Chapter 122: Alliance with Thurii (II)
On hearing this, many of the delegates of the Thurians were shocked.
Kunogelata had no choice but to suggest the need for them to have a private discussion on the issue first before making a decision.
Davos nodded in agreement. And when he saw the delegates of Thurii going far away, he turned around and gave Stromboli a thumbs up, “Lord Stromboli, you said it so well!”
“What I had said is the truth!” Said Stromboli while glaring at them.
“What I want is the truth!” Laughed Davos.
Stromboli also laughed. Today, in front of the Thurians, he let out his pent up anger!
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“Everyone, it seems that Amendolara has reached an alliance agreement with Taranto, and it is certain that they have obtained the consent of Taranto to put forward such condition. If we do not agree to their condition, then this negotiation will not continue.” Kunogelata said with a serious expression.
“Then we don’t need to negotiate with them! Anyway, the threat of the Lucanians has already been solved, and so we don’t need to even bother with those Amendolarans!” Said Nianses angrily, as he thought of how the Amendolarans have treated the envoys of Thurii with respect a year ago, but now, in just a blink of an eye, they even dare to point and yell at the strategoi of Thurii. The great difference in their attitude had made him unable to bear it, “Damn Taranto, I thought that they were sincere in helping Thurii, but I didn’t expect them to scheme in secret!”
Ansitanos said helplessly, “Who allowed us to be defeated in the war! It is the law of history that a weak city-state cannot be respected. We have all received information that the Bruttians have stopped their war with Crotone, and some people in the council of Crotone have started to talk ‘regarding us using the location of the ruins of Sybaris’, which should arouse our vigilance. If they attacked, we will also have the hostile Amendolara on our back, which will put us in a very dangerous situation! In addition, we also know that the Lucanians are very vengeful. After this war, we don’t know when they will be able to recover, but once they do, they will start their invasion again, and the one to bear the brunt of their attack is us, Thurii. Can we beat them? Don’t we need the help of Amendolara…. ”
Ansitanos’ words made the rest of the people worried, and Nianses snorted coldly, but did not argued back again.
“In fact, the key to this question is whether Taranto has the ambition to encroach on Thurii.” Kunogelata reminded everyone, and he analyzed it seriously, “I don’t think that Taranto is attempting to do that. Otherwise, they would not spare any effort in advocating and establishing a Magna Graecia defense alliance to deal with the indigenous people. If they want to get their hands on Thurii, I’m afraid that city-states such as Crotone and Scylletium will join us against them, and the alliance will collapse, and all their efforts over the past few years will be in vain. And even if they occupy our city-state and support a puppet government that favored them, it is not worth their loss, because they will face three powerful enemies: The Messapians in the southeast, the Lucanians in the northwest, and the Crotonian alliance in the southwest. Once the Lucanians or Crotone invades, then Taranto, as the ‘mother state’, will need to send more than 1000~2000 people to Thurii to deal with them. So the reason I think why Taranto did this is because we have beaten them and they wanted to have a small revenge. Since our ancestors were able to build a city more than 40 years ago, then we will make Thurii into a great Greek city-state in just a short year! As long as we temporarily endure it and work together, we will be able to make Thurii rise again in a short period of time! Then, we will return the humiliation that Amendolara and Taranto gave to us, just like what our forefathers did!”
“Lord Kunogelata is right!” Kunogelata’s words inspired the spirit and confidence of everyone present. Returning to the negotiating table, the Thurians readily agreed to the first condition put forward by Amendolara.
Looking at Kunogelata, Davos knew that this gloomy looking old man played a big part of it.
At this time, Antonios stood up again and said, “At the beginning of April, our archon, Davos, signed an employment agreement with Thurii. The main content of the agreement is to ‘assist Thurii in defending against and repelling the Lucanians.’ The term of the agreement is half a year, and during this half a year, regardless of whether the task is completed or not, Thurii will need to pay the regular remuneration to the mercenaries and a certain amount of grain. This is the original agreement.”
Antonios handed the sheepskin to Ansitanos, who is on the opposite side, “According to the agreement, even if the Lucanians have been repulsed, Thurii will still need to continue paying the salary of the mercenaries and supplies, and the mercenaries will continue to implement the requirements of the agreement, that is ‘to defend Thurii until the end of the half year period.’ Now it’s time for you to pay the salary and the grain.”
Kunogelata nodded and when he was about to answer.
Nianses stood up quickly and said, “Thurii will not carry out this employment agreement!”
