Antonios hurriedly opened the page and saw three names being circled by Davest. He was familiar with these three names. The first one was his brother-in-law Pafer Gres, and the other two were also children and relatives of Naxos and Catanai, who were very familiar with him. Although they were all the lowest-level team officers to be promoted - the team leader (the team leader is not included in the ranks of officers, and the legion commander can be appointed directly), he knew that these three people might not meet the promotion requirements.

He was not very clear about the performance of the other two in the training camp, but he knew exactly what his brother-in-law was. When he was in Turiyi, Pafergres was punished by the team officer for being late for many times in military training, and he also reported to him. After his severe criticism, he barely performed better. To be honest, when Pafergres was driven back to Naxos by Raodichien, Antonios also breathed a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, this idiot returned to his hometown and caused even more trouble!

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I really... I don't know that Pafergris is on this list. With my understanding of him, his ability... is not enough to serve as the team leader." Antonios stuttered, and he regretted: Why didn't he check this list carefully again, so he made such a big mistake!

"You are pretty pertinent, but as the kingdom's military minister, it is unqualified to say such words." Davers looked at him, and although the volume was light, his tone was heavy: "Look at this again."

As he said that, he handed Antonios another letter, which was written by Leotizides, the current commander of the Eighth Legion. In the letter, he talked about the military training situation of the Eighth Legion and gave a special introduction to the military training performance of the Pafer Gris and the other words "looked, not trained seriously, talked back to the instructor...", etc., came into Antonios's eyes, making him frightened.

Leotizides! Antonios remembered this person deeply: he performed well in the battle of the First Legion and was promoted to captain in just a few years. In the Battle of Brindisi, King Pucheti led the remaining elite troops to fight back dyingly. Most of the companies of the Dionian Legion dispersed and began to pursue the defeated soldiers. Only Leotizides also strongly controlled the formation of his brigades and blocked the path of the Puchetis to the central army where Davers was located, and bought precious time for the arrival and encirclement of other troops, thus leaving a deep impression on Davers.

After the commander of the Eighth Legion stepped down and when the captain of the First Legion, Ktisus, refused to take office, Davers personally called Leotizides, who was then the third leader of the First Legion, to take over, thus making him the only infantry commander in the Kingdom of Dionia who was not from a former mercenary and the youngest legion commander.

This person is usually serious and does not like to interact with others. He is strict and serious in military training. When he is angry, he will beat and scold soldiers. Some people in the army gave him the nickname "Crazy".

Antonios believed in the situation described in his letter, but what Davers is, and about the military training performance of these unknown people, he also wrote a letter to ask Leotizides far away in Sicily. This incident itself shocked Antonios.

"Your Majesty, I...I'm not able to manage the Ministry of Military Affairs well. Such a big mistake has occurred. I ask...I ask Your Majesty for punishment!" Antonios bent down and bowed his head, accusing him in fear and fear.

"You deserve to be punished." Davers's eyes were slightly cold: "Your brother-in-law killed five or six female slaves in a row, and his methods were cruel. Such a person could be promoted to the captain of the team! I saw that after the news spread, I was afraid that the senators in the Senate would gather together to impeach you, and the civil guards would protest! You..." Davers sighed, as if he was worried about him.

Antonios was sweating in cold sweat, bent even lower, and said stutteringly: "Your Majesty, I...I request to resign from the position of Minister of Military Affairs..."

After a while, he heard Davers's regretful voice: "Okay... It's okay. You resign from the position of Minister of Military Affairs on the grounds of being sick. Don't go to the Senate for the time being. You should avoid this period of time... Also, don't look for someone else about your brother-in-law anymore. The court will give him a fair ruling."

"Yes..." Antonios responded in a low voice, feeling a hint of relief in his heart, but what came was more disappointment.

Davers put down the roster and letter, and then asked softly: "Antonios, you have been in Sicily for many years, and your wife is from Sicily. You should know a lot about Sicily. Can you tell me why they are all veterans. Most of the elders in other places have settled their homes in Turiyi. Even if they own land in other towns, they mainly use it as a place to increase their income. Occasionally, they take their family to stay there. However, Sicily's elders buy as much land as possible in Sicily and use it as another family, so that some families can live for a long time, and even make extensive contacts with public officials in the local area to increase their prestige in the local area. Why?"

