"We don't have any other cities in Crotone, and it's a bit too wasteful to use the money from the treasury to set up a mail truck to deliver letters. If...... Aspraustum still belongs to us, but we can consider it. But in that case, our roads and bridges will have to be built like this. Stasipurs stomped his foot. Indeed, the uneven dirt roads of Crotone could easily cause the carriage to fall apart.

"Aspraustum!" Speaking of this, it was a pain in the hearts of the people of Crotone, Nick Stratus snorted and scolded angrily: "It's all to blame for the incompetence of the council!" You know, a few years ago this was our Croton Plains, and it was fertile land! Now it's all to the Ionians......"

"It's time for us to go, or we won't be able to rest in Crimesa tonight!" Stasipurs changed the subject and reminded the two.

"How far is it from Crimesa?" Nick Stratus asked, rubbing his thighs, a little tired from his infrequent movements.

Stasipulus stood up, looked ahead, pointed ahead and said: "Lycasus, you go and see the stele, how far is it to Crimesa?" ”

"Is there a distance engraved on the stele?" Lycassus walked over confusedly.

After a while, he pointed to the stele and shouted: "Crimesa 20 li, is this it?" ”

"That's right."

"And ...... The next line carved a small house, written 5 li, what does it refer to? ”

"That means there is a post five miles ahead, which can provide a short rest, food, and even lodging." A pedestrian next to Lycasus replied.

"Oh, thank you!" Lycassus hurriedly thanked him politely.

"You're doctors?" The man asked with a smile when he saw the medical box he was carrying.

"Yes, I went with my teacher to Turii for a ...... Belch...... Medical Forum. ”

"Dionia's doctors are highly skilled, and with the blessing of Hades, they can revive the dying, so you go and learn, but you've found the right place!" The man looked clear: "What a coincidence! I'm also going to Tourii. ”

The man's words made Nick Stratus feel uncomfortable, and he stood up: "Let's go, we still have to hurry." ”

A group of people walk on the sidewalk.

Outside the sidewalk are fields of wheat ploughing, just like the one you had seen before. The difference is that the aqueducts are criss-crossed, wider and deeper; The slaves were even more enthusiastic about their labor, and they even sang loudly in their labor, and their masters not only did not stop them, but some even sang in response. Compared to the sluggish muna of the slaves of Crotone, the Dionian slaves were more like normal people, and this was not an isolated phenomenon, as was the case with almost all the Dionian slaves seen by Lycasus.

Lycassus didn't quite understand this. He came from a farming family and knew a lot about the life of a farmer. The peasants in Crotone usually had one or two slaves, and they could not afford to keep any more, and because of the need for labor to do the farm work, they were very dependent on slaves, so they did not desperately oppress them like the various mill owners in the city, but regarded them as part of the family.

As a child, Lycassus was cared for by the slaves of his family, and he always thought that the honest old Thracian man was more like a father than his father.

The Crotone Farmers were good enough to treat their slaves, but were the Dioonians better with their slaves? Lycasus felt that something was impossible, and he wanted to consult Stasipulus, but he turned his head and saw that Nick Stratus was discussing medical problems with Stasipus, so he had to give up for the time being.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the man who spoke before walking not far behind them, and his heart moved, and he slowed down: "My name is Lycassus, from Crotone, thank you for the reminder just now." ”

"My name is Caldias, a native of Cilitin." The man smiled gently, "I've been to Turii a lot of times, and I know a lot about Dionia, so if there's anything you don't understand about this city-state alliance, you can ask me." ”

The man seemed to see his thoughts, and Lycasus was embarrassed to ask, "I don't understand why these slaves are so happy?" ”

Caldias, following Lycasus's finger, saw the slaves singing in the wheat fields, thought for a moment, and said, "That's because they have hope." ”

"Hope?"

Caldias's expression became solemn, and his voice was low and long: "The great Hades once said, 'Everyone has a different fate, some are born rich, some are born poor, some are unfortunately slaves, and some are lucky to become nobles, but as long as they always have good thoughts in their hearts and do not give up their efforts, when they are at the end of their lives and the judgment of hell, they will face the golden balance of justice and selflessness, and the status and wealth of their lives are only illusory, which really determines whether everyone's soul will go to the beautiful Elysée or the terrible hell? It is what you do all your life, the good go to the Elysée, the evil ones go to hell, the strugglers of your life can enjoy music and food, and the good and evil workers will always have hard labor......"

