Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 28: Davos's Visit (Part 1)

“I understand. I’ll go discuss this with Mesis tomorrow.” Philistos nodded.

“That Mesis is a stingy fellow—he’ll probably only want to scrape more into the treasury. You have to hold your ground.” Davos said, half joking, half serious.

“I’ll bring Amyntas and Matonis along tomorrow,” Philistos replied gravely, and then both of them laughed.

Taking advantage of the good mood, Philistos cautiously raised his own idea: “Lord, all public offices come with pay, but when soldiers go on campaign for a long time and can’t return home, shouldn’t they also receive some wages?”

“Oh, so you, my Military Affairs Officer, have started learning how to get perks for your own department.” Davos pointed at him and laughed as he scolded.

Philistos smiled back. “If I didn’t, the soldiers would blame me for not doing my duty as Military Affairs Officer during my term.”

“In principle, it should be given. I remember someone once said, ‘Athenian rowers get two obols a day, and heavy infantry get four obols a day…’” Davos recalled.

“That’s true, Lord.”

Davos sighed. “But that’s Athens, one of the wealthiest city-states in all the Mediterranean. They can afford that pay. The Daonia Alliance cannot yet. With less than two hundred public officials, the treasury can barely manage. When we go on campaign, the number of soldiers is either several thousand or tens of thousands. Even if we pay each soldier one obol a day, figure out how much that costs! Just rebuilding Thurii and paying the public officials’ salaries have already made Mesis struggle. If you bring this up, I’d bet he’ll fight you to the death.”

Davos smiled and said firmly, “Wait until the Alliance has more money. Rest assured, I won’t let the soldiers who go on campaign suffer losses!”

Although it was only a verbal promise from Davos, Philistos felt reassured. Not only because Davos had always kept his word, but also because Philistos had worked with him for a long time and knew deeply: Davos was a man with great ambitions, and an army that couldn’t fight for long periods would never fulfill those ambitions.

“How was the discipline of the troops in Nerulum?” Davos asked again.

“Not bad. No conflicts at all with the Lucanians of Nerulum.” Philistos smiled. “Of course, that’s also because you, Lord, plan to hold a victory triumph for them. They’re afraid that if they break military discipline, they won’t be able to participate in the ceremony.”

“A soldier with a sense of honor will be a good citizen!” Davos exclaimed. In his mind, he pictured the comrades who might soon arrive—those who had once marched with him against Persia. He hoped that those accustomed to plunder and freedom would not cause too much trouble in the Daonia Alliance.

Pushing down the worry that had just arisen, he looked at Philistos. “Are you ready to be reviewed by the people?”

“I…” The gentle-natured man, who had spent half his life on the battlefield, actually appeared somewhat nervous and shy.

“Hey, what’s there to be nervous about? It’s not like you’re the only one participating. You’ll have Drax, Epithenis, and Hieronymus with you! Show the citizens of the Alliance the image of our Daonia generals well. Let them know that only by fighting bravely for the Alliance can one enjoy such high honor!” Davos patted him on the shoulder and said solemnly.

Philistos understood the significance of this triumph for the army, and that only made it harder for him to relax.

Davos had to change the subject. “By the way, Bacule’s Fourth Battalion is also going to participate in this triumph, so we need the First Battalion to go to Nerulum and replace them for a few days.”

Davos thought for a moment and said, “In the future, the soldiers of Bacule’s Fourth Battalion will settle permanently in Nerulum. That way, they can defend Nerulum nearby, and we can save on military expenses… But the military quality of the Fourth Battalion still falls far short of our requirements. We must send instructors in rotation for strict training…”

As Davos spoke, he noticed Philistos seemed to hesitate. He asked in puzzlement, “What is it? Are you worried about the Fourth Battalion?”

“No, I’m not worried about the Fourth Battalion. Bacule is a good leader who can tell right from wrong, and he’s about to become the son-in-law of a Greek. Most of his soldiers trust him. Moreover, the sisters of these Lucanian soldiers have mostly married our citizens, so within our Alliance—especially among the Greek citizens of Amendolara and their Lucanian citizens—relations are already very close. Therefore, since the campaign began, the Fourth Battalion has performed very actively and cooperated well with the other battalions!” Philistos praised. “I just wanted to ask you, Lord, about the problem of the Lao River Fortress and Hetushu needing soldiers for long-term garrison duty. How should that be resolved?” The Daonia Alliance had no professional soldiers; it was impossible to have citizen soldiers leave their own lives to garrison there permanently.

