Chapter 146: Establishing the Thua Union
Chapter 146: Establishing the Thua Union
In the afternoon, Davos held an urgent meeting with the council of Amendolara and he have invited Kunogelata, as well as more than a dozen notable and influential citizens of Thurii, including Ansitanos and Burkes, and even Plesinas and Bolus.
Asistes was puzzled and asked, “My lord, why should we allow, a brazen and vile person like Plesinas, take part as well?”
Davos answered him with seriousness, “To us, Plesinas is shameless and vile. While for Thurii, he was a patriot who was willing to destroy his own honor for the benefit of the city-state. So we should also respect such people!”
“What about Bolus? He is a deserter!”
Davos did not answer. He looked at Kunogelata and though Kunogelata was betrayed by Nianses and Bolus, he still suggested Davos to invite Bolus to attend this meeting, because his family has always been a rallying force of the immigrants of Boeotia in Thurii.
Ever since the time when the people of Amendolara have come to help the people of Thurii, Plesinas has been in a state of anxiety and even wants to leave Thurii and go to other city-states. When the herald of Amendolara have found him and sent him an invitation, he was skeptical. Then the heralds relayed the words of Davos to him, and it made Plesinas to shed tears. It was because the people of Thurii, who had gotten the help of the people of Amendolara for these past few days, had felt guilty and so they pushed the blame on Plesinas for breaking the friendship between Thurii and Amendolara. Even his family are alienating him, and the affirmation of Davos had made him very grateful.
At the same time, the invitation to Plesinas has also made the people of Thurii to see the attitude of Amendolara to let bygones be bygones, which relieved many of them that have made efforts to antagonize Amendolara.
But because of the poor conditions, the meeting was held on the meadow. The people sat on the ground in a circle, and was surrounded by the guards.
At the meeting, Davos had proposed the establishment of the Thurii-Amendolara Union, and the citizens of the two cities will share an Archon and a Council, and invite the statesmen of Thurii to join, including Kunogelata to become a member of the new union’s Senate*. (T/N: We are now changing Council to Senate, but only for the Thurii-Amendolara Union in order to reflect this new change that the new union had brought and how Davos is copying some aspects of Rome. Or do you prefer to just keep it as council? )
This proposal was discussed by Davos in advance with the statesmen of Thurii, who were in a weak position and were heavily reliant on the aid and protection of Amendolara. In addition, they can also join the senate, so why should they refuse?
This news soon reached the people of Thurii, most of whom were cheering. The main reason is that if this union is established, then they will be able to accept the aid of Amendolara and the protection of Amendolara’s powerful soldiers, without worrying about betrayal and worrying about being abandoned, because everyone have become a family!!
The cheers was transmitted back to the ears of the new statesmen of Thurii, who were in the meeting, and their last concern disappeared.
Then Davos added, since Thurii and Amendolara have become a family, the laws of Amendolara should also apply to Thurii, and the rights and obligations enjoyed by the people of Amendolara should also apply to the citizens of Thurii.
With the exception of a small number of statesmen of Thurii who had a slight objection regarding the law about “citizens who owns a land will have to pay a one percent land tax every year”, the proposal of Davos was passed by a huge vote.
Then Davos have also put forward the fulfillment of the previous commitment in granting freedom to the slaves who had taken part in the battle with the Lucanian alliance. And also, to make the freeman, that have taken part in the battle with the Lucanians alliance, but had not betrayed Thurii and joined the army of Crotone, a preparatory citizen of the new union. While the leader of the freeman, who have started the rebellion that led to the fall of Thurii, shall be sentenced to death by the people of Thurii!
The proposal was passed without debate. Because through the burning of the city of Thurii, the people of Thurii have also carried out deep reflection in themselves, and they realized that it was precisely because of Thurii’s breaking its promise and improper treatment of the freeman and slaves that have led to this disaster.
After listening to the proposal of Davos, Plesinas was slightly embarrassed. And to his surprise, Davos had suggested that Plesinas will be the one responsible for implementing this proposal. This was a good opportunity for Plesinas to wash his own stain, and he was once again grateful to Davos.
In fact, most of the freeman who have participated in the battle of the Lucanian alliance have participated in the rebellion, and have followed the troops of Crotone to carry the spoils to Crotone. As a result, they were captured by the army of Amendolara. While the slaves who manage to escape because of the fall of Thurii, most of the miner slaves have fled to the mountains, while most of the slaves in the city have chosen to stay, because in most case, they will still end up being a slave if they flee to other places, and if they were captured by the aborigines, their situation would be even worse. Hence, it would still better for them to follow a familiar master, in addition to having no freedom, they could still live a good life. There are very few freeman and slaves that have really meet the requirements of the bill, but for those who still lingered in the ruins of Thurii and have not left, this is undoubtedly a great news. They also thought about the rumors regarding the Archon having a good opinion on the slaves and freeman, and he was also an Archon for life, which means that they will have more opportunities to be free and become official citizen in the future.
