ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 916 The debate about the celebration

The elders felt tense, and no one spoke out to refute. In recent years, Hades's faith has become more and more popular among the people.The year before last, a judge in Crotone suddenly died in his sleep. His widow surrendered to the city hall the next day, saying that "her husband took bribes several times and made unfair judgments, so he was punished by Hades." Severe punishment..." This incident spread widely in the kingdom, and the people respected the just and strict Pluto even more. It also made the officials, including the elders, have a little more respect for this gloomy and solemn god. .

At this time, Plesinas saw a man standing not far away, and it turned out to be Mariji. He thought he was going to object, and he couldn't help being surprised.

Mariji smiled at him and said: "Of course I support your Majesty's decision, but I want to say that your Majesty's decision is correct from a trade perspective. Since three wars broke out one after another, especially the war with Carthage, , although the war has not yet burned into our main territory, it has caused the number of foreign merchants who often came to Dionia to do business to decrease, and the commercial taxes in various cities have also been more or less severe in these months. There was a small decline, because these foreign merchants were not optimistic that Dionia could win the final victory in these three simultaneous wars, and therefore did not dare to contact the kingdom again.

And we dared to hold such a grand celebration as the Rugby Finals during the war, precisely to show them our kingdom's confidence in victory, thereby prompting trade to resume prosperity. "

"And the Rugby Finals itself can increase a lot of tax revenue and improve the tight situation of the national treasury." Finance Minister Melcis interjected, tapping the armrest of the wooden chair with his fingers, and reminded dissatisfiedly: "Everyone! Everyone! You must understand now that the biggest problem in the kingdom is no longer food, but the treasury! There is not enough money in the treasury!"

Weisba asked in surprise: "Master Mercis, during this period, His Majesty has already transported a large amount of property obtained from Rome and other occupied city-states to the port of Turui by ship, and finally it was included in the The national treasury, I heard that there are at least a few thousand Tarrants, and after the Alexis army occupied Cautim, Beneventum, Lola and other Samnite towns, they also transported a lot of property back. How about the treasury? Are you still short of money?!”

"Lord Vespa, you only saw the treasury collecting money, but why didn't you see the treasury spending a lot of money!" Merses snorted coldly and complained loudly: "The previous drought has already caused a lot of damage. The treasury spent a lot of savings. As soon as this war began, the Sicilian fleet was almost completely destroyed. Your Majesty and our Senate made a decision to build hundreds of warships immediately! How much will this cost? Do you know?! Thousands of soldiers and sailors died in battle or drowned, and many citizens were seriously injured and became disabled. Do you know how much it will cost in pensions?! Eleven legions fought with nearly 10 people, and a battle was How many javelins and arrows will be consumed?! How many bayons will be broken? How many daggers, shields, and horses will be damaged?! How many backup weapons and armor do I have to buy to ensure that the soldiers can continue to fight? Are these all Don’t you need to spend money?!...The spoils sent by His Majesty and Alexis have just wiped out the previous consumption of the treasury, but the war is far from over, and the treasury will continue to be depleted, so any benefit to No fiscal revenue measures should be spared!”

Weisbagan laughed a few times: "It seems that the war has a great impact on the kingdom's trade and finance, but the autumn harvest is about to end. Once the citizens pay the land tax, the Finance Department should feel more relaxed."

There were several sneers in the venue, because some elders felt that Weispa didn't understand the kingdom's finances at all, and the land tax was just a drop in the bucket for this war.

Antaoulis stood up and glanced around majestically. He could not allow some people to despise the authority of the rotating chairman. Although he also despised Weisba's incompetence in his heart, as the rotating chairman, on this issue, they were integrated.

"Are there any objections?!" Antaoris said loudly: "If not, then hurry up and implement His Majesty's decision. September 9 will be in a few days, and we must start preparations immediately."

Silence returned to the venue.

Weisba nodded to Antaoris to express his gratitude, and then said loudly: "Since everyone agrees with His Majesty's decision, this year's Rugby Finals will continue to be held!"

After finishing speaking, he raised a small hammer and knocked on the small clock on the table, making a crisp sound, and then turned his gaze to one of the five rotating chairmen in the front row, Chief Executive Turui: "Master Lucias, This time you are still in charge of the rugby game, what difficulties do we need to solve?"

