Chapter 604
He was glad that he did not blindly follow some people into Brindisi at that time, but fled north to his hometown. Because within a few days, Brindisi had fallen.
Later, he heard that during the battle, more legions of Diónia appeared from both flanks and circled around the Messapi and Puchetti Legions. The cavalry of the Mecpo Alliance was also defeated by the two cavalry legions of Diónia. From the beginning to the end, the Mecpo Alliance had no chance of winning at all, and they were almost completely surrounded and annihilated.
It was said that at the end of the battle, King Tremoni shouted, "Devers of Diónia, do you dare to fight me?! Do you dare to fight me?! " He led his elite guards to the center of the Diónia army where the royal flag was, but they were surrounded by the soldiers of the Legion of Dionysia, and all of them died in battle.
Hearing the news of the king's death, Helms could not help but sigh. He believed that the Puchetti soldiers who had experienced that battle would not have the courage to fight against the Diónia.
The Puchetti people spent the next two years in fear. Because of the matter of who would succeed the new king, several important towns and tribes in Puchetti were in constant dispute, and there were even many small battles …
During this process, news came from the south from time to time.
"Manduria has been captured by the Diónia …"
"Ujentum has surrendered to Diónia …"
"Odrum has been captured …"
"Udiye has been captured …"
…
Helms, who was already in his forties, knew that the Diónia would soon set foot on the territory of Puchetti, and with the current chaos in the territory, it was impossible to stop the Legion of Dionysia from advancing, even for a moment.
Sure enough, when the Legion of Dionysia poured into Puchetti one by one, the Puchetti, who claimed to be fiercer than the Messapi, performed much worse than the Messapi. Blera surrendered, Silvium surrendered, Barium surrendered, Venusia surrendered, and finally Canusian, where Helms lived, also surrendered …
In less than four months, the Diónia had completely conquered the entire territory of Puchetti, but this was not a bad thing. Too many people had died in Puchetti.
Helms and the other people watched with mixed feelings as the heavily armed soldiers of the Legion of Dionysia escorted the new ruler of the city into the city. Then, the people of Diónia gathered the people of Canusian in the square.
Agathia was the name of the "Governor of Canusian". He first comforted the people of Canusian not to be afraid, because they were already citizens of Diónia and would be protected by the laws of Diónia. No one would dare to hurt them.
Then, he began to read the new decree of the Kingdom of Diónia, the content of which was still remembered by Helms. "… All the tribes of Puchetti in the territory of Canusian must be disbanded. Every Canusian will have independent freedom. Other than being under the jurisdiction of the administration of Diónia and obeying the laws of the Kingdom of Diónia, you will no longer be governed by any other organization. You will obtain land that truly belongs to you, and you will only have to pay 1% tax every year. Other than military service, no one will force you to do any additional labor …"
At that time, Helms, like everyone else, thought he had heard wrongly.
However, the next move of the people of Diónia proved that they were not empty words. They issued an official document to all the tribes in the territory of Canusian. First, they asked the tribes to hand over the land they occupied and hand it over to the city hall for redistribution. Second, they asked all the people to register at the city hall registry.
Helms knew how much shock this official document had caused to the tribes in Canusian. In just three days, there were six riots and disturbances in the territory of Canusian, but they were quickly quelled by the powerful Dionysian Army. Batches of leaders and nobles who led the riots were escorted to the square to be beheaded. It was like this for a few days in a row. People were killed and blood was everywhere.
The same scene was happening in other Puchetti towns. This bloody massacre had also killed the courage of the Puchetti people. (Due to the continuous riots and riots in the Mesapi tribes during the process of Diónia's conquest of Mesapi, the Devers and the Senate realized that the Mesapi were different from the Lucanians and the Bruti. Moreover, the strong strength of Diónia had given the Devers enough confidence to make them decide not to use the subtle and slow method of disintegrating the indigenous tribes. Instead, they would cut the Gordian knot and completely eliminate the Puchetti people who were more distant from the influence of Greek culture than the ferocious Mesapi people and had the possibility of rebelling against the rule of Diónia.)
Obviously, the Devers had overestimated the ferocity of the Puchetti people. Not long after the riots were quelled, the leaders of the Puchetti tribes rushed to the city hall to pledge their loyalty, including the leader of Helms' tribe.
