Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Antonios quickly turned the page and was surprised as he was familiar with the three names Davos specially circled. The first was his brother-in-law, Phragres, and the other two were also a son and a relative of the statesmen from Naxos and Catania, to who he was extremely close. Although it was the lowest rank of a platoon leader, Antonios knew that these three people might not meet the requirements for promotion. (The position of a squad leader is not included in the ranks of officers as the legatus could directly appoint them).

Even though he wasn't clear about the performance of the other two in the training camp, he knew well about his brother-in-law. While he was in Thurii, the centurion would often punish Phragres for arriving late in military training several times, and the centurion would even report it to Antonios. It was only after Antonios' severe criticism did Phragres barely perform better. In fact, Antonios felt relieved when Ladician sent Phragres back to Naxos. However, he didn't expect that this idiot would cause more trouble after returning to his home!

“Your…your majesty, I really…didn't know that Phragres was on this list. From what I know of him, he is…incompetent and unqualified as a platoon leader.” Antonios stammered as he regretted making such a big mistake of not carefully checking the list at the beginning.

“What you said is reasonable. But as the kingdom’s Chief of Military, it makes you unqualified by saying such things.” Davos stared at him. Although his voice was soft, his tone was severe, “See this.”

Davos then handed Antonios another letter from the current legatus of the Eighth Legion, Leotychides. In the letter, he described the military training of the Eighth Legion. He then especially gave a summary of Phragres and the other two's performance during military training, such as being late, not taking the training seriously, talking back to their instructions… and so on., which made Antonios’ heart jump.

‘Leotychides!’ Antonios remembered this man well: After performing excellently in the battles of the First Legion, he became a senior centurion in just a few years. Then in the Battle of Brindisi, while the Peucetian king led the last remaining elite troops to make a desperate counterattack, most of the brigades of the Theonian legion scattered as they chased the routed soldiers. And it was only Leotychides who could control his brigade to block the attack of the Peucetians on Davos and buy precious time for the other troops to arrive and surround them. As a result, it left a deep impression on Davos.

So after the legatus of the Eighth Legion stepped down and the senior centurion of the first brigade of the first legion, Xethippus, refused to take up the post, Davos himself appointed Leotychides, the then senior centurion of the third brigade of the first legion, to take over, thus making him the only legatus in the kingdom of Theonia who was not a former mercenary and also the youngest.

Although Leotychides was usually serious and didn't like interacting with others, he would treat military training strictly and seriously. And once he gets angry, he would even beat and scold the soldiers. Thus some people in the army nicknamed him ‘madman’.

As for the situation described in the letter, Antonios believed it. However, what shocked him the most was that Davos wrote a letter to ask Leotychides, who was far away in Sicily, about the performance of these unknown soldiers in the military training.

“Your majesty, I…I failed to manage the Ministry of Military well and made such a big mistake. I request…request your majesty to punish me!” Antonios bowed his head and admitted in fear.

“You are indeed deserved to be punished.” Davos gazed at him with slight coldness, “Your brother-in-law killed so many female slaves in a row with cruel methods, yet such a person can still be promoted to be a platoon leader?! I think that once that matter spreads, the statesmen will rise to impeach you, and the tribunal officers will also protest! You…” Davos sighed, seemingly worried for him.

Antonios was in a cold sweat. With his body bowed so low, he mumbled, “Your majesty, I…I request to resign from the post of Chief of Military…”

After some time passed, Antonios heard Davos' concerned voice, “Hmmm…that is good, you can resign from your post by saying you are ill. Also, avoid this period first, so don't go to the Senate for the time being… Furthermore, you must stop meddling with your brother-in-law's matters; the court will give him a fair verdict.”

“Yes…” Antonios responded in a low voice while feeling a little bit relieved. However, what he felt afterwards was still more of a loss.

