"I recommend a man to Dionya as our Spartan emissary, and I believe that he will be able to accomplish this mission!" Agosilaus looked at the puzzled eyes of everyone and said loudly: "This person is Xenophon!" ”

Cleombrotus was stunned for a moment, and immediately retorted: "You are dizzy! Xenophon was not a Spartan, how could he be a Spartan emissary! ”

Instead of being offended by Cleombrotus's impolite words, Agosilaus calmly said: "Xenophon has lived in our Spartan territory for more than 20 years, participated in many battles with the citizens, and even did not stop wielding his spear in the face of his mother state of Athens, and his feats are no less than those of our warriors. Moreover, he also used his pen to preach to the Greek city-states the goodness of our Spartan political system and enhance our influence on the allies, which we Spartans could not do!

In addition, his son has also been playing for Sparta and is still fighting in the area of Piosia, such a Greek scholar who has contributed so much to Sparta, even if he does not have the status of a Spartan citizen, his actions have proved that he is a Spartan, and a good Spartan citizen!

As for why I recommended him as an envoy to Dionia, because he had participated in the Persian expeditionary force and later became a mercenary leader of the expeditionary force, I once heard Christopus say that Xenophon had a deep friendship with the current king of Dionys, Davos, during the Persian campaign, and I believe that the effect of his mission to Dionya would be stronger than that of others! ”

Despite the strong recommendation of Agosilaus, Xenophon had always had a good reputation in Sparta, but the conservative Spartan elders and procurators debated it fiercely.

Finally, at the end of the twenty-second year of the kingdom (372 BC), the Council of Elders of Sparta finally made a strange decision: appoint a Spartan general as an emissary, and Xenophon as a deputy envoy to Dionia, but all negotiations with Dionysa were left to Xenophon.

It was Xenophon's first trip to the Western Mediterranean, and the moment he stepped on the passenger ship, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

In the past few decades, he has not had the idea of "visiting Dionia", and even when Dionia held a conference of Greek scholars, he sent him many invitations, but he did not go in the end, one of the reasons is that he knew that the Sparta where he settled was hostile to Dionia, and the Spartan king Agesilaus, who had always cared for him, was even more wary of him, and if he dared to go, he would definitely make the Spartans feel guilty; Another reason is that when Davers went to Greece, he had invited him, but he refused, and now that Davers has made a great career in the Western Mediterranean, he can't even rush to the past, after all, he is also arrogant.

Now, Sparta has given him the task of finally seeing the kingdom of Dioonia founded by his former friend Davers.

Xenophon's route to Turiy was almost identical to that of the Corithorpes mission, but after more than 10 years of development, the situation was completely different.

Shortly after passing through Corfu, the passenger ship crossed the median line of the Adriatic Sea entrance when it encountered a patrol fleet of Dionia.

This is a fleet of four three-layer oared warships and eight small and medium-sized warships, and when the captain of the passenger ship tells him that this is a patrol fleet of Dionia, he can'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 than it, and this is actually just a patrol fleet of Dionia?

So Xenophon asked twice, and after receiving a definite answer, he was still skeptical, and even thought that Dionysa was deliberately expanding the size of his patrol fleet in order to intimidate the surrounding powers.

Passenger ships land at the port of Odrum.

Today's port of Odrum is several times larger than it was at the time of Chrysops' mission, and its maritime trade has also increased several times, mainly because the Dionian conquest of Gallic in the mountains over the years has deterred the forces of north-central Italy, the Venetians and Umbrians...... They took the initiative to make overtures and alliances with Dionia, and even Dionia's influence spread to some Illyrian coastal city-states on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. When these forces took the initiative to move closer to Dionia, Dionya certainly lost no time in strengthening ties with it through trade and cultural infiltration.

The Adriatic Sea was a natural sea communication route, and Odrum was just one of the many towns of Ionia that bordered it, and the new Ionian allies. However, its geographical location not only allowed it to enjoy the benefits of trade in the Adriatic Sea, but also some merchant ships from the Eastern Mediterranean docked here......

