The most relaxed was Temagoras, who not only took advantage of the opportunity to reach an agreement with the Spartan envoys on some aspects to fulfill the instructions given to him by Callistratus before his departure, but also gained a great deal of wealth, this time with a very rich initial harvest that would increase his influence among the Athenian people.

Shortly after returning to Athens, Temagoras was reported by the people that "he had taken bribes in Persia, betrayed the secrets of Athens, and betrayed the ...... of the city-state." In addition, there were many rumors in the city of Athens, mainly that "he behaved in Babylon in a lewd manner, and did not perform as well as Peropidas of Thebes, and was despised by the Persians, and simply disgraced the Athenians"......

It wasn't long before the Athenian government put Temagoras on trial, and although he tried his best to defend himself and hired a good lawyer, the majority of the citizens on the jury found him guilty, and he was eventually sentenced to death.

After Luticles returned to Sparta, the Persians' tough demands also caused a lot of waves in Sparta.

Agosilaus, who had always been more concerned about Dionia, strongly objected, and he reminded loudly: "After Dionya defeated Carthage, the country has become more powerful, and it has become a great threat to our Sparta, but fortunately there is a friendly agreement, and this kingdom has always been professed to keep its promises, so even if we have done some bad things to it during the agreement, it has always maintained a state of peace with Sparta."

And now we are going to take the initiative to cancel the agreement, which is just to give the other side the truth, once the Dionya army intervenes in this war, it will inevitably bring disaster to the Spartan army that is fighting against Thebes with all its might! ”

Another Spartan king, Cleombrotus, stood up for the fulfillment of the Persians' demands, and his reasons were equally strong: "This war has continued to this day, and we in Sparta have become somewhat unsustainable, and if we do not cut off contact with Dionia, we will not have the support of Persia, and if the king of Persia turns to support our enemy Thebes, as he said, then Sparta is in great danger of being defeated." And if the friendship agreement with Dionya is canceled, and we have the full support of Persia, then we will not only end it soon, but also become the hegemon of Greece, as in the Corinthian war.

At that time, even if Dionyas declares war on us, we can muster the forces of all of Greece against it. Moreover, from the fact that Persia is so eager to sever our ties with Dionys, it seems that the king of Persia is hostile to Dionia, and he will certainly give us all his support in the war with Dionia. We can take advantage of this favorable situation to defeat the Dionians, and completely solve this hidden danger that has been worrying us for a long time. ”

"It is said that Dionya sent 100,000 troops in the war with Carthage, and the Peloponnese is separated from Ionia by a narrow Adriatic Sea, and once the friendship agreement is dissolved, Dionya really declares war on our Sparta, and these 100,000 troops are likely to land in the Peloponnese, and what should we do then?" Teacher Agosy asked with a serious expression.

Today's Cleombrotus has long since lost the panic and immaturity he had when he was hurriedly put on the throne, and he calmly replied: "Don't forget, Dionysius also led an army of 100,000 to attack the Carthaginians in western Sicily. But in fact, we all know that the tens of thousands of mercenaries he really has combat effectiveness, do you dare to say that the 100,000 troops of Dionia are all elites?! I don't think so.

On the contrary, after we have re-established the contract with the Greek city-states, if Dionya really dares to send an army to land in the Peloponnese, we can call on the Greek city-states to resist the invasion of Dionys, an outsider, and with the help of the Persians, form a large army and defeat it, which will not only completely solve the hidden worries of Sparta, but also re-enhance Sparta's influence in Greece. ”

Agosilaus frowned and reminded: "Dionya has not suffered defeat in the wars they have experienced since its establishment, and their army, if not all elite, is definitely not weak in combat. And they are the armies of the same country, and even if we can call on the various city-states to form a large army, this time the army will inevitably be less united than theirs, and it will not be conducive to command—"

"Venerable Agesilaus!" Cleombrotus suddenly sneered: "In all these years, we Sparta have not commanded the coalition forces of other city-states to fight against the enemy, and won more and lost less, this is the talent that our Spartan generals must have!" More than 10 years ago, you even commanded the Asians in Asia Minor to fight against Persia, and now you say that we are not doing this right! ”

