"We have no other cities in Crotone. It is a bit too wasteful to use the treasury money to open a mail truck to deliver letters. If... Asprestum still belongs to us, we can consider it. But in that case, our roads and bridges must be built like this." Stacipus stomped his feet. Indeed, the uneven dirt roads in Crotone can easily cause the carriage to fall apart.

"Asprestum!" Speaking of this, it was the pain in the hearts of the people of Crotone. Nixtratus snorted and cursed angrily: "It's all because of the incompetence of the Council! You know, the Croton Plain, which belonged to us a few years ago, was all fertile land! Now they all belong to the Dionians..."

"It's time for us to set off, otherwise we won't be able to get Crimesa to rest tonight!" Stacipus changed the topic and reminded the two of them.

"How far is it from Crimesa?" Nixtratus asked, rubbing his thighs, and he was a little tired when he didn't come out to walk around often.

Stacipus stood up, looked forward and said, "Lucasus, go and see the stone tablet, how far is it to Crimesa?"

"Is there a distance engraved on the stone tablet?" Lycasus walked over in confusion.

After a while, he pointed to the stone tablet and shouted: "20 miles of Crimesa, is this?"

"That's right."

"And... the next line carved a small house and wrote it for 5 miles, what does it mean?"

"That means there is an inn five miles ahead, which can provide short rest, food, and even accommodation." A pedestrian next to Lycasus replied.

"Oh, thank you!" Lycasus quickly thanked politely.

"Are you doctors?" the man asked with a smile when he saw the doctor box he was carrying.

"Yes, I went to Turiyi with my teacher to attend a...uh...medical forum."

"Dionia's doctor has excellent medical skills and is protected by Pluto. He can save the dying people. You go to study, but find the right place!" The man looked clear: "What a coincidence! I'm going to Turiyi too."

The man's words made Nixtratus feel uncomfortable, and he stood up and said, "Let's go, we still have to hurry."

A group of people walked on the sidewalk.

Outside the sidewalk are farming fields, which are no different from the scene I saw before. The difference is that the water diversion canals are crisscrossed and wider and deeper; while the slaves are more enthusiastic about their labor, and they even sing loudly in their work. Not only does their masters not stop them, but some even sing to respond. Compared with the dull Muna of the Crotone slaves, the Dionysian slaves are more like normal people, and this is not an individual phenomenon. Almost the Dionysian slaves seen by Lycasus are in this state.

Lycasus did not understand this very well. He was born in a farmer's family and knew very well about the life of farmers. Farmers in Crotone usually had one or two slaves, and they could not afford to raise them any more. Because they needed labor to do farm work, they were very dependent on slaves. Therefore, they did not try hard to squeeze them like the various workshop owners in the city, but regarded slaves as part of their family.

When Lycasus was a child, he was carefully taken care of by slaves at home. He always thought that the honest old Thracian was more like a father than his father.

The farmer Crotone was good enough to treat slaves. Did the Dionians treat slaves better? Lycasus felt it was impossible. He wanted to ask Stacipus, but he turned his head and saw Nixtratus discussing medical issues with Stacipus, so he had to give up temporarily.

From the corner of my eyes, I happened to catch a glimpse of the man I was talking about walking not far behind them. My heart moved and slowed down: "My name is Lycasus, from Crotone. Thank you for your reminder just now."

"My name is Cardiois, a native of Silit," the man smiled gently, "I have been to Turiyi a lot, and I am quite familiar with the matter of Dionia. If you don't understand this city-confederate alliance, please ask me."

The man seemed to see his thoughts, and Lycasus gave up his head embarrassedly and asked, "I don't understand why these slaves are so happy?"

Cardiois followed the direction of Lycasus' finger and saw the slaves singing in the wheat field. He thought for a while and said, "That's because they have hope."

"hope?"

Cardios' expression became solemn, and his voice was low and long: "The great Pluto once said, 'Everyone's fate was different. Some were born rich, some were born poor, some were unfortunately become slaves, and some were lucky to become nobles. But as long as you always have good thoughts and do not give up your efforts, when your life is over, when the judgment of the underworld, faces the fair and selfless golden balance, your status and wealth during your lifetime are just illusions, which really determines whether everyone's soul goes to the beautiful Elysee or the terrible hell? It is what you do in your life. The kind go to Elysee, the evil one goes to hell, those who fight for life can enjoy music and food, and those who are lazy and hate labor will always suffer hard labor..."

