Chapter 13 The Etruscan Appeal

"Yes... Your Majesty..." Publius choked up and nodded again and again, making up his mind: After this matter is over, he must let Lentulus leave Turii and go to a town where no Romans live to suffer. .

Davos smiled kindly, and raised his glass again: "Come on, drink this glass, and when you handle this matter smoothly, I think you can also become the town administrator smoothly."

Hearing this, Publius was refreshed. He drank the wine in his toast and said decisively: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will kill them all, and I will never let one escape!"

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Under the guidance of the royal palace etiquette officer, Guriara stood at the entrance of the hall of the Palace of Dionia, and heard a shout from inside: "Guriara, the messenger of the Etruscan Union, asks to see you!"

Immediately afterwards, a majestic voice said, "Let him in."

Guriara's heart began to tense, he took a deep breath and walked into the palace hall.

I saw that the tall and spacious hall was particularly brightly illuminated by the sunlight from the side windows, and there were tall and mighty soldiers standing straight on both sides, with shining armor.

Guriara walked forward between the corridors formed by the guards, and then saw a row of black wooden chairs on the left and right sides, on which sat more than a dozen Dionian officials in gorgeous robes, most of them with explorers. His eyes looked at himself, and among them was Ancitanos, the foreign minister of Dionia, whom he knew well.

The gentle old man smiled and nodded to Guriara, which calmed his mood, and then he saw the man sitting on the throne in front of him, the crown on his head was bright and dazzling, and his face was solemn, and he couldn't help but think again. It is a tight: this is King Daphus who destroyed Rome, conquered Carthage, and made Dionysus the only overlord of the Western Mediterranean.

He quickly bent down and saluted respectfully: "Your Majesty King Davos, on behalf of all the people of the Etruscan Union, I extend my most respectful greetings to you!"

"Welcome, the messenger of the Etruscan alliance!" Davos smiled and said kindly: "The Etruscan alliance is the alliance of Dionia. In recent years, we have not only traded frequently, but also There are also a lot of cultural exchanges, which is a good trend, and I hope our exchanges will become closer and closer, which will benefit the stability of central Italy!"

"Your Majesty, you are right!" Guriara took over the conversation and said, "But our Etruscan city-state hopes to strengthen exchanges with the Kingdom of Dionia not only in trade and culture, but also in terms of trade and culture.

And also to strengthen military ties. "

Antaoris, the rotating chairman of the Senate, immediately interjected: "Messenger of Guriara, what you said is puzzling, you should know that Dionia and Etrunia are allies, and the covenant stipulates that the two sides will be in trade and culture. The exchanges between the two countries are not restricted, and once one side is in trouble, the other side must provide military assistance, which has shown that we have a deep military connection."

"That's just an emergency measure under special circumstances, and what I said about strengthening military ties is that our Etruscan alliance hopes to get your Dionysian kingdom's military help under normal circumstances! "

Guriara said in a solemn tone: "Your Majesty the King, you should know that over the years, the Gauls (Greeks), the neighbors to the north of the Etruscan Union (Greeks have always regarded the northern peninsula, these ferocious and terrifying savage races from the depths of the mainland) Collectively known as the Celts, the Dionysians initially continued this argument, until after Rome was incorporated into the kingdom, under their influence, they gradually began to change the Celts in northern Italy to the Gauls), and have been In the continuous invasion of the territory of the Etruscan alliance, and the intensity of its invasion has been intensifying in the past two years, the alliance has formed an army to defend, but..."

Guriara showed a look of resentment and worry: "The northern frontier is too broad, and the Gauls are very cunning. They seldom fight against our assembled coalition, but always attack our small troops alone and invade our defenses. Region... Now the alliance has been overwhelmed, and a large number of people from several city-states close to the northern border have fled south... If this continues, the Gauls will be able to occupy the northern parts of Luna, Luca and Verona. florentia, and then let more tribes easily cross the rugged mountains and take root in the northern part of our Etruscan Union territory, by then... the Gaul battle more than 20 years ago I am afraid that the large-scale southern invasion of people will repeat itself!"

When Guriara said this, the ministers in the hall whispered for a while, but no one took the initiative to speak.

