I was a priest in the city-state era

In this era, the Phoenicians not only mastered the most advanced navigation technology, but also mastered the most advanced shipbuilding technology.

This was the foundation for the Phoenicians to dominate maritime trade and even establish colonies along the coast of the backward-civilized Western Mediterranean.

As soon as Roy finished speaking, more than thirty Phoenicians stood up and spoke.

"Priest Roy, I am a craftsman who can build large ships."

“I was involved in building large commercial ships.”

"I was involved in building large warships that held thirty sailors."

Seeing that there were fifty bronze craftsmen and ship builders in total, Roy nodded and said.

"You are all the craftsmen I need, and I will definitely take good care of you. Others can rest assured that you are also my important companions, so I will not let any of you starve or freeze. Now follow me and leave here. It’s a dirty, smelly, and small sheep pen. I’m going to take you to another place to station.”

After saying that, Roy took the lead and jumped out of the sheepfold.

After the Phoenicians followed Roy and jumped out of the sheepfold, the Theban soldiers guarding the Phoenician prisoners immediately surrounded the Phoenicians with wooden spears.

Harmonia took the initiative and spoke loudly.

"You all retreat! I have sold the Phoenician captives to Priest Roy, and now Priest Roy is taking these Phoenicians away from our tribe."

After hearing Harmonia's order, the surrounding Theban soldiers withdrew their wooden spears.

Roy looked at Harmonia with grateful eyes and said.

"Priest Harmonia, now I am taking my companions to the woods where the open-air temple of the goddess Mnemosyne is located. Do you want to come with me?"

"Of course! After all, I still have a lot to say to you."

Roy led Harmonia and two hundred and fifty Phoenicians away from the oval highlands where the Theban tribe was located, and soon entered the nearby woods.

Arriving at the spring in the center of the forest, Roy turned and said to all the Phoenicians.

"Comrades! You will be stationed here for the time being. You can get water from this spring for cooking."

Seeing the clear and clean spring water, the hungry and thirsty Phoenicians immediately ran to the spring and lay down on the ground to drink.

Seeing someone trying to take off their clothes and jump into the spring, Harmonia immediately shouted angrily.

"Stop now! This ancient spring of Dirk is one of the holy springs symbolizing the goddess Mnemosyne. You can drink the spring water here, but you must not pollute the holy spring with your dirty bodies. If anyone dares to If he bathes in the fountain, we Thebans will definitely kill him."

Hearing Harmonia's angry warning, not only the Phoenicians who wanted to take a bath, but also the Phoenicians who were drinking water, stayed away from the ancient spring of Dirce in fear.

Seeing the Phoenician's reaction, Harmonia sighed and said.

"I came here just because I was worried that these Phoenicians would pollute the holy spring."

Roy reassured the Phoenician.

"Comrades, the Harmonian priests only forbid us from bathing in the ancient spring of Dirk, but they have not prohibited us from using the water from the ancient spring of Dirk. You can drink the spring water normally, or you can use clay pots to get water and wash it elsewhere. Body."

Then, Roy said to Harmonia.

"Priest of Harmonia! After my companions became prisoners, their food and daily necessities have become your trophies. Now can you return the food and daily necessities to them?"

"Priest Roy, the spoils of war are the property of our Theban tribe. We cannot return them to the Phoenicians. I can provide food and daily necessities for the Phoenicians, but you have to give me the bronze craftsman."

"There's no way I could hand over my followers to you."

Roy shook his head and said.

"Now these bronze craftsmen are my followers, and I am the only one who knows where there are copper mines. If the Harmonian priests still want to mine copper mines and smelt various bronze utensils with me, they must accept my arrangement. "

Seeing Roy's tough expression, Harmonia frowned and said.

"Priest Roy, if you are not the one who saves me and the tribe of Thebes, I will never compromise with you. Now can you tell me, what are your plans?"

Roy hesitated and expressed his thoughts.

"Priest Harmonia, my Phoenician followers have a blood feud with your Theban tribe, so I can't place them in the Thebes area, but I can't bring them back to the Athenian tribe. I plan to Place my Phoenician followers on the island of Eubia, for the copper mines I speak of are there. Build large merchant ships and large warships, and the remaining two hundred Phoenicians serve as soldiers to protect them."

Euboea is an island in the eastern part of Thebes. This island is the second largest island in the Aegean Sea after Crete.

The Thebes region and the island of Eubia are separated by the Gulf of Eubia.

At the narrowest point of the Gulf of Eubia, the land of Thebes is only about 40 meters away from the land of Eubia Island, and the depth of the water is only six meters.

Even without a boat, the Thebans could hold a piece of wood and swim across the 40-meter sea from the Thebes area to Eubia Island.

Therefore, the residents of Ubiah Island are basically Thebans and their descendants.

"Priest Roy, the copper mine you mentioned is on Yubia Island?"

Harmonia showed a surprised expression when she learned that the copper mine was on Eubia.

Although the residents of Eubia now call themselves Eubia people, they still worship the earth goddess Mnemosyne and maintain close contact with the Thebans in the Thebes region.

The copper mine is located on Eubia, which is no different from the copper mine being located in the Thebes region.

"Eubia not only has copper mines but also iron mines!"

Roy said with a serious expression.

"Priest Harmonia, the iron mine in the Thebes region is located at the junction of the Thebes region and the Thessaly region. If we mine the iron ore, it is likely to attract Dorians from the Thessaly region. So even if we master the iron smelting technology in the future, we will also mine iron ore on Eubia."

"Not only copper mines, but also iron mines will be mined on Eubia - it seems that I must control Eubia and turn Eubia into my territory."

Hearing Harmonia's muttering, Roy couldn't help but feel nervous.

The area of ​​Eubia is not inferior to that of the Attica Peninsula. The island not only has copper and iron mines, but also fertile land suitable for growing crops and mountains and forests suitable for grazing cattle and sheep.

Most importantly, Eubia has a small population, with only a few thousand descendants of Theban immigrants.

Roy wanted to place Phoenician followers on Eubia because he also wanted to occupy Eubia and develop his own city-state.

If Roy joined the Theban tribe that worshipped the goddess Mnemosyne, it would be equivalent to betraying the Athenian tribe and the goddess Metis at the same time.

Roy developed a city-state on Eubia, so that his city-state could worship the goddess Metis.

In this way, Roy only betrayed the Athenian tribe, not the goddess Metis, and the goddess Metis would not take away the divine power bestowed on Roy.

Unexpectedly, Harmonia learned the importance of Eubia and also had the idea of ​​controlling Eubia.