Chapter 2 Doubts

When Davos led the mercenaries to recapture the city of Amendolara, Galademus was alone at the age of 15 because of the death of his parents. However, there are not many Amendolara men who survived the invasion of the Lucanians, and even fewer are the next generation of Amendolara citizens who have served in public office and performed well as adults. Dolara's fear of losing influence in the kingdom, the elders of Amendolara, like Stromboli, Scommburas, and Cornerus, have been intentionally caring and loving the next generation, like Alcines (Unfortunately, he died young), Melisanda, Galademus, etc. are all the objects of their focus.

It's just that the chiefs of the kingdoms and cities today have much more power than when the alliance was first established, but there are two and a half system officials in each city that they cannot manage: tax officials, whether they are junior or intermediate, are It is directly under the Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance, and is directly responsible to the King; the other is a judge, who is appointed by the Supreme Court of the Kingdom to each city, and neither the trial nor the judgment is subject to interference by other people and departments; The first is a military training officer. He is appointed by the training stations of the various legions, and is ultimately under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs. The local chief executive is not allowed to intervene in military affairs. However, every time a city or region organizes large-scale military training, it involves countless citizens. The complicated public affairs will inevitably cause some disturbances in local government affairs, and the two sides must coordinate to solve it. Therefore, the trainer and the local chief executive are cooperative and can only be regarded as half.

Although Stromboli could not intervene in the taxation, he dispatched a patrol team to arrest the most troubled people, and sternly warned the village chiefs of Prosdemo: The troubles of the people in the village must be quelled immediately, otherwise he will "do business". He was forcibly removed from the position of village chief for inaction.

At the same time, he also wrote directly to the palace of Turii, reporting the ins and outs of the incident to King Davos in detail.

After reading it, Davos didn't make much emotional reaction, just called Mersis, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and passed the letter to him.

Mersis, who has been guarding the treasury for Davos for more than ten years, is not so easy to provoke. He immediately sent his confidants to Naxos to investigate the truth, collect evidence, and prepare to confront Rao at the Senate meeting. Dixian filed charges.

As soon as Mersis's men boarded the ship at the port, Laodician got the news. He immediately rushed to the palace and asked to see Davos. He sincerely said: I have been in Turii for a long time and do not know Naxos. The family's situation is also not clear about the tax rules. Since the tax officer pointed out the problems, he is willing to abide by the "Tax Law" and make double compensation.

Due to Laodician's timely submission, this turmoil was quickly subsided: Mersis asked Davos for instructions, dismissed the position of Naxos' middle tax officer on the charge of "dereliction of duty", and highly praised The Garrard model's "adherence to principles, loyalty to duty", and gave it a generous reward.

This incident spread in Naxos, and many people believed that Galademus was favored by King Davos,

Since then no one has made things difficult for his work.

At this moment, Galademus took the two tax collectors to the gentle slope and entered the fields of Laodice's house.

It is now the end of August, and the wheat has basically matured, dyeing half of the hillside into a golden color. The hot sun and the heavy wheat ears did not bend the wheat stalks. The murmur of the water in the fields gave them the strength to stand upright.

Seeing this situation, Galademus couldn't help but feel happy: "This year seems to be another harvest year!"

"Since the reconstruction of Naxos, most of the ten years have been harvest years. Demeter and Persephone are really blessing us!" Cabanax said with a sigh.

"This is all due to the great Majesty Davos! He is the descendant of Hades, so these two gods will always protect our kingdom!" Gabrinus emphasized, as a young man from Naxos , he has a stronger sense of identification with the Kingdom of Dionia.

The belief in Hades has spread since the incorporation of the east central coast of Sicily into the kingdom of Dionia. Since the Sicilian Greeks respected Demeter and Persephone, the priests of Hades followed the customs and incorporated these two goddesses into Hades' pantheon (Persephone was originally the queen of the underworld, Demeter was both Hades' sister and his mother-in-law). Therefore, beside the Temple of Hades built in the Sicilian territory of Dionia, there must be a Temple of Demeter, and Persephone was in the Temple of Hades.

The festival of Hades in September was followed by the festival of the Harvest Festival, where people offered sacrifices to the two goddesses to thank them for their blessings, which in turn spread to Greater Greece.

Just as the two exclaimed, Galademus was carefully examining the boundary markers on the field and estimating the area of ​​the field with the naked eye.

