ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1084 Frustrated Maximus

The kingdom's evaluation of his death was also in full swing, especially after his will was announced "to donate most of his inheritance to the kingdom." The senators no longer had any objections: the statue was stationed in the Pantheon, and at the same time A statue of him in front of the finance department was also approved.

Even the opening of the Congress of Greek Scholars was postponed a few days for his funeral.

A few days later, the Senate once again released an important news: Haka, the only governor of the Kingdom of Dionia who had served for more than 4 years, resigned, and the senator Bagule took over as the governor of southern Iberia. The Senate added the position of rotating president, and Haka took over after being transferred back to Thurii.

Important changes in the political arena of the Kingdom of Dionia do not attract much attention from ordinary people. The hottest thing discussed in the streets of cities in the kingdom today is: whether the citizens of Dionia should pay more taxes to increase the kingdom’s military expenditures. , to solve border security issues.

From the very beginning of the fierce debate (most of the registered freedmen and preparatory citizens supported paying more taxes, while the vast majority of citizens expressed opposition), many citizens began to believe that "as long as they can be spared the pain of long-term border guarding, "It's worth paying more taxes", and now the main topic of debate among the people has become "how much more taxes should be paid". This entire evolution process has only gone through a dozen days.

Such rapid changes are, on the one hand, the result of the full promotion of the intelligence agencies, and the other main reason is that the vast majority of citizens are the first generation citizens of the Kingdom of Dionia, and they are all in the process of the establishment and rise of this kingdom. Participants and founders, they used their sweat and spears to promote the growth of the Kingdom of Dionia. At the same time, under the long-term influence of Dionia law and the Temple of Hades, a strong feeling was created in their hearts. With a sense of ownership, when the kingdom does encounter difficulties and they need to sacrifice a little of their own interests and provide help, they can finally make reasonable choices.

In the street tavern, the diners were still arguing fiercely: "I hope the direct tax paid by the citizens should be 15%. Since the people of traditional Greek city-states like Athens, Corinth, Thebes... can all contribute to the city-state's It is public interest to pay such a high tax, and some tax rates are even higher than this. The citizens of Dionia, who are known as the 'most patriotic', own a large amount of land and should accept this tax rate calmly."

"15% is a bit high, and it used to be only 1%, but now it suddenly has to be 15%. This change is too big. I guess many people can't stand it. Seven or eight percent should be more reasonable."

"I said that you are so happy to discuss the issue of paying taxes here. Have you ever considered that if formal citizens want to increase taxes, we will also increase the same taxes!"

"I'm single. No matter how much tax I pay, I can make do with my life. I don't have the worries of starting a family and starting a business for the time being, so I don't worry."

"Of course I have considered this issue. I think the more taxes we pay, the richer the kingdom will be, which is more beneficial to us free people and reserve citizens, because after the kingdom pays for military expenses, it can use more money to build buildings. Better public facilities, purchasing more food to stabilize food prices, subsidizing hospitals to lower medical fees...the benefits to us are greater than those of formal citizens. After all, they are already rich enough and don't care much. .”

"It makes sense, so I decided to change my mind and support a 15% tax."

……

A group of people were chatting happily when they suddenly heard the cook shouting: "Maximus, you are here!"

"what……"

"How about a beer?"

"Correct."

The diners looked over immediately, and the meddler immediately asked: "Maximus, you went to find a job today, how is it going?"

"I said, are you stupid? Do you even need to ask? You can tell by his look that he didn't succeed."

Maximus forced a bitter smile and tried his best to explain: "Actually, during the interview, the person in charge of the library was already willing to hire me as a scribe, but the person next to me said a few more words. After knowing that I was... a slave emancipated by Rome, he hesitated and said to me, 'If I come back in a few months and the incident subsides, he will definitely hire me.'"

"I said Maximus, don't blame the officials of Thurii for not hiring you. The Romans' conspiracy to rebel is not over yet. They want to assassinate the great King Davos. This is a big deal. ! Turiyi City Hall is so close to the Senate and the Royal Palace. What if... I mean what if, they really hire you and you cause trouble again, and they will all be affected, so To be on the safe side, of course they don't dare to take the risk of hiring you. That person said nicely, 'a few months later'... Haha, I don't think the Turiyi City Hall will dare to hire another Roman in one or two years! "

The diner's words made Maximus' face instantly turn ugly.

