European modulation mode

During this process, all the beams of light from the gods shone into Bayezid II's body, causing his entire body to emit a myriad of colorful chaotic colors! The terrifying pressure was like a wave, shocking everyone present.

For a moment, all the ogres were stunned, looking at the altar without daring to make any sound. 66 seconds later, Bayezid experienced the first emission in his life. The colorful magic light in his body, all his life essence, all his blood genes were poured into the body of the female ogre noble. His face was pale and his body was shriveled, as if he was a mummy that had been drained of all water. He swayed twice and fell directly to the ground, no longer showing any signs of life.

A fearless guard approached cautiously and observed - Bayezid II died of exhaustion.

Before the Ottoman nobles could react, the female ogre let out a miserable scream, and her fat belly expanded like a balloon, and exploded directly after four seconds! A large amount of fat and blood splattered everywhere! The audience was splattered with blood.

They looked at the two people who died miserably during the ceremony in horror. They were about to kill Diorena to apologize to the Sultan, but a tall, strong adult ogre slowly stood up from the exploded abdomen of the female ogre. The ogres present all gasped. They looked so much like her. This ogre actually looked exactly like Sultan Murad II, and before that, Sultan Muhammad I, and Sultan Bayezid I! There was no need to test it. It was definitely a royal blood ogre!

What's terrifying is that he is bigger, more bloated, and fatter than other ogres, and his skin even reveals a sickly dark green color. However, by the standards of ogres, he has an extremely handsome appearance, with a pair of pink eyes that attract people's attention like an abyss. His right hand is extremely strong, with extremely developed muscles, densely coiled with terrifying red magic patterns, and his left shoulder has three shriveled, skinny and pale arms, which are densely engraved with strange blue runes, emitting a heart-pounding chaotic energy.

"You... May I ask who you are..."

Several noble lords walked forward cautiously and inquired about the giant ogre who was born in an adult state. He glanced at him from the side, and his cold eyes were enough to scare these noble lords who had dominated the Ottoman officialdom for decades and make them silent.

"What a bunch of rubbish! How did the Ottoman Empire become like this?"

The newly born Ogre King, who had received the blessing of the gods, said coldly. A terrifying pressure swept across the entire venue. Everyone present felt as if a cold hand was clenching their hearts, making them sweat profusely and trembling with fear.

"I am the storm of chaos! I am the anger of the gods! I am my father's last wish! I am the shadow cast by Allah on the earth! I am the son of Bayezid! The grandson of Muhammad! I am Selim bin Bayezid bin Muhammad bin Murad! Your new Sultan!!!"

The ogre issued

With a hoarse roar, his voice was filled with a weird magic. All the ogre nobles and all the high-ranking lords present knelt before him one after another, congratulating the birth of the new sultan. The noisy words gradually merged into one voice.

"Long live Sultan Selim!!!"

Chapter 328: Seven Countries

Gilman was completely unaware that the Ottoman Empire had changed its sultan. Eight legions, carrying eight different flags, landed on the Thracian Plain and rushed towards Edirne! However, when they arrived at the foot of Edirne, they found that the city gates were wide open and everything inside was empty.

The rebels looked at each other, not knowing what had happened. They immediately sent out spies, scouts and reconnaissance. After several days, they discovered that the Ottoman Empire had actually changed its sultan. The new Sultan Selim abolished Khalil's position as regent. After regaining power with thundering means, he gave up the capital of the empire without hesitation. He took two legions, the entire administrative system of the empire, the plundered European wealth, and a large number of slaves, and retreated back to Asia Minor by boat from the Black Sea. He simply gave up the European part and threw the entire Thracian Plain to the rebels.

Now, the one who felt difficult was Gilman. Her original plan was to attack Edirne, hold the Sultan hostage, command a group of kings and governors who had been divided out of Europe, and order the Ottoman governor of Asia Minor and the last six legions to surrender. In this way, the entire Ottoman Empire would be in her pocket.

