Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 5: The Stone Merchant of the Kingdom

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Later, in order to avoid the envy of the Soldier Committee, Raos, the shrewd weapon merchant of Tury, took the initiative to join forces with the Legion Weapon Shop and handed over the produced fine weapons to the Legion Weapon Shop for sale, making it already in the Kingdom The Legion’s weapons shop, which was declining in the competition in the arms market in China, was revived and soon opened branches in various towns in the kingdom within a few years. Half of its employees were disabled soldiers, and their salaries were not low.

But Aristagrass made a difficult choice-entrepreneurship. He chose the industry he once worked in-Quarry. He asked his comrades to raise money and received strong support from the Soldier Committee. He brought several disabled soldiers who were willing to work with him to the Ministry of Commerce, hoping to contract. A quarry.

After the establishment of Dionia, a resolution was passed: the minerals in the territory cannot be sold to merchants, but they are only allowed to contract. Important mines not only need to be auctioned, but also after the mines are obtained, there are regulations The Ministry of Commerce will also send people to supervise it within the limited number of years, and neither allow its output to be too low, nor allow it to over-explore, so as to ensure that its annual share to the kingdom is constant.

The Ministry of Commerce finally agreed to let Aristagras contract a quarry in Lucania, not because he is a disabled soldier who should be taken care of, but because the quarry is located in the mountains and is inconvenient to transport. The output is not high, and it is a limestone mine. There are no merchants willing to take over, so the Ministry of Commerce let it contract at a lower price, and only gave it a one-year contract, just with the mentality of giving it a try.

Unexpectedly, after Aristagrass took over, he overcame many difficulties, not only the production of quarries increased sharply, but also sold at a good price (At that time, the Lucania area had been owned by Dionia for several years, after a vigorous culture Spread, the local people have gradually accepted the way of life of the Delianians, living in Greek-style houses, building the temple of Hades need a lot of limestone).

As a result, Aristagras gained a lot of wealth and won the trust of the Ministry of Commerce. Based on this, he used disabled soldiers as the backbone, and became well-known in the stone market of the kingdom. Very famous stone merchant.

Four years ago, he did not participate in the Turrii Chamber of Commerce organized by Raos and went to the Latinam war zone because he had just contracted the Turrii quarry, which was of great significance to him and the kingdom. He needed to solve all the complicated matters one by one, and he couldn't spare the time to go to Latham, not to mention that there were no quarries in Latham.

Now, he is a well-known stone merchant in the kingdom. He has a group of savvy and capable subordinates. It is no longer necessary for him to go to the mine to supervise and direct. However, this time the impact of the reconstruction of the main temple of Hades is very significant. The Kingdom Administration Office issued an order that the marble mines required by the temple were mainly provided by the Turiyi Quarry (because the quarries were close in distance, low cost, and not easy to damage), and also provided all Turiyi’s kingdom slaves to the Quarry. Used to ensure that enough stone is provided for the construction of the temple in a short time. Because of this, Aristagrass felt that the responsibility was heavy, and wherever he dared to be negligent, he visited the scene every day for fear of making a mistake.

Aristagrass first saluted the soldiers who escorted the slaves, and said seriously: "Thank you, brothers!"

Then asked the foremen: "Which team do you belong to? How many slaves did you bring?"

The foremen reported the number and number of their formation. Aristagras's men picked up the plank, checked it, and said, "You follow me."

The foremen took the slaves into the mine. Aristagrass stood at the entrance and chatted with the team officer while waiting for the follow-up slaves to enter the field, until it was confirmed that all the kingdom slaves had arrived and the number of slaves was met. , He said to his opponent: "Go and bring in our slaves and panniers."

The subordinate responded and did not leave immediately. Instead, he reminded: "Boss, according to the judgement of several old sailors, there is likely to be heavy rain tomorrow in Turye. Just in case, we have to take the mine today. All the stones in the field are transported away, otherwise if it really rains, the ground of the mine will become slippery and muddy, transporting the stones will become very difficult and dangerous."

Ore mining is difficult, and transportation is even more difficult. Aristagras has a deep understanding of it. He immediately made a decision: "I will discuss with Bulos (the team officer in charge of escorting the slaves today) to extend the length of the slaves as much as possible. The time of work guarantees that all the stones can be transported away today."

