Asistes hesitantly expressed his thoughts as he looked at Davos, who remained expressionless, “How about we allow the Roman nobles who surrender to be able to apply to beco citizens of Theonia, but we must break up their houses and scatter and relocate them to other parts of the kingdom and allocate new land to them…”
Despite hearing Asistes, Davos said nothing and just looked at him. He imdiately understood that Asistes hadn't remained idle these past few days and were pondering a solution on how to deal with Ro's nobility…
Davos looked at the others, who had so doubts appearing on their faces, ‘Could my previous life have made inexplicably afraid of the Romans?’
Feeling slightly confused, Davos pondered for a while and slowly said to Asistes, “You can try to have the Roman nobility surrender, but once we defeat the Roman army…”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Asistes frowned.
Davos still believed that Asistes' chances of success were low. After all, having the Roman nobility submit to them would be challenging since they would deprive them of their wealth and dig their roots!
Suddenly, Nicomachus said, “Your Majesty, I have a question.”
Seeing Davos look at him, Nicomachus patted his seat and asked curiously, “Why is this seat obviously different from the one in the rear? Not only was it made with ivory, but it is also padded with cow leather, making it comfortable to sit in.”
“This is the characteristics of the Roman Senate. The seats at the front are reserved only to the most prestigious and respected senators in Ro, so their seat must be distinguishable from the other seats.” Davos explained briefly.
Nicomachus suddenly felt enlightened, “The Roman senators unexpectedly could still indulge themselves like this.”
He turned around and said to the others, “Co and take a seat too, and feel the taste of being the most esteed senator of Ro.”
Everyone burst into laughter, causing the tense atmosphere in the venue to ease a lot.
Davos smiled at Nicomachus' good sense of humour. He finds it amusing that a witty political figure could appear among the Locrians who were living under the harsh law.
The eting finally ca to an end in a relaxed mood. Finally, Davos encouraged everyone, “Whether we can establish a firm foothold in Latium depends on your governance of Ro!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
At dusk, the vice praetor of Ro, Valerius, took the new Census Officer of Ro, Platon, to see Davos in a hurry and reported, “…there are five hundred and thirty-one applying to beco citizens of Theonia, including three hundred sixty-seven slaves of Ro, one hundred and sixty-four Roman plebeians, while the rest of the Roman plebeians have a wait and see attitude…”
“You've done well, Valerius! Continue to work hard to beco an excellent official of the kingdom!” Davos didn't hesitate to praise him.
Valerius wanted to smile but not daring to laugh, making him look a bit comical.
Davos didn’t mind it and continued, “Tomorrow morning, gather these Romans who are going to beco citizens of Theonia and allocate houses to them…”
“Platon.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Go back and tell Asistes that once he finishes allocating houses to these Romans, he should imdiately start preparing the allocation of land and, at the sa ti, arrange those Romans willing to beco officials with so fanfare!”
“I understand, Your Majesty. I will inform Lord Asistes once I return.”
Davos looked at Valerius and said, “Valerius, the new praetor of Ro, has just arrived. His na is Asistes, and he will be your superior, like the forr consul of Ro. So if you have anything to ask in the future, you can consult him first, and he will also give you so new tasks. Asistes is kind, and I believe you can work well together. With your collaboration, you will govern Ro competently!”
Valerius could roughly understand Davos’ words. Although he was a bit disappointed, he still respectfully responded.
After seeing them off, Davos leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, Henipolis ca in and reported, “Your Majesty, Emilius requested to see you.”
Davos' eyes opened, and said, “Let him in.”
Emilius was forrly a slave bought by Theonia's intelligence departnt ten years ago. After undergoing several special training, he was sent to the Latium region to work on intelligence gathering on the area and create Latium's Intelligence Team, from which most of Davos' information about Ro ca from him.
When Davos led his army to attack Latium, he ordered him to lead his subordinate to cooperate with the army's action.
Despite his young age, he carries an air of maturity beyond his years. Additionally, due to his past as a slave and enduring hunger, he appears thin and diminutive. However, Davos doesn't judge him based on his appearance. Instead, he warmly addresses him, saying, “Emilius, what surprises have you brought this ti?!”