But now, the purge of the court had failed, and he had not become the regent. The legitimacy of the country was still in Selim's hands. This group of people retreated to the interior of Asia Minor. The food and grass he had accumulated were only enough for eight legions to attack Edirne, which was not enough to support eight legions to Asia Minor!

Besides, there are still six fully-staffed Ottoman legions in Asia Minor! Add the two guarding the capital, and there are eight legions in total. If we really go there, it will be a different story as to who will win and who will lose.

The eight legions under his command first fought the Battle of Constantinople, then eliminated a wave of loyalists, and then fought the Macedonian Massacre. No battalion was fully staffed, and several battalions were even wiped out and directly disbanded. The actual combat effectiveness added up was not even enough for eight legions.

Just when Jiliman was feeling extremely embarrassed, the other legion commanders also wavered.

"Forget it, let's just do this for now. The ogres have retreated to Asia Minor. They have lost more than half of their Janissary Corps. Their strength has been greatly damaged. They won't be able to come back for more than ten years, or even a lifetime. We have also suffered heavy losses. Let's disband first! There are a lot of things in Macedonia that I need to deal with, and the Corps also needs to be replenished. The land of Thrace will be given to you, Warmaster. When the Ottoman Empire comes back, send a message to my sister, and I will definitely bring the Iskandar Dire Wolf Corps back to help you."

Seeing that the Ottoman central government moved its capital to Asia Minor, Leman Russ suddenly didn't want to fight anymore and just wanted to break up and leave. Anyway, Edirne had been taken and the Ottoman Empire had lost all its territories in Europe. He couldn't let my people cross the Aegean Sea and fight all the way to Asia Minor.

"Yes, yes. There are a lot of things going on in Bulgaria. I'm going back to Bulgaria first. It's not realistic for everyone to fight all the way to Asia Minor."

Philus hugged the stone sculpture of Fulgrim and began to have the idea of ​​retreating. She just wanted to have a happy life with her wife.

"That's right, Warmaster. How about this? Wallachia and Serbia have just gained independence, and Chagatai's Ogre Kingdom is just being built. There are a lot of problems here, more troublesome than Bulgaria and Macedonia. We have already conquered Edirne, so let's disband for now. We'll unite again when the Ottoman army comes back."

Sanguinius, Clarks, and Chagatai also lost their will to fight, and other legion commanders followed suit. They rushed to Edirne, defeated the last two legions, and supported Gilman to become regent. This only required a very small price to pay, but could gain the greatest benefits.

But, conquer Asia Minor? Fight against eight legions? Let Gilman become regent? Crazy, why should I risk the legion's capital for this? ? ?

Jiliman felt helpless. If she really became the regent, or had been a war commander for thirty or forty years, she would have enough prestige to suppress these legion commanders and order them to fight with her.

However, the Ottoman central government ran away, and she failed to become regent. She could not hold the Sultan hostage to control the governor. Moreover, she had only been the war commander for more than a year, and her prestige among other legion commanders was very low. It was already her limit to rely on a large amount of benefits to tie these people together and attack Edirne.

Now, she has completely lost control of the other legions.

"Okay, let's do this for now. Let's all go home and accumulate strength. We'll wait for a good opportunity to attack Asia Minor!"

Ji Liman forced a smile, and other legion commanders also responded with words like "next time", "we will definitely come", "we are all good friends", and then they dispersed. The huge army was immediately dismembered into pieces, no longer as majestic as before.

At this point, the entire European part of the Ottoman Empire was lost. Some of these territories were occupied by the Eastern Roman Empire, and the rest were split into six parts. The 19th Legion, the Raven Guard, returned to the Kingdom of Serbia, the 9th Legion, the Ghouls, led the Kingdom of Wallachia to independence, the 5th Legion, the White Scars, established the Ogre Kingdom on the south bank of the Danube, and Giriman had to settle for the second best. She took the 13th Ultramarines and the 7th Sultan's Fist to establish the Thracian Kingdom on the Thracian Plains.

