Chapter 139
The Devers took out a roll of sandpaper from his pocket and sneered, "The Turís are really forgetful! Fortunately, I still have one here! " As he spoke, he handed the roll over. The senators passed it around and saw that the Devers had promised to give freedom to the slaves. There was also the signature of Burcos as a witness, as well as the signatures of the two Turís generals, Cunogorata and Neancis.
At that time, in order to prevent the mercenaries from leaving the Xubari Plain and hold the camp, the Turís generals tried their best to agree to any conditions. Based on their experience, it would be difficult for the mercenaries to hold the camp for a long time. As long as they could whittle down the Lucanians, they would do so. Losing more than two thousand slaves was like throwing a meat bun at a dog. They did not expect the mercenaries to take the initiative to attack the enemy and even win.
Now that Neancis, who was known for his meticulousness, was in power, of course, he would not be willing to turn more than a thousand slaves into free people. There was another important point: if these slaves were turned into free people, what about the other miners? They would definitely have some ideas. Don't forget that there were eight to nine thousand slaves mining. If there was a commotion, with the current number of Turís, it would be difficult to deal with it. Not to mention that there were still a group of free people at the port who were still arguing with the Turís about their citizenship.
So when the roll was passed to Plesinas, he did not even look at it. He bit the bullet and tore the roll into pieces with his hands, "This is fake! This is fake! "
This shameless act immediately angered everyone present. The hot-tempered Scombras was the first to rush over. He grabbed Plesinas and gave him a punch, cursing, "I told you to tear it! I told you to tear it! Untrustworthy Turís! Turís who should go to hell! "
One punch, two punches … If the others did not pull Scombras away in time, Plesinas would have lost his mind. At this moment, he shouted in fear, "Murder! Murder! Is Amendolar going to war with the Turís?!! "
"Get him out of Amendolar! Don't forget to give him the silver coins that were supposed to be used to redeem the slaves who escaped to Amendolar. That way, Tulij won't accuse us of stealing their property, "Dyvers said in disgust.
"Yes!" Mersis replied with a bitter face. "However, we might not have enough money."
Devers thought for a moment and said, "Then let's write an IOU in the name of the Senate of Amendola. We'll pay it back when we have the money."
"But if that's the case, I'm afraid that the other slaves who participated in the war will run to Amendarra!" Cornelus reminded.
"Then let them come. They helped us win the war against the Lucanians and paid with their blood and lives. By the just Hades, I hope that we can fulfill our oath to him, "the Devers said solemnly.
"The Turís have it easy!" Mercies said indignantly.
"The gods will always punish those who break their oath," the Devers said calmly. He turned to Aristócratic, who was shocked by the scene just now, and said, "Now you are free. You can go wherever you want."
Aristócratic did not expect the result they wanted to get so quickly. He was so excited that his body trembled. "Thank you, sir! We … are willing to stay in Amendolar … and … I'm willing to repay the money that Amendolar paid for our freedom! "
Devers looked at him. Seeing his sincerity, he nodded with approval. "Good!"
… …
When Plesinas returned to the Turís, he naturally spread the news of Amendolar's' evil deeds' to incite the anger of the people.
Amendolar, of course, had their own countermeasures. They used the mouths of the Turís patients who came to Amendolar to spread the news of what happened in the Senate among the Turís.
For a moment, the Turís could not tell the truth of the two versions of the story.
However, the Turís City Hall quickly took action. They strongly demanded that Amendolar return the fugitive slaves immediately. Otherwise, Amendolar would break the alliance, and the Turís would not sit idly by.
Amendolar refused in the Senate and reminded the Turís that they should fulfill the promise they made in the beginning and give the Turís' benefactors (the slaves who participated in the war) freedom.
The Turís then announced that the people of the city were forbidden to go to Amendolar. Foreign merchants who went to Amendolar would be charged a heavy tax when they came to Turís to trade.
Since Amendolar's warehouse was not built yet, there were almost no merchants who went to Amendolar. Instead, there were many foreign patients, which had little impact on Amendolar's already negligible trade. However, Amendolar still took action. They arranged for the military training of the citizen soldiers to be held by the Saraceno River. It was a big event, and it made the Turís and slaves who farmed on the Sibari Plain nervous.
Other than protesting to Amendolar, the Turís City Hall did not take any further action. Suddenly, there was silence on both sides.
