Chapter 1068
At this time, Senior Judge Critodemos loudly expressed his opinion, "According to the laws of Diónia, citizens have the obligation to serve in the military, but there are no strict rules on how long they can serve at one time. However, the citizens of the kingdom are mainly Greek, and according to the Greek military tradition, citizens rarely go out to fight during the busy farming season, and usually do not fight for more than a month.
Those who can fight for a long time are usually mercenaries who have no other income and only rely on fighting for a living. When the fighting time is too long, the public militia may gather to protest to the general, and even request to retreat back to their country … Of course, the citizens of the kingdom can't be as lax as the citizens of other Greek city-states, but this issue must be carefully considered. "
After Tritodemos finished, the ministers were silent for a moment.
Alexis looked at the Devers and said earnestly, "Your Majesty, the reason I attended the kingdom's council today was to report another important matter to you. In the past few years, our territory in Iberia has been attacked by the Lusitanians and a small number of Celts, and from this year onwards, the frequency of these attacks has become more frequent. The 18th Legion has to gather troops. (The 18th Legion was formed after the end of the war in the Western Mediterranean. The barracks were established in the central town of Sisi in the southern part of Iberia. The soldiers are mainly drawn from the citizens of Diónia in this area. More than half of the soldiers are Phoenicians and Carthage people, a small number of Greeks, and a very small number of Iberians) to resist. The morale of the citizens there is low because they can't go home for a long time, leading to a decline in fighting strength, and many casualties … And because too many young citizens in the Iberian territory have been transferred to fight, there is a lack of labor force, affecting other affairs in the region, so the governor of Iberia, Lord Hakkar, has a lot of complaints about our Ministry of Military Affairs …
The way the Iberian natives attack is very similar to the Gauls. If we adopt the same method to deal with it, I fear we will repeat the mistakes of the Iberian territory. I am not opposed to the kingdom sending troops to assist Etruria. On the contrary, I hope Your Majesty and the other lords can find a better way to defend against the enemy's attack, and at the same time avoid the problems I mentioned above … Then we can apply this method to the northern border of Etruria, to Iberia, to the borders of the kingdom that needs to be defended to ensure the stability and development of the kingdom. "
The Devers nodded solemnly, then looked around at the crowd and said in a deep voice, "Alexis's words are good, we need to think deeply. Now the kingdom's territory is more and more expansive, and this expanse means that we can no longer be like before. The enemy is ten miles away, a hundred miles away. We can gather the army, we can reach the battlefield in one or two days, and after four or five days of fighting, we won't even have to finish our rations.
Now the kingdom's border is relatively far away from Turií. Alexis, tell me, from Turií to the northern border of Etruria, how many days will it take for the army to march? "
Alexis immediately replied, "If we go by sea, with a favorable wind, it'll take about five or six days, but that's almost impossible. It'll take at least seven or eight days. If we go by land, considering that the road north of Campania hasn't been built yet, it'll take at least fifteen days. If we go by land and sea, it'll take at least ten days.
And from Turií to the southern part of Iberia, mainly by sea, it will take 15 days, but the sea is long, there is the danger of encountering storms.
And from Turií to Carthage, mainly by sea, it will take at least 10 days, and we also have to consider the risks of the sea … "
"Alexis, I only asked one question, but you answered so many." The Devers joked, but none of the ministers laughed, they were all thinking.
"This is just a march, it will take so much time, and to fight until the end of the war, it will take even longer." The Devers gathered their thoughts and said solemnly, "Now our kingdom is the most powerful country in the western Mediterranean, like Syracuse, Carthage, who dared to lead an army to directly attack the kingdom's territory will not happen again. Our enemies are afraid of our strength, I'm afraid that more of them will adopt tactics like the Lusitanians, Gauls, to avoid a direct battle, and use harassment to destroy our territory, tire out our soldiers, and prolong the war …
Everyone, we cannot indulge in the past success, we must realize that as the strength of the kingdom changes, the surrounding environment also changes, some of the past successful experience may not be suitable for the new situation.
