Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1055: The Kingdom's Stone Merchant

Later, to avoid drawing the envy of the Soldiers' Committee, Thurii's shrewd weapon merchant Laos took the initiative to partner with the Legion Weapon Shop. By consigning his high-quality weapons to the shop, he breathed new life into an enterprise that had been losing ground in the kingdom's competitive arms market. Within a few years, the shop rapidly opened branches in towns and cities across the kingdom. Half its employees were disabled veterans, and their wages were substantial.

Aristagoras, however, made a difficult choice: he decided to strike out on his own. He returned to his former trade of stone mining. After raising funds from his old comrades and securing the strong backing of the Soldiers' Committee, he took a few disabled veterans willing to work with him and approached the Ministry of Commerce to contract a stone quarry.

After Daionia was founded, the kingdom passed a resolution decreeing that territorial mineral resources could not be sold to merchants, only contracted. Important mines were subject to public auction. Once a merchant acquired the rights, the Ministry of Commerce would dispatch supervisors for the duration of the contract to ensure production was neither too low nor excessively high, guaranteeing a stable annual quota for the kingdom.

Ultimately, the Ministry of Commerce allowed Aristagoras to contract a stone quarry in Lucania. This was not an act of charity for a disabled veteran, but because the quarry sat deep in the mountains. Transportation was difficult, the yield was low, and it only produced limestone. Since no other merchant wanted it, the ministry contracted it out at a low price on a one-year trial basis, just to see what would happen.

To their surprise, Aristagoras overcame numerous difficulties once he took over. Not only did the quarry's output surge, but he also sold the stone for a handsome profit. By that time, the Lucanian region had belonged to Daionia for several years. Thanks to vigorous cultural assimilation, the locals had gradually adopted the Daonian way of life; building Greek-style houses and constructing the Temple of Hades required massive amounts of limestone.

Aristagoras amassed considerable wealth from the venture and earned the deep trust of the Ministry of Commerce. Building on this foundation with disabled veterans as his core workforce, he thrived in the kingdom's stone market and became a highly renowned stone merchant.

Four years ago, he had declined to join the Thurii Chamber of Commerce organized by Laos for its journey to the Latium war zone. He had just contracted the Thurii Stone Quarry—a site of tremendous significance to both him and the kingdom. A myriad of complex logistical issues demanded his personal attention, leaving him no spare time to visit Latium. Besides, there were no stone quarries in the Latium region anyway.

Now, as a famous stone merchant, he employed a group of shrewd and capable subordinates. He no longer needed to personally supervise the quarries. However, the current project to reconstruct the Main Temple of Hades was of monumental importance. The Kingdom Administrative Office had ordered that the marble required for the temple be primarily supplied by the Thurii Stone Quarry, since it was close, inexpensive, and minimized the risk of damage during transit. Furthermore, the kingdom had allocated all of Thurii's state slaves to the quarry to ensure sufficient stone could be harvested in a short timeframe. Feeling the crushing weight of this responsibility, Aristagoras dared not be negligent; he visited the site in person every day, terrified of a single mistake.

Aristagoras first gave a military salute to the soldiers escorting the slaves. "Thank you for your hard work, brothers!" he said earnestly.

The foremen reported their squad numbers and headcounts. Aristagoras's subordinate checked the figures against a wooden ledger before nodding. "Follow me."

As the foremen led the slaves into the quarry, Aristagoras stood at the entrance, chatting with the squad officers while waiting for the rest of the slaves to arrive. Only after confirming that all the state slaves were present and the headcounts matched did he turn to his subordinate. "Go bring in our private slaves and the draft wagons."

The subordinate acknowledged the order but did not leave immediately. Instead, he warned, "Boss, according to several experienced sailors, there will likely be heavy rain in Thurii tomorrow. Just in case, we must transport all the extracted stone out of the quarry today. If it really pours, the ground here will become slick and muddy. Transporting the stone will be incredibly difficult, and dangerous too."

Aristagoras knew all too well that while mining stone was difficult, transporting it was even harder. He made a prompt decision. "I'll speak with Bolus—the officer in charge of escorting the slaves today. We'll extend their working hours as much as possible to ensure all the stone is hauled out today."

Remembering something else, he added, "When you have a moment, go to the Engineering Institute of the Daonian Academy and contact the scholars. Tell them I've agreed to their proposal about building iron rails to transport the ore. Once we finish providing stone for the Main Temple of Hades, invite them over to conduct... well, what they call an 'experiment.'"

