Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 243: Theonias Deployment

Giorgris is considered a rich man in Amendolara(it's actually his wife), as he owns 7,000 square meters of lands in Amendolara, all planted with olive trees over ten years old and had his own oil press to make olive oil, originally the family only had a simple wagon, mainly used to transport the completed olive oil to the port of Thurii, but since Daeneya married Giorgris, and considering the frequent travel of Giorgris between Thurii and Amendolara for military training and handling military affairs, and in order to provide an appearance for her husband, she had bought a carriage for him to ride in, but usually, he just rode on the horse more often.

Although there were not many pedestrians on the road at this time, all the carriages still departed orderly. It has been almost a year since the construction of the Amendolara-Thurii road, and in order for it to be safe and convenient, the people have formed some customary rules under the guidance of the union.

But now the Department of Road Management of the alliance has been established and Heracleides the Younger has been successfully elected as the head of the department. According to the new department, Heracleides the Younger was ready to start two things immediately: First, he was going to submit to the Senate a bill for the maintenance and use of the roads of Theonia, that is, he was going to convert these customary road rules of the people into official road laws common to the union and improve the efficiency of the use of the roads. Second, he was going to propose to archon Davos a new road design and a plan to renovate the old ones.

The coachmen drove the horses to gallop at a constant speed, and the wooden wheels tightly clamped with iron sheets “clattered” on the flat road.

In the bumpy carriage, Giorgris listened to his wife's chatter and thought about what he heard about the new department.

“Tomorrow, I am going to buy more slaves.” His wife's words caught his attention.

“Don't we have enough slaves already?” Giorgris said with doubt.

“I still haven't seen the 2,000 square meter of lands that was allocated to you in Krimisa and I heard that they are all good land. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture, it can only be used to grow wheat. But now, you are busy with the military affairs of the union, so how can you have the spare time to work in Krimisa? Naturally, I will need to buy more slaves to look after the farms for us.” Explained Daeneya.

“It's only 2,000 square meter of land, there is no need for so many slaves and it will cost us a lot of money just to support them.” Giorgris used to be poor, but he still kept his good habit of being thrifty.

“Dear, you do not know but the average citizen of Theonia now has at least two~three slaves in their family, and everyone understands that the only way to build merit, gain honor and win more land and concessions in war is to give the adult male of the family free time for military training. The slave market, which was only built six months ago at the port of Thurii, has now expanded several times. And the price of ordinary slaves has increased from 160 drachmae to 200 drachmae. If we don't buy more now, then once we want to buy more slaves in the future, I am afraid that the price will have gone up to 300 drachmae.”

“Besides, we can send the extra slaves to Krimisa just in time to speed up the tilling of our farm, digging ditches,and to catch up on the planting of wheat seedlings, and when the farm work there is finished, a few can be sent back to the oil presses in Amendolara to assist in the transportation of the pottery pots, and go to the port to take care of our olive oil shop…during the busiest autumn season, more labor will be needed to harvest wheat, grinding the olives, extracting the oil and also grinding flour…when the time comes for farming, we will have enough slaves to use, so there will be no need to hire temporary laborers, which is a waste of money and is inefficient….” Daeneya explained it to Giorgris in detail.

Giorgris doesn't know much about this, but he trusted his wife's ability, so he nodded and said, “In that case, do as you say.”

Daeneya then happily snuggled in the arms of Giorgris.

After a while, the carriage stopped in front of the south gate of the city of Thurii. According to the rules, the carriage could not enter the city, so the couple had to get off and walk, while their slaves carried his weapons behind them.

Along the way, they could see many citizens being accompanied by their wives, and even the elderly and the children came to see them off.

Ever since Davos took the initiative to often take Cheiristoya out in public and with the integration of a large number of Lucanians, the tradition that the wives of the citizens of Greek city-states should stay at home and show their faces sparingly was now rarely observed in Theonia.

“Giorgris! Giorgris!”

Giorgris heard someone calling him, and when he looked back, he saw that it was Olivos.

Olivos then came over together with his Persian wife, Mitra.

After the four greeted each other, Olivos excitedly said, “I heard that you are back in the first legion this time!”

“Due to captain Hielos becoming the praetor of Aprustum, I had temporarily came back.” Giorgris kept his old habit while in Persia and called Hielos, captain.

