ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 192 Dionia Football Four-City Competition ([-])

After leaving the market, Theos saw rows of stables erected on the side of the road. They were no longer as crude and messy as when they first saw them.

Theos had a good impression of the old coachman, so he wanted to ride in his car and started shouting: "Solikos! Solikos!..."

"The old man has become rich now and no longer drives the car himself. Take my car!" someone shouted.

"Don't talk nonsense, or I'll beat you up!" Solikos laughed and cursed after hearing the sound.

Theos got into his carriage and told where he was going.

"Oh, you are also going to see the land for rent, right?! There are so many people going to see it recently!" Solikos said immediately.

Theos nodded and smiled: "I heard you got rich?!"

"Listening to their nonsense, that is, after paying off the loan and interest on the carriage, I took out a loan to buy a carriage and rented it to a freeman to drive. I believe I can pay off the loan again soon! Then I will buy another carriage... Thorix said confidently.

"Congratulations!" Theos praised: "I think in another year, you can become a carriage merchant."

Solikos laughed after hearing this.

"I remember that you are a citizen of Dionia. The alliance should allocate you a 'land'. You drive a carriage to make money. What about the land? I heard that your alliance has an agricultural officer who specializes in supervising citizens' land use. Situation." Theos asked curiously.

"I lease it to freemen to farm, no problem," Solikos answered.

He drove the carriage onto the Thurii-Amendolara Avenue. The carriage galloped on the Subari plain. Many houses had been built among the thousands of roads and acres of farmland on both sides of the avenue.

It will be time to build villages one by one soon!Theos thought: New Thurii is developing very rapidly. It has begun to gradually restore its former prosperity, and it is very different from the original one. It will even surpass the great power of Greece in the past!

After the carriage crossed a wooden bridge over the Sybari River, it passed grape plantations and winemaking workshops. This is a famous wine producing area in Magna Greece.

After crossing the Saraceno River, we entered the territory of Amendolara. The land to be rented was right next to the road, and it had been divided into pieces of land to be rented with inserted wooden sticks.It is close to the road, which is convenient for transportation; it is close to the river, which is convenient for providing water to the workshop; it is close to the forest, and there are trees that can be harvested (of course, the Dionian Alliance has strict regulations on felling trees).In addition, after building a workshop on the rented land, you can also build a house for yourself and your employees to live in, giving you a place to rest while doing business in Dionia.There is the sea in front, a forest behind, a river on the side, and a road for easy travel. It is also an ideal place to live!I believe that every foreign businessman who wants to rent land here has the idea of ​​building a workshop and a residence at the same time. 20 years is enough for them to double the money they invested and earn back, of course, provided that the Dionia Alliance always exists.

After Theos spotted several ideal plots of land, because the so-called "auction" would not be held until tomorrow, he wanted to find a hotel to stay first.

At this time, Solikos suggested: "You are here at the right time. The arena in Thurii was just built yesterday. To celebrate, Lord Archon Davos announced, 'Today and tomorrow, a four-city rugby match will be held in the arena. !'. If you are free in the afternoon, you can go and have a look. I heard it is very beautiful and even more lively than the Olympia Games!"

"Rugby game?" Theos was curious and confused.

"That's a game invented by Lord Davos. I heard it was inspired by Pluto!" Solikos said mysteriously.

"It's... it's... two teams compete for a ball made of cowhide that is shaped like an olive... um... and then score... oops, I can't tell. Anyway, people who have watched this game say it is very interesting. , very beautiful! You will know after you go see it.”

"Okay, I'll go take a look." Thorikos's strong recommendation made Theos interested.

"Go early in the afternoon, because there are a lot of people, I heard that if you go late, you won't be able to get in!" Solikos kindly reminded.

.....................

The arena is located on the east side of the northern city of Turiyi, very close to the city dock and far from the main city. It was built here so as not to affect the daily life of the people of Turiyi.

The city guards who usually carry out strict inspections are relatively relaxed today. As long as they are not carrying weapons and the number of people is counted, they will basically be allowed to enter. However, if the number of people exceeds the specified number, entry into the city is prohibited.

Theos was lucky enough to enter the city because he came early.While lining up to enter the city, I also met Dick Polis, a Cretan businessman who is engaged in the olive oil business. He also came to watch a rugby match. He had already watched one in the morning and was fascinated by this novel game. , in his words: This is the best gift Pluto has given to the Greeks, and no game can compare with it!

