Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 792 The Fengtian Pacification Movement
Faced with this situation, Tang Sai'er's main approach was to re-explain to everyone and find a reason why they needed to unite.

At this point, the appearance of the Polish man actually gave her a great opportunity.

Local minor nobles, as well as clergy who managed churches and monasteries, placed even greater emphasis on protecting their wealth and territory than ordinary people.

The conflict between the Germans and the local nobles was so intense because the amount of cultivated land was ultimately limited. Although many Germans came under the guise of land reclamation, seizing existing land was certainly more cost-effective than venturing into the forests to fight monsters. Therefore, disputes arose between the two sides from the very beginning.

The Germans are still here, and now the Poles are coming too; it's really impossible for anyone to stay. After all, ordinary Polish soldiers might just want to loot and leave, but the Polish nobles are more likely looking to annex the territory. When Hungary collapsed, the Poles disregarded past friendships and took advantage of the chaos to come and feast. It was only after the Purple Horde intervened that the main Polish forces were driven away, but even now, they still control northern Hungary, the Slovakian-populated areas, and refuse to leave.

The local lords were well aware of this. After all, they might not understand this newly emerged Ming Dynasty, but they certainly knew what kind of people the Poles were...

Tang Sai'er encouraged them to actively protect their property. She explained that the previous incidents were due to the arrogance of some individuals who, domestically, exploited wealth and bullied their subjects and vassals; yet, they were utterly useless internationally, fawning over nobles from other nations, sacrificing their own interests to satisfy the endless demands of outsiders. Such people were not only enemies of the lower classes, but also enemies of all aspiring nobles and even the nation itself.

Many nobles were swayed by this and stepped forward to express their support. Taking advantage of the momentum of her victory, Don Sai'er convened a meeting near Prague with several hundred nobles, parish priests, and abbots.

Before they set out on their campaign, they had written to Guo Kang seeking advice: what kind of slogan would best attract everyone? Guo Kang thought for a moment and told them that the biggest problem in Europe regarding "reputation" was the chaos and corruption within the Church, and the resulting low quality of clergy, lack of oversight, and abuse of the Father's and the Church's name. Various practical issues would depend on the local situation and the development of the war. However, the slogan itself should still be based on this principle.

Therefore, he suggested that Wu's northern expedition could use "Upholding the Will of Heaven to Pacify the Rebellion" as its banner. This meant upholding the will of the Heavenly Father to quell bandits and resolve local unrest. This rhetoric should have been very appealing to Europeans at the time and would have been easily understood. It would have been acceptable to all religious sects.

Tang Sai'er and the others thought the suggestion was excellent. Zhu Wenku felt there was something strange about it, but Guo Kang offered an explanation.

He stated that he was using the recovery period after the plague to train new recruits and establish an organization, aiming to restore order to the area as quickly as possible and then lead the locals into the war of unification. He explained that often, the grander the slogan, the more people it attracts. And perhaps no slogan is more ambitious or more readily accepted by diverse groups than "restoring order" and "unifying Rome." Therefore, Zhu Wenkui and his team could consider this perspective when drafting their slogan.

Of course, if there really is an enemy, then such a slogan is more than just a slogan; it has a very clear target and benefits that can be directly demonstrated to everyone. This effect is even greater than the slogan itself.

Guo Kang gave another example, saying that when he and his friends traveled to the south with their grandfather, they passed through Crete and found its history quite interesting. As an important transit island in the eastern Mediterranean, although it was the former territory of the Eastern Empire and was directly ruled by Rome for a long time, it was also occupied by Islamic and Catholic forces on several occasions throughout history.

In the 9th century, the Umayyad Caliphate fragmented, and Catholic forces in the north seized the opportunity to restart their "reconquest" campaign. Some Andalusian Muslim lords were defeated by the southward-moving armies of Barcelona and Navarre and forced to flee. Among them were a group of Muslim nobles who were originally seafaring families controlling harbors, so they chose to sail southeast to the islands. Eventually, after many voyages, they managed to reach Crete in the eastern Mediterranean and became pirates.

At this time, the Eastern Roman Empire was embroiled in a civil war. Emperor Michael II and his challenger, the "Slavic" Thomas Aquinas, fought a protracted civil war. Michael ultimately retained his throne, but the Eastern Roman navy had suffered heavy losses in the war and was no longer able to protect its overseas territories. Taking advantage of this opportunity, pirates occupied Crete and switched allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate, gaining recognition from Caliph al-Ma'mun and establishing the Emir of Crete.