Soon after, the Governor of Macedonia, Leman Rus of the Sixth Legion, Iskandar Dire Wolves, impatiently proclaimed himself the King of Macedonia. The Governor of Bulgaria, Philus of the Tenth Legion, Iron Hands, also proclaimed himself king and rebuilt the Kingdom of Bulgaria. The six kings and the Eastern Roman Emperor stood together on the land of Greece.

Aenarion also stopped fighting at this moment. His army was almost wiped out in the Battle of Constantinople, and the only remaining Dark Angel had also suffered considerable damage in the Macedonian Massacre. Although two consecutive huge wars had saved the Roman Empire and earned him a large amount of land and population, they had also used up most of their stored gunpowder and food. He was really powerless and could not fight anymore.

At this moment, all we can do is rest and recuperate.

Aenarion lifted the little dragon, Wonderful Shadow, from his chair, held it in his arms, and then sat down on the chair, stroking her jet-black dragon scales and pale hair, while gazing at the sunset slowly setting over the western mountains and listening to Wonderful Shadow's comfortable snoring. He made a plan for the future - first recuperate, save enough food and money, build a large enough legion, and then rebuild Rome - these six legion kings who had split off and had their own ulterior motives were much easier to deal with than the entire Ottoman Empire. The hellish difficulty of rebuilding Rome had been reduced to a difficult difficulty.

Chapter 329: Militaristic Rome

The Roman Empire was initially restored and now had eight provinces: Eastern Thrace headed by Constantinople, Western Thrace headed by Thessaloniki, Thessaly headed by Larissa, Attica headed by Athens, Sparta headed by Mystras, Epirus headed by Arta, North Aegean headed by Evia, and Crimea headed by Sevastopol.

Among them, Aenarion alone controlled the three provinces of Thessaly, Attica, and Western Thrace. The governor of Crimea was also her pet, the Crimean Khan Irel, who alone controlled half of Rome.

Thessaly and Western Thrace were the most densely populated parts, with a combined population of over three million. Thessaloniki became the second largest city in Greece after the decline of Athens.

Attica is his biggest money bag. A series of mineral veins headed by the Laurian Silver Mine continuously provide him with large amounts of silver, copper and iron ore. The empire's mint is all here.

Although among the five regents appointed by Constantine, he was in charge of foreign wars, but the economic lifeline of the entire empire was actually controlled by him. Caledo, the Minister of Finance and Chief Mage of the White Tower, who was responsible for managing the finances, had to cooperate with him in order to improve the finances of the Eastern Roman Empire. As a result of the two's interactions, their interests were deeply bound together.

The guy who used magic to create the Undead Arena to make money called himself an expert after seeing Aenarion's money-making methods. He also learned to play the salt and iron private business. Once this thing was promoted, every family would spend two or three silver coins every month to buy salt and iron. The four provinces under the control of the empire had a population of two million. This item alone could make a profit of 600,000 dinars every month, greatly filling the treasury.

As for the Crimean province, its population of more than one million were all Tatars, goat-men, Slavic beastmen, and a small number of Vikings. They were not the main ethnic group of the Roman Empire and were more difficult to manage.

But it didn't matter. Aenarion found the head of the civil service, Prime Minister Thomas of the Empire, and transferred a group of grassroots officials and scholars from him to Crimea. Education started from an early age. In order to unite his fellow elves, Aenarion proposed the concept of nation hundreds of years in advance, so that the high elves would change from not caring who was the emperor and who they mixed with to saying that we are all high elves carrying a great and glorious history, and we must unite and face the outside world in unison.

And now, he has taken this idea a step further and used the concept of the Roman Empire to unite different ethnic groups: High Elves, Slavs, Tatars, and Vikings were once part of the Roman Empire, and they all shed blood and sacrificed their lives to build this great empire. They are all citizens of the empire, and now, we should unite again!

Of course, the official language of this empire is Greek Elvish, and Slavic and Tatar will never be added. You don't have to learn Elvish, but if you want to join the army or become an official in the empire, you must pass the Elvish language test. Aenarion doesn't want his empire to become like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where dozens of languages ​​are spoken in one army, the regiment commander can't understand what the general is saying, and the soldiers can't understand the company commander's orders. That would be completely impossible to lead.