"Building iron rails to transport ore?" The subordinate was confused, clearly unaware of the plan.

"I'm not entirely sure of the specifics myself. Just ask the scholars for the details once you reach the academy," Aristagoras said, waving a hand impatiently.

The Engineering Institute of the Daonian Academy had been established shortly after the end of the Western Mediterranean War. Most of its scholars hailed from the original Academy of Mathematics. It was an institute dedicated to putting theoretical science into practice, primarily responsible for designing public architecture and various mechanisms. The concept of building iron rails and minecarts originated from a passing thought Davos had casually mentioned while conversing with the scholars during an inspection of the newly established institute. The scholars, however, had seized upon it as a paramount research project to expand the institute's influence.

With Corsica and Sardinia incorporated into the kingdom, and the entire Etruscan League allied with Daionia, the kingdom possessed an abundant supply of iron ore, resolving the resource issue. Furthermore, Laos was willing to manufacture these special, high-quality iron rails. Finding a mineral merchant willing to cooperate, however, proved difficult because the initial investment was enormous. The primary hurdle was spending a massive fortune to purchase the iron rails. Iron was not cheap in the kingdom; even though they had recently acquired new territories rich in ore, the sheer difficulty of mining and transportation inevitably drove up the cost.

The scholars from the engineering institute had approached Aristagoras to discuss the matter several times, but he had always remained hesitant. However, after taking on the kingdom's mission to supply stone for the Main Temple of Hades, the tight deadlines and heavy workload took their toll. Just transporting the stone to the Main Temple of Hades in the Inner District had already cost him seven or eight draft oxen and left over a dozen of his private slaves injured. This finally steeled his resolve to cooperate with the engineering institute to resolve his transportation woes.

Having made this significant decision, he felt a tremendous amount of pressure bearing down on him. He calculated mentally: could he secure a massive loan from Cheiristoya's Bank to ease his financial strain? After all, according to the engineering institute's scholars, this was a highly important research invention for the kingdom, and the King of Daonia placed immense value on it.

Before that, though, he had one more thing to take care of. He turned to another subordinate. "Head to the port in a bit and book a passenger ship for me. If it really rains heavily tomorrow, I'll take a trip to Syracuse to inspect the stone quarry there. After all, they're also responsible for providing limestone for the main temple, and we can't afford any mistakes!" (Syracuse boasted the richest open-pit limestone resources in the entire western Mediterranean, and Aristagoras had contracted the mining rights to one of its quarries.)

...

Maximus led fifty slaves to the mining area they were previously responsible for, but he didn't order them to start working immediately. First, he had to assess the site to determine the best place to begin excavation. As the squad captain, this decision fell entirely on him. If the starting point was well chosen, the subsequent mining process would proceed smoothly and casualties would be minimized. This required a captain with a wealth of mining experience and a sharp eye.

The reason Maximus had become the foreman's most trusted squad captain was his meticulous organization. He didn't make these judgments on the fly; he had already prepared for today's excavation at the end of the previous day. This was a working habit he had cultivated during his several terms as a municipal magistrate in Rome.

On the massive, flat rock before them, several straight, intersecting grooves had already been chiseled out, forming the outline of a rectangular stone block.

Maximus ordered six slaves to climb the wooden ladders onto the rock. Working in pairs, they used wooden mallets to drive dry wooden wedges firmly into the grooves. Once the grooves were packed tightly with wedges, the rock began to fracture slightly along the chiseled lines.

Maximus immediately ordered the slaves with the water jugs to pour water over the wedges. The water seeped into the grooves, soaking the wood. As the wedges absorbed the water and swelled, they expanded, exerting outward pressure on the rock and causing the cracks to widen further. This process took some time.

Meanwhile, Maximus did not waste a single moment. After carefully observing the adjacent rock surface, he took out a leather tape measure to calculate dimensions, then used an ink brush to draw outline marks on the stone. Following this, several slaves took up saw-boards (wooden boards fitted with iron saw blades) and continuously sawed back and forth along the drawn lines, eventually carving out deeper grooves.

At the same time, driven by the continuous expansion of the water-soaked wedges, the cracks in the first rock grew wider and deeper.

Sensing the time was right, Maximus sent another five slaves up. Wielding long, sturdy wooden pry bars, they jammed the tools into the fissures between the wooden wedges and began forcefully prying the block outward. It was an exceptionally strenuous and grueling process. After rotating through several waves of slaves and snapping a few pry bars, the stone block finally detached from the main rock body.