Chapter 4 Turi's Stone Mine

But at the same time, the slave camps also accept some private employment, rent out the remaining labor temporarily, part of the gold and silver earned is handed over to the slave management office, part is used for the camp itself, and a small part is used for the wages of the slaves (according to It is stipulated that slaves who have worked in the camp for half a year can be paid a certain amount of salary every month according to their labor performance. Although the salary paid is far lower than the salary of normal employees in the market, it also greatly promotes The enthusiasm of the slaves at work reduces their sense of resistance).

Although the Slave Management Office has a clear price tag for privately hired public servants to perform various labors, and does not allow employment for more than one month, the public's demand for such temporary employment is still very strong. For example, various celebrations lead to violence by foreign tourists In addition, various restaurants, hotels, and shops are short of manpower; another example is the autumn harvest, which will also cause a shortage of labor in private households... An important reason why short-term employment of public servants is very prosperous is that the cost is lower than that of normal employees. .

However, because of the strong demand, the slave camps are often an important target of the censors and tribunes in terms of finances. In the past 10 years, officials in the Turii slave camps have been severely punished for corruption and bribery. Dozens of people.

The reason why the slave camp management office will write various employee information, needs and specific numbers on the black wooden board is that on the one hand, it hopes that the slaves will voluntarily sign up according to their own situation after seeing the information. Temporary employment of 4 slaves who can keep accounts, then the applicant needs to have certain arithmetic ability and can write Greek characters. Slaves can make judgments according to their own situation; There will be a little extra remuneration from the management office, and the slaves who are often hired will be given priority to their freedom by the camp management office. After all, this fully shows that he has been able to integrate into the life of the kingdom.

This forced the slaves in the camp to take the initiative to learn the Dionia script and language. (There is a special school in the camp to teach language and writing, but you have to pay), this is a very good assimilation method.

When Maxims passed these signs, he subconsciously looked at the contents above. This was already his habit. As long as he stayed in the camp and had no tasks, he would go to the playground to check the signs. See if there is anything to do. As the head of the family, he not only has a wife, but also has two minor children. Although the cafeteria also provides some free food for the children, that food cannot meet the needs of the children's growth at all. Spend money to buy food in shops to satisfy children's appetite.

In addition, as a former Roman nobleman, Maximus not only longed to be free, but he also longed for the children to develop well in this new kingdom after being free, so he had to let the children From now on to learn Dionia's script and language, but it all requires money, so he has almost no idle time, and has worked as a private servant many times, which also deepens his understanding of the kingdom.

Today's notice board is the same as in the past, there is no redundant content, only one - that is to encourage slaves to work hard to complete the task of expanding the main temple of Tuli Ihadis,

When the task is completed, the slaves who perform well will be given priority to receive the reward of freedom and so on.

Maxims is not excited about this, because he knows: According to the regulations, public servants generally have to work for 4 years before they are eligible for freedom. As for whether they can obtain freedom, they have to look at their past performance. And whether he can be recognized by the management office, and his own age is not enough.

Hundreds of slaves have gathered in the square, and some of the slaves were delighted by the arrival of Maximus, and they greeted him one after another.

The foreman also came over and asked with concern, "Are you cured?"

"It's ready."

"Don't hold on, if something goes wrong, I'll be implicated too."

"Really good."

"Okay, you still care about your original team." As soon as the foreman finished speaking, the slaves beside him cheered.

The foreman patted Maximus on the shoulder and turned to leave.

The reason why the foreman has a good attitude towards Maximus is because in the slave camp, the foreman is the direct person in charge of managing the slaves and supervising the work of the slaves. Citizens, they often have to manage hundreds of slaves, and the performance of the slaves also determines whether they can get additional salary incentives and smoothly become full citizens in advance.

In order to facilitate management, they often divide the slaves under their control into more than a dozen teams, and select the leader with strong ability to help him manage the slaves. And these captains are often the first priority of the slave management office to select the emancipation of slaves, so they are mutually beneficial.

