ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 570 Syracuse’s new top management
"In this way, I am already weak in Syracuse, and it is very likely that I will be driven out by the rioters led by Herolis! For me, this is a terrible thing! And for me This is not good news for Sparta! Phoebus, I need your help now!" Dionysius rarely showed a begging look.

"Tell me, what do you need me to do?" Phoebidas's dull face showed no emotion.

Dionysius was used to it, and he sincerely pleaded: "I hope you can meet with the leaders of these rebels, such as Herolis, as you did last time, and persuade them not to encounter danger in Syracuse. Internal strife with me will only allow the Dionians to take advantage and threaten the survival of the people of Syracuse! We should unite and overcome this difficulty together! For this reason, as long as they can re-accept me as Their all-powerful general, I am also willing to share power with them to meet their demands..."

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Phoebus agreed simply and said, "Do I need to tell them that you are back?"

"No! I will show up at the appropriate time." Dionysius refused immediately.

Seeing Phoebidas leaving, Dionysius felt a little suspicious again: Why did Phoebidas agree so quickly this time?

.......................................

In the Syracuse City Hall, Herolis, who was elected as the temporary chief general, and several other generals who were elected by the people during the riot, formed the Wartime General Executive Committee.

As a poet, Philosanus was already very famous among the people, and because he contradicted Dionysius many times and was imprisoned in stone, the people trusted him and elected him as a general.At this moment, he unceremoniously questioned Theisitis, the representative of the port sailors and the poor: "Theisitis, why haven't I seen you blockade Ortygia Island with warships?! This was discussed yesterday!"

"Yesterday...yesterday we were tasked with wiping out Mathias' defeated troops. Now there are still thousands of sailors searching for traces of them in the mountains. Where can we find the manpower to blockade Ortygia Island! "Tacitis looked distressed.

"Tacitis, don't make excuses. You have enough manpower in the port area to clear out those mercenaries and blockade Ortygia Island at the same time. This is an order issued by the committee after joint discussion, and you have accepted it. But it hasn’t been implemented yet. Do you think the people elected you as this general just to have you come here for fun!” Another nobleman from the city, a friend of Herolis, and the newly elected general Kuzias loudly proposed. criticize.

Although Tacitus is a newbie in the political arena, he has been working at sea for decades and has rich life experience. At this moment, he is not annoyed by the rebuke. Instead, he spreads his hands and says helplessly: "There are few people in your city, and you can't unite yet." We can do things together. We can’t gather enough people to build a city wall for a few days. We still need to provide manpower. Not to mention that our port area has a large population and complex sources. How can we completely listen to my words! If you have any objections to me, you can tell me The position was taken away. In order to be this general, I kept telling lies every day and was misunderstood by the people at the port. If I could not feel comfortable as a sailor, I would have given up on it a long time ago!"

Tacitus threatened to resign, and several generals immediately stopped criticizing, because they understood that Tacitus was already an easy talker among the poor in the port. If it were anyone else, they would never cooperate so easily, and now because of the big The Greek war drained a large number of citizens from the city, who desperately needed the strength of the poor in the port area.

"Lord Tacitus!" Herolis broke the silence in the room. At this time, he was much more haggard than before the riot, his voice became hoarse, and his eyes became sharper: "What difficulties are you encountering now? We Let’s discuss the solution together.”

Testis still respected Herolis, and he stopped being verbose, and said directly: "The people of the port hope to participate in the citizens' meeting, discuss the various proposals decided by the council, and you have promised to distribute to the people of the port. There has been no movement in the land so far. They suspect that the General Executive Committee is deceiving them. In addition, they have undertaken a lot of tasks before, and they feel unfair compared with the people in the city, so now they are unwilling to listen to me. Order……"

"How unfair! The poor people in the port are originally -" When another general Stacekos heard this, he couldn't help but want to argue again. Herolis interrupted him, thought for a while, and said seriously: "Lord Theisitis, we will overthrow the tyrant rule of Dionysius and implement a democratic system. However, Syracuse is not Athens. Not all citizens can participate in the citizens' assembly, but... to put it simply, that is Only citizens who can afford at least a set of heavy infantry equipment and can perform military service at any time are eligible to participate in the Citizens' Assembly. This is Syracuse's long-standing political tradition, and we will not change it easily! Not only the poor in your port area, The same is true in urban areas, and many citizens are also unable to participate in citizens’ meetings.”

