Agosilaus invited only a few friends as his guests of honor, and returned to his long-lost home country, including Xenophon.

While treating his body, Agosilaus kept an eye on the Corinthian war and the news from Greater Greece.

On this day, Xenophon paid a visit to the house of Agosilaus.

Agesilaus enthusiastically ushered it into the living room.

As soon as he sat down, Xenophon expressed his heartfelt thanks to him: "King Agosilaus, today the Council of Elders has informed me that I will be accepted as a guest of honor in Sparta and will be given a piece of land in Scillus. Thank you so much for your selfless help in giving me, an exile, a home at last! ”

"Sisirus, that's a good place! The land is fertile, close to the forest, herds of wild deer can often be seen, and it is near Olympia in Alice, so it will be much easier for you to watch the games later. Agosilaus smiled and congratulated, and then said seriously: "Xenophon, this is Sparta's compensation for you, if you didn't help us Sparta with all your might, how could Athens expel you." Sparta will not fail any friend who has really helped it! ”

Although Agosilaus was sincere, Xenophon didn't want to mention the charge of "treason" by Athens, so he diverted the topic and said, "I wonder how our war in Corinth is going now?" ”

"According to the latest intelligence, the Corinthians suffered so many casualties that the land was barren, and many people were starting to get tired of the war, and some even quietly contacted Praxitas to try to negotiate a truce......," Agosilaus said.

"That's a good thing! As long as we continue to strengthen our offensive, I believe that the lords and factions in Corinth City will inevitably grow, and Corinth will eventually fall to Sparta. Xenophon said happily.

"But there's also bad news." Agosilaus said with a grim expression: "The Corinthians and the Argothians have quietly established an alliance! ”

"Alliance? What kind of alliance ?! Xenophon asked with some curiosity, Corinth and Agoth were members of the anti-Spartan alliance, and it seemed that the two of them had formed a separate alliance.

"Just as your good friend did in Greater Greece, Corinth and Argos removed the boundary monument between the two cities, giving the citizens of the two city-states the same citizenship rights, and they merged ......," Agecilaus said in a heavy tone.

You must know that Sparta and Argos have been mortal enemies for hundreds of years, unlike Athens, even if the Peloponnesian War was lost, Sparta only destroyed the hegemony of Athens and still gave it a way to live. If Argos is defeated, he will have to shed his skin if he does not die, because Argos has always fought against Sparta. Even as far back as the Greco-Persian Wars, all the city-states of the Peloponnese joined the anti-Persian coalition and took Sparta as their alliance against Persia. Therefore, Sparta did not want to see the slightest increase in Argos's strength.

Xenophon was well aware of the complicated relationship involved, he thought about it for a while, and said with a smile: "Actually, you don't have to worry. The alliance between the two city-states might have been a good thing for Sparta. ”

"Oh, tell me about it." Agosilaus's heart moved, and he leaned forward and assumed a posture of listening intently.

"Now the anti-Spartan coalition is working together against our Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Athens, Megara, and Argos have all sent troops to fight, and Corinth and Argos have merged, but Argos has more enthusiasm to aid Corinth, but Argos is already a mortal enemy of Sparta, so its pressure on Sparta has not increased much. On the contrary—" Xenophon organized his language and said, "Corinth and Argos, as two city-states with a long history of statehood, have their own political traditions, customs, and interests that are deeply rooted and very different, for example, Corinth is a nobleman in power, and Argos is more like Sparta-"

Agosilaus nodded, he was talking about "oligarchy".

Corinth believed in Poseidon, and Argos admired Zeus and Agamemnon (the ancient city of Mycenae was located in Argos, and the Argos often boasted that they were of ancient Greek royal blood and were nobler than the Spartans); Corinth was mainly commercial, and Argos lived on agriculture and animal husbandry; The Corinthians were shrewd and sleek, while the Argos were conservative and straightforward...... These are two completely different city-states, and the hasty merger of them now must have been a decision made by the rulers of the two city-states under the pressure of the attack of our Spartan army, but it may cause more conflict and contradiction between the people of the two city-states, and make the resentful Corinthian people lean more towards Sparta......"

