At this time, the familiar bell rang from the northwest, nine in succession, and then nine after an interval.

The spectators on the side of the square turned their heads to look north, and were pleasantly surprised to find a huge golden statue standing on the hill of the gods, which was extremely dazzling in the sunlight.

"Oh! Is that...... Hades Statue! ”

"The previous rumors are true, the kingdom has really built a statue of Hades that can be compared to the Colossus of Athena in Athens!"

……

Despite the dazzling sunlight reflected by the idols, the populace kept their eyes wide open, their eyes focused on the hills with reverence, their faces filled with excitement and fanaticism.

They soon discovered that it was not only the statue that had surprised them, but also the newly renovated temple that had just unveiled before their eyes: not only was it taller, more spacious and more splendid than before, but the triangular frieze above the temple was more colorful and still shining like the stars in the sky (in fact, it was a brainstorming effort by craftsmen who crushed stained glass made from sea sand and mixed it with the paint of the drawings to produce the effect of sunlight).

The Greeks had always believed that the temple was the home of the gods, and that the place where they lived must have been a magnificent building of golden splendor, and this converted temple on the top of the hill undoubtedly lived up to their most extreme imagination.

So, under the command and leadership of the patrol team, the people couldn't wait, turned into wisps of people, and flocked to the hill of the gods.

The closer he got to the hill, the more the people felt the majesty and enormity of the statue, but instead of giving people a sense of oppression caused by majesty, he lowered his head, and it was easy for the people to see his face, and the kindness and pity he showed made the people want to get closer to him.

After a while, the entire hill was completely surrounded by people, except for the temple on the top of the hill, and the people were gathered outside the cordon formed by the palace guards, and the people were stacked on their backs, tiptoeing, and their eyes wide, looking at the temple and the colossus with full attention.

Some observant citizens also found that the biggest difference between the appearance of the new temple and other Greek temples was that the stone wall under the triangular frieze on the roof of the temple had many square small windows regularly, and there was a sculpture in each small window, which looked very peculiar.

But what the people who stood at a distance and couldn't see clearly didn't know was that these were no ordinary sculptures, they weren't just Zeus, Hera, Apollo...... and other major Greek gods, as well as the goddess Amara of the Brutians, the god Vosani of the Samonai, Jupiter and Diana of the Romans...... and other statues of gods revered by the rest of the races in the kingdom. These numerous statues of the gods are erected in the stone walls, and the statue of Hades surrounds the temple, like the stars holding the moon, and their meaning is self-evident.

Davers stood solemnly in front of the temple, beside him was the scepter priest Plesinus in a white robe, and behind him were dozens of priests and saints of Hades, also dressed in white robes.

Plesinas coughed lightly and slowly took two steps forward on crutches. As he spoke, the priests spoke in the same voice, and unlike ordinary speakers, they were able to speak in a coherent tone and with the same emotion, thus creating an amplified resonance, so that though each man did not shout hysterically, he could send the words of Plecinus to the ears of every populace on the hill like a gentle drizzle:

"Citizens of Dionia, devotees of Hades, today is a day to celebrate! We have rebuilt the golden body of the great Hades and rebuilt the abode of the gods, so that he can live more comfortably in the temple and better protect us!

Before the establishment of Dionia, Hades's dedication to the Greek people has been buried, not only no one to praise his achievements, but to fear and stay away from him, until his descendant Davers appeared, in just 20 years to establish a powerful kingdom, and worship Hades as the patron saint of the kingdom, not only let hundreds of people become believers in this great god, but also let Hades has been fighting for justice, strictness, dedication, Sacrifice became a philosophy followed by the people of the entire kingdom.

This pleased Hades, and in gratitude for the great deeds that his descendants had done for him, he sent an oracle allowing King Davers to bear his name, and that as long as Davers and his descendants continued to honor him and perform their duties on the earth, he would always be blessed with the family, and anyone who tried to violate it would be cursed by him for eternity! ”

Speaking of this, Plesinas looked back at Davers, bent down, and said reverently, "Holy Hades. Your Majesty King Davers, please take your crown and accept the congratulations of the faithful! ”

Davers solemnly took the delicate wooden crown woven of ebony and ferns in a black tray and slowly put it on his head.

