Sephidorus moved his right hand slightly, and said with a pretended relaxation: "I was accidentally stabbed, but fortunately, I didn't hurt my muscles and bones, the bleeding has stopped, and I'm fine now, but I can't salute you for the time being." ”

"When the medical camp arrives, let them give you serious treatment. You are now the hero who defeated the Spartans, and don't let your carelessness lead to an infection of your wounds, a serious illness, and no honors to ......."

"I said, sir, are you still caring or are you cursing me?!" Sephidorus said dissatisfied.

Sekrian was more casual when he got along with the senior generals of the First Fleet, and he laughed: "The military salute is not necessary for the time being, and it will be made up later, what is the situation now?" ”

"The Spartans sent a messenger asking for peace talks with us, and I couldn't call the shots, so I ......"

"We have completely defeated the Spartan army, they have no more strength, our soldiers can easily take the city of Sparta, at this time they want peace talks? It's a sweet dream! Drive this messenger away, and we will bring the army into the city. ”

"This messenger says that he is a friend of Xenophon, who had accompanied His Majesty Davers on his expedition to Persia."

"Your Majesty's friend?" Sekrian finally showed a look of some attention, but after a moment of silence, he still said, "I don't think Your Majesty will give up the most beneficial measures for the kingdom because of personal friendship...... So, you go and tell the ...... Hue...... Xenophon and Dionysa did not accept peace unless Sparta surrendered immediately. ”

Sephidorus took the order and soon returned: "Your Excellency, he agreed to the surrender of Sparta, but—"

"But the Dionian army can't enter Sparta, and can't harass the people of Sparta!" Xenophon, who was following closely behind Sephidorus, said loudly.

Sekrian held his head high, squinted at him, and sneered: "Don't let us enter Spartan City, can't capture Spartans, what kind of surrender is this!" ”

"Sparta surrendered to Dionia, gave up all the city-states under its control, only retained the original territory of Sparta, and could even accept some of the Dionian reforms of the Spartan polity, and the Spartans would maintain the same offensive and defensive unity with Dionya in the future, and no matter who Dionya fought with in the future, Sparta must fight with him...... General, in the Peloponnesian War of that year, Athens finally lost and surrendered to Sparta, and the conditions accepted were almost these, and now the surrender conditions proposed by Sparta are even more stringent, which is enough to show our sincerity, is this not enough? Xenophon said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Sekrian was still skeptical: "These conditions you are talking about...... Did the Spartans all agree? ”

"They have given me carte blanche and will never object!" Xenophon said firmly.

Sekrian showed a few sneers again, looked at him, and said bluntly: "Let's be honest, I don't believe in any of your surrenders, because the main force of Sparta is still in Arcadia, you only need to delay for a day or two, and they can return quickly...... Hehe, so whether it was the Spartan commander who was on the beach before, or the current one, you proposed not to let us enter Spartan City, so that they could rush back to save us! ”

"General, since the Spartans have promised to surrender, they will keep their promise and will never go back!" As if insulted by something, Xenophon exclaimed excitedly: "They are the descendants of Hercules, and they swear in the name of Hercules that they will never break the agreement!" ”

"You speak as if the Spartans were as good at keeping their promises as we were with Dionia, but I don't believe you!" Sekrian shook his head and said mockingly: "I think that so many of your Greek city-states signed that royal contract together, and you also swore to the gods, but it didn't take long for you Spartans to break the contract and suddenly attack the city of Thebes......"

"And what are we going to do to convince you?" Xenophon was speechless, and soon he asked eagerly.

Sekrion ignored him, turned to Sephidorus, and said, "The soldiers have rested enough, gather them together at once, enter the city of Sparta, and take all the Spartans for me!" ”

"Yes!"

Xenophon was anxious when he heard this, stepped forward and grabbed Secrean's sleeve, and said earnestly: "Wait a minute! General, you can't do that! ……”

Sekrian shook his hand vigorously: "And him, arrest him for me too!" ”

The infantry of the fleet and the soldiers of the Seventh Legion, who had received orders, soon lined up in long, loose horizontal formations, trampling over wheat fields, vegetable fields, vineyards, and through sparsely deserted thatched huts......

