‘Crotone was once a powerhouse of Magna Graecia, yet now its people had to pick up trash for a living!’ As a Carthaginian who had traded with Crotone, Eshmounadon could only sigh in regret after recalling the lively sight he had seen here before.
Although the city of Crotone was large, Eshmounadon couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't seen many young and physically fit men while walking, “Did Dionysius kill all of Crotone's citizens?”
“The Crotonian citizens are currently farming. When the Syracusan troops besieged Crotone, they had destroyed all the fields outside, so they must take advantage of the fact that it was still early spring to replant the grains. Otherwise, they won't have anything to eat in autumn…” The captain of the patrol boat explained.
While walking towards the city's centre, what appeared in front of Eshmounadon was no longer ruins but a bustling construction site filled with numerous people.
“Our people are now helping the Crotonians to rebuild their houses.” The captain of the patrol boat actively explained.
While watching the busy construction site ahead, Eshoumodon, out of his nature as a merchant, asked, “How much are you charging the Crotonians for building their house?”
The captain laughed and said, “The Crotonians don't have anything now, so how could they pay us? Everyone here came to rebuild the houses for them voluntarily.”
But the patrol captain didn't tell the truth that “helping the Crotonians rebuild their homes” was Davos’ suggestion, and the Praetor of Aprustum, Agasias, was the one responsible for organising and implementing it. Although they wouldn't get paid, the Theonian Senate would record their merits and honour them after the war, which meant they would be given land and Theonian citizenship. Thus those who came to Crotone were mostly freemen and preparatory citizens.
Although Eshoumodon was surprised, he realised that a huge business opportunity had come. He heard that Theonia's territory, as well as Scylletium and Terina, was also ravaged by Syracuse, so if those city-states needed the Theonians help to rebuild, the amount of construction materials they needed would be massive, and Theonia alone couldn’t supply them! So if his family could get involved…
The more Eshoumodon thought, the more excited he became. Now he was glad that it was him that Hanno selected to go to Theonia, so if he couldn't even seize this opportunity, Baal Hammon would punish him!
Eshoumodon was so lost in his thoughts that he did not see the captain walk straight to the construction site. Then he brought back a man with him.
Afterwards, the man greeted Eshoumodon, “Welcome, O distinguished envoy of Carthage! I am Agasias, a statesman of Theonia and the Praetor of Aprustum.”
Eshoumodon immediately responded to his greetings and said in pure Greek, “I am Eshoumodon, an elder of Carthage and was appointed by the Senate to meet your king.”
Agasias had heard about “Ansitanos' mission to Carthage behind closed doors”, so he initially thought it would be hard to get along with the Carthaginian envoy. Thus he didn't expect Eshoumodon to be talkative as they chatted while walking.
However, Eshoumodon deliberately guided their conversation to make Agasias tell more about the Syracusan armies' destruction of Theonia's territories and the difficulties they faced in rebuilding Krimisa, Crotone, and so on.
Afterwards, the group walked out of Crotone's west gate. (although it’s called the west gate, it was just a massive gap in the tattered city wall.)
Just after they left the city, Eshoumodon saw countless tents set up near the moat and many people going in and out of the tent area…then someone saw Agasias and took the initiative to greet him. Evidently, this Theonian statesman was very popular in Crotone.
“Is this where the Crotonians live?” Eshoumodon asked casually.
“Yes. As you have just seen, those damned Syracusans burned the whole city and made it uninhabitable. Fortunately, our Theonian army seized these tents from the Syracusans and gave part of them to the Crotonians…” Agasias said without feeling much anger. But it wasn't because he had psychological problems. It's just that when the news of the city of Crotone burning spread to Thurii, the original Thuriians applauded and cheered, saying that it was the punishment of the goddess of vengeance to the Crotonians.
Agasias then remembered something and hurriedly said, “Lord Eshoumodon, let me lead you to meet Lysias, the polemarchos of Crotone.”
“You don't need to. Crotone isn't part of my mission.” Eshoumodon immediately refused.
If Crotone was still a powerhouse as before, Eshoumodon might have other ideas. But after seeing its miserable state now and having to depend on Theonia, Eshoumodon was no longer interested. Not to mention that he had a selfish desire not to make the Theonians angry. As a result, the envoy led by Eshoumodon just left without meeting the masters of Crotone after landing at their port and crossing the whole city.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At noon, Eshoumodon and his group arrived at Theonia's camp in Scylletium. Although two days had passed since the Syracusan attack on the camp, burnt walls and tents could still be seen even though the Theonian soldiers were rebuilding the left camp…allowing Eshoumodon to imagine the fierce battles that had taken place here.