Just now, you have reached a consensus, helping Etruria is also protecting the safety of the kingdom, but how to help is also a big problem. You must understand, finding a solution is not only to temporarily deal with the problems of Etruria, Iberia, but to find a new way to improve the kingdom's current military system, to protect the safety of the kingdom's territory! "
Although the Devers's voice was not very loud, these words echoed in the hearts of every minister, suddenly raising the height of their view of this problem a lot, also making them feel the pressure. The expression on everyone's face became solemn and excited, but the hall suddenly became abnormally quiet.
The Devers no longer urged them, he leaned back in his seat, seemingly closing his eyes to rest, but in fact, his mind was also wandering. The Etrurian envoy had been here for two days, and the diplomatic officer was in charge of receiving them. In fact, he had already roughly figured out the envoy's purpose of coming and reported it to him. After thinking about it, he already had some ideas in his mind. After all, unlike the ministers who had to feel the stones to cross the river, he had thousands of years of Eastern and Western historical experience as a backing, and he also knew some of the military development process of ancient Macedonia and Rome, he could refer to, learn from, and absorb … It was just that the solution he came up with involved a few thorny problems that needed to be discussed with the ministers, reached a consensus, and worked together to solve it, so he deliberately guided them. Of course, he also hoped that the ministers could come up with a better solution to this problem …
After a long time, the rotating president, Cypross, asked. (In the second year after the Western Mediterranean War, Cornelus fell ill from overwork and was bedridden. Under the proposal of the Devers, the Senate unanimously elected the wartime governor of Sicily, Cypross, who had contributed a lot in the war and made outstanding contributions, to temporarily replace Cornelus, but not long after Cornelus died of illness, Cypross was replaced.) "May I ask Lady Alexis, when the Carthage people were developing the Iberian territory, they must have also encountered the difficulties we are facing today. How did they manage to resist and conquer the indigenous people for a long period of 10 years, and at the same time stabilize and develop the territory?"
This question made Alexis think for a while before she said with deliberation, "The details of the past situation of the Iberian region may only be answered by Lord Hakkar, the governor of Iberia. What I know is … At that time, the governor of Carthage Iberia, Margo, had an army of nearly 50,000 people. They were very strong, and all of them were mercenaries. They did not have to do manual labor, so they could throw themselves into the battle with the indigenous people at any time, and gradually completed the suppression of the indigenous people. But even so, the Carthage people also paid a great price for this. It is said that most of the income of the Iberian territory and 1/3 of the annual taxes of Carthage are used to support this army —"
"This is too expensive! The kingdom can't adopt this method, otherwise there is no need to do anything else! "The financial officer, Archipides, expressed his opinion loudly.
Although they felt that his voice was a bit noisy, many ministers still agreed with his opinion.
Cypross said in a deep voice, "Of course, we can't spend a huge amount of money to support a mercenary army, but we can imitate this method."
The Devers' eyes lit up.
"I remember that if a foreigner wants to become a citizen of Diónia, from registration to becoming a probationary citizen, and then to becoming an official citizen, it takes at least 5-6 years. During this period, they have to work in the kingdom, rent land, work as a hired hand, work as the lowest level municipal handyman, work as a dock laborer … Sometimes they even have to respond to the kingdom's conscription, participate in public works, or become the auxiliary labor of the army, and take turns with the soldiers … And during this long period, they also have to abide by the law and pay taxes regularly … It's very hard and they have to live carefully in the kingdom before finally becoming an official citizen.
Cypross sighed softly, "Then why don't we amend the decree on 'allowing foreigners and freedmen to become citizens of Diónia'? Just announce that anyone who wants to become a citizen of Diónia must first serve the Kingdom of Diónia, and be stationed at the borders of the kingdom. After 5-6 years of service, they can then become an official citizen of Diónia, and enjoy the various rights granted by the kingdom … "
Sure enough, as expected by the Devers, Cypross's proposal was roughly the same as what he had in mind, the only difference was the length of service. The Devers's idea was to serve for 10-15 years, which happened to include the period when a young man's physical strength and energy was at its peak.
But after careful consideration, the Devers had to admit that Cypross's proposal was more practical. At the current stage, it only took about 6 years to become a citizen of Diónia, and if the time was suddenly extended to more than 10 years, and they had to risk their lives, these freedmen would definitely be dissatisfied.
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