Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 361: Money! Money! Money! (Three updates today)
One gold coin of supplies from the Kardia Military District can be exchanged for two gold coins in Erzurum and four gold coins in Antioch.

In terms of gross profit, this is a 100% or 300% profit.

But in fact, the actual gross profit of the caravan will only be higher than this.

After all, the caravan itself was organized by Greek farmers and Turks themselves, and asking them to provide food supplies would only cost them much lower than the market price.

But Gellis wouldn't dwell on it, and neither would Alexandros.

If you want to save money in this area, the cost will only be higher.

Either they would walk hundreds of kilometers to provide supplies, or they would plunder the local area and damage the goodwill of the people.

Paying a little more money can actually avoid many problems.

In this day and age, it is not very obvious, but in another two or three hundred years, the wars in Europe will actually become "engineering projects"

The king needs to distribute projects to military contractors, and the military contractors will then find the second-level mercenary captains to assemble mercenaries.

Military contractors, in turn, need to outsource work to businessmen to supply their huge armies.

Money has become the most credible object in this process. Having money means having an army...

Without money, even if you are a king, you will be deserted by your friends and relatives.

……

Generally speaking, the head of a military region should be called a general, which represents his military status and responsibilities.

But this is not the case in the Cardia Military Region now, and Mr. Constantine prefers to be called the Governor rather than the General of the Military Region.

This is not the case. It was initially affiliated with the Armenian Military District and later became independent.

In the 11th century, the invasion of the Turks in Anatolia severed the land connection with Constantinople.

Since then, local separatism has been strong in the Khardia military region.

The Gabras family has almost become the hereditary rulers here, monopolizing the position of general in the Cardia Military Region.

Compared to the title of general, they prefer to call themselves governors.

Later in 1140, the Komnenos dynasty severely defeated the Turks and successfully intimidated the Gabrans family, which enabled Constantinople to restore its power of appointment and dismissal here to a certain extent.

At least the Gabras family no longer monopolizes the governorship here, but will rotate among different local powerful groups.

Constantine was such a local powerful figure who relied on his connections, personal connections and fame to become the supreme leader of this military region which existed in name only.

It is said that at the height of his power, the general of the Cardia Military District could command a military district force of 10,000 men.

But Constantine said that he could no longer pull out even one capable soldier from the military system!
The term "military zone" itself is ambiguous, referring to both a military occupation and an administrative division. In fact, a military zone is a system of farming that assigns small plots of land to soldiers for cultivation.

These farming soldiers were still technically a military unit, and the land they cultivated was still owned by the state.

Once a soldier individually accepted the military farming agreement, he agreed that their descendants would continue to work in the military district and take on both military and agricultural work, thereby maintaining the army more economically.

But what to say...

The system is maintained by people. No matter how good the system is, as long as the people in the system are unwilling to follow the past "rules", it will collapse in an instant.

For a long time, the positions of generals in the military region have become the private property of the Gabras family, so they naturally put their family interests above those of the military region.

After all, the position of the military district might not be his one day, but the estates seized from the military district during this period would not disappear so easily. Even though Constantinople later restored a certain degree of authority over the local area, the newly appointed "governors" still followed the example of their predecessors.

After decades or even hundreds of years of persistent poaching, the number of farmers that the military region can still directly govern is less than a quarter of what it originally was.

As for this quarter, most people would rather pay the substitute military service fee than actually serve in the military.

"Military District, how did it become like this? I remember the previous governor was able to mobilize 500 people."

Governor Constantine asked softly to his family's secretary beside him.

Although there is still a bureaucratic system in the military region today, compared to those nominal bureaucrats, the only people Constantine can truly trust are his own family’s employees.

At least this secretary or "mentor" eats and drinks at his expense, and is supported by him with real money.

"My Lord, you should know that during the years you have been in power, our family's real estate has almost doubled!"

"Even the previous governor was not as good as you..."

The secretary, oh no, the advisor, thought about the wording and continued, "...wise and brave, good at managing money."

"what!"

Thinking about the growth of his family's wealth, Constantine was not so sad about not being able to recruit a capable soldier to fight.

"But now we have to deal with the Turks. Since we can't rely on the peasant soldiers, we can only find a way to hire people, or find a way to pull out some private soldiers from my manors."

Just as Constantinople during the Komnenos dynasty relied more on the private soldiers and mercenaries of the Komnenos family.

The same is true of Trebizond.

One difference from Constantinople is that Trebizond is not rich enough to use mercenaries as a standing army.

"By the way, how much did we charge before?"

Constantine was referring to the previous bargaining with various dignitaries.

"Sir, this, according to the accounts at that time, each family..."

Before the master finished speaking, Constantine interrupted him.
"Don't mention the account book. I'm talking about the actual number they gave me."

"Ah... well, there are 18 wealthy families in the city, and the total amount of money given to you is about gold coins."

"Three thousand? Only three thousand! That guy Ioannis said he would give me one thousand!"

"What can I do with these three thousand?!"

"Ahem." The master cleared his throat and felt a little embarrassed.

"My Lord, you know this too. Although they said those numbers at the time, you owed a lot of favors to be able to take office as governor. Those people are willing to give you real money, which is already a great honor for you."

Constantine sighed deeply, knowing that there was really no other way.

"Anyway, I'll give you this thousand gold coins. Remember to help me find some smart and capable people. This castle is in trouble right now, and life is not peaceful. If you can find some reliable people, please help me hire them for a long time."

As soon as the Governor opened his mouth, three thousand became one thousand. He was indeed as the counselor praised him as "wise and brave, good at managing money."

(End of this chapter)