Chapter 615
In the following days in Turií, Gherni often could not sleep at night. He often thought that the people of Diónia were busy herding cattle and sheep and hunting beasts all day long in order to survive, but the people of Diónia had the time and energy to carry out planned and orderly military training. Even if the Samonai Army that he was in could have a real contest with the Legion of Dionysia, they would not have been a match for them!
Later, he learned that there were seven or eight military camps like this in Diónia. It was a great blow to him, and it became one of the reasons why his attitude toward Diónia began to change.
The Samonai people suddenly became a lot quieter. At the same time, they were also looking forward to seeing the city of Turií.
As they walked further, the terrain became flatter and more open. There were more houses and villages.
Not far ahead, there was a flat road that connected to the stone bridge that spanned the Kostheni River. Bustling pedestrians came from the other side of the Kostheni River and finally converged on this main road, making the already crowded crowd even larger.
In fact, the main traffic on this road was usually the pack wagons and the kingdom's slaves that transported stones and copper ores. In this lively September, for the sake of traffic safety, these were temporarily stopped. Instead, the people of Diónia who came from the Bruti region to attend the celebration in Turií had increased the utilization of this road.
The rumbling of carriages, the neighing of cattle and sheep, the chatter of pedestrians, and the crying of children … The flow of people on the road was a huge moving source of noise. At the same time, it was also the producer of garbage. The excrement of pedestrians and livestock, as well as the leftovers of food, were all over the ground. If the pedestrians were not careful, they would fall prey to it. The air was filled with an unpleasant smell.
The Samonai and Potentians who had suffered a loss complained about it.
The young man explained, "The roads and the cleanliness on both sides of the Turií territory are the responsibility of the various Demos in Turií territory. Usually, these roads are very clean by them. It's just that there are too many pedestrians coming and going during this time, and the people of the Demos also have to watch the celebrations and competitions, so they can only do simple cleaning at dusk and early morning … After this busy time, the roads will become clean again."
"What's a Demo?" Someone asked curiously.
"Simply put, Dermot is a small town formed by the merging of several villages. In Turín, there are 68 German Shepherds, and the number is still increasing. "
The young man's casual explanation left the Samonians speechless. In the Samonese Mountains, it was hard to see a village (that is, a tribal settlement) even after walking for half a day, but there were hundreds of villages in the central city of Diónia. How many people were there?!
The Samonians used their not-so-bright brains to think hard. In fact, after they passed through Neutum, the Samonians, who were used to herding and hunting in the forest with only a few people, began to feel a little uncomfortable. There were too many pedestrians along the way, probably more than the population of Abenilum.
"Let's go this way!" At this time, the young man shouted and led the Samonai people to turn right into a side road.
"Leader Gherni, may God Savone bless you (Savone, the god of war worshiped by the Samonians) and win the competition!" Seeing that the slave leading the way did not follow them, Ginat had to wave goodbye to them.
"Ginat, thank you for taking care of us along the way. Welcome to Abenilum!" Gherni also responded in a friendly manner, which was exactly what Ginat wanted to hear. This adventurous Potentian merchant had long wanted to take advantage of his neighbor, but in the past, although the Samonians and the Potentians were no longer at war, their relationship was unfamiliar, so he did not dare to enter the Samonese Mountains to trade. Now that he had Gherni's friendship, he had the confidence.
"Clotho Cox, thank you very much for your selfless help! When I sell the cattle and sheep, I will definitely treat you to a drink at Cristoya's restaurant! "Ginat then expressed his gratitude to the young man.
The young man smiled and politely declined, "Thank you for your invitation, but these days I will be busy with the celebration and the competition, so I really don't have time."
After sending Ginat off, the young man led the Samonians along the north bank of the Coseni River to the east. The houses on both sides of the road gradually became denser, and most of them were two or three stories high. Unlike the usual Greek houses that faced the road, these houses were facing away from the road, so the tall buildings were right next to each other, directly standing beside the sidewalk. Although this side road was also relatively wide, and there were gutters and sidewalks on both sides, so it was not narrow, but it still obstructed the view and still gave people a sense of oppression.
"Why haven't we reached the city of Turín yet?!" Tadoni shouted a little irritably.
The young man smiled and said, "Actually, we have already entered the city of Turín."
