Lycassus closed the door and hung a wooden sign on the door that said "Go out, don't open a doctor".

"Hey, Niko Stratus, you're going out?!" The owner of the butcher shop across the street shouted loudly, brandishing a sharp knife for meat.

Nick Stratus snorted, ignoring the butcher. He had always thought that it was this butcher who was shouting and selling on the other side every day that made the rich man reluctant to come to his clinic, and he had the idea of moving the clinic several times, but the price of housing in the city of Crotone was not low, and the house he could afford was not as good as here, so he had not been kind to this rude neighbor all along.

"How long are you going out?!" The butcher shopkeeper, accustomed to the doctor's attitude, saw that he did not answer, but continued to ask loudly.

The well-behaved Lycassus saw that the teacher's face was gradually gloomy, and hurriedly said for him: "I'm going to be out for about 20 days, Uncle Kus." ”

"So long!" The owner of the butcher shop exclaimed: "We are sick, what should we do if you are not there?!" ”

Nick Stratus's cheeks twitched a few times, and he couldn't help but turn around and shout, "Then you just endure not getting sick until I come back!" ”

"It's not up to me to decide whether I'm sick or not in this life, it's all a prank of the gods!" The butcher complained.

Nick Stratus didn't want to ignore her anymore and strode forward.

"Dr. Nick Stratus, where are you going after all this time?" Another person asked.

This time, Nicostratus stopped, because the person who inquired was a bakery merchant, and he was a rare and important customer, and he paid a lot of money for each visit.

"Go to Turiyi." He replied earnestly.

"Turiyi? You were invited to heal, right? The merchant saw Lycassus carrying a medical box and said proudly, "The level of medical skills of our Crotone is famous in all of Great Greece!" Dionya is a larger territory and can fight, but in other respects it is far from Crotone, which has a long history! ”

His words resonated with the owner of the butcher: "You are so right! Those people in the north are actually homeless, how can they have any culture and city-state traditions! ”

Dionia's influence in Greater Greece is growing year by year, leaving the common people of the once powerful state of Crotone feeling very lost, and out of the psychology of sour grapes, they always like to compare some of the advantages of their city-state with Dionia, and then ridicule the Dioonians in order to obtain some kind of psychological satisfaction.

Nick Stratus said a few perfunctory words and walked briskly out of his block.

"Ignorance." Only then did he spit out a sentence softly.

The rise of Croto's medicine originated a hundred years ago in Democaides. As a young man, the Crotone man aspired to be the best doctor in the Mediterranean, and he traveled all over the world to learn medicine, which he practiced in Athens, where he earned a lot of money. Later, he went to Samos to treat his tyrant, but when Persia attacked Asia Minor, Samos was captured, and he became a prisoner and was escorted to Susa, which coincided with the illness of Darius, the king of kings, and he was cured, so he was released from prison and served the royal family, but he was restricted from returning to Greece.

After living in Persia for five or six years, he missed his homeland, thousands of miles away.

One day, Atosha**, the queen of Darius and the daughter of Cyrus, the founding monarch of Persia, suffered a lump on her body, which no one could heal and afflicted her. Hearing of Democaides' medical skills, Atosha reluctantly sent the Greek to the inner court for healing, promising that the queen would grant him any request if he was cured.

As a result, Democaides restored Queen Atosha's health, and at his request, Atosha suggested to Darius that Democaides could travel around Greece with Persian spies to gather information in preparation for the future conquest of Greece.

Darius agreed, and Democaides vowed to return to Susa.

Having left Persia, he sought an opportunity to escape from the Persian surveillance and flee back to Crotone.

At that time, although Persia was powerful, it had not yet started a war with Greece proper, let alone affected the western Mediterranean, which was thousands of miles away, so it had to be stopped.

Democaides opened a clinic in his hometown, recruited apprentices, and selflessly passed on his years of medical experience and the integration of Greek and Persian medical skills, which greatly improved the medical skills of the city-state of Crotone, and achieved the leading position of Doctor Crotone in Greater Greece for a hundred years.

However, in recent years, the level of medical skills of Dionya has improved as rapidly as the strength of its alliance, and it is said that some incurable diseases that cannot be solved by Dr. Crotone can be miraculously cured or improved, and some terminally ill Greeks from non-Dionian alliances try to go to Dionia's hospital for treatment, and then most of them return to their homes happily. In this way, the reputation of "Dionian doctors who were highly skilled and taught by the king of Hades" gradually spread......