"Laodician, 78 acres of good fields, good harvest..." Galademus finally confirmed.

Gabrinus was busy drawing on a booklet made of papyrus.

Galademus once again looked at the fields of Laodisian's family, feeling slightly surprised: most of the laborers in the fields were from Sikelians!

The wheat harvest is about to be harvested, and it also needs to be guarded: first, to drive away the flock of stealing birds; second, to prevent wild animals and man-made damage; third, in case of continuous cold wind or other natural disasters, it has to be harvested urgently.

The large farmland of Laodice's family requires a lot of labor to guard, and the difference in the clothes of the Sikelians and the Greeks can be distinguished at a glance.

"My lord, many Naxos citizen families with a lot of land hire Sikeles as laborers during the harvest season. Even the handicraft masters in the city like to hire them, as well as the laborers in the port... Who pays their wages? It’s cheaper, and it’s not bound by the laws of the kingdom.” Cabanax saw Galademus’ doubts, and explained quickly that his family lived in another Demo, located in the northwest of Naxos territory, with the west The Kyles bordered each other, so they had a better understanding of this situation: "And the West Kyles are not like us, their land is concentrated in the hands of nobles and chiefs, and the common people become their farmhands, and the ration they earn a year needs to be It is more difficult to support a family, so it is better to come to Naxos as a hired labor. I heard that some Sikelians still want to register at the City Hall Household Registration Office and want to become citizens of our kingdom, but unfortunately the towns and kingdoms of Sikel are The signed friendship agreement stipulated that 'Sykers shall not be admitted as citizens of Dionysus'..."

"Not all the towns of Sikel are like this. I heard that the city of Kepharoition in the middle of Sicily is like our Dionia, allocating land to the tribes, even the other city-states. There were also quite a few Sikelians who rushed to join Kepharoition," said Gabrinus.

Cabanax retorted: "I heard that Kepharoition is a small mountain town, how much land can it have?! It would be good if it can solve the land for its own people. More Xikelians are still in our country. Naxos, Sikuli, Kathanai, and Leotini served as laborers and hired laborers. You must know that several tribunes in the city repeatedly protested to Lord Stromboli, thinking that these Sikelians Stealing the livelihoods of the freedmen registered in Naxos, demanding their deportation..."

"Those tribunes have protested against the Sikelian problem every year, and I even heard that they made suggestions to His Majesty Davos at the tribune meeting in Turii, but they didn't see much change—" "Gabrinus' words were interrupted by Galademus: "Let's do our job well, don't discuss these irrelevant things!" "

"Yes, my lord." The two woke up, not because they were discussing the aloof King Davos, but because they were afraid of being heard by the tribunes of Naxos, who tried their best to reflect their own values. Protecting the rights and interests of civilians, prospective citizens, and even freedmen, and quarreling with local councils and city halls from time to time, they don't want to mess with this group of "mad dogs."

"Let's go, go back." Galademus turned to go down the hill.

At this time, Gabrinus suddenly pointed to the front and said, "Sir, two slaves came out from behind the mountain."

Galademus turned his head to look, and saw two almost naked, dark-skinned men on the top of the mountain hurriedly descending, but when they reached the middle of the mountain, they saw a man standing in the field wearing a Bolton. The three of Galademus (the Boltons of the officials of the kingdom have special colors and stripes, which can be distinguished at a glance), suddenly stopped, their faces showed panic, and finally turned around and ran to the top of the mountain.

"Stop!" Galademus immediately shouted with suspicion.

Who knew that the two of them ran faster, how could the three officials in Bolton catch up?

"Damn it!" Gabrinus scolded, looking at the lush, unbroken mountains behind the mountain, pulling up the corner of his clothes, wiping the sweat off his face, and handing the water bladder around his waist to Gala Demos.

Galademus unscrewed the stopper, but instead of drinking immediately, he asked, "Whose slave is this?"

"It must belong to Laodice's family!" Cabanax analyzed: "Lord, you see, from the mountainside to the foot of the mountain are the fields of Laodice's family, which completely blocks the way up the mountain. If it belongs to another family. Slaves, they wouldn't go here at all, but these two slaves walked directly towards the fields before they saw us, and they didn't worry about being blocked by the slaves of the Laodician family."

Galademus nodded and asked thoughtfully, "Why did they see us running?"