"Persians, shut up! When your wife and children were in the barracks again, I didn't treat them badly!" Mersis said angrily.
"Mercis, are you really just letting these dozen **** pick up... pick up guests...?" Kristoa blushed and asked seriously.
Mersis knew that this matter could not be concealed, and he had to say: "There are also some women, the soldiers who robbed them died in battle, they lost their support, and they didn't want to do dirty and tiring work, and they suffered from those ** I think it's easy to make money. After all, our food is given priority to the soldiers, and they also want to survive..."
"Then why didn't you let them go?" Cristoia asked.
"Let them go, where can they go? They've already left their hometowns hundreds or thousands of miles away! They can't go back. Rather than being captured by the city-states and tribes along the way and becoming slaves as well, it's better to stay in Our military camp, at least we can live a little better..." Mersis said with a mocking sympathy.
"These are all crimes committed by the soldiers!" Davos sighed, put his arms around the sad Kristoya, and said, "Mercis, you don't have to force them... I see it this way, We provide them with food for free, and when we find a place to settle in Greater Greece, we will marry them to the soldiers... Our soldiers will no longer loot, because we will no longer be mercenaries!"
"Boss, you are so kind!" Mersis hurriedly praised and left quickly, he didn't want to face Cristoia's accusing eyes again.
… … … … …
As time went on, the news from the west became more and more worrying, the camps of the Lucanians in the western mountains were expanding day by day, and the Turians who worked on the Shibari Plain on the north bank of the Krati River were increasing day by day. Rare... Until more than ten days later, Lucanian spies appeared on the outskirts of Turii, causing a panic among the people in the city. The generals of the city hall knew that the Lucanian attack was coming, and they had to be prepared. .
So, with a mission in mind, Bulcos took a boat to the simple pier at the mouth of the Krati River and went ashore (a bad habit of the Greeks, as long as they can take a boat wherever they go, they will never walk).
On the shore, Burkes found that this place was obviously more popular than the rest of the Xubari Plain, and that people in twos and threes were walking on a broad, compacted dirt road that led to a large dirt circle.
"What is that?" Burkos asked Moras.
"It's a market built by the mercenaries I told you about last time."
When Moras told him, he didn't care. At this moment, he was interested. Anyway, he had to pass this market to go to the mercenary camp, and it would not take much time to go in and have a look.
Before reaching the entrance of the market, the boiling voices filled my ears. At the door stood two beautifully dressed and pretty women. They were slender and slim. You could tell by their faces that they were not Greeks, but they spoke Greek euphemistically: "Dear guest, welcome! Is this your first time here?"
Moraes nodded involuntarily.
"If you are here to sell things, there is a wooden room behind the door, which is our market management room. You can ask the person in charge to choose a booth for you, but it will cost a small fee."
"What's the cost?" Burkes asked eagerly.
"An opal a day."
The price is very cheap, but these mercenaries actually use the land of Turii to make money! Burkes was a little angry.
"But the stalls are full now, so you can only come back tomorrow."
This crappy place is so popular! Burkes was taken aback and said tentatively, "If I pay more, can you squeeze a booth for me?"
"Dear guests, we do not charge this fee to make money, we are to maintain the order of this market, and the help we have provided for you has far exceeded the value of an opal. We just hope that the stall owners can Make good use of the value of your booth and earn far more than an opal every day!"
This would sound familiar to a modern man, but Burkes and Moras were utterly dumbfounded.
Then the woman continued: "If you are here to buy something, there is a wooden sign hanging on the door of the market management room, which reads a little requirement of our market for every customer, I hope you can abide by it. If you encounter fraud or disputes when buying or selling, you can go to the market management office for help, and they will help you solve them enthusiastically…”
Burkos and Moras are well-informed and well-informed, but at this moment they are a little dizzy by the words of the woman. In the Greek city-states they have been to, they have never heard such a thought for businessmen and customers. The market, with strong curiosity, they came to the market management room.
This is a simple wooden house with a large window facing the market. Several people are sitting at the window and are politely answering questions from customers who come to ask questions.
"Hello! Is there any problem that we need to solve?" A dark-skinned and thin Egyptian politely asked Moras, who was looking into the room through the window.
Just as Moras was about to say something perfunctory, someone in the room shouted, "Lord Burkes, you are welcome!" A middle-aged man with brown hair, long beard, and a golden hook nose pushed open the door and greeted him enthusiastically.
"Who are you?" Burkes looked at him and felt a little familiar.
"The business officer under the leader of Davos, my name is Marigi." Marigi put Davos's promise of his official position to himself without any humility.
Burkes didn't pay attention to what he said. He first corrected him: "No! Please don't call me your lord! I'm just an ordinary citizen of Turii." Then he asked curiously, "Are you a Persian?"
"Yes." Marigi is not only not shy, but rather complacent.
"You have people of any race here!" Burkes said with a sigh, then pointed to the things placed on the "window", and asked curiously: "What are these scales placed here for? use?"
“If a customer feels that he’s not buying enough things, like olive oil and sea fish…etc, he can take them here and weigh them, and if he finds out that’s the case, the management will find the buyer and penalize them. , in serious cases, his stall will be cancelled and he will no longer be allowed to enter the market.”
"Well, yes, very thoughtful. Has there ever been such a thing?" Burkes said lightly. Although he felt that the mercenaries had no right to punish anyone in the lands of Turii, he thought it would be best to talk to their chief about such matters.
"Only once, after the punishment, nothing like this has ever happened again." Marigi looked at him and said carefully.
"You have written on this board 'No spitting, littering, buyers must keep their stalls tidy', why stress these?! All the markets in the city-states I have been to have no such requirements, including the Athens ones. Agora!" This is what Bulcos is most interested in.
"This is the suggestion of the leader of Davos. He said, 'The market is a place where people are densely populated, and it is also a place where garbage and sewage are rampant. Too much garbage will not only stink and make people uncomfortable, but also attract a lot of people. Flies and mosquitoes will affect everyone's mood to buy and sell things, and most importantly, it will lead to the occurrence of epidemics!'" Mariji said cautiously.
"Is it so serious?!" Burkes was a little surprised.
"The leader is Hades' favored one. Of course, his words cannot be ignored! Not only do we remind customers, we also have ten slaves dedicated to cleaning the entire market. I can say that although our market is simple, in terms of cleanliness The market is cleaner than any city! It took so much sweat and effort to charge such a small fee." Marigi explained a little for himself here calmly.
Burkes breathed in the relatively fresh air, looked down at the flat ground, and thoughtfully.