ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1251 Cretan athletes participating in the sports meeting
"By the way, what has Ptolemy, the Macedonian regent who married the widow of Amyntas (stepmother of Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philli) done recently?"

"Your Majesty, I was about to report to you. The spies in Aigai discovered that for more than half a year, businessmen from Asia Minor have been coming in and out of Ptolemy's mansion from time to time."

"Merchant in Asia Minor..." Davos asked thoughtfully: "You mean Ptolemy may have colluded with Persia?"

Aristiras said cautiously: "For fear of arousing Ptolemy's alert, the Intelligence Department did not conduct further detailed investigations on the Asia Minor businessman. However, the relationship between Perdiccas and Ptolemy during this period was very tense. Nervous, Perdiccas once publicly accused Ptolemy of taking too much power because he wanted to be king. Ptolemy also publicly retorted, "Perdiccas was naive and unfair in rewards and punishments. Without his supervision, Macedonia would not be able to survive." You know what the chaos is like'...

It is reported that when Philli sneaked to Thurii, Perdiccas once suspected that his brother was being held hostage by Ptolemy, and even sent guards to inquire.I think if it weren't for the protection of our Dionia, the powerful Ptolemy might have rebelled. "

"You're right. A few years ago, after our army helped Macedonia quell the rebels, the Intelligence Department found evidence that Ptolemy had colluded with the rebels. This shows that he had long been ambitious for the throne of Macedonia, but He has been holding back because he was afraid of our Dionia. Now he dares to conflict with Perdiccas and is no longer afraid of our Dionia's interference. Who gave him the courage? It can only be Persia! "Davos! After speaking firmly, he reminded emphatically: "But your intelligence department only needs to send someone to monitor him, and don't care about the rest."

As Davos said this, he was thinking in his heart: Wouldn't it be great if the kingdom's only powerful enemy and potential hidden dangers could be solved at the same time?

"Yes..." After Aristilas responded, Davos still had no intention of leaving, and Davos couldn't help asking, "Do you have anything else to do?"

Aristelas hesitated for a moment and said softly: "Your Majesty... I have a request!"

"You said." Davos was curious: this intelligence chief, who was always cautious in his words and deeds, rarely made requests to him.

"Your Majesty, I have never left Thurii since I served you! This time I hope to follow you on the expedition to Persia!" Aristelas said sincerely.

Davos looked at him and was silent for a moment. He didn't know whether the main purpose of Aristelas's request was to resign in disguise as the director of the Intelligence Department, especially since he had just vetoed his resignation.

"Your Majesty, this is a little bit of my selfishness. If I can follow you and share a little bit of the glory of conquering Persia, a powerful country in the east, I will be able to tell you proudly when asked by my descendants in the future. Moreover, I can be transferred to Persia more conveniently and quickly. Personnel from the Ministry of Intelligence spy on the intelligence of Persia and disrupt its domestic order..."

Aristelas once again said with a sincere expression: "You don't have to worry about domestic security. In fact, I have basically let go of it for more than half a year. The specific affairs of the Intelligence Department are handled by Deputy Director Tratus. In addition, With the full assistance of Secretary Maximus, the work efficiency of the Intelligence Department will only be stronger than before!"

Davos looked at him and suddenly laughed: "You Aristelas, it's rare to see you speak so much from your heart! You don't hesitate to demean yourself just to go out and relax! You have already reached this point, I Can you still disagree? But during the time when the sports meeting is held, you have to arrange the affairs of the Intelligence Department, oh, and... after the plan of the expedition to Persia is made public to the public, you have to admit to Azuna, It's your own choice to go, not my request, hahaha..."

Looking at the leaving figure of Aristiras, Davos was thoughtful: It seems that Aristiras has seen his intention to replace his old ministers and pave the way for Crotocathax.If he agrees to go to Persia, then the positions of important departments in the kingdom have basically been taken over by young and powerful ministers... Oh, there is also Sedorum who has always been reluctant to go. It seems that I have to find a suitable person to go there at the right time. wake him up...

............................................................

Perhaps because most of the residents of Crete came from Laconia, the city-states on Crete have similar political systems to Sparta. For example, they all have councils of elders and citizen assemblies. There is a censorship system, and boys in the city-state of Crete must receive training (mainly military training) from an early age...

Of course, due to Crete's small terrain and lack of supplies, it was unable to unify Laconia like Sparta. Although the city-states established an alliance, they still maintained their independence, so they did not have enough financial and material resources to develop major cities. Infantry, but focus on training archers based on the actual conditions of the island.

