Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Peropidas’s proposal was supported by Ipamunda. Since Ipamunda’s former teacher was Lucis of the Tarantum Pythagorean school, he was against the Kingdom of Dionia Has a little more understanding.

But other than that, other Thebes seniors expressed strong opposition to this for the simple reason: The Thebes government had never had any contact with the Kingdom of Dionysia before, but instead their enemy Sparta This western kingdom has maintained a 20-year peace agreement, and without knowing the details of the other party, hastily invited the other party to get involved in disputes in the Greek mainland. Once Dionysia changed his mind, he turned to support Sparta, Debbie I'm afraid that it's too late to cry.What's more, the strength of Persia is well known, and Dionysia may not dare to take the risk to support Thebes, and to violate the Persian who supports Sparta (The Thebis did not know that the Kingdom of Dionysia was in the west Stiff with Persia in the Mediterranean War).

Most Thebes legislators choose to seek Persian support. Although Persia has been a supporter of Sparta in these years, Greek city-states have dealt with Persian much, knowing that the Persians are volatile and overwhelming. The hand is rain, and now I support Sparta only for the sake of benefit. You have to know that Sparta had beaten the Persian army in Little West Asia before, so the Thebes messenger can only play Persian as long as he performs better. Get it over.

After some controversy, the Thebes government decided to also send a messenger to Persia, and it was the charming Charisan Thebis leader Peropidas.

When Peropidas reached Persia and came to Babylon, the capital of the Persian king Artaxerxes, it was already the twenty-second year of the Holy Kingdom of Dionia (372 BC), he entered the main city On the door, step on the famous parade street, and see the ground covered with colorful glazed bricks, and the eyes are full of splendid street scenes.

Peropidas was really shocked for a while. He looked up. The first thing that struck him was the most amazing building in Babylon-a magnificent tower temple with a tower of 100 meters high towering high. In the very center of the city, overlooking this huge city, any Babylonian people will admire them when facing it. This is Etme Nanki (also known as the Tower of Babel), which is called "located in Xianfan" by the Babylonians. The palace between the two realms."

At the end of the parade street is the magnificent palace of the Persian king. This palace is also made of colorful bricks, and is also inlaid with precious materials such as gold, silver, celestite, ivory, and cedar wood. It is extremely brilliant and brilliant. In view of the wealth and luxury of the Persian royal family, the Babylonian people bowed their heads and bowed their eyes when they passed it, to show their obedience to the royal power.

Peropidas heard that both the Spartans and the messengers of Athens had been received by the Persian king, and worried that the powerful king of the East would refuse to meet him because of the bad words of the first two messengers, but he did not The thought is that Alta Xerxes not only received him, but also listened carefully to the story that Thebes had been persecuted by the Spartans in recent years, and had to rebel against the Spartans in order not to be destroyed. The process of war.

Pelopidas was sincere and sincere, and very truth-seeking, not as exaggerated as the Apostle of Athens, nor as arrogant as the ambassador of Sparta, which caused Alta Xerxes a great favor and praised him He behaves like a noble nobleman, and he is even more interested in simply discussing with him about what the Opium would say about the terms of the armistice if there is a truce between Thebes and Sparta...

After receiving the meeting, Artaxerxes also ordered his men to receive Pelopidas well.

Peropidas was excited by the kindness that the Persian king showed.

The messenger of Athens, Tamagolas, and the Spartan messenger, Lutikli, were both nervous when they heard the news, and hurriedly moved around.

In fact, Artaxerxes is so friendly to the Thebes messenger, partly because of the charm of Peropidas, and the main reason is that he hopes to achieve peace in the Greek mainland, and this goal has no main party Thebes The compromise cannot be reached.

Alta Xerxes has been on the throne of Persia for almost 30 years. Except for the initial attempt to usurp the throne of Little Cyrus, the domestic political situation has been stable since then, but his performance in the war has been Criticized by the Persian people.

When Artaxerxes first assumed power, a small Greek mercenary rushed in and out of the Persian hinterland. The powerful Persian had no way to take them. This uplifted the Greeks and frustrated the Persians; then the Egyptians Declared independence, drove away the troops stationed in Egypt, and confiscated the fertile land allocated to many Persian nobles; Spartan King Agsilaus led the army to invade Asia Minor, and defeated several Persian governor's troops; It is easy to organize the army to try to enslave Egypt again. As a result, Dahongfeng, a rare sight of the Nile River, and the general's disagreement, finally returned without success...

