Rome must fall.

Chapter 377 Persuasion
"Yes, yes, as long as we can become members of the Nix tribe, we can endure any number of laws!" Other pirate leaders echoed.

Cicelitses laughed and said, "Everyone wants to join the Nix tribe. Calcipumpas, what about you?"

Karsipompas was stunned: "What do you mean by that?"

Boudocaribas quickly took over the conversation: "What he meant was that now that the Romans have begun to rectify the Mediterranean, pirates can no longer be pirates. What should your tribe and the tribes in the mountains to the west of you do next?"

Calsipompas smiled casually and said, "If you don't want to be a pirate, then don't be one. We still have iron ore. We can exchange a lot of food and cloth with the Nix tribe every month. It will be no problem for the tribesmen to have enough food and clothing."

Budokaribas reminded earnestly: "You have more than a dozen tribes and tens of thousands of people. Without the gains from sea plunder, can you really fully guarantee the lives of the people in the mountains with just one iron mine?!
Besides, we have dealt with that iron mine before. It is not a big iron mine. According to your current excavation speed, the iron ore on the surface will be mined out in a few years. At that time, you can only dig underground, which will be much more difficult.

Moreover, the Nixen's demand for iron ore is increasing, and our iron ore is not as good as the Norriki's. When the Nixen buys less of our iron ore, what will you do?"

"Yes, the people in the mountains have become accustomed to a life of having enough food and clothing. If they were asked to return to their previous poor life, I'm afraid no one would be willing to do so." Cicelyteses reminded.

Karsipenpas frowned, looked at the two, and said in a vigilant voice: "You two didn't come here just to drink some beer today, right?"

"Of course not—" As soon as Cicelytess said this, his foot was stepped on hard. Budokaribas interrupted and said, "Think about what we said first. After dinner, we can talk about it in detail alone."

Karsipoppas glanced at the waiter standing beside him with understanding, and temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart, but the food and beer tasted like vinegar in his mouth.

After dinner, Chalcipompus brought the two to the room where he lived. After closing the door, he asked in a deep voice, "Tell me, what do you two want to see me about?"

Budokaribas asked in return: "Now that we can't plunder on the sea, and mining iron ore can't last long, what are your plans for the future of the mountain tribes?"

Karsipenpas had actually thought a lot about this question while eating, but at this moment he shrugged his shoulders pretending to be relaxed: "Our life is pretty good now, so let's just continue to make a living by mining iron ore. When the iron ore is almost mined out, we can think about it carefully then."

"Don't wait until things get bad before you consider it!" Cicelytes said anxiously, "I suggest you think about it now... Do you want to sign an agreement with Chief Maximus like we did, and let him give each tribe in your mountain a piece of fertile land?"

Karsi Pampas was surprised when he heard this: "You mean... to let our mountain tribes move to Nix's territory like you did?!"

"Chalsipompus, with your intelligence, you must be aware that the situation of your mountain tribe will become difficult!" Budokaribas said seriously, "In addition to what Cicelytes said at the table just now, the more troublesome thing is that Aristakas and Ambracinus are the ones!

Alistarcus has been holding a grudge against us since we moved here. He held tribal meetings frequently at first, trying to harass us, but when he found that we always attended on time, he deliberately notified us late, making us late for tribal meetings, and then took the opportunity to scold us.

Later, we had a big quarrel with him at the tribal meeting. After that, when he convened a tribal meeting again, he simply didn't send anyone to notify us, so we had to rely on you for help... You should know all these things.

But this will only waste time, and being late for meetings all the time is not a good thing. After discussing with Cicelitses, we finally decided that as long as Alistarcus does not send someone to notify us directly, we will not attend the tribal meeting, so we haven't seen each other for more than half a year..."

Cicelitses sighed and said hatefully, "Of course we want to go back to attend the meeting, learn about the tribe's situation, and visit you casually, but Alistarcus is too hateful, and we have tempers too!"

Budokaribas continued, "Aristakas is not only dissatisfied with us, he is also dissatisfied with you and the leaders of your western tribes. You should know this very well!"

Chalcipompus remained silent.