The entire Eastern Roman Empire was also influenced by Aenarion and accepted some of the policies he implemented in his own fiefdom.

First, military schools were built in eight provinces across the country. The Roman army had ten people in a team, one hundred people in a company, one thousand people in a battalion, and ten thousand people in a legion. The company was the smallest combat unit, and all officers above the rank of centurion had to take military courses. Some of these teaching materials came from the Janissary Legion, some from the White Tower of Rome, and some from the knowledge base of Aenarion. The goal was not to turn everyone into a master of tactics and strategy, but at least to let them know the basics of tactics. At the same time, all soldiers and troops were instilled with their own beliefs and theories about the Roman Empire.

In this era, whether it is Christians or Muslims, their method of uniting people is religious belief, while the Roman Empire used the nation and state.

Second, improve the welfare of soldiers. The Roman Empire now treats soldiers very well. The wage standard is the highest in the entire European continent, consistent with the remuneration of the Ottoman Janissaries. However, on this basis, a large number of benefits have been added. In this era, there are very few free people who own their own farmland. Basically, they are either tenant farmers in the villages who work for landlords, or workers in the cities who work for capitalists.

But as long as you serve in the army, your family can be allocated a piece of land that is self-sufficient as military land. After your death in battle, your family can also receive generous pensions. However, the family must send one person to serve in the army to maintain the military land. If there is really no one, you can give up the land, use the pension to buy a house in the city, and work in various textile industries, pottery industries, or some industries directly supervised by the government, and you can survive well.

If there is no one at home, it will be easier. You will even have a tenant to help you plant and manage your land. After you die, this military land will be given to the next soldier who joins the army. When you retire, this land will be completely yours!

If the battle is won, the spoils are divided among all the soldiers. Aenarion demonstrates a system of military merit. The more people killed on the battlefield, the greater the merit established and the richer the spoils. Items include but are not limited to being the first to rush into the enemy camp, the first to climb the city wall, and not retreating under the charge of the enemy's cavalry.

Rewards include but are not limited to money, land, slaves, and becoming officers - in Aenarion's fiefdom, the aristocracy system was directly abolished, and the nobles were officers. However, in the entire Roman Empire, the power of the aristocracy was still too large and stubborn, so they could only make some adjustments and give these officers treatment equal to or even better than that of the nobles.

This system was quite scary at that time. The entire Mediterranean world was in the feudal era, and the classes were severely solidified. Titles such as nobility and knighthood were like AIDS, which could only be transmitted from mother to child and through blood. The Ottomans opened up a channel for upward mobility. As long as the foreign slaves who had been brainwashed in childhood and believed in Allah could work their way up to become high-ranking lords, they would receive twenty Janissary Legions and dominate Asia and Europe.

Aenarion also learned from them and did the same thing. He used sufficiently generous and favorable treatment to satisfy the appetites of all the soldiers. After arousing their selfish desire to become the superior people, he recruited a large number of soldiers across the country and began to intensify the training. The severity of the training was exactly the same as that of the Janissary Legion.

Although the training was very harsh, each soldier persevered in the difficult training, thinking about the exclusive land that his family would really get, and the generous rewards he would get once the war broke out, and even the bright future of becoming an officer or a noble. The entire Eastern Roman Empire was gradually built into a military melting pot, which continuously trained the high elf civilians of the entire Greece into excellent soldiers. The entire empire was being built into a machine that only served war, a country owned by the army.

Just three months later, the Eastern Roman Empire, with a population of six million, selected 50,000 strong men from across the country and formed a professional army of 50 battalions. After three months of training, most of them were first-level warriors who could skillfully use spears and muskets to fight in formations, and had initially formed combat effectiveness.

And Aenarion also traveled around the Black Sea several times, promising high rewards, status, and position to attract the Vikings there to join. The cold and bitter land of Eastern Europe is not as warm and rich as Greece. Several thousand Vikings had previously served the Eastern Roman Empire as Varangian Guards and mercenaries. After the Eastern Roman Empire ran out of money, these people went to the Ottoman Empire to serve as Janissaries to make money.

