Chapter 204
"Tell us, Crotone. Let's hear how big the Crotone's appetite is to take advantage of Diónia!" Amyntas, Scombras, and the other elders began to shout. The guilt they felt earlier had now turned into a sense of solidarity.
Lucias glanced at Devers. This young man should not be underestimated!
He cleared his throat and said loudly with a normal expression, "The Crotone Alliance and Crimissa request that Diónia compensate Crimissa with 500 Taliente to compensate Crimissa for the huge losses suffered in this battle —"
"What! Five hundred Taliente! You've gone crazy thinking about money! "Mercies shouted.
Lucias ignored him. He looked around at the crowd and continued, "Secondly, in order to prevent the aggressive Diónia from invading the neighboring states again, we request that Diónia disband the alliance and allow Amendolara and Neutum to be independent. Abolish the alliance!"
"What?! Did I hear it wrong?! What right does Crotone have to tell us what to do?! "
"We will never agree to it. This is a humiliation to Diónia!"
"Get out! How dare you come to the Senate of Diónia and say such things! Are you crazy?! "
"Only an idiot would agree to such a request! Only an idiot would make such a request! "
…
The hall was in an uproar. The elders were cursing and swearing. The hot-tempered ones like Amyntas and Scombras even wanted to beat Lucias up. However, they were stopped by Cunogorata, Cornelus, and the others. It was a mess.
Lucias and Antares looked on coldly as if they were outsiders. It was as if the chaos was not caused by them. That was until Devers stepped forward and said, "Did you hear that?! This is our answer! "
He said loudly, enunciating each word, "No — answer — yes!"
"That means war, because you were the ones who violated the agreement first," Lucias said with a straight face.
"Then let's go to war. Isn't that why you came here?" The Devers had already seen through their plan and were too lazy to argue with them. If you want to incriminate someone, you can always find a pretext.
Lucias did not see the expected reaction from his nonchalant attitude. It was as if he had punched empty air. He subconsciously said again, "War! I'm talking about the war between Crotone and Diónia! "
Devers smiled and turned around. "Are we afraid of starting a war with Crotone?"
"Great! I can finally fight again! "
"I can't wait to beat up Crotone!"
"We defeated Crotone once, so we can defeat it again! This time, we will burn down Ciudad Crotone! "
…
Unexpectedly, Lucias felt a little uneasy when he faced the elders who were filled with fighting spirit.
"Cunogorata, please take note of Clotho's request. It will be useful in the next negotiation," Daves suddenly said.
"The next negotiation?" Lucias was confused.
"Yes, after the war!"
Lucias' heart skipped a beat. He saw the burning fighting spirit in the Devers' eyes …
… …
After sending off the emissary, the atmosphere in the hall was still lively. Compared to the former mercenary elders who were filled with fighting spirit, the elders of Amendolara and Turií expressed more concern about the impending war.
Cunogorata's words were very representative. "Sir Consul, are we confident in fighting Crotone? Crotone has been a strong nation in Greece for decades. It even has a powerful alliance. It can organize an army of thirty to forty thousand men! And it has twenty-five three-oared warships. We don't even have a single warship. Once the war starts, Crotone can easily blockade our ports. This time, I'm afraid it won't make the same mistake as last time … "
Devers listened carefully and looked around at the people in front of him. He could feel their fear of Crotone, especially the Turií. It was the prestige that Crotone had accumulated in their hearts after destroying their cities three times. He thought for a moment and was about to reply when a voice suddenly interrupted, "I've already said that we should chase away those damned mercenaries, but you didn't listen. Now, we're facing Crotone's revenge! We should first hold some people responsible for allowing them to do as they please! "The one who spoke was Polyxis.
Agathia and the others glared at him.
"Did I say something wrong?" Polyxis stared back, unwilling to be outdone.
"Now that the war has broken out, there's no point in arguing about this. We should all unite and overcome this crisis together. We can't create differences and weaken our strength! "Burcos persuaded his friend.
