Chapter 99: Sparta in Distress

These Heluos village chiefs are already grateful to Dionysus for their freedom. Now they can become the high-level officials of this new city-state, and they are even more overjoyed. There are more considerations, not only for those from Dionysus All the suggestions of the Asian compatriots agreed, and they also proposed: the candidates for the general committee were all compatriots from Dionia, because they had a lot of knowledge and experience in running the country.

The people from Dionia certainly did not delay, 5 generals were quickly selected, and Ticias, the elder of the Kingdom of Dionia, became the chief.

Ionicus watched all of this, and even though he saw a few clues, he didn't dare to make trouble. He witnessed Dionia's extremely powerful military force, whether it was the navy or the army, and even its complete military force. The logistics made him realize the terribleness of this kingdom from the Western Mediterranean.

Unexpectedly, Ticias quickly found him and made it clear to him that as long as he was willing to join Messenia, the council would reserve a seat for him.

Ionicus thought about it for a while, and finally agreed that although he grew up in Elise, he had little influence in the council and never held an important position. The reasons were well known, but he did not declare Mouth: Because he is a Mesenian immigrant.

However, he also put forward a condition: he hoped to bring a few well-connected Mesenian immigrants from Alice to join the new city-state and become a member of the council.

Ticias agreed.

Ionicus immediately applied for a clipper from the 1st Fleet and hurriedly returned to Alice.

The laws promulgated by the new government of Messenia headed by Ticias are being carried out in full force: not only will all Heros in Messenia be free, they will also become citizens of the new Messenia, and Allotments will be obtained, and the councilors from Dionia will confirm and register the population and land of each village with the assistance of the village chiefs for subsequent allocation;

In order to protect this hard-won freedom and independence, the citizens of New Messenia had to undergo rigorous training by Dionian soldiers to defend their city-state in the event of a Spartan attack; It had to have its own city, and the council soon made a decision to rebuild the city of Meseni, which would serve as the center of the new city-state, with no other towns to be built, so that citizens could be more united. Then it was the turn of the soldiers of the Dionysian 1st Army, who would lead the new citizens of Messenia to expand the former Spartan barracks into a town;

A Greek city-state also needs to have a protector. The original Mesenian protector was Zeus, but Tisias and others easily persuaded the village chiefs to stop believing in it, because the Mesenians had three times in the past. All were defeated in the war, indicating that Zeus did not bless them at all. Out of gratitude and trust in Dionia, the citizens of New Messenia finally unanimously decided to ask Hades for protection. At the same time, the parliament also decided that the heroes Aristodemus and Aristomenes, who once led the people to resist Sparta, would also be erected to worship;

Parliament also decided that

Send envoys to the city-states of the Peloponnese to inform them of Mesenia's independence in order to gain their support, of course Sparta is not among them...

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The Messenian plain was full of joy, while the Spartan territory on the other side of Mount Tigertos was gloomy. The impact of the defeat of Leuctra on the Spartans has not yet passed, and now a bigger disaster has suddenly come-Messenia has been taken away.

Messenia is extremely important to Sparta. Sixty percent of the agricultural output of the entire city-state comes from there, and half of the Spartan citizens' land is also there. In addition, most of Sparta's labor also comes from Messenia. ...with the loss of Messenia, Sparta's strength was at least cut in half.

But when they learned the news that it had been captured, the Spartans, who had always been eager to report, did not immediately organize an army to kill Messenia as usual, because Sparta was already in a precarious state. Before Sparta was determined to send troops to attack the Arcadia alliance dominated by Mandinia, but only a very small number of Peloponnesian allies responded to the call, so until now the coalition troops attacking the Arcadia alliance have still It was not completed, and there was still a big shortage of rations and supplies. In such a bad situation, how could Sparta have the strength to fight against the more powerful Dionysian army.

At the council of elders, the Ombudsman and the elders scolded Dionysus for her perfidy, but they were helpless about the predicament Sparta faced.

Agesilaus, who was sick to attend the meeting, also made a fuss, berating them for being short-sighted, knowing that Dionysus had long been hostile to Sparta, but he did not listen to his repeated dissuasion, and ended the friendly agreement signed with him ahead of schedule. , As a result, Thebes took the opportunity to form an alliance with Dionia, which led to the fact that Davos threatened Sparta more than ten years ago (Messenia was captured).