In order to meet the growing demand for trade and tourists, Odrum not only expanded the port, but also built two more ports next to it. The city has also expanded, and the size of the entire city of Audrum has even approached the center of the region, Oudière, and has long since lost the appearance of the small town of Mesapi.

When the governor of Odrum learned of the arrival of the Spartan envoys, he sent people to greet Xenophon and his party, and held a banquet to welcome them.

Xenophon politely declined, and praised it: the port of Odrum was extremely prosperous in trade, and must be one of the best towns in the kingdom of Dionia, and if it continued to develop like this, it would be possible to rival the port of Piraeus in Athens.

The Governor of Audrum hastened to modestly say that there are many port towns like Audrum in the Kingdom of Dionia, and Audrum needs to make more efforts if it wants to become a leading port town.

How many? …… When Xenophon heard this, he couldn't help but blink, and he felt as if he had discovered a characteristic of the Diorians: they liked to exaggerate the power of the kingdom to outsiders.

Bidding farewell to the Odrum officials, Xenophon and his party got into a carriage and headed west.

Along the way, Xenophon saw the road built by the Dionians, flat and wide, sturdy and beautiful, and he was amazed by the speed of the carriage on which it drove smoothly.

But when he learned from the coachman that roads like this had already been paved all over the kingdom and connected various towns, his previous prejudice made him subconsciously think that the other party was boasting again, because he had the impression that even in Greece itself, such roads were only comparable to the section from the port of Piraeus to the city of Athens, and the port of Odrum was prosperous in trade, and it was understandable that his roads were better than those connecting with the outside world, but it was difficult to say about other places.

But Xenophon gradually began to feel that the fine road had been built a little too long, for the carriage had been traveling for most of the day, passing through a town or two, and the road was still stretching forward, and his prejudices were wavering.

When passing through Tarantumcheng, Xenophon couldn't help but look at him, and the Spartans, who had befriended him all these years, still talked indignantly about this Spartan sub-state that was forcibly taken away by the Dionians, which was one of the reasons why the Spartan people were hostile to Dionia.

At this moment, he wanted to go in and see what Tarantum was like now, which became the free city of the Kingdom of Dionia, but the head of the Odrum convoy responsible for transporting them refused, believing that it was their duty to send the Spartan envoys to Turii safely as soon as possible, and they could not delay it 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, and it was already dusk, and the guards at the base carefully examined the official documents of the Spartan emissaries and Odrum, and let them in.

Due to the late day, the Spartan envoys could only rest in the camp for one night.

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

The guards in the camp restricted them to their residences and could not move around.

Of course, the Spartans who accompanied him were dissatisfied, but before leaving, Agosilaus solemnly warned them that they should try to befriend the Dionians during the mission, and not provoke them so as not to bring disaster to Sparta.

So the Spartan emissaries chose forbearance.

Unbeknownst to him, the second day happened to be the training day at the Tarantum Naval Base, and the two detachments of the 1st Dionian Fleet sailed into the Grand Harbour early to conduct formation and confrontation training.

Xenophon and his wife left the dock on a clipper boat, and they were able to see a corner of the fleet's training: in the sound of high-pitched military trumpets, nearly 200 warships were laid out in the wide bay, constantly changing the formation of ships in the rapid sailing, and the scene was very spectacular and lively.

Naval warfare was not something the Spartans were good at (Xenophon himself had not participated in naval battles), and they could not see much of it from this training, but they were still amazed by the number of three-tiered ships.

The size of such a fleet was close to the naval level of Athens at its peak, so it is understandable that the patrol fleet had such a configuration...... Xenophon thought to himself.

Seeing them so surprised, the captain of the clipper couldn't help but proudly remind them: "There are more naval warships in Dionia, in addition to this naval base in Tarantum, there are also Brindisi, Catania, Lilibi...... There are several naval bases with more than a thousand warships! ”

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