The surrounding people once again erupted in a tsunami-like cheer: "Your Majesty King Davers wins!! ”

"Hades. King Davers Victory!! ”

……

Since landing in Greater Greece more than 20 years ago, capturing Turiyi, founding Dionia, defeating Crotone, ousting Syracuse from the throne, reducing Carthage to an ordinary city-state, and establishing the most powerful kingdom ever seen in the Western Mediterranean, Davos's prestige has reached its zenith. What's more, without the restraint of Kunogorata, Cornerus and others, no one of the patriarchs objected to the important decision of this celebration, which made Davers easily cover himself and his family with a layer of divine light.

…………………………………

It was a sunny morning, and Massimus was strolling through the streets inside the barracks.

The soldiers preferred to call it a military city, and it was indeed more of a city than the nearby Etruscan towns: the entire camp was a mile in circumference, square in shape, surrounded by walls 5 meters high, all made of thick square bricks, and towers of 10 meters high were built on the walls every 50 meters. The ground of the entire city is completely paved with hard stone slabs, which avoids the accumulation of water and mud caused by rain and snow, and also allows the soldiers to walk on such a smooth and hard road with a sense of steadiness - in such a camp made entirely of stones, they can withstand the attack of any strong enemy.

Massimus was here because he had joined the Dionian intelligence service last year and had received a new appointment while he was still in training, allowing him to apply as a freeman to join the mercenary corps that was being formed to go to the Etruscan border. After successfully joining, keep an eye on the legion, and report on it and the enemy around it.

At first, Massimus was psychologically resistant to this order, because he did not want to stay away from his wife and children, and even deliberately performed poorly in the interview assessment to not be selected. Somehow, there were not many literate freemen who went to sign up, and Massimus, who was able to write well-meaning articles in the Ionian script, and was able to count, was a rare talent in the new legion, and he was admitted on the spot, and immediately gave him the position of a statistician in the baggage battalion.

In this way, Massimus became a member of the Etruscan Frontier Corps. He was then gathered in the Turii military camp along with all the freedmen recruited, where he was trained for three months.

It was three hellish months. In order to allow these rookies who lack military training and have not even participated in the battle to become qualified Dionian soldiers as soon as possible and be able to come in handy as soon as possible, the Ministry of Military Affairs sent a large number of military training officers to train them intensively, and stipulated that Massimus and other logistics personnel must also participate, because for a good reason: the logistics personnel of the various Dionian regiments must participate in the battle as auxiliary soldiers at critical times in the battle, and the Frontier Corps is no exception. But without military skills and familiarity with the military tactics of Dionia, how can these logisticians cooperate in the operation? So train along, too.

Fortunately, the training intensity of the logistics staff was not as high as that of the legionnaires, and the high-intensity training meant that there was enough food to be guaranteed, so Massimus would follow the legion logistics officers to the city of Turriyi from time to time to buy food.

During this period, Massimus's ability to manage money and bargain with vendors was demonstrated, and attracted the attention of the Legion's top brass, and by the end of the three-month intensive training, Massimus had been promoted to Purchasing Supervisor, which was the third most important military position in the Legion's baggage battalion after the baggage officer and the guard officer.

Not long after, more than 8,000 men of the Frontier Army marched north into Etruscan territory.

By this time, after much discussion between the kingdom and the Etruscan alliance, the land to be allocated to Dionysia had already been agreed, and the location of the military camp had long been determined, and the outline had been roughly outlined with the joint efforts of the engineers sent by the Ministry of War and the labor provided by the Etruscan city-states.

Massimus followed the legion's headquarters into a barracks not far from the northern Etruscan city-state of Florentia, where the soldiers had to use their newly acquired and rusty construction skills to build the entire barracks.

In this arduous process of building the camp, the recruits will further learn to obey orders, endure hardships and stand hard work, and cooperate with each other...... Completely cleared of the looseness of his time as a free people, and gradually transformed into a Ionian legionnaire.

In the same process of building the camp, Massimus's ability to organize and coordinate was also fully utilized, so after a few months, the Legion Baggage Officer was transferred back to the Military Affairs Department, and then the Legion Commander directly ordered: Massimus temporarily acted as the Baggage Officer.