"Don't talk nonsense." Another diner comforted: "Maximus, don't listen to him, the matter is not that serious, everyone knows that His Majesty Davos has always treated all races in the kingdom equally, and will never allow This kind of thing happened, so this kind of thing is only temporary, and you don’t even have to wait until a few months later, just watch, it will get better soon, because the new chief executive of Turui is about to take office, Man Lilius Publius, he is a true Roman, how could he allow the city hall to discriminate against his compatriots like this!"

"You don't understand!" a former diner retorted: "Publius' appointment as the administrator of Turii was already very controversial. In order to avoid suspicion and safety, on the contrary, he was most likely to be in Turii in the early days of his administration. The Romans were strictly controlled in the city..."

As Maximus listened, his heart became more and more disturbed: because the assassination of Davos also involved Publius' eldest son, whether he knew it was reported by himself or not, the friendship of his colleagues in the past must be It was destroyed once, not only could not find him for help, but I am afraid I have to avoid him, so it seems that Turui City Hall cannot go, and I don’t want to go back to the slave camp, do I really want to go to Turui? Looking for something to do in Yi Port?But in this way, the chances of shortening the period of becoming a full citizen as soon as possible will be much less..."

While Maximus was thinking painfully, another diner sighed: "These damn Romans! Oh, Maximus, I'm not talking about you... They caused such a big thing that this year's Scholars Conference The security protection is much stricter than in previous years. It is much more difficult for us to freely enter and exit the academy and listen to the lectures of scholars."

"What's so good about those speeches? We don't understand them. Instead of just sitting there, we might as well use this time to earn more money and come here to buy a few more drinks!"

"That's right! That's right!"

"You don't understand. I can't understand most of the speeches of the scholars, but you can see some famous people at this conference that you rarely see, such as Elder Ansitanos and Matiklis. Elder...wait, of course, there is also our great King Davos. Many of you have probably never seen our king in person, but I can see it every year. If I am lucky, I can even enter him. It was really…”

This diner looked intoxicated, which made others feel a little itchy. Someone asked eagerly: "Tell us, what does His Majesty the King say at the scholars' conference?"

"Well... this... His Majesty the King is a descendant of Hades, the god of heaven. He has been inspired by the gods. Privately, some scholars call him the omniscient. His speech is so profound. How can I remember it? I only remember it. Before the speech, he humbly thanked everyone for coming to listen to his speech..."

"Isn't this how all speeches in our kingdom begin? How could His Majesty, the great King, be like them? I think you are just bragging. In fact, you have never heard His Majesty's speech at all!" a diner questioned. , others also booed. They had been dissatisfied with this man's smugness and took the opportunity to boo.

The diner was anxious: "Of course I have listened to His Majesty's speech! I tell you...I...I tell you...a very interesting thing happened at this year's Scholars Conference! Not only did His Majesty the King give a speech, And Prince Apox also came on stage and gave a speech——"

"Prince Apox? I remember that he is the second son of His Majesty Davos. He should not be 2 years old this year." A diner obviously expressed doubts about this.

"You don't know. Although Apox is still underage, he is a descendant of Hades. He is favored by the gods. He has been very smart since he was a child. Not only did he graduate from Thurii School ahead of schedule, it is said that Dionia Various colleges in the academy scrambled to get him to study in their own college, and they fought over it. As a result, Apox became an official student of the School of Mathematics and the School of Letters at the same time. This was something that had never happened since the establishment of Dionia College. !" The diner said arrogantly: "He has been studying in the academy for several years, and now he can give a speech and express his own opinions at the scholar conference. Is there anything strange about it?"

"We are just a little curious...after all, we are young..." the diners who had questioned before said coquettishly.

Seeing that the other party had surrendered, the diner did not pursue the victory, but expressed his understanding: "Actually, not only you think so, but also some scholars at the venue, including several from the Pythagorean School of Tarantum. They also tried to make things difficult for Prince Apox, but despite his young age, Prince Apox was very eloquent. He quickly rendered the Tarantum people speechless, and finally everyone in the audience was speechless. Cheer for him! You haven’t seen the dejected look of the people of Tarantum, it’s so depressing!”

　Thanks to Jeanne d'Arc and Daddy's close bodyguard for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)