ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 707: Mission to Egypt ([-])

"Just friendly exchanges?" Pharaoh Nektaneb sat down again, his eyes flashing.

Nektaneb's rhetorical question made Ansitanos stunned, but the Pharaoh continued: "Why not form an alliance?"

Ansitanos was really stunned now. He didn't expect Pharaoh Nektaneb to speak so directly.

Pharaoh Nektaneb, however, didn't care about his surprise and said seriously: "As far as I know, the citizens of Dionia are mainly Greeks. Egypt and Greece have always been friendly, as the city of Naukratis is a witness! In the past few decades, the Greeks have helped Egypt fight against the tyrannical Persians many times. There are still many Athenian graves outside the city of Memphis. These are the sacrifices made by the Greeks and us Egyptians to join forces to fight against the Persians 70 years ago. We must continue this friendship!" Pharaoh Nektaneb said with a slightly excited mood. He obviously ignored the fact that the Athenians were hired by Persia to attack Egypt a few years ago.

It turns out that the Egyptians hope to form an alliance with Dionia to help them resist the Persian attack!Ansitanos was no longer surprised why Pharaoh Nektaneb made the alliance so urgent, even though this diplomatic option was originally in his and Davos' plan.

But Ansitanos would never know that in the eyes of Pharaoh Nektaneb, the Persian threat to Egypt was by no means a potential but a real danger.

Just in the first half of this turbulent year, some Egyptian officials in this town in the Nile Delta secretly sent a secret letter to Canaan, which is adjacent to the eastern border of Egypt and under the rule of Persia, in an attempt to surrender to Persia and make it Reoccupy Egypt, which also includes some people in Memphis.Although the Persians have been defeated from Egypt for more than 20 years, their efforts to alienate and seduce the Egyptians have never stopped.Pharnabazus, the Persian governor of Asia Minor, has been rebuilding warships and recruiting soldiers in recent years.

Although the spies reported that this year, the Persian governor Pharnabazus was summoned by the King of Persia and had led his troops to Babylon.

But Netaneb has never forgotten: a few years ago, it was this Persian governor who led the army to burn, kill and loot in Egypt. Although he was ultimately defeated, the losses he suffered were not great and he could come back at any time.

If Netaneb hadn't put forward the slogan of "preferential treatment for monks" after he raised his army (During the more than ten years of Pharaoh Hakal's reign, he restricted monks from owning too much land and farm laborers), he would have won the support of the majority of temple priests in Egypt. , so Netaneb's army was so unstoppable that even the army stationed in Memphis surrendered to him, and Lower Egypt was quickly stabilized in just a few months.As for Upper Egypt, centered on Thebes, it was still the domain of the priests.

After Ansitanos realized what Pharaoh was really worried about, he immediately said solemnly: "Although Persia is far away from our Dionia, it also has its minions in the Western Mediterranean-Carthage, this Phoenician The state has been continuously transporting gold and silver dug from the Iberian Peninsula to Tire for decades, thereby providing the Persian king with funds for expansion and invasion, and therefore became extremely wealthy.

As an emerging kingdom, we, Dionia, adhere to the principle of living in harmony with its surrounding neighbors. We signed a friendship agreement with Carthage more than ten years ago, but we did not expect that it would secretly support the surrounding countries of Dionia. The forces are constantly fighting against Dionia.After its plots were foiled one after another, the Carthaginians actually tore up the friendly agreement with our Dionia and threatened to launch a war against Dionia.Therefore, Dionia is willing to form an alliance with Egypt to help each other and jointly resist the aggression of Persia and its affiliated forces! "

Pharaoh Nektaneb was surprised because this incident had just happened and he had not yet received the news.He knew about Carthage, which was a powerful city-state established by the Phoenicians in the Western Mediterranean. Their merchant ships often passed through the waters of Egypt, and they even often traded with Egyptian coastal towns. The Egyptians even You know, some Carthaginian ships carried gold and silver, but they never had any intention of intercepting them, because the Egyptian army was not strong and the navy was even weaker. In addition to the fact that Egyptians did not like sailing, there were no dense forests in Egypt. The important reason is that the Egyptians can only make small papyrus ships. If they want to own large wooden warships, they can only buy them from abroad.

Therefore, Pharaoh Nektaneb immediately asked with concern: "I heard that Carthage is very powerful and has a powerful navy. If there is a war between Dionia and Carthage, can you win?"

"Honorable Pharaoh!" Ancitanos said with a smile: "More than ten years ago, Syracuse, the Greek overlord in the Western Mediterranean, defeated Carthage one after another, forcing it to sign a humiliating peace treaty. But this defeated Carthage. Syracuse of Taiji suffered a disastrous defeat when attacking our Dionia. We defeated Syracuse's powerful navy through frontal naval battles, and we defeated Syracuse's powerful army through frontal battles. , eventually turning Syracuse into an ordinary city-state on Sicily.

