Rome must fall.

Chapter 306: New Tribal Division

Maximus paused and said apologetically, "Just follow Quintus's suggestion and use the captives from the other Pannoni tribes to exchange the previous captives from the Ardei. Cornelius, you said it well, but this cannot be blamed on Capito. In fact, I was too anxious and greedy. On the one hand, I wanted to occupy the territory of Segestica as soon as possible, and on the other hand, I wanted to retain more labor to build bridges and roads as soon as possible, and restore the vitality of this occupied area as soon as possible...

But the fact is that our Nix tribe is still very weak and does not have the ability to do both things well at the same time. We still have to eat one bite at a time, so——"

Then he looked at Capito and said, "The first priority of the Ministry of Works is to build the bridge connecting the east and west villages as soon as possible. As for building the highway from here to Snowtia, you can make a plan first. After the plan is completed, build it section by section according to the blueprint. After all, the materials needed for road construction also need to be prepared."

"As you command, Chief." Capito said, "Today, Spukara has taken the personnel from the Works Department to carefully survey the terrain and river conditions on both sides of the main village. I have also sent a messenger to Snowtia. I believe that some experienced craftsmen from the tribe will arrive here in two or three days, and then we can start building the bridge."

"Very good." Maximus nodded in satisfaction, and then said: "Pygris, next you notify Alacosia and ask him to discuss the exchange of prisoners with the Ardi people. In addition, I remember that the iron mines in Ardi are managed by the northern tribes of Ardi such as Budokaribas, right?"

"It also includes Elder Cicelitses and other tribes that used to be in the east." Pigris explained, "In fact, the iron mine is located on the edge of the tribal territory west of Aldei. Judging from its location, it should have been managed by the tribes in the mountainous area west of Aldei, but no one has mined there for many years. It was precisely because of our needs that the iron mine was restarted. In order to take care of the tribesmen who lost their homes in the north and east, the previous chief of Aldei allowed Budokaribas, Cicelitses and other tribal leaders to take over together..."

"But now that the tribes of Budokaribas and Cicelitses are moving here, the iron mine will have to be handed over to other Aldei tribes... Well, let Alakosia convey my request to Budokaribas and his tribe. I hope they can let a tribe that does things prudently take over the iron mine to ensure that there will be no problem with the iron ore production supply to our tribe."

"Yes, chief."

"Next, I want to talk about a problem." Maximus looked at everyone and said slowly, "Before, our tribe settled for too short a time and the territory was small, so the management of the territory was relatively simple. There was a political hall in the center and town administrators in the local areas. The town administrators obeyed the orders of the political hall. We only have two villages, and I am still the administrator of Snowtia. In fact, the Nix tribe only has one town administrator in Westney - Xikrops.

But now our territory has expanded, and the population has increased. We can’t just rely on the town administrator to manage so much territory. There are so many villages on this side of the Sava River. Next, we have to move out foreign auxiliaries from each village, move in new people, and give them land... a series of things will not work without a dedicated person to manage these villages, so I decided to establish the position of village chief, who is responsible for managing the village and leading the villagers to implement various government orders conveyed by the higher level. "

"Who will directly manage these village chiefs? Our government hall?" asked Volerus.

"It will be directly governed by the town administrator. We will demarcate the land area that each town should govern, and the villages within this land area will naturally be under the jurisdiction of the town. Snowtia, Westni, and the two villages captured a few days ago on the Kupa River side have not yet had villages because they were established a short time ago. But we will also demarcate the land that each village should govern, and then appoint village heads after the villages are formed in the future. The villages on this side of the Sava River will be temporarily governed by this village."

"How is the village chief appointed? Is he promoted from the original village residents?" Karina asked. This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Personnel.

"It's best to promote one from among our old tribesmen. He should have the following qualities: familiar with the laws of our tribe, always abide by the law, have rich experience and knowledge, have a certain appeal, have good energy, and be able to speak some Illyrian. Most importantly, he should not have held any position in the tribe, nor be a soldier in the legion. This way, he can stay in the village and manage the villagers."

After Maximus finished speaking about his requirements for being the village chief, everyone fell into thought.

After a moment, Karina spoke first: "In this case, only those old people in our baggage camp who are in good health and have no special skills are suitable to be village chiefs."

