I was a priest in the city-state era

The city of Knossos is located in the east-central part of Crete.

It is the most powerful, rich and populous city-state in Crete, and has accumulated a lot of wealth by becoming a trade hub in the Eastern Mediterranean.

King Minos of Knossos also knew that the foundation for the city of Knossos to remain strong was trade, so he established a navy to protect the safety of the sea lanes around Crete and established fair trade in the city of Knossos. system, attracting more merchants to the city of Knossos for trade.

When Roy's fleet entered the trading port of the city of Knossos, they saw hundreds of ships, large and small, coming in and out of the port, which looked like a scene of prosperous trade.

On the artificial docks of the trading port, not only were thousands of sailors busy loading and unloading goods, but there were also heavily armed Knossos soldiers patrolling back and forth.

After Roy's fleet came to anchor at an artificial dock, a group of Knossos soldiers immediately came over and shouted.

"Who is the master of your fleet?"

Roy jumped from the flagship to the dock and faced the Knossos soldiers.

"I am the master of the fleet."

The man who looked like a soldier captain took out a bronze sign and said to Roy.

"Every new ship entering the port must pay a tax to King Knossos! We will board the ship to inspect your goods, and take away one-twentieth of the goods or items of equal value as the commercial tax you pay. If you If you are willing to pay the tax, please accept this sign as proof of your tax payment. If you are not willing to pay the tax, please return the same way and leave our port.”

At this time, the guard captain Pallas also jumped onto the dock.

After hearing that the Knossos people said that they would collect one-twentieth of the goods as commercial tax, the guard captain Pallas couldn't help but said.

"What do you mean by paying taxes? You just took away one-twentieth of our goods with just one sentence. Is this robbery?"

The Knossos soldier captain immediately mocked.

"Where are you natives from? You don't even know about commercial taxes. Our city of Knossos provides you with a safe trading environment. It is natural for you to pay taxes to the King of Knossos. If you don't want to pay taxes , we will not force you to pay taxes, we will just drive you away.”

"Captain Pallas, please don't speak for now."

Glaring at the guard captain Pallas with a dissatisfied look, Roy turned to the Knossos soldier captain and said.

"We agree to pay the tax, and you can now board the ship to inspect our goods. The goods we brought for trade are a hundred cans of olive oil, which are all placed in the hold of the ship."

Unexpectedly, Roy was so cooperative. The captain of the Knossos soldiers glanced at Roy in surprise, and then waved the soldiers behind him to board the ship to inspect the goods.

Ten Knossos soldiers boarded ten cargo ships respectively. After inspecting the cabins, they returned to the soldier captain to report the results.

After confirming that Roy's cargo was one hundred jars of olive oil, the Knossos soldier captain said to Roy.

"Now we are going to take away your five cans of olive oil. If you agree, you will take the tax tag."

Roy directly took the bronze tax tag and said with a smile on his face.

"Please take five jars of olive oil with you!"

Loy explained to the captain of the guard, Pallas, after the captain of the Knossos soldiers and his men left with five jars of olive oil.

"Captain Pallas! Although you may think it is unreasonable, it is right for us to pay taxes to the people of Knossos. In the future, when we Athenians develop the port of Piraeus into a trading port, we will also pay taxes to people entering Piraeus." A commercial tax is levied on cargo ships in the port of Foss.”

Guard Captain Pallas lowered his head and said.

"I was too impulsive just now, because this is the first time I heard that trade requires taxes. In the past, the Phoenicians did not pay taxes to us Athenians when they traded with us."

Roy rolled his eyes and complained in his mind.

In the past, the Athenians did not have the ability to trade across the sea, so it was the Athenians who begged the Phoenicians for trade.

Not only could the Athenians not collect commercial taxes from the Phoenicians, they also had to endure economic exploitation by the Phoenicians at unfair prices.

Aries came to Roy at this time and asked curiously.

"Master Priest, how are we going to find the grain merchant next?"

Roy turned his head and glanced at the city behind the port, and then said to the guard captain Pallas.

"Captain Pallas! Now I plan to take Aries into the city of Knossos to find merchants who can trade grain. You have to manage our ships and sailors to ensure that no unexpected situations occur."

Guard Captain Pallas nodded and said.

"Master Priest! I guarantee with my life that accidents will never happen."

As soon as Roy and Aries walked out of the port that was full of the smell of sailors' sweat, a Knossos man wearing linen clothes and straw sandals came to Roy and said with a warm smile.

"Dear foreigners, do you need a guide? If you hire me to guide you, you can save time and directly find merchants who can trade with you."

Roy stopped and looked at the other person with suspicion.

"Can you lead the way for us?"

"I am Karon from Knossos, one of the famous guides in the port. Whether you want to trade grain or bronze, I can directly take you to the big merchants who sell grain and bronze. And the reward I ask for It’s not much, you just need to give me a hundred catties of grain.”

After listening to the words of the guide Caron, Aries couldn't help but say.

"I see that the city of Knossos is not that big. It only takes an hour at most for you to lead the way for us. But the reward you asked for is a hundred catties of grain. Do you know that we risked everything for a hundred catties of grain?" Risking life——"

Before Aries could finish speaking, Roy raised his hand to interrupt him and said to the guide, Caron.

"Charon, the guide! We came to the city of Knossos to buy food, so we can't give you a hundred catties of food as your reward."

"Then what are your goods? You can give me goods worth one hundred catties of grain.

"The goods we brought were one hundred cans of olive oil, and one can was ten pounds of olive oil."

"olive oil--"

Caron, the guide, thought for a moment and said.

"Then you give me two cans of olive oil as payment for hiring me."

Two cans of olive oil -

Could it be that in the city of Knossos, twenty pounds of olive oil were exchanged for one hundred pounds of grain?

Roy recorded this important information in his mind, and then said to the guide Caron.

"Okay! I agree to hire you with two jars of olive oil. As long as you take us to the grain merchant, I will give you two jars of olive oil as agreed."

Upon hearing Roy's promise, the guide Caron immediately pointed to a gorgeous stone house not far from the port.

"Dear foreigner! Lord Eteo who lives in that house is one of the big grain merchants in Knossos. I will take you to see Lord Eteo now."

Well--

Looking at the gorgeous stone house only a few hundred meters away from him, Roy couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise.

It seemed that Kalon, the guide, had earned a hundred kilograms of grain from himself in less than five minutes.

But for Roy, knowing that twenty pounds of olive oil can be exchanged for one hundred pounds of grain is not a disadvantage.