"I said—" As soon as Deomillas spoke, he was interrupted by Eumarcus, "let us hear the terms of peace talks with the Mesapi. ”

Timogolas cleared his throat and said: "Tarantum and Mesapi and Puchetti immediately cease fighting, return their respective territories, return each other's prisoners of war, and sign a peace agreement between the two sides for a period of two years, and no aggression against each other for two years, after which it will be decided whether to continue to renew the contract according to the situation......"

"What do you mean by returning your respective territories?" Eumacus was keenly aware of the problem with this statement.

"Of course, it is to return to the state before the start of the war, and the encroached territory must be returned!" Timogolas said confidently.

Deomilas cursed loudly and shouted, "You want us to give up Manduria and dream sweetly!" I want to fill it with the lives of the Mesapi people! ”

The negotiations soon broke down, and Timogolas was not in a hurry, and threw down the sentence: "I hope you will think about it again, you are always welcome at Mesapi's camp!" With that, he ignored Deomillus' curses and walked away. He saw that, in addition to Tarantum's stubborn attitude, the Dionian consul Davers, as well as the generals of Metapontum and Heraclia, were somewhat moved by the proposal for peace talks, and the Greek coalition was not monolithic, and there was something to be done about it.

Timogolas could see it, and of course Eumacus could see it, so he explained to Davers: "We cannot agree to such a request for peace talks, and even if we did, it will not work, because the people of Tarantum will not agree to give up Manduria in vain with the blood of their citizens!" ”

Davers smiled: "I understand, but negotiation is like buying and selling goods, you can bargain." The Mesapi did not necessarily have to retake Manduriya. ”

Yumakas was a little anxious when he heard this: "The Mesapi people are not sincere, and the peace agreement he proposed is only for two years. In two years, Tarantum has not been able to regain his former strength, and he is simply unable to cope with the aggression that they may start again! ”

Davers groaned for a moment, and was about to speak, when the tabernacle was lifted, and Tolmid walked in: "Your Excellency, the Senate has sent an urgent letter saying that there is something unusual in the Brutis!" ”

Davers stood up abruptly and asked urgently, "Where's the letter?!" ”

"The messenger is waiting for you in your tent, my lord!"

Davers looked anxious, didn't say a word, and walked straight out.

The remaining four looked at each other.

"The Brutis?" The name was familiar to him, but he didn't remember it for a moment.

Diomyras was even less impressed.

"The Brutis are an indigenous people who live in the mountains west of Dionia, and they are close to Dioria, and they used to descend the mountains to raid the people and property of the city-states of Turiyi and Castelon...... Trifias elaborates.

"This ...... The Brutis aren't supposed to be strong, right? Eumacus asked, with a bit of luck.

Trifias thought about it seriously, and his expression seemed solemn, but he was deliberately exaggerating the truth: "The Brutis have very little contact with the outside world, because no other race can invade their land (Vig City was originally a voluntarily submissive Lucanian coalition army, and strictly speaking, the Lucanians did not enter the land of the Brutis. ）。 It is said that they have dozens of tribes and five or six large cities, and they are probably stronger than the Puchetti. ”

Hearing this, uneasiness rose in the hearts of both Eumacus and Deomilus.

………………………

Out of the tent, the anxiety on Davers's face disappeared without a trace, and he also had the leisure to joke Tolmid: "I did a good job just now." ”

Tolmid smiled too. At the beginning, he was called the "First Herald of Mercenaries", one of the main reasons was that he was good at understanding the intentions and difficulties of the leaders, and did his best to help achieve or resolve them. He wasn't sure that Davers would accept this self-assertive approach, because this was the first time he had served as the herald of Davers, and despite their dealings in Persia, Davers and him were now very different. Davers's words dispelled the uneasiness in his heart.

"What's going on?" Davers asked after a long time. Through this time of knowing Bruti, even if the race is moving towards unification, he does not think that Bruti can pose any major threat to the Dionian Alliance now.

"I have heard that a tribe of Greeks in the territory of Buruti has sent men to our Senate for help, because it refuses to obey Cosenza's order to take them in, and Cosenza is going to send a large army to destroy them. For details, you can go and ask Marigi, who is waiting for you in your military tent. Tolmid said earnestly.

"Oh, Marigi is here, too." Davers's heart moved, and the steps under his feet remained the same: the tribes of the Greeks? …… I'm talking about Siru...... It's really just like to doze off, someone sent a pillow, just killing two birds with one stone! ……

He thought all the way and soon reached his military tent.