Although Davers' tone was calm, Antonios felt Davers' suppressed anger from this plain tone. He became more and more frightened, racking his brains to make him sweat again: "Your Majesty, I think these elders in Sicily and our great Greek elders have different behaviors because of the different environments they encountered..."

"Oh, tell me." Davers raised his eyebrows slightly.

Antonios thought for a while before he said cautiously: "Your Majesty, because Naxos and Katanai were destroyed by Syracuse, their people lost their homes and were forced to go into exile. In order to survive, they had to build settlements in the mountains, elect leaders, and lead them to defend against the Sikels who invaded them. From time to time, Syracuse organized to clear out their mercenaries and wild beasts in the mountains. Many people died and their lives were very difficult. These only made them miss their fallen hometown more. Therefore, after regaining the lost land, they cherished the land in their hometown.

The leaders of those exiles eventually became the elders of Dionia. During the years they were exiled, they had become the pillars of the exiled people in Sicily. They asked them to solve any difficulties they had. After joining Dionia, these elders still maintained these habits...

Moreover, most of these elders were nobles. Before Naxos and Katanai were destroyed, they served as generals and members of the city-state. They were not like elders of the Great Greece. Before the rise of our Kingdom of Dionys, the Tarantum Alliance, the Turiyi Alliance, the Crotone Alliance, the Lokri Alliance, and the Lijim Alliance were basically stable and formed a balance. But in Sicily, except for Syracuse and Carthage, the generals and members of other city-states need to constantly make decisions based on the changes in the situation on the island, whether to unite with other city-states to fight against these two powerful states? Or to rely on one of these two powerful states... So they had to often maintain friendly relations with the neighboring countries, the Syracuses and the Carthaginians, which is why they like to hold banquets, give gifts everywhere, and form cliques."

"You know very clearly. It seems that marrying a Sicilian woman is beneficial." Davers said meaningfully, and then said in a stressful tone: "These bad habits of the Sicilians have been learned by some of our elders, and the impact is very bad! It was the Catanian plains that were incorporated into the Kingdom of Dionys, and it was not Dionys that became part of their Sicily. Anyone must strictly abide by the Dionys law! It seems that ten years have passed, and they have not realized this!"

Hearing the last sentence, Antonios became more and more frightened and did not dare to answer the conversation.

"Antonios, my old friend, although you are sick and resting at home, you cannot overeat and hurt your body! Now that the Donis are defeated in the Ofanto River, it will not take long before their territory will be conquered by us. There are still many difficult matters there, which require such capable veterans as you!" Davers' encouragement made the frustrated Antonios excited, and he responded excitedly: "Your Majesty, I am always ready for your call!"

Davers watched him leave the office, and his expression slowly turned cold. Although he knew very well that the Sicilian elders led by Raodichien only wanted to make their son develop better in the future, so that they would have the idea of ​​the army. Although they became the army officer and had no right in daily social life, they had a great advantage when serving as a public office in the kingdom, or running for local councillors and civilian protection officers, and were the priority, and their identities would also be respected by the people in daily life.

But Davers was very angry at their practice of disrupting the order of the army. Since the establishment of Dionia, he has always kept the army that laid the foundation of his power in his hands. Other veterans could not get in the hands at all. He decided to appoint and remove officers, and the formulation of military law was mainly decided by him. He might discuss it with the main generals, but it would never be decided by the Senate. Therefore, the army was completely a closed system. But unexpectedly, more than ten years later, bad signs began to appear. The personnel of the Ministry of Military Affairs might have been bribed by these Sicilian veterans, and perhaps in order to please Antonios, they violated the regulations and included the unqualified Pafer Gres and others on the promotion list.

Davers happened to be on the desk because of the Naxos case, and then checked the promotion list of the Eighth Corps. So are there any other team officials who were promoted who were not qualified? Davers didn't dare to think about it.

Thanks to the arrival of the evil moon comet, reuss, love domineering the world 888 for the reward! Your support is my greatest motivation for writing!!
Chapter completed!