After placing down the roster and the letter, Davos asked softly, “Antonios, you had stayed in Sicily for many years, and your wife is Sicilian, so you should know more about the Sicilians. Can you tell me why even though they are all statesmen, most of the statesmen in other places make their homes in Thurii and even if they own land in other places, they would only use it as a venue to increase their income and would only occasionally bring their families to live there? On the other hand, the Sicilian statesmen would buy as much land in Sicily as they could and use it as another home for some of their families to live there permanently, and even make extensive contacts with the local civil servants to increase their family's prestige in that area?”

Despite Davos' calm tone, Antonios could feel his suppressed anger which made him even more alarmed. As he racked his brain to the fullest, he began to sweat again, “Your majesty, I think the difference between the behaviour of the statesmen from Sicily and Magna Graecia was mainly because…their environment is different, so their behaviour is different…”

Davos pricked his eyebrows and said, “Oh, tell me.”

Antonios thought for a while before cautiously saying, “Your majesty, with Syracuse destroying Naxos and Catania, the people there lost their homes and were forced into exile. But for survival, they had to build their settlements in the mountains, elect leaders, and lead them to defend against the attacking Sikeloi, the mercenaries Syracuse gathered to clear them and the wild animals in the mountains. With many people dying and living a difficult life, it only made them miss their occupied hometown more. Thus after regaining their lost land, they cherish their hometown even more.”

Although most of the exiles' leaders eventually became statesmen of Theonia, since they were the backbone of the Sicilian exiles in those years, the people will still look for them to solve any difficulties. And after joining Theonia, these statesmen still maintain these habits…

Moreover, most of these statesmen were noble and served as strategos and council members before the destruction of Naxos and Catania. And unlike the statesmen from the major powers of Magna Graecia, such as the Tarantine league, the Thurian League, the Crotonian League, the Locrian League, and the Rhegium League were stable and formed a kind of balance before the rise of our kingdom of Theonia. In Sicily, except for Syracuse and Carthage, the strategoi and council members of other city-states needed to constantly make choices depending on the island's situation, whether to unite with other city-states against these two major powers. Or to rely on one of them… Hence they often maintained friendly relations with the surrounding neighbouring city-states as well as the Syracusans and the Carthaginians, which is why they liked to hold frequent banquets, send gifts around and form a group.”

“It seems there are still advantages to marrying a Sicilian woman.” said Davos meaningfully. But he became even more serious as he said, “Some of our statesmen began copying these bad habits of the Sicilians, and have a terrible impact! The Catanian plain was integrated into the Kingdom of Theonia, not Theonia becoming a part of their Sicily, so everyone must strictly abide by the Theonian Law! It seems they still haven't realised this even after ten years!”

Hearing Davos' last sentence, Antonios became even more frightened that he didn't dare to answer.

“Antonios, my old friend, although you will claim to be sick and resting at home, you must not overeat and damage your health! Now that we defeated the Daunians at the Ofanto river, it won't be long before we conquered their territory, which would give us many difficult matters that needed capable statesmen like you to handle!” Davos' encouraging words cheered the dejected Antonios, who hurriedly responded with excitement, “Your majesty, I am always ready for your call!”

While watching Antonios leave, Davos' expression slowly turned cold. He was clear that the Sicilian statesmen led by Ladician only wanted to make their sons have better development in the future, so they interfered with the army… Although becoming a legion officer gave them no rights in their daily social life, it has a massive advantage by getting priority when taking public office or running for local council members and tribunal officers. Moreover, their identities would make the public give them respect in their daily lives.

But Davos was furious at them for disrupting the order of the army. Since the establishment of Theonia, he had firmly controlled the military that laid the foundation of his power and other statesmen simply couldn't intervene. Besides appointing and dismissing the officers with just his words, he was the only one who could decide the military law. Although he might discuss it with the senior officers, the Senate can never make the decision, making the army an entirely closed system. But he didn't expect ominous signs to appear just after a decade. The Sicilian statesmen might have bribed the personnel of the Ministry of Military, perhaps they just wanted to please Antonios, but they had violated the laws by including the unqualified Phragres and the others in the promotion list.

Because of the Naxos case, Davos wanted to check the roster of the Eighth Legion, which was incidentally still on his desk. ‘So are there army officers who were not qualified? Or were promoted?’ Davos was afraid to think about it.