Chapter 103: The first council meeting (II)
Chapter 103: The first council meeting (II)
The proposal of Davos has been recognized by everyone, specially the new citizens who were completely unfamiliar with the laws of Amendolara and how they will manage prosecution. But as time goes by, a large number of mercenaries and other foreigners will pour into Amendolara, and over time, they will surely be in conflict with the local people. As the candidate recognized by both sides, Cornelius should be able to resolve this kind of conflict.
Cornelius laughed bitterly in his heart: Within half a day, his post as deputy archon was removed. Although the jurisdiction of praetor is larger than that of the newly established post, the deputy archon is after all the second in command, which means that it will check and balance the archon, while the praetor is a thorough subordinate of the archon. However, Davos is now in complete control of the council, and from now on, although he is young, he seems to be familiar with politics. Even Raphias, thinks that he is more suitable for this position. What else can he say.
“I am willing to serve as the praetor of the city!” At this moment, he have been completely subdued.
Davos looked at him and said with a smile, “Cornelius, you will have a lot of work, specially maintaining the order of the city. Therefore, we should give you a suitable patrol captain.”
Then, he looked at the others, “Next, we will select the patrol captain. Although this is a low-level position, most of you have no experience of holding a city-state public office, and so I suggest that you should start from the bottom and accumulate experience. All of you here, including the elders of the council, can recommend themselves!”
Davos’ words made them lost in thought.
“Your majesty, the position of patrol captain has already been taken!” Remind Cornelius.
“Oh, who is it?”
“Anticles, who also serves as the captain of the fire brigade. During his term, he was highly praised by the citizen, but his right hand was cut off by the Lucanians. However, he is already okay.”
“Since he is wounded, once there is a conflict, he won’t be able to intimidate those troublemakers, and so just have him continue to serve as the captain of the fire brigade. Fire fighting and disaster relief for the citizens of the city-state is a big thing, specially in Amendolara, in which fire and mudslides are terrible disasters. Therefore, the captain of the fire brigade has a great responsibility, and it really need an experienced and capable citizen to serve! I suggest that we also add a vice-captain for the fire brigade, and you all can recommend yourselves and learn how to prevent disasters.” Said Davos seriously.
“Lord archon, what you said is very reasonable.” Cornelius had to admit that Davos had a deep understanding of the importance of the fire brigade in the mountain city of Amendolara. Of course, he couldn’t even imagine that Davos had been a village official in a mountain village in his previous life.
“So, who would like to be the patrol captain?” As soon as Davos spoke, two men, Sesta and Hielos, rose to their feet.
Davos thought for a moment and said, “Sesta, the number of former mercenaries that have participated in the Persian expedition is the largest among the new citizens. In Persia, these soldiers have killed, plundered…and have done everything. Fortunately, there are military laws in the camp, but I’m afraid that now that they have return to the city, they won’t be able to adopt for a while, and some accident might happen. And since you don’t know them well, I’m afraid that they won’t listen to you, and so I will recommend Hielos as the patrol captain.”
“Don’t worry my lord! I will help lord Cornelius to keep the city in order!” Promised Hielos.
“Cornelius, what do you think?” Asked Davos.
“I agree.” Cornelius did not hesitate. As he had already notice that Davos is determined to give various position of the city-state to his own people.
Instead of showing disappointment, Sesta once again asked, “Well, I want to apply as the vice-captain of the fire brigade!”
“Alright, I have no objection.” Davos nodded.
Naturally, the appointment of the two men was passed smoothly.
“Next, is there an inspector?” Asked Davos.
“Yes.” As soon as Cornelius nodded, he saw that most people were laughing.
Davos explained to Cornelius who was a puzzled, “When we were in Persia, there was a Spartan inspector who led hundreds of Spartan soldiers to fight with us, and so they are familiar with this position. However, I think that the inspectors in Sparta and Amendolara must be very different.”
“Why?” Asked Olivos.
“Because the power of the Spartan ephors(inspector) is so great that they can supervise their king. However, the power of inspector in Amendolara shouldn’t be so great.” Explained Davos. Of course, even if there was one before, he would never allow it to happen again.
“They can even supervise the king?!” Olivos and some of the crowd looked surprised.
And Cornelius was no longer surprised on why Davos knew so much, as he begun to believe the rumor of the mercenaries about Davos being favored by gods!
“The inspector of Amendolara is mainly responsible for reviewing the list of elders of the council, supervising their late arrival and early departure at the council meeting, supervising the civic morality of the city-state, conducting investigation on the citizens, examining the expenditure of the public property of the city, and managing public works…” The crowd took a breath of cold air once Cornelius finished talking. The inspector of Amendolara is also very powerful!
Seeing that everyone were restless, Davos then said, “You should all bear in mind that it won’t be easy to be an inspector. First of all, you should be able to write reports. Second, you should be able to do calculation and understand financial reports.” Davos didn’t say that it doesn’t matter if the inspector is illiterate and can’t do calculation, as long as his slaves can. However, slaves that can read, write, and calculate are high-end goods in the slave market, and ordinary people can’t afford them, and they will also be reluctant in buying them.
Hearing this, most people gave up as most of the new citizens were born in poverty, it’s already good that they know few words, and it’s just extravagant to even be able to write report and check accounts. However, there are still people who stood up to recommend themselves, Antonios and Alexius, as well as two nobles of Amendolara, Raphias and Stromboli.
Even though two captains under his command recommended themselves, Davos didn’t show any favoritism, and so all the people in the council meeting voted. In the end, Antonios won, and the reason is very simple: Davos had promoted almost all the members of Hielos’ squad to become officers, and the squad of Hielos was under Antonios at that time, and he himself had also ask for favor and so he naturally got the most vote.
“Alexius, don’t be discourage, as this position is change once a year. Maybe it will be your turn next year.” Davos said jokingly.
Alexius didn’t feel depressed, and instead, he smiled and said, “I don’t have to wait that long, I only need to wait for Antonios to step down, then I will take it up.”
Antonios glared at him, “Am I really that bad”
The new citizens laughed, while Raphias and the other original citizens were silent, and Davos notice it.
“In addition, we have financial officer who are responsible for managing the treasury, collection of taxes, public goods such as stone mines, and the management of the population of the city-state.”
As soon as Cornelius’ voice fell, Mersis stood up and Raphias followed.
To liven up the atmosphere, Davos smiled and said, “Olivos, why don’t you recommend yourself?”
Olivos shook his head vigorously, “I have a headache when it comes to mathematics. In case the tax collected is less and the inspector finds out about it, then I won’t be able to afford it.”
There was another burst of laughter.
“I think that Mersis is the most suitable for this position. Back then, he was the one in charge of the supply camp and his accounting of the money and supplies were very clear, and there weren’t any shortage nor became greedy and no one complained about him…” Continued Olivos.
If they do voting again, then it will definitely be the former mercenary to win again. Although this will achieve the goal of Davos in controlling Amendolara completely, it is not beneficial to the unity of the city-state. Therefore, Davos thought about it and said to Cornelius, “I think we can setup another position, a census officer. The financial officer is the one to be in charge of the finance and taxation, while the census officer is the one responsible for the management of the population. Citizens, the families of the citizens, even the slaves and liberated slaves, and all foreign freemen will be under its jurisdiction. The census officer’s work is very heavy, because there are thousands of new citizens to register, and in the future, it might be even be busier. And so, I recommend Mersis as the financial officer and Raphias as the census officer.”