Lycassus was dumbfounded: "You...... You mean...... These slaves worked so passionately in order to enter the Elysée in the future? ”

"It's not entirely because of that." Caldias whispered: "Davers, the Archon of Ionia, who had the blood of Hades, was inspired by the Father to pass a law in the Senate, 'Every year at the Hades celebration, the slaves of the city-states who had performed well that year would be freed.' And Davers will also be free on this day to do well among the slaves he owns. Because Davers was so beloved by the Dionian populace, they were influenced by the consuls to consider granting freedom to private slaves who contributed to their families if they could......

I remember last year when a Nubian slave was sent by his master to buy goods in the port market, he rescued two children from drowning in the Kekratti River, and not only was the father willing to pay for his life, but the people of the city unanimously demanded his freedom...... So you see that Dionia has such an atmosphere, can these slaves not show themselves desperately! ”

Lycassus nodded, Crotone, though he also granted freedom to slaves, was by no means enacted by law like Dionia, and freed slaves so often and in such numbers.

In fact, there is another reason that Caldias does not know very well: although the age composition of Dionian citizens and prospective citizens is mainly young and middle-aged (due to the large number of immigrants in Dioria), the citizens have to participate in military training more than ten times more often than Crotone, and have to undertake some garrison duties, they do not have more energy and time to take care of their land, and rely more on slaves, so they not only regard slaves as part of the family, but also give them more autonomy in work. This is more conducive to the efforts to exert the enthusiasm of the slaves.

"During the past two years, the slaves of Siritin have from time to time smuggled to Kinappetia, and it is for this reason that they have escaped." Caldias added.

"Ah...... We also had a mass slave exodus in Crotone! Lycassus remembered: "But not to Knappetia, but not to Asprustum, not far from Crotone. We also had a citizens' assembly and sent people to protest to Aspraustum and demand the return of the escaped slaves, and they quickly escorted them back......"

"If Sirittin and Crotone don't make changes on the slave issue, there will be no such things in the future." Caldias sighed and said that as a Cilitin, he didn't seem to be worried about this, but was a little happy to see it.

Of course, the young Lycassus didn't think so much, and he asked another topic suspiciously: "By the way, what you just said...... How come I've never heard of those words that Hades said? ”

"There's so much you haven't heard about the gods." Caldias's eyes lit up: "You must know that when Zeus, the god of the sky, and his brothers and sisters joined forces to overthrow their father Cronus and re-divide the power of his father, Hades, as the eldest brother, could have chosen the sky or the sea as his divine domain, but he would rather choose the dark and damp hell, so as to live underground for a long time, create a fair and selfless abode for the weak human souls, and ensure the stability of the earthly world, isn't he great!" ”

"Yes...... Is that so? Lycasus said suspiciously: "Everyone knows that Hades is forced to choose hell out of desperation. ”

Have you ever wondered who passed down the facts you knew? …… Without the permission of Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, how could such a secret matter be known to us ordinary humans? Zeus ruled over the Olympian gods, and he, of course, would have made the content of the rumors favorable to himself. Hades was introverted and somewhat gloomy in appearance, and the Greeks didn't like him, so they all believed the rumor. Caldias said with a serious expression: "But in fact, among the main gods, Hades is the most loyal to his duties and keeps his duty. Zeus, debauchery and willfulness; Poseidon, violent and merciless; Ares, madly bloody; Hermes, frolic; Hevestos, drunken and promiscuous; Apollo, the pride insidious...... It's just Hades, have you ever heard anything bad about him? ”

After listening to Caldias's words, Lycasus felt that his brain was a little dazed, he covered his forehead, and said for a long time: "He...... He took Demeter's daughter Persephone as his wife. ”

Caldias had a look of "I knew you would say this", and he explained seriously: "The harsh underground environment makes no goddess want to go anywhere, and Hades has no choice, so he has to marry a wife for himself by robbery. ”

Concentrate:

The description of the road stele in this chapter is not from a modern idea, but was humanized in the early Roman Empire, very similar to the current signage, and Roman merchants also sold an iron water cup to travelers who traveled far away, with detailed road maps of the provinces engraved on it to facilitate travel.

In the previous chapter, Darius and Atosha were not related by blood, but Cyrus's son Cambyses did marry his two older sisters, Atosha and Roxanne, in order to ensure that Cyrus's noble blood was not tainted. After Persia fell into chaos, Darius seized power in Persia with his groom, and took over the sister queens, making his throne more orthodox. The next king of Persia, Xerxes, seems to have been born of Atosha.