The Rise Of An Empire In Ancient Europe
Chapter 99 Turii’s Loss

Chapter 99: Chapter 99 Turii’s Loss

Looking at the countless raised right arms in front of him, Archita, both happy and a little regretful, said, "Juleios, your wish has come true. Congratulations!"

Juleios exhaled in relief and sincerely replied, "Thank you! I also sincerely hope that the Tarantum Senate will agree to my proposal. Then, we can become allies!"

"The total number of participants in this vote was 1,382. Among them, 1,076 voted in favor, and 306 opposed. The motion has passed! I hereby announce—" Cornelius, upon learning the results, felt a mix of emotions at first but soon let it go.

Summoning all his strength, he shouted, "From this moment forward, all mercenary soldiers are citizens of Amendolara!"

As soon as Cornelius finished speaking, the soldiers around Juleios burst into cheers.

Juleios was repeatedly hugged warmly by the excited officers.

A phrase he frequently heard was: "Leader, we have a home now!"

Hearing this, Juleios felt a bit dazed: A home?! ...But sadly, my real home isn’t in this world...

At the same time as the Amendolaran citizens’ assembly, Turii’s envoy delegation, still led by Ansitanos, arrived at the gates of Amendolara.

"We are envoys from Turii.

We request an audience with your leader.

Open the gates immediately!" Bourkos shouted up at the guards on the wall.

Before the guard could respond, another person appeared and shouted angrily from above, "Go back, Turians! Amendolara doesn’t welcome you. Go back!"

Hearing this, the delegation members became visibly angry, even the usually mild-tempered Ansitanos shouted back indignantly, "Rude mercenaries! Don’t think that just because you defeated the Lucanians, you can do whatever you want—violating the laws of Greek city-states by forcibly occupying another’s city!"

The man sneered and retorted, "What a righteous and selfless tone! As if you truly care about the lives of the people of Amendolara! Open your eyes and look closely—I am an Amendolaran citizen who has lived here all my life!"

Ansitanos was stunned, while Bourkos recognized the man.

After all, he was a merchant who frequently traded in Amendolara and knew many people there. "It’s you, Anticlis?!"

"Didn’t expect me to still be alive, did you?" Anticlis spoke with venom in his voice. "Thanks to you Turians, the Lucanians chopped off my right hand. But I was lucky to survive.

My neighbors and comrades, however, most of them are dead—all because of your selfish demands and coercion.

They rushed to relocate to your damned city of Turii, only to be caught off guard and attacked by the Lucanians.

The suffering of Amendolara is entirely Turii’s fault! From now on, Turians are not welcome here.

This isn’t just my opinion—it’s the shared sentiment of all surviving Amendolarans!"

Bourkos froze. Ansitanos froze. The entire envoy delegation froze. They never expected such hostility from the Amendolaran citizens.

Although Amendolara and Turii were allies, the disparity in their power was enormous: Turii had over 20,000 citizens, a total population of about 100,000, and nearly 140,000 if free people were included, not counting slaves.

In contrast, Amendolara had a population of just over 10,000 at its peak. Turii treated Amendolara more like a vassal city-state, rarely considering their feelings.

When Amendolara was occupied by the Lucanians, the Turians expressed regret but were primarily concerned about the potential threat to the northern Sybaris Plain.

When the refugees from Amendolara pleaded with Turii for help in reclaiming their city, Turii, preoccupied with defending against the Lucanian invasion, turned a deaf ear.

Now, faced with such deep-seated hatred from Amendolaran citizens, the Turians were nothing short of shocked...

"Don’t think of demanding anything from Amendolara anymore! Amendolara will never listen to Turii again! Do you hear those cheers?!" Anticlis laughed wildly, patting the shoulder of the guard next to him with his left hand.

"The people of Amendolara have just voted to accept all the mercenaries as citizens of Amendolara! So, they didn’t forcibly occupy Amendolara—they became legal citizens of Amendolara! I’ve heard it was those mercenaries who annihilated the Lucanian coalition army that defeated Turii twice!"

"Anyone who wants to invade Amendolara in the future will first have to face the strength of our new citizens’ spears and shields!"

Amid Anticlis’ laughter, the Turii envoy group departed once again in frustration.

Anticlis stopped laughing, feeling elated. He turned to look at the guard beside him, who felt uneasy under his gaze.

Satisfied, Anticlis asked, "What’s your name?"

"Trotiades."

"Where are you from?"

"Thessaly, the same hometown as Leader Juleios."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight."

...

After asking a series of questions, Anticlis straightforwardly said to the still-confused guard, "I have two daughters. One is twenty-one years old, good-looking, a widow with a two-year-old son.

The other is sixteen and not yet betrothed.

Choose one to be my son-in-law."

Trotiades was dumbfounded, while the other guards stepped forward to congratulate him, cheering and joking.

One of the bolder guards said, "Anticlis, since you have two daughters, why not let me be your other son-in-law?"

The city wall erupted with laughter.

Meanwhile, the Turii envoy group was sighing repeatedly.

"Who is this Anticlis?" Ansitanos asked quietly.

"A noble from Amendolara," Bourkos replied. "He used to serve as both the patrol captain and the fire brigade captain."

Ansitanos murmured, "Oh," and said no more.

"General," Bourkos continued, "although the Amendolarans hold grievances against Turii, I understand Mercenary Leader Juleios. Despite his youth, he is steady and has a favorable impression of Turii. Besides, we still have an employment agreement with him, so he wouldn’t easily be swayed by the Amendolarans."

"I hope so," Ansitanos sighed. "But now that the mercenaries have legally become citizens of Amendolara, our protests are meaningless.

Given the current situation, we’ll have to return and devise a new strategy.

Sigh! ...Bourkos, do you know what I’m thinking?"

"No."

"My teacher once said, ’After the Greco-Persian Wars, Sparta, arrogant and harsh, alienated its neighbors, while Athens, more agreeable, attracted the other city-states, leading to the formation of the Delian League.’" Ansitanos pondered and lamented bitterly, "Have we, Turii, been too domineering in our actions? Is this a sign of things to come?"

After the public referendum, the women and children withdrew from the square. Cornelius also asked Archita to leave because what followed was the true Citizens’ Assembly of Amendolara.

Apart from the guards patrolling the walls and soldiers guarding the prisoners, there were 512 original citizens of Amendolara and 2,920 newly admitted citizens (including 1,837 Juleios-led mercenaries and 1,083 other mercenaries), making a total of 3,432 Amendolaran citizens present in the square.

Cornelius intended to move on to the next topic on the agenda, but the cheers of the mercenaries interrupted the assembly for a while. Only after the square returned to calm did he speak loudly:

"Citizens of Amendolara, since most of you are newly admitted citizens, it is necessary to familiarize yourselves with Amendolara’s political system. Amendolara is similar to Tarentum... I mean Athens."

Cornelius had initially planned to compare Amendolara to Tarentum but realized most people were unfamiliar with Tarentum. Instead, he referred to Athens, a city-state widely known to all.