Chapter 107: The first council meeting (VI)

“I suggest that the wedding day should be the Marriage Day and the celebration of Hera, so that the citizens can remember the suffering and rebirth of Amendolara, and make them realize the importance of marriage and family, which is much more conductive to the unity of the citizens of Amendolara!…” Davos said solemnly and made Cornelius surprised by the depth of his consideration on the problem and his sincere thoughts for Amendolara. He nodded his head and said, “My lord, I think that all the citizens will be happy to have such a wonderful festival!”

“Yes, we all agree in establishing a celebration of Hera and Day of Marriage!” The original citizens had also expressed their approval, and not to mention the new citizens.

At this time, Hielos stood up and asked with concern, “My lord, how should we deal with the soldiers who were unable to find a woman to marry?”

Davos was prepared for this, and motioned to Cornelius to answer it.

“Before the war with the Lucanians, Amendolara had 4,000 citizens…at present, there are only more than 500 citizens and more than a thousand widows…as a result, more than 2,000 families and couples perished, and so…there are enough houses to accommodate the new citizens. Of course, if the former owner of the house has children or elderly left behind, then we hope that the new citizens can take care of them…” Said Cornelius with tears twinkling in his eyes, and the rest of the original citizens were sad.

Looking at the new citizens, Davos said it out loud, “It’s not hope, but a must, as they will definitely raise them! Because you have accepted the legacy of the original owner, including their land and wealth, so it is only natural that you should do the duty for the original owner!”

“My lord, you can rest assured that we will let our brothers take good care of the elderly and the children!” Hielos was the first to make a commitment, and the other officers also expressed their support. Amintas even said, “I will beat those, who occupies the house but doesn’t support the elderly and children, to death!”

Davos nodded, “Good. I hope that you officers can strengthen the management of the soldiers! At the same time, the council will issue a bill to carry out its implementation.” Said Davos, then he looked at Antonios, “This is the duty of the inspector. Antonios, if you find someone who violates the law and abuse or doesn’t take care the orphans and the elderly, you must report it to the council immediately, and we will deprive them of their citizenship and expel them from Amendolara!” Davos’ harsh words made everyone feel nervous.

“I will supervise them carefully!” Antonios pledge earnestly.

The original citizens nodded in silence, as they appreciate Davos on his firm protection of the rights and interests of the elderly and children.

“Well then, next, let’s talk about the issues that you are most concerned about.” Said Davos with a smile in order to ease the atmosphere, “The council will introduce a bill to ensure that each new citizen has at least 2 hectares of land. Of course, some people may be lucky enough to find a good wife and inherit more land, while others may have less. But it doesn’t matter, since I will ask Mersis, the financial officer, to make a detailed statistics of the land wealth that everyone owns, and after obtaining new lands in the future, priority will be given to the citizens who have less land. Are you all satisfied with this arrangement?”

“Satisfied!!”

“It’s fair!!” Exclaimed the crowd excitedly.

By this time, nearly two hours have passed, and it was already late, but the citizens were so excited that Davos decided to put forward an issue that he had been thinking about for a long time and had never made up his mind. He took a deep breath and stood in the center of the meeting place. Facing the crowd, he said it out loud, “Men, as citizens of a city-state, it is your right to participate in all political activities of the city-state. It is your duty and right as a soldier to fight in a war and defend the city-state. Because it is impossible for freemen and slaves to join the army of the city-state unless there is a special circumstances. Only citizens have the right to fight for the city-state, so it is also your political right.”

Both of the original and new citizens nodded with approval.

“However, it’s not easy to manage a city well. It costs money to build all kinds of public facilities. It costs money to repair the city defense and equip weapons. In case of a great disaster, we will need money to help the people. If it’s only four or five days war, the citizens can bring their own rations to solve the problem, but after extended time, the city-state will still need to buy the food that they will need, let alone hire carts, boats, laborers, and so on, which will cost money. Moreover, the public officials in our city-state have no salary at present, and all of us are willing to contribute to the city-state. In the future, the management area will be larger and the affairs will be heavier, as a public official, there will be almost no free time to take care of their own farmland and grazing in their home, his income will be less than that of the citizens who are not public officials, and this will be unfair and I am afraid that the public will no longer be willing to continue holding their position. Therefore, if a city-state wants to develop healthily, it can’t do without enough money in the treasury!”