After the foreman counted the number of slaves, the sub-commander from the military camp directed the soldiers to escort the hundreds of slaves to the mine first.

It is the end of April, the annual marriage festival celebration for the goddess Hera has begun, the rainy season is coming to an end, and the dawn is getting earlier and earlier. Even though the slaves got up early and set off early, they could still see some farmers already starting to tend their fields as they marched against the rising sun.

And these farmers are not surprised when they see such a large group of people passing by, and some people shouted loudly: "Hey, I wish you all the best today, and dig some more stones for the temple!"

The slaves soon crossed the stone bridge that spanned the Kosenyi River, a branch of the Krati River, into the delta area of ​​Turii.

Passing through here in the early morning, they can always hear clear and loud voices coming from the high fence not far to the east. They know that it is the students called "Dionysian Academy" who are reading or practicing Speech, most slaves are used to this, only a few slaves will cast a longing look there.

The slaves crossed the stone bridge and then turned westward. The terrain became higher and higher, and the ground gradually became uneven. Only the road paved with stone bricks and cement was always wide and straight. But in fact, the trucks loaded with stones and copper ore have been rolling over the road for many years, and the road surface will collapse and crack after a period of time, but the maintenance of the construction department of Turii is relatively timely. It has promoted the construction officials and craftsmen to continuously improve the craftsmanship of road construction, find better materials, and improve the hardness and load-bearing capacity of the road surface.

After the road extends forward for a while, it branches to the south and north, the road to the northwest leads to the copper mine, and the road to the southwest leads to the quarry. Usually when they arrive here, the slaves will be divided into two parts, but because of special tasks during this time, all the slaves in the kingdom of Turii were gathered to dig stones, so the foreman led all the slaves to the southwest. The road .

It didn't take long to reach the foot of the mountain, and the hard stone road ended here. In front of it was a valley that had been dug out artificially. There were many stones of various shapes scattered in the open space that could accommodate thousands of people. Countless logs and tools on the side.

Around the open space are towering mountains. Their green lichens have been stripped clean, exposing rocky mountains as white as snow. The part closest to the valley has been excavated to be square and straight due to years of mining. Under the light, the mountain wall reflected a soft white light.

This is the marble mine of Turii, which excavated marble considered by the Greeks and Dionians as the most suitable main stone for the construction of temples.

At this time, a few people came out of the valley. The middle-aged man at the head was burly and handsome, but it was a pity that he lacked a left hand, which was quite regrettable. And the bodies of the few people behind him were somewhat mutilated, but none of the foreman dared to show contempt, instead they greeted respectfully.

Aristagoras is the name of this man, who was a slave of the master of this quarry 20 years ago, and was appointed as a foreman by his master because of his prestige among the mining slaves, and the Crotones attacked Turii , the owner's family was destroyed, and then the Dionysian Alliance was established, he was freed, and served as a baggage corps laborer several times to follow the Dionysian army to fight, and a few years later became a Dionysian citizen and joined Dionysian First Corps. However, after landing in Sicily and fighting fiercely with the Syracuse army at Meyaro, he was seriously injured and survived by the rescue of doctors.

However, with the rewards and pensions he received, he bought a few more slaves and farmed at home, so his life would not be too bad. What's more, based on his military exploits, he can completely run for the village mayor, and then rely on his political achievements to step by step from the village mayor, the Demo chief, the town official, the city administrator... In the end, he may even become an elder of the kingdom, just like Davos Like the king's relative, Pariandoros (Cynthia's father-in-law), some citizens who were disabled by service were inspired to take this political path. If he doesn't want to overwork himself, he can also choose to run for tribune to protect the interests of himself and the villagers.

Of course, if he wanted to make his life better, he could also write to the Soldiers Committee of the Kingdom and apply for a job at the Legion Arms Shop. This legion weapon shop was originally established under the suggestion of Davos. It repaired and modified the weapons, armors and other trophies obtained on the battlefield, and sold them on the market. Part of the profits obtained were used for dead and wounded soldiers. The pension can also solve the future livelihood of some disabled soldiers.

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