Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"I recommend a person. As our ambassador to Sparta, Dionysia, I believe he can certainly accomplish this mission!" Agsilaus looked at everyone's puzzled eyes and said aloud: "This person is Xeno. Fin!"

Cliobrots froze for a moment, and immediately retorted: "You are dizzy! Xenophon is not a Spartan, how could it be a Spartan messenger!"

Agsilaus was not angry at Cliombrotus's impolite words. He calmly said: "Xenophon has lived in our Spartan territory for more than 20 years and has participated in many battles with the citizens. Even in the face of his mother state, Athens, he did not stop wielding the spear in his hand, and the achievements he made were not inferior to our warriors. Moreover, he used his pen to promote our Spartan political system to the Greek city-state The excellent quality has enhanced our influence on the allies, but this is what our Spartans cannot do!

In addition, his son has always played for Sparta, and is still fighting in the Piosia area. Such a Greek scholar has made so many contributions to Sparta, even if he does not have the status of Spartan citizen. But what he has done proves that he is a Spartan and an excellent Spartan citizen!

As for why I recommended him as a messenger to Dionysia, because he participated in the Persian Expeditionary Force that year, and later became a mercenary leader of the Expeditionary Force, I once heard the guest Risops say that he fought in Persia Xenophon and the current Dionysian King Daveus had a very deep friendship, and I believe that his mission to Dionysia will definitely produce better results than others!"

Despite the full recommendation of Agsi Laos, Xenophon's reputation in Sparta has always been good, but the conservative Spartan elders and inspectors have had a heated debate about this.

Eventually at the end of the 22nd year of the Kingdom (372 BC), the Spartan Council of Elders finally made a strange decision: to appoint a Spartan general as the messenger and Xenophon as the deputy envoy Dior Xia, but Xenophon is responsible for all negotiations with Dionia.

This was Xenophon's first trip to the Western Mediterranean. When he embarked on the passenger ship, he couldn't help feeling sad.

In the past few decades, he was not without the idea of ​​"a trip to Dionysia". Even after Dionysia held the Greek Scholars Conference, he had repeatedly invited him, but he did not One of the reasons is that he knew that the Sparta he had settled was hostile to Dionysian, and the King of Sparta, who had always cared about him, was even more vigilant about it. He If you go there prematurely, it will surely make the Spartans cherish; and another reason is that Davers had sent him an invitation when he went to Greater Greece. He refused, and now Davos has set a record in the Western Mediterranean. In a big career, he can't pass the excitement of the past, after all, he is also arrogant.

Now, Sparta gave him this task, so that he finally had the opportunity to see for himself the kingdom of Dionysia established by his former friend Dave.

Xenophon’s route to Turriy was almost the same as the route of Krithorps’s envoy, but after more than 10 years of development, the situation was completely different.

The passenger ship encountered a patrol fleet of Dionysia shortly after crossing the central line of the Adriatic entrance after passing through Corfu Island.

This is a fleet of four three-tier paddle warships and eight small and medium-sized warships. When the captain of the passenger ship told him that this was a patrol fleet of Dionia, he even couldn’t believe it. Because the strength of such a fleet is close to the naval configuration of some medium-powered city-states in Greece, some city-states are even worse than this, but this is actually only a patrol fleet of Dionysia?

So Xenophon asked twice, and after getting a definite answer, he still held a skeptical attitude, even thinking that Dionysia intended to expand the size of his patrol fleet in order to intimidate the surrounding forces.

The passenger ship landed in the port of Odrum.

Today, the port of Odrum has expanded several times compared to the time when Kleethorpes was dispatched, and the scale of its maritime trade has also increased several times. The main reason is that Dionysia’s conquest of Gallo Hill in these years has deterred The forces of central and northern Italy, the Venetians, the Umbrians... all took the initiative to show their favors and alliances to Dionia, and even the influence of Dionia spread to some Erie on the east bank of the Adriatic Sea. Coastal city-state in Ria.When these forces took the initiative to move closer to Dionia, Dionysia certainly did not lose the opportunity to strengthen its connection through trade and cultural penetration.

The Adriatic Sea is a natural maritime access road, and many of the towns of Dionysia on the edge of the sea have very frequent sea traffic with these newly joined Dionysian allies, and Odrum is just one of them. One.It is only because of its special geographical location, not only can you enjoy the trade benefits of the Adriatic Sea, but also a part of the merchant ships from the Eastern Mediterranean dock here...

