Around the Greek issue, the European powers fought fiercely and silently on the invisible battlefield. Each country chose its own position based on its own strength and interests, and then formed separate cliques, and then used polite official documents to discuss the issue. Fight to maximize the interests of the country.
This unstable state of international order has easily triggered wars since ancient times. Fortunately, after more than 20 years of bloody chaos, the major powers are already wary of war. Even the most radical politicians do not want to risk their countries again. Throw yourself into the war - and this mentality means that there must be room for compromise among all parties.
At this time, Aigron was at leisure.
At this time, he could not get involved in the twists and turns of the European continent's diplomacy, and those fierce conflicts of interest had nothing to do with him at this time - for him, everything he got now was enough to satisfy him. There is no need to risk creating new instability.
He is not afraid of gambling, and he will definitely take risks when it is time to take risks, but he is not a madman, and he also knows how to give up when things are good.
Because of this mentality, when demarcating borders with his Greek allies, he was more generous than the other parties imagined, because for him, maintaining friendship and stability freed up his energy to do more important things. , is more important than getting a few more barren hills.
Since the signing of the Spartan Accords, Aegron has remained in Methoni, waiting for the outcome of the negotiations between his allies and the Turks.
The development of the situation did not disappoint him. Under strong pressure from the Russians, the Sultan had to make a trade-off between Greece and his own capital, and made a wise choice-he ordered his troops in Greece to withdraw in order to Go north to resist the attack of the Russian army.
Moreover, the envoys of the Western powers staying in Istanbul seem to have reached a tacit understanding secretly, and have been urging Sudan to enter into peace talks with the independent Greek government and withdraw its troops in exchange for the support of the great powers for Sudan.
In order to preserve the remaining family property, the Sultan had to make a painful decision to recognize the independence of Greece in exchange for help from Western powers so that his dynasty could survive.
The Turkish and Egyptian armies stationed in Athens and other areas were already exhausted from years of fighting in impoverished foreign lands. After the Duke of Lechstadt led his army to land, they also despaired of conquering Greece, so they received the Sultan's invitation. After the Sultan's order, they breathed a sigh of relief, so they were happy to cooperate with the Sultan's order.
For them, defending Istanbul and their Anatolian homeland made more sense than staying in Greece.
Precisely because both parties already had a strong will for peace, and powerful external intervention forces also supported peace, the negotiations between the Independence Army and the Turkish Army went very smoothly, and it took almost no time to reach a basic agreement.
During the negotiation process, the Turkish army had begun to retreat because of its eagerness to return aid. By the time a preliminary agreement was reached, all the Turks in the Athens area had been cleared, and the Greek Independence Army rushed out of the Peloponnese without hesitation. Sasha Peninsula, quickly took over Athens.
To them and to Greece, Athens meant the entire country, and only it could become the capital of the new Greek kingdom in the future.
When the independent army entered Athens, the local residents showered them with flowers, and the entire peninsula rejoiced.
Each of these major events is enough to be recorded in the annals of history, but for Aiglon, these are all expected events, so they are not worthy of more attention.
And the issue he is most concerned about now is his wedding to Theresa.
Athens has been peacefully recovered by the rebels, which means that the Parthenon ruins have also fallen into their hands again, and Panos Colokotronis has already promised him that he will do his best. Work hard to help Aigron hold a grand wedding as a reward for his favor and contribution to his side.
Aiglon really hopes so.
Emotionally speaking, he owed Teresa too much. Emotionally and rationally, he had to give the girl a grand wedding as an explanation; from a political perspective, he also hoped to use this wedding to declare Bonaparte The family is officially back on track.
Although he is only 17 years old now, when he gets married and starts a family, he will be the head of the family and the unrivaled leader of the entire family.
When this family was prosperous, almost everyone wore a crown, but now it has fallen into decline and its members are scattered. Now, as the new generation of family head, he shoulders the responsibility of carrying forward this family and spreading its branches.