Afterwards, the Eastern Roman Empire launched several attacks, but each time they failed. Moreover, the problem was usually not the landing itself, but rather the subsequent land battles that often went wrong.

At that time, although the Abbasid Caliphate was powerful and had established a relationship of allegiance and patronage with them, it did not actually provide much support to the isolated Emir of Crete beyond verbal promises. However, facing this close enemy, the Eastern Roman Empire suffered repeated setbacks and was unable to recover for a long time.

In reality, the armies that launched each expedition were not weak, but they were almost always isolated deep in enemy territory, only to be besieged by fortified cities or bogged down in guerrilla warfare with the pirate emirs, unable to completely eliminate the enemy. When the armies became exhausted, the enemy would seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and utterly defeat them. It wasn't until nearly two hundred years later, when Nikephoros used the time gained from victories on other battlefields, that he assembled an army with overwhelming numerical superiority and even developed a "landing ship" that could open ramps at the bow to directly drop elite heavily armored cavalry ashore. Only in this way was the enemy suppressed and the island of Crete recaptured. To this day, some relics of the battle remain on the island, demonstrating the intensity of the fighting.

Everyone was curious about why the process was so complicated. Of course, the Eastern Roman Empire had a more developed culture, and historians had already studied it. The local clerks who received them explained that scholars generally believe the resistance from the local people made the reconquest difficult.

Although this area had always been Eastern Roman territory, and the islanders spoke Greek, their identification with Rome was not strong, and they didn't hold onto their own culture much. Therefore, when the Muslims arrived, some defected and supported them. Other islanders quickly abandoned their faith and civilization, and were assimilated by the Muslims. The Roman army's arrival on the island was not much different from that in occupied territory. Many generals were unaware of this, always believing they were there to reclaim lost land, thus putting themselves in a passive position and leading to this awkward outcome.

However, Guo Kang, the most cultured among them, held reservations about this historical research conclusion. He believed that this area was not only the core region of Greek culture, but could even be considered one of its origins. If the Cretans didn't acknowledge Greek culture, there wouldn't be many truly "Greek" places left…

To this end, he conducted a special investigation and discovered that it was not so simple. According to records, as early as when the Roman army learned that Crete had been occupied and turned back from Sicily to counterattack, some wild mountain people living in caves on the island cooperated with Islamic pirates to launch attacks on the Roman army. At first, people were not quite sure how these cave-dwelling savages came to be, but after investigation, it was found that they were not actually "savages," but rather local farmers.

However, because the Eastern Roman Empire possessed the most sophisticated administrative system in the Mediterranean world, its tax system was also the most stringent. Under the exploitation of the Roman lords, local farmers couldn't even afford to build houses and were forced to live in caves in the mountains beside their fields. Thus, they became cave dwellers.

In contrast, the pirates' rule was extremely lax, with almost no administrative capacity. They were content with collecting tribute and demanding submission, and their oppression of the local people was much less. Therefore, when they heard that the Roman army was going to return, the mountain people panicked and organized themselves to arm themselves to protect the pirates. This is why the Roman army faced a situation akin to being trapped in enemy-occupied territory.

Therefore, Guo Kang believes that an enemy that threatens everyone's common interests is even more persuasive than a shared culture or common slogans. If, like in the Eastern Roman Empire, the local people's living standards were reduced to a pre-Troy primitive state, then it's no wonder they wouldn't be "Greek."

Similarly, if you can do a good enough job of guaranteeing everyone's basic needs, then anyone can raise a banner and not care too much about the other party's sect or belief. Because in Europe, there are too many unscrupulous forces; if you're even slightly decent, people will overlook religious backgrounds and stand on your side.

Besides the Islamic pirates, there was another Catholic example in Crete. After the Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople, a Venetian army came to Crete and occupied it. In the early stages of the occupation, the Venetians were very fearful. This was because the local beliefs differed from Venice's, and the locals were very fierce, with a long-standing tradition of archery. To maximize their profits, the Venetians also controlled the port and estates, and forbade Greeks from holding official positions, treating them only as serfs, which greatly angered the Greeks. The conflict between the two sides remained extremely intense.