After the Greek war broke out 5 years ago and Sparta was conquered by Dionia, the city-states of Crete were shocked when they received the news. And a few months later, when Dionia's huge fleet circled Crete, When sailing offshore from the island of Crete, the councils of elders of the Cretan city-states quickly made a decision: to join the New Hellenic Alliance and surrender to Dionia.

After the establishment of the New Greek Union, peace and tranquility have finally been restored in mainland Greece in the past few years. Citizens of Crete have no longer been recruited by city-states to be involved in wars in mainland Greece. Many Cretan citizens still have feelings for Dionia. grateful.

The year before last, King Dionia announced that he was "going to hold a grand games" and sent invitations to the city-states and countries in the Mediterranean. When the city-states of Crete also received invitation letters, the Cretans were surprised to find that Among the competitions listed in the letter was archery.

In the past, Cretans also participated in sports games held in mainland Greece, but more often the children of nobles participated because their wealthy families could provide enough money for them to receive professional training in public fitness venues. The competitive level of the civilians was obvious. It was far different from them, but this time it was different. Archery was a skill that Cretan civilians were good at.

Since Deolia only gave Cretan city-states a total of 5 archery participation places, the Cretan Alliance also held a grand archery competition, and finally selected the 5 best players to participate in the competition. Athletes participating in other events formed a Crete team and took a boat to Thurii in early June. Because this time the games will implement some new rules, they need to adapt first.

Megakides, a 20-year-old young man from the city of Heraklion in Crete, won the championship in the archery competition across the island of Crete. The people of Crete welcomed him. He has great expectations and he himself is full of confidence.

But when he arrived in Turui and began to adapt to the venue, he discovered that the target used in the archery competition of the Dionia Games was not a human head target, but a novel circular target with 5 concentric circles drawn on the target. The closer the shot is to the center of the target, the higher the score. This requires players who want to win the championship to further improve the accuracy of archery.

When he first started practicing, McGarkides' score was not high, and he was a little panicked. But with 20 days of continuous practice, he has begun to adapt.

At this moment, he took out an arrow from the quiver, put it on the bow string, hooked the string with two fingers of his right hand, and slowly pulled it back. At the same time, he straightened his left hand to hold the bow and slowly raised it, his eyes always looking at the place 50 meters away in front of him. Target, until the bow string was half full, his arms were motionless, and his breathing was steady, he unconsciously loosened his fingers, and the arrow flew out.

"Nine rings!" The target announcer shouted in front.

Megakides shook his head slightly in dissatisfaction, and rubbed his sore right arm with his left hand.

"This time, the three arrows shot a total of 26 rings. It is already very good to have such training results after four rounds of shooting!"

After hearing the target announcer's praise, Megakides was not happy. He unconsciously turned his head to look at the contestants who were training seriously at other target positions.

Originally, he came to this sports meeting with the mentality that he was bound to win. As a result, during the past few days of practice, he learned that many players participating in the archery event had very good shooting skills, and most of them came from Dai. Various regions of Onia.As far as he knows, these Dionia players have also participated in military training since childhood. Youngsters who perform well in archery will have specialized teachers to help them strengthen their training in this area. When they reach adulthood, military camps in various regions of Dionia will They undergo archery tests, and those with the best performance will be given priority to be selected into the light infantry brigade, while those who are less qualified will become members of the reserve team. Then they will still undergo military training year after year, day after day, and sometimes go with the legion. Battlefield, join the battle...

He once asked a player from the East and West Sili areas of Deolia, who told him: The East and West Sili areas held archery trials two months ago. Since there is no age limit for the archery competition, the number of people who signed up for the competition has increased. There were more than 5000 people, and the entire selection lasted for 10 days. In the end, three contestants were selected through extra rounds (there are only three archery quotas in each region of Dionia)...

The number of people participating in the archery trials in Dionia alone exceeds that of Crete, and Dionia has dozens of regions. The contestants selected from such a large number of people are naturally outstanding. They are training The performance on the field really put McGarkides under pressure.

"One more round!" he said solemnly.

The target shooter did not hand him the arrow, but looked up at the sky, and then gently advised: "You have already shot for five rounds. If you continue to practice, you will easily strain your arm, and you will not be able to compete by then." .Besides, the sports meeting will be held tomorrow, go back early and have a good rest, and tomorrow you will have the energy to attend the ceremony held by the Kingdom for the sports meeting..."

(End of this chapter)