In order to meet the growing needs of trade and tourists, Odrum not only expanded the port, but also built two additional ports next to it.Its urban area has also expanded and expanded, and the size of the entire city of Odrum has even been close to the center of the region, Udie, and it no longer has the appearance of the small town of Mesapi.

The Chief Executive of Odrum was informed of the arrival of the Spartan Envoy, and specially sent people to welcome Xenophon and his party, and also held a banquet to welcome them.

Xenophon declined politely, and praised it: the port of Odrum was extremely prosperous, and it must be the best town in the Kingdom of Dionysia. If it continues to develop like this, it will be entirely possible to compete with the port of Piraeus in Athens. Comparable.

The Chief Executive of Odrum hastened with a humble expression: There are many port towns like Odrum in the Kingdom of Dionysia, and if Odrum is to be in the forefront, it needs to pay more s hard work.

A lot?... When Xenophon heard this, he couldn't help blinking. He felt that he had discovered a characteristic of the Diorians: he likes to exaggerate the strength of the kingdom to outsiders.

Saying goodbye to the Odrum officials, Xenophon and his party took the carriage and headed west.

Along the way, Xenophon saw the avenue built by the Dionysians, flat and wide, sturdy and beautiful, the carriage drove smoothly on it, and the speed was fast, he was impressed.

But when he learned from the driver’s mouth that roads like this had already been laid throughout the kingdom and connected to various towns, his prejudice made him subconsciously think that the other party was boasting again, because in his impression: even in the native Greece The road like this is only comparable to the section from Piraeus Port to the city of Athens. Odrum Port has a prosperous trade. It is understandable that the road he connects to the outside is better, but other places can It's hard to say.

But Xenophon gradually began to feel that this excellent avenue was too long to repair, because the carriage has been driving for half a day, passing one or two towns, the avenue is still extending forward, and the prejudice in his heart is shaking .

When passing through Tarantum, Xenophon couldn't help but look at him. Over the years, the Spartans who had been with him had talked indignantly about this Sparta that was forcibly taken by the Dionysians. Zibang, this is one of the reasons why the Spartan people are hostile to Dionia.

At this moment, he was eager to go in and see what Tarantum, now the free city of the Kingdom of Dionysia, looked like, but the head of the Odrum team responsible for transporting them refused, saying: It is their duty to send the messenger group to Turiyi as soon as possible, and there is no delay in the middle to avoid accidents.

Xenophon was a little dissatisfied, but there was no way.

The convoy finally arrived at the naval base not far from Tarantum. At this time, it was already dusk. The base's guards carefully checked the documents of the Spartan Envoy and Odrum and let it enter.

As it was getting late, the Spartan messenger and his party could only rest for one night in the camp.

Xenophon learned that this was Dionysia’s naval base and wanted to take the opportunity to visit and glimpse Dionysia’s armament.

Unexpectedly, the guards in the camp restricted them to staying in their houses and not walking around.

The accompanying Spartans were of course dissatisfied, but before leaving, Agsilaus solemnly warned them: during the mission, they should try to make good Dionysians, do not anger them, and avoid giving Spartans Brought disaster.

So the Spartan messenger group chose to endure.

Unexpectedly, the second day happened to be the training day of the Naval Base of Tarantum. The two squadrons of the Dionysian 1st Fleet drove into the big port early to conduct array and confrontation training.

Xenophon when they left by the Clippers at the dock, they could just see the corner of the fleet training: in the high sound of the bugle, nearly 200 warships were said to be in the wide bay, in the fast voyage, constantly Changing the boat array, the scene is very spectacular and lively.

Naval warfare is not good at the Spartans (Xenophon himself has not participated in naval warfare). From this training, they can see no way, but so many three-layered warships still make them feel stupid.

The size of such a fleet is close to the naval level of the peak of Athens, so the patrol fleet has such a configuration, but it can be understood... Xenophon thought in this mind.

The captain of the Clippers saw them so surprised and couldn’t help but remind them proudly: “The naval battleship of Dionysia is more than that. In addition to this naval base in Tarantum, there are also Brindisi and Kata Niah, Lilifeng... and several other naval bases have more than 1,000 warships!"

Xenophon felt a move in his heart. Although this time he still felt that the Dionysians were a bit bragging, but some words might be true. Although other naval bases Xenophon did not understand, Brindisi was close to Peloponnese. The Spartans have a certain understanding of it, so Dionia with multiple naval bases is likely to have multiple naval bases.