Because of the dissatisfaction of the people, when the Dukya people in the Armenian mountains north of Persia rioted last year, he finally decided to conquer these barbarians and show his martial arts.Although he only led 30,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, the Armenian region is full of mountains and hills, and it is extremely difficult to pass through. It is often foggy and the moon is constant. In addition, the area is barren and the food is not rich. To get food, fill the stomachs of soldiers, and from other regions, it is impossible to enter the required amount in a short time. The only way is to kill the pack animals that carry the goods... until the end, Artaxerxes even has his own meal. The supply was inadequate, and it was almost surrounded by Duquesians. It was finally with the help of Minister Trebasus that he was able to escape.

Alta Xerxes is already 60 years old. This battlefield shock made him seriously ill, and temporarily extinguished the illusion that he would get the world's martial arts and surpass the history books like an ancestor Darius.After getting well, he immediately accepted a concubine and used his happy event to dilute his frustrated mood, and this young concubine was his biological daughter Amestris.

Of course, the Persian people did not feel anything wrong, because this is the tradition of the Persian royal family. For example, King Cambyses once married his two younger sisters, and then Darius, who was usurped, married him. , Gave birth to the noble fourth Persian king Xerxes.

Today, the messengers of Sparta, Athens, and Thebes have come one after another, showing Alta Xerxes an opportunity to come to the door, a good opportunity for Persia to better control the native Greece, which is possible without war. achieve.Therefore, he greeted all the three envoys, regardless of each other.

A few days later, he summoned the three messengers together and let his most trusted minister, Trebasus, act as the host of the talks.

It’s a talk, it’s more like a small banquet. Everyone has a dining table in front of them. The dining table is filled with delicious food, and there are beautiful Persian maids sitting, but the three messengers don’t see any lightness on their faces because they understand : After a few days of contact, the Persians finally want to show their attitude and who they want to give more support to.

Trebasus saw the tension on their faces, and compared with the Thebes messenger Peropidas, he was more calm and calm: no wonder the king appreciated the Thebes even though he Not as humble as the other two messengers before the king...

Numerous thoughts crossed in my head, and Trebasus coughed lightly, and after attracting the attention of three people, he said loudly: "The three messengers, before our meeting, the king specially asked me to thank you, Thank you for your trust in the king, and traveled thousands of miles to seek help from him. The king has shown great goodwill to the Greek city-states since he assumed the throne, although during this period there were Greeks who helped the evil treason (i.e. small Cyrus) disturbed Persia, and later Spartans invaded Persia’s Asia Minor—"

Although Trebasus did not specifically focus on the Spartan messengers when he said these words, Luticli was still embarrassed because both of these things had a direct or indirect relationship with the Spartans.

"But the king didn't have any grudges for it, nor did his goodwill towards the Greeks change, so when the Chris War broke out, the various Greek city-states slayed each other because of hatred, completely disregarding the people's displacement and wives separated by the war... …The great king made great efforts to get the states in the war to the negotiating table. Only then could the “king contract” be signed. The city states that signed the contract included Sparta, Athens and Thebes.

But it’s not been a few years since you Greece was peaceful, the war broke out again, and it hasn’t subsided to this day, which makes the King feel very sad!Fortunately, you have realized the danger of war and are actively seeking a solution. The king's opinion is -"

The three of Peropidas suddenly had a full face, listening with their ears raised.

Trebasus was satisfied with their response, adding a tone: "The king hopes that all parties involved in the war will negotiate as soon as possible and restore peace! And in the peace agreement, try to guarantee the independence and freedom of the parties involved and try to maintain each State’s interests—"

Before Trebasus had finished speaking, Lutikli could not sit still. He immediately interjected: "Protect the interests of all parties as much as possible? What does this sentence mean! The Thebes declared shamelessly, "The whole leather The Oxia region should belong to Thebes', and on this ground, they attacked several city-states in the Piosia region. Should we also support such arrogant demands?!"

"Admiral Terbasus must have known that when the army of the distinguished Persian king Xerxes entered the Central Greece with the help of the Thebes in the war decades ago, the Thebes was the center. The Pioxia region is a whole. It was only the frequent wars in these years that led to the fragmentation. Now our Thebes just want to restore to the past."