Hylos expressed his gratitude for Cornelius’s veiled compliment.

Davos said, “Let me ask Amendolara to recommend a suitable Patrol Captain.”

Cornelius immediately perked up. “Lord Archon, please speak.”

“Epitenes. He will make an excellent Patrol Captain,” Davos said firmly, pointing to the back row.

“Huh?!” Epitenes, who had been speaking in a low voice with Tspites, hadn’t expected to be called out. He replied in surprise, “Why me?!”

“To make you focus more energy on the League’s administrative affairs and set a good example for the soldiers under your command, instead of chasing after Theonia’s young men all day!” Davos said, half-joking and half-serious.

Everyone laughed heartily. Epitenes’ fondness for handsome boys was well known. In fact, many senators shared this preference; Epitenes was just more obvious about it. The Greeks’ fondness for and mentorship of young boys was not only a fashion but also a tradition. Although Davos personally felt uncomfortable with it, he respected it and didn’t want to force a change. Aside from this point, what Davos appreciated most about Epitenes was his ability to think calmly on the battlefield and respond flexibly to complex situations. He always completed the tasks assigned to him, often exceeding expectations.

Under Davos’s pressure and Cornelius’s repeated requests, Epitenes finally had to agree.

Epitenes’ helpless expression once again made Amyntas and the others clutch their bellies in laughter.

By this point in the meeting, it was already past noon. Cornelius announced a half-hour recess. The slaves who had been waiting outside the Senate House immediately entered, bringing food and water to their masters to fill their stomachs.

Even during the half-hour break, Davos had no free time. Chewing on bread, he discussed with Scombras and Hylos the problems they would need to solve after taking office, and how the two cities could coordinate and strengthen communication to deal with any situations that might arise from the south at any time.

Then, Kunogelata approached him to discuss how to arrange for the five newly appointed senators. As senators, their families should naturally be settled in Thurii to facilitate the fulfillment of their duties. Even if they served as Chief Executives of other cities, they would not move out of their residences in Thurii. After all, the term of a city Chief Executive was only two years, while a senator’s term was for life.

There was still plenty of idle public land within Thurii, controlled by the Senate and not easily granted. Allocating a small plot for new senators to build residences would certainly not be free. The “Theonia Land Law” had clear regulations on this; even Davos had to pay market price when buying land. Due to the large influx of population over the past year or so, the price of residential land in Thurii had risen repeatedly. Moreover, after Theonia defeated Croton, this upward trend was likely to rise sharply.

Kunogelata hoped that the Senate would sell the land to the new senators at the original price to demonstrate the Theonia Senate’s sincerity and appease these newcomers.

Davos agreed. He also considered that if any of the five new senators from Crimisa genuinely couldn’t afford the sum, the treasury could advance the payment, to be repaid later.

The half-hour break ended, and the Senate meeting resumed.

Davos stood up and presented his first proposal. “In this war with Croton, although Theonia was victorious, some problems were exposed. The most important and urgent one to solve is the navy!”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, it immediately resonated strongly with the senators.

“Lord Archon is right! In this war, the greatest damage the Crotoniates inflicted on us was their fleet constantly raiding the coast, burning several villages in Thurii and killing many of our people. To this day, Thurii’s public officials are still struggling with resettling the people and rebuilding their homes!” Kunogelata complained.

“If Theonia also had a navy, and one as powerful as our army, then Croton should have surrendered when we won the decisive battle. There would have been no need to besiege Crimisa at all!” Amyntas emphasized.

“The trade of the Theonia City-State Alliance is becoming more and more prosperous, and Theonia’s territory is expanding rapidly. We need a powerful fleet to protect our maritime trade, prevent our long coastline from being raided by enemy fleets, and stop our ports from being blockaded by enemy warships!” Marigi reminded loudly.

“That’s right! We need a powerful navy to protect the safety of the Theonia City-State Alliance!” Everyone expressed their agreement.

“Since we have reached a consensus, my proposal is—” Davos looked at everyone and said, “In addition to accelerating the completion of the three triremes currently under construction, we will build another seven triremes this year. I have asked Enanilous; Thurii’s shipyard does not have enough docks to complete such a large order. Crimisa also has a relatively large shipyard with the capacity to build triremes, so we can give them a small portion of the order to complete. From now on, we will build ten triremes every year until we have 50 triremes after five years. At the same time, we must also equip ourselves with 20 medium warships (penteconters) and ten small warships (50-man ships), thereby possessing a relatively powerful Theonia navy of 80 warships.”

Everyone thought this plan was feasible, except for Mersis, who objected. “No! No! This way, the League will have to spend over a hundred talents more each year. That’s too much!”

