Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 47: Lijim's Request

Little Crotonkatax had just climbed onto his father's knee when his mother came to take him away, and he started crying and fussing in displeasure.

Davos had no mind to bother with him at the moment. He turned to Attilukulus and said, "The Daonia Senate will be very pleased to hear this news. I hope—"

Attilukulus waved his hand and immediately said, "But Rhegium also has a small request, and hopes that Daonia will agree!"

The Greeks of South Italy all said that the Rhegians were merchants who haggled over every penny, and Attilukulus was a standout among them. Indeed, one wouldn't get up early without profit in sight! Davos roused himself and said, "Please speak."

"You know that tyrant of Syracuse rebuilt Messina. Messina has now completely sided with Syracuse, opposing Rhegium at every turn. And it has an accomplice—Tyndaris, the colony where that tyrant settled the Messenians. It's not far from Messina. These two city-states have joined forces and often disrupt the trade routes of the Strait, sometimes even detaining merchant ships heading to Rhegium for trade... If this continues, no merchant ships will dare to come to Rhegium for maritime trade, and Rhegium will be ruined!" Attilukulus said with a worried expression.

"We have protested to Messina many times, but to no avail. We also sent envoys to Syracuse, but that tyrant simply refused to receive our envoys! So our Council deliberated and decided to build a colony on the Mylae Peninsula, to house the exiles from Catana, Naxos, Leontini, and other Sicilian city-states..."

"Wait a moment." Davos turned to the slave attending nearby and said, "Go quickly to the study and bring the map of Sicily." Although Davos had the habit of looking at maps every day, compared to his familiarity with South Italy, his memory of Sicily's terrain and city-state locations was a bit weaker.

"Catana, Naxos, and other Sicilian city-states were destroyed by Dionysius. Their exiles are certainly filled with hatred for Syracuse." Davos knew that many city-states in Magna Graecia harbored exiles from Sicily, because the Magna Graecia city-states were wary of Syracuse and thus would readily provide help to those who had been driven out by Syracuse. At this moment, Davos naturally thought of Aristelas.

"That's for sure, so they won't be easily won over by that tyrant!" Attilukulus said bitterly.

By then, the map was brought, and Davos spread it out on the wooden table from which the dishes had been cleared.

"This is Messina... This is Tyndaris..." Davos examined the map carefully.

Attilukulus also leaned in and looked at the parchment map. It was clearly specially drawn—not only large in scale but also detailed, no less than the one stored in Rhegium's City Hall. It seemed that his son-in-law paid no small attention to Sicily. Even the newly built Carthaginian Lilybaeum, the new city of Messina, Tauromenium... all these recently founded city-states were clearly marked, and the destroyed ones were also indicated with notes beside them. For example, Himera on the northern coast had a note that read: "Destroyed during the Sicilian war launched fifteen years ago by the Carthaginian general Hannibal."

"Here is the Mylae Peninsula..." Davos's finger finally came to rest on the northeastern corner of Sicily. The Mylae Peninsula—though called a peninsula, to Davos it felt like just a prominent cape on the map, right between Messina and Tyndaris. The location chosen for this colony was truly ingenious. It would precisely cut off the connection between the two cities. For you see, Messina and Tyndaris were both new cities (Messina had been destroyed by Carthage), and neither was very strong. Although they had Syracuse backing them, Syracuse controlled so many city-states that it couldn't fully support Messina and Tyndaris. Meanwhile, Rhegium, though weaker than Syracuse, was still a strong state and very wealthy. With a massive influx of resources into this soon-to-be-built new city, it could quickly surpass Messina and Tyndaris in strength, thereby restraining and intimidating them.

But there was a major issue.

"Have you considered the attitude of Syracuse?" Davos asked in a grave tone.

"According to ancient tradition, any Greek city-state has the right to establish colonies. Besides, the location of our new city is not within the territory of Messina or Tyndaris..." Attilukulus argued vigorously.

"With Dionysius's character, he won't care a bit about Greek traditions." Davos was not optimistic about this. He said sternly, "He's worked hard to control western Sicily, and now an external force wants to stick its hand into his sphere of influence. Do you think he will agree?"

"That's why I came to Thurii this time. Rhegium hopes to get your support!" Attilukulus said urgently. "To that end, Rhegium is willing to put its fleet under Daonia's command."