Now that the Ottoman forces have withdrawn from Greece and Aenarion has cut off the slave trade, these Vikings who wanted to make money had to run back to the Eastern Roman Empire and return to Aenarion's army, becoming Varangians again. Although these people are few in number, they are generally second or third level fighters, and some elite ones even start at level four like the Janissaries.

Aenarion modified the military system of the empire. Not all soldiers were geniuses, only one out of every hundred was a professional, and most professionals would only reach the first or second level in their entire lives. Aenarion followed the old system of the Roman Empire and made fifty battalions of soldiers auxiliary soldiers - different from the Ottoman Empire, where the auxiliary soldiers also included civilians who chopped wood and transported food, while the auxiliary soldiers of the Roman Empire were real professional soldiers, but not as elite as the Janissaries. They did not have a legion system, only a battalion-level system, and were usually under the dispatch of the legion.

The First Legion of the Dark Angels, after absorbing a large number of the Eastern Roman Empire's elite, not only recovered from the damage of the Macedonian massacre, but also expanded to a ten-battalion organization, which was accepted by Aenarion into the Roman Empire's army organization. These ten battalions, 10,000 people, formed the First Legion of the Dark Angels - only those with combat power comparable to that of the Janissaries were worthy of becoming a legion. The leader of the legion, Lion, was also promoted by Aenarion to the deputy commander of the empire, serving as his right-hand man.

The Second Varyag Army was also established at this moment, with Valkia as the commander of the army. He had six battalions of Viking warriors under his command, two of which were elite warriors of level four or five. The other four newly formed battalions were only level two or three, with less than 10,000 people. Their level of eliteness could not be compared with other legions. But take it slow, sooner or later, his Second Army would completely become an elite army like the Janissary Army.

Aenarion looked at him with satisfaction.

As for the Eastern Roman Empire, its wealth and income were skyrocketing, and its military power was also expanding. As long as they were given some time, the seven legions and six kingdoms that split from the Ottoman Empire would no longer be their opponents. The day of regaining Rome was getting closer and closer.

Chapter 330: Rebellion of the Six Kingdoms

The Eastern Roman Empire was thriving, and the Ottoman Empire was also urgently adjusting its national policy. Sultan Selim moved the capital to Ankara and simply abandoned the province of Thrace, thus defusing the crazy offensive of eight legions. He even split the rebel alliance into six countries and gained the trust of all the high lords. After some thought, he promoted Horus, the commander-in-chief of the Asia Minor theater, lord of the 16th Legion Konya Wolf, as the new war commander of the empire.

He did not have the prestige of the remaining Janissary Legions in Asia, but Horus did. As long as he promoted her to Warmaster and gained her gratitude, he could take control of the other legions and at least prevent them from rebelling.

After stabilizing the situation, Sultan Selim immediately adjusted the Ottoman Empire's strategy of defending in the east and attacking in the west.

It is not a wise choice to counterattack the Greek peninsula now. Half of the Janissaries have become rebels. Each legion commander has different desires, goals, ambitions, likes and dislikes. It is impossible for them to unite for a long time. If they are left alone, friction and trouble will arise sooner or later.

However, the only thing these people had in common was that they had all betrayed the Ottoman Empire and were very afraid of retaliation from the other half of the loyal legions of the Ottoman Empire. If they fought back now, they would have to unite again in fear for the sake of survival - the eight Janissary Legions, this force was so terrifying that it was almost all the troops of the Ottoman Empire!

Therefore, to deal with Greece, we can only wait for these legion commanders to cause friction and chaos, or even kill each other, and we must never attack by force.

On the other hand, in the Timurid Empire in the east, the Sultan's good fourth uncle is now competing for the Sultanate of his eldest nephew. The two gangs know that the Ottoman Empire is fighting Greece, so they are very confident in the civil war. If not attack them now, when?

