Two days later, in the evening, a great dinner was held at the royal palace of Theonia, attended by not only King Davos and Xenophon, but also Shiros, Alexis, Amintas, Felicios, Agacia, Tormide, Capuz, Antonios, Epitenis, Mattonis, Olivers, and Giogris...... Even Princess Christoya was present at the banquet.

At the banquet, everyone reminisced about their adventures in Persia and thanked the mercenary leaders such as Davers and Xenophon for finally leading them out of danger, and toasted them one after another.

There are also those who lament the affluence they enjoy today, and regret the wrong choices made by Cleano, Timason, and Xenophon.

Of course, there were also people who persuaded Xenophon to leave Sparta and settle in Dionia, where he enjoyed the rest of his life with his former comrades-in-arms, and was perfunctory by Xenophon.

When the banquet was about to end and Xenophon toasted Davers, he boldly asked: "Now that the national power of Dionya is so strong, why is it so tolerant in the face of Sparta's early termination of the friendship agreement?" ”

Davers squinted his drunken eyes and calmly told the story: "A few years ago, Mauritania sent several elephants to the kingdom as a sign of respect, and when they were kept in captivity next to the palace mansion, the hounds in the palace barked at them from afar because of fear, but the elephants were always quiet and regarded them as nothing. It didn't take long for the hound to stop barking, and the two sides were fine......"

In the past two days, Xenophon has visited the zoo and knows how large the elephant's body is, and after listening to it, he was silent for a while.

The Spartan envoys soon returned to Sparta, and were relieved to learn that the King of Dioonia had calmly accepted the "Spartan End of the Friendship Agreement" without any intention of punishing them.

It's just that when Xenophon visited Agosilaus, he told in detail what he had seen and heard in the Kingdom of Dionia, and solemnly reminded: "Although Dionya has no ill will towards Sparta now, it is best to re-sign a contract with Dionya as soon as possible and restore friendship!" ”

This is an obvious question, but Agosilaus thought about it for a while before he said with a solemn expression: "You are right, our peace talks with Thebes and Athens must be held as soon as possible, and the contract must be signed as soon as possible, so that Sparta can have the confidence to negotiate with Dionia." ”

……………………………………

In the spring of 371 BC (the twenty-third year of the Divine Kingdom of Dionia), the Theban War, which had lasted for many years, finally ushered in the dawn of peace. With the support of Persia, the two sides of the war will hold peace talks, which will take place in the city of Sparta.

Since it was Sparta's home turf, the major city-states of the Peloponnesian League sent emissaries to participate in the peace talks, and they were the first to arrive at the venue. This was followed by the Athenian Mission, with the Athenian general Calistratus as the main leader, and his assistant being Callias the torchbearer of the Elaces Miyi. The last to arrive was the Theban emissary group, led by Ipamironda. In addition, Persia also sent emissaries to participate in this meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, Athens turned against Sparta, and Calias and Callistratus successively accused the Spartans of being the main culprit in the war by acting arbitrarily and oppressing the allies, and at the same time sadly pointed out the harm caused by the war to the city-states of Greece, which resonated with the envoys of the city-states present.

Agosilaus and Archidamus, who were in Sparta at the meeting, seemed to be guilty of this, and neither immediately refuted it. So, all the emissaries present quickly reached a unanimous consensus: stop the war.

It seems that the Athenians still sided with Thebes against the Spartans, but in fact through Temagoras's contacts with Luticles in Persia, the two sides had secretly reached a certain tacit understanding. As a result, this tacit understanding was revealed in the ensuing discussions on the signing of the contract.

Both Athens and Sparta declared that, according to the Persian proposals, peace would continue to be based on the principles laid down in the 'Treaty of Kings', that all city-states must withdraw their troops (whether army or navy) stationed in other states, that any alliance must be dissolved, and that all Greek city-states would remain independent.

In this way, there was a big problem, which was not solved after the end of the Corinthian War and the signing of the 'Treaty of the Great King': the League of Athens and the League of Peloponnese did not meet the rules and should be dissolved.

So Ipamironda, who had been watching the Athenians perform until now, immediately pointed out the problem loudly.

