“My wound is almost fine now and will be healed by the ti the army departs. Take a look if you don't believe !” Adoris stood up and tried to take a few steps to prove his words.
Crotokatax smiled and said, “Brother, there's no point in telling since the one you need to convince is father and mother.”
Adoris felt vexed since he knew he had worried Davos and Cheiristoya with his conduct in the previous battle. Hence he asked his younger brother for help, “Croto, mother and father love you the most, so you must help and persuade them to let join this expedition…”
Although Crotokatax was four years younger than Adoris and had just co of age, his political sense was much stronger than Adoris' since he was accompanied and taught by Davos for the past two years. So he knew that unless Adoris was seriously injured, his father would unlikely leave him behind. Otherwise, so will get the wrong impression that Adoris is relying on his relationship with Davos to deliberately not participate in such an important war, which will significantly impact Adoris' future career just because of an injury.
Crotokatax, however, continued feigning ignorance and said, “Brother, you also know father's temper…”
“Croto, you must help ! As long as you can persuade Father to allow to follow the army to Latium, I will do my best to help you with whatever you ask!” Adoris begged.
“Er…I'll give it a try.” Crotokatax was pleased to see Adoris, who liked to lecture him like a big brother, pleading with him like this.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the inner city of Thurii, Sostratus had gathered over twenty people in the hall of the residence he had inherited from his father, Kunogelata; all of them were prominent rchants in Thurii.
There was excitent on everyone's faces at the mont as they looked eagerly at Sostratus sitting in the middle.
Finally, soone could not wait any longer and shouted impatiently, “Sostratus, everyone is almost here; what are we waiting for? Quickly tell us what good stuff you want to announce!”
“Yes, hurry up! Will His Majesty reward us for donating food without asking for compensation?” Another person shouted.
All the rchants shouted one after another.
Hearing them, Sostratus glanced at Tios to his left.
Tios was one of the most important rchants in the kingdom of Theonia. He owned three ironworks in Lucania, one copperworks in Thurii, two weapon shops in Thurii and Andolara, and many more weapon shops and ironworks in all the cities of the kingdom. The Ministry of Military and the soldiers had even contracted him to manufacture most of the excellent weapons and armour they use. Apart from those, he was also the special supplier of surgical tools to hospitals in the kingdom, and the daily ironworks he produced were widely popular with the public. His family's workshops were indispensable in the iron casting of most large-scale public projects. Therefore, besides being received and praised by King Davos, he also had close contact with officials from the Ministry of Military and the Departnt of Construction. Finally, he also frequently donated to the construction of public buildings in the kingdom.
As a result, Tios was highly regarded by the kingdom's rchants and people, which led to his election as the head of Thurii's local council on several occasions. However, he was not particularly interested in politics. Instead, he was more focused on his company, constantly striving to improve the iron-making process, increase the temperature of the furnaces, enhance the quality of the iron, and design sharper and more precise weapons, as well as better armour. Since he understood that in the kingdom of Theonia, where military and technology were highly valued, remaining technologically advanced would ensure appreciation from the king and officials of Theonia. And for this reason, besides hiring good slters and casters at high salaries and making nurous donations to the Theonian Akademia, he also cooperated with the schools by funding experints and sharing patents on technologies.
But Tios just shook his head as he t Sostratus' pleading gaze. Then he held out his hand in a gesture for him to do so.
Sostratus could only turn his head to look at Dicaeapolis to his right.
Dicaeapolis was the first foreign rchant to co to Theonia to trade, and he was also the first rchant to decide to stay and beco a citizen. With his warm and friendly personality, Dicaeapolis persuaded many foreign rchants to co to Thurii and eventually beco citizens of Theonia, including Tios.
But the truth is that Dicaeapolis wasn't a successful rchant initially. On the contrary, he was just an average rchant who made and sold pottery.
