âLord Burkes, thank you for your explanation!â Asistes then continued, âIn fact, if lord Kreru goes to investigate Irna carefully, you would find that we only cut down trees that grow on the plain and not the trees in the mountain area.
Why did we only cut down the trees on the plain? While the Samnites occupied Irnsa, they did not reclaim the land, which resulted in the forest extending to the sea. So if we donât cut down the trees and clear the wasteland, there will be no arable land in Ina, resulting in us being unable to feed the growing population just by relying on animal husbandry alone. And if we were to buy grain somewhere else, the price would be high, significantly affecting peopleâs lives. And if there is a lot of spare arable land in other parts of the kingdom, would they still be willing to live in Irna?! Thus to maintain Irnaâs presence, the kingdom must pay a high price, which is not worth it!
Apart from those, the city of Irna is directly adjacent to the Sorrentum peninsula, with its towns mostly in the south, which was only a few dozen kilometres from Poseidonia. So if no road connects it through the land, transportation from the port would be inconvenient. Besides, we would also need to cut down those trees to construct the roads. But more importantly-â
Asistes looked around and said deeply, âAlthough the Samnites had become our allies because of their disastrous defeat to us in that war ten years ago, we still canât let down our guards. Recently, I heard the Caudiniâs in the north have started attacking the Campanian League again. And since Irna is in a faraway land from the kingdomâs centre, it is necessary to ensure convenient transportation that would allow our legion to arrive in time in case of accidents. Moreover, our legion soldiers are better at exerting their strength on flat land, while the Samnites are good at fighting in the mountains and forest. Thus cutting down the trees on the plain is also to protect IrnaâŚâ
After Asistes finished, the statesmen began discussing it with each other as a messenger from Naples had informed Thurii of the Caudiniâs attack on the Campanian League a few days ago. Even though the statesmen didnât think the Samnites would dare to break their agreement and declare war on the kingdom, they were still satisfied with Asistesâ proactive approach, which made Kreru unable to say anything.
Davos, on the other hand, nodded slightly at the sight of Asistes growth after so many years of training.
But then, Marigi stood up and asked politely, âLord Asistes, I have a question, but this naturally is not within the scope of your work. Still, I wanted to consult you about it. With your six-year experience in Irna, I hope you can give me some suggestions on how to break Carthageâs trade monopoly over Sardinia and Corsica?â
A commotion suddenly arose in the Senate hall as this question was truly beyond his scope.
But seeing Marigiâs eager gaze, Asistes looked at Davos, who was nodding at him.
Seeing that, Asistes knew he couldnât refuse this question. So after pondering for a while, Asistes said, âI remember a provision in the agreement we signed with Carthage that âTheonian merchant ships are not allowed to go to the southern Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia and Corsica for tradeâŚâ So the best and only way to change Carthageâs monopoly on trade with these two large islands and obtain large quantities of precious metals is to rework our agreement with Carthage.
However, I think that would be basically impossible as the trade between the southern Iberian Peninsula and the two islands is the most important trade market that supported Carthageâs prosperity, so the Carthaginians will definitely not give it up. A hundred years ago, Carthage had even initiated two naval battles and won them because the Magna Graecians coveted Sardinia. Thus if we have no intention of tearing up our agreement with Carthage and going to war with them, it is best not to provoke them.â
After Asistesâ warning, the people shook their heads in disappointment as this answer was no different from the answers of other statesmen.
But suddenly, Asistes change the subject, âHowever⌠Although Carthage had an agreement with us and had similar requirements for the Phoenicians in Sardinia and Corsica, they couldnât produce everything the Phoenicians in these two islands needed, no matter how good Carthageâs products were. For example, I heard the Sardinians preferred the pottery of Athens to those of Carthage, so the Carthaginians would buy Athenian pottery and resell them to the Sardinians at a higher price. Moreover, since they would need to transport the products from Carthage to Sardinia and Cornia, the distance would be relatively long and would naturally lead to an increase in transportation costs, which would then lead to the productsâ price increase. But if we were to send the same kind of products they needed at a better price in Irna, Poseidonia and Pyxous, I believe we could attract the Phoenician merchants from both islands to buy them.
Currently, we could even occasionally see them in Irnaâs market. But after we do that, I believe we can attract more people to come. Still, even if we succeed, we would not be able to make a massive-scale trade, especially in precious metals. After all, the Phoenicians on these islands heavily depend on Carthage, so they are unlikely to do anything that would damage Carthageâs interests too muchâŚâ
âThank you for your answer.â Marigi then sat down with a smile on his face as Asistesâ suggestion had confirmed his thoughts.
