ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1093: What I saw and heard about the Krati River (continued)

Henipolis smiled even brighter: "It is an honor for me to be praised by Lord Hakkar! I will definitely talk to you more when I have the opportunity in the future... Well, His Majesty and the senators are still waiting at the dock, please Lord Haka, get on the boat with me and hurry to the inner city!”

"Okay!" Haka responded simply.

Henepolis glanced behind him and asked, "Where is Lord Hasdrubal?"

Haka said calmly: "He drank too much along the way and is sleeping soundly in the cabin. It is estimated that it will be difficult to wake up in the inner city."

"Oh..." Henipolis nodded and was about to speak.

At this time, the river official came over and whispered a few words in his ear, and he immediately showed an understanding look and said: "Then let Lord Hades Druba have a good rest, and I won't disturb him."

Henipolis led Haka onto the ship and boarded the wooden building. Haka looked far away, and suddenly felt that his vision was much wider. He could see the piles of houses behind him and the bustling crowds beyond the pier on the shore. Flow of people.

Just when the surrounding ships were intentionally or unintentionally approaching, curious to see what kind of noble person the king's ship could come out to greet, the double-headed dragon ship had already turned its bow, and two speedboats were clearing the way ahead. , with the full strength of hundreds of sailors, began to move up the current, and the passenger ship that Haka was originally on followed closely behind.

The city of Turui is different from the city of Rome. The city of Rome is tens of miles away from the mouth of the river. In Li, the main body of the city is located in the lower reaches of the confluence of the Kraty River and the Kosene River. The river is wide and the water flow is gentle. Usually, boats can go up the river without relying on pulling fibers to reach the city of Turui.

Haka stood on the wooden building where the ship was sitting and saw the situation on both sides of the river more clearly: Indeed, as the river officials said, the Turiyi people transformed both sides of the river into docks, and not only all the river beaches were covered with solid stone slabs. Covered, and every 10 meters or so, there is a 5-meter-high trapezoidal stone platform standing on the shore.There is a stone ring at both ends of each stone platform. There is a wooden instrument parked on the stone platform. It extends a long wooden arm toward the river, with pulleys and ropes hanging on the wooden arm. An iron hook came out, the end of the wooden arm was clamped by two huge wooden wheels, and the other end of the rope was tied tightly to the ground, looking like a giant snail...

Haka knows that this is the crane invented by the Dionians. It has long been famous in the Western Mediterranean, but it has not yet spread to the port towns in the southern part of Iberia.

Haka carefully observed the whole process of unloading the cargo ship: the cargo ship docked slowly by the river in front of the stone platform, and the laborers from the bank went over to tie the cables at both ends of the cargo ship to the stone holes at both ends of the stone platform, so that Incoming cargo ships will approach the dock.The person operating the crane lowers the wooden arm, relaxes the rope, and lowers the hook.The crew hung baskets of goods on the iron hooks, and then the slaves in the wooden wheel of the crane stepped on the wooden wheel with great effort. The wooden wheel turned quickly, tightened the rope, and the iron hook pulled the goods high and left the cargo ship.At this time, the personnel on both sides of the crane pulled the rope again, controlled the wooden arm, and slowly parked the goods on the flat ground in front of the stone platform... The whole process was fast, labor-saving and efficient, and a full ship of goods was unloaded in a short time Even after half of the fall, both the crew and the workers on the shore seemed very relaxed.

Haka also noticed that there were semi-open warehouses not far behind these stone platforms. The goods unloaded from the ships were transported to these warehouses by laborers for parking.

Behind this simple warehouse, there are huge rectangular, closed warehouses lined up side by side. Each one has a roof about 6 meters high and multiple arches 4 meters high. The area is no less than two arenas. .And through the small window at the top, you can see that the walls of the warehouse are quite thick.Only such a high-quality warehouse can reassure the cargo owner of the safety of the cargo, and at the same time store more cargo and facilitate the shipment of the cargo...

Regarding the process of cargo ships entering the port, Jaca, who has led the government affairs in southern Iberia for many years, is very clear: after workers at the dock unload the goods, they park them in a temporary warehouse, and the ship owner will immediately go to the port and spend money to rent a warehouse. storage room, and then pay laborers to transport his goods to the warehouse for storage, and then go to the market in the city to contact the buyers... This process usually takes two or three days, of course, if the buyers are contacted in advance , then the situation will be much better.

But like Turui, the unloading docks, temporary warehouses, and warehouses are close together, which is undoubtedly much more convenient.And Haka judged based on this: With the way the Turiyi people behave, the Turiyi Market, which is famous throughout the Western Mediterranean, is probably not far from here (and this is indeed the case).