Pottery is an everyday item used by the people of the diterranean and is the most common craft in the Greek city-states. Most Greek city-states did not have fertile land to produce abundant grain, so wine and olive oil beca their specialities, which they sold in exchange for grain. Naturally, the containers for these two liquid commodities beca another developnt focus for the city-states; thus, many Greek city-states had pottery rchants. But the most famous pottery ca from Athens, where the Athenians, using the excellent clay of Attica and after much ti and experintation, produced black earthenware vases with red decorations that were not only of the highest quality but were also beautifully and creatively painted, making them the best in the trade.
The second is the black earthenware of Corinth, which pioneered the creation of exquisite paintings on pottery and made the whole pottery industry highly organised. At one ti, they produced almost half the pottery sold in the diterranean, only to be beaten a century later by the new Athenian potteries.
Born on the island of Crete, Dicaeapolis had no skill advantage in making pottery. Yet, with his vision and determination, he moved all his belongings to the economic developnt zone in Andolara shortly after the founding of the Theonia Union. He then sold his cheap pottery to the common people of Theonia, who were rebuilding their hos, and gradually made a na for himself.
Then, with the establishnt of the kingdom, the expansion of the territory, the increase in the population and the growth of the market, the sales of his potteries went through the roof, and the low-interest loans from the Bank of Cheiristoya gave him the ans to expand and upgrade his pottery workshops. Besides building pottery workshops in various parts of the kingdom where good quality clay was available, he had also hired excellent potters at high wages from Greece, where the turmoil and frequent wars of the ti provided good opportunities for his poaching. And since then, the pottery he sold has taken a step into a high-end product.
More importantly, Dicaeapolis was able to improve his managent and organisational model for the pottery industry, as well as the whole division of labour. Of course, he didn't invent it.
Firstly, how the craft industry was managed and organised. Before the founding of Theonia, all Greek city-states were cities, so the rchant's workshops were usually in one city or the like. And because of the city-state's small size and limited resources, the rchant’s workshops could not beco larger even if they had more financial resources. Of course, it was easier to manage, but no large workshops existed, even in Athens, where the economy was booming.
But the establishnt of large workshops was possible in Theonia, a kingdom as vast and populous as Greece, with countless freen willing to settle there. In addition, the Bank of Cheiristoya and Cheiristoya's Restaurant’s managent chain in all the kingdom's towns and cities inspired the kingdom's rchants to break away from their conservative ntality of having their workshops in one place. They then boldly spread their workshops over a wide area and managed them effectively through a pyramidal system of hierarchical responsibility.
Next is the fine division of labour. Although pottery was one of the earliest Greek crafts to have a highly organised workflow, it was still not free from the ho-based tradition. The potter was still involved in digging, transporting, shaping, lighting fires, baking the potteries, painting, carving…and so on., which undoubtedly made production inefficient. After Davos taught the kingdom's weapons rchants, such as Tios, the division of labour thod to et the Theonian army's weapons and armour needs as quickly as possible, the kingdom's other rchants promptly adopted the technique.
Of course, Dicaeapolis also implented a fine division of labour in his pottery workshop, with specialised personnel responsible for each process, leading to a significant increase in the quality and production of pottery. This naturally led to a corresponding reduction in price, making Dicaeapolis' pottery even more popular with the people of the kingdom, accounting for more than half of the kingdom's pottery sales. So except for a few high-quality Athenian potteries, the potteries of the other city-states could no longer compete with Dicaeapolis in the kingdom, allowing him to beco the undisputed great pottery rchant of Theonia.
But like the other rchants in Thurii, Dicaeapolis is busy upgrading his workshop while also occupying the market of the expanding kingdom. This ant he had to rely more on the pedlars Sostratus led for his foreign sales, which was one of the reasons why the wealthy and well-connected Dicaeapolis was willing to make Sostratus head of Thurii's Chamber of Comrce, while he took a back seat. But the more important reason, of course, was Sostratus' father, Kunogelata, who was a loyal and important official of King Davos. And even though he had passed away, Sostratus could still rely on his father's shadow to visit the palace and the Ministry of Comrce occasionally, getting so business information earlier and winning so concessions for the Chamber of Comrce, such as this one.
So, with a smile, Dicaeapolis said, “Sostratus, there's no need to be polite. You are the head, and this good news is the result of you and everyone working together, so you, of course, have to be the one to announce it!”
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