“Although it is a bit much, I believe our treasury can fully bear it. Last year alone, from land tax, land rent tax, and trade tax, the treasury received over 200 talents. And this year, Marigi’s lowest estimate for me is at least double the treasury income.” When Davos said this, many senators were surprised. Unknowingly, Theonia’s treasury income was about to equal that of Taranto and Croton. Taking out a small portion of the money to build a fleet should be more than enough.

“Gentlemen, Lord Mersis, in fact, building ten triremes a year won’t cost over a hundred talents.” Marigi stood up and reminded everyone, “The cost of building warships mainly consists of two parts: timber and manufacturing fees. In the mountains of our League’s territory, especially the mountains of Lucania, there are countless high-quality cedar trees most suitable for building triremes. I heard that Athens had a specific agreement with Thurii back then, where Thurii had to provide a certain amount of shipbuilding timber to Athens every year.”

“There was indeed such an agreement. Thurii had to provide at least a thousand pieces of ship timber to Athens every year, and double that if necessary,” Enanilous said. Initially, to fulfill this agreement, the people of Thurii felled trees in large numbers for decades. Although they earned some money from the timber, the older cedar trees in the mountains around Thurii became fewer and fewer. Moreover, Athens had over a dozen large shipyards and didn’t need to build ships in Thurii. Enanilous’s family had always complained about this. Later, due to excessive logging, many barren mountains appeared around Thurii. The people discovered this drawback and began purchasing timber from other city-states in Magna Graecia to resell to Athens, earning a small price difference.

“In the later stages of the war between Athens and Sparta, after the Spartan navy gained the upper hand, we were forced to cancel this agreement,” Kunogelata added.

Davos nodded.

After becoming the League Archon, he was aware of this agreement. He even believed that the Athenian general Pericles agreeing to establish Thurii and calling for the creation of a great Pan-Hellenic city-state was just a high-sounding excuse; one of the true strategic goals was timber. Athens had two major inherent flaws.

First, its homeland did not produce much grain and relied on imports to sustain the city-state’s huge population. Therefore, it established many colonies along the coast from Greece to the Black Sea or controlled key city-states, such as Byzantium, to ensure the smooth flow of grain routes from the Black Sea. It needed a powerful navy.

Furthermore, the Athenians ambitiously wanted to establish a powerful Mediterranean Greek city-state alliance, which required a powerful navy even more. However, Athens’ second major flaw was that its homeland lacked forests, let alone trees capable of building high-quality warships. Given the scale of Athens’ navy and merchant fleet, the timber required must have been a huge amount.

Therefore, finding ship timber became a strategic issue concerning whether Athens could maintain its power. Egypt had no forests. Persia had timber but would not sell it to its enemy, Athens. Northern Greece and Thrace had forests, but being inland, logging and transportation were issues, and the costs were high.

Therefore, Magna Graecia, traversed by the Apennine Mountains, became an important timber purchasing ground for Athens, and Thurii, established by the Athenians, naturally became a major timber supply base.

“Therefore, I request the Senate to discuss a plan to approve the felling of a certain number of cedar trees by League slaves each year as warship timber. This won’t cost a single obol. As for the manufacturing fee—” Marigi looked at Enanilous and said, seemingly joking, “I imagine Lord Enanilous surely won’t charge the League too high a fee.”

Enanilous smiled helplessly.

Everyone felt that Marigi’s words made sense, and their worries about the cost dissipated considerably.

“But have you considered the maintenance and upkeep of these warships after they are built? That is also a significant expense!” Mersis said unyieldingly.

“Enanilous and I have discussed this issue,” Davos said, and Enanilous nodded, confirming it was true.

“When there is no war, we certainly won’t leave the warships idle at the docks. Apart from a small portion patrolling the League’s coast and a portion undergoing maintenance in the docks, the rest can serve as escorts for merchant ships, especially on the route from the mouth of the Adriatic Sea to the Greek mainland, where pirate hijackings occur frequently. They can also temporarily serve as large cargo ships, transporting goods for friendly city-states… You see, this not only earns maintenance fees for our navy but also trains the crew’s sailing skills. Isn’t that great?”

After Davos finished explaining his idea, Mersis fell silent.

“In addition, we need to find a qualified commander for this soon-to-be-established Theonia Navy. His current task is to assist Military Officer Philesius in supervising the construction of warships; coordinate with Treasurer Mersis to audit funds; and in the future, when the warships are built, he will also recruit sailors, crew the ships, conduct regular military training, arrange coastal patrols, and—” Davos emphasized his tone—”win naval victories. Does anyone have a qualified candidate to recommend?”