Thurii's Disappointment

Looking at the countless raised right arms ahead, Archytas spoke with both joy and a hint of regret: "Davos, your wish has come true. Congratulations!"

Davos breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely: "Thank you! I sincerely hope that the Tarentum Senate will now agree to my proposal, so that we can become allies!"

"Of the one thousand three hundred and eighty-two people who voted on this bill, one thousand and seventy-six agreed and three hundred and six opposed. The bill is passed! I declare—" Cornelius, upon learning the result, felt a twinge of complex emotions at first, but quickly let them go. Using all his strength, he shouted: "From this moment on, all mercenary soldiers become citizens of Amendolara!!!"

As soon as Cornelius finished speaking, the soldiers around Davos erupted in cheers. Davos was hugged over and over again by his ecstatic officers. The phrase he often heard was: "Commander, we have a home!!!"

Hearing this, Davos felt a little dazed: Home?! ... Unfortunately, my true home is not in this world...

...

At the same time that the Amendolara Assembly was being held, the Thurii delegation, still led by Antistanos, arrived at the gates of Amendolara.

"We are envoys from Thurii. We want to see your leader. Open the gates quickly!" Bourkos shouted to the sentries on the wall.

Before the sentry could answer, another person darted out and cursed down at them: "Go back, you Thurii people! Amendolara does not welcome you. Go back!"

Hearing this, the delegation grew angry. Even the usually gentle Antistanos shouted in fury: "Rude mercenaries! Don't think that just because you defeated the Lucanians you can do whatever you want, disregard the common laws of the Greek city-states, and forcibly occupy another's city!"

The man sneered: "Hmph, what a fair and impartial tone you have, as if you really care about the lives of the Amendolara people! Open your eyes wide and see clearly—I am a citizen of Amendolara who has lived here since childhood!"

Antistanos was taken aback, but Bourkos recognized him, since as a merchant he often came to Amendolara for trade and knew many people: "It's you, Anticlis?!"

"Didn't expect me to still be alive, did you?" Anticlis's words were full of venom: "Thanks to you Thurii people, the Lucanians cut off my right hand, but fortunately I survived. But most of my neighbors, my comrades-in-arms, died. Because of your selfish demands and pressures, they were in a hurry to move to that damned city of Thurii, only to be attacked without warning by the Lucanians. All the suffering Amendolara has endured is caused by Thurii! From now on, Thurii people are not welcome here! This is not just my personal wish—it is the common will of all the surviving Amendolara people!"

Bourkos was stunned. Antistanos was stunned. The entire delegation was stunned. They had not expected the Amendolara citizens to treat them with such hostility.

Although Amendolara and Thurii were allies, their strength was vastly different: Thurii had over twenty thousand citizens, with a total population of about a hundred thousand, and close to one hundred and forty thousand counting freedmen, not to mention slaves; Amendolara's population was at most a little over ten thousand. Therefore, Thurii treated Amendolara more like its own subordinate city-state, rarely considering their feelings. When the Lucanians captured Amendolara, the Thurii people received the news and, aside from expressing regret, only worried whether it would threaten the northern Sybaris Plain. When the recently fled Amendolara citizens begged Thurii to reclaim their lost land, Thurii merely considered how to defend against the Lucanian attacks and ignored them. Now, feeling the depth of the Amendolara citizens' resentment, they were beyond shocked.

"Don't even think about demanding anything from Amendolara again! Amendolara will never obey! Do you hear those cheers?!" Anticlis laughed wildly, slapping the sentry's shoulder with his left hand, and said: "The entire citizen body of Amendolara has voted to accept all the mercenaries as citizens of Amendolara! So, they did not forcibly occupy Amendolara—they have legally become its citizens! I've heard that the mercenaries annihilated the Lucanian coalition that twice defeated Thurii. I think from now on, anyone who wants to attack Amendolara will first have to taste the strength of our new citizens' shields and spears!" The threat in Anticlis's words made the delegation's expressions sour.

Amidst Anticlis's laughter, the Thurii delegation again left disappointed.

Anticlis stopped laughing, feeling relieved. He turned to study the sentry beside him, making the man uneasy, then nodded with satisfaction and asked: "What is your name?"

"Trotidius."

"Where are you from?"

"Thessaly. Hometown of Commander Davos."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

After a series of questions, Anticlis bluntly said to the still confused sentry: "I have two daughters. One is twenty-one, good-looking, her husband died, and she has a two-year-old son. The other is only sixteen and not yet betrothed. Pick one to be my son-in-law. Make your choice tonight, and tomorrow I'll take you to my house for the wedding."

Trotidius was dumbfounded. The other sentries came over to congratulate and tease him. One shamelessly said directly: "Anticlis, you have two daughters—why not let me be your other son-in-law?"

The wall erupted in laughter.

The Thurii delegation, however, was full of sighs.

"Who is that Anticlis?" Antistanos asked quietly.

"An Amendolara nobleman. Formerly a patrol captain and also captain of the fire brigade," Bourkos answered.

Antistanos gave a quiet "oh" and said no more.

"General, although the Amendolara people hold a grudge against Thurii, I know the mercenary commander Davos. Although he is young, he is steady in his actions and has a good impression of Thurii. Besides, we still have a hiring contract with him. He won't be easily swayed by the Amendolara people. I believe after a while, when the Amendolara people have calmed down, we can still negotiate properly with Amendolara," Bourkos said comfortingly.

"Let's hope so." Antistanos sighed. "The mercenaries have legally become citizens of Amendolara, so our protests are useless. Given the current situation, we'll have to go back and discuss new strategies. Alas! ... Bourkos, do you know what I'm thinking?"

"No."

"My teacher once said, 'After the Persian Wars, because Sparta considered itself superior and treated its neighbors harshly and unfeelingly, the Greek city-states distanced themselves from Sparta and dealt with the more amiable Athens instead, eventually leading to the formation of the Delian League.'" Antistanos thought deeply, then chided himself painfully: "Have we Thurii people been too overbearing in our actions? Putting on airs of superiority without having strong strength—that is not a good sign, is it?! ..."

After the public vote, the women and children left the square. Then Cornelius asked Archytas to withdraw as well, because the real citizen assembly of Amendolara was about to begin.

Other than the sentries patrolling the walls and the soldiers guarding the prisoners, there were five hundred and twelve original Amendolara citizens and two thousand nine hundred and twenty newly upgraded citizens (of which one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven were from Davos's mercenary corps and one thousand eighty-three were from other mercenaries) in the square, totaling three thousand four hundred and thirty-two Amendolara citizens.

Cornelius wanted to proceed to the next agenda item, but the mercenaries' cheering continued, interrupting the assembly for a while. Only when the square quieted down did he speak loudly: "Citizens of Amendolara, since most of you are new citizens, it is necessary to first understand the political system of Amendolara. Amendolara is similar to Tarent... to Athens." Cornelius had initially wanted to say Tarentum, but then thought that these mercenaries from Ionia probably didn't know much about Tarentum, so he used the well-known city-state of Athens for comparison.