Not only was the delegates of Amendolara in an uproar, but the Thurians were also surprised. They had discussed this matter before they came, and thought that it is necessary to implement this agreement, because Davos had become the archon for life of Amendolara, and to employ him is tantamount to employing Amendolara. First of all, this will satisfy the poor self-esteem of the Thurians, and the most important thing is that the strength of the current Thurii has been greatly weakened, and in fact, they need the protection of the strong mercenaries led by Davos, in order for them to safely recover. At that time, Nianses had objected on the ground that the treasury was empty. Finally, he was convinced by Kunogelata, but, unexpectedly, at such a critical time, he turned back on his words and caught the delegates of Thurii by surprise.
Under the cold stare of Kunogelata, Nianses heart trembled and hurriedly avoid it. Forced to the edge of the cliff because of his impulse, he hardened himself and continued to say, “First of all, the target of Thurii’s contract was the mercenaries. Now the mercenaries have become citizens of Amendolara, and the identity of the party signing the contract has changed. However, the employment of the citizen soldiers of a city-state involves more complicated interest relations and procedures, which can not be solved by this simple employment agreement. Secondly, you should take note that the name of the one who signed this agreement is the strategos, Friis, at the beginning, he asked Burkes to be in charge for the recruitment of the mercenaries. But when the agreement was taken back to the city hall of Thurii, most of the strategoi objected to the contents of the agreement. In the end, Friis forcibly passed the agreement as the Polemarchos, and he said that he would be responsible for preparing half of the salaries and supplies, so he signed it with his own name on the agreement. But now, he and his family had mostly died in the battle, so…”
“Ptew! They are not only selfish, but are also dishonest and shameless. They even slander the old man who fought for Thurii to death!…” Stromboli once again lashed out at the Thurians to shame in order to vent the anger of the Amendolarans.
Davos saw that Kunogelata was anxiously pulling Ansitanos, and so he turned around and winked at Mariji. Mariji immediately stood up and said, “We agree with your proposal in scrapping this employment agreement! But it isn’t because we believe in your explanation, but because we don’t want to add extra special taxes to the people of Thurii because of Thurii’s empty treasury, which will make the grief stricken people of Thurii even more miserable! After all, Amendolara and Thurii were allies for many years!” Mariji had a compassionate expression.
The Amendolarans, including Stromboli, were serious, which made the Thurians more ashamed.
On the other hand, Kunogelata looked coldly at Nianses, and Nianses felt no sense of accomplishment in the argument.
“Amendolara and Thurii should not only defend against our common enemies through military, but also to strengthen our cooperation in trade…” Mariji continued to talk, and tactfully stated the terms that he had previously discussed with Davos.
Out of guilt, most of the Thurians agreed, not only out of their psychological guilt over the cancellation of the employment agreement before, but also some of the provisions will also help solve the difficulties of Thurii. For example, due to the long-term influx of freeman, foreign merchant ships and sailors, the port of Thurii has become crowded, and made it difficult for them to accommodate them all and at a high cost, which ends up with a lot of them complaining. And also, the last time, in order to win the battle with the Lucanians, the city hall decided to recruit the freeman to fight for the city and they orally announced, ‘After winning the war, the freeman who participated in the war will be given citizenship of Thurii.’, As a result, the battle ended and Thurii was defeated, and the freeman had suffered heavy casualties, but at the end of the battle, the Lucanian alliance was wiped out, and the living freeman who participated in the war demanded that the city hall of Thurii fulfill its promise. However, after discussing it, the strategoi and the elders believe that the repulsion of the Lucanians was entirely due to the mercenaries and Taranto’s reinforcements, and the freeman did not participate in the subsequent battle. On the contrary, in the previous battle, the freeman were the first to retreat, which led to the defeat of the entire battle. Therefore, there was no reason for the freeman to claim their citizenship.
The freeman were dissatisfied at the refusal of Thurii, and a tense atmosphere begins to pervade the port area. Quarrels, fights and disturbances are gradually increasing and the city hall has to increase the number of patrol teams in the port to deter those dangerous elements. The problem is that there are only more than 3,000 young and middle-aged citizens in Thurii, but there are many more freeman in the port area and the city, which will be a disaster. Therefore, the construction of warehouses and inns in Amendolara is conducive in dispersing the crowded flow of people in the port of Thurii and alleviate the contradictions, which is beneficial to Thurii.
The two sides finally reached an alliance agreement, but they have not yet signed it. For the sake of respecting Taranto, Amendolara had to submit the contents of the agreement to the archon and council of Taranto for them to check, and confirmed that the interest of Taranto had not been harmed before they could complete the signing.