After that, several statesmen asked questions that Asistes smoothly answered. With his mercenary background, his marriage to the Lucanians and his uncle Antonios was one of the leaders of the statesmen from Sicily, Asistesâ connections with several large groups of statesmen made the other statesmen not get on his wrong side and put obstacles during his evaluation.
Seeing the questioning portion about to end, Asistes wanted to relax. But suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, âI have a question to ask you.â
Asistes became so nervous that he quickly turned around and said respectfully, âYour majesty, may I ask what it is?!â
The statesmen also pricked up their ears.
Davos then asked, âWhat do the Campanians think about the Romans?â
âRomans?â A few statesmen felt this name unfamiliar.
After hearing that, Antonios became relieved at confirming Davos wasnât deliberately targeting Asistes.
Although he had argued with his nephew last night, Asistesâ words woke him up. Thus in todayâs meeting, he began paying attention to Davosâ every move while also trying to avoid suspicion by not questioning Asistes.
âYour majesty, the Campanians would rarely talk about the Latin city-states in the north during my contacts with them. After all, there is also Volsci and other Latin city-states between Rome and Campania. In addition, Rome didnât develop their maritime trade, so it only had a few trade exchanges with Campania. From that, we could infer that they donât know much about this city-state and do not attach much importance to them. HoweverâŚwhenever they occasionally mentioned Rome, they always added the words âbarbaricâ and âaggressiveâ, so I feel that the Campanians looked down and feared Rome. But that may be because the Romans had defeated the Celts who invaded and captured many Etruscan and Latin city-states during the third year of the kingdom (390 B.C.)âŚ.â Asistes who ruled Irnsa for six years had never interacted with the Romans. But three years ago, Davos invited Asistes to a banquet after getting elected as the praetor of Irna for the second time and mentioned Rome while sending him off, which aroused Asistesâ interest. Thus he was fully prepared to answer this question.
And the reason Davos asked this question was that he was curious about the Campaniansâ attitude towards the Romans. In his previous lifeâs history, the Campanians decided to seek help from Rome after suffering the Samnitesâ invasion because there were no other forces around them other than Rome that could help them. In fact, they might have thought the same thing in their mind as the present Campanians, but the only difference is that they had a bigger backer now. And with Theoniaâs help, the Samnites didnât dare invade them again, so they should not submit to the Romans⌠Davos was currently lost in his thoughts, but his face remained calm while nodding at Asistes.
After Davos asked his question, no one followed with another question.
The rotating speaker, Cornelius, then asked Asistes to return to his seat.
The next step was for the five statesmen of the Kingdomâs Civil Servant Management Committee to rate Asistesâ performance based on his three years of rule in Irna. And Asistesâ performance was rated as âgoodâ, but this score wasnât made public. And after King Davosâ evaluation, the Committee would file it as an important credential for Asistesâ new appointment in the future.
âThe next article on the agendaâŚâ Cornelius loudly said, âElecting Irnaâs new praetor.â
He then turned around and asked, âYour majesty, do you have someone in mind?â
That wasnât Corneliusâ flattery to Davos. Rather, it was the practice of the Senate to confirm whether the king already had someone in mind when selecting a senior officer. If there were, they would discuss it and appoint him if they think he is suitable. But if the majority believe that the kingâs candidate isnât qualified, the king could also change his candidate.
Even though that was the privilege as the king of Theonia, Davos rarely uses it because he knows that people will hate him if he benefits alone. Besides, he can privately notify Marigi and others to achieve the same result, so why should he do it in the open?
âI donât have a candidate.â Davos tapped his fingers on the armrest. He then said thoughtfully, âHowever, the requirements to become the praetor of Irna are different from those of other cities. As the northernmost city of the kingdom, the successor would need to continue dealing with our relations with Campania and Samnites and increase their favourability to the kingdom. At the same time, they also need to continue developing Irna into a hub of maritime trade between the kingdom and north-central Italia.
Whatâs more, with the complex origin of the people of Irna, conflicts and disputes are not rare due to different customs and habits, which tests the successorsâ governing ability. Thus I hoped that the statesman who applies to be the candidate and the statesman who you elect should carefully consider those before making a decision!â
Davosâ words made the statesmen ponder deeply.
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