Burkes seemed to see Davos' doubts, so he explained: "Turii City is about twenty miles away from the mouth of the Krati River."
Davos gave an "oh" and asked, "Turiyi is at war with the Lucarians, why are there so many ships for trade?"
"The Lucanians don't have ships, so they can't cut off the sea communication in Turii, and the more the war is, the more supplies they need. These merchant ships are all here to make money..." When the two were talking, the fleet had already stop moving forward.
The pilot ship moved forward alone, and soon merged into the white sails...
After about an hour, the pilot boat returned, approached Bulcos' boat, and a man came up.
"Burkos, you're finally back! I thought the Lucarians scared you to emigrate to Greece." The person walked forward with a smile.
"You didn't leave even the most timid, how could I leave." Burkes said jokingly and gave him a hug.
"Is everything going well?"
"Is Tully okay?"
The two asked at the same time and laughed at the same time.
"Looking at how relaxed you are, Turiyi City should still be safe."
"You know, the savage Lucarians don't have superb skills, they can't build siege equipment or boats, they just destroy the villages and farms outside the city. Fortunately, in the autumn, the wheat has already been harvested. .During the winter, the Lucanians outside the city were plagued with plague and had to retreat to the mountains to the north, leaving only a few soldiers in Amendolara—"
"Wait, you mean the plague?" Burkes looked horrified.
"The Lucanians killed thousands of Turian citizens and piled their bodies outside the city. Zeus was angry and punished the Lucanians, and we, the Turians, were not harmed at all. !" The person who came came said with some anger and some pride.
Burkes was busy praising Zeus.
The visitor continued: "Now that the weather is getting warmer, they are starting to head south again. Fortunately, Tarantum sent reinforcements here."
"As advocates of the Great Greek Defense League, they should have sent reinforcements long ago!"
"I can't blame them either. As soon as they repelled the attack of the Mesapis, they sent 1,500 heavy infantry and 50 cavalry, and the leader was Archita."
"Which Archita?"
"Which Archita! Of course it's the son of the former Tarantum consul Histiavis, the genius Tarantum calls him!"
"Speaking of geniuses, I also have one here." Bulcos pulled Davos and said to Polyxis: "I'd like to introduce to you, the commander of the Greek mercenary army expedition to Persia, Davos of Thessaly!" Burkes said seriously. Then, pointing to the person who came, he said, "Davos, this is the general chosen by Turii this year, my friend - Polyxis!"
"Salute to you, General Polyxis!" Davos bowed slightly.
"Welcome." Polyxis nodded slightly, then turned to Burkes: "What did you just say? Expedition to Persia?"
Burkes saw Pollux's perfunctory, so he greatly publicized Davos and their deeds, and Pollux's eyes at Davos immediately became enthusiastic: "It's unimaginable! Davos! , you are such a young man to have done such an amazing thing! In the hinterland of Persia, surrounded by thousands of enemies, led the soldiers back to kill! Really... wow!"
Davos said sincerely: "This is the result of the joint efforts of the brothers. Many people died on the way home..."
"I invited Davos' troops to Turii, and I hope they can use their rich combat experience to help us repel the Lucarians!" Burkes took the opportunity to explain in advance for his high-paying team that hired Davos .
"You have come at the right time, and we are negotiating a counterattack against the Lucarians." Polyxis said to Bulcos: "I came here to tell you that the general's executive committee agreed that your fleet is at the mouth of the river. Disembark at the simple dock, and let Davos lead the mercenaries to camp at the old city of Sybaris."
"What?! Let's camp at the old city of Hybaris!!" Bulcos changed his face, he immediately pulled Polyxis aside, and whispered: "Are you crazy?! Don't forget Turii When the city was built, but there was an agreement with Crotone, the old city site of Sybaris could not be moved! Otherwise, why didn't Turii build a city on the city site of Sybaris, obviously its location is better, and there are better port!"
"Every Turian knows what you're saying. But this is the result of Kunogolata's insistence, and the other generals agree! The soldiers you hired before have been camping in Sybaris for almost a month. Yes." Polyxis shrugged to show that it had nothing to do with him.
"It's Kunogorata again! He expelled the Athenians, and now he wants to provoke Clotone, does he want to destroy Turii!" Burkes said angrily.
"It's not as serious as you said. Decades have passed, and the Turui people have always followed this agreement. The grass in Subaris has grown taller than humans. Now, Turui is suffering from war and is only temporarily camping. Besides, Crotone doesn't have time to pay attention to this, they are fighting fiercely with the Brutes. Where else should these mercenaries be camped? I'm afraid there must be four mercenaries who came last time and this time. 5,000 people, no matter how the camp was built, it had to occupy a large area. Now, except for the wasteland, all around Turii are farmland and villages…”
"Didn't you say that the farmland villages outside the city were destroyed?" Burkes asked.
"After the Lucarians retreated, everyone returned to their villages and towns and began to rebuild, otherwise they would all gather in the city, and sooner or later there would be problems! As for those fields, the farmers had already sown the wheat seeds, otherwise this year But it didn't work."
"What if the Lucarians come?" Burkes asked worriedly.
"So we're discussing how to repel them."
Burkes stared at Polyxis speechlessly for a while, and finally said: "It seems that the generals are very united and courageous enough! I forgot how embarrassed last year was!"
Polyxis looked embarrassed and was speechless.
… … … …
Because a channel had been cleared in advance, Burkes' fleet entered the estuary smoothly, but it was more troublesome to disembark because there was only one simple dock.
Burkes, Davos, Felixius, Asistes, and the escort disembarked first and stood on the soft ground. They were a little uncomfortable after being bumped at sea for a long time.
Felixius bent down, stretched out his hand and grabbed a handful of soil, twisted it with his fingers, and ignoring the stench, he put it on the tip of his nose and sniffed it. Then he reached out to Davos and said excitedly, "It's black!"
Of course Davos understood what he meant. Before Bulcos turned his eyes, he sighed and said, "This is really a fertile land!"
Burkes said contentedly: "Of course! The Xubari Plain has several rivers, including the Krati River. It is not only rich in water, fertile and flat, but also large in area. It is the best land in this area. Otherwise, where would the luxury life of Subaris come from!"
A group of people turned away from the river bank and walked for a short distance, and they saw a broken wall in the grass. This was the former site of the city of Sybaris.
Davos came to a large stone and stopped. Although it was covered with moss and green clothes, the delicate texture and dark red color of the flat stone surface proved that it was a fine marble. Looking at it, there are still many such stones here, hidden under the grass, half buried in the soil...
You must know that Greece and Italy produce more white marble, and only Africa is rich in red marble, which is naturally expensive. Although Davos didn't know the price, such stones were rarely seen in the city-states he had passed through before, and it was obviously not easy to get them: "What a good stone! Why didn't Turiyi use it when building the city?" He looked asked Burkes casually.
Note: Regarding Greater Greece, it is accurate to say that it refers to the Greek city-states in southern Italy, that is, the “foot” part of the “boot” in Italy. The specific Greek city-states included will be mentioned one by one later in this book.