Agesilaus was not surprised. The reason why he led the army here was because he had received the report from the messenger Archidamus sent to Sparta. Now, the situation had only become more serious. He thought for a while and asked, "How many more days can the food stored in the camp last?"
"If you count the troops you brought —"
"Don't count them yet. After receiving the news from you, I asked the soldiers to bring five days' worth of rations. "
"About seven days, so I sent people to collect food in the Tegea territory. Unfortunately, the Tegea people have long hidden in the city, so we didn't get much."
"Immediately stop collecting food from the Tegea territory. At the same time, forbid anyone from destroying the Tegea's villages and fields, and forbid anyone from looting their houses!" Agesilaus said sternly.
"Father, why are you doing this?! We trusted the Tegea so much, but they betrayed us. We must punish them severely. We must let the cities of Peloponnesus know the consequences of betraying Sparta! "
Agesilaus looked at the confused Archidamus and sighed in his heart. His son fought bravely and was good at making friends. He had a good reputation among the Sparta people, but he had one biggest shortcoming — he was not willing to use his brain, did not do things meticulously, and did not look at the problem comprehensively. Of course, this was also a common problem among most Sparta citizens. Sparta could do this when it was strong, but when it was deserted and the enemy invaded, not only would it not be effective, it would have the opposite effect.
However, Agesilaus understood his son's stubborn personality. He did not intend to use words to persuade him, but to let the facts of the future leave a deep impression on 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 troops into battle many times, he still had respect for his old father. He did not explicitly object, but reminded him, "I'm afraid those mercenaries will not accept this order."
"They will accept it!" Agesilaus said with certainty.
Archidamus couldn't say anything more about this issue, so he changed the topic, "Father, the elders should have met the messenger of Corinth, right? What is the decision of the Censor and the Council of Elders regarding their proposal? "
Agesilaus said unhurriedly, "Although the Corinth have always been cunning and capricious, and had once brought disaster to Sparta (I'm referring to the Corinth War) and remained neutral in the war against the Thebes, the Elder Council is still willing to believe Corinth's words. It's not just because the Corinth emissary said that the Dionysian fleet had ambushed their port and humiliated them greatly. They want revenge. And because Diónia has seriously damaged the interests of Corinth's people, they've been holding a grudge for a long time — "
"Wait … Diónia damaged the interests of Corinth. What interests?" Archidamus couldn't help but interrupt.
Seeing the puzzled look on his son's face, Agesilaus covered his forehead with his hand, but he still patiently explained, "The fundamental interests of Sparta are in Peloponnesus, the fundamental interests of Athens are in the Aegean Sea, and the people of Corinth have been developing westward for a long time. They have many colonies in the Western Mediterranean, including Kekila and Syracuse that we're familiar with. They used to be very rich by relying on trade with these colonies, but now … hehe …"
Archidamus suddenly realized: Diónia annexed all the city-states of Great Greece, which made Corinth hate them. No wonder they agreed so easily to open the port of the eastern isthmus and allow us to transport troops and food …
"The messenger of Corinth said that they will unite all the city-states of Greece to fight against Diónia, and we also believe that they can do it. The people of Corinth are not good at war, but they are quite good at this aspect … "When Agesilaus said this, he did not have the sarcasm of the other people of Sparta, but a bit of admiration.
He still clearly remembered that when he was still a young man, the Peloponnesus War had been going on for almost 10 years, and Sparta had encountered a crisis. Not only were they defeated in both naval and land battles, but the Helots in the country were also constantly defecting. Sparta's prestige was greatly reduced, and just domestic affairs alone made them anxious, let alone sending troops to war. To make matters worse, the alliance between Sparta and Agos had expired, and Agos refused to renew the contract. Instead, they formed an alliance with Athens. The Peloponnesus Alliance was also facing fragmentation, especially since Mandinia and Ellis had their own interests and were in conflict with Sparta.
