Chapter 119 \nDavos reminded Epiphanes, âIf these new people came, Iâm afraid that you will need to submit a new proposal to the council meeting for the elders to discuss and review, because they are after all, different from the freeman of the third brigade, but I can tell you for sure that I will do my best so that your proposal get passed. However, if they want to become a citizen, Iâm afraid that the conditions for them will be much more difficult, and they should be mentally prepared. In addition, itâs better to quietly go to the eastern Mediterranean and not to provoke Sparta!â\nâUnderstood!â Said Epiphanes excitedly.
Then he finally, took the flag, and at the top of the flag was an iron statue of Tisiphone, the goddess of vengeance, the goddess feared by the Greeks, holding a torch on one hand and a snake as a whip. The flag under the statue is also embroidered with the Hesperus and the brigade numberâŠ
And at the top of the centuriaâs flag is an iron statue of Cerberus, the three headed dog of hellâŠ
The whole ceremony lasted for nearly two hours, and from beginning to the end, the morale of the soldiers was high and the cheers from the side, continued.
In the end, Davos raised the army flag again, and the groups of flags such as the legion, brigade, centuria, platoon, the gold(bronze), and iron statues, the red and yellow flag tassels, the red, purple, and white helmet crest has added a bit of luster to this place, but more importantly, with these, the morale of the soldiers will be even higher, and the officers will be able to command them more efficiently and act more quicklyâŠ\nDavos was happy to see a genuine army taking shape. He waved the flag and yelled, âWhere the flag is, the army is there! If the flag fell, then the army is dead! The military flag signifies the armies! Invincibility!â
âWhere the flag is, the army is there!!! If the flag fell, then the army is dead!!! The military flag signifies the armies!!! Invincibility!!!âŠâ
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Most of the Lucanians couldnât understand what the soldiers in the square were shouting, but the huge pressure caused by their shouting had scared anyone with hostility.
Both Vespa and his son, Bagul, understood what they said and so they remained silent for a bit longer.
Finally, Vespa let out a long sigh, as if to spit out the uneasiness in his heart, âSon, do you remember the wolves that we often see in the mountains? After a powerful wolf king defeats the other lone wolves, some of the lone wolves would choose to submit to him. Do you think that those wolves are very timid?â\nâNo, father⊠I think that they are the most intelligent, because they know that only under the leadership of the powerful wolf king, will they have enough food, and wonât be attacked by other vicious enemies, and their blood will continue!âŠwhile those arrogant wolves will either die old and lonely in the mountain or become the food of other beasts!âŠâ Bagul understood what his father was thinking, and so he took this opportunity to comfort him.
Vespa nodded and slowly made up his mind, âWhen I was young, I used to lead my people around to make a living, and saw many Greek city-states armies, such as Naples, Thurii, TarantoâŠbut never before has an army of Greeks moved me so much as they did! You have to know that Amendolara is just a small city, but with such an army, the archon may not want to stay simple. Since we couldnât beat them and have become their captives, thenâŠwe can only make a choice that is more favorable to the survival of our people. I just hope that the Greeks will not break their promise!â
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
When the whole city was still immersed in the spectacular scene on the square yesterday, the commercial officer, Mariji, had told Davos about his business plan at Davosâ home, âMy lord, we, Amendolara, are few and poor, our land is also impoverished, and we donât have many rich citizens, and have no special output, and we have no port, which makes it very difficult to attract foreign merchants to our place to trade with us according to the usual methodâŠâ
Nodded Davos, but the truth is that, why has Amendolara been a small city for more than 200 years, and has always maintained the population of citizens at 4,000? Because this small city can not support more people, so the extra people can only migrate to other places to make a living. Therefore, Amendolara has always been a small city. Davos believed that Mariji dares to tell this fact, because he must have come up with some good methods.
âBut -â Mariji then raised his voice and said, âOur neighbor, Thurii, has a very prosperous port, and everyday there are hundreds of merchants ships from other city-states that comes to Thurii to trade. Heraclea, our other neighbor, although it has only been built for a shorter time, has 20~30 merchant ships that comes to trades with them everyday. The port of Metapontum, which is further away from us, is also prosperousâŠbut according to my observation these days, there are some problems in their ports and markets. Because there are too many merchant ships and too many goods, that their warehouse is no longer enough, and they need to queue up in order to rent a warehouse. Therefore, the goods are stacked on the open space, but they are easy to get stolen or rot if they are exposed to the sun for a long time. At the same time, because of the large number of foreign sailors and the lack of inns in the city, not only the cost of living is rising, but also the price of food, which made them complain very much. In addition, there are a lot of people in the port, which makes it prone to disputes, and in case of disputes, the city-state is not only too slow to solve the problems, which delays the merchantâs time, but also tends to be partial to the people of the city-stateâŠâ Mariji said about the disadvantages of the many neighboring city-statesâ ports. Obviously, he did a full investigation and even combined with some of his own experiences when he was a merchant.
\nWhen talking about Cyrus the Younger, Mariji became gloomy and said, âBecause his highness likes soldiers and farmers more than merchants, and he had said many times that he likes âtwo kinds of people best, one is the one who can buy farm tools and livestock for the land, and cultivate the land well, and the other is the one that can defend the land, farm tools and livestock best.ââ
Davos thought carefully and sighed, âYes, after all, Persia has a vast land, farmers and herdsmen accounted for the vast majority of their people. Therefore, ensuring the stability of Persia is the most important issue, and with so many dependent states, cities and races paying taxes to the Persian royal family every year, Persia is not short of wealth, so Cyrus the Younger is right. If he was alive, he might have been a good Persian king, unfortunately, when many peopleâs hopes are pinned on him alone, his life is no longer belonged to him. However, he doesnât know this, and he had instead, took such a huge risk and lead troops to battle in personâŠwhat a pity!â
âI approve of your plan! However, I would like to add a few more points.â After Davos finished speaking, Mariji immediately raised his ears, as he knew that Davos had extraordinary talent in business. The temporary market that they had built in Thurii before was so lively, is mainly because of the hands of the archon.
âOne is the road. At present, there is only one dirt road between us and Thurii and Heraclea, which made it too difficult to walk, and not conducive to the merchants in transporting their goods. Therefore, we must build a flat, wide and solid road, and to also build strong bridges on those rivers, and so we need to start preparing for this soon. The other is that the warehouse and inn should not only reduce the cost of rent, but also to ensure the cleanliness and safety, and no theft or robbery is allowed. This requires you to discuss with Hielos and come up with a solution. By the way, what are the tariff of Thurii, Heraclea and Metapontum?â
âIt depends on what kind of goods the merchant is selling. The tariff on commonly used and is urgently needed by the city-state is low, which is generally only 2%, while for foreign goods that are not commonly used by the city-states, or even threaten the survival of the citizens that produce similar goods, has a tariff as high as 20~30%âŠâ Mariji gave a serious account of what he had learned.