To this end, Venice established a branch in Crete, appointing a duke to rule it, directly responsible to the Venetian Senate. In addition, it implemented military colonization on the island of Crete.

The Venetian city-state consisted of six administrative districts, so they also divided Crete into six parts, assigning each district a specific area within their own territory. More than ten thousand people migrated from their homeland to each district, providing them with a stable source of income and allowing them to focus on military training to maintain control over the Greeks on the island.

The Venetians' plunder of Crete was extremely brutal, and they were well aware of the consequences. Fearing retaliation, they became even more hostile towards the Greeks on the island, especially the powerful clans and common people who still longed for the Byzantine Empire. Moreover, even the mountainous Cretans were far more culturally advanced than those in the "West," so the Venetians, on the other hand, feared too much contact with the Greeks, worried that their own people would be assimilated.

Driven by these concerns, the Venetians opted for complete racial segregation. Venetian military colonists mostly concentrated in a few major cities, and were also stationed in a series of military fortresses, rarely venturing out. Laws strictly restricted intermarriage between Venetians and Greeks, and prohibited Orthodox priests from freely entering and leaving the country. The colonial authorities repeatedly emphasized the decadent and heretical nature of Eastern culture, urging everyone to preserve their own culture and not to be enamored with the mystical beliefs of the East, lest they be corrupted by the Greeks and lose their martial virtue.

The local Greeks also staged several rebellions. They even raised the banner of restoring Rome and received support from the Nicaean Empire and the Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church characterized the islanders' rebellion as a sacred war, and the Nicaean Empire sent reinforcements, briefly recapturing most of the island. However, at a crucial moment, the island's Greek noble families began to fight amongst themselves over the division of spoils. Some even actively sought refuge with Venice to secure more benefits. After the Nicaean dynasty was usurped by the Palaiologos family, subsequent support ceased. The Greek rebellions organized on the island then fell silent.

However, Crete subsequently erupted into a major rebellion organized by native Venetians. The damage it caused to Venetian rule was in no way inferior to the earlier Greek uprisings.

Despite the numerous restrictions, the colonial authorities were forced to loosen some restrictions due to the fierce resistance from the Greeks, in an attempt to win over the upper and middle classes of Greeks and allow them to join the ruling class, even granting them fiefs. The Venetians who migrated there, even under such strict constraints, quickly became Hellenized. They learned the local language, even began to imitate Greek dress, and created literature in Greek. Artists there also developed new painting styles. Cultural differences emerged between them and the native Venetians.

Even more seriously, native Venetians looked down on these native Venetians, treating them as second-class citizens. This phenomenon is a long-standing problem in all colonial territories, and it's fundamentally unsolvable. Naturally, the local Venetians were dissatisfied with this.

In 1363, the Venetians on the island learned that the local Senate planned to impose a new tax on the Cretan colony to maintain the port. They strongly opposed this and approached the Duke, requesting that he appeal. However, the Duke refused, ultimately igniting their anger.

The native Venetians immediately joined forces with the Greeks to launch an armed rebellion, using Saint Titus, a saint worshipped by the local Greeks, as their symbol, and declared their secession from Venice to establish a new Republic of Saint Titus. They even sent envoys to contact the Greeks on the mainland and Genoa to gain their support.

The Venetians could only suppress the rebellion with great effort, investing heavily in the process and hiring crossbowmen from northern Italy and longbowmen from England. They also managed to bribe the Pope to portray the campaign as a crusade, thereby securing more funding and using the opportunity to recruit a large number of skilled Turkish light cavalrymen from Asia Minor to join the crusade. This effectively eliminated the archer advantage against the Cretans.

Thus, the fighting continued for a full four years. The Venetians were forced to implement scorched-earth policies in many areas to restrict the guerrillas' movements, and spent huge sums bribing wavering individuals and offering bounties to key rebel leaders. Although they ultimately won, these rebels were the very foundation of Venice's local operations. Therefore, their rule was severely damaged, and they could only continue to suppress the rebellion while intensifying their efforts to buy off and divide the rebels, making it impossible to maintain the same level of profitability as before.

Guo Kang believed that such situations would inevitably recur, so they shouldn't believe the religious barriers the enemy touted. They could also win over people from the same religious sect as the enemy. He suggested Zhu Wenkui ask Tang Sai'er and let her decide the details, because he was confident Tang Sai'er would understand.

(End of this chapter)