"I think you want to be favored by some Ionian princess and become the son-in-law of the King of Dionia." His teammates snorted in dissatisfaction.

Instead of refutating, Siritaios whispered seriously: "Unfortunately, according to what I heard, several princesses of the Dionian royal family have already married and have no chance!" But it would be nice if it could be favored by the daughter of a certain minister of Dionia! I say you should work hard to stay in the kingdom of Dionia! ”

Although women were forbidden to watch the games in the past Greek games, anecdotes about choosing a husband through the games still occasionally occurred and became a good story. For example, Pisistratus, a former Athenian tyrant, once asked his daughter to disguise herself in a sports venue to choose an ideal husband. And Ciritaios, handsome in appearance and tall and well-proportioned, is indeed likely to be favored by Dionian women.

The person next to him was also a little moved when he heard it, and fell into a fantasy for a while.

"Looks like you're ready to play well tomorrow." Mecca Kiddes placed the plate on the table and sat down across from Siritaios.

"It's certain to perform well, but I'm not sure if I can qualify." Siritaios said the words of frustration, but his expression was very calm: "I have observed it carefully in the training room in the past few days, the traditional running powerhouses Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Ellis have sent very strong athletes this time, but fortunately, this time Dionya has completely changed the way of running, everyone is not very comfortable, and I still have a chance."

And even if I get eliminated in the 100m, I still have the 200m and 400m races, and if I show up a few more times, I will have a better chance of being noticed by the Dionian ladies. ”

Mecca Kiddes was a little dissatisfied with Ciritaios's attitude of not fighting for victory, but focusing on how to win the hearts of Dionian women, but Ciritaios was a nobleman after all, and he did not dare to blame, so he had to bury his head in food.

"I heard from the management of the stadium that Dioonia will hold a big ceremony tomorrow, which is completely different from the opening of the previous games, and I really want to see it sooner!" Ciritaios's exclamation stunned Mecca Kiddes: yes, what kind of surprise will Dionia bring to all the athletes and representatives of the city-state at tomorrow's ceremony with such comfortable accommodation and a sumptuous diet?!

Mecca Kiddes is also full of hope.

………………………………………………………………

Hades Main Arena is the first arena since the establishment of Dionia, located in the central east-east of the city of Turiyne, and is the venue for the final of the annual Kingdom Rugby and Football Finals, in order to meet the needs of the growing audience for the game, it has undergone several major renovations and expansions, the most recent of which took place in the two years since King Davers announced the Games, and now it is very different in structure and appearance than it was when it was first built decades ago.

The entire stadium is almost a huge circle, with a height of about 42 meters, covering an area of more than 15,000 square meters, and can accommodate nearly 60,000 spectators in normal times. Not only is it a mecca for players and fans, but it is also one of the architectural wonders of the Tourrij region.

In the early hours of July 2, 365 BC (the 29th year of the Dionian kingdom), a bustling crowd of people converged on the main arena of Hades from all directions. At the same time, the 69 entrances to the main arena of Hades were opened at the same time, and only one entrance was temporarily closed, which was the passage for members of the royal family to enter and exit.

Ticket inspectors and inspectors were in place, and even the Turii town hall applied to the Ministry of War to bring in four reserve brigades from the Turii barracks in advance to assist in maintaining order outside the arena.

Under the guidance of volunteers and guides, tens of thousands of spectators turned into a trickle, leading to every entrance, many spectators from all over Greece with some apprehension, handed the tickets in their hands to the ticket inspectors, because in the past in the various games held in Greece, they never had to pay for the games, this is the first time they have bought tickets, and they feel both novel and a little nervous: such a strange piece of paper is useless?

But for the Dionian audience, it is natural to buy tickets to watch the games, they have been practicing it for decades, every year the kingdom of Turriyi and other regions of the kingdom just rely on the ticket money to bring a lot of income to the town hall, and this time the tickets for the games are made of a new paper of delicate blue thick paper developed by the Christoa Chamber of Commerce, it is almost impossible for anyone to forge it, just to write all the tickets on the game, place, date, seat number, dozens of scribes of the Chamber of Commerce spent nearly a month.

The ticket inspector mainly checks the authenticity of the ticket and whether the information on the ticket has been altered, and after everything is confirmed, he will invite the audience to enter with a smile.