Now that the land and population of our Kingdom of Dionia have increased several times compared to more than ten years ago, how can Carthage be our opponent!The cunning Carthaginians just saw that our Dionia suffered a drought this year and did not have enough food to supply the army, so they dared to declare war! "

What Ansitanos said was emotional, and his words also secretly highlighted the dilemma Dionia is currently facing.

Pharaoh Nektaneb was pondering, and the minister who had spoken to him before suddenly interjected: "Egypt and Dionia have become allies. If one day, the Persian army invades Egypt, Dionia will send troops thousands of miles away. Come to Egypt to fight the Persians?”

Ansitanos put on a proud posture and replied: "When we were first established in Dionia, we risked destruction and declared war on powerful enemies because our allies were invaded. In Dionia In Asia's short history of nearly 20 years of founding, more than half of the wars that occurred were caused by aggression against allies. In order to fulfill the covenant, Dionia had to fight powerful enemies again and again. Fortunately, In the end they all won.

If you ask a person from the Western Mediterranean, what is the greatest advantage of the Kingdom of Dionia?He will definitely tell you, 'Dionia keeps her promise and never betrays her allies! '"

"I once heard this sentence from the Greek merchants in the city of Naukratis..." Pharaoh Nektaneb spoke. When he was a general, he had heard this rumor. After learning about the Dionian envoy Only after arriving did he think of forming an alliance.The Egyptian army is not strong. A few years ago, it relied on the help of more than 2000 Greek mercenaries to hold the line of defense.And to form an alliance with a country with stronger military power, more commitment, and far away from Egypt, he believes that Dionia is the best choice for Egypt to form an alliance.

What King Davos had been insisting on and preaching actually blossomed into brilliant flowers in distant Egypt. This was something Ansitanos did not expect, but he was happy for it.

Pharaoh Nektaneb punched the token on the ground and said loudly: "In order to repay King Davos's generous gift, I will use a hundred ships of wheat as a reward! And after Egypt and Dionia formed an alliance, Egypt will continue to provide free grain to Dionia to solve the problem of food shortage for the people of Dionia!"

Ansitanos, who had always been well-mannered, could not control the joy on his face at this time.

For the Pharaoh and ministers present, they did not feel it was a big loss.Food is abundant in Egypt.With the blessing of the Nile River, Egypt kept producing abundant crops, and the vast number of Egyptian farmers had to hand over most of their harvests. The grain granaries and temples in various towns and temples were piled up with the harvested grains, and even moldy because of stacking for too long.

After finalizing the alliance, Pharaoh Nektaneb also warmly invited Ansitanos to have lunch together in the garden of the palace.

After arriving at the garden, Ansitanos' eyes widened. In front of him was a huge artificial lake with vast mist, lotus leaves and blooming lotus leaves. On the shore of the lake were lush gardens, with flowers collected from abroad everywhere. All kinds of exotic flowers and plants, rare birds and animals...

Pharaoh Nektaneb took Ansitanos to a meal on a huge wooden boat in the lake. They ate fine wine and delicacies, talked about the past and present, and were accompanied by beautiful maids dancing...

For a while, the host and guest enjoyed themselves.

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

At the same time that Dionysian Foreign Minister Ansitanos arrived in Egypt, an important meeting was taking place in the city hall of Catanai, Sicily.

Participants included Proseus (Leotizides), commander of the Eighth Legion of Dionia, Frarios, the naval commander of the Third Fleet, Sipulos, the administrator of Catanai, and the administrator of Naxos. Chief Milon, Chief Chief Amycles of Messina, Chief Chief Apirosia of Siculi, Chief Chief Cleru of Hena, Chief Chief Hebita... In addition, there are two allied city-states, Leoti The chief generals of Ni and Taunis participated.

It stands to reason that those present here are all the leaders of each city, and there is not much difference in their positions. One of King Davos’s smart methods for handling government affairs in the past is to implement a round table conference, so that there is no High and low.However, Sipulus appeared at the top of the meeting, with Proseus close to his left. This made the chief administrators who were familiar with Sipulos' character mutter in their hearts, but even if they were slightly dissatisfied, it did not show on their faces.

Siprnos looked around at everyone and said seriously: "My lords, you all know that a few days ago our first legion had gathered to go north to help the Volscians and resist the Romans. If the Carthaginians fulfill their obligations, they will tear them apart. If what they said during the agreement, then they will soon declare war on us and send troops to Sicily. In fact, various signs sent back from Carthage indicate that the Carthaginians are indeed preparing for war! In order to be able to To understand clearly our preparations for war in Sicily, so that His Majesty and the Senate can control the overall situation of the entire war and formulate better strategies, His Majesty sent Lord Felicius from the Ministry of Military Affairs to inspect Sicily. Now please welcome Lord Felicius turn up!"

All the chief executives were stunned: Felicius came to Sicily, and they were not notified in advance!

(End of this chapter)