Without waiting for Agesilaus to respond, Cleombrotus looked around, suddenly raised his voice, and said loudly: "The so-called Dionian army has won a hundred battles, and that is because they have not met us Sparta!" Remember the words that the Dionian king said to us before the first agreement of friendship with Dionia! All these years he has been watching us like a poisonous snake on the western shore of the Adriatic Sea, and we have been on the lookout for it, and it may be time to solve this problem! Wise elders and inquisitors, it is up to you to decide whether Sparta will survive this difficult time! ”

Agesilaus looked at Cleombrotus, who gave an impassioned speech in the center of the room, and somehow remembered the scene where he defeated his nephew Leotizides and won the throne more than 20 years ago.

And now that he is old, weak, sick and disabled, is he really not even courageous? …… Agosilaus hesitated: breaking off diplomatic relations with Dionia, offending Dionia, could lead to war; But if you keep fighting, you will offend Persia, and it will turn to support Thebes, and the current war will not stop, but will become more difficult...... It's a dilemma.

Agosilaus opened his mouth, but finally did not refute.

The 30 Spartan elders (including the two kings) then voted on whether to cancel the friendship agreement with Dionia. These Spartan nobles over 60 years old may have rich experience in life, but most of them are conservative and only want to be safe, because Dionya, although it is closer to the Peloponnese, has never set foot in Greece itself, on the contrary, Persia, which is thousands of miles away, has always exerted influence on Greece, whether it is the Peloponnesian War or the Corinthian War, Persia has been of great help to Sparta, and these elders are undoubtedly witnesses of these wars, and they all feel it deeply.

But the final vote was 20:20, and it was actually the influence of Agecilaus who played a big role in it, and many elders preferred to believe in the wise and prestigious Agesilaus compared to Cleombrotus, who had not yet performed well in military affairs.

Now, the final decision rests with the five Ombudsmen.

The procurators of Sparta had great powers, they could censor and supervise the king and elders internally, and they were responsible for diplomacy and supervising the armies on the expedition, but they were selected from ordinary civilians, these civilians received hard military training from an early age, and continued to fight until they were 30 years old, and most of them did not know much about politics, diplomacy and other aspects except for their military skills, and there were not many well-informed and politically wise citizens like Chrysopus, Therefore, Sparta has always been relatively tough on the outside world over the years, and only when it has suffered a serious setback will it choose to retreat.

However, the five procurators elected this year all chose without exception - to sever diplomatic relations with Dionia, the reason is very simple: the continuous war with Thebes, no obvious progress has been made, the country is becoming increasingly difficult, the soldiers continue to suffer casualties, the people are miserable, the war-weariness is very serious, the choice of the procurators reflects the public opinion at this time, and the Spartan people are eager to stop the war and restore peace. As for the possible result of this leading to a more powerful enemy, Dionia, they would not have thought that far.

Instead of disappointing Agosilaus, this result relieved him: now that the gods had made a choice for Sparta, he didn't need to worry about anything more.

Cleombrotus saw Agesilaus standing up again, and couldn't help but say smugly: "Now that the resolution to sever diplomatic relations with Dionya has been passed, it is useless for you to refute it. ”

Igsilaus ignored him, looked around at the crowd and said, "Even if we decide to break off diplomatic relations with Theonia, we should send a messenger who can speak, and tactfully explain to the king of Dionya the reason why we must not continue to have relations, and if we are sincere enough, I believe that we will not provoke the Dionians, and declare war on us at the critical moment of our peace talks with Thebes." ”

"As I said, Sparta is not afraid to fight in Dionia, and it is just right to take advantage of this good opportunity to solve this big problem!" Cleombrotus reminded dissatisfied.

"King Agesilaus has a point, and it would be best if peace could be made with Thebes and Athens, and for a time avoid Dionys's war." Not only did most of the elders agree with this, but even the Ombudsman did not disagree, but they were troubled by the choice of the envoy.

Since the only few previous dealings with Dionys, the king of Dionya was not a man of good words, it would have been much better to send an envoy he knew and skilled in diplomacy to Turiy, but both Chrysopus and Phoebidas had already been killed in battle, and the rest of the Spartans were completely unfamiliar with Dionia.