In Philistos’ view, this was a difficult problem, but Davos already had a solution. “Let the preparatory citizens take turns garrisoning there. It will count as part of the assessment they must pass to become full citizens of the Alliance. At the same time, let veteran soldiers serve as instructors and become officers at the Lao River Fortress to manage and train them. In this way, we can make the Lao River Fortress a military training base for the Alliance. First, train preparatory citizens to become qualified soldiers. Second, train veterans to become qualified reserve officers. Third, we can garrison the Lao River Fortress long-term…”

Davos spoke fluently, clearly having thought it through carefully. “The Lao River Fortress controls the main road from Thurii to Laüs and to Lucania. I believe this road will soon become busy due to a sharp increase in merchants. Think about it: merchant caravans can avoid the Strait of Messina and the exactions of Messina and Rhegium, taking the land route directly to the port of Laüs on the west coast of the Apennine Peninsula. And Laüs is our ally, so there are tariff benefits. This will be very attractive to Greek merchants. Moreover, as long as we can stabilize the situation in Lucania, certain Lucanian goods—such as furs, cattle, sheep, and so on—will also catch merchants’ eyes. So, if we levy a very small transit toll at the Lao River Fortress, without dampening the merchants’ enthusiasm, the Alliance can use that money to buy food supplies for the garrison troops and also pay a certain living allowance to the soldiers for the two or three months they cannot work. It should be more than enough…”

At first, the commercial content Davos spoke of made Philistos’ head spin. It wasn’t until Davos mentioned the garrison at the Lao River Fortress that Philistos understood how the food and wages of the garrison could be easily solved by collecting transit tolls. He couldn’t help but feel deep admiration.

“From Thurii through the mountain pass to Nerulum, it takes about three days, right?” Davos suddenly asked.

“Yes, Lord. When we set out earlier, we marched quite fast and still took three days. At a normal marching pace, it would probably take about four days,” Philistos replied.

“If we add a pack train carrying supplies, it would take even more time, wouldn’t it?” Davos tapped the back of his chair lightly with his fingers and murmured to himself: “Therefore, we must put the construction of the road between Thurii, Nerulum, and Laüs on the agenda as soon as possible. It’s best if all three cities build sections simultaneously, so that we can connect Thurii and Lucania, strengthen ties, and promote integration…”

…

Three days later, Davos announced he wanted to go to Nerulum.

Some senators argued that the political situation in Nerulum was still unstable and tried to dissuade him from going at that time.

He replied firmly: “I am going precisely to make Nerulum more stable!” In the end, he convinced the Senate and was allowed to go.

The traveling party included more than a dozen senators without official positions, such as Vespa, Scombrus, and Tritoedemos. The soldiers of the First Battalion were responsible for escorting them, and the First Battalion was also going to temporarily relieve the Fourth Battalion stationed in Nerulum, so that the latter could return to participate in the triumph. In addition, there were the families of the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion and a few merchants from the Alliance.

Little Heracleides had recently been busy thinking about how to build a wooden bridge over the Crati River. He had finally gotten some ideas and was about to start construction experiments when Davos forcibly dragged him into the traveling party, stuffing him into the group and saying he needed him to survey how to build the Thurii–Nerulum–Laüs road.

Little Heracleides did not have his father’s stubborn temper, and besides, he owed Davos a great debt of gratitude. He had no choice but to temporarily set aside his current work and reluctantly go along to Nerulum. But once he entered work mode, his concentration was so intense that he could ignore the rough surroundings and the identities of the others.

“There are quite a few sharp stones on the ground in these mountains. They all have to be smoothed down. That will undoubtedly add a lot of labor and slow down road construction!”

“Look, there’s a lot of loose soil on this cliff face. Once it rains, it could wash down and block the road. We’ll have to fix it with mortar, and we also need to cut down those small trees growing on the cliff edge!”

“This section of the mountain path is too narrow—not even a single pack cart can pass. It needs to be widened! … Hmm, I think we can build a fire to heat this protruding rock face, then pour cold water on it to make it crack. But we have to be careful not to set the forest on fire!”

Davos and the senators clustered around Little Heracleides like students, listening to him observe and analyze how to build a road through the mountains. Naturally, the entire group’s marching speed was not fast.

By evening, the whole party had to camp on the mountain path. The escort and the First Battalion set up a security perimeter and sentry posts.

For the families of the Fourth Battalion, the mountains were their home. After being away for a year, returning to this familiar land made their breathing much easier. They naturally sat on the ground and soon fell asleep.

Most of the soldiers of the First Battalion had campaigned in Persia, so camping in the wild was the most ordinary thing in the world.

The merchants traveled here and there, enduring any hardship for profit.