Sultan Selim adjusted the troop ratio and placed the 14th Legion Death Guard, which was best at defense, and the 18th Legion Salamanders in western Asia Minor to guard against possible harassment from the Roman Empire. Then he led the army in person, and with Horus and the remaining legions, they rushed into the Mesopotamian Basin of Persia along the Euphrates River, heading straight for the core of the Timurid Empire!

Aenarion remained calm about the Ottoman Empire's actions. The Timurid Empire was so big that even if he won, it would take him seven or eight years to conquer it, and more than ten years to digest it. During this time, he let it develop on its own. As for the other six Greek countries formed by the Janissaries, his judgment was exactly the same as Sultan Selim's. It would be a miracle if these legion commanders and warriors who suddenly became kings could govern the country well. After a while, there would definitely be chaos. At that time, it would be the best time for him to deal with them one by one and annex them.

Everything was within the expectations of the Ottoman Sultan and the Roman general.

The Kingdom of Wallachia did not encounter any trouble due to its special undead blood clan ruling model.

The Durakovic family of Serbia has ruled for a long time, so there is nothing wrong with its independence at this moment. It is because they have lost the protection of the Ottoman Empire that the Holy Roman Empire in the north is ready to make a move and try to invite them to become part of the Holy Roman Empire, or directly annex them to become part of the Holy Roman Empire, so there is no big trouble.

Gilman, who was better at political affairs than ruling the army, also managed her Thracian kingdom in an orderly manner.

As for the remaining three kingdoms, serious problems had already arisen in just half a year.

Chagatai Khan's Ogre Kingdom quickly restored the nomadic society. The Fifth Legion, the White Scars, was in name only. On the surface, it was a legion of 30,000 people whose number even surpassed that of the Ultramarines, but in reality it was divided into various tribes. The ogres were indeed free, but various economic and food problems of nomadism also followed. In the autumn of that year, they were unable to gather enough cattle and sheep to survive the winter. This group of ogre sinners who had regained their freedom and were addicted to burning and killing chose to plunder without hesitation!

There was nothing to rob in the northern steppes and the undead Wallachia, so they went straight south to Bulgaria and Thrace to burn, kill and loot. The friction with the Bulgarian Kingdom of the 10th Legion, the Iron Hands, and the Thracian Kingdom of the 13th Legion, the Ultramarines, became increasingly serious, and soon escalated into a political issue, making all three parties furious and very unhappy.

The Bulgarian problem was also quite serious. Filus was an excellent general, even an excellent commander, but she only learned how to fight a war, and never learned how to govern a country. In addition, the Gorgons hibernated cold-bloodedly, and Bulgaria was not as warm as Greece. She spent a quarter or even more of the year sleeping, and left the national politics to her subordinates. This autumn and winter, the White Scars ogres went south to plunder, and when her subordinates looked for her, they found that the big snake had hibernated with Fulgrim! The huge snoring made the Bulgarian officials feel cold.

What's even worse is that the main ethnic group of Bulgaria is Slavs, and she is indeed a Gorgon.

As for Leman Russ's Kingdom of Macedonia... Although Leman Russ is a Slav, the main ethnic group of Macedonia is a mixture of elves and Slavs. She herself also understands some state governance and does not need to hibernate. The legions under her command do not have the bad tradition of nomadic ogres and looting. This makes the Kingdom of Macedonia much better than Bulgaria and the Ogre Kingdom.

However, the population of his Macedonian kingdom was also

There were only 900,000 people, and the most important part, the largest port city - Thessaloniki was ceded to the Roman Empire. The entire Macedonian Kingdom had no special products. Even because it was one of the few plains in Greece, there were still a large number of horse farms established by the Ottoman Empire, as well as their own wolf farms, where a large number of war horses and wolves were trained. These things were extremely expensive and it was difficult for them to bring any economic benefits.

Before, the Ottoman Empire could receive transfusions from other places to feed the Macedonian province established specifically for war.

But now that they were independent, Leman Russ suddenly realized that a small country with no economic products and the largest port of Thessaloniki was ceded to Macedonia, which could not support its own legions! Its own wolf! Six months after the founding of the country, he had already spent all the profits from the division of the Ottoman Empire, and now he had to start defaulting on the Janissary army pay. Money, money, money, he had no money at all!

