In 657 BC, Prince Byzan, the native Greek city-state of Meggara (near Athens, southwest of it), was preparing to lead his tribe to establish a colony on the coast of Asia Minor, and asked Delphi for an oracle to choose a suitable place to build a city, and the result was a vague answer: build a city opposite the blind man.

Byzantium did not understand the meaning of the oracle at first. When his ship arrived at the city of Charleston east of the Bosphorus, he suddenly understood the meaning of the oracle. Because Charleston's geographical location was too bad, he could not see the Golden Horn Bay opposite, which was clearly a city built by only a blind man. So he established a colonial city on the other side of Charleston, named by Byzantium.

Since Meghala was not a powerful country, the immigration it could provide was limited. After hundreds of years of development, Byzantium was still a small city, but its location gradually became important. After Athens' rise, the food mainly came from the city-state of the Euksin Sea. Therefore, Byzantium, which had conquered Charleston, as a hub city-level city-level city-state that guarded the sea route between the Euksin Sea and the Aegean Sea, naturally became the focus of Athens. Later, Byzantium joined the Delos Alliance and became an ally of Athens.

After the Peloponnese War, the Spartans, as the winner, also took a fancy to Byzantine's geographical location. They not only supported a puppet regime in Byzantium, but also stationed troops in the city and controlled the Bosphorus.

One day in early spring in 399 BC, Bulcos' ship sailed into Byzantine port. Standing on the bow of the ship, he looked into the distance and saw more than 100 warships parked in the port. He breathed a sigh of relief in his heart: It must have caught up.

Just as he followed the instructions of the port manager and directed the crew to slowly drive the boat into the designated dock, the people who were busy at the port suddenly screamed. In the chaos, many people jumped onto the boat in panic, untied the cables, and were about to leave the port. Without coordination and command, the ships collided with each other, and they were in a mess. Some ships were even overturned, and the crew fell into the water in panic...

Bulcos hurriedly ordered the boat to row back, but fortunately he had not entered the dock and escaped. He unwillingly parked the boat outside the port and observed the development of the situation. Many people had the same idea as him. After a while, hundreds of ships of all sizes were moored outside the port, floating up and down with the sea water.

Looking at the port where there was a busy scene before, it became empty in the blink of an eye, leaving a mess. Bulcos was puzzled, so he asked the nearby ship loudly: "Hi, what happened?"

"It's the damn mercenaries! Those mercenaries who returned from Persia are going to attack Byzantium!"

"Hext mercenaries to attack Byzantium?!" Bulkos' heart hopped: "Why?"

"I don't know. I heard that the Spartans lied to them and said, 'As long as they arrived in Byzantium, they would give them supplies'. After they arrived in Byzantium, they did not fulfill their promises, and they deceived them out of the city and closed the gates. So these mercenaries got angry. Alas, in this world, soldiers holding shields and spears were everywhere, and they were domineering like robbers. The unlucky ones were all ordinary citizens!" An old man who seemed to be a captain took the speech and said, "Brother, you are not a Byzantine. Where did you come from?"

Burkos hesitated for a moment and said, "Turiy."

"Turi... Oh, I know if that city is in Greater Greece? I haven't been to it, but I've been to Tarantum. It's a good place and it's so rich! I said... it's better for you! Now there's a mess here in Asia Minor, and there's a possibility of war everywhere!..."

Burkos didn't mind listening to an old man's nagging and asked, "Who is responsible for Byzantine now?"

"Spartan general Kriand." The old man complained: "The Spartans only know how to kill people, but not how to manage the city-state! It has only been a few years since they occupied Byzantium! Look, it is much worse than before...ah!"

Burkes felt aroused in his heart and asked, "Old man, what are your name? You have been a captain for many years! The ship owners here should be familiar with it!"

"When Pisillas of Byzantine and Pericre of Athens became the chief general, I came out to run a boat. At that time, he led the Athenian fleet to the Erking Sea to buy wheat, and I also met him! I am familiar with the captain and boatman here. Many people are grown up by me..." The old man boasted about his past while asking seemingly unintentionally: "Why do you want to use a boat?"

"Well... it's possible." Bulcos said vaguely.

"What are you transporting?" The old man did not hesitate and continued to ask in a nagging question: "Grain? Wood? Stone? Olive oil?..."

Faced with the questioning of the old man who was relying on his seniority, Bulcos was a little helpless, thought for a while, and said, "... Maybe it's a human being."

The old man widened his eyes, and the experienced one immediately thought of something: "Are they the mercenaries? No wonder you asked me if I knew all the ship owners here! OK! That's great! Get them away quickly, and our Byzantium may be quiet for a while!"

Burkos neither acknowledged nor denied it.

At this time, a signal from the port was sent: to indicate safety and let the ships enter the port.

"Hey, brother! If you want to use a boat, you can come to the port and say to any Byzantines in the port, 'Look for Lao Piri', and they will bring you to me!" The ships rushed into the dock one after another, and the old man was still at the stern, leaving a message to Bulcos loudly.

"Okay!" Burkos replied, thinking: After getting ashore, should we visit the Byzantine Spartan chief Criand?

…………………………………………

Some Thracian villages not far from Byzantine City, where Greek mercenaries are constantly surrounded by camps. It was dusk, and most of the soldiers were resting, and there was still a candlelight flashing in a large tent.

Daphus was thinking hard in the tent that Cristoya came in without notice.

"Dear, what are you thinking?" Cristoya asked softly with her white arms stretched out and hugged Davers from behind.

Davers sniffed her hair, sighed, and said, "Today we arranged for the soldiers to perform a scene, so that the angry people would act like to attack Byzantine, forcing the Spartans to give in temporarily and agree to give us some supplies, but this does not solve the fundamental problem.

Melsis mingled into the city and got some news. Spartan's general Tibron was appointed as the governor of Asia Minor in Sparta. He had arrived in Ephesus and began to recruit soldiers. It seems that your judgment is correct. Sparta is preparing to go to war with Persia!

Criand of Sparta trapped us here, and wanted us to help them eliminate the Thracians nearby. I am afraid there is still a possibility of incorporating us to help them fight against the Persians."

"Didn't Kerithops value you very much? When he went back to report his work, he also entrusted Anakshi to take care of you. Unfortunately, you ignored Anakshi's win over. Now he is fighting with Xenophon." Cristoya stroked his face and teased.

"Xenophon is good at this, but I'm not interested in Sparta." Davers scratched his head irritably: "If we always follow Sparta and fight, we may not even have a burial place before we die. Unfortunately, we are now fish from the sea and can only be slaughtered!"

Cristoya kissed him softly: "Dear, don't be so depressed. When I came, I met someone, and he might be able to solve your troubles."

"Who?" Davers was cheered up when he heard this.
Chapter completed!