"There are also those tribesmen who were once soldiers but are disabled due to injuries. I think they are also suitable." Quintus interrupted, "Although they may have some inconvenience in movement, they are energetic and more intimidating, and they will never be ambiguous in executing government orders."

The others all agreed.

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Maximus said straightforwardly: "Okay, we will select candidates for village chief from the veterans in the tribe who are disabled due to injuries but whose movements and communications are not affected, and the elderly in the original baggage camp, and in a few days we will move them and other tribesmen to the villages here." "Chief, will the newly added village chief also be paid by the tribe? Should he be equipped with subordinates?" Cornelius asked with concern.

Maximus had thought about this a long time ago. He said, "The village chief is the lowest-level official in our tribe, so of course he should be paid. He can also assign subordinates to himself, such as patrolmen to maintain order in the village, agricultural advisers to urge and guide villagers to cultivate the fields, and readers to read out decrees and announcements... However, these personnel are subordinates temporarily appointed by the village chief and are not part of the regular establishment of the tribe, so they do not need to be paid.

In addition, some disputes and minor conflicts in the village cannot be decided by the village chief alone. They must be jointly heard by the village chief, the priest of the village altar, and the tribesmen with titles above knight in the village. Only after reaching a consensus can it count.

Of course, cases involving human life and some serious violations of laws must be heard by the town court. If the villagers disagree with the verdict, they can also appeal to the town court.

In addition, villagers with titles above knighthood also have the right to supervise and make suggestions on their villages. If they find any problems, they can even report them directly to the Ministry of Personnel, and officials in the Ministry of Personnel must pay attention to them..."

Everyone began to discuss the matter in a low voice. For the first time, they realized the difference in tribal status between the famous tribesmen with titles and the ordinary tribesmen.

"Chief, with what you just said, I am not worried that these village chiefs will not be able to manage the villages well." Volenus changed the subject and said, "But even if the soldiers and tribesmen who participated in this war are promoted, there are still very few villagers in our tribe who have the title of knight. I am afraid that there will not be one in each village. And... we haven't even built the first temple yet. It's probably too early to build an altar in the village."

"You are right. These are long-term plans that can be formally written into tribal laws." Maximus said calmly, "For now, if there is no knight in the village, we can let the older first-class tribesmen temporarily replace the knight to play a role. As for the village priest, I am afraid it will not be realized for a long time. We can only implement it when there is one in the future."

"Chief, I've thought about it. The village chief, temporary subordinates, knights, and village priests you mentioned just now... With these people, it's no problem to manage a village with thousands of people." Capito raised his own question: "But if the population of the village grows to several thousand people, I'm afraid this number of people won't be enough to manage it. Should we upgrade the village to a town at that time?"

"As the population of the village increases, we will relocate some of them to other places and give them new land. We cannot upgrade a village to a town casually, because if we establish a town, we will have to assign a lot of officials and consume the resources of the tribe.

Moreover, a town needs to have a large enough population and enough land to support it. If the towns are too close to each other, both sides will not get enough support, which will delay their development. "

Maximus pondered and said, "...Based on the current situation of the tribe, Snowtia, Westness, and the third village just captured by the Kupa River can exist as towns of the tribe.

The fourth stockade was not so good. The terrain there was narrow and the population was small, so it was not enough to be a town, but it bordered Broach's territory and could be used as a defensive camp with soldiers stationed there regularly.

Linkou Village also does not have the conditions to become a town, but its location is important and can be converted into a checkpoint. This village——"

Maximus pointed to the ground and emphasized, "There are many villages around it, vast fertile land, and rivers with convenient transportation... It will definitely develop into a huge town in the future, so it is suitable to be the center of our tribe. It will make it easier for us to concentrate manpower and material resources to develop and expand the tribe faster."

After Maximus finished speaking, Cornelius took over the conversation: "Chief, you are right. The tribe is still very poor now. We really shouldn't build too many towns. Four are enough."

"Chief, now that the number of towns has been determined, shouldn't we give the new towns a name? This will make it easier for us to call them and also let the people of Segestica understand that this place is completely different from the past." Kephisophon suggested.

(End of this chapter)