As his legal wife, Teresa will work with him to restore their family to its former glory.
Because of this, after learning that Athens had been recovered, he immediately took his fiancée to the area, and then discussed the wedding arrangements with Panos and others who had just arrived in Athens.
Although Panos was busy at this time and had to deal with endless problems, and he was almost too busy to touch the ground, he did not forget his promise and just allocated some people from the stretched staff to assist Aeglon and his men prepare for the wedding together.
Naturally, Teresa paid more attention to this issue than Aigron. She paid attention to the negotiations between the two parties throughout the process, and asked about almost every detail of the wedding, including the ceremony procedures at the wedding ceremony, as well as the branch locations of the honor guard. She made arrangements one by one according to her own wishes on the course of action.
In order not to be blind to the elephant, of course she had to go to the Parthenon to conduct on-the-spot investigation, and Aigron was naturally happy to accompany Teresa to visit the ruins, as if it was a trip.
Today is a good day. Although it is already winter, the clouds have dispersed, the sky is clear, and the air has become especially dry and refreshing. Boys and girls dressed in casual clothes, protected by guards, walked up the steps of the Acropolis. Walking, step by step, we reached the highest hill of the Acropolis.
The Parthenon, with its majestic and elegant appearance, stands quietly here.
In the past, it used to be a symbol of Athens, dedicated to the goddess Athena, and the embodiment of the devout faith of the Athenians. It witnessed the most glorious time of the city-state and was the culmination of Athenian architectural and artistic achievements.
However, all glory eventually came to an end. Athens ultimately failed in the decades-long war for hegemony with Sparta, and the city-state's glorious era came to an end. After that, Athens, along with the whole of Greece, inevitably declined. Then it was conquered by foreign nations one after another, first the Macedonians, then the Romans, and finally the Turks. The conquests made the Athenians themselves almost forget the glory of two thousand years ago.
All the glory has become a fleeting thing, leaving only this magnificent marble building standing alone. No matter how spectacular and beautiful it looks, it is just the last remnant of the glorious era.
Moreover, due to many years of war, the temple itself has also suffered great damage. The biggest damage came in 1687, when the Venetians and Turks fought in Athens. The Turkish defenders regarded the temple at the highest point of the Acropolis as a After establishing an important stronghold, the Venetian army bombarded the castle and detonated the explosives piled by the Turks in the temple. This eventually led to a martyrdom explosion, which almost completely collapsed the roof and walls of the temple. The scarred temple officially became the The broken walls and ruins.
The disasters suffered by the temple did not stop there. Then it became the favorite of all kinds of adventurers and collectors. Its remaining exquisite marble sculptures also suffered terrible disasters again and were smuggled away. It became a private collection.
Teresa followed Aigron up the steps. She looked at the rubble and devastation on the hill, and she couldn't help feeling a little sad.
For her, Athens is not so much an ancient city-state as it is a symbol of civilization and the birthplace of European culture. How could she not feel pity when she saw that it had fallen into this state?
"It's not long before the wedding. We need to seize the time to arrange manpower to clean up." She whispered to herself.
Although she knew that no matter how much she cleaned up, it would be impossible to renovate the ruins, she still had to at least clean it up a little, so as not to ruin the lively and festive atmosphere.
"Well, Panos and the others happen to have a group of Turkish prisoners who haven't been sent back yet, so let's send them here to clean up the rubble." Aigron nodded in agreement.
Then, the two of them walked to the top of the Acropolis together, and at this time, the ruins of the Parthenon were revealed in front of them in every detail.
Rather than saying that it is a large building, it is better to say that it is the only remaining ruins - the top has collapsed and there is nothing inside, except for rows of pillars and some reliefs and sculptures. Standing there silently.
But even so, after standing under these pillars and truly feeling the size of the temple, not only Theresa but also Aigron felt the impact of classical civilization-this was 2,300 years ago. Building...
Subconsciously, the girl and the girl couldn't help but look around, as if looking for the once glorious scene of Athens among the ruins, but naturally they couldn't find it.
