Chapter 192
Seeing Phoebidas reluctantly board the ship and leave the port of Tarantum, Diomiras immediately changed his expression and said to Yumacas in a serious tone, "The people of Sparta are right about one thing. If Tarantum doesn't pull itself together, even a new city-state like Diónia, without any historical tradition, will look down on us!"
"Are we really going to war with Mesapi?!" Yumacas was a little hesitant.
"Haven't the Mesapi been waging war against us?!" Diomiras asked. He said in a pained tone, "It's precisely because we have been tolerating the Mesapi that they have been thinking that Tarantum is weak. That's why they have been harassing us more and more. This has also made the other Greek city-states increasingly ignore the existence of Tarantum! We must fight back and completely solve the problem of Mesapi! "
"Completely solve it?! That's not what you said to me last time! "Yumacas said with a frown.
Diomiras let slip and quickly said, "What I meant was that first, we should focus all our efforts to capture Manduria, which is the biggest threat to us. Then, we should look for an opportunity to capture Brindisi. This way, our strength will be greatly enhanced! The other Mesapi city-states can be captured slowly … "
Yumacas was a little tempted, but he was still a little hesitant. "Do we have the strength to defeat the main force of Mesapi?"
"Of course we do!" Diomiras said firmly. In order to convince his colleagues, he added, "And we have a strong backup force!"
"What backup force?" Yumacas was stunned.
Diomiras pointed to the west of the sea. "Diónia is our ally. We have helped them for so long. It's time for them to do something!"
Yumacas finally said, "I will support your proposal in the Senate."
… …
"Damn it, Diónia, Castellón, Tarantum, these Greek city-states are all on the same side!" Phoebidas said angrily from the ship.
"Why don't we go to Crotone?" Dorobisis suggested carefully.
Phoebidas glared at him and said, "To Syracuse!"
Phoebidas knew that Crotone and Diónia were on bad terms because of the previous war. However, he could not go because Diónia was not the only enemy of Crotone. Rockley's relationship with Crotone was even worse, and Rockley was an ally of Syracuse, Sparta's ally in Greece. If he went to Crotone, Syracuse would probably complain to Sparta. Though he wanted revenge on Diónia, he did not want to be exiled like Tibronyi. Besides, Syracuse was a better partner than Crotone.
However, when dealing with the tyrant of Sicily who was said to be a little overbearing, Phoebidas felt that he should learn from the lesson of being too flamboyant in Greece. He should change to a more obscure method to achieve his goal.
… …
The newly built Cristoya Restaurant in Turií was located in the southwest of the city near the docks. Compared to the other Cristoya Restaurant next to the Turií market, its customers were mainly citizens of the Alliance, foreign ambassadors, and wealthy merchants. Therefore, it served high-end dishes such as beef and mutton hotpot. For this reason, a part of the restaurant was partitioned into a small open-air courtyard so that smoke could be vented during the barbecue.
When Timazon, Zantiparis, and Creano walked into the courtyard, they were not unfamiliar with the scene in front of them. After all, they had enjoyed it in the mansion of the Devers.
Creano was interested in the price of the beef and mutton hotpot. As he ate, he asked the servant beside him, "How much does it cost to eat this?"
The servant thought for a moment and said, "My honorable guest, it depends on how much you eat. Usually, a person needs about two to five drachmas. "
"That's expensive!" Creano shouted in surprise, "I can't even earn a drachma a day now!"
"It's a little more expensive than ordinary dishes, but it's worth the price!" The servant explained patiently, "First of all, the beef and mutton in our restaurant are purchased from Neutum. The cattle and mutton of Lucaria are famous throughout Greece. Of course, the price is not cheap. Secondly, the restaurant needs to send people to the top of the mountain in the west to collect ice and snow that does not melt to freeze the meat. This is a very risky thing! Then, there are some meat cutting slaves with good knife skills to continuously cut the meat of uniform thickness for you. The restaurant also hired chefs from Egypt to make all kinds of sauces for you. Finally, there is me to serve you at all times … You see, there are so many complicated processes and so many people to make the beef and mutton hotpot you like. Do you still think it's expensive?! "
"You have a clever mouth!" Creano could not help but exclaim after listening to the servant. Then, he sighed again and said bluntly, "Unfortunately, I'm a slave!"
