rest. Do you want Princess Atosha to take care of you?"

After all, Artaxerxes was old and needed someone to take care of him when he went to war, so he took his most beloved and youngest princess Atosha (also his daughter) with him.

At this moment, after venting his extreme emotions, Artaxerxes felt his head was heavy and his limbs were weak, so he nodded.

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On January 369, 1 BC (the 1th year of the Kingdom of Dioria), many merchant ships flooded into the port of Philae City in Thessaly. Although Dionysia conquered all of Thessaly, from Dionysia to The number of merchant ships in Alai is increasing every month, but the scene of blocking the entire port has never appeared like today.

Cabrias finally got off the ship and began to complain: "Since the Dionysians notified us to come to Thessaly, they should make all preparations in advance. How could the order at the port be so chaotic and delay our journey?" For half a day, it would be too ungraceful to say that they were teasing us as if they were victors!”

"I'm afraid the Dionians didn't expect that the city-states, including us, would immediately send envoys to Philae as soon as they received the notice..." Callistratus looked at the various docks in the port. Said sadly.

After Kabulias heard this, he immediately understood: "It seems that they are just like us and want to rush over as soon as possible to gain more benefits for their city-state before the alliance meeting starts and the covenant is signed. "

"From this incident, we can see how powerful the Kingdom of Dionia is in Greece now..." Callistratus sighed.

Kabulias was silent for a moment: Yes, first defeated Sparta, then conquered Thessaly, then defeated the Greek coalition forces and forced Athens to surrender... Moreover, now the local people in Greece already know that Dionia is trying to make Greece They surrendered and sent more than 10 troops and thousands of warships. How could such a powerful military force not make the Greek people tremble!

"Eh? Cabrias, you have good eyesight. See if that person is Agesilaus?!" Callistratus suddenly pointed to the side.

Cabrias looked at it intently and shouted excitedly: "Yes, it's Agesilaus!"

"Let's go, catch up with him quickly!" Callistratos immediately called to his followers to pick up their luggage and hurried forward.

Although the two met not too far away, the flow of people at the port was so dense that they didn't catch up with each other until they entered the city.

"Bless Athena, I'm glad to see you again, King Agesilaus!" Callistratus said sincerely. During the signing of the "Peace of Callias", the two had a tacit cooperation. , when Sparta was conquered by Dionia, there were rumors that Agesilaus died in battle, and he was sad about it.

"I'm not happy to see you." Agesilaus said unceremoniously: "You know when the news of Athens' surrender to Dionia reached Sparta, I was so painful that I almost wanted to commit suicide. Fortunately, I got through it in the end.”

"The power of the Dionians is too strong! The people of Athens were besieged for less than a month, and they strongly demanded surrender. If we don't agree, I'm afraid the people's anger will be vented on us..." Callistra Tuss recalled the scene at that time, and he still had some palpitations. He couldn't help but said: "Dionia, which has only been built for a few decades, can become so powerful. It is the responsibility of you, Sparta! As the strongest in Greece Big city-states, you should have strangled them in the cradle instead of letting them grow, otherwise there would not be today's disaster!"

"Can you blame us!" Agesilaus retorted dissatisfiedly: "If it weren't for you Athenians plotting behind the scenes and encouraging Corinth and Thebes to go against us again and again, we would not be able to use our hands at all. How could it be possible to deal with Dionia today! In the final analysis, this is all your fault in Athens!"

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Cabrias quickly stepped forward to persuade: "Please calm down, both of you! What's the point of arguing about these now? Whether it is Athens or Sparta, they are just Dionia chopping boards. fish.

Upon hearing this, the two of them were immediately discouraged: Athens and Sparta had been fighting for decades, with countless casualties, but the hegemony of Greece was finally usurped by a foreign upstart, and all their ambitions and dreams came to nothing. .

　Thanks to Hanhai Huangsha for the tip!Your support is my motivation to write!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)