For most of the new citizens who were born poor, they do not know that the operation of the city-state is so complex, and so they keenly listened. The original citizen felt that the young archon for life is able to think so deeply about the problems of the city-state as soon as he took office, and their worries about his lack of experience were dispelled. Cornelius, on the other hand, felt his brows twitch, and he had a hunch that something big was going to happen.

Davos continued on saying, “The revenue of the treasury of Amendolara is quite small. As Cornelius had explained the reason just now, which had hindered the development of the city-state. In the future, we will occupy more lands, and more people will join Amendolara, will they be able to fight for the city-state like us? I’m afraid that they won’t, because the reward is too little and if they obtained it easily, they won’t cherish it too much!”

“That’s right!” The original citizens cried out, as they were not satisfied with the immigration bill that Davos had proposed.

Davos, of course, understood what they were thinking. With a sneer in his hear, he said in a loud voice, “And so, I propose to charge a 1% land tax every year to the citizens of Amendolara who own a land!”

As soon as this was said, it felt like lightning hitting the ground, and the whole city hall was stunned, and it was like someone had poke a nest of hornets and they started buzzing.

Cornlius tightened his hands and feet and shouted, “No!”

“Did I hear you right? Do you want to collect land tax on the citizens of the city-state?” Asked Stromboli feeling unsure.

His attitude was still polite, while the old man, Scambras, rushed directly to Davos and pointed to Davos’ nose and asked, “ARE YOU STILL A GREEK?! Don’t you know that the tradition of the Greek city-state is that they will never collect land taxes on their citizens! You’re crazy about money! If you want to be an archon like this, then can we still live?!”

Although the new citizens had also criticized Davos, they won’t allow others to insult their leader that they respected, specially the squad leaders. With Matonis as the lead, he quickly rushed over and pushed Scambras away, “HEY OLD MAN. HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE ARCHON IN THIS WAY?”

“I’m going to say, whatever is the problem! You ignorant country bumpkin who don’t even know the serious consequences of having land tax!” Scambras face turned red and curse in contempt.

This angered the group of young squad leaders, “WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Say it again, believe it or not, I’ll beat you up!…” He rebuke while pushing Scambras.

The weak body of Scambras was unable to bear the strength of these experienced officers, and he sat down on the ground grasping for breath. Cornelius and the other original citizen rushed forward to help him, and some have quarreled with the officers.

The two sides were in chaos.

“QUIET! BE QUIET!” Davos was also anxious now, and went directly to stop them from fighting.

Finally, the two sides were separated.

Scambras was still swearing, and Matonis was glaring, then he lowered his head and did not dare to speak.

At this moment, Mersis stood up and said, “One percent of tax is very low! In Persia, we all know that their land tax is over 10%!…” As a financial officer, he is certainly concerned about loading the treasury.

“That is Persia, the tradition of the Greek is to never collect land tax from its citizen!” Stromboli retorted.

“There was in the era of monarchy.”

“That was hundreds of years ago, and it’s now the era of democracy. Archon Davos himself had promised that he would ‘not be a king’. I think that if there is a land tax, all citizens will oppose it!” Stromboli looked at Davos in a quiet but threatening tone.

Davos looked at the crowd. Due to the prestige of Davos, the new citizens did not say anything against it, and they just continued to watch. While the original citizens obviously have dissatisfaction on their faces. Only Mersis was really supportive. Then Davos laughed and said, “I haven’t finished my proposal, and you are all so excited. Don’t worry, and allow me to finish my proposal first. Citizens who have lived in the city of Amendolara before today, will have their land to be tax-free in order to thank them as the descendants of the city founder and their contributions to Amendolara for the past 200 years. When the treasury has money, we will cast a batch of ‘Amendolara Founder Silver Badge’, and each original citizens will receive one, which they can keep forever and wear it on grand public occasions, so that those who had come after will know that their family has a long tradition and glory.”

As soon as he said this, the original citizens and Scambras, who was still chattering, did not speak anymore. This is glory! Although they had no choice but to let the mercenaries join Amendolara, their pride and the reality of getting oppressed by the aborigines made them uncomfortable, and Davos had given them a chance to show off their identity forever! Compared with this, the tax money is nothing, not to mention that it won’t be collected from them.

“Agree!” Scambras was the first to shout.

“This is not fair! You will collecting tax on us, but not them!” Exlaimed Matonis in discontent.

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