Chapter 237 New High-Rise in Syracuse

"In this way, I am already weak in Syracuse, and it is very likely that these rioters led by Hololis will be ousted! For me, this is a terrible thing! And right For Sparta, this is not good news either! Phoebe Das, I need your help now!" Dionysius showed a rare begging look.

"Tell me, what do you need me to do?" Phoebe Das's expressionless face showed no emotional fluctuations.

Dionysius was accustomed to it, and he sincerely pleaded: "I hope you can meet the leaders of these rebels, such as Herolis, as you did last time, and persuade them not to encounter danger in Syracuse. When there is an infighting with me, it will only make the Dionians take advantage and threaten the survival of the people of Syracuse! We should unite and get through this together! For this reason, as long as they can re-accept me as Their plenipotentiary generals, I am also willing to share the power with them to satisfy their demands..."

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Phoebe Das simply agreed, and said, "Need to tell them that you're back?"

"No! I will appear in due time." Dionysius immediately refused.

Seeing Phoebe Das leave, Dionysius raised a few doubts in his heart: Why did Phoebe Das agree so quickly this time?

………………………………

At Syracuse City Hall, the executive committee of wartime generals, who was elected interim chief general, and several other generals elected by the people during the riot, were meeting.

As a poet, Pherothanus was already well-known among the people, and because he contradicted Dionysius many times in person and was imprisoned in stone prison, the people trusted him and elected him as a general. At this moment, he rudely questioned Thestis, the representative of the port sailors and the poor: "Thestis, why haven't you seen you block Ortigia Island with warships?! This was discussed yesterday!"

"Yesterday... Yesterday, we were also tasked with clearing the fallen troops of Macias, and now there are thousands of sailors looking for their traces in the mountains. Where can we draw people to block Ortigia Island! ' Tessitis looked distressed.

"Testis, don't argue, you have enough manpower in the port area, you can completely suppress those mercenaries while blocking Ortigia Island. This is an order issued by the committee after consultation, and you have accepted it. But it hasn’t been implemented yet, do you think the people elected you to be this general just for you to come here for fun!” Another nobleman from the city, a friend of Haroris, and the newly elected general Kuzias loudly proposed criticize.

Although Tessitis is a novice in politics, he has been at sea for decades.

With rich life experience, he is not annoyed when faced with reprimands at this moment. Instead, he spreads his hands and said helplessly: "You have few people in the city, so you can't unite to do things together. You can't gather enough people to build a city wall for a few days. You still need us to come. Provide manpower, not to mention our port area has a large population and complex sources, how can it be possible to completely obey my words! If you have any opinions on me, you can take my position away. In order to be this general, I have broken my mouth every day, and still have to Misunderstood by the people at the port, how can I be at ease when I am a sailor, I have long thought about quitting it!"

Tessitis threatened to resign, and several generals did not stop criticizing immediately, because they understood that Tessitis was already a good talker among the poor in the port. The Greek War siphoned away a large number of urban citizens, who desperately needed the strength of the poor in the port area.

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

Testis still respected Heroris, and said no more long-winded words, and said directly: "The people of the port hope to participate in the citizens' assembly to discuss various proposals decided by the council, and the people you promised to allocate to the people of the port before. There has been no movement in the land until now, and they suspect that the General's Executive Committee is deceiving them. In addition, they have already undertaken a lot of tasks before, and they feel unfair compared with the people in the city, so now they are not willing to listen to me anymore. Order……"

"It's not fair! The poor people in the port are originally—" Another general, Staceykos, heard this, and couldn't help but want to argue again. Herolis interrupted him, thought about it, and said seriously: "Lord Thestis, we will overthrow the tyrant rule of Dionysius and will implement a democratic system, but Syracuse is not Athens, not all citizens can participate in the Citizens Assembly, but... In short, it is 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 a long-standing political tradition in Syracuse, and we will not change it easily! Not only the poor in your port area, The same is true in the urban area, and many citizens are also unable to participate in the citizens' assembly."

"But last time—" Tessitis wanted to argue.

Haroris waved his hand to stop him and said seriously: "You 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 Syracuses are fighting in Great Greece. To be able to come back alive, we are not sure how much land will be vacated for the time being, and we also need people to re-measure these lands before we can distribute the land fairly and equitably to the citizens who have no land in the port and the city.

But since 'land' has become the most concerned issue of the port people, and it has also affected our unity. Know that we have not occupied Ortigia, and that Dionysius and his mercenaries may come back at any time and put the shackles back on the freedom we exchanged for in blood! "

At the end of Herolis's speech, his voice became sharp, and he was reminding Thesitis and several other generals including Pherothanus: "Therefore, I suggest that the 5,000 troops led by Marcias be The land owned by the 1,000 mercenaries and the 1,000 mercenaries stationed in the city was first allocated to the people of the port (these mercenaries were actually citizens of Syracuse, but the rioting success of Herolis they thought they were Dionysius the loyal lackeys of the Syracuses, refusing to recognize their citizenship of Syracuse)!"

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

"I think it's acceptable for this proposal of Herolis." Staceykos agreed. Unlike Ferrosanus, who was outspoken but did not understand politics well, as soon as the proposal of Herolis was exported, Staceikos realized what the intention of the chief general was: the village established by these 6,000 mercenaries actually It was not within the traditional territory of Syracuse, but the territory expanded outwards by Dionysius after his conquest of southeastern Sicily, which of course included the forced occupation of neighboring city-states. The village of 6,000 mercenaries is located in the southwest of Syracuse, adjacent to Ackley, a small affiliated state of Syracuse, where the city-state army on the south coast must pass through to reach Syracuse. Haroris arranged the poor in the port there, which could not only allow these greedy and fearful people to continue to fight with the mercenaries who fled into the mountains for the land, but also prevent the possible appearance of the south coast city-state against the newly born Syracuse. The hostility of the government, and the land is far away from Syracuse, the distribution will not let the people in the city protest their injustice, and it can also alleviate the dissatisfaction of the port civilians, so that they can feel the sincerity of the general executive committee.

Therefore, it was not only Staceikos who realized the benefits of Herolis' proposal, but several other generals also expressed their approval.

However, Herolis continued flatteringly: "However, in order to win over the mercenaries, Dionysius gave them too favorable conditions. Each mercenary's ten acres of land is too much. I hope The people who are temporarily allocated to the port are each five acres of land, and only the poor who have actively participated in this anti-tyranny action are eligible. Mr. Testis, it is up to you to provide the list. After verification by the city hall staff, Start allocating immediately, what do you think?"

Tessitis didn't think about it that much. He was overjoyed that the committee could promise to allocate the land immediately, so that he would not have to accept questions and accusations from the public every time he returned to the port, so he said with relief: "I agree!"

Haroris took the opportunity to say: "The people of the port who own the land can accumulate wealth, buy weapons and equipment, serve as heavy infantry, and participate in the citizens' assembly. The people of the port asked to participate in the citizens' assembly', as long as the land is allocated, this is not a problem at all, are you right?"

"Yes! Yes! You're right!" Tessitis promised repeatedly.

"Since the problem has been solved." Herolis's expression became serious: "I hope you will immediately let the rotting warships moored in the big port sail out of the port again, and the entire Ortigia Island will be completely destroyed. Do not allow any ships to enter or leave this island! Although we cannot attack Ortigia for the time being, as far as I know, the grain stored on the island can at most make the two thousand mercenaries and residents three , four months of food, and then they will have to open the city and surrender."

"Master Herolis, you can rest assured. With the promise of allocating land, the people of the port will actively participate!" Testis agreed immediately, and greeted the eyes of several generals: the port poor are indeed a group of snobbery villain!