There is nothing left but these pillars, everything is in the past and will never be seen again.
Time can wear away everything, even the greatest emperors cannot escape the wear and tear of time, and will eventually become the dust of history; those countries that were once prosperous will not be able to escape the ravages of time, and will eventually disappear into obscurity.
A huge sense of loss suddenly made the unmarried couple speechless.
After a while, Theresa regained her energy. She walked under the stone pillars and admired the marble sculptures and reliefs on the stone walls. She was fascinated by these exquisite works of art.
Her parents had a large collection of sculptures and paintings, so she also received art education since she was a child, so she knew how to appreciate the outlines and figures of stone sculptures.
"Your Highness...it's really admirable to think about it. They are obviously our ancestors a hundred generations earlier, but they can produce such wonderful stone carving art. Even our current artists would be amazed...God knows they What ingenious thoughts and handwriting have been done!"
As she was talking, she suddenly noticed that some sculptures and reliefs had very obvious signs of damage. Some stone sculptures were even cut off by their roots, leaving only the base in place.
"They were looted!" Teresa said in surprise.
"This is not surprising, Teresa." Aigron replied calmly, "People are always prone to coveting these art treasures. It is lucky to have so many things left after more than two thousand years. Already..."
Agron's comfort did not make Teresa feel any better. She looked at the damaged marble sculptures sadly.
"Oh my god, how could anyone be willing to destroy them! They are priceless art treasures!"
"Many people are willing to give it up, such as Count Elgin." Aigron shrugged. “More than twenty years ago, this man, while serving as the British ambassador to Istanbul, bribed the Turkish officials here and then got permission to take away the stone sculptures. He hired a group of craftsmen to make some of the most exquisite ones here. The sculptures and sculptures were dismantled and brought back to England. Many stone sculptures were damaged, and some unfortunately were sunk to the bottom of the sea on the way... But he didn't care, he happily took them to decorate his manor in Scotland. .”
"Count Elgin is such a shameless, lawless bastard!" After hearing these words, Teresa turned pale with anger, and then cursed out with righteous indignation, "He neither understands culture nor art, and only has nothing in his mind. His miserable greed... He didn't understand that the Parthenon was valuable only in Athens, and its sculptures were priceless treasures that belonged only to Athens and were glorious witnesses to the history of Greek civilization! He snatched away the sculptures and got What is it? It's just a sad detritus of history... But the damage he caused is irreparable! Sad... It's so sad that these remaining art treasures were not destroyed in the hands of barbarians, but were destroyed by a civilized country The nobles have been completely destroyed!"
Teresa was not so angry out of self-interest, she was sincerely angry that such a precious heritage of Greek civilization had been so easily destroyed.
Because she loves art and civilization, she knows how precious it all is.
Seeing Teresa being so angry, Aigron was a little afraid to speak.
On this issue, the Bonaparte family is also relatively guilty, because while Napoleon was fighting everywhere, he also deliberately plundered art everywhere and plundered a lot of cultural relics from other countries - among other things, he plundered the artifacts he brought back from Egypt. The obelisk still stands in the square in Paris...
But it’s better not to say it at this time, so as not to pour cold water on Teresa.
Then, Aigron kept making Theresa happy, and finally made Theresa recover from her anger.
"Your Highness, the damage suffered here is too serious, and it is impossible for us to restore it to its original appearance. All we can do is to repair and maintain it as much as possible, so that the few remaining remnants of it can stay here quietly, so that People remember the epic of Athens..." Teresa solemnly said to Agron, "I hope it can be preserved forever! This is the responsibility of all of us."
"I agree." Aiglon nodded.
Then, Teresa walked under the stone pillar again, then raised her hand and gestured in front of her eyes, as if to estimate the position of hanging the tassels during the wedding.
And Aiglon has been by her side, discussing the wedding arrangements with her.
Maybe one day they will have to turn into dust, but at least for now, they will have eternity.