As far as Nick Stratus knew, there were many wealthy citizens in Crotone who had been visiting Tourii, the center of Dionia, in recent years, and the doctors of Dioonia had also set up an organization called the Southern Italian Medical Forum, which was held every spring, inviting doctors from the Dionian Union and its allies to gather in Touriyi to discuss new medical discoveries and exchange medical skills. Last year was the first edition, and the conservative Niko Stratus did not go, but in the chat with his returning colleagues, the only words that came out of their mouths about the new medical theories and methods learned from Dionya made Nicostratus surprised and made him think deeply.

So, at the beginning of this year, when the Turii Hospital extended an invitation to the various allies, he couldn't wait to go.

Originally, it only took half a day to reach Turrij by boat from the port and with a tailwind, but the sad Nick Stratus had a seasickness problem and had to take the land route.

When they came to the North Gate, another doctor, Stasipurs, was already waiting there, and the three of them left the city of Crotone, and walked on the soft dirt road until the north.

The three of them came to the pontoon bridge over the Neto River.

During the Second War of Crotone, the pontoon bridge was burned down to prevent the Ionians from breaking under the city. When it was rebuilt, I don't know why, but the bridge deck was not only narrow, but also less stable than before.

Stasipurs couldn't help but vomit on the way to cross the bridge: "The Turi Ikrati River is a real wooden bridge, not only is it wide and flat, but you can also cross boats under the bridge. Compared to them, our pontoon bridge is more like it was built by indigenous people! ”

Nick Stratus didn't speak, he remembered that last year there was a citizens' assembly in Crotone, specifically to discuss whether to invite the Ionians to help them build a wooden bridge over the Neto River, and the self-respecting people of Crotone were mostly opposed, so that the bill could not be passed, and Nick Stratus himself was one of them, and his idea was the same as most people, as long as facilities such as roads and bridges could be used, and the money from the treasury should be used to repair public facilities such as theaters, arenas, and temples, It is even possible to give out additional benefits to citizens on special occasions.

Because of the blessing of the gods, in recent years, the wind and rain in Great Greece have been smooth, and the crops have been harvested continuously, and it coincides with the frequent wars in the surrounding areas in the past two years, and the price of grain has risen. So this spring came early, and the citizens who were full of energy planted wheat seedlings in the fields early with their slaves.

Walking on the Croton Plains, as far as the eye can see, there are green wheat fields as far as the eye can see. Slaves toiled hard in the fields.

In the spring, there is a lot of rain and the roads become muddy. In order to prevent falling, Nick Stratus and his party walked slowly, and it was only in the afternoon that they walked out of Crotone's territory.

As they trudged through the slippery mud with one foot deep and one shallow, and their feet began to swell, they were relieved to see a flat, solid, and spacious road.

"Teacher Stasipurs." Lycasus, who had never been out of the house since he was a child, shouted excitedly: "This is the Crimesa built by Dionia-Asprostum Avenue that you said?!" ”

"That's right." Stasipulus glanced at Nick Stratus: "Old friend, what do you think of this road?" ”

Nick Stratus snorted, didn't speak, walked straight forward, came to the sidewalk outside the sidewalk and found a vacant stone pier to sit down, he had a little problem with his waist, just walked down the road, he felt that his waist was about to break.

Lycasus, young and energetic, saw the traffic on the avenue, and it was very lively, and he even crossed the gutter, and tried to walk on the avenue, but he was almost hit by a pack cart, and to the scolding of the coachman, he retreated awkwardly to the sidewalk.

Nick Stratus spoke of him, and then quieted down a bit. But after a while, he pulled Stasipus again and asked, "What is that car for?" ”

Following the direction of his finger, a two-horse-drawn pack cart headed north at a rapid pace, with the Dionian symbol "Two-strand fork and three-headed dog" painted on both sides of the tarpulin, and the vehicles on the avenue deliberately avoided on both sides.

"That's a mail truck."

"Mail truck?"

"That's what the Dionians call it, and it's responsible for delivering letters and parcels to the people between the two places, and it's said that the Dionya has a department dedicated to this." Stasipulus said.

"This method is not bad, and it is convenient for the people of the city-state." Nick Stratus chimed in.

"How nice it would be that we also have a mail truck in Crotone! At least deliver medicine to the patient, so you don't have to run back and forth and waste time. Lycasus said with some envy.

"Young man, that costs money." Stasipulus sighed.