Some elders also refuted, pointing out: Sparta sought support from Persia and ended the war with Thebes as soon as possible. When Nia broke off diplomatic relations, it was definitely impossible to gain the trust of the Persian king, and the Council of Elders finally made this decision as a last resort.

Except for the Ombudsman, the elders are all old people. They will not spend their energy on meaningless abuse and arguing for a long time. It didn't take long for everyone to regain their composure and discuss how to solve the huge problem faced by Sparta. threaten.

As the city-state that has dealt with Dionia the most in mainland Greece, they somewhat understand the strength of the kingdom on the Italian peninsula, and they do not think that Sparta today can fight against it, so they naturally turn their attention to Persia for help.

As a result, the Persian messenger Datis, who was still in the city, was invited to the venue.

Datis felt nervous when he heard the news that "Dionia sent troops to capture Mesenia, and then instead of being arrogant, he behaved very actively. After all, he came to Sparta on a mission, but now he is not Able to realize the plan to unify the entire Greek city-states by Sparta, but led to the premature invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dionysians, which is likely to destroy the strategic vision of the Persian king, so he must work hard. save.

Datis first persuaded the Spartans not to be too nervous, a large amount of food and baggage from Persia and 50 Darek gold coins of Tarrant were on their way, and then he also promised that he would apply to the King of Persia, begging his ability. Sponsor Sparta with more gold and silver, while allowing Sparta to recruit soldiers in Asia Minor so that it can quickly build a large army to repel the incoming Dionysian army (the battle of Leuctra was shaken Sparta's hegemony, coupled with the establishment of the Arcadia Alliance, most of the Spartan allies no longer actively responded to Sparta's call as before, so the Spartans had to go to Macedonia, Thrace, Ionia and Asia Minor to recruit soldiers, which obviously cost money).

The Ombudsman and the elders were calm, but soon they discovered the biggest problem: it takes time to recruit soldiers and build an army, and now the Dionysian army is just west of Mount Tigertos, and there are always Possible invasion of Spartan territory.

Agesilaus made a serious analysis of this: if the Dionysian army wanted to attack Sparta, there were three options. One is to take the middle road and cross Mount Tigertos, but the mountain is steep and the pass is controlled by one's own side, making it difficult for the Dionysian army to pass through; one is to take the north road and pass through Arcadia region, invaded Sparta, but the city-states in Arcadia never had contact with Dionia, and now they have formed an alliance, I am afraid they will not easily allow a large foreign army to pass through their territory; One is to take the south road and let the army enter the Gulf of Laconia by boat and land on the coast of Sparta. According to the information obtained from the soldiers who had returned from the defeat of Messenia, Dionia transported many ships and its troops landed quickly. Rapidly, this route was the greatest threat to Sparta.

Everyone thought that Agesilaus was justified. After some deliberation, the Council of Elders finally made a resolution: temporarily withdraw the military action against the Arcadia Alliance, and send an envoy to show goodwill to it; Military mobilization in the territory, strengthening the defense of the coast, and building facilities to prevent landings; recruiting young Beriass and Helots in the territory to join the army...

And for Herros, the Council of Elders also passed a resolution: only Herros who excelled in the war would be free.

Agesilaus also asked the Persian messenger Datis: I hope Persia can send a fleet to help Sparta defend the Gulf of Laconia.

Datis agreed, promising to convey Sparta's request to the Persian king.

In addition, the Council of Elders also decided to send envoys to Messenia. In addition to taking the opportunity to find out the next move of the Dionian army, the more important thing was to delay the Dionian attack as much as possible in the name of negotiation. , buy time for Sparta to build an army.

This important meeting concerning the life and death of Sparta didn't end until the afternoon. Agsilaus dragged his exhausted body back home, and immediately summoned Xenophon, who had been waiting at the mansion, to discuss the content of the previous meeting. told him briefly.

That night, when Xenophon heard the news of the "Dionysian army landing on the coast of Alice" at his home, he was very disturbed. He rode to Sparta at dawn, but unfortunately he lived far from Sparta. He was far away, and by the time he arrived at Agesilaus' mansion, the Spartans had already received the news that "the huge fleet of Dionia had invaded the Gulf of Messenia", but Sparta had not had time to send reinforcements. The Dionian army had already landed on the Messenian coast.

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