Piracy detected! Davos's speech was met with thunderous applause, and the enthusiastic players and the crowd on the sidelines sang Hades' carol, after which the teams hurriedly withdrew from the field and the football game officially began.

According to the new rules, the eight teams will be divided into two groups, A and B, with last year's champions and runners-up Touriyi and Amendolara seeded in two groups, and the rest of the teams will be drawn by lot.

The final members of Group A are Turiyi, Niutum, Crimesa, and Grummentum; The members of Group B are Amendolara, Laos, Castelon and Asphorustum.

The two groups play in a single round-robin, one point for a win, zero points for a loss, no draw, the team with the same points looks at the relationship between the winner and the loser, and the top two teams in the group qualify and enter the knockout round, and finally determine the champion.

In order to win the opening goal, Defister picked Turii vs Niutum as the opening match to catch the eye of the crowd.

When the two teams of Turiyi and Niutum re-entered, the audience roared with joy. The crowd was dominated by Turiyi, who of course had to cheer on the city's team, while the Lucanians mostly cheered for Niutum. In their cheers, Tegatilus and Lizaru were mentioned the most, as one was a strong, powerful runner and the other a nimble and fast runner, both of whom were well-known scorers for their respective teams.

Bagul in the audience was hot-eyed, shouting loudly and stomping his fists at the same time, completely without the steady appearance of the senator in power, if it were not for the fact that he had just become the administrator of Grummentum and was busy with affairs and did not have time to train with the team, he would never be a spectator on the sidelines.

Yasistes, who was next to him, saw his thoughts and teased him, saying: "Now that you are the administrator of Grumentum, you should support Grumentum's team, Nioutum is Grummentum's main opponent in the knockout round, you should hope that they lose." ”

Bagul glared at him, and then he was really entangled.

The referee blew the piccolo and the game officially began.

As a competitive powerhouse in Greater Greece, the people of Crotone were dismissive even though the rugby game of Dionya had been known far and wide in Greater Greece. Now, as the game progressed, these invited Crotone VIPs began to be attracted by the fierce collision and fierce confrontation scenes, and even Admiral Crotone, the commander of the navy, who had been rumored before, stopped mocking, and the strict organization, reasonable rules, unique ball games of this era, and the blood-pumping sports scene shocked the general, who had represented Crotone many times in the four major tournaments when he was young, and he exclaimed: " I didn't expect rugby to be such a sport, it's much more interesting than the Spartans' game of stone ball tossing that can only be played by themselves, it's very interesting, and it's very suitable for us Crotone people to participate! ”

"Why?" Someone next to him asked.

"You see, there are a lot of people on the field, and although the scene seems to be very chaotic, it is basically two sports, attacking and blocking the attack." Pointing to the field, Ascamas made a well-founded analysis: "To do both, you need players who have a lot of strength, a lot of speed, and the ability to be unafraid of collisions, and that's what we Crotone athletes are good at!" ”

Askamas's proud words drew a nod from the Crotone people around him. Crotone's athletes have long dominated the two sports of wrestling and boxing, and do have a wealth of experience in training athletes for strength and explosiveness.

"When we go back, we should convince the Citizens' Assembly to let the Crotone people start practicing rugby as well, and next year they will also participate in this tournament and beat these Dionian teams!" Ascamas looked around at the cheering Dionian audience, a hint of anger hidden in his eyes.

At this moment, Tegetillos of the Turiyi team just held the ball and scored a touchdown, and the whole stadium was thunderous, which made Ascamas even more itchy.

"Master Ascamas is right! We will also participate next year and defeat the Ionians! Some of the Crotonians echoed their hatred and said that the defeat of the Dioonians had made the proud Crotoneans feel aggrieved, and that they wanted to win back their dignity in the arena to prove the strength of the Crotonens.

Lycias frowned as she listened to her companions' discussions. His mind wasn't completely absorbed by the game, but he was thinking about something deeper. There are four traditional games in Greece and a famous Panathena Festival in the Mediterranean, in which athletes from the city-states of Greater Greece participate in a much more active manner than the Greek city-states on the coast of Asia Minor, and in every Olympia Games, the athletes of Greater Greece perform well. However, Greater Greece did not have an influential sports meeting of its own, and the competitive Crotone people once tried to hold a sports event that would only involve the city-states of Greater Greece, but failed. On the one hand, Crotone's influence was not enough, and the Great Greeks did not agree with it; On the other hand, many city-states have long-standing conflicts of interest and cannot reach an agreement. As a result, this became a pity for the people of Crotone!