It was this unsuspecting guy who promptly sent detailed information about the city of Ro to Thurii when the Roman army ventured to invade Hernici. This crucial act solidified Davos' determination to direct Theonia's offensive towards Ro. Furthermore, it was this person who ticulously drafted the map of Ostia and tily delivered it to the palace, enabling Davos to uncover the key to launching a swift assault on the port town.
Emilius stood in front of Davos and bowed respectfully. He then eagerly said, “Your Majesty! My subordinates have infiltrated the ranks of the Roman plebeians and have co across astonishing news about so Roman plebeians wanting to harm you!”
“Oh?” Davos wasn't surprised since he had also encountered several assassination attempts over the years, which he had beco accustod to. He then gestured for Emilius to continue.
“Your Majesty, when you made your speech in the Roman Forum, I noticed that so plebeians felt displeased but didn't raise their voices in opposition. Then after your speech, several of them neither applied to beco our citizens nor obeyed the soldiers' orders to return to their hos. Instead, they quietly stayed in a house on Collis Caelius for so ti and then returned to the Roman Forum to discuss quietly with so plebeians who had been there earlier… My n crept close to them and vaguely heard them talking about ‘Camillus’, ‘the Roman army’ and such. They had even ntioned your na… then five of these Roman plebeians started lining up to apply to beco citizens of Theonia…”
Davos listened and pondered, “It seems that these Romans were preparing to attack once the Roman army arrives…”
“That's why I ca to report to you as soon as possible, Your Majesty,” Emilius said as if asking to be credited.
“Who lives in that house on Collis Caelius?” Davos asked a crucial question.
Emilius imdiately replied, “I have sent soone to inquire about it, and it seems he is Gaius Licinius Stolo.”
Davos felt a sense of familiarity with that na, but he had never known or co into contact with the Roman before, which puzzled him, ‘Is he a notable person in history?’
“…although he is a Roman plebeian, he had a great influence among the plebeians because his father was a military tribune from last year, and his newly married wife was the daughter of a renowned Roman senator Ambustus Fabius-”
Davos interrupted him with a wave of his hand and asked, “Do you an that a plebeian married the daughter of a great nobleman of Ro?!”
It was no wonder that Davos was surprised because, to his knowledge of Ro, the reason it was so difficult for a Roman plebeian to go over the nobility was because of the Roman nobility's strict restrictions they imposed on them, and even the law restricting the marriage between nobles and plebeians was clearly engraved on Ro's Law of the Twelve Tables.
“Yes, Your Majesty. It is because he was the first plebeian to marry the daughter of a great nobleman that many Roman plebeians see him as their pride and role model.” Emilius affird, “Moreover, this man is also quite outstanding. Despite being only twenty-one years old, he has already participated in several battles and achieved remarkable combat feats, earning him the civic crown. However, due to his injuries sustained during the conflict with the Volsci and our First Legion, he remained behind to recover instead of accompanying Camillus' army to Hernici….”
Davos mused, ‘The Celtic invasions of Ro and the repeated migration of the Roman plebeians over the years had instilled a sense of crisis among the Roman nobles. As a result, they gradually started yielding to the plebeians, and a pri example is the acceptance of plebeians to serve as military tribunes. The fact this man's father himself served as a Roman military tribune and that the head of the Fabii house had allowed his daughter to marry him without facing punishnt under Roman Law shows the growing trend of the Roman nobility actively recruiting talented and appealing plebeians… Fortunately, we launched our attack at the right ti. Had we waited for the enactnt of the Licinio-Sextian rogations, the tensions between the nobility and the plebeians would have eased, posing challenges to our current strategy of dismantling Ro…wait! Licinio-Sextian rogations?!’
Emilius suddenly rembered sothing and said, “Oh, right. Despite Licinius' age, he is proficient in Roman law and often writes complaints for the plebeians for free, winning their affections…”
“Gaius Licinius Stolo…” Davos muttered the na, and a thought popped into his head, ‘Could this be the sa Roman tribune from my previous life in Roman history who tirelessly fought for years and eventually persuaded the Senate to pass the Licinio-Sextian rogations, which granted relatively equal rights to the Roman plebeians?!’
Unfortunately, Davos did not major in history in his previous life. During a class on the History of Western Law, he only had a brief overview of the Licinio-Sextian rogations, which had a profound impact on Roman history. So he couldn't recall all the nas of the n involved in enacting this law or the specific ti period it occurred.
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