Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 173: The Visit of Davos (I)

“I understand. I will go and discuss it with Mersis tomorrow.” Nodded Philesius.

“Mersis is a miser, he may want to save more money to the treasury, so you must stick to your principle.” Said Davos half-jokingly.

“Then I will take Amintas and Matonis tomorrow.” Said Philesius seriously, then they both laughed.

Taking advantage of the happy mood, Philesius carefully put forward his own idea, “Milord, since one can get a salary when holding a public office, shouldn't one also get some salary if they couldn't go home due to the need to serve for a long time in war time?”

“Heh, you, the military officer, have begun to learn to get benefits for your own department.” Davos pointed to him and said with a smile.

Philesius replied with a smile, “If not, the soldiers will blame me for not fulfilling my duties during my term.”

“According to reason, it should be. I remember someone had said, ‘The sailors in Athens are paid two obols a day, and the hoplites are four obols…’” Recalled Davos.

“It is indeed the case, milord.”

Davos sighed, “But that is Athens, one of the wealthiest city-state in Mediterranean, and so they could afford it. While the Theonian Union couldn't. There are currently less than 200 civil servants, but the treasury could only barely afford their salary. While there are thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers to go on a campaign, even if one soldier only gets one obol a day, if you calculate it, how much money do we have to pay every day! The reconstruction of Thurii and the salary of the civil servant have already made Mersis unable to stand it anymore, if you were to mention this, I'm afraid that he will fight you desperately.”

Davos laughed then said with certainty, “But once the Union is rich in the future, you can rest assured that I will not let the soldiers that go on a campaign suffer losses!”

Although it was only the verbal promise of Davos, Philesius knew that this is certain. It is not only because Davos had already kept his word, but also because Philesius had worked with Davos for a long time, so he deeply knew that Davos is a man with great ambition, and an army that can't conduct prolonged war won't be able to fulfill his ambition.

“How is the military disciple of the troops in Nerulum?” Asked Davos.

“It's not bad. There was no conflict with the Lucanians of Nerulum.” Philesius laughed, “Of course, it has something to do with the triumphant return that you will hold for them. They are afraid of violating the military disciple and not being able to attend the ceremony.”

“A soldier with a sense of honor is a good citizen!” Sighed Davos, thinking of those comrades of his that had gone on an expedition to Persia together, and are now coming. Hoping that they, who were accustomed to plunder and being unrestrained would not cause too much trouble in the Theonian Union.

Suppressing the concern that had just emerged in his heart, he looked at Philesius, “Are you ready to face the public?”

“I….” The gentle mannered man, who had spent half of his life in the battlefield, seemed nervous and shy.

“Hey, there is nothing to be nervous about. You are not the only one who will go there, there are also Drakos, Epiphanes, and Hieronymus! You need to show the image of our Theonian strategoi to the people of the Union and let them know that only by fighting bravely for the Union can they enjoy such lofty honor!” Said Davos solemnly, while he patted Philesius on the shoulder.

Philesius understood the significance of this triumphant return for the army, so he was unable to make himself relax.

Davos had to change the topic, “By the way, Bagul and the fourth brigade are also going to participate in this triumphant return, so we have to let the first brigade go to Nerulum to replace them for a few days.”

Davos then thoughtfully said, “After that, the soldiers of Bagul's fourth brigade will settle in Nerulum. In this way, they can defend Nerulum, which will also save us on military expenses… However, the military quality of the fourth brigade is far from meeting our requirements, so we must send some instructors in turn to carry out strict training….”

Seeing that Philesius hesitated to speak, he asked in doubt, “Are you anxious about the fourth brigade?”

“No, I am not anxious about the fourth brigade. Bagul is a good leader, and he is also the son-in-law of the Greeks, and most of his soldiers believed in him, and the sisters of these Lucanian warriors are basically married to our citizens. So, in our Union, in particular, the Greek citizens of Amendolara and the Lucanians have a very close relationship. Therefore, during the campaign, the fourth brigade has been very proactive in cooperating with the other brigades!” praised Philesius, “I just want to ask you, Milord, how to solve the problem of the Lao Fortress, in which we would need to have soldiers stationed there for a long time?” There is no such profession as a soldier in the Theonia Union, so it is impossible for the soldiers to leave their livelihood and stay there for a long time.

