In 657 B.C., Prince Byzantine of the native Greek city-state of Megara (next to Athens, to its southwest), preparing to lead his people to the coast of Asia Minor to establish a colony, asked Delphi for an oracle so that he could choose a suitable place to build a city, and was given an ambiguous answer: to build a city across from a blind man.
Byzantium did not understand the meaning of the oracle at first, but when his ships came to the city of Chalcedon on the east side of the Bosphorus, he suddenly realized the meaning of the oracle, because Chalcedon's location was so bad that it was impossible for him to see the Golden Horn on the opposite side of the river, and it was obvious that only a blind man would have founded the city. So he founded a colonial city on the opposite shore of Chalcedon and named it: Byzantium.
Since Megara was not originally a strong state and the immigrants it could provide were limited, after centuries of development, Byzantium remained a small city, but its location gradually became important. After the rise of Athens, food mainly came from the city-states of the Yoxing Sea, so Byzantium, which had already conquered Chalcedon, naturally became the target of Athens' focus as a pivotal city holding the sea passage between the Yoxing Sea and the Aegean Sea, and then Byzantium joined the Tyrol League and became an ally of Athens.
After the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans, who were the victors, also saw the geographical location of Byzantium and not only supported a puppet regime in Byzantium, but also stationed troops in the city to control the Bosphorus.
One day in the early spring of 399 B.C., Burkos' ship sailed into the harbor of Byzantium, and standing on the bow of the ship, he looked out from afar and saw more than a hundred warships densely anchored in the harbor, and temporarily sighed with relief in his heart: he should have caught up with it.
Just as he was following the instructions of the harbor managers and directing the crew to slowly sail the ship into the designated dock, the people who were busy in the harbor suddenly shrieked, and in the confusion, many people jumped onto the ship in panic, untied the cables, and were about to sail away from the harbor. Without a coordinated command, the boats collided with each other in a chaotic manner, and even some boats were knocked over and their crews panicked and fell into the water. ...
Burkos hastily ordered the boat to be rowed back, and fortunately he dodged a bullet by not yet entering the dock. Reluctantly, he anchored his boat outside the harbor and watched for developments. Many people had the same idea as he did, and after a while, hundreds of ships, large and small, were anchored outside the harbor, floating up and down with the sea.
Looking out over the harbor, which had been a busy place before, it became empty in the blink of an eye, leaving a mess in its wake. Puzzled, Bulcos asked the neighboring ship in a loud voice, "Hey, what the hell happened?"
"It's the damn mercenaries! Those mercenaries returning from Persia are going to attack Byzantium!"
"Mercenaries attacking Byzantium?!" Burgos' heart skipped a beat, "Why?"
"I don't know. I heard that it was the Spartans who lied to them, saying, 'As soon as they get to Byzantium, they will give them provisions,' and then when they got to Byzantium, they didn't fulfill their promise, and lied them out of the city and closed the gates, so these mercenaries got angry. Alas, in this world nowadays, soldiers with shields and spears are rampaging like bandits everywhere, and the unlucky ones are all us ordinary citizens!" An old man who looked like a sea captain took up the conversation and said, "Old man, you are not a Byzantine, are you? Where are you from?"
Burkos hesitated slightly and said, "Turii."
"Tourii ... Oh, I know that city, isn't it in Magna Graecia? I've never been there, but I've been to Tarentum, it's a great place, so rich! I say ... it's better where you are! There's chaos everywhere over here in Asia Minor right now, and there could be wars everywhere! ..."
Uninterested in listening to an old man's ramblings, Bourkos asked, "Who is in charge of Byzantium now?"
"Spartan General Kriand." The old man complained, "The Spartans only know how to kill, not how to run a city-state! It's only been a few years since they occupied Byzantium! You see, it's so much worse than before ... Ugh!"
With a twitch in his heart, Burks asked, "What's your name, old man? Been a captain for many years, right? The ship owners here should all be familiar with it!"
"Pisiras of Byzantium. I came out to run the ship when Pericles of Athens was chief general. At that time, he led an Athenian fleet to the Yoxing Sea to buy wheat, and I even met him! I know all the captains and boatmen here. Many of them I watched grow up ... "The old man boasted about his past while asking seemingly mindlessly, "Why do you want to use a ship?"
"Well ... it's possible." Burkos said vaguely.
"What is it that is being transported?" The old man was unapologetic and continued to ramble, "Grain? Timber? Stone? Olive oil? ..."
Somewhat helpless in the face of this leaning old man's digging, Burkos thought for a moment and said, "... Maybe it's a human being."
The old man's eyes widened as the experienced man whirled around and thought of something, "Could it be those mercenaries? No wonder you're asking me if I recognize all the ship owners here! Good! Great! Let's get them out of here and we'll be quiet in Byzantium for a while!"
Burkos neither admits nor denies it.
At that moment, a signal came from the harbor: a sign that all was safe for the ships to enter the harbor.
"Hey, old buddy! If you need a boat, come down to the harbor and say, 'Ask for old Piri' to any Byzantine in the harbor, and they'll bring you to me!" One by one, the boats sailed into the dock, the old man still at the stern of the boat, shouting a message to Burkos.
"Yes!" Burgos replied, mentally calculating: should we visit Kryander, the Spartan governor of Byzantium, first when we go ashore?
............... .........
It was dusk in some Thracian villages not far from Byzantium, where the Greek mercenaries' barracks stretched out, and most of the soldiers had already rested, with candles flickering in one tent.
Inside the tent Davos was thinking so hard that Kristoia came in and didn't notice.
"What's on your mind, darling?" Christoya asked softly as she reached out her snow-white arms to hug Davos from behind.
Davos lightly sniffed her hair, sighed, and said, "Today we arranged for the soldiers to put on a show, making the angry ones make a show of attacking Byzantium, forcing the Spartans to temporarily soften and agree to give us some sustenance, but that doesn't solve the underlying problem.
Melsius blended into the city and got some news. Tiburon, the Spartan general who has been appointed Sparta's governor of Asia Minor, has arrived in Ephesus and has begun recruiting soldiers. It seems you were right, Sparta is preparing for war with Persia!
Cleander of Sparta has trapped us here, wanting us to help them destroy the Thracians in this neighborhood, and I fear that the possibility exists of taking us in to help them fight the Persians."
"Didn't Chrysopus think highly of you? When he went back to report his duties, he even entrusted Anaxippus to take care of you, but it's a pity that you ignored Anaxippus's solicitation, and now he's fighting with Xenophon instead." Christoya caressed his face and teased.
"Xenophon is good at this, but I'm not interested in Sparta." Davos scratched his head in annoyance, "If we keep following Sparta around, I'm afraid that we won't even have a place to bury ourselves when we die, but unfortunately, we are now a fish out of the sea, and are only at the mercy of others!"
Krystia placed a soft kiss on the side of his face, "Don't be so down, my dear. I ran into someone on my way here who might be able to solve your troubles."
"Who?" Davos perked up at his words.
Kristoia turned back toward the tent and called out, "Martius, let him in."