Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Agsilaus only invited a few good friends, as his guests, to return to the long-standing motherland, including Xenophon.

While Agassius was healing the body, he had also been paying attention to the war in Corinth and news from Great Greece.

On this day, Xenophon visited the house of Agsilaus.

Agassius enthusiastically introduced it into the living room.

As soon as he sat down, Xenophon expressed his heartfelt thanks to him: "King Agsilaus, today I will be informed by the Council of Elders that I will be accepted as a VIP of Sparta and will be given to Sisirus ( Scillus). Thank you very much for your selfless help, so that my exile finally has a home!"

"Sisirus, that's a good place! The land is fertile and close to the forest. You can often see herds of wild deer, and it is near Olympia in Alice. It will be more convenient for you to watch the sports meeting in the future." Agsilaus smiled and congratulated, and then said seriously: "Xenophon, this is Sparta's compensation for you. If you did not help us Sparta with all your strength, how could Athens expel you. Sparta will not fail any friend who has really helped it!"

Although Agsilaus was very sincere, Xenophon did not want to mention more about being convicted of "treason" in Athens. He digressed and said, "I don't know how our war in Corinth has progressed. how about it?"

"According to the latest information, the Corinthians have suffered too many casualties and the land is barren. Many people are tired of war, and some people even quietly contacted Praxitas to try to discuss a truce..." said Agirous.

"This is a good thing! As long as we continue to step up our offensive, I believe that those masters and factions in the city of Corinth will inevitably grow, and Corinth will eventually fall to Sparta." Xenophon said happily.

"But there is also bad news." Agsilaus said grimly: "The Corinthians and Argos quietly formed an alliance!"

"Alliance? What kind of alliance?" Xenophon asked with some curiosity. Collins and Argos were already members of the Anti-Spartan League, and they formed a separate alliance, which seemed to be superfluous.

"Just like your good friend did in Great Greece, Collins and Argos moved out of the boundary marker between the two cities, so that the citizens of the two city-states have the same citizenship, and they merge..." Speaking heavily.

You should know that Sparta and Argos are deadly enemies for hundreds of years. Unlike Athens, even if the Peloponnesian War failed, Sparta only destroyed the hegemony of Athens and still gave it a way of life.If it is defeated by Argos, he will have to peel the skin without dying, because Argos always fights against Sparta.Even as far as the Hippo Wars, all the city-states of the Peloponnesian Peninsula joined the anti-Persian coalition and took Spartan as the leader to fight against Persia, but Argos did not. It preferred to secretly become a Persian internal response. The reason is Spartan.Therefore, Sparta also does not want to see a slight increase in the strength of Argos.

Xenophon was well aware of the complex relationship. He thought about it and laughed: "In fact, you don't have to worry. The two city-states formed an alliance, maybe it's a good thing for Sparta."

"Oh, let's talk about it." Agassius moved his heart, leaning forward and posing in a serious listening manner.

"Now the anti-Spartan alliance joins forces against us Spartan, Thebes, Corinth, Athens, Megara, and Argos all send troops to the war, and Corinth merges with Argos, but only allows Argos to assist Corinth with their enthusiasm It’s higher, but Argos is already a mortal enemy of Sparta, so its pressure on Sparta hasn’t increased much. On the contrary—” Xenophon organized a language and said, “Collins and Argos As two long-established city-states with established states, their respective political traditions, customs, interests and needs have been deeply entrenched, and they are very different. For example, Corinth is the nobility, and Argos is more like Sparta—"

Agsilaus nodded, he said that White Noven was talking about "oligarch politics."

"Corinth believed in Poseidon, and Argos admired Zeus and Agamemnon (the ancient city of Mycenae was in Argos, the Argos often boast of their ancient Greek royal lineage, noble than the Spartans) ; Corinth is mainly commercial, and Argos is based on farming and animal husbandry; Corinthians are smart and smooth, and Argos are conservative and straightforward... These are two completely different city-states, and now they are merged together in a hurry, and they must be two city-states. The decisions made by those in power under the pressure of our Spartan army's offensive may cause more conflicts and contradictions between the two city-states and make the resentful Corinthians lean more towards Sparta ..."