Knowing that the Athenians and the Spartans had already prepared, Calistratus immediately admitted that there were indeed defects in the original 'Great King's Contract', and he thought that it should be amended to change the terms to be: no city-state may be forced to become a member of the alliance, but different city-states may cooperate with each other as they wish, but no treaty shall be made manipulated.

Agosilaus immediately agreed, believing that such a change would be more reasonable and acceptable to the city-states.

The other Peloponnesian envoys also agreed, and with the support of the Persian envoys, the terms of the contract were determined, and the oath was signed.

One by one, the envoys of the Peloponnesian city-state rushed to sign the name of the city-state, Athens and Sparta also signed, and finally it was the turn of the envoys of Thebes, and everyone's eyes were focused on them.

Ipamironda stood up with a calm face, solemnly swore in the name of Zeus, then took a pen and wrote his name on the oath.

Most of the people in the room breathed a sigh of relief, but they heard Agosilaus say in a deep voice: "Thebans, you have signed the wrong name.

Ipamironda said very firmly: "I have confirmed it, there is no mistake!" ”

At this time, the other people in the venue felt that the situation was not right, and they rushed to pick up the oath and take a look, only to see that it was clearly written: Piosia, Ipamironda.

Agosilaus said angrily, "Ipamironda, are you fooling us? Everyone knows that Piosia is a region, and Thebes is just a city-state in this region, what right does it have to sign on behalf of all the city-states in Piosia! ”

Ipamironda was not afraid at all, he looked at Agosilaus and said unhurriedly: "What's so strange about this, you can think of Piosia as Laconia (Laconia is the area inhabited by the Spartans), or—"

Ipamironda turned his head to look at Calistratus again, and said very forcefully: "Attica, not the Peloponnesian League, or the Athenian Maritime League!" ”

As soon as these words came out, the envoys of the other city-states in the hall were shocked: the ambition of the Thebans was revealed, and they wanted to unify Piosia!

Carry Stratus immediately retorted: "When the Greeks speak of Athens, they are not referring only to the city of Athens, but to the whole region of Attica; When the Greeks spoke of Sparta, they were also referring to the whole of Laconia; But when people talk about Thebes, do they mean the whole of Piosia? Obviously, this refers only to the city-state of Thebes.

Why is this happening? That's because Athens and Sparta had been merging one region for a long time, and over time it had been a long time for the rest of the Greeks to identify with it. Unfortunately, they could not agree that Thebes represented Piosia, as many of the city-states in the Piosia region were still independent. ”

Agosilaus then said in a fierce voice: "According to this oath, Thebes must dissolve your newly formed Piosia Alliance, and let every Piosia city-state under your control gain independence and freedom!" ”

Ipamironda pushed Agosilaus back with a remark that did not show weakness: "If you Sparta give independence to every town in Laconia, then our Piosia League will be dissolved!" ”

Then, looking at Agesilaus and Calistratus with a resolute expression, he defended him strongly: "You Sparta have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of Piosia, just as we in Thebes have no right to interfere in the internal management of Laconia; Laconia, Piosia, and Attica each represent very different forms of government, each of which is justified under the witness of Zeus; Piosia's alliance with Attica to develop into a city was a natural thing, a process that had the same legitimacy as Lagenia as it did to become an oligarchy subordinate to Sparta—"

Agesilaus's son, Archidamus, interrupted him loudly: "You are talking nonsense! You Thebans want to continue waging war, attacking other Piosian city-states and depriving them of their independence and freedom, and this will not be allowed! ”

Ipamironda sneered: "Didn't you Spartans do that before!" It is because of your aggression that we in Piosia have shamelessly captured our cities and sent garrisons and officers in other Piosia city-states to deprive them of their independence and freedom, and it is because of your aggression that we in Piosia have realized that we must unite in order to guarantee the freedom of our Piosiae people! ”

Archidamus was momentarily speechless.

Ipamironda then said to Agosilaus, "We in Thebes have indeed taken some strong measures for the sake of this Piosian alliance, but you Sparta have no right to interfere, because in ancient times when no one could accurately time, your ancestors took stronger high-pressure measures, and the kingdom you maintain was established by them in this strong way.

Now the friendly allies of Thebes and Piosia have decided to follow the same path as you Sparta, creating a united and unified Piosia alliance that encompasses all the city-states of Piosia, and in order to achieve this great goal, our citizens will not fear death! ”