After passing through the entrance, the audience must also reach the number of floors specified on the ticket, and then hand the ticket to the ticket inspector at the entrance of that floor again to enter the spectatorium (Hades Main Arena has a total of 4 floors, and the price of each floor is different, the first floor is mainly for the kingdom's elders, ministers, dignitaries, and citizens and heroes who have made outstanding contributions to the kingdom, and the fourth floor has no seats and is the cheapest).

"It's so troublesome to enter the arena seats!" Iphiclates found his seat according to the seat number on the number plate, and as soon as he sat down, he began to complain: "I think we Athenians are calculating enough, but I didn't expect that the Dionians were stingier than us, and they had to charge for watching the games, which is really unheard of!" ”

Calistratus, who sat next to him, said a few fair words for Dionia: "It's understandable, they provide free lodging and sumptuous food to all the legaries and athletes, which costs a lot of money, so it's understandable to earn some money by collecting tickets." I asked the conductor when I entered the hall just now, and the price of this ticket is not high, the cheapest is only 3 drachmas, and the most expensive is only 10 drachmas (the tickets for each emissary group are given by the town hall of Turiyi, and there is no need to pay money), even the poor should be able to afford it. ”

"Cheap is cheap, but look at how many people can sit here! After this game, Dionia can get at least hundreds of thousands or even millions of drachmas, and how many games will they have to play in the whole Olympics...... Dionya can make a fortune by hosting a sports event! Ificratus crossed his fingers and estimated the benefits of Dionia's Games.

"What, you're tempted?" Callistratus jokingly said: "Do you want to make a suggestion at the council, and also learn from Dionia, and start charging at the Panathenaeum Games in the future?" ”

Iphiclates really thought about it carefully, then shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this won't work, let's not say that the Panathena Games has no tradition of fees, and the people can't accept it." Not to mention that our arena is open, and it is difficult to restrict people from coming and going at will. ”

"To build such a huge and complex arena in Athens is already too much for us to afford in terms of money and manpower, not to mention the construction technology it requires that we don't have today."

Callistratus scanned the entire venue with a cautious gaze, and finally couldn't help but sigh: "Even if we build such an arena, the number of spectators it can accommodate far exceeds the number of citizens of Athens (the number of citizens in Athens City is generally maintained at 4000~5000 people), I am afraid it will take a long time to make a profit, so ah, such a huge building, such a way of charging...... And only a large country like Dionia, with its strong national power and huge population, can do it! ”

Iphiclates was silent, he had a previous grudge against Dionia. As the adopted son of the former king of Macedonia, Amintas, he wanted to lead troops to rescue in the Macedonian rebellion 4 years ago, but was dissuaded by the executive committee of the Athenian generals, and had to ask for help from the leader of the Greek alliance, Deionia, but by the time Dionya sent his army, his righteous brother Alexander had been killed in battle, and Dionya did not allow Macedonia to join the Greek alliance after quelling the rebellion, but allied with Macedonia alone...... Iphiclates believed that the Dioonians were selfish.

Neither he nor Calistrapus had ever been to Turiyi, and this time he came as a member of the Athenian envoy corps to truly see the power and prosperity of Dionia, which was far from being comparable to Athens, and some other thoughts hidden in his heart were basically dispelled. At this moment, he was still a little unconvinced: "The key depends on whether Dionia can do a good job in the Games, otherwise it will be useless no matter how well the arena is repaired!" ”

Calistratus somewhat understood the psychology of his colleague, and for a period of time after the end of the Greek War, he was also unwilling, but as the hegemony of Dionya in Greece became more and more stable, and more and more Ionian city-states (islands in the Aegean Sea) joined the Greek alliance, the road of Athens' expansion from the sea has been blocked, and due to the alliance with Dionia, Athens' trade channels have been greatly expanded, the domestic market has become more prosperous, and the commercial tax has increased significantly. The treasury was rich, the citizens enjoyed the peace and ease more, the situation changed, and Calistratus gave up his mind of opposing Dionia.

He did not continue to talk on this topic, but pointed to the side and said in amazement: "Look, Agosilaus is here too!" I thought he wouldn't be coming to the Games. ”