In Philesius' opinion, this is a difficult problem, but Davos had already thought of a solution, “We will have the preparatory citizens to take turns, this can be regarded as an assessment content that they must carry out to become an official citizen of the Union. At the same time, the veterans are also allowed to serve as instructors and officers in the Lao Fortress to manage and train them. In this way, Lao Fortress will be regarded as a military training base of the Union. First, to train the preparatory citizens to be qualified soldiers. Second, train the veterans to become qualified reserve officers. Third, with this, Lao Fortress will be garrisoned for a long time….”

Davos spoke after a great deliberation, “The Lao Fortress controls the main road from Thurii to Laos and to Lucania, and I believe that this road will soon be busy with the rapid increase of merchants. Think about it. Instead of going through the Strait of Messana and accepting the exploitation of Messana and Rhegium, the caravan can now reach the port of Laos on the west coast of the Apennine Peninsula directly by land. And Laos is our ally, which will give preferential tariff. Therefore, this is very attractive to Greek merchants. In addition, as long as we can stabilize the situation in Lucania, some Lucanian goods, such as fur, cattle, sheep….and so on., can also attract the attention of the merchants. Therefore, we can collect a very small percentage of tariff at the Lao fortress, without damaging the enthusiasm of the merchants, and will also allow the union to use this money to buy food and supplies for the garrison. At the same time, it should be more than enough to pay a certain amount of living expenses to the soldiers who were unable to work for two ~ three months….”

At first, the business content that Davos talked about had made Philesius felt dizzy. It wasn't until Davos mentioned the garrison troops of Lao Fortress that Philesius understood that the food and salary of the garrison troops could be easily solved by collecting taxes. This simple solution of Davos had made Philesius admire him more.

“So, it will take about three days to get to Nerulum from Thurii via the mountain road?” Davos suddenly asked.

“Yes, Milord. We started out at a relatively fast pace, even so, it still took us three day, and if we were to march at normal speed, it will take about four days.” Replied Philesius.

“I am afraid that it will take more time if there are more loaded carts.” Davos tapped his finger on the chair's armrest and muttered to himself, “So it is necessary to put it on agenda the building of a road between Thurii-Nerulum-Laos. It is best to build the road of the three cities at the same time, so as to connect Thurii and Lucania, and strengthen the connection and enhance their integration….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Three days later, Davos suggested for him to go to Nerulum on the Senate.

Some statesmen tried to dissuade him from going there at this time, due to the instability of the political situation in Nerulum.

Davos replied firmly, “Hence why I am going to Nerulum, to make it more stable!” Which finally convinced the Senate.

The group that will travel to Nerulum includes more than a dozen statesmen who hold no public position, such as Vespa, Scambras, Tritodemos, and so on. and were escorted by the officers and soldiers of the first brigade. At the same time, the first brigade is also going there to temporarily replace the fourth brigade stationed in Nerulum, so that they can come back to participate in the triumphant return. In addition, there are also the families of the soldiers of the fourth brigade, and some merchants of the Union.

Heracleides the Younger has been recently busy thinking about how to build a wooden bridge over the Crati river. Finally, he got some ideas, and was about to start the construction experiment. However, he was forced by Davos to join, so that he could inspect the place where he would build the road connecting Thurii-Nerulum-Laos.

Heracleides the Younger did not have his father's stubbornness, and Davos was also kind to him, so he put aside his work for the time being and went to Nerulum together with Davos. But once he enters his working state, his degree of concentration can make him ignore the bad environment around him and even the identity of the people that were with him.

“In this mountain, there are a lot of sharp rocks on the ground, which must be polished off. This will undoubtedly increase the workload and slow down the speed of the road construction.”

“You see, there are also a lot of drifting soil on the mountain wall. Once it rains, it may be washed down and block the road. Therefore, it must be fixed with mortar, and the small trees growing on the cliff must be cut down!”

“This section of the mountain road is too narrow for even a cart to pass through, so it must be widened!…hmmm, I think that we can burn this large bulging part of the mountain and pour cold water on it, to have it burst. But be careful not to burn the forest!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos and the statesmen gathered around Heracleides the Younger like a student, listening to him observe and analyze how to build the mountain road. Naturally, the speed of the whole group would not move too fast.

In the evening, the whole group could only sleep on the mountain road in the open air, and the guard team and the first brigade arranged the warning lines and sentries.

For the family members of the fourth brigade, the mountains are their home. After a year of being away, they finally returned to this familiar land, and their breathing became much smoother. They lay on the ground with ease and soon fell asleep.

While most of the soldiers of the first brigade have travelled to Persia, so they had most commonly camp in the field.

And the merchants travel around, and for profit, they can bear anything.