After speaking, he remembered one more thing, and said: "You take the time to go to the engineering school of Dionian Academy, and contact the scholars there and tell me what they mentioned last time about building railroad tracks. I have agreed to the transportation of ore, and when the matter of providing stones to the main temple of Hades is over, we will invite them to come here to carry out... Well, according to their words, it is called a trial."

"The railroad tracks are made to transport the ore?" The subordinates were a little confused, obviously not aware of this.

"I don't know exactly what the situation is. After you arrive at the academy, you can ask those scholars in detail." Aristagoras waved impatiently.

The Dionian Academy of Engineering was established shortly after the end of the Western Mediterranean War. Most of the scholars came from the original mathematics academy. It is a subject that puts theory and science into practice. Design of various equipment. The construction of railroad tracks and minecarts came from the idea that Daves mentioned accidentally when he inspected this newly established college and talked with scholars, but scholars regarded it as one of the most important research topics for expanding the influence of the new college.

Corsica and Sardinia belonged to the kingdom, and the entire Etruscan alliance formed an alliance with Dionian, so that the kingdom had a sufficient supply of iron ore, which solved the resource problem, and Raos also Willing to produce this special and high-quality rail, but it is more difficult to find a mineral merchant who is willing to cooperate, because the initial investment is large, and the main thing is to spend a huge amount of money to buy enough rails (the price of iron in the kingdom is not cheap Even though some new territories with rich iron ore resources were acquired a few years ago, the difficulty of mining and transportation have undoubtedly pushed up its cost).

Scholars of the Academy of Engineering have consulted with Aristagoras several times. He has been hesitant, but during this period of time, after receiving the kingdom mission to provide stones for the main temple of Hades, due to tight time and mission Seriously, just transporting the ore to the temple of the main city of Turyine has lost seven or eight pack cattle and wounded more than a dozen private slaves. He finally made up his mind to cooperate with the Academy of Engineering to solve the problem of transportation difficulties.

After making this important decision, he also felt a lot of pressure in his heart and wondered whether he could get a huge loan from Christia Bank at that time to ease the tension of funds. After all, Scholars from the Academy of Engineering said that this is a very important research invention in the kingdom, and King Dionia also attached great importance to it.

But before that, he had to do another thing first. He turned around and said to the other subordinate: "You go to the port in a while and book a passenger ship for me first. If it really rains tomorrow, I Just go to Syracuse and inspect the quarries there. After all, they are also responsible for providing limestone materials for the main temple, but you can’t make a mistake! (Sirracuse has the richest open-air limestone resources in the entire Western Mediterranean. Aristagras contracted the mining rights for one of the quarries).

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Masimus brought 50 slaves to the mining area they were in charge of before. They did not start work immediately, but had to make a good judgment about where to start mining is the most appropriate, which must be the captain He makes the decision. If the initial location is selected well, the mining will be smoother and the casualties will be reduced. This requires the team leader to have rich mining experience and vision.

The reason why Maximus was able to become the foreman’s most trusted captain was that he was very organized, not to make judgments temporarily, but to be ready for today’s mining at the end of yesterday. This It is a work habit developed by him as a municipal official of Rome for several terms.

In the huge and flat rock in front of them, several vertical and horizontal straight grooves have been poked, forming a rectangular stone outline.

At this time, Maximus asked six slaves to climb up the rock on a wooden ladder. In pairs, they knocked pieces of dry wooden wedges into the grooves with wooden hammers. When all the grooves were When embedded in dense wood chips, the rock slightly cracked along the groove.

Maximus immediately ordered the slaves who had brought the jug to pour water on the wooden wedges. The water flowed into the trench and soaked the wooden wedges. The wooden wedges absorbed water and expanded and became bigger and bigger. The gap in the groove is getting bigger and bigger, and this process will take some time.

At the same time, Maximus did not waste this time. After carefully observing the rock next to him, he began to measure with a measuring tape, and then used an ink pen to draw contour lines on the rock, and then there was Several slaves took a board brush (with an iron saw inlaid on the wooden board), brushing it back and forth along the outline, and finally chiseled it into a deeper trench.

At this moment, under the continuous expansion of the water-absorbing wooden wedge, the rock next to it has cracks wider and deeper.

Maximus felt that the heat was almost over, and sent 5 more slaves up. Each of them took a long and sturdy wooden crowbar, inserted it into the crack between the wooden wedges, and began to forcefully go out. Prying rocks is an extremely laborious and difficult process. After several waves of slaves were changed, and a few rockers were broken, the rock finally separated from the rock mass.