Now, the rugby game in Dionya is a single game, but it encompasses so many cities in Greater Greece and seems to be attracting more city-states...... Let Lucias vaguely see the shadow of a regional competition.

Is this a coincidence? Or did the Dionians do it on purpose? Lucias looked at the figure of Davers in the front row, and through the two days of contact, this seemingly mild young consul gave him an unfathomable feeling: in just a few months, Dionia not only stabilized the situation in the newly occupied Asprarustum and Crimesa, but also recently occupied a large city in the Lucania region, Grummentum.

The citizens' assembly in Crotone is still debating a range of issues, including whether the new Asphorustum natives were granted full citizenship and the rezoning of the war-torn Croton Plains.

At first, Lucias still wanted to survive this difficult period and let Crotone rise again, but after more and more contact with Dionia, every time he compares the rapidly developing Dionya with the always stagnant Crotone, Licialis almost loses confidence: if this continues, Crotone will be left far behind by Dionia!

But he was in a hurry, but he couldn't do anything. This has always been the case in Crotone's democracy, and he has studied why Theoria has been so efficient, but these methods are simply not possible in Crotone. Sometimes he wondered if joining the South Italy alliance might be the best thing Crotone had done.

Hearing Ascamas's words, Lucias laughed at their childishness in her heart: even if Crotone really sends a team next year, what if he wins against Dionia? Win or lose, Dionia is the big winner!

………………………

On the third day, while the rugby game was still in full swing, Elia emissary Canios was received by Davers.

The young consul received him very warmly, and after two days of better understanding of the Dionian Alliance, the two men had a friendly conversation, putting aside their initial restraints and reserves.

Davos listened carefully to Canios about Elia's current predicament, and learned something about the Campania region and the Samonai people from Canios...... The conversation was pleasant, and in the end an alliance agreement was reached: Elia joined the Dionian League.

After signing the alliance agreement, the strings that had always been tense in Canios's heart could finally be relaxed, because Davers solemnly promised: as long as any force dares to invade Elia, Dionya will immediately send troops to aid Elia's allies and repel the incoming enemy!

At the same time, Davers also vaguely said: When Dionia takes action in the Lucania area in the future, he hopes that Elia can actively cooperate.

Canios agreed, and he realized happily that he had finally seen the arrival of hope for the nightmare that had plagued Elia for decades, and that the feeling of being backed by a powerful force was really reassuring!

When Canios walked out of the living room, the mood was always cheerful. Then, he saw a man approaching him and smiled and beckoned to him.

Why is Siblos here? Canios replied with a gesture of doubt.

………………………

"My lord, since we have formed an alliance with Elia, do we still need to talk to the envoys of Pycosis, Poitia, and Galaguso?" Aristocrates asked curiously.

"What do you think?" Davers was relaxed as he watched the back of Canios leaving, Elia feeling like he was one step closer to his goal of uniting Lucania.

"I think...... They should take advantage of the weakened strength of Pikosis and Pothenia, and they don't know that Elia has joined the alliance, and suddenly launch an attack, and they will definitely easily take down any of the forces in Pikosis and Pothenia! "Aristocrates has followed Davers for so long that he has learned to do so with the least casualties to get the most out of it.

But Davers shook his head slightly, not agreeing with this: "Your raid tactics are really good. But at this time, it is not very suitable. ”

"Why, sir?" Aristocrates asked a little unconvinced.

"Yesterday, when Bagul and Yasistes came to report on Grummentum's situation, you heard it from the sidelines. The situation in Grummentum was not too rosy, and there were occasional clashes between the tribes, which almost led to skirmishes on several occasions...... After all, Grummentum is different from Niutum, it is located in the center of the Lucania region, there are many tribes, and the origin is complex, and there are enemies around it, to stabilize Grumtum and its surrounding area, Bagul and they will have to work hard for at least a year or two to make these Lucanians identify with us from the bottom of their hearts and accept our governance...... If you rush to attack other areas now, if something unexpected happens, the turmoil in Grumentum is very likely to repeat the tragedy of Turiyi......" Davers said with a calm expression.