"But last time—" Thesitis wanted to argue.

Herolis waved his hand to stop him and said seriously: "Listen to me first! I promised you to allocate land before, why didn't you implement it immediately? Because we don't know how many Syracuseans fought in Magna Graecia. Able to come back alive, so we are not yet sure how much land can be vacated, and we also need people to re-measure these lands before we can fairly and equitably distribute the land to citizens who have no land in the port and city.

But now that 'land' has become the biggest concern of the people in the port, it has also affected our unity.You must know that we have not occupied the island of Ortygia. Dionysius and his mercenaries may come back at any time and put the freedom we bought with our blood back on the shackles! "

At the end of Herolis's words, his voice became sharp. He was reminding Theisitis and several other generals including Philosanus: "Therefore, I suggest that the 5000 troops led by Mathias The land owned by 1000 mercenaries and the [-] mercenaries stationed in the city were first distributed to the people at the port (these mercenaries were actually citizens of Syracuse, but Herolis and the others who succeeded in the riot thought they were Dionysius staunch lackeys of Siracus, refusing to recognize their Syracuse citizenship)!"

"The land occupied by those mercenaries is a huge piece of land!" Philosanus reminded loudly.

"I think Herolis's proposal is acceptable." Stacykos agreed.Unlike Feroxanus, who is straightforward and doesn't know much about politics, Stasikos realized what the chief general intended as soon as Herolis' proposal came out: the village built by these 6000 mercenaries was actually It is not within the traditional territory of Syracuse, but the territory that Dionysius expanded outward after conquering southeastern Sicily, which of course includes the land of the neighboring city-states that were forcibly occupied.The village of 6000 mercenaries is located in the southwest of Syracuse, adjacent to Ackley, a small state affiliated to Syracuse, where the city-state army on the south coast must pass through to reach Syracuse.Herolis arranged the poor people in the port there, so that these greedy and fearful people could continue to fight the mercenaries who fled into the mountains for the sake of land, and it could also prevent possible attacks on the newborn Syracuse from the city-state on the south coast. Moreover, the land is far away from Syracuse, and the allocation of it will not make the people in the city protest their injustice, and it can also dissipate the dissatisfaction of the port civilians, so that they can feel the sincerity of the General Executive Committee.

Therefore, soon not only Stasikos realized the benefits of Herolis' proposal, but several other generals also expressed their approval.

Herolis continued calmly: "But in order to win over the mercenaries, Dionysius gave them too generous conditions. Each mercenary was given ten acres of land, which was too much. I hope Five acres of land are temporarily allocated to each person in the port, and only poor people who have actively participated in this action of resisting tyranny are eligible. Mr. Thesitis, you will provide the list. After it is verified by the city hall staff, What do you think about starting distribution immediately?”

Tacitus did not think too much. He was overjoyed that the committee could agree to allocate the land immediately, so that he would not have to accept questions and accusations from the people every time he returned to the port, so he said with relief: "I agree!"

Herolis took the opportunity to say: "The port people who own land can accumulate wealth, buy weapons and equipment, serve as heavy infantry, and participate in the citizens' assembly. It is only a matter of time. So what you just said, Mr. Thesitis," As long as the land is distributed, the port people's request to participate in the citizens' assembly is not a problem at all, are you right?"

"Yes! Yes! You are right!" Theisitis agreed repeatedly.

"Now that the problems have been solved." Herolis's expression became serious: "I hope you will immediately let the rotten warships parked in the big harbor sail out of the harbor again, and completely destroy the entire Ortygia Island. Blockade, do not allow any ship to enter or exit this island! Although we are temporarily unable to attack the island of Ortygia, as far as I know, the grain stored on the island can support the two thousand mercenaries and residents at most three , four months of food, by which time they would have to open the city and surrender.”

"Lord Herolis, you can rest assured. With the promise of allocating land, the people in the port will actively participate!" Theisitis immediately agreed readily, and received the eyes of several generals: the poor in the port are indeed a group of snobbery Villain!
　Thanks to Yi Jian 68, Zhan Billy, and Vanishing Maple for the rewards!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)