By stabilizing the feelings of the freeman and the slaves, and stimulating their enthusiasm for the new union, it guaranteed the security of Thurii, because they are far more numerous than the citizens of Thurii.
The first Senate meeting of Thurii-Amendolara Union was highly efficient, passing numerous proposals to help the reconstruction of Thurii, and Davos had also proposed Kunogelata to be the Praetor of the city of Thurii and was elected with a high vote, and among the votes, are from the votes of the statesmen of Thurii. The main reason is due to Kunogelata sparing no effort in helping the people of Thurii, which made them feel guilty. In addition, the shrewd statesmen of Thurii also knew that the future political situation will be dominated by the people of Amendolara for a long time. So if Kunogelata can be valued by Davos, then they will need to work hard in order to make Kunogelata speak for the people of Thurii.
Since the two cities are not far away from each other, so the office of the city’s praetor will be shared by both cities. If necessary, they can assign a deputy or an assistant to each city for them to perform their duties.
Simultaneously, a Council responsible for Thurii’s reconstruction was established, it was led by Davos and was supplemented by the two city’s praetors, Cornelius and Kunogelata, to lead the reconstruction of the whole of Thurii.
In the end, Burkes was the one to ask the questions that the people of Thurii were worried about, “What if the Crotonians come again?”
Davos expression didn’t change and said with a smile, “I think the military officer can answer this question.”
Philesius stood up and said, “Everyone, I would like to briefly introduce our army’s achievement this time. We have sent out a total of 4,895 soldiers, and more than 6,000 enemies were killed and 9,000 enemies were captured (this is a very high casualty rate, with an average of one soldier of Amendolara defeating more than one enemy. According to the average battle, even though the combat strength of the soldiers of Amendolara was strong, this situation shouldn’t happen at all, as it was only because of the sneak attack at that time that made Crotone suffer such a high casualty, under such special circumstance like drunkenness, sleeping, lack of armor and weapons), and only 72 of our citizens have died, while 200 were injured.”
As soon as this was said, the senators of Thurii were astounded.
Philesius continued, “Of the nine thousand prisoners, there are about five thousand Crotonian. (mainly because the Crotonians have arranged the camp with the soldiers from other city-states to be on the periphery)” Philesius then took a look at Davos, then continued, “We can use these captives to force Crotone to have a truce with us. If the truce agreement fails, even though Thurii has been burned down, the walls are made of stones, and most of them are still in good condition. So we can organize a large number of people to repair the wall quickly and defend against the attack of Crotone. At the same time, we can also seek assistance from Taranto.”
“Will Taranto help us?” Burkes was puzzled. It must be know that Thurii have already tried it before, but Taranto has only sent an envoy as a symbolic and there was no more movement after they failed to persuade Crotone.
“Now that the strength of Crotone has been greatly damage, not only Taranto will help us, but Locri will also take action!” Kunogelata, who was familiar with the situation of the city-states in Magna Graecia, said, “Milord, we should organize our manpower now, and build the wall of the city first, and then try to form an alliance with Taranto at once!”
“We and Taranto are allies!” Said Amintas abruptly.
“That’s not the same, it was Amendolara who signed with Taranto, and now, Amendolara has become the Thurii-Amendolara Union.” Antonios explained it to him in a low voice.
Amintas scratched his head in embarrassment.
“Lord Kunogelata, you have reminded me that we indeed need the help of Taranto now!” In his mind, he didn’t think the assistance of Taranto was necessary, but they need to understand the attitude of Taranto. Because Amendolara, was originally just a humble ally of Taranto, but suddenly, it became a two city-state union, and its strength has increased rapidly. What would Taranto think? Kunogelata has reminded him! So Davos express his gratitude.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mariji and Ansitanos were then ordered to go to the Council of Taranto.
When the archon of Taranto and elders heard that Amendolara has defeated the army of Crotone, they still couldn’t believe it. Tens of thousands soldiers of Crotone were defeated and captured in one morning. This was not the fanatical, but undisciplined, ferocious, but couldn’t last long, Lucanians, but a real Greek citizen soldiers, and it is even the citizen soldier of Crotone who are known for their sports and strength. How could it not shock Taranto!