Polydorus recounted: "...... In the Archaic era, the king of Arcadia, Lycaon, was arrogant and disrespectful to the god Zeus. One day he came up with an evil idea to tease Zeus, so he killed one of his subordinates, made his flesh into a soup, and invited Zeus to a feast. Zeus saw through his ruse, destroyed the palace with lightning, turned Lycaon into a wolf, and destroyed his kingdom......"

"I know this legend that it is normal for the king of Arcadia to blaspheme the Lord God, and it is normal for him and his kingdom to be punished by Zeus, but what does this have to do with the Mesapi?" Phellisius interjected curiously.

Polydorus looked at Davers, and when he saw that he was also interested, he smiled and said, "Yes, everyone in Greece knows the story of Lycaon, but his story is not over...... Lycaon had three sons, and when the kingdom was destroyed, they fled across the Adriatic Sea by boat with their own people and slaves to settle in southern Italy. ”

Polydorus glanced at the crowd and said in a deep voice, "The names of these three sons are Damny, Puchetti, and Mesappi. ”

"Oh." Phellisius was a little surprised.

"Over the centuries, the people led by these three sons have grown and grown to distinguish themselves from each other by naming their tribes after the first three chiefs...... This legend has always been circulated among the Mesapi people, and we in Tarantum have been at war with them for a long time, so we know it. ”

After Polydorus finished speaking, Kapouls asked worriedly, "There is also a Dawny?!" These three races turned out to be the same race, and when we fought with the Mapu coalition forces, would the Dawnies suddenly join as well?! ”

Polydorus hurriedly explained: "Although they used to be the same race, but in the past few hundred years, whether it is Mesapi, Puchetti, or Daoni, they are all large races with dozens of tribes and more than 100,000 people, each with its own fixed territory, not only their political systems are different, but they also have conflicts of interest with each other, and even become mortal enemies.

To the north of the Puchetti people, the Dawni are said to have great river plains, fertile land, and four or five large towns. Sandwiched between the Daoni and the Mesapi, the Puchetti had neither fertile land, nor as good port cities and trade channels as the Mesapi, and had the most difficult development to develop, so it had previously fought with the Daoni for land on both sides of the Ovanti River, so the two races were mortal enemies and could not be united. To the south, the Puchetti and Mesapi clashes from time to time, and it's only because of our presence in Tarantum that the fighting between them is not as fierce......"

Davos listened as he looked down at a sketch of Tarantum and the surrounding powers that Polydorus had previously drawn at his request. At this time, he suddenly asked, "What is the difference between the political systems of the three races of Daoni, Puchetti, and Mesapi?" ”

Polydorus didn't expect Davers to ask this, frowned, and thought carefully for a while before saying, "Hmm...... Now the political system of the various city-states of Messapi is somewhat similar to that of our Greek city-states, but more than ten years ago, they were still a unified kingdom, and King Atas had warmly entertained the Athenians who were going to attack Syracuse, and also sent a large number of warriors to join the ......" As he spoke, Polydorus sneered: "Massapi's territory is surrounded by our Greek city-states, and there is often trade, so the Messapi people have long been influenced by the democratic ideas of the Greeks. and the town had been clamoring to limit the king's power, but Atas was a fool and had close contacts with the Athenians. How did he know about the insidiousness of the Athenians, and as a result, within a few years of the fall of the Athenian army in Syracuse, the Mesapi nobles revolted, and the rule of Atas was overthrown, and he himself died...... Then, the towns of Mesapi became independent one after another, and now they were basically ruled by nobles, who elected an archon each year to rule the city-states together with the council of nobles, and these city-states of the Mesapi formed a union of city-states with Urdière, which rarely fought with each other, and was relatively united—"

Polydorus said this in a somewhat low tone, making Davers realize that the fledgling union of the city-states of Mesapi seemed to be causing more headaches for the Tarantums.

"And Puchetti and Daoni are still ruled by kings......" Polydorus quickly turned the conversation to the other two races: "The difference is that the king of Puchetti is more powerful, while the king of the Daoni is ...... It is said that it is subject to the constraints of each castle lord......"

