Chapter 276
Polydorus continued, "… In the Archaic Era, the king of Arcadia, Lycaon, was arrogant and disrespectful to the god Zeus. One day, he came up with an evil idea to play tricks on Zeus, so he killed a servant, made his flesh into meat soup, and invited Zeus to a feast. Zeus saw through his tricks and used lightning to destroy the palace. He turned Lycaon into a wolf and destroyed his kingdom … "
"I know this legend. The king of Arcadia blasphemed the god, so it was normal for him and his kingdom to be punished by Zeus. But what does this have to do with the Mesapi?" Felicius interrupted curiously.
Polidorus looked at Devers and saw that he was also interested, so he smiled and said, "Yes, everyone in Greece knows the story of Lycaon, but his story is not over … Lycaon had three sons, and when the kingdom was destroyed, they took their people and slaves, crossed the Adriatic Sea by boat, and fled to southern Italy and settled down."
Polidorus glanced at the crowd and said in a deep voice, "The names of these three sons are Doni, Puchetti, and Mesapi."
"Oh." Felicius was a little surprised.
"After hundreds of years, the people led by these three sons developed and grew stronger. They named their tribes after the original three leaders to distinguish them from each other … This has been passed down among the Mesapi people. We, Tarantum, have been fighting with them for a long time, so we know about it."
After Polidorus finished, Capus asked worriedly, "There is another Doni?! These three races turned out to be the same people. When we were fighting with the Mesapi coalition, would the Doni suddenly join in?! "
Polidorus hurriedly explained, "Although they used to be the same race, after hundreds of years of development, whether it is the Mesapi, Puchetti, or Doni, they are all large races with dozens of tribes and more than 100,000 people. Each has its own fixed territory. Not only do they have different political systems, but they also have conflicts of interest with each other, and even become mortal enemies.
The Downey, to the north of the Pucchetti, are said to possess the Great River Plain, fertile land, and four or five large towns. The Puchetti were sandwiched between the Downey and the Mesapi. They had neither fertile land nor good port cities and trade channels like the Mesapi, so it was the most difficult for them to develop. So they had been competing with the Downey for land on both sides of the Orfanto River. So the two races were mortal enemies and it was impossible for them to unite. In the south, the Puchetti and the Mesapi also have conflicts from time to time. It's only because of the existence of Tarantum that the battles between them are not so fierce … "
The Devers bowed their heads to look at the rough map of Tarantum and its surrounding forces that Polydorus had drawn at his request while listening to him. At this time, he suddenly asked, "What is the difference between the political systems of the Downey, Puchetti, and Mesapi?"
Polydorus did not expect the Devers to ask this. He frowned and thought carefully for a while before saying, "Well … Now the political systems of the Mesapi are somewhat similar to our Greek city-states. But more than ten years ago, they were still a unified kingdom. King Athas once warmly welcomed the Athens who wanted to attack Syracuse and sent a lot of soldiers to join them …" As he spoke, Polydorus sneered, "The territory of Mesapi is surrounded by our Greek city-states, and they often trade with each other. Therefore, the Mesapi have long been influenced by the democratic ideas of the Greeks. The nobles, tribes, and towns have been clamoring to limit the power of the king. But Athas was a fool and had close relations with the people of Athens. How could he know the insidiousness of the people of Athens? In the end, just a few years after the army of Athens was destroyed in Syracuse, the nobles of Mesapi started a riot. Athas' rule was overthrown, and he lost his life … After that, the towns of Mesapi became independent one after another. Now, they are basically ruled by the nobles. Every year, they elect a consul to rule the city-states together with the nobles' parliament. These Mesapi city-states, led by Udiae, formed the Mesapi City-State Alliance. They rarely fight with each other and are relatively united … "
When Polydorus said this, his tone was a little low. This made the Devers realize that this new Mesapi City-State Alliance seemed to be a bigger headache for the people of Tarantum.
"Puchetti and Downey are still ruled by the king …" Polydorus quickly changed the topic to the other two races, "The only difference is that the king of Puchetti has more power, while the king of the Downey … It is said that he is bound by the various castellans …"
The Devers listened thoughtfully, and then asked, "Since Mesapi and Puchetti have always been in conflict, why would they form an alliance?"
Polydorus smiled bitterly and said, "You can't ask me this … However, according to the analysis of our Senate, the reason why the Mesapi are willing to form an alliance with Puchetti is that they are frightened by our attack on Tarantum!"