Lysias pondered and said: "I also support the decision made by His Majesty. You also know that during this war, many citizens of the Turiyi Region suffered casualties. The people's emotions were relatively depressed. The rugby match was held. It is conducive to the release of their emotions. And on the day of the Hades celebration, I hope that the ceremony of worshiping the fallen soldiers in the Temple of Valor can be held more grandly to appease their relatives!"

"This is how it should be, I will arrange it, Lord Lysias, you can rest assured!" Plessinas responded.

"In order to prevent accidents, I hope that the inspection department can send more patrols to maintain the law and order inside and outside the city of Thurii... and the military affairs department can send more soldiers to maintain the order of the square and temple in the city on the day of the celebration."

After receiving a positive response from Hilos and others, Lysias continued: "What's more important is that due to the war, our Senate has not made a positive decision on whether to hold the Rugby Finals this year. Reply, I'm afraid the cities are not ready. We must inform them as soon as possible and let them send participating teams as soon as possible. Otherwise, the teams will not arrive on time and the competition schedule will have to be postponed. Also... In the past, every year We have invited friendly city-states to watch the ceremony. Are we going to invite old friends again this year?”

"I think we should continue to invite them. As Mr. Mariji said before, we need to show these allies and friendly city-states the confidence of Dionia's victory to gain more support from them." Foreign Minister Ansitano Si suggested seriously: "Furthermore, in the Sicilian war report received yesterday, friendly city-states such as Agrigento, Gela, and Minoa were all destroyed. We invite them to send envoys to participate in the ceremony, and we can take the opportunity to express Dionysia does not give up their determination in order to appease their fleeing people.”

"Master Ancitanos." Antaoris asked loudly: "Among the allies you said you want to invite, do you include Egypt? When we encountered drought and war, Egypt gave us great help. We got through the toughest first few months.”

"Yes, yes. Although Egypt is an ally we have just established diplomatic relations with, it is the most helpful to us. Why has no one mentioned inviting them before?"

"I only thought of inviting Egypt at this time. I'm afraid it's too late." Some elders said regretfully.

"Don't worry, gentlemen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received news from the Eastern Mediterranean. The Egyptian Pharaoh has sent an envoy to visit our Dionia. It is estimated that he will arrive in Thurii before the celebration." Ansitanos immediately responded.

"Why didn't you tell us such an important thing earlier!" Cornerus complained: "Lord Ansitanos, Egypt is our important ally. Your Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for receiving the Egyptian envoys. If you need anything from us, Whatever the Senate has done, no matter how much you propose it, you must be satisfied with it! In addition, you must tell His Majesty immediately and let him know about it."

Ancitalus nodded in agreement.

After Cornerus finished his instructions, he said to Vespa in the center of the venue: "Since everyone agrees to host the rugby finals, quickly send out messengers to inform the chief executives of each city and invite allies and friendly city-states to participate as in previous years. Ceremony.”

Weispa nodded, called the clerks who were in charge of recording the meeting, and asked them to immediately start writing the letter. After stamping the seal of the Senate, they handed it over to the messengers waiting in the side hall at any time to send it to various places (because Dai The Ogna Senate holds meetings almost every day and may pass some proposals at any time. Therefore, the Senate has a fixed messenger assigned to convey the Senate's resolutions to the people who should be conveyed in a timely and accurate manner.)

After making these arrangements, Weispa breathed a sigh of relief and asked in a routine manner: "My lords, do you have any new suggestions?"

Minister of Military Affairs Hilos stood up and said with a serious expression: "The Ministry of Military Affairs has received information in the past few days that Puchetti's former prince Vadarka is gathering in the Peloponnese Mesapi, The remnants of Pucetti and Dauni are preparing to attack our Apulian region."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this.

Weisba also swept away his previous carelessness and asked anxiously: "Is this news accurate?"

"It has been confirmed by Aristelas." Hilos simply replied, and everyone no longer expressed doubts. Although many senators stayed away from King Davos's intelligence chief, he obtained information His ability is unquestionable.

"Lord Hilos, do you know how many enemies there are?" Weisba asked loudly again.

"According to the information received last time, there are less than 4000 people." Helos said seriously: "It is estimated that they will land in Apulia in the near future."

"These bereaved dogs are very good at choosing the time. They took advantage of the time when Alexis led the army to expedition to the Samnite Mountains, the 4th Fleet left the Adriatic Sea for Sicily, and the entire Apulian region was empty of defenses. "

(End of this chapter)