Chapter 408
"They have a long way to go, so of course they will arrive late," Felicius comforted him. Felicius consoled him. "The Fifth Army owes the Fourth Army a favor, and they will repay it in the future."
Epthenis sneered. "Commander, do you think Dracos is a grateful person?"
… …
While Syracuse's army was landing in Lockley, the army led by the Devers had arrived in Picossis. Previously, he had sent a messenger to inform the governor of Picossis, Antares, that the news of the army's arrival must be strictly sealed. To this end, Antares even sent out the only five small warships in the port to intercept the merchant ships heading north, forcing them to dock at the port of Picossis, causing a lot of complaints. However, when the Devers arrived in Picossis, they praised Antares for his decisiveness and meticulousness, as well as his willingness to take responsibility.
At this time, Antares was accompanying the Devers to inspect the city and port of Picossis. The Devers was quite satisfied with the order and construction of the entire city. He asked, "How many Diónia citizens are there in Picossis now?"
"There are 4,523 official citizens, 3,351 probationary citizens, and 5,117 registered free people. That's a total of 12991 people. The entire population of Picosis is about 53000 people …" Antares said as if he was counting his family treasures.
"Oh, the population of Picossis is quite large!" The Devers was a little surprised.
"Sir, Picossis is a big city in Lucania City that is not inferior to Grumentum and Potentia. Moreover, it is a coastal city, so it is much more attractive to the Greek freedmen than the other cities like Grumentum and Neutum," Antares said proudly.
"So, there are a lot of Greeks who have settled here?" The Devers asked immediately.
"Yes. There are about 4,230 official citizens, preparatory citizens, and freedmen of Diónia, and the number is increasing every day. Most of them are Greeks from Temparia. "
"In just three years, the Greeks of Picossis are almost half of the population!" The Devers was shocked again, and then asked worriedly, "Do they have a lot of conflicts with the Lucanians?"
"A little, but not too much," Antares said with a relaxed expression. "Because before Picossis was incorporated into Diónia, they experienced many defeats. The Lucanians in Picossis suffered heavy losses. Not only did they lose a lot of land, but most of the remaining people also lost their fighting spirit. Moreover, most of their tribes live in the mountains in the east, where they mainly graze. The Greeks here prefer the flat land near the sea, so both sides can coexist peacefully. Also … Hmm, the lifestyle of the Greeks, who are mainly from Campania, is somewhat similar to that of the Lucanians. They get along quite well … "
"It seems that you are enjoying your life here! And you are doing a good job as the governor. You know the situation of the citizens of this city very well! " The Devers praised him, and at the same time, they were interested by what he said before. They asked again, "Sir Antares, can you tell me more about the characteristics of the Campanians?"
"Sir, the Greeks of Campania are the most un-Greek Greeks I have seen apart from us in Diónia."
Antares' words caught the attention of the Devers. "Oh, what do you mean?"
Antares thought for a moment and said seriously, "I guess it's because the Greeks of Campania have always been surrounded by other races (Volsci to the north, Lucanians to the south, Samonians to the east, and Phoenicians to the west). So, on the one hand, compared to the Greeks who prefer freedom in other places, the Campanians are very united and like to work together. On the other hand, some of their habits are influenced by their neighbors. For example, they love to eat beef and mutton, and they also worship some gods that do not belong to Greece. For example, some Campanians even built Savone, the god worshiped by the Samonians, which is believed to protect them from wild beasts … In Picosis, these characteristics of the Campanians are also very obvious."
The Devers smiled and said earnestly, "In our alliance, there are Greeks, Lucanians, Bruti, and now the Greeks of Campania. There may be more races joining this alliance in the future. So when dealing with conflicts between races, the first principle is tolerance, tolerance, tolerance of their religion, tolerance of their habits; the second is justice, everyone and any race is equal under the law of Diónia, there can be no favoritism; the third is to guide them, guide them to like our way of life, entertainment, competitions, military training … and most importantly, religion. Hades is the protector of Diónia. Don't forget this! As time goes by, I believe that no matter who they were before, they will eventually become Diónia! "
Antares listened carefully, then nodded in admiration and said, "Sir Devers, you are absolutely right!"
"I'm just talking. In fact, you are already managing this city, aren't you?" The Devers smiled self-deprecatingly. "To speed up the integration of these races, it's best to find something in common between them. During this time, I've been discussing with Ancitanos and discovered a secret — "
The Devers looked at Antares and saw that he was listening attentively, so he said in a more serious tone, "The god of strength, Hercules, is very famous among all the races in Italy. Some tribes even claim to be his descendants … I'm going to propose in the Senate, 'build a temple of Hercules in Turií, and start a celebration for him, so that the people of all races in Diónia can celebrate this god' … Sigh, it's only temporarily suspended because of the outbreak of war. I think Picossis can try to do it first, what do you think?"
"Sir, that's a good idea!" Antares praised from the bottom of his heart, "In fact, there are already several altars of Hercules in Picosis, both the Lucanians and the Campanians have them. I will try my best to build a large temple of Hercules, and let Picossis become the center of worship for Hercules in this region! "
"Are you trying to steal the limelight from Turií? I'm afraid that Cunogorata will fight you to the death, "the Devers said jokingly, and the two laughed.
The two talked and laughed on the way back to the city hall. In this harmonious atmosphere, no one mentioned Eurippus and Preades. In fact, there was no need to mention them, because it was all in the past.
When they returned to the city hall, the first commander, Antonios, and the second commander, Amyntas, were already waiting there.
"Sir, the construction of the camp has been completed, and the soldiers have begun to rest." Antonios saw the Devers come in and immediately reported, "In addition, the messenger from Legio III has sent news that Legio III is already on the way to Picossis, and they will probably arrive at dusk."
"Say, this Alexis actually withdrew from Potentia in fright before the Samonai army. This is a disgrace to the Legion of Dionysia!" Amyntas sneered in dissatisfaction.
"If the Third Legion really fought the Samonai army head-on, I'm afraid that now I can only bring the first and second legions with less than 20,000 people to face the Samonai army of more than 40,000 people. How can we fight this war?! Alexis gave up her own reputation for the sake of the overall victory of the war. This is undoubtedly a very safe approach! It should be worth learning from, especially you, Amyntas! "The Devers said seriously. The encounter of Legio III in Potentia had already happened a few days ago, and the Devers had already learned the details from Antares.
Amyntas was not convinced and muttered a few words, but he did not dare to speak loudly.
"Sir, these Samonai people seem to be quite fierce. First, they set up an ambush, then they took the initiative to send their army to attack, not giving Legio III any chance to breathe. " Antonios interrupted, "If they know that we are preparing to attack Poseidonia, will the Samonai people send their army again?!"
"It's good that the Samonai people dare to come. I'm just afraid that they won't!" The Devers began to carefully analyze the plan that he had been thinking about for the past few days to the three people in the living room. "According to the intelligence, the Samonai people have always won more than they lost when they fought the Lucanians in the past. The Campanians have also been attacked by them for many years. The Samonai people must have always been very proud of their fighting ability. In addition, this is the first time the Samonai people have sent out so many warriors. I'm afraid that it has fueled their arrogance. This is also thanks to the Syracuse people — "As he spoke, he glanced at Antares.
Antares nodded and said, "These few days, the warships patrolling our port have reported many times that 'a large number of Syracuse cargo ships have been spotted heading north and entering the port of Poseidonia.' I think it is very likely that they are transporting food for the Samonai people."
"Damn the Syracuse people!" Amyntas cursed and shouted, "Sir, we should quickly attack Poseidonia and cut off the food supply of the Samonai people before they know that we have arrived!"
Comments