The chiefs of the Helots village were already grateful to Dionia for being freed, and were even more overjoyed to be the top of the new city-state, and where was there more to consider, not only did they agree with all the suggestions from their fellow Dionians, but they also offered to make the generals' committee all the candidates from Dionys, because they were well-informed and had more experience in governing the country.

The people from Dionia, of course, did not postpone, and 5 generals were quickly chosen, with Thesias, the patriarch of the Kingdom of Dionia, becoming the chief.

Ionicus watched all this, although he saw a few clues, he did not dare to make trouble, he witnessed the extremely powerful military power of Dionia, both the navy and the army, and even its complete military logistics, which made him realize the terrible nature of this kingdom from the western Mediterranean.

Tisias soon approached him and made it clear to him that if he wished to join Messenia, the council would reserve a seat for him.

Ionicus thought about it for a while, and finally agreed that, although he had grown up in Ellis, he had little influence in parliament and had never held a high office, for a reason that was well known but not declared: because he was a Messenian immigrant.

However, he also made one condition: he wanted to bring a few well-connected Messenian immigrants from Ellis to join the new city-state and become members of the council.

Tisias agreed.

Ionicus immediately applied for a clipper ship from the 1st Fleet and hurried back to Ellis.

The new Messenian government, headed by Tisias, continued to enact laws in full swing: all the helots in Messenia would not only be free, they would also become citizens of the new Messenia, and they would receive a share of the land, and the councillors from Dionia, with the assistance of the village chiefs, would confirm and register the population and land of the villages for their subsequent distribution;

In order to protect this hard-won freedom and independence, the citizens of New Messenia had to undergo rigorous training by Dionian soldiers in order to defend their city-state in the event of an attack by the Spartan army; New Messenia must also have its own city, and the council soon made a decision to rebuild the city of Messenia, which will serve as the center of the new city-state, and no other towns will be built, so that the citizens can be more united. It was the turn of the soldiers of the 1st Ionian Legion to be busy, and they were to lead the new citizens of Messenia in expanding the former Spartan barracks into a town;

A Greek city-state also needed a protector god, and the original Messenian protector was Zeus, but Tesian and others easily persuaded the village chiefs not to believe in it, because the Messenians had lost three wars, indicating that Zeus had not blessed 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 to erect statues of Aristodemus and Aristomenes, who had led the people in the rebellion against Sparta, to also be enshrined;

The parliament also made a decision to send emissaries to the city-states of the Peloponnese to inform them of the independence of Messenia in order to gain their support, which was not among them, of course......

…………………………………………

The Messenian plain was full of joy, but the Spartan territory across the Tegetos Mountains was gloomy. The defeat at the Battle of Leuctra had not yet taken its toll on the Spartans, and now an even greater catastrophe had struck suddenly—Messenia had been taken away.

Messenia was extremely important to Sparta, as sixty percent of the city-state's agricultural output came from there, half of the Spartan citizens' share of land was there, and most of Sparta's labor came from Messenia...... Having lost Messenia, Sparta's strength was cut in at least half.

However, when they heard the news of its capture, the Spartans, who had always been eager to report it, did not immediately organize an army to kill Messenia as usual, because Sparta was now in a storm. Previously, Sparta was determined to send troops to attack the Arcadian alliance led by Mandinia, but only a very small number of Peloponnesian allies responded to the call, so until now the coalition forces to attack the Arcadian alliance have not been formed, and the military rations and baggage are still very insufficient.

At the Council of Elders, the procurators and elders denounced Dionysa for his treachery, but were helpless to deal with the plight facing Sparta.

Agosilaus, who was ill at the meeting, also sent a fire, denouncing them for being short-sighted, knowing that Dionya had long been hostile to Sparta, but still did not listen to his repeated dissuasion, and ended the friendship agreement signed with him ahead of schedule, as a result, Thebes took the opportunity to form an alliance with Dionia, which led to the fulfillment of Davers's threat to Sparta more than ten years ago (Messenia was captured).

Some elders also retorted, pointing out that Sparta sought support from Persia to end the war with Thebes as soon as possible, and Agosilaus was also an active promoter, so it should be understood that if Sparta did not break off diplomatic relations with Dionia, it would definitely not be able to gain the trust of the Persian king, and the Council of Elders was forced to make this decision in the end.