There was a trace of pride on Polydorus' face. The Devers nodded. He looked at the map again, but in his heart, he was thinking, Previously, when Tarantum attacked Mesapi, I heard that Tarantum suffered more casualties, but they occupied Brindisi and Manduria. Once the newly occupied territory is stabilized, they can cut off Mesapi's contact with the north. Tarantum's naval strength is one of the best in Great Greece, so Tarantum can surround the Mesapi and slowly nibble them away. If the people of Tarantum die in battle, they can be replaced by free people, but the Mesapi will only become weaker and weaker. This is probably the original plan of the elders of Tarantum.
"As for the Puchetti, perhaps they would rather have the Mesapi, who have the same blood as them, as neighbors to their territory, than to have the foreigners! Besides, after forming an alliance with the Mesapi, the Puchetti can go all out to deal with the Downey … "
This was just Polydorus' guess, but the Devers felt that there must be other reasons. Otherwise, Puchetti's situation was not good, and they were willing to take the risk of offending a powerful state in Great Greece!
"The Puchetti sent their army out to fight. Aren't they afraid that the Downey will take the opportunity to attack?" Capus asked.
"I heard that last year, Puchetti attacked Downey, but they were defeated and lost the land they occupied on the south bank of the Ofto River. In the end, Puchetti signed a truce agreement with Downey."
"A truce agreement can guarantee that the Downey will not take advantage of the situation to attack?"
Polydorus shrugged and said angrily, "Who knows what the stupid minds of these indigenous people are thinking? Anyway, the Puchetti are already on our land!"
Dracos yawned. He was not interested in what Polydorus said, but seeing that the Devers were listening carefully, he was too embarrassed to interrupt.
At this time, he saw that Polydorus had stopped talking, and he could not wait to ask, "What are the characteristics of the Mesapi and Puchetti armies?"
Speaking of this question, Polydorus was obviously emotional again. "The Mesapi used to be like the Puchetti. They had a lot of cavalry, but their infantry was not good. They did not have good armor, and their formation was loose and lacked discipline. They did not know how to line up in a square formation, so they never dared to fight us head-on. They only knew how to sneak attack and harass, like cowardly bandits! But the Athens — "Polydorus' voice doubled in volume." We are the children of Sparta. Of course, we stood on the side of our mother country in the War of Peloponnesus. But the Athens actually helped the foreigners, provided the Mesapi with armor and weapons, and sent people to help them train heavy infantry. They encouraged the Mesapi to go against us! The Mesapi mastered our Greek tactics, and with the support of Athens, they hurt us in Tarantum even more than before! If it were not for Acheta — "At this point, Polydorus' expression became slightly gloomy.
Dracos did not care about the change in Polydorus' mood and continued to ask, "What are the combat characteristics of the Mesapi cavalry?"
Polydorus glanced at the others helplessly. Seeing that everyone was very interested, he could only say, "The Mesapi are good horsemen. It is said that they can control the direction of the horses with their legs without holding the reins. They are also good at throwing spears from the horses, which is a certain threat to our heavy infantry."
Devers and Felicius looked at each other.
Polydorus saw this and hurriedly said, "Although the Mesapi cavalry is more powerful than our cavalry, the cavalry is only a support in battle. It is the heavy infantry that really plays a role on the battlefield. Even if the Mesapi had the help of the Athens, their heavy infantry is still not comparable to the real Greek heavy infantry! "
Drax asked again, "How many people are there in the Mesapi coalition? How many citizens can Tarantum send to participate in the war? "
Polydorus looked at him, spread his hands, and said, "I'm just an emissary. The number of citizens to send to the war is decided by the Senate. I can't make the decision. As for the number of people in the Mesapi coalition … We don't even know if Acheta is alive or dead, let alone the specific number of people in the Mesapi coalition. However, I personally estimate that there should be no more than 30,000 people, and the citizens of Tarantum who can fight now, including the garrison personnel in Brindisi and Manduria, have at least 16000 young and strong citizens. With the addition of 14000 people from Diónia, plus 3000 people from Metapontum and Heraclea, our coalition has a total of more than 30,000 people. It should not be difficult to defeat the Mesapi coalition! "
… …
After sending Polydorus away, Devers and the others returned to the mansion and continued to discuss.
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