A few days later, Helms and his family, who had been registered as citizens of Diónia, were given a new piece of land. Helms, who had lived in a tribe for the first half of his life, felt lost and a little excited at the same time. He was lost because he had suddenly lost the support of his tribe, he felt a little frightened and helpless; he was excited because he was free from the constraints of his tribe, he felt a sense of freedom.
As a tribal warrior, he originally owned land, but he only needed to pay a small tax every year for the newly acquired land, and he was exempted from taxes for the next three years.
The law of "three years of tax exemption" reduced the dissatisfaction of the Puchetti people towards Diónia.
More than two years had passed under the rule of Diónia, and the city of Canusian had changed a lot. The only thing that had not changed was the Lycaon Temple, which was still standing in the city. Every year, many people still went there to worship, but the number was decreasing. More and more people began to worship Hades from Greece, and his temple was not far from the Lycaon Temple. Because the priests of the Temple of Hades could treat the people's illnesses for free, and they had good medical skills, they were also willing to help their believers who were in trouble. Compared to the priests of the Lycaon Temple, they were much more approachable.
The young people of Canusian, including Helms' children, were fond of the rugby and soccer games invented by the people of Diónia. During the slack season, they played from morning to night in the open space inside and outside the city. In order to play these games, they also actively learned Greek, because their coaches were all from Diónia across the Taranto Bay.
These Diónia people were the new recruits of the legion who had participated in the conquest of Mesapi and Puchetti in recent years. They were allocated land in Canusian by the Senate, and they settled down there. In the beginning, they were ostracized, resisted, and even had disputes and conflicts. However, as time went by, they were gradually accepted by the Puchetti people. First, they relied on the popular ball games in Southern Italy, and second, on military training.
Under the city hall's decree, the young men of Puchetti had to participate in military training, and it was these new soldiers of the Legion of Dionysia who trained them to fight and fight alongside them. Their friendship was nurtured during the training that happened once every seven days.
For Helms, the most attractive thing to him was the food of Diónia. In the past two years, Helms's farmland on the Orfanto River had a good harvest. Since he did not have to pay taxes, he kept enough for his own use and sold the rest of the grain in the city's market. At the same time, he would sell a few sheep that he raised every year to Christoya's restaurant in the city. The price was not low.
Because of this, Helms, who had money, was often dragged by his former comrades to Christoya's restaurant for small gatherings. They drank cool beer, ate delicious food, and reminisced about the joy of fighting in the past. They complained about the changes that had happened today, and they never got tired of it. In fact, in the depths of their hearts, they admitted that today's comfortable life was much better than two years ago.
Just as they were drinking, cursing Diónia, and looking forward to the future, a piece of news shook the peaceful Kanusian City: Diónia had declared war on the Downey!
The Puchetti were happy to fight the Downey, after all, they had been enemies for decades. However, Helms, who had just enjoyed two years of peace, and some of the older Puchetti, were worried that the war would cause the Puchetti, who had experienced many wars and had a sharp decline in population, to bleed again.
It turned out that they were thinking too much.
When the mighty army marched in from the south and built a huge military camp not far from Kanusian City, Elham knew that the Puchetti would have nothing to do with the rest of the war.
The Puchetti were a little unhappy. Some of the young men ran to the city hall or the training camp outside the city to protest, asking to join the war against the Downey. Under the organization of the city hall, Helms and some other citizens set up a temporary market near the military camp to sell the daily necessities of the soldiers. The Kanusians, who used to be brave and fierce, began to have a sense of business. Perhaps this was the biggest change in mindset for Helms and the others in the past two years.
Helms' stall was near the entrance of the temporary market. It was a very good spot, and he managed to get it because he woke up early this morning. Just as he was thinking about it, deafening cheers came from the military camp. Helms was instantly refreshed. Based on yesterday's experience, this should be the end of the soldiers' training.
Instantly, the peddlers in the entire market stopped chatting and strolling around. They were busy arranging their goods neatly on their stalls. Grapes, olives, boiled beef and mutton, syrup, bread, salted fish, cloth, ironware …
Helms and his wife had just finished arranging their goods when they saw a group of soldiers rushing into the market.
"Adoris, this is the shop I told you about. It's the very tasty syrup shop." A few soldiers stood in front of Helms' stall, surrounding a young man who was about eighteen or nineteen years old.
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