It is wise for a servant to know more and speak less.

- Plautus (the most important comedy writer of ancient Rome)

If the other Greek city-states were disappointed in the kingdoms of Pyrrhus and Epirus, the city-states of Semon were not just disappointed, but deeply feared and hated. The fear was that the Greeks of the Semon city-state were afraid that Pyrrhus would lead their powerful army to invade the Semon city-state, and it was one thing for everyone to take root with Pyrrhus, but it was another thing for Pyrus to lead an army to attack the Semon city-state.

The reason for the incomparably hated is even simpler, why did Pyrus form a Greek legion of 20,000 people, relying on the support of the citizens of the Greek city-states on the Greek peninsula? Among them, who is really making a big difference? Naturally, it was the city-state of Semon adjacent to the Kingdom of Epirus; From this point of view, Pyrrhus's actions are naked revenge!

Since Pyrrhus is unkind, he cannot blame the injustice of the Mongol city-state; Therefore, after the Brutus family's mission approached the top of the Semon city-state and expressed their willingness to ask for an alliance, the top of the Sémon city-state immediately decided to receive the Brutus family's mission. At the meeting of the high-level of the city-state of Semon to receive the delegation of the Brutus family, the two sides had a very pleasant exchange.

The emissaries sent by the Brutus family not only did not maliciously slander King Pyrus and his kingdom of Epirus, but they did not even insinuate sarcasm; After all, both the kingdom of Epirus and the city-state of Semon were founded by the Greeks, and Tiberius warned the envoys before they set out that they must not satirize the kingdom of Epirus and Pyrrhus, so as not to make the Greeks of the city-state of Semon feel uncomfortable.

This admonition of Tiberius proved to be very important; The emissaries simply reaffirmed the friendship and future between the Brutus family and the Semon city-state, and represented the Brutus family in the hope of establishing a friendly covenant of mutual assistance with the Semon city-state. Although the emissaries of the House of Brutus did not mention Pyrus and the kingdom of Epirus from beginning to end, how could the high-ranking people of the city-state of Semon be fools?

They naturally knew the true purpose of the envoys of the Brutus family, but they were still very satisfied with the attitude and way of speaking of these envoys, which made the high-ranking members of the Semon city-state feel respect; In response, they agreed to a covenant of mutual assistance with the Brutus, and promised to help the Brutus family in any situation.

This is already a very obvious implication that the so-called 'any situation' basically refers to the war between the Brutus family and the Epirus kingdom of Pyrus, but it is not the Brutus family that is threatened by the pressure of Pyrus's army, but the city-state of Semon. Therefore, this condition of the city-state of Semeng sounds unusually funny.

Of course, it's funny or not; These were the emotions in the hearts of the envoys, and on the surface they still had to show enough respect for the high-ranking people of the Semon city-state. With this obvious hint from the Semon city-state, the emissaries of the Brutus family also began to negotiate openly with the high-ranking members of the Semon city-state.

Some of the previous negotiations were just a warm-up before the formal negotiations, and when both parties had a general understanding of each other, the formal negotiations would naturally begin. This time, the envoys of the Brutus family did not hide it, and directly informed the Semon city-state of all the information about the landing of the Brutus family's army on the mainland of the Epirus Kingdom.

The only thing that was not told the truth was the number of troops, the 66,000 army of the Brutus family was boasted by the envoys to 120,000 troops; The upper echelons of the city-state of Semon also knew that this number had about half of the moisture, which was also normal. Because they had informed them that the strength of their city-state against the army of Pyrus in the border area was also false, and they reported a figure of 40,000 troops.

In such negotiations, it is the most normal thing to misrepresent the strength of troops, and it is only a means for everyone to strive for the greater good of each other; Even if you know that the other party is reporting a false number, no one will say it, after all, everyone is like this. After some self-reporting to each other, the two sides began to enter into substantive negotiations.

By this time, the emissaries of the House of Brutus had determined that Pyrus and his most elite hoplites were on the border between the kingdom of Epirus and the city-state of Semon; Therefore, you can also rest assured to boldly prescribe your own conditions and requirements. The envoy of the House of Brutus demanded that the city-state of Semon be allowed to hold off the main army of Pyrus for at least twenty days, or more, in the border area.

and declared that it would only take these twenty days for the army of the House of Brutus to take Turbo, which was not defended by Pyrus, and all the lands of the Kingdom of Epirus west of Turbo; As soon as the Brutus family completed the occupation of Turbo, they would immediately send an army to the east, and join forces with the army of the city-state of Semon from behind Pyrus to attack Pyrus's army.