Of course, he knew that since he established his prestige in the tribe through sea raiding, Alistarcus had been at odds with him out of jealousy. After he succeeded as the chief, he joined forces with Budokaribas and Cicelitses to protect their own interests, which made Alistarcus hate him even more... "I'm sorry, because we couldn't go to the tribal meeting in the past six months, you had to bear the pressure from Alistarcus alone!"

Budokaribas apologized and said, "I heard that Aristakas held several meetings this spring, mainly to discuss increasing the share of iron ore revenue for their southern tribes. Because of your firm opposition and Cleobrotus's protection, and because Aristakas was concerned about your friendship with the Nix tribe, he didn't dare to do anything harsh in the end and maintained the original agreement.

However, the leaders and nobles of the southern tribes are increasingly fond of using the various things made by the Nix tribe, and the only way to exchange these things in large quantities, apart from salt mines, is through iron ore trade... Now that Alistarcus and his men know that you can no longer be pirates and can only rely on digging iron ore to improve your lives, do you think they will come up with some ways to force you to give up part of the profits from the iron ore trade? After all, when you transport the ore, you have to pass through their territory..."

"If Aristakas dares to do this, he is not worthy of being the leader! We mountain people will never surrender and will fight them to the end!" Chalsipoppas responded in a tough tone.

"If you do this, the people on both sides already have resentment, and I'm afraid there will be constant conflicts in the future. The situation will then become even worse. Can you still conduct iron ore trade with peace of mind?" Budokaribas reminded.

"It would be better for them to move here like we did!" Xiselitess said immediately, "Look, we are far away from Alistarcus now. We can attend the tribal meeting if we want to, and he can't control us if we don't want to. This will save us a lot of trouble. More importantly, if Alistarcus asks us to donate food and supplies for some reason, he can't do anything to us even if we refuse.

For our tribesmen, they now have their own land and houses, and the food they grow is enough for them to eat. The extra food can be easily exchanged for cloth, pottery and other things they need in the Nix market. When they are free, they can go to the neighboring Nix village to watch their rugby games, and when they travel, they can use the docks and roads built by the Nix people...

It can be said that their lives are even better now than before the Segestica invaded our territory. Now we don’t have to worry about the lives of our people at all.”

Budokaribas subconsciously closed his eyes tightly, with a complicated look on his face.

Chalcympas did not notice that he was now moved by these words of Cicelytes.

When Budokaribas led his people to migrate to the Sava River, it was a big event in the Ardei tribe. Naturally, Calsippampas was also concerned about it. He even visited Budokaribas's tribe once. As far as he knew, the people who had gained a new home were indeed living much better than before. Looking at the ease and comfort of these two people now, he thought about how hard he worked every day to improve the lives of his people. If he did not make changes in the future, he would face even greater difficulties...

Karsipenpas was silent for a moment, then whispered, "It seems that the Nix tribe has no extra land now. I know that many of them have just become reserve tribesmen this year, and they still haven't received any land."

The two looked at each other, and they both understood: Chalcipenpas was beginning to be interested!

Cicelytes smiled mysteriously and said, "Don't worry. If you make a request to Chief Maximus at this time, you will have the best chance of reaching an agreement with him."

"Oh why?"

Budokaribas said seriously: "Didn't you just say that there are many new members of the Nix tribe who have no land to share, and their decree of the twenty-title system clearly promises that 'every member of the tribe must be given land'.

In addition, at the beginning of this year, during the slack season, the Nix tribe summoned its people for military training, but the scale was much larger than before, and it was also more rigorous. Even Maximus participated in person, and punished many people who violated military law...

Therefore, we judge that the Nix tribe will probably launch an attack on the Pannoni in the near future!"

"What? Knicks wants to declare war on Pannoni?!" Carlos Pempas was shocked.

"There's nothing strange about this." Cicelitses said with a gloating look, "The Pannoni are no longer as rampant as they were when they invaded our territory. Since they were defeated by the Nixes several times and the Segestica tribe was destroyed, their strength has been seriously damaged. And the Boyi in the north have been fighting with them for the past few years and have taken away their land north of the Drao River...

We heard that some elders of the Knicks proposed to go to war with Pannoni as early as last year, but Maximus did not agree. But this year I think the Knicks have no choice but to fight!"

(End of this chapter)