He couldn't help but sigh, but Henepolis was greeted with curiosity: "Lord Hakkar, what are your thoughts on coming to Thurii?"

Haka pointed to the piers on the shore and sighed sincerely: "Look at these stone platform piers where cranes are placed, temporary warehouses, and cargo warehouses, neatly lined up on both sides of the Krati River like armies, extending straight forward, almost You can’t see the end, how spectacular this is! I think any outsider who sees such a scene has to admire the power of the Kingdom of Dionia and dare not have any thoughts of confronting it! "

Hernepolis looked at him, then turned to look at the shore: "I'll tell you a real and interesting story. Lysias, a famous scholar in the kingdom, once prepared to write an article describing the docks on the Craty River. I decided to go to the riverside pier to check it out first, but I returned not long after.

His friend asked him, 'Why so fast? '

He said, 'I arrived at the river and found that the dock was full of people, very busy, and the sound was extremely noisy and harsh. The cranes creaked, the cows and donkeys kept braying, and the grumpy porters roared loudly. ...and the air was also very bad, mixed with the smell of wine, olive oil, and people's sweat... After standing there for a while, I felt my head swelled uncomfortably, and with the help of the servants, I struggled to push away the smell. Those who blocked the way finally got out.And in the process, I stepped on donkey manure twice...'"

Haka couldn't help laughing when he heard this.

Henipolis sighed, looked into the distance in ecstasy, and murmured: "I still miss Turiyi more than ten years ago, especially the Krati River, which is clear, quiet, and fascinating... Alas, but Now, not only are the rivers crowded and noisy, but the water has also become turbid, and there are still many boats sailing at night..."

Haka sighed on the side: "However, every city-state and country hopes that their city will look like this, because it means prosperity and strength."

Henipolis patted the ship's railing with both hands and smiled again: "This is why I am just a clerk and you are the great governor! But I suggest that after you settle down in Turiyi, you'd better go to Buy a piece of land in the mountains to the north, build a villa, and live there several times a month. The air there will be fresh and quiet, which will be good for your health..."

While the two were talking and laughing, a huge building in the distance in front of him broke into Haka's eyes: a stone bridge with a length of [-] meters lay across the broad Kraty River, like a giant beast overlooking the passing ships.

This should be the Thurii Stone Bridge. It is said to be the first stone bridge built in the Western Mediterranean. It is indeed very spectacular! ...Haka looked ahead, but heard Henipolis say: "We are about to enter the inner city dock."

Following the direction of Henipolis's finger, Haka saw the city wall that stretched between overlapping buildings.

"Originally there was a river chain here..." Henipolis pointed to the tower on the river bank in front, but looked at Haka beside him, and said seemingly casually: "It was abandoned more than ten years ago. It was used, but when the war broke out with... Carthage, it was urgently used again. But now it has been completely abandoned because there will no longer be enemies threatening the kingdom from the sea."

Haka nodded calmly.

"In recent years, there have been senators who proposed, 'Tear down the entire inner wall.' Fortunately, most of the senators expressed their opposition and it was not passed. Otherwise, the city of Turiyi would really be unstoppable!"

Haka watched for a while and understood why Henepolis said that. He had seen that the neighborhoods inside the city wall were far less dense than those outside the city wall, and the houses were neat and spacious. The pedestrians were relatively sparse, but they seemed leisurely and comfortable, as if the city was a different place. a world...

But there is only one place that is more lively, and that is the inner city dock ahead where the ship is sailing.

Compared with the river wharves lined up like a long dragon that I saw before, the inner city wharf is too small, there are only six trestles, but each berth is extremely spacious, more than enough to moor a large ship tens of meters in length, and the trestles are all used It is paved with stone slabs and can accommodate two carriages passing side by side. It is also equipped with several stone platforms and cranes...

There is a large waiting area at the back of the pier, which is specially equipped with a long colorful cloth shed for both sunshade and aesthetics.There are rows of comfortable seats under the cloth tent, and they are now full of people.

Haka's eyes quickly searched among the crowd on the shore. When he saw the man who was dressed the same as others, except that he wore a small dazzling gold crown on his head, Haka was excited. I also suddenly felt a little nervous.

When Davos, who was in the waiting area, saw the ship entering the dock, he immediately stood up and led the elders to the trestle.

After the wooden ladder to get off the ship was set up, Haka refused the help of the slave this time, slowly walked off the ship, came to Davos, bowed deeply, and said: "Dear Davos Your Majesty, Haka, the former governor of southern Iberia and also your loyal student, reports to you that he has arrived!"

(End of this chapter)