Chapter 1100
The Devers looked around, and their eyes finally fell on Hakkar in the front row. They smiled as a greeting, and then nodded at Antares.
Clang! Antares rang the small bronze bell on the table, and then the ceremonial officer in front of him shouted, "The meeting begins! (In the past, it was the rotating president who did the talking, but there were more and more senators, and it was very laborious to talk to them all day long. Moreover, the five rotating presidents were all older, and there were several cases of the rotating presidents shouting hoarsely and collapsing from exhaustion at the end of the meeting. Therefore, the young ceremonial officers took over the job later.)
Antares cleared his throat and said loudly, "The bill that His Majesty proposed to divide the territory of the kingdom into nineteen regions has been passed. Today's main topic is for us to elect the governors of these regions.
Because the region of Rome, southern Iberia, and western Sicily are located at the border of the kingdom, the situation is complicated and the situation is relatively bad. For the safety of the kingdom, special candidates have been selected. Asistes will be the governor of Rome, Bagoule will be the governor of southern Iberia, and Antonios will be the governor of western Sicily — "
There was a little commotion in the meeting. Before, the Devers had not decided on the candidate for the governor of western Sicily. Some people might still have some expectations, but when they heard it was Antonios, they immediately lost their temper.
Although Antonios had made mistakes before, he had been the governor of the important cities of the kingdom for many years, and during the war in the western Mediterranean, he was the wartime governor of the Dawni region. It was not an easy task to firmly control the Dawni region that had just been conquered and then invaded by the Samonai people. This showed his outstanding governance ability. In addition, he was once a high-ranking general in the army with outstanding achievements and high qualifications, so no one raised any objections.
"The rest of the governors will be elected by the senators according to the previous governor election rules." Antares paused, then continued, "But when recommending candidates, there is a principle that must be followed. The candidate for the governor must have more than four years of experience as a town governor!"
This rule was determined by the Senators during the last meeting. It was mainly to ensure that the Senators who were elected as the regional governors had sufficient administrative experience. Of course, it also ruled out the possibility of the Senators who became the Senators of Diónia after the Western Mediterranean War becoming the regional governors.
No matter how regretful some people were, Antares raised his voice and continued, "I hereby announce the start of the election for the regional governor! First of all, the first region to be nominated is Corsica. Is there anyone who wants to nominate? "
In fact, Alenia was the only town in Corsica, including eight or nine settlements with only a few hundred people. Whether in terms of population or land area, Alenia was far from the big cities such as Crotone, Cosenza, and Catanay. It was not even comparable to the medium-sized towns such as Siletto, Crimissa, and Oudière. However, after it was divided into a region by the Devers, this small island became much more important in the eyes of the senators. After all, no matter how small it was, it was still a region.
The ceremonial officer scanned the hall. Among the eight senators who raised their hands, he chose the one with the most seniority. (This was also a new rule implemented by the Senate in recent years. During the meeting, the senators were not allowed to stand up and speak. They had to raise their hands, and the ceremonial officer would call out their names according to their age and seniority. This way, it could minimize chaos and improve efficiency.) "Sir Strompoli!"
Strompoli stood up and said slowly, "I recommend Philocrates. Although he is young, he has a lot of experience in government affairs. He was once a scribe in the Royal Household Department. Oh, that was during the time when Diónia was still in the Union, not the Kingdom …" Strompoli purposely emphasized the qualifications of the candidates he recommended. "Court Recorder, Minister of Construction … Governor of Castellón, Governor of Santa Iberia.
Although he has only been the town governor for five years, he is the only Kingdom Governor who managed a metal smelting center for a long period of time. In the four years that he was in charge of Santa Iberia, the production and quality of the metal smelting center have been improving year by year. He was even praised by His Majesty — "
As he said this, he reached out his left hand and pointed at the Devers in the middle of the hall.
Dyvers neither denied nor nodded in confirmation. After all, he had already promised not to interfere with the election of the regional chief executive, so he had to remain calm as much as possible. He did not want to mislead the elders in the hall with a random action.