“What do you mean temporary! Davos will definitely make you stay in the first legion for sure!” Olivos curled his lips and gave a mysterious smile.

“Why?” Asked Giorgris with suspicion.

“As the senior centurion of the first legion, it will be easier to become the legatus of another legion afterwards.” Olivos then came over and said in a low voice, “I heard that yesterday, Davos proposed a bill to the Senate and passed, ‘Anyone who has served as a Legatus for five years with outstanding performance can become a member of the Senate after getting elected by the statesmen!’”

Before Giorgris could speak, Daeneya, who was listening, said excitedly, “So my husband will become a member of the Senate in the future?!”

Olivos looked at her and said with a smile, “Yes, but after me. To be a statesman of the Senate, it's not just a matter of being able to fight, you also need to have administrative skills. Like me, I have not only served as the patrol captain of Thurii, but have also invited a private teacher to teach me how to read, count and speak, and next year, I will try to become a mid-rank agricultural officer and a commercial officer…”

Daeneya looked at her silent husband and made up her mind to also urge him to strengthen his study and engage in more local affairs and to not always train the recruits…and so on.

Olivos found it interesting and fitting for the honest Giorgris to marry a shrewd-looking wife.

He looked at Daeneya carefully and suddenly said, “Are you pregnant?”

Daeneya stroked her belly with pride, “Yes, for five months!”

“My wife is pregnant as well!” Olivos announced it with the same pride and Mitra bowed her head embarrassedly.

“I am afraid that the rest of our comrades are like captain Hielos and Matonis, and are not married.” Giorgris suddenly said.

“You…you are not keeping up with the time! Kunogelata had taken a fancy to Hielos and wanted him to be his son-in-law, and wants Davos to be his matchmaker and Davos has already agreed to it! As for Matonis, didn't you notice that he was acting a little strange when we left Krimisa?” Olivos said with a smile, “I asked my men to quietly go to his brigade and inquire about it, and turns out, this big guy became infatuated with a girl in Krimisa….hahaha!”

“Really?!” Giorgris was pleasantly surprised.

“Of course it is! But do not ask him, else he will beat you up and it will also implicate me.” Warned Olivos.

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

In accordance with the agreement, Theonia not only wanted to defeat Locri as soon as possible, but also to show their power to the city-states in the South Italia Alliance in order to increase its influence in this region. Therefore, Theonia had not only sent the most elite of their legion – the first legion, but had also transferred the experienced soldiers from the other legions to supplement the soldiers that are missing in the first legion due to injuries and illness. Even the personnel in charge of transporting the supplies were composed of more than a thousand mercenaries led by Xanticles, which not only ensured the safety of the supplies, but also provided a powerful supplement to the combat forces. Naturally, Davos and Philesius had their own selfishness, hoping that these former comrades of theirs would make more contributions in order to become a preparatory citizens of Theonia as soon as possible.

The first legion has more than 7000 men, with 1,500 men escorting the logistic unit, a total of nearly 9,000 men, and countless supply wagons made up of pack animals. A huge team then set out to the south.

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

The first time Locri heard of Theonia Union(it wasn't yet called by that name at that time) was in the first Crotonian War. The army of Crotone was defeated and captured by the Amendolaran army, which was much smaller than them.

The Locrians became more excited than surprised, as they were very happy to see another city-state in the north of Crotone that could give Crotone a trouble “The enemy of the enemy is a friend” so Locri sent envoys to contact Amendolara in the hope of establishing an alliance with them to deal with Crotone. However, the Amendolarans did not say anything and instead signed an armistice agreement with Crotone and returned the captured soldiers of Crotone six months later. Moreover, during the negotiation, they had even used Locri as a bargaining chip to threaten Crotone and achieve their goal of armistice, so the Locrians began to have resentment against Amendolara.

Half a year later, the second Crotonian war broke out, and the Crotonian army invaded Theonia Union formed mainly by the Amendolarans. Locri, having taken a sigh of relief, did not forget that their greatest enemy was Crotone and so, they quickly sent an envoy to prepare for another alliance with Theonia, but because of various factors, the envoy – Metolephes, failed to get in touch with Davos in time, however, in just a few days, the Crotonian army was badly defeated at the Trionto river, and only a few thousand men had manage to retreat back to Krimisa to defend against the counter-attack of the Theonian army.