Davers listened thoughtfully, then asked, "If Mesapi and Puchetti have been in conflict all along, how can they form an alliance?" ”

Polydorus smiled bitterly, "You can stop me...... However, according to the analysis of our Senate, the reason why the Mesapi people are willing to ally with Puchetti is probably because they are frightened by our Tarantum attack! ”

There was a hint of pride on Polydorus's face, Davers nodded, he looked at the map again, but he was thinking in his heart: before, Tarantum's attack on Mesapi, I heard that Tarantum's casualties were even greater, but they occupied Brindisi and Manduria, once the newly occupied territory was stabilized, they could cut off Mesapi from the north, and Tarantum's naval strength was one of the best in Greater Greece, so Tarantum could surround the Mesapi and slowly eat it. The Tarantum people died in battle, and there were free people to replenish, but the Mesapi people died one less and only weakened, which is probably the original plan of the Tarantum senators.

"As for the Puchetti, perhaps they would rather be the Mesapi of the same blood as their realm than the Gentiles! Besides, with an alliance with the Mesapi, the Puchetti can deal with the Daunis with all their might......"

This was just Polydorus's speculation, and Davers felt: there must be other reasons, otherwise Puchetti himself would not be in a good position, and would be willing to take the risk of offending a great Greek powerhouse!

"The Puchetti sent a large army out to fight, aren't they afraid that the Dawneys will take the opportunity to attack?" Capps asked.

"Hearing that Puchetti attacked Dauni last year, was defeated and lost the land they occupied on the south bank of the Ofanto River, Puchetti finally signed an armistice with Dauni."

"An armistice will ensure that the Daunis don't take advantage of the situation to attack?"

Polydorus shrugged his shoulders and said with some annoyance: "Who knows what is going on in the stupid minds of these natives, anyway, the Puchetti are already on our land!" ”

Dracos yawned, uninterested in what Polydorus had to say, but was embarrassed to interrupt when he saw that Davers was listening attentively.

At this time, he saw that Polydorus had stopped speaking, and could not wait to ask: "What are the characteristics of the armies of the Mesapi and Puchetti?" ”

Speaking of this question, Polydorus obviously had emotions again: "The Mesapi used to be the same as the Puchetti, they had a lot of cavalry, but their infantry was not good, they did not have good armor, and the formation was loose, they lacked discipline, they did not know how to arrange the phalanx, so they never dared to fight us head-on, only knew sneak attacks and incursions, like cowardly robbers!" But the Athenians—" Polydorus doubled his voice: "We are a sub-state of Sparta, and of course we were on the side of our mother state in the Peloponnesian War, but the Athenians went to the aid of the foreigners, providing the Mesapi with armor and weapons, and sending men to train them in heavy infantry, and encouraging the Mesapi to oppose us!" The Mesapi have mastered the tactics of our Greeks, and with the support of Athens, they have hurt us more than ever in Tarantum! If it weren't for Acheta—" Polydorus looked slightly gloomy as he said this.

Dracos did not take into account the change in Polydorus's mood at all, and continued to ask: "What are the combat characteristics of the Mesapi cavalry?" ”

Polydorus glanced at the others helplessly, and seeing that everyone was very interested, he had to say again: "The Mesapi are good at riding, it is said that they can control the direction of their horses without grasping the reins, and they are good at throwing spears on horses, which is a certain threat to our heavy infantry. ”

Davers and Philicus looked at each other.

Polydorus saw it in his eyes and said busily: "Although the Mesapi cavalry is more powerful than our cavalry, the cavalry is only auxiliary in battle after all, and it is the heavy infantry that really plays a role on the battlefield. Even if the Mesapi had the help of the Athenians, their heavy infantry could not compare to the real Greek heavy infantry! ”

Drax asked, "How many people are there in the Mep coalition army?" How many more citizens can you send to Tarantum to fight? ”

Polydorus looked at him, spread his hands, and said, "I am just a messenger, and it is up to the Senate to decide how many citizens to send to war, and I can't be the master." As for how many people are in the coalition army...... We don't even know whether Acheta is alive or dead, let alone the exact number of Meppu's allied forces. However, I personally estimate that there should be no more than 30,000 people, and the citizens who can fight in Tarantum now include the garrisons in Brindisi and Manduria, at least 16,000 young and strong citizens, and you have 14,000 people from Dionia, plus 3,000 people from Metapontum and Heraclia, the total number of our coalition forces is far more than 30,000, and it should not be difficult to defeat the Maphu coalition army! ”

……………………

Sending Polydorus away, Davers and the others returned to the mansion and continued their deliberations.

"Lord Davers, if it is true that Tarantum can send tens of thousands of men to join us, as the messenger said, then we can go to Manduriya's aid first." Dracos pointed to the map and said confidently, "Our forces are twice as large as the combined forces of Mesapi and Puchetti, and we can not only defeat them, but even consider eating some of them." That way, when we go north to reinforce Brindisi, it will be a lot easier. ”