Agassius's eyes lit up: "Xenophon, what you said makes sense! At the Council of Elders tomorrow, I will tell your opinions to other elders."

He stood up excitedly, pacing back and forth, and said: "In addition, I will write a letter to Prolacita, telling him not to attack Corinth in a hurry, but to send people to separate and contact Corinth's opponents... …"

Xenophon nodded secretly, which is why he was willing to follow Agsilaus.There is no shortage of power struggles between the Spartan kings. The most famous is the struggle between Kleomenes and Demaratos before the Hippo War.In addition to worrying about his threat to the king, the reason why Paul Sanias gave Laishande a black hand, I am afraid that another reason is that Laishande fully supports another Spartan king Agassius.This time, the elders’ council will use the "healing" as the reason to bring back Agassius, who was at the front of the army, and replace him with the new king Agassipolis. The reason for this may also be worth investigating.But Agsi Laos still gave Prolacitakti advice despite his previous suspicions, and his mind was visible.

Therefore, Xenophon said sincerely: "King Agsilaus, your suggestion will provide great help for Sparta to overcome Collins!"

Agassius smiled: "You are right, Xenophon, how could the integration of city-state and city-state be so easy. It took Sparta and Mesenia decades to become one, but—" The color of disbelief: "Dionia can not only merge the different Greek city-states of Turiri, Amendolara, and Crimea, but also join the Lucanians and Brutus. Come in, and still be basically stable in recent years, how did your old friend do it?"

After the rise of Dionysia, Xenophon also of course simply thought about the reason for the rapid growth of the city-state alliance through the information he learned, but because of the fact that Black Rolls is the foundation of the Spartan state, some He couldn't say anything, so he didn't answer directly, but sighed: "The time of the establishment of the Dionysian city-state alliance is still too short, and the war with Syracuse will make it troublesome! "

"I'm afraid it's not just trouble. It's already a disaster for Dionysia!" Agsilaus said rightly, and a series of battles that occurred after Syracuse invaded Great Greece briefly told Xenophon. .

After returning to Greece, Xenophon was busy leading the mercenaries to fight the anti-Spartan coalition, and then followed Agassius to Sparta, and settled down with no energy and no way to go. Knowing the battles in Greater Greece, he did not expect the situation in Great Greece to change dramatically in just one month. Dionysia was enemies on all sides and was already in jeopardy.

Agsilaus continued: "In fact, we did not expect that the war in Great Greece would progress so fast, and we originally wanted to mediate this war when the two sides fell into a confrontation, so that Syracuse could dispatch as soon as possible. Reinforcement, invested in our war against Corinth, especially its fleet can ease our blockade by Athens at sea. But judging from the current situation, Dionysius, who has an absolute advantage, will never cease truce. , So I was wondering if Dionysia would surrender voluntarily..."

Xenophon really thought that Agsilaus hoped that Great Greece would end the war soon so that Syracuse could assist Sparta.He certainly didn’t know that there was another important reason in Agassius’ mind: a more powerful Syracuse was not what Sparta wanted to see, because it was very likely that he would not want to be with Sparta again. Cooperation.Therefore, keeping a Dionysia that can pose a threat to Syracuse is conducive to the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean and can also prevent the situation in the Western Mediterranean from being out of Spartan control.

Xenophon remembered the days when he fought in Persia with the young mercenary leader a few years ago. The harder he was, the stronger his fighting spirit was, and he often thought of good ways to help mercenaries get out of trouble.Therefore, he reminded Agassius: "According to my understanding of Daphes, he will not accept the suggestion of "Dionia surrendering to Syracuse", he will definitely fight to the end!"

Agassius sighed: "Anyway, you have to give it a try. What do you think of sending Risopus to Turui?"

Kleethorpes!Xenophon had no clear picture of the Spartan Ombudsman who had fought together in Persia. After Kreethorpes returned to Sparta with Tiburon, Xenophon flew for three or four years. Never seeing him again, he said with emotion: "In Persia, Kleethorpes and Daveus had a good relationship."

"Yeah, he also proposed to the Council of Elders that Daveus be absorbed as a Spartan VIP!" Agsi Laos said with emotion: "So for the young commander of Dionysia, the guest Rithorpes will be a good messenger."