Chapter 586
When the Devers led the mercenaries to recapture the city of Amendolara, Galardmos, who was only 15 years old, had to support the family on his own due to the death of his parents. He did not choose to be adopted and lost the opportunity to have a backer. However, there were not many Amendolan males who survived the Lucanian invasion, and the next generation of Amendolan citizens who held public office and performed well were even fewer. Fearing that Amendolan would lose its influence in the kingdom in the future, the senators of Amendolan like Strompoli, Scombras, and Cornellus had always taken care of and protected the next generation. Alsines (who unfortunately died young), Melisanda, and Galardmos were the ones they paid attention to.
However, although the current governors of the kingdom's cities were much more powerful than when the alliance was first established, there were still two and a half officials in every city that they did not have jurisdiction over: tax collectors, regardless of whether they were junior or mid-level, were directly under the kingdom's Ministry of Finance, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance, and were directly responsible to the king. The other was the judge, who was appointed by the kingdom's Supreme Court to each city. Regardless of whether it was to try a case or make a judgment, he was not subject to interference from other people or departments. The other half was the military training officer, who was appointed by the training base of each legion and ultimately under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs. The local governors could not interfere with military affairs. However, every time a city or region organized a large-scale military training, it involved countless citizens who had to abandon their farm work and complicated official duties. It was bound to cause some chaos in the local government, and both sides had to coordinate to solve it.
Although Stromboro could not interfere with the tax affairs, he sent a patrol team to arrest the people who caused the most trouble. He also sternly warned the village chiefs of Prospero that they must immediately quell the trouble caused by the people in the village. Otherwise, he would forcefully remove the village chief who did not do his job for the crime of 'incompetence'.
At the same time, he wrote a letter directly to the palace of Turií, reporting the ins and outs of the matter in detail to the King and Devers.
After reading the letter, the Devers did not have much of an emotional reaction. They only called the Minister of Finance, Mercies, and showed him the letter.
Mercies, who had been guarding the treasury for the Devers for more than ten years, was not someone to be trifled with. He immediately sent his trusted men to Naxos to investigate the truth, collect evidence, and prepare to bring charges against Laodisian in the Senate.
As soon as Mercies' men boarded the ship at the port, Laodisian received the news. He immediately rushed to the palace and asked the Devers. He sincerely expressed that he did not understand the situation in Naxos for a long time in Turií and was not very clear about the details of tax collection. Since the tax collector pointed out the problem, he was willing to abide by the tax law and pay double compensation.
Due to Laodisian's timely submission, the storm was quickly settled. Mercies asked Dyvers for instructions and removed the middle-level tax officer of Naxos for "dereliction of duty". He also praised the "adherence to principles and loyalty" of the Garrard model and gave him a generous reward.
This matter spread in Naxos, and many people thought that Galadmos had won the favor of the King of Devers. From then on, no one made things difficult for him.
At this moment, Galadmos and the two tax collectors stepped on the gentle slope and entered the fields of Laodisian's house.
It was already the end of August, and the wheat had basically matured. Half of the hillside was dyed golden. The scorching sun and the heavy ears of wheat did not bend the stalks, and the gurgling water in the fields gave them the strength to stand upright.
Seeing this scene, Galadmos could not help but feel happy. "It seems that this year is going to be another bumper harvest!"
"Since the reconstruction of Naxos, the past ten years have been mostly bumper harvest. Demeter and Persephone are really blessing us!" Cabanax said with a sigh.
"This is all thanks to the great King of Devers! He is the descendant of Hades, which is why these two gods have been blessing our kingdom! " Gabriel emphasized. As a young man of Naxos, he had a stronger sense of identity with the Kingdom of Diónia.
Since the east and central coast of Sicily was incorporated into the Kingdom of Diónia, the belief of Hades had also spread. As the Greeks of Sicily admired Demeter and Persephone, the priests of Hades did as the Romans did and incorporated the two goddesses into the divine system of Hades (Persephone was originally the queen of the underworld, and Demeter was both the sister of Hades and his mother-in-law). Therefore, next to the temple of Hades built in the territory of Diónia in Sicily, there must be a temple of Demeter, and Persephone was originally in the temple of Hades.
After the celebration of Hades in September, it was followed by the harvest festival. The people offered sacrifices to the two goddesses to thank them for their blessings. Later, the festival spread to Greece.
