Agesilaus was not surprised, the reason why he came with his army at this time was because he had received a report from the messenger sent to Sparta by Archidamus, and now the situation had only become more serious, he thought for a moment and asked, "How many days will the food stored in the camp last?" ”

"If you count the army you brought—"

"Don't count them yet. After receiving the news from you, I asked the soldiers to bring rations for five days. ”

"It can be supplied for about seven days, so I have sent people to collect food in the territory of Tegeya in the past two days, but unfortunately the Tegeya have long been hiding in the city, and we have not harvested much."

"Immediately stop the requisition of grain from the Tegoan territory, and at the same time prohibit anyone from destroying the villages and fields of the Tegeans, and prohibit the looting of the contents of their houses!" Agosilaus said in a stern tone.

"Father, why did you do this?! We trust the Tegurians so much, but they have betrayed us, we must punish them severely, and let these Peloponnese city-states know what will happen if they betray Sparta! ”

Agesilaus looked at Archidamus with a puzzled face, and sighed secretly in his heart: this son of his is brave and good at making friends, and has a lot of prestige among the Spartan people, but he has one of the biggest problems - he is unwilling to use his brains more, he is not meticulous enough to do things, and he does not see the problem comprehensively. Of course, this is also a common problem for most Spartan citizens. Sparta could do this when it was strong, but when it was a rebellion and a strong enemy invaded, it would not only not have a deterrent effect, but would have the opposite effect.

However, Agosilaus understood his son's stubborn personality, and he did not intend to convince him with words, but to let the facts later impress him, so he said in a tone that could not be refused: "This is an order! ”

Although Archidamus was almost 40 years old and had led his army to fight independently many times, he still had awe in the face of his old father, and he did not explicitly object, but reminded: "Those mercenaries will probably not accept this order." ”

"They'll take it!" Agosilaus said in a firm tone.

Archidamus could not say anything more on this issue, and turned to another matter: "Father, the elders must have seen the messenger of Corinth, right?" What does the Ombudsman and Council of Elders decide on their recommendations? ”

"Although the Corinthians have always been cunning and capricious, and have brought disaster to us Sparta (referring to the Corinthian wars), and have remained almost neutral in the war with Thebes, the Council of Elders is willing to believe the Corinthians, not only because, as the Corinthian messenger said, 'The Dionian fleet raided their harbor and brought them great humiliation, and they wanted revenge.'" 'And because Dionya had seriously harmed the interests of the Corinthians, and they had long held a grudge—"

"Wait...... Dionya harmed the interests of Corinth, what interests? Archidamus couldn't help but interject.

Seeing his son's puzzled expression, Agosilaus covered his forehead with his hand, but he still patiently explained: "The fundamental interests of our Spartans are in the Peloponnese, and the fundamental interests of the Athenians are in the Aegean Sea, and the Corinthians have developed westward very early, and they have many colonies in the Western Mediterranean, including the well-known Corkyra and Syracuse...... Hehe......"

It dawned on Archidamus that Dionya had annexed all the city-states of Greater Greece, which made Corinth resentful, and it was no wonder that they agreed so easily to open the ports of the eastern isthmus and allow us to transport troops and food......

"The Corinthian messenger said that they would unite all the Greek city-states against Dionia, and we believe they can do it. The Corinthians are not good at war, but they are good at it......" Agosilaus said this with a bit of admiration rather than the other Spartans.

He still clearly remembers that when he was still a young man and the Peloponnesian War had been going on for almost 10 years, Sparta encountered a crisis, not only the naval and land battles were defeated, but the black laborers in the country also continued to defect, and Sparta's prestige was greatly lost. To make matters worse, Sparta's alliance with Argos expired, and Argos refused to renew the contract and instead formed an alliance with Athens, and the Peloponnesian League was also facing a fragmentation, especially Mandinian and Alice had their own interests and conflicted with Sparta.

