Chapter 103
Looking at the countless raised right arms in front of him, Archita was both happy and regretful. "Devers, your wish has come true. Congratulations!"
The Devers breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely, "Thank you! I also sincerely hope that the Tarantum Senate will agree to my proposal. Then we can become allies! "
"There were a total of 1,382 people who voted on this motion. 1,076 people agreed and 306 people objected. The motion is passed! I declare — "After Cornelis heard the result, his emotions were a little complicated at first, but he soon felt relieved. He shouted with all his strength," From now on, all mercenaries are citizens of Amendolara! "
As soon as Cornelis finished speaking, the soldiers around the Devers cheered thunderously. The Devers were hugged by the excited officers again and again. The most common sentence they heard was, "Chief, we have a home!"
Hearing this, the Devers were a little dazed. 'Home?! 'Unfortunately, my real home is not in this world …'
… …
While the Amendolara Citizens' Assembly was being held, the Turií emissary group, still led by Ancitanos, arrived at the city gate of Amendolara.
"We are the emissaries of the Turií. We want to see your leader. Please open the gate!" Burkes shouted at the sentries on the city wall.
Before the sentries could answer, a man jumped out from the side and shouted, "Go back, Turií! Amendolara does not welcome you, go back! "
Upon hearing this, the emissary delegation was a little angry. Even Ancetanos, who had always been gentle, shouted angrily, "Rude mercenaries, don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you've defeated the Lucarians. Ignore the laws of the Greek city-states and forcibly occupy their cities!"
The man sneered. "Hmph, what a selfless tone, as if you really care about the life and death of the Amendolara people! Open your eyes and look clearly, I'm an Amendolara citizen who has lived here since I was a child! "
Ancitanos was stunned, but Burkes recognized him. After all, he was a merchant who often came to Amendolara to trade and knew many people. "It's you, Antikris?!"
"You didn't expect me to still be alive, did you?" Antikris's words were full of resentment. "Thanks to you Turís, the Lucanians chopped off my right hand, but fortunately, I survived. Most of my neighbors, my comrades in arms, are dead because of your selfish demands and compulsions to move to that accursed city of Turií, only to be ambushed by the Lucanians when they were unprepared. The suffering of Amendola is due to the Turií! From now on, the Turís are not welcome here! This is not my personal wish, but the common wish of all the surviving Amendarans! "
Burcos was stunned, Ancetanos was stunned, and the emissaries were stunned. They did not expect the citizens of Amendarra to treat them like this.
Although Amendola and the Turís were allies, there was a huge disparity in their strength. The Turís had more than 20,000 citizens, and the total population was about 100,000. Including the freedmen, there were close to 140,000, and this did not include the slaves. Amendola's population was only about 10,000 people at most. Therefore, the Turís treated Amendola more like their own city, and rarely considered the feelings of the other. When the Turís received the news that Amendola had been conquered by the Lucanians, other than expressing regret, they were also worried about whether it would threaten the northern part of the Sibari Plains. When the citizens of Amendola who had just escaped asked the Turís to reclaim their lost land, the Turís ignored them because they were preoccupied with defending against the Lucanians' attack. Now, when they realized how deep the resentment of the citizens of Amendolar was, they were shocked beyond words …
"Don't even think about asking for anything from Amendola, and Amendola will never listen to you! Did you hear the cheers?! " Antikris laughed maniacally and patted the sentry's shoulder with his left hand. "The people of Amendola have voted to accept all the mercenaries as citizens of Amendola! Therefore, they did not take over Amendola by force. They have legally become citizens of Amendola! I heard that the Lucanian army that defeated the Turís twice was annihilated by the mercenaries. I think anyone who wants to invade Amendola in the future will have to have a taste of our new citizens' shields and spears first! "The threat in Antikris' words made the emissaries' expressions turn ugly.
As Antikris laughed, the Turís emissaries returned angrily.
Antikris stopped laughing and turned to look at the sentry beside him in a good mood. When the sentry felt his hair stand on end, Antikris showed a satisfied expression and asked, "What's your name?"
"Trotidis."
"Where are you from?"
"I'm Thessaly, from the same hometown as the leader of the Devers."
"How old are you?"
"28."
…
After asking a series of questions, Antikris went straight to the point and said to the confused sentinel, "I have two daughters. One is 21 years old, good-looking, her husband is dead, and she has a two-year-old son. The other is only 16 years old, and she's not engaged. Choose one to be my son-in-law. Make your choice tonight, and I'll bring you to my house to get married tomorrow. "
Trotidis was instantly dumbfounded. The other sentry went up to congratulate him, and one shamelessly said, "Antikris, you have two daughters. Why don't you let me be your other son-in-law?"
The people on the city wall laughed.
… …
The Turís emissaries groaned.
"Who's that Antikris?" Ancitanos asked in a low voice.
"A noble of Amendola. He used to be the captain of the patrol team and the captain of the fire brigade," Burcos answered.
Ancitanos replied with an "oh" and did not say anything else.
"General, although the Amendorians have a problem with the Turís, I know the leader of the mercenaries, the Devers. Although he's young, he's very steady and has a good impression of the Turís. Besides, we have an employment agreement with him, so he won't be easily instigated by the Amendorians. I believe that after some time, when the Amendorians have calmed down, we can still have a good talk with them, "Burcos comforted.
"I hope so." Ancitanos sighed. "The mercenaries are now legally citizens of Amendola, and our protest is ineffective. Given the current situation, we have to go back and discuss a new strategy. Sigh! Burcos, do you know what I'm thinking? "
"I don't know."
"My teacher once said, 'After the Greco-Persian War, Sparta was arrogant and treated its neighbors harshly and inhumanely. Therefore, the Greek city-states distanced themselves from Sparta and went to deal with the kinder Athens, which eventually led to the formation of the Tino Alliance. '" As Ancetanos pondered, he blamed himself painfully. "Is our Tuliyi's method really too overbearing? It's not a good sign to pretend to be arrogant when we don't have powerful strength, right?! … "
… …
After the referendum, the women and children left the square, and Cornelus asked Archita to leave because the real Citizens' Assembly of Amendola was about to begin.
Other than the patrolling sentries on the city wall and the soldiers guarding the prisoners, there were 512 original citizens of Amendola and 2,920 newly promoted citizens (including 1,837 Devers mercenaries and 1,083 other mercenaries) in the square, totaling 3,432 citizens of Amendola.
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