While the two of them were sighing, Galadmos was carefully examining the boundary markers at the edge of the field and estimating the size of the field with his naked eye.
"Laodisian, 78 acres of good field, harvest …" Galadmos finally confirmed.
Gabriel hastily scribbled on the papyrus stapled book.
Galadmos looked at the Laodisian's field again and was slightly surprised. Most of the labourers in the field were Sikells!
The wheat harvest was about to be harvested, so it needed to be guarded. First, they had to drive away the birds that stole the wheat; second, they had to prevent damage from beasts and humans; and third, they had to urgently harvest the wheat in case of continuous cold winds or other natural disasters.
The large area of the Laodisian's field required a lot of labourers, and the difference in the attire of the Sikells and the Greeks could be distinguished at a glance.
"My lord, many Naxos families with a lot of land hire Sikells as labourers during the harvest season. Even the craftsmen in the city like to hire them. Also, the labourers at the port … Their pay is cheaper, and they are not bound by the kingdom's laws." Cabanax saw Galadmos' confusion and quickly explained. His family lived in the northwest of Naxos, bordering the Sikells, so he was more familiar with the situation. "The Sikells are not like us. Their land is concentrated in the hands of nobles and leaders, and the commoners become their hired farmers. It is difficult to feed a family with the rations they earn in a year, so they might as well work in Naxos as labourers. I heard that some Sikells even wanted to register at the city hall, hoping to become a citizen of our kingdom. Unfortunately, the friendship agreement between the Sikells and the kingdom stipulates that no Sikells shall be accepted as citizens of Diónia … "
"Not all the Sikells are like that. I heard that the city of Kefaloiton in the middle of Sicily is like us, distributing land to the commoners. Even many Sikells from other cities have gone to Kefaloiton," Gabriel said.
Cabanax retorted, "I heard that Kefaloiton is just a small mountain city. How much land can it have? It's already good enough that it can settle its own people. Most of the Sikells are working as labourers in Naxos, Siculi, Katarnae, and Leontini. You should know that a few of the city's protectors have protested to Lord Strompoli many times, saying that the Sikells are robbing the livelihoods of the registered freedmen of Naxos, demanding that they be deported … "
"Those Conservators have been protesting against the Sikaer people's problems every year. I even heard that they made suggestions to His Majesty Dyvers during the Conservator Assembly in Turiyi, but I don't see much change —" Gabriel's words were interrupted by Galadmos. "Let's just do our job and not discuss these irrelevant things!"
"Yes, my lord." The two of them were alerted, not because they were discussing the high and mighty King of Devers, but because they were afraid that the protectors of Naxos would overhear them. In order to prove their worth, these protectors would do their best to protect the rights of the commoners, probationary citizens, and even freedmen. From time to time, they would quarrel with the local council and city hall. The two of them did not want to provoke these 'mad dogs'.
"Let's go back." Galadmos turned around and was about to go down the hill.
At this moment, Gabriel suddenly pointed to the front and said, "My lord, there are two slaves coming out from behind the hill."
Galadmos turned his head and saw two almost naked, dark-skinned men hurrying down from the top of the mountain. However, when they were halfway down the mountain, they saw Galadmos and his two companions standing in the field wearing Bolton uniforms (the uniforms of the kingdom's officials had special patterns and stripes that could be distinguished at a glance). They immediately stopped and panicked. Finally, they turned around and ran back to the top of the mountain.
"Stop right there!" Galadmos was suspicious and immediately shouted.
However, the two of them ran even faster. How could the three officials in Bolton uniforms catch up with them? In the blink of an eye, the two slaves had run past the top of the hill and disappeared without a trace.
"Damn it!" Gabriel cursed as he looked at the green and continuous mountains behind the hill. He pulled up the corner of his clothes, wiped the big drops of sweat off his face, and handed the water bag at his waist to Galadmos.
Galadmos unscrewed the stopper but did not drink it immediately. Instead, he asked, "Whose slaves are they?"
"They must be from the Laodisian Family!" Cabanax analyzed, "My lord, look, from the mountainside to the foot of the hill, it is all the fields of the Laodisian Family, completely blocking the way up the hill. If they were slaves from other families, they would not come here at all. However, these two slaves walked directly towards the fields before they saw us. They were not worried about being stopped by the Laodisian Family's slaves at all."
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