ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1067 Mercenaries and Salaries

Hermon's righteous words also moved the ministers. Even Davos was a little stunned. He couldn't help but said: "We have indeed ignored the issue of adult citizens in the past. Fortunately, Hermon reminded you in time. We need to pay attention to it, and of course we should cherish these young people, because they are the future of the kingdom! So after the meeting, the three of you, Hermon, Laphias, and Bulkos, discussed whether adult citizens should be given land and whether Let’s discuss together the issue of how to allocate land, come up with a draft plan, discuss it at the next executive meeting, and then submit it to the Senate for approval.”

"Yes, Your Majesty." The three responded in unison.

"Okay, now let's go back to the topic of 'how to reinforce the Etruscan League'. Heraclide's proposal of 'building a military fortress on the land given by the Etruscan League', I think very nice.

I think Sipulos's suggestion of 'recruiting free people and forming a border army' is also very good.

The issues mentioned by Burcos should really cause us to think deeply. The reason why Dionia can grow up so quickly is because we have long and firmly implemented the law of 'accepting immigrants', and we have received the support and help of the majority of free people. Every war has been successful.Today, even though the kingdom has become stronger, we still have many enemies, and we will encounter even stronger enemies in the future.

Moreover... if a pool is not filled with living water, it will easily become rancid; if a country is too closed and has no fresh blood, it will lose its vitality.Therefore, I do not think that we should completely stop the previous immigration laws, but how can we solve the border defense problem of the kingdom and the allies, and at the same time allow other free people to have the opportunity to become citizens of the kingdom, and it will not let our adults Citizens feel unfair, which requires us to think seriously and come up with a practical and good solution! "

Davos used a slow speaking speed to summarize and evaluate the previous discussion of the ministers. At the same time, he also used a firm tone to draw a general framework for the ministers to prevent them from deviating from the direction during the discussion and not getting what they wanted. Desirable results.

King Davos's words caused the ministers to think deeply.

Not long after, Sipulos, who had been thinking about it, said: "Your Majesty, regarding this problem, I think it will be easier to solve this problem as long as we set different time periods for foreign free people to become citizens of the kingdom.

Free citizens who join the army and guard the borders only need to serve for 5 years before they can become official citizens of Dionia.Other free people must work in the kingdom for more than ten years before they can become official citizens.

In this way, free people who want to become citizens of the kingdom as soon as possible are willing to take risks and join the border army. Free people who are unwilling to take risks or cannot take risks at all still have the opportunity to become citizens, as long as they are willing to slowly endure in the kingdom. time. "

Davos put his hand on his chin, thought for a while, nodded and said, "This method is good, what do you think?"

Seeing that Daves agreed, other ministers did not have much objection, they discussed the details, and finally perfected this new bill: Anyone who is recruited by Dionia and joins Dionia Foreign free citizens in the army can become official citizens of Dionia after serving for five years; other foreign free citizens need to live in Dionia for ten years, pay taxes on time, and abide by the law before they can become Dionia. If a formal citizen of Nigeria dies during this period, his family can renew the period and can also obtain citizenship...

After discussing for a long time, a result was finally reached. Everyone just breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Lucias, the rotating chairman (due to the death of Cornerus and the retirement of Vespa, who was 65 years old a year ago) Si wanted to resign from all his posts on the grounds that his health was not good enough to cope with the complicated government affairs. What he said was indeed true. After the Western Mediterranean War, the territory of the Kingdom of Dionysia was greatly expanded, the population increased sharply, and the resources became more abundant. Therefore, A large number of merchants, free people, and envoys from some city-states and forces poured into the central city of Turiyi, which led to a huge increase in the government affairs of the Turiyi region. The number of officials almost doubled, and it still felt that there was not enough manpower. . However, Davos repeatedly tried to persuade him to stay, but in the end he just resigned from the post of chief executive of the Thurii region and still served as the rotating chairman. In fact, many elders regarded him as the first of the five rotating presidents) said: "Your Majesty, now that we have established a new immigration law and decided to recruit free people to defend the Etruscan border and the border of our Iberian territory, how many people do we need to recruit?"

Davos looked at Alexis.

Alexis had already considered this, and he said without hesitation: "I have said before that the northern border of Etruria requires about three to 5000 people. Considering that casualties will continue to occur in the process, It also needs constant replenishment. Temporary recruitment also takes time to train. It is better to recruit the number of people in a legion at once. This will also make it easier for us to better train them with legion tactics. When they join forces with the regular legions of the kingdom in the future, they will be commanded. More convenient.