Therefore, Sparta's power was severely weakened, and it was forced to sign the "Nicaeas Treaty" with Athens, but because Sparta did not strictly fulfill the contract, war could break out again at any time, and the Argos were also preparing to move, and Sparta was facing a great crisis. At this time, the Corinthians stepped forward and carried out a miraculous diplomatic operation, which not only stabilized the Peloponnesian League, but also caused Athens and Argos not to cooperate well, but instead created a gap, so that Sparta survived this difficulty and finally won the war......

Agosilaus exhaled lightly, blew away the past, and said seriously: "Dionya is a power in the western Mediterranean, and it has risen for more than 20 years by annexing those colonial city-states of our Greece.

Now that this outsider has not only sent troops to run rampant in the Peloponnese, but their fleets are also cruising the Aegean Sea at will, which will inevitably make many city-states feel angry and threatened, so the Council of Elders analyzed that Corinth should be able to form a temporary alliance against Dionia. ”

Speaking of this, Agosilaus exhaled again and said softly: "But this alliance that the Corinthians are talking about......... But we can't count on it for the time being. ”

"Because such an alliance that wants to encompass most of the city-states of Greece and form a strong army is not something that can be done in a short time, and what we lack now is time, right, father?" Based on his experience in leading his army against other Greek city-states over the years, Archidamus guessed the reason for this.

"The Council of Elders verbally agreed to the suggestion of the Corinthian emissary, but we were well aware that we could not count on this non-existent alliance at this stage, but the Dionian army had reached our doorstep, and we could not sustain such a large army for long because of lack of food......"

Agosilaus lightly pounded his stump leg with his hand, and said with a serious expression: "One thing you probably don't know yet, in the past two days, the Dionian fleet has not only been cruising in the Aegean Sea, but also some warships full of soldiers have approached our shores many times, posing as if they were going to land again, which has put a lot of pressure on the Council of Elders, and I have made great efforts to persuade the Council of Elders and the Inspectors to agree to take the risk of sending these 7,000 soldiers.

Today, there are less than a thousand young warriors left in Sparta, mainly relying on the old men, the Periasians, and some Helots to defend the territory, and there is a shortage of troops, and there is a great danger, so what we need to do now is to defeat this army with Onia as soon as possible, and then return to the Spartan territory!

As long as we have this victory, we can win more support from the Persians, restore the prestige of Sparta in the Peloponnese, and also buy us more time to wait until the Greek alliance that the Corinthians spoke of is formed, and fight with them against Dionia, then we will have a better chance of winning! ”

As he spoke, his emotions grew agitated.

"However, the commander of that Ionian army seems to be more cautious." Archidamus reminded again with some concern: "Those Dionian soldiers have been building camps these days, and it seems that there is no attempt to fight a decisive battle with us in a short time, perhaps they want to wait for us to run out of food before attacking, are we going to storm the Dionian camp?" ”

"The Ionians will come out!" Agosilaus replied confidently.

…………………………………………………………

Paulanias, the former king of Sparta, was ordered to lead an army to attack Thebes more than 10 years ago when the Corinthian War broke out.

The Spartan Council of Elders and the Proctors made a fatal mistake by choosing their commanders only for the abilities and positions of these two men, forgetting that the two men had long regarded each other as enemies because of their opposing political ideas, and as a result, Pausanias, who should have joined Lysander's army in time, did not lead his army to arrive in time, resulting in Lysander's army alone to resist the Theban attack, which eventually led to a crushing defeat, and the Spartan hero was also killed in battle.

When the news reached Sparta, the people were extremely sad, and at the instigation of Lysander's supporters, they strongly demanded that Pausanias be tried, and in the end Pausanias was expelled from Sparta and never returned.

For a Spartan king who loved his homeland, the punishment was far more brutal than killing him, and Pausanias eventually chose to settle in Tegya due to its proximity to Sparta.

Tegua was an ally of Sparta, and due to its geographical location, Sparta's attitude towards it was much better than that of other allies, so the two sides have always been in close contact. During his decades of reign, Pausanias had a lot of dealings with the Tignas, and he himself was a rare moderate in the upper echelons of Sparta, so most of the allies respected him.