Peropidas looked at Luticles again, and then said unhurriedly: "But you Sparta, I have never heard that you own the whole of Greece, but over the years, whether it is Central Greece or Northern Greece, you can be seen everywhere to send troops to provoke wars, we in Thebes have been occupied by you, and the port of Piraeus in Athens has also been innocently killed by you, so it seems that Sparta is the biggest obstacle to the restoration of peace in Greece!" Temagoras, do you think I'm right? ”

Temagoras was silent and did not respond.

Luticles excitedly wanted to refute, and Tribassus said loudly: "Sparta should indeed bear a lot of responsibility for all these years of Greek wars!" The king gave Sparta a lot of support, but Sparta lived up to the king's trust, which is indeed a pity! ”

Having said this, Terebasus saw Lutikles' face pale, and secretly sneered in his heart: vulgar, rude, stupid and incompetent Spartan barbarian! If it weren't for the need for you, and not letting the king's efforts over the years go to waste, the other Greek city-states would have united to destroy you! Wait, one day I'll settle accounts with you Sparta!

But the king believed that Sparta would learn the lessons of the past and resume the responsibility of maintaining peace in Greece, which of course would require the full assistance of other city-states such as Athens and Thebes! As for how you negotiate and sign a new peace treaty, we in Persia will not intervene, but the king hopes that it is best to build on the previous contract, and for any city-states that do not negotiate seriously, or even deliberately obstruct it, and want to continue the war, they will bear the wrath of the king, and Persia will fully support its opponents to destroy it completely!! ”

The last few words were spoken so eloquently by Terebassus that they were all shocked by Peropidas, and they felt that the king of Persia was indeed very concerned about the restoration of peace in Greece.

Terebasus suddenly sighed lightly and said, "The reason why the king cares so much about Greece is because you Greeks are few and poor, but you have always been able to compete with our powerful Persia, which makes him admire him very much!" In his mind, he always had the idea that the Greeks were the masters west of the Mediterranean.

But now the situation has changed, and in the years of your frequent wars, in your colony, Great Greece, there has been a country called Dionia, which is like a monster, and in just over 20 years, it has not only conquered many foreign races, but also annexed many Greek sub-states, and even Carthage has become its vassal.

Now that it has become the overlord of the sea west of Greece, it is afraid that it will turn its greedy mouth against Greece, which is very close to it, if Greece does not end the strife as soon as possible, unite to defend against this powerful enemy, all that awaits you is destruction, just like the annexed city-states of Crotone, Lokry, Catanay, and Syracuse! Therefore, the king hopes that after you have reached peace, you will be able to form a new alliance to protect the safety of Greece! ”

It can be said that the Western Mediterranean War, which took place thousands of miles away a few years ago, had nothing to do with Persia, but the destruction of the Eastern Phoenician fleet and the subsequent refusal of the Persian envoys to Dionya to ask for an armistice greatly hurt the pride of the Persian king Artaxerxes: even the most unruly Sparta and Athens finally prostrate at my feet, and a small barbarian kingdom dared to be so arrogant! 'Say that the western Mediterranean is the territory of Dionia, and if Persia wants to intervene, send an army if it has the courage!' ’…… This was how Artaxerxes was angry when he heard the messenger come back to add fuel to his heart.

Although Ionia was thousands of miles away, Artaxerxes had always held a grudge, and now he had finally found an opportunity to fight back against the kingdom of Dionya who dared to offend his dignity.

Listening to Terebasus's words, the expressions of the three envoys were slightly complicated, and their hearts were full of thoughts.

I heard that in the Western Mediterranean War, the Persians once sent a fleet to fight, but suffered a crushing defeat...... It seems that this is true, and it is no wonder that the king of Persia received us so graciously this time, and so eagerly hoped that we would reach peace! But...... It is in the interests of Athens and the people of Athens to defend against a Dionya that is both militarily and trade-aggressive, but should we build another alliance? But if this alliance were to be led by Sparta again, would it harm Athens' interests again? …… I'm afraid that I will have to go back and deliberate before I can make a decision...... This is the idea of Temagoras.

Form an alliance against Dionia?! …… Lutikli had mixed feelings.