Originally, the member states of the Daonia Alliance did not have such freedom to bargain with Daonia. But Rhegium was the only strong state of Magna Graecia to join the alliance, and it was different from the other smaller dependent cities. The Daonia Senate had shown sufficient tolerance and respect toward it. Moreover, to strengthen Daonia's voice in the South Italy Alliance, Davos had invited Rhegium to join that alliance last year. Surprisingly, even Croton and other city-states had not strongly objected, which showed the influence of Rhegium as an old strong state. This also made Rhegium the only Greek city-state in Magna Graecia that belonged to both the Daonia Alliance and the South Italy Alliance.

Davos remained silent: Support? Easy to say. This meant war, and Daonia was doing its utmost to avoid such a thing. Otherwise, why would it have signed a friendship treaty with Syracuse? Rhegium was trying to drag Daonia into the water!

"I think such an important matter must be decided through discussion in the Senate, and may even need to be deliberated together with the other city-states of the South Italy Alliance." Davos said evasively, without giving an immediate answer.

Only after sending the displeased Attilukulus away did Davos pace back and forth in the living room, pondering the issue of the Strait of Messina.

Finally, he summoned Aristelas.

"A war is bound to break out!" Aristelas said with certainty. "The reason Messina and Tyndaris dare to be so bold as to encroach upon Rhegium is precisely because Dionysius is supporting them from behind. Perhaps what Rhegium wants to do is exactly what he hopes for, so he can launch a war against Rhegium. Not only would he retaliate against Rhegium—" Aristelas paused here and glanced at Davos.

Davos didn't care what he was hinting at. "Go on."

"And if Syracuse occupies Rhegium and controls the entire Strait of Messina, Dionysius can levy taxes on passing merchant ships to support his vast army. My lord, according to intelligence, Syracuse demanded massive war reparations in negotiations with Carthage and uses that money to buy grain, build more warships, and pay mercenaries. It's not just to deal with Rhegium!" Aristelas said with concern.

Davos remained silent, pondering. He was aware of all this intelligence.

Aristelas then spoke again, lowering his voice: "Moreover, my lord... from the recent intelligence gathered from various parts of Daonia, I have noticed a situation that I hope you will pay attention to."

"Oh? What is it?" Davos looked at him.

"Right now, among the preparatory citizens and registered freemen, a worry is spreading. They are afraid that even if they become full citizens of Daonia, they will no longer be able to obtain land..." Aristelas said slowly.

Davos raised an eyebrow. Indeed, the arable land in the plains of the Daonia Alliance had already been mostly distributed. There was still some vacant land in the Lucanian mountains and the Bruttii region, but that wasn't enough to distribute to so many preparatory citizens.

"So they want to leave?" Davos's lips curled slightly, half joking and half serious.

"Daonia is a paradise for freemen; how could they leave!" Aristelas paused, then emphasized, "They hope for war—to gain more land through war, to shorten the years needed to become citizens by participating in battle, and to earn the opportunity for an allotment through military achievements!"

Davos felt a slight sinking in his heart. This military merit system he had designed for Daonia was indeed the wellspring that attracted Greek freemen to flock to Daonia, and also the reason that ignited their eagerness for battle and fearlessness of death.

"Those who forget war are bound to face danger; those who are addicted to war are bound to perish..." Davos silently recited this maxim. The command authority of Daonia's army must be firmly held in his hands; otherwise, if control was lost, the consequences would be unimaginable. But for now, Daonia was still weak and needed this system to strengthen itself.

"Land..." Davos rubbed his chin. Indeed, Daonia had reached a bottleneck in expansion: to the south was powerful Syracuse; to the north were the Samnites—Davos knew well from his past life's history that the Romans had spent decades to conquer this warlike race, and had suffered several severe defeats in the process. Before being fully prepared, Daonia would not lightly provoke them. To the east were the lands of the Messapians and Peucetii. In terms of distance, that was the closest to Daonia, but both these tribes were no pushovers, and they had joined together. Daonia would need to exert all its strength to possibly conquer them, but the current situation simply didn't allow it. Moreover, Tarentum was wedged in between, and its relationship with Daonia was not exactly harmonious. Without its full support, Davos dared not send an army to attack the Messapians.