Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

In the meeting place, some people still complained: Is there too many two hundred drachmas?

Some people also retorted that it is more necessary to make them feel that it is not easy to become a citizen of Amendola, and they only understand to cherish it.

As a result, the next day, news came from the registrar Rafaias: the consul wife Christosia paid in advance for the ten free citizens, while Mercis also advanced for the six free citizens. Money.

Everyone realized the value of this group of free people.Not to mention Mercis’s harsh eyes, he searched many talents in the Persian who could write good calculations, as well as craftsmen with excellent skills, that is, most ordinary slaves are also physically strong, because they are the labor of heavy camps, After many battles, they can become qualified soldiers with a little training. What is more valuable is that they are mainly Persian farmers.In the Mediterranean region, farmers in three places are very experienced in growing crops: one is the Persians, the fertile land of the two rivers has cultivated excellent farmers; the second is the Egyptians, and the Nile River Basin, which will soar in July every year, allows Egyptians There are only two things he loves to do in his life—farming and worshipping gods; the third is Carthage, and Carthage’s two powerful magic weapons—sea trade and agriculture.As for the Greeks, because the land of Greece is barren, they are more involved in sailing trade, grazing cattle and sheep, growing olives and brewing wine, and handicrafts... and these new citizens have been fighting everywhere, and they are completely eye-catching for farming. Smeared.

As a result, everyone swarmed and the 300 freemen quickly divided up. Citizens who did not hire freemen had to go to the market of Tarantum to buy slaves (Tarantum had the largest slave market in Great Greece at the time), Some citizens even started the idea of ​​the large number of free citizens in neighbor Turi, of course, this is all afterwords.

After processing the proposal on slavery, the Senate was not immediately disbanded because Mariji returned from Tarantum.

Take the sea route from Amendolara, not far from Tarantum, board the ship from the port of Turiri, and it can be reached in less than two hours under the wind.Davers made mistakes when Marigid was sent to Tarantum. Of course, he had no better talents available at that time. As a Persian, Marigid began to enter Tarantum at first. Anticipating this situation in Aceta, he wrote a letter to bring Marigi to his father Histiaavis, plus Marigi’s pleasing and generous and novel gifts, senior veteran Hesti Yaves was active in mediating him, and the senate and consul of Tarantum showed enthusiasm for Amendolara’s initiative to request an alliance with Tarantum.

Of course, it was not because of Histiaavis that Tarantum was enthusiastic about the mercenary’s proposal. The actual reason is that although Tarantum and Turiri have been in a truce for decades, they have now joined the defensive alliance, But this is, after all, a loose alliance and has no binding force.Since this alliance was founded by Tarantum, it also actively contributed some efforts, like the hatred accumulation between some city-states is relatively deep, it is good not to dismantle each other, such as Crotone and Lockley.Including Tarantum, Turri is somewhat overwhelming. After all, Tarantum, as one of the largest states in Greece, faced a newly-built city-state and lost twice in a row. In the end, although a truce agreement was signed, peace Built Heraclea, but Tarantum lost a big face in Great Greece.Amendolara, which was once a confederate of Turiyi, now wants to form an alliance with Tarantum. The old resident of Tarantum feels a big face, and the addition of Amendolara can also protect their affiliated city-states— —Herculia, how can there be a disagreement!

But another request made by Marigid made them embarrassed: Marigid asked Tarantum for assistance on the grounds that Amendolara had just experienced war and was in short supply of materials to maintain a livelihood.Originally an ally just concluded, Tarantum is also a wealthy city-state, and assistance with some materials is a mere effort.However, the amount of materials requested by Mariji is relatively large, and the veterans have to discuss the aid.

Until the next day, Aceta led the troops, returned to Tarantum, and reported to the Senate about his expedition, focusing on the combat effectiveness of the mercenaries and the outstanding military skills of Chief Davis, and also emphasized: Now The new men of Amendola are controlled by mercenaries.

In fact, Mariji has already praised the mercenary’s performance on the annihilation of the Lukania coalition, but it has only caused the dissatisfaction of some veterans, thinking that he wants to take credit for Tarantum.Now that they trusted Achita also said these words, and praised Daves, they made them realize that this new Amendolara can not only shield Herculia from the wind and rain, but also You can do something else.So not only did the number of supplies requested by Mariji not be reduced, but something additional was added.