"It's precisely because of this that the war started. That's why we need to investigate this issue to prevent similar things from happening in the future!" Polyxis stubbornly retorted.
At this moment, Antonios stood up and said, "As a censor, many people have recently reported to me that when the city of Turií was being rebuilt, Burcos, Plesinas, and the other elders often went to the homes of the people to express their apologies. However, some people, as the main assistants of Neonsis, were responsible for the burning of Turií, yet they swaggered in and out of the Senate every day without showing the slightest hint of remorse towards the people of Turií. They asked us to conduct a thorough investigation to prevent similar things from happening again …"
Polyxis' expression changed drastically.
Devers asked, "Polyxis, do you think we should investigate this issue?"
"I … I …" Polyxis trembled slightly under the sharp gaze of Devers.
"Antonios, just like what Burcos said, we should unite to deal with this war of life and death. Let's put everything else aside for now." Devers' calm voice entered Polyxis' ears. As if he had been granted amnesty, he suddenly relaxed and slumped on the stone bench.
Antonios glanced at Polyxis with disdain, then turned around and said, "Very well, Your Excellency."
Devers said with a relaxed expression, "My apologies for the interruption just now. What I wanted to say is that all of you have been busy with your own affairs recently, so I'm afraid you don't know much about the military strength of the Alliance now. Scombras, do you think the number of soldiers in the Alliance is still around five thousand? "
Scombras, the stubborn old man, stroked his beard and chuckled, "It's definitely more than that! Right now, just the citizens of Amendola alone, I'm talking about more than six thousand, including the probationary citizens. I'm not too sure about the rest, but it's definitely a lot. "
"As for the specific number of citizen soldiers, I'll let Military Officer Felicius tell us." After Devers finished speaking, Felicius stood up and said, "All of you, I'm going to announce the number of people who have participated in the military training in Turín, Amendola, and Neutum. This number is lower than the total number of people in the census of Lord Raphael. This is because the citizens over the age of forty-five, as well as some special professions that are under the protection of the city-state, such as doctors, engineers, and scholars, are not included in the military training system of the citizen soldiers."
The senators nodded and turned their attention to Felicius.
"There are around five thousand five hundred citizens of Amendola who have participated in military training for more than three months, around four thousand three hundred from Neutum, and fourteen thousand eight hundred from Turín." Seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of the senators, Felicius continued to explain in detail, "Among them, there are seven thousand official citizens, and the rest are all probationary citizens. At the end of December last year, Lord Consul ordered me to carry out a preliminary reorganization of them, forming a total of three legions.
The First Legion is mainly composed of veterans and probationary citizens of Amendola, and it's the strongest force. The Legion Commander is Capus.
The Second Legion is mainly composed of Turín citizens and probationary citizens, and its Legion Commander is Drax.
The Legio III is mainly composed of citizens and probationary citizens of Neutum, and its Legion Commander is Hieronymus, and the First Captain is Bagoule.
The number of regular soldiers in each legion is currently seven thousand, and the three legions have a total of twenty-one thousand soldiers. In addition, there are three thousand six hundred reserve soldiers, and a total of about twenty-four thousand six hundred soldiers. In addition, there are three hundred cavalry, led by Ledes … "
"Felicius didn't mention registered free citizens. In fact, we can also organize ten to twenty thousand trained free citizens to fight as light infantry. In addition, Laos can provide us with two to three thousand reinforcements, and Castellón can't provide many troops, but at least fifty cavalry … "The Devers looked at the crowd and said in an impassioned voice," If we go all out, we can at least get close to fifty thousand troops! Considering that the ports of Neutum and Turín need to be guarded, the actual number of troops dispatched will definitely be far less than this number, but it's already about the same as Crotone's troops! My lords, please rest assured, since the establishment of the alliance, there will not be a situation where we are outnumbered. We have the ability to compete with Crotone on land! " The Devers's words excited the senators, and Amyntas and the rest even more confidently shouted, "In the past, we were not afraid of Crotone, and now Crotone is even less of a match for us!"
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