After reading the urgent letter sent by the rotating speaker of the Senate, Cornerus, and listening carefully to Marigi's narration, a narrow smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Could it be that it was because of Polyxis that you, the highest commercial officer of the alliance who is busy with affairs, came to deliver a letter for me?" ”

"A Polyxis who only chatters in the Senate and has no power, is something, and needs my attention!" Mariji raised his eyebrows: "I came to Tarantum mainly to take this opportunity to come and learn about the situation at Tarantum Port. However, Lord Davers, Polyxis has indeed been too active lately, and it will cause some of the senators to think otherwise......" He took a few steps closer and lowered his voice, as if trying to remind Davers of something.

Davos looked calm, but his heart turned a few times: Polyxis usually dissatisfied with him, he didn't care too much, because few other senators in the Senate would respond to him, and he needed such an "opposition" to show that the Senate was not his word. But if Polyxis thinks that his indulgence in him is weak and bullying, and that it leads to some possible chain reaction, then he needs to be on the alert......

Seeing that Davers was a little distracted, Marigi knew that his words had a role, and he turned on to something else: "My lord, I have heard from the soldiers of the reserve stationed at the Tarantum barracks, 'For the past two days a number of Tarantum people have been besieging the camp gates, not only shouting insults at the Dionian soldiers, but also demanding punishment for the criminals. ’”

"What criminals? What happened? Davers frowned and asked repeatedly. He is quite sensitive to violations of military discipline.

"It is said to be...... Some of our soldiers beat up a theater master in Tarantum in the market outside the barracks. ”

"There is such a thing!" As soon as Davers heard this, he became angry and shouted outward, "Tolmid! ”

Tolmid responded.

"Go and inform Kapos and Dracos, and have them send a military judge to find out who in their respective legions was involved in the brawl in the market before they set out!" After speaking, his anger seemed to subside a little, and after thinking about it, he added: "What else is the reason?" ”

After Tolmid left, Davers put the matter behind him for a while, turned back and asked Marigi, "What is the price of grain in the Turiyi market now?" ”

"Relatively high! Because of the war in Sicily, as well as the war here, especially the war between Syracuse and Carthage, the number of participants was too large, and the demand for grain was great, which also affected the price of grain in the Turiyi market......" When talking about trade, Marigi is like a treasure: "But this year, the wheat in our Dionia is growing very well, and in ten days, after the people have harvested the wheat, the price of wheat in Turi' should have a big drop ......"

Davers paced back and forth with the few young whiskers under his chin, and finally said, "Then when you go back, tell Mersis that he will use the treasury to quietly buy grain, and at least four legions and two months' food reserves." ”

Marigi's eyes lit up, he didn't think about whether Davers's use of the treasury without the consent of the Senate violated the laws of Dionia, and the Persian, who still obeyed the royal system in his bones, took it for granted, and he was interested: "My lord, you have decided to support the Silu tribe and take action against the Brutis?" ”

Davers glanced at the excited Marigi, and there was a hint of warning in his calm tone: "I'm just preparing for the worst, but I hope you can keep this secret and don't do anything extra!" ”

This additional thing, of course, refers to the fact that Mariji used the news that he was going to start a war in advance to make a personal profit.

How shrewd was Marigi, he immediately solemnly assured, and then asked, "My lord, what will happen to Tarantum if we go to war with the Brutis?" ”

Davers smiled faintly: "Tarantum can't fight anymore, especially with your arrival." I am afraid that the two consuls of Tarantum are discussing how to make peace with the Mesapi. ”

Marigi's eyes lit up again, and he remembered the people of Tarantum who were dressed in black veils and had grief-stricken expressions along the road when he came from the city of Tarantum, and the defeat of Tarantum was definitely a good thing for him as a Dionian business officer. He saw hope that the port of Turiyi would surpass the most prosperous port of Tarantum in the bay of Taranto!

……………………………

In fact, it was the people of Tarantum who first proposed peace with Mesapi, who, having learned the truth about the war from the wounded citizen soldiers, hated the recklessness of Deomillas and were disappointed with the prospects of the war as a whole. A few months earlier, it had been they who had pushed the Senate into waging war against Mesapi, but as the months passed, Tarantum had gained very little except that he had been bleeding.