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The flat and wide streets, the neatly divided neighborhoods, and the neat and orderly houses…all of these had given away the Theonians’ regard for hygiene and order. The viaduct which stands high and spanned the whole city, the huge water wheels that were turning slowly and the uniquely shaped fountains and the flowing waters on both sides of the road…shows that the Theonians, as Greeks, have their own characteristics and pursuit of architectural art and technology.

What made the envoys stop were the white and towering Arc de Triomphe, the imposing Nike Square and the grand and magnificent Senate Grand Assembly hall, which clearly demonstrate the ambition and pursuit of Theonia. If they had seen this before, they might have secretly laughed at the overconfidence of Theonia, but after facing this city-state union in the second Crotonian War, they had clearly noticed that this emerging city, from the very beginning of its establishment, was different from other Greek city-states and had extraordinary ambitions.

Among other things, if you just look at the temple of Hades, which is about to be completed on the distant hill, it is only Theonia in the whole of Greece that have taken Hades as their patron god.

While the envoys were carefully scrutinizing the center of this rapidly growing new city-state union as they headed west to the Senate, the people of Thurii left their homes one after another and went east in droves.

“Did they just say…land allocation?” Asked the envoy of Scylletium curiously.

“Yes, I heard it as well.” Then the envoy of Terina directly asked, “Are you going to allocate the new lands that you have just occupied to the citizens?”

“Everyone, Theonia did not forcibly occupy those lands, all of those lands were all legally acquired in accordance with our agreement with Crotone.” Plesinas, who had come to meet them, immediately corrected them.

Even though the envoys did not retort, they still complained within themselves.

“According to the 《Theonian Military Law》 and the 《Theonian CItizenship Law》 and the promises made by the senate before the war, all the citizens and preparatory citizens who participated in the war will be granted an allocated land.” Plesinas continued without hiding anything, “According to the achievements of the soldiers in the war and the actual situation of the land in the the northern plains of Crotone, Aprustum, and Krimisa…the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Military Affairs under the Senate have done a lot of work during this period of time, and today is the day they will announce the results of the allocation of land, not only for the people of Thurii, but also the people of Amendolara and Nerulum will come and due to the number of people that will come, we can only hold it outside the city…envoys, if you are interested, you can go see it once the meeting is over.”

“We’d better hurry to the Senate first and get it over. The people of our city-state are still looking forward to our report!” Seeing that the other envoys were somewhat interested, Sisticos reminded them loudly and took this opportunity to hide his inner shame, after all, Theonia was allocating the land that they have forced Crotone to cede.

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

Sisticos knew that this mission would not be as easy as the last time, but he did not expect that all the statesmen of the Senate of Theonia were very firm in opposing the dispatching of troops in the face of the request of the envoys of the four city-states.

….“The war has just ended and the loss of Theonia is also great. We don’t have enough money and food to cope with another war!”…..

….“The citizens of Theonia have just put down their shield and spears and obtained the land that they had just been assigned. They are all about to take a good rest and start planting wheat on their newly gotten lands while spring is still not yet over in order to catch up with the harvest, so there must be no fighting!”….

….“There is no need for Theonia to make an enemy of Locri and thus end up provoking Syracuse, a powerful city-state!”….

All in all, the thousands of words can be summed up in one sentence, ‘Theonia just wants to recuperate and not meddle.’

Due to this, the envoys of Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia expressed their willingness to sign the 《Defensive Alliance Agreement》 with Theonia, just like Crotone, but were strongly opposed by the statesmen of Theonia, whose reason was simple: Because with Theonia’s current strength, almost no force in south Italia dares to provoke them, while Caulonia, Terina and Scylletium kept getting invaded by the Locri and Brutti from time to time, so if this agreement was passed, it would be tantamount to these three city-states hiring a powerful city-state union to protect their security for free, which was obviously only beneficial to them and not to Theonia in any way.

Sisticos then became anxious because the negotiation reached a deadlock, but he could not do anything.

At this time, the envoy of Terina eagerly said, “What if I were to ask for us to join the Theonia Alliance?”

The envoy of Terina did not say it on a whim, because when they passed by Roscianum, Amikles and the others had entertained them warmly. At the banquet, the statesmen of Roscianum intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the many benefits Roscianum gained after they joined the alliance of Theonia, and at the same time, they saw the stability and prosperity of the people in Roscianum with their own eyes which made the envoys to become somewhat interested.