"Already entered the city of Turín?!" Tadoni thought that he was joking, "We did not see the city walls at all."
"Only the inner city of Turín has city walls, the other urban areas have not built walls …" the young man explained.
It turned out that after the Southern Italian War, many freedmen and foreigners poured into Turín every year, wanting to become citizens of the kingdom. The skyrocketing population led to the continuous expansion of the urban areas of Turín.
"We are now at the edge of the urban area of Turín, at least four miles away from the inner city."
Four miles?! All the Samonai people gasped. How big was this city?!
Even Gherni was deeply shocked. Although he had stayed in Turín for half a year eight years ago, the city of Turín was not as big as it was now. It could only be said that the city of Turín was developing too fast!
"There are no city walls in the city of Turín. Aren't they afraid of the invasion of foreign enemies?!" Maioni, the quarterback of the Samonians team who participated in the football game, asked in a slightly provocative manner. As the second warrior among the Samonians who had participated in the last war, he was both in awe and a little unwilling to admit defeat to Diónia.
The young man glanced at him and said loudly, "The Senate of Diónia once raised a similar question to the king at that time, hoping to build an outer city wall, but the King of Devers said —" The young man straightened his back, "'Turín is located in the center of the Kingdom of Diónia, with mountains as a barrier, the sea as a barrier, a strong army for defense, and a strong fleet for protection. If the enemy still managed to break into the territory of Turín, then there is no need for the Kingdom of Diónia to exist!'"
In fact, there was another important reason why Tuliyi City did not build an outer wall. It was because Tuliyi City was very big. Although building an outer wall was a huge project, Tuliyi City was still expanding. After a few years, the outer wall would probably become an inner wall again … Such a large number of people and the expenditure of the national treasury would not achieve much in the end, so it was better not to build it.
Of course, the Samonians did not know about this. After listening to the young man's words, they became silent.
The number of pedestrians on the side roads was decreasing. Many pedestrians who had been to Turín for many times knew that food and accommodation were very scarce in Turín at this time of the year. The further they went into the inner city, the higher the price. Therefore, they would choose to walk into the houses and discuss with the owners about renting a house. This was also the reason why the owners built the houses so tall.
As for why the houses were facing away from the road, it was because although it was only a side road, there were still people coming and going every day and it was noisy. The practice of facing away from the road, using small windows, and thickening the walls could reduce the noise. At the same time, the residents did not have to see the irritating street view and had a barely passable living environment.
As they walked forward for a while, the houses that stood on both sides of the road like city walls disappeared. After passing by two stone statues of Hermes with a smile on their faces, wearing flying boots, and pointing to the front, the field of vision in front opened up again. What everyone saw was a familiar traditional Greek house.
Without waiting for the people to ask, the young man took the initiative to explain, "When we, the Diónia, rebuilt the city of Turín, His Majesty the Devers and the senators had envisioned the prosperous scene of the city of Turín in the future. Therefore, a lot of public land around the city was not allocated to the citizens, but for the future expansion of the urban area. From here forward, it's the original urban area of Turín. Sigh, I just didn't expect the expansion of the city of Turín would be so rapid that it has already expanded to the 'land' of the Turín citizens.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture has a rule that 'farmland is not allowed to be used for other purposes'. The supervisor will also regularly inspect the quality of the newly built houses and also limit the height. Otherwise, the citizens at the back won't only have two to three-storey houses built on the roadside, but five to six-storey houses spread all over their land. Then, they'll rent the houses to preparatory citizens and freedmen to obtain high profits instead of farming! "When the young man reached here, a hint of disgust appeared on his face.
Other than marveling at the large population of the city of Turín again, the Samonians did not have any other feelings. However, between these neatly arranged houses and crisscrossing streets, they saw temples or altars from time to time.
From the young man, they learned that these temples were not only dedicated to the gods of the Greeks, but there were also temples dedicated to the god Asinu of Lucania, the highland goddess Amala and Brutus of the Buruthi people, and the racial protector of the Mesapi and Puchetti people, Lycaon … The gods of the foreign tribes were worshiped in the cities that were dominated by the Greeks. The believers did their own things, but there were no conflicts. This surprised Sammonet greatly.
At this time, the young man pointed to the front and said, "Look, that's the arena where you're going to compete next."
A few hundred meters away stood a huge building beside the road. It was the Asinu — Amara Arena.
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