I was a priest in the city-state era

Although the war between the city of Athens and the city of Knossos was temporarily over, Roy did not become relaxed.

Because next, Roy has to solve a more difficult and important matter than defeating the city of Knossos - solving the food problem of the city of Athens.

If the food problem of the city of Athens is not solved, the city of Athens will collapse on its own even if no enemy attacks the city.

The current food shortage in the city of Athens is approximately 1.5 million kilograms of food.

To make matters worse, due to the hostile relationship between the city of Athens and the city of Knossos, the Athenians were unable to go to the city of Knossos to buy grain. They had to ask grain merchants to take the initiative to transport the grain to the city of Athens.

In order to solve the food problem in the city of Athens and make the city a trade hub in the Aegean Sea, Roy took out the most valuable and profitable commodity in this era-salt.

Port of Piraeus.

Clay pots filled with salt were moved by the soldiers to the cabins of twenty ships.

After all the 20,000 kilograms of salt contained in a thousand clay pots were moved to the ship, Roy said to Aries.

"Aries, now I want to give you an important task related to the survival of the city of Athens. I want you to take these twenty warships and 600 soldiers to search for merchant ships in the South Aegean Sea, and destroy them when you encounter them. Whenever you encounter a merchant ship, you give them a jar of salt and tell them to come to Athens for trade. You can buy unlimited salt for the price of fifty pounds of grain for one pound of salt. Give the jars of salt to a thousand merchant ships, and you can take the fleet back to the city of Athens. And the most important thing is that you have to tell those merchant ships that there will be no commercial tax on selling goods in the city of Athens.”

After listening to Roy's instructions, Aries couldn't help but say.

"Your Majesty, twenty thousand kilograms of salt is equivalent to two million kilograms of grain. Do we really want to give it away for free? The price of one kilogram of salt is one hundred kilograms of grain. Is it too cheap for us to sell fifty kilograms of grain for one kilogram of salt?"

"You have to take a longer view."

Roy patted Aries on the shoulder and said.

"Now we are letting maritime merchants come to the city of Athens to trade in order to make the city of Athens a trade hub. When the city of Athens' status as a trade hub is stabilized, we can collect wool - and we can collect taxes. As long as the city of Athens replaces If the city of Knossos becomes a trade hub, we can destroy the city of Knossos without any blood and cause the city of Knossos to completely decline. And we will not actually suffer any loss of profits. After all, we use seawater to dry the salt. Yes, the price we pay is just some labor.”

Aries nodded and said, seeming to understand.

"Then I will follow your request and give salt to every merchant ship I encounter, and tell them that there is no commercial tax for trading in the city of Athens."

"You can also tell them that in addition to salt, our city of Athens also has commodities such as olive oil and wine."

After Aries left the port with twenty warships and 600 Athenian soldiers, Roy returned to the outside of Athens and prepared to pay the soldiers who participated in the war.

If we directly distribute food to the soldiers, the city of Athens will definitely not be able to distribute it.

Even if it can barely be sent out, after distributing food to the soldiers, I am afraid that the city of Athens will begin to collapse the next day.

Moreover, the soldiers could not carry away hundreds or thousands of kilograms of food alone.

Therefore, Roy does not plan to distribute food directly to the soldiers, but to distribute salt to the soldiers.

Outside Athens.

More than two thousand soldiers gathered at the place where the salt was distributed. This spectacular sight attracted thousands of Athenians to watch.

Roy stood on a mound and shouted to the soldiers.

"Soldiers! Now I want to tell you that the war between Athens and Knossos is over. Soldiers from Thebes, Eubia, and Corinth can go home. Before you go home, I I must fulfill my promise and give you the rewards you deserve. But each of you cannot bring hundreds or even thousands of catties of food home, so I will give you salt in other areas. The price of one pound of salt is equivalent to one hundred pounds of grain, but I will give you the salt at the price of one pound of salt and fifty pounds of grain. In other words, if the reward you deserve is one thousand pounds of grain, I will give it to you. You have twenty pounds of salt. You can eat the salt yourself, or you can store the salt as currency. When you finish eating the food, you can exchange the salt for the food."

In this era, storing food is definitely more difficult than storing salt.

For civilians, there is too much food at home to be eaten in a short time. Whether it is moldy food or food bitten by mice, it is very dangerous.

So the soldiers were very willing, and Roy exchanged hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of grain for salt and distributed it to them.

"If you all have no objection, then line up one by one to receive your salt. After you receive the salt, those who are married can sign up to go home today. Those who are not married can participate in tomorrow's blind date event. If you are lucky you will get a wife."

After Roy finished speaking, the soldiers began to line up in an orderly manner to receive the salt.

Although the six hundred Athenian soldiers led by Aries were not there, Roy did not forget them and had arranged for six hundred bags of salt to be delivered to their homes.

After Taurus received his big bag of salt, Roy came to Taurus and warned him.

"Taurus, you don't need to attend tomorrow's blind date."

"ah--"

Upon hearing Roy's request, Taurus said with confusion.

"Does Your Majesty want me to be single for the rest of my life?"

"I have already prepared a wife for you."

Roy explained with a smile.

"Before, I robbed the six sisters of Prince Perseus of Mycenae as spoils of war, and only asked the Mycenaeans to redeem Perseus' three cousins. Of Perseus's three biological sisters, two One is arranged to be married to me, and the other is left to you. Now I want to give this princess to you as my wife, and of course you don’t have to go to the blind date."

Suddenly learning that a noble princess would be his wife, Taurus looked at Roy with wide eyes in shock and said.

"Is what your Majesty said true? You are so kind to me. I really don't know how to repay your kindness. Originally, I planned to cast bronzes and build warships for you on Ubiah Island. Now I have changed I have an idea, I will stay in Athens and serve you.”

"Taurus! If you are really grateful for my kindness, you can continue to stay on Ubia Island to build weapons for me. Before you return to Ubia Island, I will teach you how to make charcoal and use charcoal to smelt iron ore and cast iron tools. Teach you. As long as you bring other Phoenicians to make bronze and iron objects for me, you can make a contribution to me that is not inferior to anyone else. In three years, I will let you become the island of Eubia. Governor, over all the people of Euboea."

After speaking, Roy patted Taurus on the shoulder with his right hand.

"His Majesty--"

Although the Governor of Ubia Island is not a hereditary and lifelong position, he is also the supreme ruler of Ubia Island.

As a commoner, I actually have the opportunity to obtain this status that is not inferior to that of the king of the city-state——

Taurus, unable to express his gratitude, knelt down directly in front of Roy to express his loyalty.