"For a region like Corsica that also focuses on metal smelting, I think Philocrates is the best candidate!" Strompoli looked around and finished his last sentence confidently.
Out of the seven senators who raised their hands, five quietly lowered their arms. It was not because they felt that Philocrates was the best candidate to be the chief executive of Corsica, but because they felt Strompoli's determination to support Philocrates from his words.
After Cornelus, Strompoli was the leader of the Amendolara faction in the Senate. Amendolara was only a small city with a small population, but it held an important position in the Kingdom of Diónia. This was because it was the first town that the King of Devers occupied after he led his mercenary army to Great Greece. In the early days, the citizens of Amendolara played an important role in the development of the entire Kingdom of Diónia. People like Cornelus, Raphael, Scombras, Strompoli, Tritodemos, and Plotsilaus all held important positions in the Senate.
Although Scombras, Cornelus, and Plotsilaus had passed away one after another, the Amendolarans were the first to participate in the kingdom's politics. Moreover, Strompoli and the other senators loved to support the Amendolarans, so the Amendolarans made up a large proportion of the people who participated in the kingdom's politics at a young age and gradually became senators.
What was more noteworthy was that more than half of the mercenaries settled in Amendolara. Many of them married Amendolaran women and even adopted many Amendolaran orphans as their children. Therefore, some of the military senators could be said to be Amendolarans. As long as there was no conflict of interest and no special instructions from the Devers, they would firmly support the Amendolaran senator's proposal.
In addition, as the Amendolarans were the first to join the Diónia, they had a good relationship with the senators of other factions, especially the gentle Cornelus, who had helped many people.
Therefore, these senators felt that they could not compete with the Amendolaran faction. To avoid offending the protective old man, they voluntarily gave up.
However, Strompoli did not feel relieved because he heard the ceremonial officer shout, "Sir Vesba!"
This old man! Strompoli could not help but curse when he saw Vesba stand up shakily not far away.
Ever since Wesba resigned from his position as the rotating president, he rarely attended the Senate's meetings, citing his old age as an excuse. This was the first time he had appeared in the meeting in half a year, and it was clear that he had come prepared.
"I recommend Damabas. Although he is relatively young among the senators, he has a lot of experience in Diónia's politics. Not long after His Majesty came to Italy, he became a soldier under His Majesty's command when he was only 17 years old. He made great contributions in the battle to capture Neutum and defeat the Crotone. However, he was injured in the battle to capture Grumentum and had to retire from the army. Then, he turned to administration …
As we all know, before Corsica, Sardinia, southern Iberia, and a small part of Etruria belonged to the Kingdom, there were two main metal mines in the Kingdom — the copper mine in Turií and the iron mine in the mountains west of Grumentum.
Damabas served as the person in charge of the iron mine for five years, one year more than Philocrates. He has rich experience in managing the mine. During those years, under his management, the iron mine continuously provided the Kingdom with enough iron ore and iron ingots for initial smelting. This ensured that our soldiers had a large number of relatively cheap weapons, and contributed to the expansion of the Kingdom. "
At this point, Vespa coughed a few times and looked at Strompoli. His expression was calm, but his words were aggressive, "I think that to become the regional governor of Corsica, one must not only have the ability to manage the mine, but also have the ability to govern and assimilate other races! Half of the people in Alenia are Phoenicians, and a small part of the territory north of Corsica is occupied by the Etruscans. Therefore, the new regional governor needs to be able to handle the relationship with our close neighbors and allies, the Etruscans.
Damabas served as the governor of Poseidon for three years, and the governor of Pompeii for three years. His achievements have been recognized by the senators. The people in these two towns are diverse, and they are both close to the allies. (The northeast of Poseidon's territory is bordered by the territory of Abenilum in the Samonae Mountains. When Damabas first became the governor, the war in the Western Mediterranean had just begun, and Abenilum was still an ally of Diónia, not a dominion.) Damabas handled all of these well, so I think he is the best candidate for the regional governor of Corsica! "
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