Chapter 191 The Treatment of the Prisoners Digging the Canal

Before nightfall, Roy's large fleet returned to the port of Piraeus in a mighty manner.

After letting Aries and a thousand soldiers stay in the port to guard the warships, Loy took the remaining soldiers and sent more than a thousand prisoners to a prisoner-of-war camp outside Athens.

Outside Athens.

Prisoner of war camp.

After two thousand prisoners of war gathered together, Roy couldn't help but feel tremendous pressure.

If Roy wanted to use these two thousand prisoners to dig the Corinth Canal, he would have to make them eat three kilograms of grain every day. Two thousand prisoners of war would consume six thousand kilograms of grain every day.

These two thousand prisoners not only brought huge food pressure to the city of Athens, but also constituted a huge security risk.

If these two thousand captives unite to rebel, even without weapons, they can cause huge damage to the city of Athens.

Now Roy couldn't help but had the idea of ​​selling them all to slave traders.

Thinking that Crete would become his territory in the future and these captives would become his subjects, Roy suppressed the idea of ​​selling the captives to slave traders and walked into the prisoner of war camp and said loudly.

"Prisoners! I don't care whether you are from Crete or a vassal island of Knossos. To me, your status is the same, so I will give you the same treatment. You have become mine.

Prisoners, you should never blame me, but you should resent Deucalion for taking you into a losing war. I could have killed you to save food, or sold you to slave traders in exchange for food or food.

Other things. But I don’t want to kill you, nor do I want you to become slaves. I want to give you a new choice. If you are willing to work for me, you only need to work for five years to redeem your freedom.

Go to your hometown and your family. During these five years, I will provide you with your basic necessities, food, housing, and transportation. At the end of the five years, I will not only send you home, but also give you property worth the equivalent of six thousand kilograms of grain.

Your reward for working for me."

After hearing Roy's words, the prisoners all looked at each other and suspected that they were dreaming.

By working for Roy for five years, not only can he redeem his freedom, but he can also receive six thousand kilograms of grain as a reward for five years of work——

Is there really such a good thing in the world?

Seeing the reactions of the prisoners, Roy continued.

"Prisoners! I can promise you in the name of Metis, the great goddess of the city of Athens, that I will never betray my promise to you. But at the same time, I cannot tolerate the defection of the captives. So some of you defected.

, I will let those who defected get the cruelest punishment."

Someone among the prisoners asked.

"What kind of work do you want us to do for you? If the job you give us is very dangerous, then we might as well become slaves. After all, we may find good masters even if we become slaves."

"The job I want to give you is to dig a canal six kilometers long and six meters wide. In order to reduce your work pressure, I will give you five years to dig this canal. If you dig it in four years,

For this canal, I will give you freedom in four years and give you property worth six thousand kilograms of grain as a reward. If you dig this canal in three years, you will be free in three years.

body."

After Roy finished speaking, the prisoners all breathed a sigh of relief.

Even if the ground depth of the canal Roy wanted to dig was one hundred meters, on average, each prisoner would only need to dig 1,800 cubic meters.

It took five years to dig 1,800 cubic meters, which means that on average, only one cubic meter needs to be dug every day.

Since the work content was so easy, and not only food and accommodation were included, but also one hundred kilograms of grain as compensation every month, the prisoners had no reason to reject the choice given by Roy.

"Great King of Athens, you are really a benevolent ruler. If we dig the canal in only two and a half years, our monthly reward will be two hundred catties of grain. We are not like prisoners, but even more so.

It's like finding a good job that includes food and accommodation, and the monthly salary is two hundred catties of grain."

"Even if we return to our hometown, it will be difficult to find a good job that includes food and accommodation and a monthly salary of two hundred kilograms of grain."

"The king of Athens gave us such a good job, only a fool would become a defecting prisoner."

"If the King of Athens can help me bring a message to my family in my hometown and let them know that I am still alive, I am willing to swear never to defect."

After hearing the prisoners' request, Roy said immediately.

"After the war between Athens and Knossos is over, I can arrange for manpower to take your message to your family back home. If you do this for two months, I can also give your reward to your family.

, so that you don’t have to worry about your family’s life.”

Listening to Roy's promise to the prisoners, even some Athenian soldiers couldn't help but complain.

"Are they really captives? The kings of other city-states simply turn the captives into slaves if they want them to work. They are treated very well if they are fed and clothed."

"These prisoners really look like a group of well-paid workers."

Hearing the complaints from the Athenian soldiers, Roy was not angry at all.

Because ordinary Athenian soldiers had no idea how much profit digging the Corinth Canal could bring Loy.

Compared with the benefits brought by the Corinth Canal, even if the rewards for the captives were increased hundreds of times, it would still be a hugely profitable deal for Roy.

Others cannot understand what Roy did, just because in this era, there is no need to pay any compensation for using slaves.

In the myth of another world, King Odysseus of Ithaca had a loyal slave, the swineherd Eumaeus.

Eumaeus was a slave raised by Odysseus' parents since he was a child. His position was Odysseus's swineherd steward. It can be seen that Eumaeus was a slave with a high status around Odysseus.

But Eumaeus worked for Odysseus until he was forty years old and still had no wife.

Since Eumaeus had no wife, he naturally had no children. Without a wife and children, he had no need for his own property.

Even a loyal slave who was highly valued worked for his master Odysseus all his life without a wife, children or property of his own. This is a true portrayal of slaves in this era.

Roy could have turned the captives into slaves and squeezed the value of their lives, but he had to give them freedom and pay them for their work. It is no wonder that people of this era cannot understand Roy.

In fact, Roy could not understand the cruel exploitation of slaves by people in this era.

If Eumaeus was a slave of Loy, after he had worked faithfully for five years, Loy would make Eumaeus a free man, giving him a wife, children and private property.

Eumaeus claimed to be the son of the king of Suria, and was abducted by a Phoenician maid in the palace and made into a slave.

If Eumaeus had not lied, Roy would have arranged for Eumaeus to return to his hometown and inherit the throne.

Odysseus knew the identity of Eumaeus, but he did not help Eumaeus return to his family, and even succeeded to the throne and became the king of Thyria.

Perhaps Odysseus did not want to lose his loyal slave, or perhaps he did not want to see his slave become the king of an island with equal status to himself.

I almost forgot again, thanks to book friend Chen Xi Yuhan for the reward of 500 points!!!
Chapter completed!