Davos avoided Guriara's pleading gaze and looked at Alexis, Minister of Military Affairs (the former Minister of Military Affairs, Hiros, had resigned two years ago, and Davos personally identified that Alexis, who had made great achievements in the Western Mediterranean War, took over) , asked softly, "Alexis, what do you think about this?"

Alexis frowned, thought for a moment, and then said solemnly: "Listening to the Etruscan messenger, the situation in the northern part of the Etruscan Union is more severe! But...now the Gauls are not There was no large-scale southern invasion, and no city-states on the northern border were captured. If we, Dionia, agreed to the request of the Etruscan alliance and sent reinforcements to reinforce their northern border, it is very likely that we would also encounter the difficulties they faced. ——The Gauls will refuse to fight us head-on, continue to scatter the army to harass Etruria, and we will not be able to gather a large army and invade the territory of the Gauls. . . .

To effectively defend against the invasion of the Gauls will inevitably require a long confrontation and fierce battle, and our reinforcements will not be able to stay in the friendly territory far from home for a long time, which will make the soldiers unable to deal with their own affairs and affect their income... ... Moreover, the long-term stay of the reinforcements in the north will also consume a large amount of food from the Etruscan city-state and usher in the complaints of the local people..."

"Your Majesty, Sir Alexis is right. Sending reinforcements at this time is not good for Etruria or our Dionia. We should consider it more carefully..." Most ministers They all agreed, apparently disapproving of the "reinforcement of Etruria".

Guriara was a little flustered in his heart, but fortunately he had prepared in advance: "Uh... We also think that it is not suitable to ask Dionia to send reinforcements at this time... So the high-level officials of the city-states of the alliance unanimously decided after many discussions, Luna, Lucca, and Florentia will assign some territories to Dionia. You can build towns in these territories. The cost of building a city and the short-term material consumption will be determined by the entire Etruscan Alliance. Provided free of charge.”

As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar around.

The Minister of Agriculture, Burkes, couldn't help but ask: "You mean...these lands that are set aside belong to Dionia forever?"

"Yes, forever!"

"So how much land is there? In addition to building towns, is there enough leftover land to support the people of the towns?" Burkes then asked again, while also reminding: "If there is not enough land for Dio As a citizen of Nia, even if His Majesty agrees to your request, the people of the kingdom are probably not willing to move to the Etruscan region, after all, living there is much more dangerous than in the country!"

Guriara felt hope and immediately said solemnly: "Of course the Etruscan alliance has considered this issue, so please rest assured that the land provided by the alliance is large enough and fertile enough to satisfy the people of Dionia. requirements, and there are even rich minerals in some places…”

Guriara's words immediately aroused heated discussions among the ministers.

This situation made Guriara sigh in his heart: If it weren't for the perennial looting and harassment of the Gauls, which led to a large number of people in the city-states close to the northern border fleeing south, the land and people of these city-states were desolate, and they would not have Possibly offering so much land to Dioria!

At this time, Alexis asked again: "Etruscan messenger, do we Dionia have the right to choose which lands will be assigned to Dionia? Where to build a city?"

As the highest military commander of the kingdom, Alexis asked this question because he did not want the Etruscans to assign all the land closest to the Gauls to Dionia and let Dionia The civic soldiers stood at the forefront, defending against the Gallic attack, and suffered casualties alone, leaving the Etruscans behind, unable to do their jobs.

Guriara hasn't responded yet, Davos coughed lightly, and said with a serious expression: "I'm also more concerned about this issue."

Guriara froze in his heart, knowing that he couldn't be perfunctory on this issue, he raised his spirit and said with consideration: "Respected king... The kingdom of Dionia is powerful, and the Etruscan alliance is relatively weak, how can we play with it? We are sincere and sincere in providing land, please help us to defend against the Gauls together! If His Majesty the King and the ministers are not satisfied with the land allocated, we can discuss and choose new land together."

Davos was satisfied with his statement, he leaned back, put his hands on the armrest of the throne, and said with a smile: "I already know the requirements of the Etruscan Alliance, please go back first and be good Rest and we will discuss the matter."

"...Yes, Your Majesty the King!" Guriara didn't get a clear reply. Although he was a little unwilling in his heart, he didn't dare to say more and left the palace obediently.

At this time, Davos looked at the ministers and said aloud: "Everyone, you have all heard the request of the Etruscan messenger. If you have any opinions on this, please tell me."