"Although I'm a slave now, my benevolent master still pays me every day. According to the Slave Act issued by the Alliance, a slave can become a free citizen as long as he works hard for his master for more than four years and is able to raise enough money to redeem himself, as well as obtain his master's consent. Our master, Cristoya, is as kind as Lord Devers. She has already made a sacred promise to God Hades in front of us! Therefore, I think that in ten years, I will definitely become a citizen of Diónia! "The slave's eyes shone with gratitude and hope.
Devers, you really know how to buy people's hearts! Aren't you afraid that the slave masters will object? Creano looked at the slightly excited slave and did not say this out loud. Instead, he asked casually, "What's your name?"
"Tanarus."
"I hope your wish will come true," Creano said against his will.
Tanarus replied happily, "Thank you for your blessing, kind guest!"
"Look, someone finally praised Creano for his kindness!" Timason joked.
"Timason, are you jealous?" Creano pretended to be angry as he picked up the beer can. "Come, let's drink!"
"Hey, you want to make me drunk with your alcohol tolerance?" Timason did not hold the glass anymore. Instead, he picked up the can. "Come, let's finish it!"
"Let's drink!" The two raised their heads and gulped down the beer.
Zantiparis shouted, "Drink slowly, you two. Agathia spent a lot of money to treat us to dinner!" Then, he joked to Agathia, "This restaurant belongs to the Devers, right? You should ask him to charge less when you pay the bill."
"Uh … Don't worry about Agathia. He's an elder of the Senate. How can he not have a few dozen drachmas? "Creano said loudly, hiccuping. There was a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"Creano is right. Don't worry about money. Let's eat and drink as much as we want tonight!" Agathia said loudly as if he did not hear the sarcasm in Creano's words.
"Give me another can of beer!" Timason said to Tanarus. "This wine is good. I like it!"
"I'll have another one too!" Cleano shouted after him.
"Please wait." Tanarus hurried to the door and called out to the waiter in the hallway.
The banquet lasted for about half an hour. Everyone was a little tipsy.
"A year ago, we were fighting the Persians every day, and we saw the stiff corpses of our comrades around us. We didn't even have much hope of making it back to Greece alive, and we never thought we would be drinking and eating so happily today …" Zantiparis said emotionally. "It's not easy! We really have to thank the gods for their blessing! "
"Let's drink to the fact that we're still alive!" Timason raised his glass.
"Thank Zeus (Hades) for his blessing!" the others replied one after another.
Zantiparis put down his glass and said, "Agathia, you didn't just invite us here to eat and drink, did you?" He was observant enough to notice that Agathia was a little depressed.
Agathia's ladle paused in the air. After a while, he put down the ladle and wiped the wine off his mouth. He looked at the three people who were looking at him and said in a low voice, "Today, the messengers of Sparta came. They asked the Alliance to capture you and hand you over to Sparta …"
The news of Sparta's warships arriving at Turií had already spread in the port. Timason and the others knew about it, but they didn't expect the messengers of Sparta to come for them.
"What did you say to the Sparta messengers?" Creano asked anxiously. The other two also looked nervous.
"Don't worry. Even though Sparta threatened us with war, the Devers still firmly rejected the messengers of Sparta!" Agathia's answer made the three people let out a long sigh of relief.
"The Devers are indeed leaders who always win battles. They aren't afraid of Sparta at all!" Creano praised the Devers again.
"Actually, the people of Sparta aren't that scary. We followed them to Asia Minor for more than half a year, and we know Sparta quite well. Their generals are indeed very experienced, but the number of Spartan citizens they can send to the battlefield is too little. They mainly rely on the troops of the Alliance and mercenaries like us when they go out to fight. Their combat power is actually not that strong. Just dealing with the Persians alone is already difficult for them. I don't think they have the strength to provoke the Alliance! Timason also tried to comfort them.
Comments