With the exception of the Inquisitor, the elders, all of whom were old men, would not spend long periods of time on pointless invective and arguments, and it didn't take long for everyone to regain their composure and discuss nervously how to deal with the great threat facing Sparta.

As the city-state that Greece had the most dealings with Dionia, they knew more or less about the strength of the kingdom on the Italian peninsula, and did not think that Sparta could fight against it today, so they naturally turned their attention to Persia for help.

As a result, the Persian envoy Dattis, who was still stranded in the city, was invited to the meeting.

Datis was nervous when he heard the news that Dionya had sent troops to conquer Messenia, and instead of being arrogant, he behaved positively, after all, he had come to Sparta on a mission, but now he had failed to realize the plan of Sparta to unify the entire Greek city-state, and instead led to the premature invasion of the Peloponnese by the Dionians, which would probably ruin the strategic vision of the Persian king, so he had to work hard to save it.

Datis first advised the Spartans not to be too nervous, as a large amount of grain and baggage from Persia and 50 Dalic gold coins of Talentes were on the way, and then he promised to apply to the king of Persia for more gold and silver to be patronized with Sparta, and to allow Sparta to recruit soldiers in Asia Minor so that he could quickly raise a large army to repel the incoming Dionian army (the Battle of Leuktra shook Sparta's hegemony, plus the formation of the Arcadian League, Most of the Spartan allies no longer responded to Sparta's call as aggressively as they once did, so the Spartans had to go to Macedonia, Thrace, Ionia, and Asia Minor to recruit soldiers, which obviously cost money).

The Inquisitors and Elders were at ease, but soon discovered one of the biggest problems: it would take time to recruit soldiers and form an army, and now that the Dionian army was west of Mount Tegetos, it could invade Spartan territory at any moment.

Agosilaus carefully analyzed this: if the Dionian army wanted to attack Sparta, there were three options. One is to take the middle road and cross Mount Tegetos, but Mount Tegetos is steep and the pass is controlled by one's own side, and it is difficult for the Dionian army to pass through it; One is to take the northern route, through the Arcadia region, to invade Sparta, but the city-states of the Arcadia region have never interacted with Dionia, and now they have formed an alliance, I am afraid that they will not easily allow a large number of foreign armies to pass through their territory; There was also the southern route, allowing the army to enter the Gulf of Laconia by boat and land on the coast of Sparta, according to the information obtained from the warriors who had previously returned from the defeat of Messenia, Dioonia had many transports, and its army landed quickly and quickly, this route was the greatest threat to Sparta.

The crowd was convinced that Agosilaus was right, and after some deliberation, the Council of Elders finally made a resolution: to suspend the military campaign against the Arcadian League, and to send an emissary to show it goodwill; At the same time, it is necessary to urgently carry out military mobilization of the territory, strengthen the defense of the coast, and step up the construction of facilities to prevent landing; Recruit the young Periasians and Helots of the realm into the army......

And for the Helots, the Council of Elders also passed a special resolution: only the Helots who performed well in the war could be freed.

Agesilaus also asked the Persian envoy Datis to send a fleet to help Sparta defend the Gulf of Laconia.

Datis promised to convey Sparta's demands to the king of Persia.

In addition, the Council of Elders also decided to send an envoy to Messenia, not only to find out the next movement of the Dionian army, but more importantly, to delay the Dionian attack as much as possible in the name of deliberation, so as to buy time for Sparta to form an army.

This important meeting for the survival of Sparta lasted until the afternoon, and when Agosilaus returned home with his tired body, he immediately summoned Xenophon, who had been waiting at the mansion, and briefly told him the contents of the previous meeting.

That night, Xenophon was very disturbed when he heard the news of the "landing of the Dionian army on the coast of Ellis" at his home, and rode to Sparta at dawn, but unfortunately the place where he lived was far away from Sparta, and when he arrived at the mansion of Agesilaus, the Spartans had already received the news that "the huge fleet of Dionyas had invaded the Gulf of Messenia", but before Sparta could send reinforcements, the Dionian army had already landed on the coast of Messenia.