Since the Spartans had participated in the Persian expeditionary force, they had long noticed Dionia, which was founded by mercenary chiefs, and knew more than any other Greek city-state the whole process of Dionysia's gradual transformation from a weak city-state to a powerful kingdom. They were also constantly worried about the retaliation of Deoria, especially now that Sparta was mired in the war in Thebes, so the Persian proposal was very appealing to Luticles, because if it could be realized, it would undoubtedly give Sparta a guarantee of security, but at the same time he was also worried about whether the establishment of this alliance would really anger Dionia. Can you really fend off a possible attack from Dionia? After all, the Spartans knew some of the strength of the Ionians.

And Peropidas looked at Tribasus in astonishment, and he seemed to hear another meaning from the mouth of the favored minister of the Persian king: strange, the Persians seem to be afraid of Dionia?! Could it be that the strength of the Kingdom of Dionya is really that strong?! ……

He pondered for a moment before asking, "Lord Terebasus, the advice of the Great King of Persia is very good, but I have a small question. ”

"What's the problem?" Trebassus looked at him.

"As far as I know, Sparta has always been in close contact with the Dionian kingdom you just mentioned, and has signed a long-term alliance agreement for such a city-state to lead the Greeks against Dionia, is it possible?! ——”

"Shut your mouth! If you don't know, don't talk nonsense! Luticles interrupted him and emphasized: "Sparta and Dioonia signed a non-aggression pact, and in fact our Spartan and Australasian relations are not good!" ……”

"The king understands all these situations, so the king still proposes that Sparta lead the Greeks to defend against a possible invasion by Theolia, but in order to dispel the doubts of other city-states, Sparta had better draw a line with Dionya as soon as possible and cut off contact!"

Terebasus looked at Luticles coldly, then at the other two messengers, and said in a deep voice: "The king is very concerned about the safety of Greece and will support you in restoring peace!" I will also fully support you in forming an alliance to defend against Dionia! But if any of the city-states are still provoking wars or refusing to join the alliance, defend against the Dionians, or even secretly collude with them, then we in Persia will call on the other Greek city-states to unite and destroy them! If Dionya did invade Greece one day, the king promised that he would come to the aid of the Greek alliance with a huge amount of wealth and supplies, as well as a powerful navy, to help the Greeks repel the wolves to the west! ……”

Terebassus's categorical remarks were both threatening and at the same time show the generosity of Persia, and the three of Peropidas were only messengers of the city-state, and could not directly commit to it, but only calculated and weighed the pros and cons in their hearts in order to return to the city-state and persuade the people to make a certain choice, so all three of them remained silent.

But for Terebassus, who had fully conveyed the intentions of the Persian king to the three messengers, and that his purpose had been achieved, he did not want to stay with the Greeks any longer, and the feast ended hastily.

However, after the three of them returned to their rooms, the Athenian envoy Temagoras, who was originally the most silent at the banquet, quietly knocked on the door of the Spartan envoy's room, and after seeing Luticles, he said solemnly: "Athens and Sparta need to talk about it......"

Before the three envoys left Persia, Artaxerxes met them again, and after reiterating his hope that peace would be restored to Greece and that an alliance would be formed to defend Dionia, he showed his generosity by giving each of them a great reward, among which he also gave the Spartan messenger Luticles a flower crown soaked in perfume that he often carried, and heard that the Athenian envoy Temagoras loved milk, and specially presented him with a dozen good cows, except for Peropidas, which was somewhat contrary to his previous reception of the three messengers.

In addition to this, he summoned Luticles on a separate occasion, specifically mentioning the "friendship agreement between Sparta and Dionia", and reminded him with a solemn expression that Sparta must sever relations with Dionia, otherwise Persia would turn to support its enemy, Thebes.

Due to the pressure exerted by the Persian king, Luticles appeared to be preoccupied on the way back.

Peropidas was also uneasy, not to mention that the Persian king of Babylon had a good attitude towards him, but he could feel that the Persians believed in and supported Sparta more, and the sentence they had specifically mentioned in the previous meeting, "Peace talks are best based on the king's contract", made him worried.