As they approached the dense cluster of houses, they were surprised to see a large number of old people, women, and even children appearing between the houses, all armed with spears, short swords, and even sticks, glaring at them.

The entire Ionian army stopped advancing.

After learning the news, Sekerian was silent for a moment, and then ordered in a deep voice: "Sparta, which is worthy of being founded by force, since it has taken up arms, it is the enemy!" Tell the soldiers not to be careless, let alone merciful, and attack them immediately! But if they lay down their weapons and stop attacking, they can't kill anymore, they can only capture, understand?! ”

"Understood!"

………………………………………………………………

In the King's office in the palace of Turiyi, Davos was listening to the report of Aristiras, the chief of intelligence: "Your Majesty, in the past two days we have received a secret report from Greece that the citizens' assembly of Athens has passed the decision to join the Greek alliance, and is preparing to declare war on us, and is currently mobilizing the military throughout the region of Attica, and has begun to prepare a large number of military supplies, and at the same time, in cooperation with the priests of Delphi, has sent emissaries to the surrounding city-states, in an attempt to unite these city-states and declare war on us......"

After hearing this, Davers frowned slightly, and soon stretched out again, and muttered calmly: "Don't look at the Athenians who often talk about 'what kind of freedom and equality, resist tyranny', in fact, compared with the Spartans, who were dragged down by the Helots and focused more on consolidating their own territory, the Athenians were much more ambitious.

They want to control the Aegean Sea, because it is the source of their wealth; They also want to control the Eunex Sea, because this is the source of their food; They had also thought of taking control of Greater Greece so that they could threaten Sparta and the Peloponnesian League; They were also allies of Egypt and helped it defend itself against the Persian invasions...... Athens wants to establish a kingdom that controls the entire Mediterranean!

This idea has not changed much since Perikles and to today's Athenian rulers. It will inevitably clash with the interests of our kingdom and eventually lead to war...... This was expected. ”

"However, our army is still fighting against Sparta in the Peloponnese, and Athens choosing to attack at this time will add great trouble to us." Aristilas couldn't help but say.

Instead of responding directly, Davers asked, "In addition to Athens, what other Greek city-states have joined this alliance now?" ”

"Alice, with the promise of the priests of Olympia and Pisa, has decided to join this alliance; Corinth and Megara, as if sensing the threat of our fleet, also joined the alliance unequivocally; Argos was still hesitant, mainly because their populace did not want to help the Spartans; The Phocis were also influenced by the priests of Delphi to join this alliance; After Phokis and Athens joined, the Loks joined in;

The Thebans declared to the outside world that we were their allies, and had helped them in their most difficult times, and that they could not break the oath they had made to the gods and declare war on us, but they would not turn their spears at their neighbors who had helped them, so they remained neutral; Under the influence of Thebes, most of the city-states of the Piosian League also chose neutrality;

Both the priests of Delphi and the Athenian emissaries lobbied the Thessalians, and now intelligence shows that Iason was still hesitant and did not take a stand; In addition, Athens sent envoys to western Central Greece in an attempt to win over the natives of Acanania and Aetonia...... The general situation is about this. ”

After listening to Aristiras's more detailed introduction, Davers tapped his hand on the table and said in a deep voice: "Pelopidas of Thebes once quietly sent me a letter stating to me the reasons why Thebes had to make such a choice, and considering the current environment in which Thebes lived, they had already taken a lot of risks to make a neutral choice, and I can understand this.

Athens officially joined this alliance against us, which meant that most of the Ionian city-states led by Athens would declare war on us; That Iason, though still on the sidelines, I think that since he has the ambition to become the overlord of Greece, he should know that this is the only great opportunity for him to defeat us Dionia and achieve his goal, and he will eventually join him......"

Speaking of this, his tone became extremely powerful: "These Greek city-states who oppose us have gathered together, and it is also a good thing to fight against us, we can save time, eradicate them all at once, and completely control Greece proper!" ”

Then, there was a look of kindness on his face: "Now the situation in Greece is getting complicated, and it will be a good exercise for Klotockatáz." I believe that with the assistance of several high-ranking generals, such as Printolls and Seclian, he will not be in much danger at the head of his army in the Peloponnese. ”