Agosilaus's eyes lit up: "Xenophon, what you said makes a lot of sense!" At tomorrow's Council of Elders, I will share your opinion with the other elders. ”

He stood up excitedly, paced back and forth, and added, "Also, I will write a letter to Prolasittak, telling him not to rush into the attack on Corinth, but to send more men to divide and contact Corinthian's opponents......"

Xenophon nodded secretly, which was why he was willing to follow Agosilaus. There was no shortage of power struggles between the two kings of Sparta, most notably the struggle between Cleomenes and Demaratos before the Greco-Persian Wars. In addition to the fear that he would threaten the royal power, another reason why Pausanias attacked Lysander was that Lysander fully supported the other Spartan king, Agosilaus. And this time, the Council of Elders transferred Agosilaus, who led the army to fight at the front, on the grounds of "recuperation", and replaced it with the henchmen of the new king Agosipolis, and the reason for this is probably worth investigating. But Agosilaus still gave Proracitak advice regardless of his previous suspicions, which shows his open-mindedness.

Therefore, Xenophon said from the bottom of his heart: "King Agosilaus, your advice will be of great help to Sparta in conquering Corinth!" ”

Agosilaus smiled: "Xenophon, you are right, how can the integration of city-states and city-states be so easy. It took decades for Sparta and Messenia to become one, but—" He looked puzzled, "Dionya was able to merge not only the different Greek city-states of Turiyi, Amendolara, and Crimesa, but also the Lucanians and the Brutis, and it was basically stable for several years, how did your old friend manage to do that?" ”

After the rise of Dionia, because of Davers, Xenophon of course also briefly thought about the reasons for the rapid growth of this city-state alliance through the information he learned, but based on the fact that Helot was the foundation of Sparta, there were some things he could not say, so he did not answer positively, but sighed: "The establishment of the Dionya city-state alliance is still too short, and the war with Syracuse will make it troublesome!" ”

"I'm afraid it's not just trouble, it's already a disaster for Dionia!" Agosilaus said in a straight voice, and then briefly told Xenophon about the series of battles that took place after Syracuse's invasion of Great Greece.

After Xenophon returned to Greece, he was first busy leading mercenaries to fight against the anti-Spartan coalition, and then followed Agosilaus to Sparta, busy settling down, and had neither the energy nor the channels to understand the war in Greater Greece.

"Actually," Agosilaus continued, "we did not expect the war in Greater Greece to proceed so quickly, and we originally thought that when the two sides were in a standoff, we would mediate the war, so that Syracuse could send reinforcements as soon as possible to our war against Corinth, especially since its fleet would ease our blockade at sea by Athens. But judging from the current state of the war, Dionysius, who has an absolute advantage, will never stop fighting, so I wonder if I can make Dionia surrender voluntarily......"

Xenophon really thought that Agosilaus wanted Greater Greece to end the war sooner so that Syracuse could come to Sparta's aid. Of course, he did not know that there was another important reason in Agesilaus's mind: a more powerful Syracuse was not what Sparta wanted, because it was very likely that it would not want to cooperate with Sparta again. Therefore, the retention of a Dionya that could pose a threat to Syracuse would help the balance of power in the Western Mediterranean and prevent the situation in the Western Mediterranean from getting out of Sparta's control.

Xenophon remembered the days when he had fled in Persia with the young mercenary leader a few years earlier, and the more difficult times were, the more motivated he became, and he could often think of good ways to help the mercenaries get out of trouble. Therefore, he reminded Agosilaus: "From what I know of Davers, he will not accept the suggestion of 'Dionya surrenders to Syracuse', he will fight to the death!" ”

Agosilaus sighed, "Anyway, you have to give it a try." What do you think of sending Rysops to Turiyi? ”

Krysops! Xenophon could no longer sketch out the clear image of the Spartan procurator who had fought together in Persia, since Chrysopus returned to Sparta with Tiblon, Xenophon had not seen him again for three or four years, and he said with emotion: "When he was in Persia, Chrysoppes had a good relationship with Davers. ”

"Yes, he also proposed to the Council of Elders that Davers be admitted as a Spartan guest!" Agosilaus also sighed: "So for the young commander of Dionia, Chrysopus would be a good messenger. ”