After receiving the notice sent by Agasias, Davos stepped out of the camp to greet the envoys and ordered the guards to line up neatly on both sides of the road while the salpinx, flutes and drums played a beautiful melody…
Such a welcome ceremony took Eshoumodon by surprise and made him happy to follow Davos into the central camp.
In Davos' previous life's history, Carthage, as the strongest rival of Rome, was too famous. And now, Davos was meeting a Carthaginian for the first time, so he could not help but curiously glance at the envoy in front of him: He was slightly fat with an average height, having black hair and dark brown eyes with thick black eyebrows and slightly dark skin, and if not for their straight and slightly wide nose, they would look somewhat similar to his countrymen in his previous life, which gave Davos an amicable feeling.
Eshoumodon equally judged the new king of Theonia. ‘Although I had specially looked into Theonia's situation and learned that its establishment and rapid rise had a lot to do with this man in front of me, still… O, Baal Hammon, he is really too young! He is so young yet possesses so much power! He really is too enviable.’
“O esteemed envoy of the great city-state of Carthage, thank you for your massive help in Theonia's most difficult times! With your valuable food supplies, we were able to carry on fighting this terrible war…”
Davos' sincere words made Eshoumodon happy. After pondering for a bit, he replied, “Dear king of Theonia, Carthage is not only rich in food, but we are also famous for other goods in the western Mediterranean. It is truly sad about the damage the Syracusans' invasion had done to Magna Graecia! Hence we in Carthage would like to offer our help in rebuilding Theonia and the other city-states, so I wonder if your majesty could…”
Davos was taken aback as he somewhat saw the shadow of Mersis on the Carthaginian envoy. He then laughed and said, “The friendly agreement signed between Theonia and Carthage already included free trade, so we certainly welcome Carthage providing us with rich goods that would speed up our reconstruction of Magna Graecia. Lord Eshoumodon, if you have your own merchant fleet, I can give you a special service in doing business in Magna Graecia.”
“Really?!” As soon as Eshoumodon spoke, he realised his mistake. So he coughed and sat on the wooden chair again.
However, Davos looked at Henipolis, standing beside him, and said solemnly, “Heni, write down this matter as well as Lord Eshoumodon's name and inform our Chief Commercial Officer, Marigi, later.”
“Yes, your majesty.” Henipolis glanced at the Carthaginian envoy with disdain, then sat at the wooden table next to him and began writing.
Eshoumodon was trying to resist the urge to thank him, so he praised him loudly instead, “The Carthaginian Senate admires Theonia Union's performance in this war. After all, even though Theonia is weaker than Syracuse, it was still able to defeat the Syracusans both on the sea and land, crushing Dionysius' ambition to conquer Magna Graecia! You should know about Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse's extreme greed that resulted in the destruction of many famous city-states in Sicily, causing Carthage and other Greek city-states to suffer greatly. Unfortunately, Dionysius' powerful army made us unable to take him down. Hence Theonia's victory over Syracuse had truly made the people of Sicily and Carthage rejoice!”
“We were also forced with the situation!” Davos sighed and replied, “If we could not defeat Syracuse, they would have destroyed Theonia! Thus everyone in Theonia had united to fight back. However, even though we repelled the enemy, we also paid a great price!”
“When arriving here, I had seen the massive damage caused by Syracuse to Magna Graecia and deeply sympathised with your great sacrifice in this war. However, it was all worth it!” Eshoumodon politely expressed his concern and turned to point outside the tent, “Your majesty's army is now besieging the Syracusan army in Scylletium, and it looks like there is nothing more the Syracusans could do to break through your blockade. However, I am afraid it would still not be easy to capture a town defended by tens of thousands of people. Your majesty, what do you plan to do next? Will you continue surrounding the enemy until they run out of food and surrender? But with so many Theonian soldiers out there, Theonia's food supply would be under greater pressure! Naturally, Carthage is willing to continue providing Theonia with low-priced food support…”
There's naturally a hidden meaning in Eshoumodon's words. But after pondering about his intentions, Davos said, “Thank you, Lord Eshoumodon, for your concern for Theonia! Before you had arrived, I had just sent away the Syracusan envoy from Scylletium, who wished to make peace with us.”