Therefore, the power of Sparta was severely weakened, and they were forced to sign the "Treaty of Nicias" with Athens. However, because Sparta did not strictly abide by the contract, war could break out at any time, and the people of Agos were also restless. Sparta was facing a huge crisis. At that moment, Corinth stood up and carried out a magical diplomatic operation. Not only did he stabilize the Peloponnesus Alliance, but he also prevented Athens and Agos from cooperating well. Instead, there was a gap between them, allowing Sparta to overcome this difficulty and finally win the war …
Agesilaus exhaled lightly, blowing away the past, and said seriously, "Diónia is a power in the western Mediterranean. It rose to power by annexing the colonial city-states of Greece for more than 20 years. To the local city-states, it's not only a little unfamiliar, but also more or less in conflict of interest.
Now, this outsider has not only sent troops to run amok in the land of Peloponnesus, their fleet is also cruising freely in the Aegean Sea, which will inevitably make many city-states feel angry and threatened. Therefore, the Council of Elders believes that Corinth should be able to form a temporary alliance against Diónia. "
At this point, Agesilaus exhaled again and said softly, "But this alliance mentioned by Corinth … we can't count on it for the time being."
"Because an alliance that wants to include more than half of the city-states in Greece and form a powerful army can't be done in a short period of time. What we lack now is time, right, father?" Based on his experience in leading troops to fight against other Greek city-states in the past few years, Agesilaus could guess the reason for this.
"The Council of Elders has verbally agreed to Corinth's suggestion, but we all know very well that we can't count on this non-existent alliance at this stage. But the army of Diónia is already at our doorstep, and we can't maintain such a large army for a long time because of the lack of food …"
Agesilaus lightly hammered his broken leg with his hand and said solemnly, "There's one thing you probably don't know. In the past two days, the Dionysian fleet has not only been cruising in the Aegean Sea, but some warships full of soldiers have also approached our coast many times, pretending to land again. This has put a lot of pressure on the Council of Elders. It took me a lot of effort to convince the Council of Elders and the inspectors to take the risk and send out 7,000 soldiers.
Now, there are less than 1,000 young warriors left in the territory of Sparta. We mainly rely on the old people, the Pyriasis, and some Helaoths to defend the territory. We don't have enough troops, and there's a great danger. So what we need to do now is to defeat this Dionysian army as soon as possible and then return to defend the territory of Sparta!
As long as we win this victory, we can win more support from the Persia and revive the prestige of Sparta in Peloponnesus. It can also buy us more time to wait for the Greek alliance that Corinth's people mentioned to be established and fight with them against Diónia. Then we will have a greater chance of winning! "
As Agesilaus spoke, his emotions gradually became agitated.
"However, the commander of the Dionysian Army seems to be more cautious." Archidamus reminded again with some worry, "These days, the Diónia soldiers have been building their camp. They don't seem to have any intention of fighting with us in a short period of time. Maybe they want to wait for us to run out of food before attacking. Are we going to attack the camp of the Diónia?"
"The Diónia will come out!" Agesilaus replied confidently.
… …
Pausanias, the former king of Sparta. When the Corinth War broke out more than 10 years ago, he and Lysander were ordered to each lead an army to attack the Thebes together.
The Elder Council of Sparta and the Censors made a fatal mistake. They only considered the abilities and positions of these two men when they chose their commanders, but they forgot that these two men had long regarded each other as enemies because of their opposing political ideals. As a result, Pausanias, who should have met up with Lysander's army in time, did not arrive. This caused Lysander to defend against the attack of the Thebes alone, which eventually led to a crushing defeat. The hero of Sparta also died on the battlefield.
When the news reached Sparta, the people were extremely sad. Under the instigation of Lysander's supporters, they strongly demanded that Pausanias be tried. In the end, Pausanias was banished from Sparta, never to return.
For a king of Sparta who loved his hometown deeply, this punishment was far crueler than death. In the end, Pausanias chose to settle in Tegea because it was very close to Sparta.
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