I was a priest in the city-state era

As a coastal city, Tyre is like a mother and daughter city.

The main city of Tyre was built on the mainland, but the core area was built on an island across the sea from the mainland.

Although the population of this city is only about 30,000, the prosperity of the entire city is visible to the naked eye.

Not only the royal family and nobles living in the core area lived a luxurious life and could enjoy the service of slaves, but most of the Phoenician civilians in the main city were also able to wear clean white cotton clothes.

The city of Tyre was so prosperous because the city gathered a large amount of wealth that the Phoenicians obtained from the backward civilization areas along the Mediterranean coast through trade, robbery, colonization, etc.

The city has even become so wealthy that it has no need for land and resources outside the city.

In another world's history, overlords from the east and west attacked the city.

In the sixth century BC, Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom launched a long-term siege of Tyre, which ultimately ended in failure.

When Alexander attacked the city of Tyre, he conducted a seven-month siege of the city, but failed to allow the city to run out of food and supplies.

Realizing that the city did not rely on land at all, and that its food and supplies were imported from the outside by sea ships, Alexander asked his soldiers to fill in the trench between the main city and the core area, and then used five to ten times the With superior military strength, they forced the city of Tyre to be captured.

For Alexander, Tyre was clearly a nightmare city.

So after Alexander captured the city of Tyre, he ordered the killing of 10,000 men in Tyre and the remaining 30,000 as slaves.

On the road of Alexander's expansion, if every city was like Tyre and could resist Alexander's five to ten times military advantage for seven months, then within Alexander's sixteen years of rule, he could only conquer Thirty cities.

The core area of ​​Tire.

Inside the palace of King Hiran.

A grand banquet is being held in the hall.

King Hiran and the nobles seemed to be intoxicated, enjoying all kinds of food, wine and all kinds of beauties.

High returns come with high risks.

Although the Phoenicians were able to plunder wealth from backward areas, this was accompanied by various risks. There was no doubt that they were using their lives to gain wealth.

Because they didn't know when they would die from various risks, it became natural for the Phoenicians to indulge in enjoyment.

When Hiran's envoy returned to the palace and told King Hiran and the nobles about Roy's request, young Hiran frowned and said dissatisfiedly.

"The Emperor of Athens is so greedy. We are willing to give him all the land outside Tyre, but he is still not satisfied."

A noble asked worriedly.

"Do we want to go to war with the Athenian Empire? The Athenian Empire has a huge navy. If we go to war with the Athenian Empire, they can not only block them from the land, but also block us from the sea and trap us in the city of Tyre."

Another noble said without fear.

"Don't we Phoenicians have a navy? As long as our Phoenician city-states unite to form a fleet, the Athenian navy will be vulnerable to us."

Seeing that the nobles had different opinions, Sheeran said with a smile.

"Whether a war will break out between us and the Athenians is not decided by us, but by the Athenians. We Phoenicians are maritime merchants, and I want to avoid war as much as possible. Since my envoy cannot convince Emperor of Athens, let us communicate with the Emperor of Athens in person!”

After saying that, Sheeran asked the messenger to invite Roy to the palace.

Outside Tyre.

The Phoenician envoys came to Loy again.

"King Hiram of Tyre and the nobles want to communicate with me personally?"

Knowing the envoy's intention, Roy accepted the invitation without hesitation.

Roy followed the Phoenician envoy into the city of Tyre alone. He first walked through the streets of the main city to the western port of the city, and then took a boat at the port to the royal palace in the core area.

Palace hall.

Roy walked into this space full of luxury. King Shiran and the nobles all looked at Roy with wide eyes.

Obviously they did not expect that Roy would actually dare to come to the palace alone.

After recovering from the surprise, Sheeran left his throne, walked to Roy with a smile on his face and said.

"Great goddess Aphrodite, thank you for bringing the most distinguished guest in the world to me. Dear Emperor, thank you for being my guest. Please allow me to receive you with the highest standards."

After speaking, Sheeran pulled Roy to the depths of the hall and asked Roy to sit on the throne with him.

Under Xilan's gaze, two beautiful palace maids threw themselves into Roy's arms, while the other hugged Roy from behind.

As the saying goes, those who eat people are soft-mouthed and those who take advantage of others are short-handed.

Loy wanted to take the entire city of Tyre as his own, so naturally he couldn't enjoy Hiram's hospitality.

After pushing the two palace maids away with an expressionless expression, Roy looked at Sheeran and said.

"Are you Hiram, the king of Tyre? Are you willing to accept my request or not?"

Xilan stopped smiling and said with a serious expression.

"Your Majesty the Emperor! If you want to conquer the Phoenician region, all the land outside the city of Tyre will belong to you, and the city of Tyre will surrender under your feet. As long as you do not interfere with the autonomy within the city of Tyre, we will follow your instructions required to pay tribute.”

"Give me all the land outside Tyre. How generous of you!"

Roy said with a playful smile.

"I can leave Tyre to you, but I want not only all the land outside Tyre, but also all the sea outside Tyre. Whether you want to do business on land or on the sea, you must pay taxes to the Athenian Empire."

A noble immediately roared in dissatisfaction.

"Why should we pay you the money we have earned with our hard work and life?"

"My Athenian navy patrols the sea area and protects the safety of the waterway, providing protection for your life and property. If you refuse to pay taxes, let alone a ship, even a piece of your wood cannot sail in the sea controlled by the Athenian navy."

Did the Athenian navy patrol the sea area to fight pirates to protect the lives and property of Phoenician merchants?

The answer is of course yes.

But the Athenian Empire's taxes are too much.

According to the income standards of these Phoenician nobles, they must pay half of their profits to pay taxes.

And paying taxes to become first-class citizens will not give them any privileges.

Now the Phoenician nobles are actually paying taxes in disguise, and the public construction of Tyre is funded by the nobles.

But it was not free.

The nobles provided funds for the construction of Tyre, which would give them higher status and greater privileges.

Tyre was more like a company than a city-state.

The king was the majority shareholder of Tyre Company, and the nobles were the minority shareholders of Tyre Company.

The majority shareholder king made the nobles dissatisfied, and the nobles as minority shareholders could unite to replace the king as the majority shareholder.

If Tyre was annexed by the Athenian Empire, paying taxes would become a responsibility and obligation, rather than a transaction in exchange for status and privileges.