When he heard this, Sisticos was suddenly surprised and subconsciously shouted, “Siprus, do you know what you are talking about?!”

“To save Terina!” The envoy Siprus justified, “We, Terinians, have always abided by the agreement in the Crotonian Alliance and have always responded to the call of Crotone, we paid our tribute on time every year, and in every war we actively send troops and food! But what we are getting now in exchange is the devastation of the territory of Terina by the Locrians. Terina is a small city-state, but we live between Hipponion(the city-state allied with Locri, and are located in the south of Terina) and the Bruttians. If we can’t repel Locri as soon as possible, then even if the Bruttians do not attack, I am afraid that the people of Terina will all starve to death!”

Sisticos wanted to say that if Terina were to run out of food, Crotone will help them.

But he immediately swallowed his words. Crotone has just suffered heavy losses in these two wars with Theonia, and because of the blockade of the Locrian fleet, the whole city of Crotone also faced food shortage. This is also the main reason why Crotone urgently agreed for the three city-states in their alliance to ask Theonia for help.

Then he warned loudly, “Do you not know that by joining the alliance of Theonia, you can no longer have any alliance with any other city-states! If Terina withdraws from the Crotonian Alliance, then we will immediately withdraw our troops that are helping Terina to defend. And if the enemies were to invade in the future, we will no longer give Terina any more help!”

These words of Sisticos were not only aimed at Terina, but also a reminder to the envoy of Scylletium, Caulonia and even the Senate of Theonia. After all, Crotone is currently the main force in the south that is resisting Locri. So if Crotone were to withdraw, it would not only bring disaster to the other city-states but will also hinder the plans of Theonia.

Hence why the envoys of Scylletium and Caulonia who had some intentions had remained silent, and the envoy of Terina, Siprus, felt like he was riding a tiger at this moment and found it hard to dismount.

Seeing this, Davos slowly said, “All envoys from the city-states in the Crotonian alliance, if Theonia were to agree to your request and send troops to repel Locri, Locri and even Syracuse will most likely focus their anger on their defeat on Theonia. Therefore, no sane Theonian will make such a foolish decision that will harm the interests of our own union to help you.”

The words of Davos made the expression of the envoys gloomy.

Davos then changed the subject, “But as you had said just now, whether it’s Theonia or Crotone or Scylletium…because of conflicts of interest and contradictions, which might even lead to wars, it is ultimately a matter between our city-states in Magna Graecia. However, the collusion of Locri with Syracuse in the war between the city-states in Magna Graecia had undoubtedly brought a hungry wolf to a flock of sheep and threatened the security of Magna Graecia. Therefore, we need to take advantage while Syracuse is currently busy fighting with Carthage and end the war with Locri as soon as possible in order to not give Syracuse an excuse to interfere. Therefore, whether it is to send troops or not, we in the Senate of Theonia feel a dilemma! Because the people need a good reason to make them feel that they are not fighting a meaningless battle for the outsiders, and Theonia does not want to be abandoned after helping you and face a strong enemy alone in the future!”

The envoys fell into silence and what Davos meant was very obvious.

Sisticos, however, was troubled, as he remember the warning of Lysias before he left: Theonia may not want the large amount of gold and silver and supplies that the Crotonian Alliance promised to give in order for Theonia to send troops, nor sign the Defensive Alliance Agreement with the city-states, because they might want more….

Then Davos added, “I have a proposal for you all to consider.”

When he paused, all of the envoys pricked up their ears.

“Theonia, Crotone, Scylletium, Caulonia and Terina, our five city-states will form an alliance together to resist and attack the enemies who dared to invade our lands together, while having mutual nonaggression with each others, and if there are conflicts with each other, then the conflicts must be resolved through discussion!….”

Sure enough, when the envoys hear this, except for Sisticos whose face went darker, the others were obviously became excited, especially the envoy of Terina, Siprus, who became energetic again and asked, “Milord archon, may I ask who will be the leader of this alliance?”

As soon as this question came out, Sisticos became nervous.

With a smile, Davos said, “Alliance no matter how big or small needs to get along equally, and when problems arise and it is difficult to come to an agreement, then they can resolve it through voting….”

The answer of Davos was beyond their expectations, as they had thought that the reason why Theonia proposed to form a new alliance was an attempt to gain dominance of this alliance, and the eyes of the envoys, with the exception of Sisticos, brightened.

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