The Iberian territory also needs a legion of people to better protect the safety of the people in the territory.If all the allies are reinforced with a legion to defend the kingdom's territory but the number of soldiers is still small, I'm afraid the people will be dissatisfied.

It would be best if we recruit another legion to prevent a sudden invasion by a large group of enemies. It will be too late for the kingdom to mobilize its military. We can use this recruited legion to go ahead and buy us some time..."

When Lucias heard this, his expression became a little ugly: "Three legions, more than 24 people, this is a huge number, has Sir Alexis ever thought about how much the kingdom will pay for this?" Salary?!"

Alexis was a little confused: "Salary? There is no need for any salary. After these free people become soldiers, they eat and live in the military camp. After completing their service, they can receive rewards from the kingdom, become official citizens, and receive land. Do I need to give them extra money?”

Lysias, who had served as the administrator of Thurii for many years, explained calmly: "A foreign free citizen living in the kingdom, as long as he is hardworking enough, can earn at least 15 drachmas a month. When he became an official citizen of Dionia and received land a few years later, he had already saved a large amount of money. He did not need to borrow money from Christoya Bank at all, so he could have money to build a house and buy wheat seeds. , buy livestock, and maybe even buy another slave, and your life will soon stabilize. Not to mention these free people, even the public slaves of the kingdom, Lord Rafias, do your slave camps also need to issue Some salary for them?”

"Yes, but rarely," Rafias replied.

"But at least there is." Lysias said slowly: "I heard that there was a very strong young slave in the slave camp of Thurii. Every time he did more work than other slaves, he gained a lot of honors. As an extra bonus, he saved all this money, and when he was free, he actually went to the slave market and bought a female slave to be his wife..."

"This is true. This slave is named Wenram. He worked extremely hard and was always rewarded. Therefore, he only stayed in the Turiyi slave camp for three years. The Slave Management Office granted him freedom last year." Rafi Yas said with a smile: "Because he has been a slave since he was a child. It is said that he has never gotten along with a woman. He always listened to other slaves talking about that in the slave camp and was very curious, so he made such an impulsive move. thing."

When he finished speaking, many ministers smiled.

"Lord Alexis, you see, even slaves are paid, not to mention these foreign free people who will become the soldiers of the kingdom and guard our borders. Are they not treated as well as slaves? If that is the case , it will not only appear that we are too harsh, but will also make them dissatisfied and affect their enthusiasm for recruitment and future battles, don’t you think so, Lord Alexis?”

Alexis has been engaged in military affairs, and he doesn't know much about the social life of the kingdom. After hearing this, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, so he had to say frankly: "Thank you Lord Lucias for reminding me, I really ignored this aspect. After I return to the Ministry of Military Affairs and discuss it with my colleagues, I will decide how much salary I need to pay these freedmen soldiers."

"This is not just a matter of salary." Another rotating chairman, Sedorum, interjected: "Their military food supply, their weapons and equipment, their material consumption... I am afraid that these all need to be provided by the kingdom. Tens of thousands of people Ah! What they consumed is not a small amount, and His Majesty also said just now that this is not a temporary arrangement, this is a long-term decree and a new important decision of the kingdom! This means that Etruscan The strong support from the Leah Alliance is only temporary, and our kingdom will definitely have to spend a lot of money in the long run, but where will this large amount of money come from?"

After Sedorum finished speaking, several senior ministers and the rotating chairman looked at each other, and they all understood that this was the difficulty in implementing this new resolution.

Alexis was stunned, and then replied: "Of course it comes from the treasury."

As soon as he finished speaking, the financial officer Archibedes, who had been impatient for a long time, immediately shouted: "No! This won't work! I just said that the treasury is tight and there is no extra money to support such a long-term employment force. army!"

As an important minister of the kingdom, Alexis was contradicted by Alkibiades, who was only a mid-level official. No matter how self-restrained he was, he could no longer keep it in his face at this moment. He said in a deep voice: "How many soldiers have been injured or killed in our army? Why? The kingdom has captured so many gold and silver mines, acquired so much good land, and added so much wealth to the kingdom. Now it needs the treasury to provide some help to the army. Is this how your Finance Department treats the Military Affairs Department?"

Archibedes was glared at by Alexis and felt a little guilty, but he kept in mind the words of Melses: "We must guard the treasury for the kingdom like a mother defending her children. Never If you give in easily, even if you spend an extra Obol, you still have to worry about it for a long time. Only then can you be a qualified finance minister and gain the respect of His Majesty the King!"

(End of this chapter)