This piqued Theos's interest even more.

When we arrived at the entrance of the arena, there was already a long queue. Although there were many people, they were still in order under the supervision of groups of soldiers.

At this time, Dicopolis asked Theos to take a seat, and he went to a nearby store with a "Beer" sign and brought out two cans of beer and two bags of dried fruits, and gave half of them to Theos.

Theos sheepishly thanked him repeatedly and asked, "How much is it?"

Dickpolis said: "It is the destiny of Goddess to meet you here and watch the football game together! If you pay, you don't like to make friends with us Cretans!"

Theos had no choice but to accept it. He was quite fond of Dickpolis's boldness and liveliness.At the same time, he also noticed that many people ran to buy beer, syrup and snacks.

Dickpolis told him: "Because the game is long, we watch the game in the sun, and we are easily thirsty and hungry. In addition, there are many spectators entering the stadium. If you want to pee, you will not be able to find a place, and this one - —" He raised the wine can in his hand and said with a teasing smile: "Drink it dry and you can use it as a urinal..."

The guards at the entrance of the arena let a group of people in, and then let another group in after a while.When it was Dickpolis's turn, it was obvious that the arena was not full yet. The guard indicated that they could enter and walked along the passage on his right hand side. There was another passage on the left side that they could not go to. That leads to the VIP seats, which is how almost all arenas are designed.

The Thurii Arena is not very big, and all the stone benches in the ring can only seat about 4000 people at most. However, in fact, more than 500 people entered the arena, and half of them were freedmen and foreigners.Like other arenas, there is a track inside and outside the sports field, but the inside of the track is a flat rectangular piece of sand divided into multiple areas by dozens of white lines.

Dickpolis patiently explained the rules of the game to Theos and told him why it is called the Four-City Rugby Tournament: "The four cities are Amendolara, Thurii, Niutum and Laos. Listen to my Dios Nia's friends said that this game was first used as a military training project by Archon Davos, and started to be played by mercenaries who became citizens of Amendola... Later Tuliyi and Amendola La established an alliance to conduct military training for Thurii citizens and preparatory citizens, so they naturally learned this game... Later, they captured Niutum, and the earliest Lucanian soldiers took it to This game was given to the Lucanians in Niutum... As for the Laos, they sent a large number of laborers to build roads, with the Dionians serving as overseers, and taught the Laos how to play during their breaks. This kind of game prevents them from slacking off due to being too tired...

Maybe the Laos people just started playing and were not yet proficient, so it seemed that they didn't cooperate well, so they played against Turiyi in the morning, and Turiyi won easily.This afternoon is Amendolara vs. Niutum. I heard that the strength of the two sides is not much different, and they are more interesting! "

"You know so much!" Theos said with emotion.

"When I became interested in it, I naturally wanted to learn more about it." Diopolite said proudly: "I have stayed here for a long time and made friends with several Dionian Alliance citizens. One of them He also served as the captain of their so-called legion, he told me..."

"Why no Castellon?" a voice came from the side.

Dickpolis turned around and saw that some people had already gathered around the two of them.

"Maybe it's because they have less contact with the citizens of the alliance and don't have the opportunity to learn..." Dickpolis shrugged: "However, I saw some Castellon people watching the game at the venue this morning. I believe that after this After the four-city competition, the next time it is held, it will probably become a five-city competition."

"Crete, you are right, we in Castellon will definitely participate next year!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Yes, we will make suggestions to the council when we get back!" another person agreed.

Dick Polit winked at Theos and whispered: "Look, what I said is right."

At this time, the bronze horn sounded and the athletes began to enter.

At this time, the participating team members were no longer as crudely equipped as when they first played rugby in the military camp. They all wore soft leather hats that could cover the entire head and neck, and thick protective clothing made of wool and linen. It is dyed red and blue for easy identification, and there are strange symbols embroidered on the back of the jersey (actually Arabic numerals, because Greek numerals are complicated to write and difficult to use) for the referee to identify the participating players.

When the players from both sides entered the court, strong and rhythmic drumbeats sounded.

The red team immediately formed a neat square formation, matching the rhythm, and performed a dance praising Ares when they won on the battlefield with strong, powerful and uniform movements... The whole audience burst into warm cheers.

　Thank you to book friends for returning to the team on time, Abelus, pull down my Qin Dynasty, Mavericks, and book friend 161227165256780 for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)