Chapter 231

Chapter 231 \nHielos expressed his gratitude at Cornelius for his disguised praise.\nDavos said, “Then allow me to recommend a suitable patrol captain for Amendolara.”

Cornelius immediately cheered up, “Lord archon, please go ahead.”

“Epiphanes, he will become an outstanding patrol captain.” Davos then pointed to the back.

“Wha?!” Epiphanes, who was talking with Cid in a low voice, had not expected that he would be named and replied in surprised, “Why me?!”

“For you to focus more of your energy on the administrative affairs of the union and set a good example for your men, instead of scourging the young men of Theonia all day long!” Said Davos half jokingly.

Everyone burst out laughing. It is widely known that Epiphanes likes beautiful young men. In fact many statesmen also have this hobby, but Epiphanes was more obvious. It is not only a trend, but also a tradition for the Greeks to love and care for young men. Even though Davos felt uncomfortable, he still showed respect and didn’t want to force a change. Besides this, what Davos appreciates most about Epiphanes is that on the battlefield, he is able to think calmly and deal with complex situations flexibly, and can always accomplish the tasks given to him and could even exceed his expectations.

Under the pressure of Davos and the repeated pleading of Cornelius, Epiphanes could only agree.\nThe helpless expression of Epiphanes had once more caused Amintas and the others to burst out laughing.

By this point in the meeting, it was already noon, and Cornelius announced that the meeting would be adjourned for half an hour. Then the slaves, who had been waiting outside the Senate hall, immediately came in to give their masters water and food to fill their stomach.

Even with a half-hour break, Davos still has no free time. So while chewing his bread, he discussed with Scambras and Hielos about the problems that they would need to solve after taking their office and how the two cities should cooperate and strengthen ties with each other in order to cope with the situations that may arise in the south at any time.

Then Kunogelata approached him to discuss how to arrange the five new statesmen. As a statesmen of the senate, their residence should be placed in Thurii in order to make it convenient for them to perform their duties. And even if they were a praetor of other cities, they would still not move out their residence in Thurii. After all, the tenure of a praetor of a city is only two years, while the tenure of a statesman is for life.

There are a lot of public lands in Thurii that are not being used, which is controlled by the senate and will not be granted easily. Naturally, it is not possible to allocate a small land for the new statesmen to build their houses for free, because it is clearly stated in the 《Theonian Land Law》 that even if Davos were to buy a land, he still has to pay the market price. But due to the influx of people in this year, the price of residential land in Thurii has been increasing again and again, and this trend will definitely increase sharply now that Theonia has defeated Crotone.

However, Kunogelata hopes that the land given to the new statesmen by the senate will be sold at the original price in order to show the sincerity of the senate of Theonia and appease these new people.

Davos agreed, and had also considered that in case some of the five new Krimisian statesmen really can’t come up with the money, the treasury will pay it first and they will then repay it back later.\nAt the end of the half-hour break, the senate meeting continued.

Davos stood up and said his first proposal, “Although Theonia won this war with Crotone, some problems have come out. Among which is the navy, it is the most important and must be urgently solved!”

This sentence had immediately aroused a strong resonance among the statesmen as soon as Davos had said this.

“The archon is right! In this war, the biggest loss that we have suffered from Crotone was due to their fleets that have gone ashore and continuously plundered, burning down many villages in Thurii and killing many of our people. Up to now, the civil servants in Thurii are still suffering in trying to resettle the people and rebuilding their homes!” Complained Kunogelata.

“If we, Theonia, also have a navy, and it is as strong as our army, then Crotone would have long surrendered when we won the battle, and we wouldn’t even need to encircle Krimisa!” Emphasized Amintas.

“The trade of Theonia Union is becoming more and more prosperous, and our territory is also expanding rapidly. And so, we need a strong fleet to protect our maritime trade and prevent our long coastline from being attacked by enemy fleets and having our ports blocked by enemy warships!” Marigi warned loudly.

“That’s right! We need a strong navy to protect the security of Theonia Union!” Everyone agreed.

\n“So I would like to ask the senate to discuss a plan to allow the union’s slaves to cut down a certain number of cedars every year to be used as timbers for the warship and it wouldn’t even cost us an obol. As for the manufacturing costs-” Marigi looked at Enanilus and said, while seemingly joking, “I don’t think that lord Enanilus will charge the union a high fee.”

Enanilus smiled helplessly.

Everyone thought that Marigi was reasonable, and their worry about the cost dissipated a lot.

“But have you considered the maintenance of these warships after they are built? It is also a huge expense!” Said Mersis unconvinced.

“Enanilus and I already had a discussion regarding this.” Said Davos, and Enanilus nodded indicating that what Davos said is the truth.

“We will naturally not leave the warships idle at the dock when there is no war. Except for a small part of them that will be use to patrol the coast of the union and some of them getting repaired in the dock, the rest can serve as escorts for the merchant ships, especially in the passage from the estuary of the Adriatic sea to the Greek mainland, where there are frequent incidents of piracy. They can also temporarily serve as a large cargo ship in order to transport goods for friendly city states…you see, our navy will not only earn its maintenance costs, but it will also train the seamen’s navigation skills, wouldn’t this be great?” When Davos finished with his thoughts, Mersis stopped talking.

“In addition, we need to find a qualified commander(nauarch) for the coming navy of Theonia. His current task will be to assist the military officer – Philesius, supervise the construction of warships, cooperate with the financial officer – Mersis in auditing the payment, and in the future, when the warship is built, he will also be the one in charge in recruiting sailors and crew members, conducting regular military training, arranging coastal patrol and -” Davos said emphatically, “Win the naval battle. Do you have any qualified candidates to recommend?”