When Mariji read the covenant with Tarantum at the venue, the old citizens heard nothing in their ears, and they all formed an alliance, but the object was that Turri was replaced by Tarantum, and the content was not. How much has changed.It was the Persian in front of him, and the current Amendola citizen Mariji, who attracted their attention. Not only was he fluent in Greek, but also remembered that because of the two bills he had drawn, the old citizens were in a mixed mood.

Next, Mariji read out Tarantum's list of aid materials: one hundred tons of grain, one thousand pounds of salted fish, two hundred sets of shields and bayonet, one hundred linen cloth...

Every time they listened to the amount of supplies, they had a surprise on their faces. Finally, they did not wait for Mariji to finish reading. Everyone cheered: Tarantum is so generous!Not to mention anything else, but one hundred tons of grain is enough for the entire population of Amendolara to maintain a six-month life. By then, the wheat fields of Amendolara should also be harvested.The biggest difficulty of Amendolara was solved in this way, and the elders seemed to be in a dream.

"Due to the large number of all the above substances, Tarantum will be divided into several times and transported to Heraklia by sea, and then here. The first batch will be sent tomorrow!" Mariji's words just fell, everyone Clap.

At this time, Dapheus said loudly: "You, in view of the great merits of Mariji for Amendallara, I propose that Mariji, a citizen of Amendolara and a city-state business officer, become the veteran of the senate!"

The proposal received warm support from the new citizens, and the old citizens barely raised their hands.

Next, the Senate decided that the envoy, led by Chief Executive Cornelius and Ombudsman Antonios, would visit Tarantum on the second day to express gratitude to the allies and further discuss the details of the covenant. .

At the end of the meeting of the Senate, Mariji followed Dafus out of the venue.

"Thank you adults for helping me! But let me become a citizen of Amendolara, become a commercial officer, and become a noble veteran!" Marigi said gratefully.

"It seems that I didn't lie to you." Daveus chuckled.

"Adult, you always talk and talk, how could you deceive people!" Mariji seems to have forgotten what he said when he came to Greater Greece.

"Marigi, you have to remember that this is not my decision. This is because the veterans thank you for your reward for Amendolara's contribution!" Daveus said, even if he was humble.

Mariji looked around and whispered, "What a senate! I only know that if there is no adult you, I am afraid that I am not even a citizen of Amendolara. Mariji will always be loyal to Lord Davis!"

Marighi's words are sincere, and Daveus smiled again, saying: "It seems that you have to slowly adapt to life as a citizen of the Greek city-state."

Mariji also wanted to say that Daveus patted his shoulder and asked again: "How is Tarantum?"

Mariji was a smart man, and he didn't go on, but seriously said: "The time is too short, I walked around in a hurry, I feel that the city of Tarantum is large, there are many people, and there are many rich people...their There are a lot of merchant ships in the port, the market is prosperous, and the transaction volume in one day is not low..." Mariji looked envious.

Daveus nodded and asked again: "I heard that the Mesapi are invading Tarantum. How is it now?"

If Mariji didn’t care about this before he joined the mercenaries, let alone one, two or three. Following the mercenaries, he also learned a little about the military: "The Mesapi people have retreated. They invaded. The troops consisted mainly of cavalry and light infantry. They did not touch the heavy infantry of Tarantum at all. They could only invade the land outside the city of Tarantum, but Tarantum also had no way to take them because they were basically Can't catch up with the Mesapi."

"Cavalry? Are there many cavalry in the Mesapi?" Daveus asked keenly.

"I don't know. But I heard that there are not many high mountain ranges south of Tarantum, and there are few rivers. Most of them are flat grasslands, so the Mesapi people graze a lot of cattle and sheep there."

Daveus moved his heart. He thought that on the Apennine peninsula, except the Gauls in the north, they bred horses because of the vast plains and swamps of the Po River Basin, so the cavalry was strong; the forces in other places were mainly infantry, a small amount. The cavalry just filled the facade.Unexpectedly, in the south, on the "heel" of the "Italian leather boots", there was actually a tribe dominated by cavalry (in fact, this is a mistake in the Marigi information, and Mesappi's army is not dominated by cavalry). Let Antonios visit Tarantum and investigate the Mesapi force.

Note: Mesapi Messapi is said to have immigrated from Illyria (today’s location in Epirus and Albania) to the “heels” race in southern Italy, because it was earlier than the Great Colonial era of Greece, and was also Treated as indigenous.