If the army of Pyrus had captured Turbo by the army of the House of Brutus, they would immediately withdraw from the border and return to the mainland; Then the army of the city-state of Semon can either sit on the border and not participate in the battle, or attack the army of the Brutus family from the rear of the army of Pyrus when it is engaged in a head-on battle with Pirus.

After the Brutus family made their demands, they waited for the Semon city-state to make conditions; After a series of negotiations, the high-level leaders of the Semon city-state finally came up with the condition that the army of the Semon city-state would do its best to hold off Pyrus's elite army of more than 30,000 for twenty days, but the Brutus family must give the Semon city-state enough benefits after the Semon city-state dragged Pyrus for twenty days.

This was sufficient to divide half of the kingdom of Epirus east of Tulbo to the city of Semon; In addition, if Pyrrhus's army did not return after twenty days, then the army of the Brutus family must immediately attack it from behind the Pyrrhus army, in order to cooperate with the city-state of Semon to destroy Pyrus and his army of more than 30,000 men.

Of course, if the last scenario arises, that is, Pyrus will return to the mainland as soon as he learns that the Brutus family has occupied Turbo; Then the city-state of Semon was not obliged to send troops to help the army of the House of Brutus attack the army of Pyrus. If the city-state of Semon sent an army to help the Brutus family, the Brutus family had to pay 100,000 gold coins for it.

The conditions of the Semon city-state were not excessive, after all, the core of the entire mutual aid covenant was to let the Semon city-state hold Pyrus and his elite army for at least twenty days; This is not an easy task, and the city-state of Semon is likely to pay the casualties of all the great armies in the border area, and the most ruthless attack that could be carried out by Pyrrhus.

Therefore, the emissary of the House of Brutus readily agreed to the request of the city-state of Semon; There was even another favorable condition for this purpose, which was favorable to the city-state of Semon and also to the Brutus family. That is, if the city-state of Semon had sent an army to assist the Brutus family after holding Pirus for twenty days, the Brutus family would have paid 200,000 gold coins instead of 100,000 gold coins!

More importantly, the Brutus were willing to pay fifty gold coins for each of the Semon warriors who died in the battle to assist the Brutus; This fifty gold coins were given purely by the Brutus family to the families of the sacrificed Semon warriors, in the name of the high-ranking of the Semon city-state.

The money was not from the Brutus, but was offered by Sulla and Pompey when they were discussing with Tiberius; The purpose was to attract the army of the city-state of Semon to continue to contain the army of Pyrus when they returned to the mainland. Since this plan was proposed by Sulla and Pompey, the money was naturally paid by these two people, and was not paid by the Brutus family.

This condition is basically even if the Brutus family buys money to fight with the army of the Semon city-state, the Semon city-state is one of the important city-states in Greece, and its bones are naturally full of the unique characteristics of the Greeks who value money and interests. With such generous conditions proposed by the envoys of the Brutus family, the negotiations between the two sides naturally ended in great consummation.

After the conclusion of negotiations with the high-ranking of the city-state of Semon, the emissaries of the Brutus family did not delay any longer, and immediately returned to the Brutus family's army in the territory of the Epirus kingdom. Just as Gnaeus ordered the heralds sent by Bruce to arrive at Tiberius's army, the envoys of the mission also happened to arrive at Tiberius's army.

Blessings and misfortunes do not go alone, and this sentence is not so effective for Tiberius today; Whether it was the information sent by Gnaeus or the news brought back by the mission, Tiberius was sincerely happy, as if the victory of the Brutus family in this war was just around the corner.

Of course, Bruce didn't really report everything to Tiberius as Gnaeus had ordered; Rather, it has undergone some modifications. The main information is still true, of course, but the reason why Ganeus left the 14,000 soldiers is that the soldiers are weak and inconvenient to march, so they can only stay in Ganeus's army for the time being.

Actually, Tiberius didn't care about these small details; Whether the 14,000 soldiers were in the army of Ganeus or were sent to his own army was not a big deal for Tiberius. As long as they are rescued, this is the key to washing away the shame of Tiberius, the leader of the family.

Compared to the Brutus family's current vigor and smooth sailing, the defenders of the city of Tulbo are more tragic; At this time, in addition to 2,000 elite Cretan archers, the defenders of Tulbo also had a Greek legion of 20,000 led by Pylos himself. After the personal training and reorganization of Pyrrhus, the combat effectiveness of this Greek legion is also good, and it is definitely worthy of a battle!

When Gnaeus had led two legions to attack the iron mine camp and rescue the captured soldiers of the Brutus family, Pylos's army had already arrived in Tulbo for three days; However, Pyrrhus could only watch as Gnaeus easily rescued the soldiers of the Brutus family, and could not lead his army out of the city to meet the battle. Because the current Greek legion has become fluctuating and panicked! (To be continued.) )