Eagle Byzantium

This is really incredible.

The problem now is that hundreds of thousands of people in Thrace have no food reserves from spring to summer, and people are panicked. The grain shipped from Asia Minor is only enough to support Constantinople's current population of more than 100,000.

And news came from the border that many nobles who had previously fled from the imperial capital took refuge with John. They gathered in Thessaly and Moria to form independent kingdoms, organized governments and armies to respond to Crete, and The holy mountain of Athos where Masdas is located serves as the bridgehead, and small groups of troops are constantly attacking. The team imitated the tactics of the Kallegos Party, infiltrating and attacking Adrianople and Philipsburg. Some people even took boats from Atalia or Mysia to set fires ashore, and incited local Orthodox farmers to continue to resist taxes. -In general, Gawain's rule in Constantinople still has to face many challenges.

At this time, the cave monks flooded in with letters, saying that Inglina had invited several famous Chaldean astrologers to come, and the results of the divination were that Constantinople was not conducive to the rule of the country at all. Wen's star is rising in the east.

In short, the widow's hidden purpose is to hope that Gawain can move the government palace back to Tarsus.

Many generals were also shaken violently. Some people also suggested that Gawain "leave two brigades, one stationed here, the other stationed in Adrianople, and the rest withdraw to Asia Minor for the time being, and then return after the food problem is solved." ".

So in the palace, when Gawain was presiding over the plan to deal with the matter, he told everyone present a very "explosive" idea.

The new emperor said this:

"The current population of the imperial capital, including nobles, officials, merchants, guild craftsmen, slaves, civilians and soldiers, is about 130,000, and there are another 10,000 craftsmen who are building the palace. We executed them during the suppression of the riots. There are about 20,000 people, but we have not counted their relatives and people who are in potential danger of becoming the Green Party or the White Party.”

Many people looked at each other, wondering what Gawain wanted to say next.

As a result, Gawain said, "I know that some of you are worried about the current situation and want to go back, but it is impossible. We have worked hard to get here and will not leave, because this is the true core of the Roman Empire. If If we leave, what does it mean that we are barbarians or tyrants? , or rebel! No, neither, I am Emperor Basileus who has been granted the power to rule this empire, and my wife is Basilisa. You are all honorable nobles of the empire. If you are not responsible for handling such an incident now, If we don’t comply, we will really lose our legitimacy.”

Then Gawain said directly, "Although there was no harvest last year, now is the season of spring and summer. Many abandoned lands in Thrace will soon breed rich grassland, and can also grow buckwheat, wheat, and vegetables that can be harvested in the autumn. , and can be picked directly The berries are edible. I now issue an edict to liberate all the people and slaves in the capital whose property is below the qualified line, and move them to various parts of Thrace to open up wasteland for food. In addition, I also guarantee that as long as they open up the land of the fleeing nobles, Good and then connected After paying the shield tax for three more years, I will recognize their right to possess the land. In addition, for the Plonian landowners who have redeemed their land, I will buy them at double the value of their land, half of which will be spent on Tasso. Payment was made in silver coins and half in treasury bonds. , all the land was turned into sacred farmsteads, and their original tenant farmers were liberated into sacred peasants. All the landowners of Plonia moved to the capital with their families as serving nobles. I provided them with food to survive the famine. Show love and mercy.”

"The ten thousand craftsmen who built the great palace city all settled in Constantinople when it was completed."

This is Gawain's plan.

Everyone was a little stunned, but only the Imperial Prime Minister Burrill lowered his head and said nothing, understanding in his heart what the emperor's strategy was.

Gawain's move was equivalent to completely clearing away the property of the rebels in the capital, driving them out of the capital to open up wasteland in Thrace, and eradicating the chaos of the athletic party; it was also equivalent to confiscating the properties of all the fleeing nobles in Thrace and collecting them. Returning it to the state increased the tax revenue and strength of the Gyeongsang region; furthermore, all the redeemed Pulonia landowners were gathered in the capital, severing their ties with the local area. It's really a plan to kill three birds with one stone.

It seems that this Varyag barbarian-looking emperor is by no means as rough as he seems on the outside. He is very shrewd.

Then the whole capital burst into tears - there are another 30,000 poor people whose property is below the passing line. Originally, they thought that it would be impossible for them to be expelled from the city, but now they can only carry the rations on their backs. With rations, groups of people, escorted by cavalry, headed to the reclaimed lands. They had to fend for themselves in the remaining three months. If there was no harvest after three months, they would really starve to death. .

At the same time, hundreds of Thracian Plonian landowners and private soldiers also gathered in Constantinople. Since then, they have lost most of their territories, retaining only the shade land, and turning the rest into holy stipends. Then they accepted various noble titles at St. John's Cathedral, and went to various fortresses in northern, western and eastern Thrace according to the prepared list. It was said that they would soon be used as the backbone to form a new brigade. Come and station at the border.

But before that, all the soldiers of Pulognia were awarded war horses and weapons, and together with the rest of the brigades, they completely swept and cleaned all the Venetian commercial ports, warehouses, neighborhoods and floating docks in Constantinople.

Originally, the Venetians could hold out in the previous siege with their city walls and gunpowder spears, but when Gawain's army placed artillery in front of the street, they realized that resistance was meaningless... Their entire block was occupied, part of it was marked and allocated to the hot cured duck merchants who were about to arrive, and the rest was allocated to the Self-Reform Society, the Brotherhood, and various government offices as future offices. In addition, Gawain generously transferred the warehouses and docks to the members of the Blue Party, giving them the right to use them almost free of charge. The money earned by everyone in trade activities was shared by the royal family and the Blue Party's business groups.

But Gawain was not completely confident in the Blue Party, and it was even more impossible to let it dominate after eradicating the Green Party and the White Party. So Emperor Varangian specially gave each of the Tarsus merchants such as Birleoni and Zhao Zhao a luxurious house and warehouse, and designated them as the "Red Party"... In this way, the Blue Party and the Red Party in Constantinople were in opposition again, one representing the traditional Greek merchant group, and the other representing the newly emerging Eastern merchant group. They continued to obey the supervision and management of Burrill, the marketing director, and were responsible for the capital's law and order and sanitation. They also had to line up in two different colored clothes at rallies and celebrations. One team would sing "Our Emperor is as great as Neptune, the god of the sea", and the other team would sing "The Crocuses are Blooming Red".