Chapter 268
The Devers' speech was met with thunderous applause. The passionate players and the audience outside the stadium sang Hades' song. After that, the teams hurriedly exited the field, and the rugby match officially began.
According to the new rules of the tournament, the eight teams were divided into two groups, A and B. Last year's champion and runner-up, Turín and Armendolara, were seeded into two groups, and the rest of the teams would draw lots to decide where to go.
In the end, the members of group A were Turín, Neutum, Crimissa, and Grumentum; and the members of group B were Armendolara, Laos, Castellón, and Asprustom.
The two groups were played in a single round robin. A win was worth one point, and a loss was worth zero points. There were no draws. Teams with the same number of points would see who won and lost. The top two teams in each group would advance and enter the knockout round to determine the champion.
In order to get off to a good start, the Devers deliberately chose Turín and Neutum, a match of similar strength, as the opening game to attract the audience's attention.
When the two teams, Turín and Neutum, re-entered the field, the crowd cheered thunderously. The audience was mostly Turín. Of course, they cheered for their city's team, while most of the Lucanians cheered for Neutum. In their cheers, the names of Tiger-Tilos and Lizaru were mentioned the most, because one was a strong and powerful running forward, and the other was a flexible and fast running forward. Both were famous scorers on their respective teams.
In the audience, Bagoule watched enviously. He shouted loudly and stamped his feet, completely lacking the steadiness of a powerful Senate elder. If it weren't for the fact that he had just become the governor of the Grumentum and was busy with work and had no time to train with the team, he would never have been a spectator outside the field.
Next to him, Asistes saw through his thoughts and teased him, "Now that you are the governor of the Grumentum, you should support the Grumentum team. Neutum is the main opponent for the Grumentum to enter the knockout round. You should hope that they lose."
Bagoule glared at him, and then really fell into a dilemma.
The referee blew the piccolo and the match officially began.
As a strong country in Greece, even though Diónia's rugby competition was already well-known in Greece, the Crotone people still disdained it. As the game progressed, the invited Crotone VIPs began to be attracted by the ferocious collisions and confrontations. Even the Crotone General Ascamas, the Navy Commander who had been gossiping about the game, stopped mocking them. The strict organization, reasonable rules, the unique ball game of this era, and the exciting sports scene had shocked the general who had represented Crotone in the four major tournaments many times in his younger days. He exclaimed, "I didn't expect rugby to be such a sport. It's much more interesting than the stone ball tossing game that the Sparta people play. It's very interesting. It's very suitable for us Crotone people to participate in!"
"Why?" someone beside him asked.
"Look, there are a lot of people on the field. Although the scene looks chaotic, it's basically two types of sports: offense and defense." Ascamas pointed to the field and analyzed with reason. "To do these two things, the players who participate in the game must have great strength, speed, and not be afraid of collisions. These are exactly what we Crotone athletes are good at!"
Ascamas's proud words attracted the nods of the Crotone people around him. Crotone's athletes have been dominating in wrestling and boxing for a long time, and they have a wealth of experience in training athletes' strength and explosive power.
"When we go back, we should persuade the Citizen's Assembly to let the Crotone people start practicing rugby too. Next year, we'll also participate in this competition and defeat these Diónia teams!" Ascamas looked around at the cheering Diónia crowd around him, a hint of anger hidden in his eyes.
At this moment, Turín's Tiger Tilos scored a touchdown with the ball. The crowd cheered thunderously, which made Ascamas's heart itch even more.
"Sir Ascamas is right! Next year, we'll also participate and defeat the Diónia people! " Some of the Crotone people said in unison. Being defeated by the Diónia people made these proud Crotone people feel aggrieved. Like Ascamas, they wanted to win back their dignity on the field to prove the strength of the Crotone people.
