When was the last time most Greek city-states formed a coalition? The Greco-Persian War a hundred years ago! This is to treat Dionya as an enemy like Persia! This is very uncomfortable for the two people who have Greek blood and Greek complexes, Klotockatáques and Printols.

Therefore, when the messenger left, both of them looked very solemn.

Printors was the first to break the silence and comfort Klotocatax: "Your Highness, you don't have to worry too much! The Thebans have already said that it is not possible to form such an alliance that would encompass most of the Greek city-states in a short period of time, and that we will have enough time to conquer Sparta first.

Once Sparta is conquered, Messenia is ours again, the Arcadian League is still our ally, and Ellis has shown kindness to us, so that we have secured most of the Peloponnese, and Thebes also supports us, even if other city-states form an alliance against us, their strength has been greatly weakened, and we can defeat them with only our existing strength, and then dominate the situation in Greece proper! ”

Klotocatax pondered for a while, and said cautiously: "Our arrival is like a hornet's nest, I didn't expect Delphi, Olympia, and Corinth to hate us so much, I am afraid that this will complicate the situation in Greece, and many things may become uncertain...... Indeed, the most important thing for us now is to seize the time to defeat the Spartan army and eliminate this strong enemy first. Moreover, defeating Sparta would increase our prestige and serve as a deterrent to other Greek city-states. ”

"Your Highness is right!" Printors nodded in agreement: "I think we can—"

"Report!" Outside the tent, the voice of the captain of the palace guard suddenly sounded.

"What's the matter?"

"There's an urgent letter from Messenia!"

Klotocátarchs unfolded the letter, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he fell into thought.

Printors, though curious, is not willing to ask unsolicited.

After a while, Klotocatax put down the letter and spoke: "Patriarch Tisias has written that Nafpaktors has sent an emissary in the hope that part of their people will return to live in their mother state of Messenia."

"Nafpaktos?" Printors thought for a moment before he said, "I remember that this city-state seems to be located on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth, near the outlet of its bay. During the Peloponnesian War, it was not only an ally of Athens, but also an Athenian naval base in the Gulf of Corinth, where the Athenian admiral Fomio had won naval battles with fewer victories, and the Athenian army Admiral Dimosines used it as a military base to conquer the regions of Acanania, Ambulnakia, Aetolia, and Locris...... But why did the city-state make such a request? ”

"Lord Printors is worthy of being a chief of staff, and he is very familiar with the military battles that have taken place." Crotocatacus praised it, and then explained in detail: "Before the Peloponnesian War, there was a large-scale Messenian rebellion in Sparta, which Sparta could not extinguish with the help of Athenian reinforcements, and finally reached a compromise with these Helots and allowed them to leave the Spartan territory.

Athens helped some of the escaped Messenians to establish Nafpaktos, which is said to have come from the advice of Pericles, and the famous Athenian chief general did have a long-term vision, so Nafpaktors remained a staunch ally of Athens in the Peloponnesian War and played an important role.

After the end of the war, Nafpaktors was forced to break the alliance with Athens, but in recent years, Sparta was tired of the war and its strength was greatly weakened, and Nafpaktors was again in close contact with Athens......"

Printors was a commoner of Turriy, gifted and intelligent, but because of his poor family, he had little education in his youth, and later Dionya was founded, and he was the first to respond to Davers's call to attend the adult class of the Turriyi school. After getting rid of illiteracy, he has not stopped studying to this day, but after all, he is old, and he mainly focuses on the study of military affairs. The new generation of Dionian citizens received a more comprehensive education from an early age, rich in knowledge, and more extensive, as a prince, Croto Cataxques, he not only had to receive school education, but also complete the learning tasks assigned to him by Davers, and the amount of knowledge he possessed was relatively extensive, which was not comparable to ordinary peers.

"The people of Nafpaktors have asked to join the Messenian ...... on the grounds that they are descendants of Messenia," Printors savored what Crotocátarchs had just said, and quickly reacted, and said in a deep voice: "But they have close relations with Athens, and I am afraid that there is a secret instigation from Athens...... Now the First Fleet's patrols in the Aegean Sea have displeased Athens, and now there are Delphi and Olympian priests secretly operating......