Lycasus was stunned: "You...you mean...these slaves worked so enthusiastically to enter Elysee in the future?"

"It's not entirely because of this." Caldias whispered: "Daves, the consul of the Dionys who possessed Hades' blood, passed a bill in the Senate, 'Every year at the Hades celebration, the city-state slaves who performed well in those years will be given freedom.' And Davers will also perform well on this day to give freedom to the slaves he owns. Because Davers is deeply loved by the people of Dionys, they are influenced by the consuls, and when they have spare time, they will also consider giving freedom to private slaves who contribute to their families...

I remember that last year a Nubian slave was sent to the port market to buy goods by his master and rescued two drowning children in the Kekrati River. Not only was the father of the child willing to pay for him to redeem him, but the people of the whole city unanimously demanded that they be free... So you see that there is such an atmosphere in Dionia. Can these slaves not show off their own strength?”

Lycasus nodded. Although Crotone also gave slaves freedom, he never made a bill to Dionia. Moreover, the slaves were released so often and in many cases.

In fact, there is another reason. Cardiois doesn't know much about it: although the age composition of Dionian citizens and preparatory citizens is mainly young and middle-aged (because Dioria received a large number of immigration), citizens have to participate in military training more than ten times that of Crotone, and they have to undertake some garrison tasks. They do not have more energy and time to take good care of their land and rely more on slaves. Therefore, they not only regard slaves as part of their family, but also give them more autonomy in their labor, which is more conducive to their efforts to exert their enthusiasm.

"In the past two years, the slaves of the Silitunate fled to Knapetia from time to time, for this reason." Kaldias added.

"Ah... there was also a large-scale escape of slaves in Crotone!" Lycasus remembered: "But it was not to run to Knapetia, but Asprestum not far from Crotone. At that time, we also held a citizen meeting and sent people to protest to Asprestum, demanding that the escaped slaves be sent back, and they soon escorted the slaves back..."

"If Crotone did not make changes on the issue of slavery, such things would be inevitable in the future." Caldias sighed. As a Cirette, he did not seem to be worried about it, but was somewhat happy to see it.

Of course, the young Lycasus didn't think so much, and he asked another topic in confusion: "By the way, why have I never heard of what you said just now... what Pluto Hades said?"

"You have never heard of too many things about the gods." Caldias's eyes were filled with spirit: "You must know that when the god Zeus and his brothers and sisters worked together to overthrow their father's god Cronos and re-divided his father's power, Hades, as the eldest brother, could choose the sky or the sea as his divine realm, but he would rather choose the dark and wet hell, so as to live underground for a long time, creating a fair and selfless residence for the weak human souls, and ensuring the stability of the earthly world. Isn't he great?"

"Is it...is it true?" Lycasus said suspiciously: "Everyone knows that Hades chose hell because he was forced to helplessly."

"Have you ever thought about who passed down the facts you know? ... Without the permission of Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, how could such a secret thing be known to us ordinary humans? Zeus ruled the gods of Olympus, and of course he would make the content of the rumor beneficial to himself. Hades, the Pluto, is introverted and a bit gloomy. The Greeks don't like him, so they all believe that rumor." Cardios said with a serious expression: "But in fact, among the several main gods, Hades is the most loyal to his duties and keeps his duties. Zeus is debauchery; Poseidon, violent and ruthless; Ares, crazy and bloody; Hermes, playful; Hervestos, drunk and insidious; Apollo, proud and insidious... Only Hades, have you ever heard of anything bad about him?"

After hearing what Cardiola said, Lycasus felt a little confused. He covered his forehead and said for a long time: "He...he forced Demeter's daughter Paltsephone as his wife."

Kaldias looked like "I knew you would have said this if I had known you would have said this". He explained seriously: "The harsh underground environment makes no goddess willing to go wherever she wants to go. Hades has no choice but to marry a wife for himself through forced robbery."

Note:

The description of road stele in this chapter does not come from modern concepts. In the early days of the Roman Empire, there was a humanized design of road stele, which was very similar to the current signboard. Roman merchants also sold an iron water cup to travelers who were traveling far away, with detailed road maps engraved in various provinces to facilitate travel.
Chapter completed!