Lysias listened to the discussion of his companions and frowned. His mind was not completely attracted by the game, but he was thinking about some deeper issues. The whole of Greece had four traditional games and a famous Pan- Athens Festival. Athletes from all the city-states of Greece were very enthusiastic to participate. They were much more active than the Greek city-states along the coast of Asia Minor. In every Olympia, Greek athletes performed well. However, Greece itself did not have an influential sports event. The sports-loving Crotone people once tried to organize a sports event even if only the city-states of Greece participated, but it failed. On the one hand, Crotone's influence was not enough, and the Greeks did not agree with it. On the other hand, many city-states had long-term conflicts of interest and could not reach an agreement. As a result, this became a regret for the Crotone people!
Now, although the Diónia Rugby Union was only a single competition, it included so many cities in Greece, and it seemed to attract more city-states to participate. This made Lysias vaguely see the shadow of a regional competition.
Was this a coincidence? Or was it intentional by the Diónia people? Lysias looked at the figures of the Devers in the front row. Through the past two days of contact, the seemingly gentle young consul gave him an unfathomable feeling. In just a few months, Diónia not only stabilized the situation in the newly occupied Asplustum and Crimissa, but also recently occupied a large city in Lucania Municipality — Grumentum.
The Citizens' Assembly of Crotone was still arguing over a series of issues such as whether the new residents of Asplustum would be granted full citizenship and the re-division of the war-damaged land of the Croton Plain.
At first, Lysias wanted to get through this difficult period and let Crotone rise again. However, after more and more contact with Diónia, every time he compared the fast-developing Diónia with the stagnant Crotone, Lysias almost lost confidence. If this continued, Crotone would be left far behind by Diónia!
But he could do nothing but worry, unable to do anything. Crotone's democracy had always been like this. He had studied why Dioria's governance was so efficient, but these methods could not be implemented in Crotone. Sometimes he also thought that joining the Southern Alliance might be the best thing that Crotone did.
Hearing Ascamas's words, Lysias laughed at their childishness in his heart. Even if Crotone really did send a team next year, so what if they beat Diónia? Whether they won or lost, Diónia would be the big winner!
… …
On the third day, when the rugby match was still in full swing, the messenger of Elia, Canios, was received by the Devers.
The young Archon received him cordially, while Kanhos, who had gained a deeper understanding of the Dionian Alliance over the last two days, had cast aside his initial restraint and reserve, and the two had a friendly conversation.
The Devers listened carefully to Canios talk about Elia's current predicament, and learned from Canios about the situation in the Campania region and the Samonians. The conversation was pleasant, and in the end, an alliance agreement was reached: Elia joined the Diónia Alliance.
After signing the alliance agreement, Canios could finally relax because the Devers solemnly promised that if any force dared to invade Elia, Diónia would immediately send troops to help the Elia Alliance and repel the enemy!
At the same time, the Devers also hinted that when Diónia took action in Lucania Municipality in the future, they hoped that Elia could actively cooperate with them.
Canios happily realized that he finally saw the hope of solving the nightmare that had plagued Elia for decades. The feeling of having a strong force behind him was really reassuring!
When Canios walked out of the living room, he was in a good mood. Then, he saw a man walking towards him, smiling and waving at him.
Why is Cypross here? Canios returned the greeting, but he was puzzled.
… …
"Sir, since we have formed an alliance with Elia, do we still need to talk to the messengers of Picossis, Potentia, and Galaguso?" Aristocrates asked curiously.
"What do you think?" The Devers looked at Canios' back as he left, feeling very relaxed. Elia joining the alliance made him feel that he was one step closer to his goal of unifying Lucania.
"I think … we should take advantage of the fact that Picosis and Portentia's strength is weakened and that they still don't know that Eliya has joined the alliance to launch a sudden attack. We should be able to easily take down either Picosis or Portentia!" Aristocrates had followed the Devers for a long time, and he had more or less learned how to reap the most benefits with the least casualties.
But the Devers gently shook his head and did not agree with him. "Your ambush strategy is indeed good. But it is not suitable to carry it out at this time. "
"Why, my lord?" Aristokrati anxiously asked, somewhat dissatisfied.
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