Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 337 Villagers Return to the Village, Citizens Return to the City

After exhorting everyone, Pronsky probably understood his intention without further instructions from Lama Wang.

"Then after I go back, I will organize everyone to investigate carefully." He said: "In the future, we must have a basis for recruiting soldiers. If this system can be organized, I believe it can provide many advantages."

"The main problem is that the Ross area should still be mainly planted with grain." Father Marco said: "Grain is different from cloth. These products are not easy to transport, and long-distance bulk trade is not profitable. So it cannot be compared with Cotton cloth, olive oil, and tea leaves connect different areas."

"It's more than that." Pronsky shook his head and said, "The grain-producing areas can provide soldiers. This is also 'hard currency'."

Others thought about it and thought it made sense.

"Besides, I stayed there for a long time when I was young, so I understand the local political environment." He told the crowd: "In that place, the soldiers recruited in your way are not just a by-product of economic development. It will deeply affect the political balance of various countries."

"Because in the traditional Ross political model, the regular army is limited to the city residents—or in other words, the city residents themselves are the settled regular army." He introduced: "When Rurik came here, he and the other leaders The Varyag soldiers they brought with them were the first city dwellers."

"I have the same feeling. Their city is actually Wang Tent." Father Leo said.

"That's true." Pronsky was very frank about this: "The conditions there are very backward. The so-called city is actually a village. The prince himself and his personal guards are stationed in it, and they are usually engaged in production. and trade, and raise the townsfolk when necessary, and raise an army."

"The citizens are the 'headquarters' of the princes, so the weapons and equipment, the level of training, and the degree of loyalty are relatively high. Although the villages and communities are often ordered to provide soldiers, after thinking about it, I know that these people must be unreliable."

"This is the system of the Western Zhou Dynasty." Guo Kang commented: "At that time, many vassal states were called 'Xiajun Yimin', and the Ross countries could actually be called 'Russian Lord, Slavic People'. Those in the city were theirs. Chinese people. This is easy to understand."

Guo Kang even felt that if the Ming Dynasty sent some historians to Europe, it is estimated that historical research could be greatly advanced and many outstanding cases could be solved.They can be called a living fossil of the social system here, and you can come across any ancient things...

"Actually, it's still not the same." Pronsky thought for a while, and said, "I heard my wife talk about this issue—you all seem to like to think in this direction. But in my opinion, the situation in the Ross area is still Not the same."

"In the ancient times of Seris, there was also a governing body outside the city. I can't remember the name clearly, but the documents there clearly stated that there was one. There is no such thing in the Ross area."

"Besides, 'Xia' and 'Yi' are just their own distinctions." He shook his head and said, "The people over there are too finely divided. From our point of view, these two types of people are basically the same group Yes. But our side is different. There is really a big difference between the Rus and the Slavs."

"Even if the city expanded later, the areas controlled by the princes increased, and many Slavs also joined the city. They were also in a different cultural environment from other places. If you want to compare, the relationship between Ross towns and villages is not that of people and savages. relationship, but the relationship between vassal states and barbarian states.”

"Can a village community be considered a country?" Guo Kang asked.

"In terms of independence and the relationship between the two parties, I think it's about the same." Pronsky shrugged: "The city is a big country, and the village is a small foreign country. The big country requires the small country to pay tribute on a regular basis-they are such Relationship. In my opinion, only the Chinese and the savages must be added together to correspond to the city of Ross."

"That is to say, if we go to investigate the land and crops, and build new farms, it means that there are many more princely states in this place, isn't it?" Wang Da Lama asked.

"And it is a vassal state that is closer and directly connected to the Roman court." Pronsky added: "Their food can be self-sufficient, and they are protected by the court. The original cities can not ask for new villages. Paying tribute, you even have to please others—who will make them harden their backs.”

"Then this will completely break the order that has been maintained since the country existed." Father Mikhail seemed to understand completely, and said with some worry.

"It will definitely be like this." Father Andre said: "To put it bluntly, for the citizens, since they followed Rurik to the south, they have been fighting for the prince for hundreds of years. Isn't it just to be a master? Now Suddenly it doesn’t work, what should I do?”

"I think many people will not accept it peacefully. This is the biggest change in hundreds of years."

Guo Kang also nodded, expressing his support.He even felt that Father Andre had underestimated the magnitude of the change.If there is no Rome, it is okay to say that this is a major change unseen in a thousand years-even 500 years later, in the era of the Red Horde, the cities and villages are still hierarchical.Even when the city dispatched troops to pay tribute to the village, they could still be seen.

Such a sudden appearance was really beyond the times for the people of Ross.

"The key point here is that the Ross area is vast and sparsely populated. It is reasonable to say that it is not a big deal for the imperial court to take a few pieces of land - they may not be able to manage this place themselves. But once the new village is established and has a demonstration effect, what should we do? ?” asked Pronsky.

"This is indeed a problem..." Father Marco seemed to realize it.

"We can't just look at the phenomenon, we have to look at the reasons behind it." Father Andre pointed out: "The villagers look lazy and stupid, but they are actually very cunning. They look lazy, but it is useless because they are hardworking; Fool Boyar. Once the other villages see that the lives of the Roman villages are getting better, I don’t believe that they will still hold on to the previous ‘principles’.”

"The village communities in the Ross area are certainly closed, but they are by no means completely devoid of information. On the contrary, the priests themselves should go back and forth frequently." He looked at the two priests of Ross and said:

"At that time, there will definitely be a large number of village communities, throwing away the previous tradition of opposing rule and hard work, and begging to join in. The imperial court will definitely accept them in order to better promote the new system. But in this case, it will completely conflict with the city gone."

"Then how about we come in step by step?" Father Marco asked: "For example, strictly delineate the scope of recruitment, and expand the scale of the farm in stages? Let everyone talk about these first, so that when too many people come over, it will be a problem whether to accept or not. .”

"I don't think it's possible." Pronsky shook his head, obviously thinking that he was too naive: "When the signboards are raised, the banners are erected, and the spread of the influence is not up to one's own discretion. When people come to seek asylum, Are you still driving them away? Isn’t that the same as the Song Dynasty.”

"Is the Song Dynasty so famous..." Guo Kang muttered.

"Unless other Ross nobles are also willing to draw boundaries with you and stipulate that 'villages belong to the village, and citizens belong to the city', otherwise things will definitely be uncontrollable." Pronsky said: "We can't expect the other party to always There are such people."

(End of this chapter)