"Thank you, Master Burkos, for the explanation!" Arcisstes continued: "Actually, if Lord Créroux goes to Enona to investigate carefully, he will find that we have cut down only trees that grow on flat ground, not a single tree in the mountains.

Why cut down trees on flat ground? Because the land was not cultivated by the Samonai after Enona was occupied by the Samoneh, the forest stretched all the way to the sea. The Samonai people are used to living in the mountains and forests, but we Dionians can't, we need arable land to grow grain, if we don't cut down trees and clear out the wasteland, Enona will have no arable land, and animal husbandry alone can't feed more and more people of Enona, if you buy grain from outside, the price will inevitably be high, and the people's lives will be greatly affected, when there is still a lot of spare arable land in other parts of the kingdom, are they still willing to live in Enona?! Then in order to maintain our presence in Eriona, the kingdom will have to pay a high price, and it is not worth it!

In addition, the city of Enona is directly close to the Sorrenting Peninsula, and its territory is mainly in the south, dozens of miles away from Poseidonia, and if there is no land road connection, it is not very convenient to connect it by sea and port, and the construction of roads also requires cutting down those trees. What's more—"

Assistes looked around the venue and said in a deep voice: "Although the Samonai people have to become allies of the kingdom because of the disastrous defeat in the war ten years ago, we cannot let our guard down, and recently I heard that the Kautini in the north have begun to harass the Campanian alliance again. Far away from the center of the kingdom and in a strange place, it is necessary to ensure the convenience of transportation, in case of accidents, our legions can arrive in time, and our legionnaires are better at exerting their might on flat ground, while the Samonai are good at fighting in the mountains and forests, cutting down trees on flat ground, also to ensure the safety of Enona......"

After Asistes finished speaking, the senators began to talk to each other, the Caustini attack on the Campanian alliance had been informed by the Neapolitan envoy a few days earlier, although the senators did not think that the Samonai would dare to tear up the covenant and declare war on the kingdom, but they were still satisfied with Asistes's precautionary approach, and Creru had nothing to say.

Davers nodded slightly: After so many years of training, Assistes has indeed grown.

At this time, Marigi stood up and said politely: "I have a question, of course, it is not within your purview, Lord Asistes, but I still want to consult you, with your experience in the six years of power in Enona, I hope you can give me some advice, how to break Carthage's trade monopoly on Sardinia and Corsica?" ”

There was a commotion in the room, and it was clear that the issue was a bit of a problem.

But looking at Marigi's eager eyes, Arcisstes looked back at Davers, who was sitting steadily, and Davers nodded to him.

Assistes knew he couldn't refuse. So, he pondered for a while, and then said: "I remember that the agreement we signed with Carthage stipulated, 'Dionian merchant ships are not allowed to trade in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, and Corsica......,' and the best way to change Carthage's monopoly on the trade of these two large islands and obtain a large amount of precious metals is to re-revise the agreement with Carthage so that they agree to trade with these two islands."

But I don't think that's possible, because trade at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula and the two islands were the two most important trade markets that supported Carthage's prosperity, and the Carthaginians could never give it up. A hundred years ago, Carthage had initiated two naval battles because the Greeks coveted Sardinia, and both of them were victorious, so if we have no intention of tearing up the agreement and going to war with Carthage, we should not provoke it. ”

After Arcistes said this, the crowd shook their heads in disappointment, this answer was not different from the answers of the other patriarchs in the past.

Then, Assistes changed his words: "But although Carthage has an agreement with us, and has similar requirements for the Phoenicians in Sardinia and Corsica, but no matter how developed Carthage's goods are, it cannot produce everything to meet the needs of the Phoenicians on these two islands, for example, I heard that the Sardinians prefer Athenian vases to Carthaginian pottery, so the Carthaginians buy Athenian vases and resell them to the Sardinians, which is naturally more expensive." Moreover, many goods were transported from Carthage to Sardinia and Corsica, and the long distances led to increased transportation costs and increased prices, and if we sold the same goods at a more reasonable price in the markets of Enona, Poseidonia, and Picosis, it is believed that it would attract Phoenician merchants from the two islands to buy them.

Now in the Enona market, they can be seen occasionally, and I believe that after doing so, they will attract more people. But even if it could be realized, it would not be a large-scale trade, especially in terms of precious metals, since the Phoenician city-states of these islands were heavily dependent on Carthage and could not do anything too detrimental to Carthage's interests......"