The Devers did not want to ruin the relationship with the Turís, but he had to make a choice. If he chose Turís, it would be beneficial to his future plan to attack Lucania, but he would have to break the promise he had made before. If he chose to free the slaves, he would fulfill his promise, but he might jeopardize the alliance with the Turís. The Devers believed that if he broke the alliance with the Turís, he could make up for it in the future. However, if he broke the promise, it would leave a bad impression on the Greeks, even if it was only for the slaves. Keeping his promise was related to his integrity, but it was also related to the integrity of Amendolar. That was because many of the new laws that Amendolar enacted now relied on the trust of the people and outsiders to be implemented. They had to believe that Amendolar would keep its promises no matter what. That was the foundation of Amendolar's establishment!
Just when the relationship between Amendolar and the Turís was in a stalemate, a guest came to the city of Turís — the messenger of Crotone.
… …
At the end of June, the Senate of Amendolar held a meeting to discuss holding a selection competition to select athletes to participate in the Isthmian Games, which would be held the following summer after the Olympia. This was one of the four most famous games in the Pan-Hellenic World. Although it was not as old as the Olympia, it was still highly regarded. The Devers and the Senate hoped that the athletes would show the new Amendolar to the Greek city-states.
The Devers even considered going to Corinth with the selected athletes (because Corinth was the site of the Isthmian Games). In his previous life, he had neither the money nor the time to watch the Olympic Games live, but in this era, he could be a VIP and enjoy the most authentic classic games.
Just when the senators were discussing how to hold the selection competition, a shocking news came: something big had happened in the city of Turís!
It turned out that the messenger of Crotone had come to Turís to denounce them. He claimed that Turís had violated the agreement they signed with Crotone by building a city on the site of Sybaris.
Neonsith and the others quickly explained: because of the Lucanians' attack, Turís had no choice but to let the mercenaries build a temporary camp there, which they quickly withdrew.
But the messenger of Crotone refused to accept this reason, insisting that Turís had violated the agreement. If they did not want to cause serious consequences to the relationship between the two countries, they must pay compensation for their actions. In fact, the real reason why the messenger wanted to denounce Turís was that after the war between Crotone and the Bruti ended, their national treasury had consumed a lot of money and resources. Someone in the city-state council made such a suggestion. Moreover, the power of Turís had greatly weakened, so the people of Crotone believed that Turís would not risk offending a powerful country like Crotone and reject Crotone's request. At most, they would argue over the amount of compensation, but that would be negotiable. So the messenger of Crotone came up with a huge list of compensation.
When the generals of Turís saw the list, they immediately understood: Crotone was not here to denounce them, but to blackmail them!
Suddenly, the generals started arguing, especially after Neonsith became the chief general. Although he looked at the problem more comprehensively, his calculative nature did not change. He did not care about his relationship with Amendola, but he did not want thousands of city-state slaves to become free people. Naturally, he was not willing to accept Crotone's blackmail. So he said to the messenger, "The Turís council needs to discuss this matter together before we can give Crotone an answer."
After the messenger left, he immediately asked Plesinas to secretly inform the people of this matter and incite them to protest at the hotel where the messenger was staying. Neonsith's purpose was: First, to let the messenger see the anger and determination of the people of Turís, creating conditions for the next negotiation; Second, even if the compensation agreement was signed in the future, it would reduce the people's criticism of the City Hall.
Neonsith's plan was very clever, but he never expected that after the expulsion of Cunogorata, the people of Turís had become even crazier and more irrational. Moreover, under the influence of people with ulterior motives, it was not something that Plesinas could control.
These people with ulterior motives were the descendants of the people of Sybaris. A hundred years ago, Crotone defeated Sybaris and destroyed the city. After a few years, the people of Sybaris who lost their homes rebuilt the city and soon made it prosperous again. When Crotone knew about this, he once again sent troops to attack Sybaris and completely destroyed the city. The exiled people of Sybaris had no choice but to seek help from the Greek city-states. Finally, Pericles of Athens responded to their request and called on all Greeks to rebuild Sybaris. Therefore, the elites of Athens and immigrants from all over the country swarmed to the city and built Turís on the Sybari Plain. However, not long after, the people of Sybaris had a conflict with the people of Athens and other immigrants because the people of Sybaris wanted the people of Turís to become the Turís of Sybaris. Of course, this was not accepted by the other immigrants. In the end, there was a bloody conflict and the people of Sybaris were expelled. However, the people of Sybaris were after all the local tyrants, so a small number of them secretly stayed behind. In the hearts of these people, Crotone was the enemy who destroyed their home and reduced them to this state. They passed on this hatred, and when the opportunity presented itself, the descendants of the people of Sybaris would not let it go.
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