Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“I really admire leader Davos, he is not only good in commanding, but also has good business ideas! He put forward a lot of valuable suggestions, such as, at the entrance of the market, I was originally going to put two fully armed soldiers to guard it, but the leader said, ‘that won't do, we would scare the customers who have come to buy and sell things. Therefore, we also need to consider the feelings of the customers.’ Therefore it became what you see now and it seems that the customers are responding well to it by now…hahaha…by the way, it is also his suggestion to include these scales. There are many such suggestions, but the main reason why this market can be so lively within 20 days is mainly due to his contribution! I think that even if he is not a mercenary, he can certainly still become a successful merchant with his talent!” Mariji's words came from the bottom of his heart.

“Yeah, he is really surprising.” Answered Burkes, while thinking about something.

He turned and went to the market, and Mariji hurriedly followed him as his guide.

As the crowd of people moves foward, the first stall is of course owned by the mercenaries, and so the area is very huge, and there are many strange objects and exquisite gold and silver wares placed in different categories…there are many people who had stop, look and ask about the price.

“Mersis!” Mariji shouted.

The fatty who was commanding the slaves to move things behind the stall, had turned around and proudly said, “Mariji, are you here to congratulate me?! I have sold a lot today!”

Before waiting for Mariji to answer, he had then notice Burkes, and a smile immediately appeared on his face, “Burkes, you have come to buy things as well. You are just in time, since I have good stuff here. Guess what it is?” As he said that, he held up the things in his hand, which were glittering and shining, it was a thin silver rope, and filled with small pieces of gold as thin as cicada wing in the middle, forming an inverted triangle and another silver rope at the top…

When Mariji's eyes narrowed, he then heard Mersis shouting, “Mariji, don't talk!”

“What is this?” Asked Moras curiously.

Mersis saw that all the people had gathered around curiously and he put on a dirty smile and said mysteriously, “This is the gift of Cyrus the Younger to his most beautiful concubine. This wonderful thing was specially request by Cyrus the Younger to the best goldsmith in Persia, which can provide joy in that respect! Guess where would Cyrus the Younger's concubine wear it?”

“Is it…down there…” Someone shouted with uncertainly.

“That's right. You seemed to have a lot of experienced!” Mersis finished talking, and there was ambiguous laughter around him.

“It was said that Cyrus the Younger's concubine wore it every night, and together with Cyrus the Younger…well…when Cyrus the Younger died in the war, his concubine was captured by the king of Persia, and this thing was left in the camp and was picked up by our soldiers.” Mersis held it up and flashed it in front of the crowd, “You can smell it, it may also have the body fragrance of the concubine of Cyrus the Younger! I wanted to keep it, but I don't have a wife. If you think about it, you can buy it and take it home, then enjoy the life of the Persian royal family with your wife or lover!”

After hearing this, Burkes also got moved.

A man besides him, has shouted, “How much is it? I'll buy it!”

To his surprised, Burkes recognize that this man is a merchant of the city-state of Scylletium.

“It's not expensive at all. Look at how exquisite this stuff is! Moreover, these are made out of pure gold!” Mersis shook the gold in his hand and it made a “swoosh swoosh” sound, “The lowest price is…hmm…50 Daric gold coins.”

“I have 55 gold coins. So I will take this!” Shouted the Scylletium merchant.

“I have 60!” Shouted another one.

“Hey, I bought it first!”

“But I offered more!”

“65 Daric gold coins!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mariji didn't expect Mersis to make such a huge profit by turning the rare ornaments of Persian nobles into an object of royalty. But he didn't want to remind Mersis that once Cheiristoya heard about it, I am afraid that her opinion of him would turn badly.

He hurriedly followed once he noticed that Burkes was squeezing out of the crowd.

“It seems the merchants of the other city-states are coming here to do business.” Said Burkes.

“There are quite a few. Taranto, Scylletium, Caulonia, Crotone, and other city-states.”

Burkes was startled when he heard Crotone.

At this time, Moras pointed to a dozen strong men in front of him and said, “Are all of them soldiers of your camp.”

Mariji looked at them and replied, “They might be the soldiers of the mercenary camp next to us.”

“It looks like there are a lot of soldiers shopping in this market, and it seems that your soldiers are very rich.” Said Burkes jokingly.

Mariji smiled and casually said, “After all, mercenaries doesn't even know if there would be tomorrow. So if you have money, you must enjoy it.”

When Burkes heard this, his expression became gloomy and sighed, “Indeed, it's not easy for anyone to live in this turbulent world.”

Mariji didn't speak. In fact, the soldiers in Davos' camp doesn't have such thoughts at all. Davos inherited and carried out the practice of Menon, he strengthened the role of the supply camp, and during wartime, the soldiers will leave most of their belongings in the supply camp for safekeeping, and had even made it clear who would inherit their belongings in case of misfortune by writing in the supply camp registration form . So that after their death, they can hand over his remains to his successor…and so on. Moreover, when the soldiers is in urgent need of money and they don't have enough,  as long as their request is reasonable they can borrow money from Davos, the leader of the mercenary. Mersis will then deduct the money they borrowed from their monthly salary and there is no interest…these practices in the supply camp has not only enabled the soldiers to reduce their worries and fight with all their strength, but also reduce their bad habits in the camp, such as gambling, usury and wasteful spending.

Mariji is sure that most of the soldiers who are squandering money in the market are not from Davos' camp. What's more, there is a quota limit for the number of soldiers who are allowed to leave the camp every day, and there is only enough space for 2 small team, and they must return to the camp in time, or they will be punished according to the military law.

Mariji had witnessed the efforts of Davos to change the army. How many times had he faced criticism, and had almost caused the army to disband, but he didn't give in and overcome it. Now, these soldiers are able to follow the rules of the military, and most of the time, they are either in the training ground, building camp facilities, or going to the supply camp to see how much their money has increased. From the blaze in their eyes, you can feel that they are no longer an ordinary mercenary.

Mariji had also seen the Spartan army led by Cheirisophus, a group of disciplined killing machines, but in addition to fighting, they lacked the passion for life. He had also seen the Persian army, despite their large army, their discipline is lax and lack conviction, specially those who enlisted in the army. While the army of Davos not only has the bravery and discipline of the Spartans, but also has the faith to fight for a better life. Besides, they have a magical commander. What if Davos didn't only have 2,000 men, but 20,000 or even 30,000? This beautiful idea is one of the reasons why Mariji stayed…

“It seems that you have everything in this market!” The voice of Burkes had interrupted Mariji's thoughts.

“There is also a blacksmith shop!”

“It's just a small shop that receive orders. Thurii won't let us into the city, but we need to purchase weapons and also we must repair them.” Explained Mariji.

“And this one clay pots?”

“We can't make soup with just our hands.”

“Cloth shop?”

“The clothing of the soldiers haven't been change for half a year. You can't expect them to wear armor on days that they don't fight.”

“Then stone shop?”

“We can't just use trees for our camp, the key places still need to use stones in order to keep it firm.”

“What about this boat shop?! Don't tell me that you mercenaries needs to build a fleet!” The expression of Burkes was full of rage and shouted, “You robber! You are robbing the market of Thurii and stealing the wealth of Thurii!”

Mariji lowered his head and argued in a low voice, “The amount of goods being bought and sold is not much-”

Note: Scylletium, a city-state in Magna Graecia, it is located south of Crotone.