"Thank you for your answer." Marigi sat down with a beaming face, and Assistes' suggestion confirmed what he had in mind.

After him, several more senators raised questions, and Arcistes dealt with them smoothly. Since Acystes was born as a mercenary and married to the Lucanians, and his uncle Antonios was one of the leaders of the Sicilian senators, Acystes had connections with several large groups of senators, so of course the senators would not get along with him and put obstacles in his debriefing.

Seeing that the question had come to an end, Assistes was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, when a familiar voice came from behind him: "I have a question for you." ”

Arcises' heart tightened, and he hurriedly turned to the side, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, may you ask!" ”

The elders of the venue also pricked up their ears.

Davers asked, seemingly casually, "What did the Campanias think of the Romans?" ”

Roman? A handful of senators will be unfamiliar with the name.

Antonios was relieved to hear this: it seems that Davers did not deliberately target Assistes.

Although he had a fight with his nephew last night, Asistes' words reminded him, so today he began to pay attention to Davers's every move, and he also began to avoid suspicion and did not ask questions to Asistes.

"Your Majesty, in my contacts with the Campanians, they have seldom spoken of this Latin city-state in the north, for Rome and Campania are separated by the Wolsi and other Latin city-states, and that Rome's maritime trade is not well developed, and there is very little trade with the Tampanians, which shows that they neither know much nor attach much importance to this city-state. But...... The words 'barbarism' and 'belligerence' are always used in their occasional references to Rome, and I can sense that the Campanias are both contemptuous and somewhat afraid of Rome, which may be related to the defeat of the Celts who invaded Etrusa and the Latins in the third year of the kingdom (390 BC), and the many Etruscan and other Latin city-states that have been conquered many times over the years...... "Assistes was in power in Enona for six years and never came into contact with the Romans. However, three years ago, when he was elected governor of Enona for the second time, and when Davers entertained him and saw him off, he had mentioned Rome, and he was very prepared to answer this question.

Davers has specially sent people to collect information about Rome, and he knows Rome far better than the senators here, and the reason why he asks this question is just to be curious about the attitude of the Campanias towards the Romans: in the history of the previous life, the Campanias were invaded by the Samonai people, and finally chose Rome for help, perhaps because there was no other force around them that could help them except Rome, in fact, what they thought in their hearts was probably the same as the thoughts of the Campanias in this life, but they had a greater backer, With the help of Dionia, the Samonians did not dare to invade them again, so they should not have taken refuge in Rome...... Davers thought about it, but his face was very calm and nodded to Axistes.

Since Davers asked, no one in the room has asked questions.

The Chairman-in-Office, Cornerus, invited Assies back to his seat.

Next, the five elders of the Council of Kingdom Officials scored Asistes' performance in Aynona's three years of government. Judging by Acestes' performance, he can at least be rated as "good". Of course, this score is not public, and after being reviewed by King Davers, it will be filed with the committee as an important evidence for the new appointment of Arcistes in the future.

"Next agenda......" Cruz Cruilus, "elects the new Administrator of Ionona." ”

Speaking of this, he turned around and asked, "Your Majesty, do you have a candidate?" ”

This was not a flattery on the part of Cornerus, but a practice in the Senate for the selection of high-ranking officials, first of all, to check whether the king had a pre-prepared candidate. If there is, take it out for discussion, and everyone thinks it is appropriate, then it is determined; If the majority of the people think it is not suitable, the king can change the person.

This was the prerogative of the King of Dionia, but Davers was of little use to it, for he knew that eating alone would attract jealousy, and why should he do it so obviously, even if he could privately inform Marigi of them to achieve his goal.

"I don't have a candidate." Davers tapped his fingers on the handrail and said seriously: "However, the requirements for the position of administrator of Enona are different from those of other cities, as the northernmost city of the kingdom, on the one hand, the successor needs to be able to continue to handle the relationship with the Campanian and Samonai people, continue to increase their favor of the kingdom, and at the same time, continue to develop Enona into a hub of maritime trade between the kingdom and north-central Italy on the original basis."

In addition, due to the complex origin of the people in the territory of Enona, conflicts and disputes are not uncommon due to different customs and habits, which is a test of the governance ability of the successor. ”

Davers's words made the elders present thoughtful. (https:)

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Mobile version reading URL: