Chapter 67: Inquiry and Explanation (II)

“…I pretended to be an emissary of Thurii and after several effort, I have finally arrived in Sparta. At the council of elders, I told the elders of Sparta about the disaster of Thurii and asked them for reinforcement. The elders of Sparta sympathized with what we have encountered, but they do not have any reinforcement to send. Instead, they gave a certificate permitting us to recruit…”

“Brilliant!” When Burkes said this, Friis couldn’t help praised him loudly, and several other strategoi were relieved. It seems that Sparta didn’t care much about Thurii’s help to Athens.

“Thanks to our timely measures, Sparta can treat us with such an attitude.” Kunogelata said on the sides and the several strategos agreed. No matter whether Sparta’s attitude was change because of Thurii’s exiling the descendants of Athens, or whether Sparta didn’t pay attention to Thurii at all, these strategos who had expressed their support and recognition of exiling the Athenian descendants needed this false recognition to dispel their guilt.

Burkes glanced at the strategos and continued, “When I arrived in Miletus and recruited Drakos, Sesta, and the other mercenaries, I heard a lot of news about Cyrus the Younger leading the Greek mercenaries to invade Persia and had attempted to usurp the throne.”

Several strategos nodded their heads. Although Thurii was thousands of kilometers away from Asia Minor, they still heard this news. Not to mention the merchant ship that frequently exchanged between the East and the West of Mediterranean, the first group of mercenaries could only be station outside the city, but there were constant peddlers even going to the camps to do business, so as to spread some news and stories to the city…

“The Greek mercenaries defeated the army of the Persian king. Although Cyrus the Younger was killed in the war, they still manage to defeat the troops of Tissaphernes, the Satrap of Asia Minor, and Orontes, the Satrap of Armenia, many times on their way back to Greece. It was said tbat tbey had also killed several famous generals of Persia! They marched thousands of kilometers, constantly fighting with the aborigines, which have many different mountain tribes that made the Persians have an headache. Strategos, do you think such a Greek mercenary lacks experience in fighting? Is their combat power amazing? Are they comparable to Spartans?”

“Is this the mercenary that you employed-” Some of the startegos exclaimed, “The Greek mercenary who went to Persia?”

“Yes, strategos.” Seeing the mixed expression of surprise and excitement, Burkes finally was relieved, “The reason why we failed in our last battle with the Lucanians was not only because of the carelessness of Asikulodox, but also because the citizens had lived in peace for a long time and lacked the experience in battle.”

In fact, it was not the wish of Asikulodox to take the initiative to invade the territory of the Lucanians, but after they defeated the invasion of the Lucanians, all the citizens of Thurii, including the strategoi, were pushing for it. This strong desire to retaliate against the Lucanians made the whole army march forward lightly on the enemy’s land, and had almost cost all the troops to be destroyed.

At this time, Burkes, in violation of his will, put the blame on Asikulodox. (which was made to be the scapegoat of the citizen assembly of Thurii after their defeat) Seeing that the strategos nodded their heads in agreement, he could not help but hate himself, but he still said seriously, “I think if such an army can be hired, the danger faced by Thurii can not only be taken over, but also have the Lucanians take a huge hit. Therefore, I arrange for my men to stay in taverns and inns to inquire about the whereabouts and movements of the Greek expeditionary force at any time. Soon after, I learned that they had arrived at Heraclea on the banks of the Black Sea, but at the same time, I learned another bad news, ‘Sparta and Persia are going to war, and the Spartan strategos, Thimbron, has even been appointed as the governor of Asia Minor, and has arrived in Miletus to start recruiting troops.’ I was afraid that this Greek mercenary would be recruited by Sparta, so I went to Hellespont overnight by a fast ship and found them in Byzantium.

But most of the mercenaries were tired of fighting and don’t want to go far away from their home to fight in a distant and unfamiliar Thurii. Only when the leader of Davos’ camp, under the temptation of high salary and after agreeing on some of their demands, did they accept our employment. After I took them out of Byzantium, we were stopped by the Spartan fleet, and turns out that Thimbron, governor of Asia Minor of Sparta, sent messengers to let the whole Greek expeditionary troops to fight for him. Davos’ troops was the best in the expeditionary troops, and several Persian generals had actually died in their hands. However, it’s only because they have signed the employment agreement, and with the recruitment permission issued by the Spartan Ephors, and paying half Taras to bribe the Spartan emissary, did they let the fleet go…”

“You guys, after accepting the task we gave him, Burkes had gone through difficulties and dangers, that he even risk his life. Instead of getting afraid and giving up, he has used his intelligence and tenacity to finally complete this recruitment, which could be said to be beyond our expectation! He not only brought a strong help to Thurii, but had also let us know about the attitude of Sparta towards Thurii, we should thank him! All citizens of Thurii should thank him!” Said Friis excitedly, and was the first to clapped.

The other strategoi applauded, and the applause lasted for a while.

Burkes didn’t know what to say at the moment.

Kunogelata stepped forward and sincerely said, “Burkes, you are the hero of Thurii! Please forgive me from what I had said just now. I shouldn’t have been so suspicious of you, it’s just that the financial problems of Thurii have been a headache for us recently. Would you accept my apology?”

Burkes nodded his acceptance.

Next, Nianses also expressed his apology.

Another general, Ansitanos, said “Should we visit the leader of the Greek mercenary who went on an expedition to Persia to show our welcome to them?”

“Ansitanos, I know you want to learn more about Persia from their mouth, in order to complete the sequel of Herodotus’ 《Histories》.” Kunogelata said, “But it’s currently not a good time. I admit that the combat power of the troops mentioned by Burkes is amazing, but they are mercenaries and outsiders after all! And we represent Thurii! As you know, it is not uncommon for soldiers who are used to killing to frighten the enemy and threat ourselves at the same time. We can’t pamper them and let them have unnecessary illusions, and if we give them too much attention, what would the other mercenaries think?! What would the reinforcement from Taranto think?!”

“That’s right! They are just free people, and we paid them to fight for us!” Shouted Nianses.

Kunogelata took the opportunity to take over the conversion and continued, “Nianses is right! No matter how strong a mercenary is, they are still a mercenary. We pay, so we are the employers. You guys, don’t get the relationship wrong!”

Although there are some disagreements with Kunogelata in governing philosophy, Friis also has to nod his head and say, “Kunogelata is right. We will treat them just like the mercenaries before, and there is no need to pay too much attention to them.”

At this time, he said, “Since we have a strong reinforcements and the Lucanians are about to attack again, shall we once more discuss the plan?”

Kunogelata immediately said, “The Villages and farms outside the city have been repaired, and the wheat seeds have been sown, we have to fight back the Lucanians before they can destroy the property of the citizens again!”

“The last time that we were defeated was because we were so aggressive, and had 10,000 of our citizens killed, so we must be careful! You should know that according to the news, the number of troops that the Lucanians have may exceed 10,000.” Friis said cautiously, “The number of our soldiers, plus mercenaries and reinforcements from Taranto, is no more than 9,000, including many citizens over the age of 40.”