Chapter 79 Xenophon's Mission to Dionia

"I recommend a person to send Dionia as our Spartan messenger. I believe he will be able to complete this mission!" Agsilaus looked at everyone's puzzled eyes and said loudly: "This person is Xeno. Finn!"

Cleombrotus was stunned for a moment, and immediately retorted: "You are in a daze! Xenophon is not a Spartan, how could he be a Spartan messenger!"

Agesilaus was not angry at Cleombrotus' impolite words, he said calmly: "Xenophon has lived in our Sparta for more than 20 years, and has participated in many battles with the citizens, Even in the face of his native Athens, he did not stop waving the stab gun in his hand, and he made military achievements no less than our soldiers. Moreover, he also used his pen in his hand to promote our Spartan political system to the Greek city-states The excellence of our quest has enhanced our influence over our allies, something we Spartans couldn't do!

In addition, his son has also served for Sparta, and still fights in the Pioxia area, such a Greek scholar who has contributed so much to Sparta, even if he does not have the status of a Spartan citizen, But what he has done has proved that he is a Spartan, and a good Spartan citizen!

As for why I recommended him as a messenger to send Dionysian, because he participated in the Persian expedition, and later became a mercenary leader of the expedition, I once heard Chrysosops say that in Persia Shixenophon had a deep friendship with the current Dionysian king, Davos. I believe that if he sends Dionysian as an ambassador, the effect will definitely be stronger than others! "

Despite the full recommendation of Agesilaus, and Xenophon's good reputation in Sparta, conservative Spartan elders and ombudsmen engaged in a heated debate.

Finally, at the end of the twenty-second year of the kingdom (372 BC), the Spartan Council of Elders finally made a strange decision: appoint a Spartan general as an envoy and Xenophon as a deputy envoy Dio Nia, but Xenophon was responsible for all dealings with Dionia.

This was Xenophon's first trip to the Western Mediterranean, and the moment he stepped on the passenger ship, he couldn't help feeling overwhelmed.

In the past few decades, it is not that he did not have the idea of ​​"going to Dionia". Even when Dionia held the Greek Scholars Conference, he sent him many invitations, but in the end he did not One of the reasons for going there was that he knew that Sparta, where he settled, was hostile to Dionia, and the Spartan king Agesilaus, who had always cared about him, was even more wary of him. If you go there rashly, it will definitely make Spartans feel bad about it; and another reason is that Davos once issued an invitation to him when he went to Great Greece, but he refused. A big undertaking, he can't go to the past excitedly, after all, he is also arrogant.

Now, Sparta has given him this task, allowing him to finally have the opportunity to see for himself the kingdom of Dionia founded by his former friend Davos.

The route of Xenophon to Turii was almost the same as that of the envoy of Kerethorpes, but after more than 10 years of development, the situation was completely different.

Not long after the passenger ship crossed the centerline of the entrance to the Adriatic Sea after passing through Corkyra, it encountered a patrol fleet of Dionia.

This was a fleet of four three-deck oars 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 couldn't even believe it. , because the strength of such a fleet is close to the naval configuration of some medium-strength city-states in mainland Greece, and some city-states are even worse, and this is just a patrol fleet of Dionia?

So Xenophon asked twice, and after getting a definite answer, he was still skeptical, and even believed that Dionia was intentionally expanding the size of her patrol fleet in order to intimidate surrounding forces.

The passenger ship lands in the port of Oldrum.

Today's Oldrum Port has expanded several times since when Kerethorpes was on his mission, and its sea trade has also increased several times. The forces in the north-central Italy, the Venetians, the Umbrians... have taken the initiative to court and form alliances with Dionia, and even Dionia's influence has spread to some Erie on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Ria coastal city-state. When these forces took the initiative to move closer to Dionysian, Dionia of course also lost the opportunity to strengthen the connection with it through trade and cultural infiltration.

And the Adriatic Sea is a natural maritime traffic road. Many towns of Dionia near the sea and these newly joined Dionysian allies have become extremely frequent by sea, and Oldrum is just one of them. one. It's just that its geographical location is special, not only can it enjoy the benefits of trade in the Adriatic Sea, but some merchant ships from the Eastern Mediterranean also dock here...