If Messenia becomes unstable because of their accession, not only will the Kingdom's efforts in Messenia be undermined, but it will also cause problems in the back of the army, and we have to guard against it! ”

"Lord Tisias is also aware of this problem, so he wrote to ask for instructions." Crotokatáx raised the papyrus scroll in his hand, but his face was a little hesitant: "But we have already issued a call to the whole of Greece before, 'Welcome the Messenian immigrants back to their mother country', and the words have only been spoken for a short time, so how can we regret it now?" ”

"Your Highness, we don't need to go back." "We just need to push this back a little bit and say, 'Messenia agrees in principle with their return to their home country, but because of the large number of people they have returned, Messenia does not have enough houses and land for resettlement for the time being, and when Messenia is fully prepared, it will take the initiative to inform them to return.'" ’”

Klotockatux pondered: "What do you mean...... Wait until we have defeated Sparta and stabilized the situation in the Peloponnese, and then agree to the demands of the Navpaktos? ”

"Even after we have dominated the situation in Greece, it is okay to inform Nafpaktos, after all, Messenia is under our control, and the time is of course up to us, and we have not broken our promises anyway."

Klotockataks nodded, picked up the pen and paper, pondered for a moment, and prepared to write a reply.

At this time, the guard outside the tent came to report again: "Your Highness, the officer in charge of patrolling the Xiying Gate has brought a person, saying that he is from Ellis, and he has very important news to tell you. ”

Ellis? …… Curious and puzzled, Klotockatus put down his pen and said, "Let him in." ”

Under the watchful eye of the two palace guards, a Greek dressed as a shepherd walked nervously into the tent, and when he saw Klotocatax sitting on the top, he immediately shouted: "My lord! My lord! My master was Lala of Alice, and he wrote a letter to me that I must hand it over to the commander of the Dionian army. I took the letter, I didn't dare to walk the avenue for fear of being discovered, and I ran for two days on the mountain road, but I didn't eat much, and I was tired—"

"Don't talk nonsense, get the letter out!" Printors said in a deep voice.

The man was stunned by the sharp eyes of Printors, and quickly took out the letter from his bosom.

The guard immediately handed over the letter.

Klotocatax unfolded the letter, and the contents of the letter made his heart sink suddenly, and he stared at the letter for a long time, and when his mind calmed down, he looked up and said to the guard: "Take him down for a good meal first, and then tell the treasurer to give him 5 silver coins as a reward!" ”

"Yes!"

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! ......" The man was so happy that he bent down again and again to salute, and then he remembered something, and hurriedly said, "Please also write a reply letter to my master!" ”

Klotocátáques nodded, and after the guards and messengers had withdrawn, Printors immediately asked, "Your Highness, is something serious?" Although Klotocátáques did a good job of disguise, Printors saw some clues.

Klotokatak silently handed him the letter.

Printors quickly read the letter, and his expression became solemn: "Your Highness, the letter says, 'The priests of Olympia and the Pisans, on the grounds of submission to Ellis, persuaded the Council of Alys to join the Greek League against us. The letter also said, 'At the council of Ellis, the priests of Olympia declared that their men would soon persuade the Okomenus to rebel against the Acadian League...... 'If the situation is as stated in the letter, the situation will be very unfavorable to us!' ”

Klotocatax clasped his hands tightly, although he looked a little nervous, but he still analyzed seriously: "When I was in Messenia, I heard Lord Tisias say that the father of this councilor named Ionicus was a Messenian, and he had witnessed our army recapture Messenia from the Spartans, and he also stayed in Messenia for a while, and he liberated the Helots with Tysias and them, and he had a certain good impression of the Dionian Kingdom, so after learning the news, Write to us now.

He was also afraid that if we suffered a defeat, the newly independent Messenia would be occupied by the Spartans again...... So he shouldn't lie to us. ”

"If Ellis is our enemy, and Okomenus or more of the Arcadian city-states rebel, then our back is threatened, and Messenia is likely to be attacked, and this battle with Sparta will not be easy!" Printors said in a deep voice.

Klotocatachus rubbed his hands together and asked hesitantly, "Do we want to ...... First lead the army back to Messenia, see how the situation changes, and then re-determine the next military action? ”

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