In order to meet the growing demand for trade and tourists, Oldrum not only expanded the port, but later built two other ports next to it. Its urban area has also expanded again and again, and the scale of the entire Oldrum city has even approached the center of the region, Udie, and has long since lost its appearance as a small town in Messapi.

The chief executive of Oldrum learned of the arrival of the Spartan messenger group, and specially sent someone to greet Xenophon and his party, and also held a banquet to welcome them.

Xenophon politely declined, and also praised it: the port of Odrum is extremely prosperous, and it must be one of the best towns in the Kingdom of Dionia. If it continues to develop in this way, it will be completely possible to have the same relationship as the port of Piraeus in Athens. Comparable.

The administrator of Oldrum quickly said modestly: There are many port towns like Oldrum in the Dionysian Kingdom. If Oldrum is to become a top port town, it needs to pay more s hard work.

How many? ... When Xenophon heard this, he couldn't help blinking his eyes. He felt as if he had discovered a characteristic of the Diorians: they liked to exaggerate the strength of the kingdom to outsiders.

After saying goodbye to the Oldrum officials, Xenophon and his party got into the carriage and headed west.

Along the way, Xenophon saw the avenue built by the Dionians. It was flat, wide, sturdy and beautiful. The carriage ran smoothly on it, and the speed was fast. He was amazed at it.

But when he learned from the coachman that such roads had already been paved all over the kingdom and connected towns and cities, his previous prejudice made him subconsciously think that the other party was bragging again, because in his impression: even in mainland Greece , a road like this is only comparable to the road from Piraeus Port to Athens City. The trade of Odrum Port is prosperous, and it is understandable that his external connection road is better, but other places can be Hard to say.

But Xenophon gradually began to feel that this fine road was too long, because the carriage had been driving for a long time, passing through a town or two, and the road was still going forward, and his prejudice was shaking. .

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

At this moment, he really wanted to go in and see what Tarantum, who had become the free city of the Kingdom of Dionia, was like now, but the person in charge of the Odrum convoy responsible for transporting them refused, thinking: the Spartan It is their duty to send the messenger group to Turii as soon as possible, and there should be no delay in the middle to avoid accidents.

Xenophon was a little dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do.

The convoy finally arrived at the naval base not far from Tarantum. It was already dusk. The guards at the base carefully checked the official documents of the Spartan messengers and Odrum before letting them in.

Because it was getting late, the Spartan messenger group could only rest for one night in the camp.

Xenophon learned that this was the naval base of Dionia, and wanted to take the opportunity to visit and get a glimpse of the armament of the Dionysian navy.

Unexpectedly, the guards in the camp restricted them to stay in the house and not to move around.

Of course, the Spartans accompanying him were dissatisfied, but when he left, Agesilaus solemnly warned them: try to befriend the Dionians during the mission, don't provoke them, and avoid giving them to Spartans. bring disaster.

So the Spartan messengers chose to forbear.

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

When Xenophon and the others took the fast boat away from the dock, they were able to see a corner of the fleet training: in the high-pitched bugle sound, nearly 200 warships were spread out in the wide bay. Changing the ship formation, the scene is very spectacular and lively.

Naval combat was not something the Spartans were good at (Xenophon himself had never participated in a naval combat), and they couldn't see any way out of this training, but they were still stupefied by the number of three-layered warships.

Such a fleet size is already close to the level of the navy at the peak of Athens, so it is understandable that the patrol fleet has such a configuration... Xenophon thought so.

Seeing them so surprised, the captain of the Clipper couldn't help reminding them proudly: "Dionia's naval warships are more than that, in addition to this naval base in Tarantum, there are also Brindisi, Kata Nia, Lilibe... and several other naval bases have more than a thousand warships!"

Xenophon's heart moved, although this time he still felt that the Dionians were a little boastful, but some of the words may be true. Although Xenophon did not know much about other naval bases, Brindisi was close to the Peloponnese. , the Spartans knew something about it, so it's likely that Dionia, which had multiple naval bases, really had multiple naval bases.

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