Well, what to do if you have no money?

Leman Russ looked around. To the north of Macedonia was Serbia, the Ottoman Empire's most capable warrior. Their combat power was extremely fierce, and now they had an additional 19th Legion, the Raven Guard.

To the west is Albania, a damn place full of mountains. Not only is there no economic benefit there, but even Sudan itself cannot conquer it.

To the south and east, there is the Eastern Roman Empire... Damn, they are not pushovers. It seems that I can't solve the domestic economic contradictions by foreign wars. How about trying to borrow money from Aenarion? For the sake of fighting the Ottomans together, can you lend me a hand?

Chapter 331: Usury

In December 1453, Aenarion went to the Crimean Peninsula to oversee the work of reclaiming wasteland. The Crimean Peninsula is more than twice the size of Thrace, but its population is less than half of Thrace. Moreover, it is the only warm land in Eastern Europe with a Mediterranean climate, which is completely different from other bitter and cold places.

Aenarion opened up large farmlands and built new cities here to attract Slavic peasants from Eastern Europe to move in and increase the population. He also promised that the land would belong to them and they would not have to be tenants or serfs under the rule of their masters. If they were strong enough and were selected to join the army, they would be given extra land and slaves. The Slavic peasants in Eastern Europe could not hold back at all, and every day, refugees who could not make a living would flee to Rome with their families.

The notorious slave city of Kaffa and the important maritime naval port of Sevastopol were also transformed into two huge seaport trading cities. Merchants came here with silk and magical objects from Constantinople, elven horses from Thessaly, olives and wine from all of Greece, and various minerals and gems from all of Asia Minor. After selling the goods, they bought large quantities of furs, ivory, war horses, and timber from Eastern Europe and returned to Greece and Asia Minor.

This trade attracted a large number of Russians and Vikings from Eastern Europe, which promoted the prosperity of the city and continuously replenished Aenarion's Second Legion, the Varangians.

The megacity of Constantinople gradually regained its former prosperity thanks to the transfusion of eight provinces. John, the Governor of Trabzon and the grandfather of the current emperor, gave up Trabzon. After the Ottoman Empire changed its national policy to defend the west and advance east, it began to use military force against the Timurid Empire and the Empire of Trabzon. The Ottoman Empire was under the Ottoman army and too far away from the mainland. The Black Sea Fleet could only harass along the coast. Unless all the capital and legions that Rome had worked so hard to accumulate were transported to Trabzon, it would be impossible to stop it.

After weighing the pros and cons, the regent, the supreme magistrate in charge of judicial power, John Komnenos slapped his thigh and said, "Fuck Trebizond!" Then he led a large number of high elves and went straight back to Constantinople under the cover of the Black Sea Fleet. He reduced the population of Constantinople to 400,000 in one wave, and would soon restore the population of 500,000 at its peak. The population of the entire province of East Thrace also ushered in a surge.

Today, the entire Roman population is six million. Because of the existence of Constantinople, a behemoth with a population of 400,000, the urban population of the entire empire is as high as 800,000. The monthly poll tax can collect 1.6 million dinars worth of silver coins, and the commercial tax is as high as 3 million dinars. Half of the commercial taxes and tariffs are collected in Constantinople.

Of course, there were a lot of silver coins from other countries mixed in, and even taxes were paid in kind. After all, the dinar silver coins had just been minted and the quantity was not enough.

In order to solve this problem, the Laurion Silver Mine began to expand and add manpower. It was able to mine and mint one million dinars of silver coins in a month, which flowed into the market like crazy.

The state's control over the private sectors of salt, iron and wine was even more serious. When this policy was enforced, every family had to spend two or three silver coins or even more on these three industries every month, earning 3.6 million silver coins every month, which was more than the commercial tax!

On the surface, the Roman Empire was very fair, levying only 20% tax on its subjects. However, through the operation of daily necessities such as salt, iron, and wine, these people gave much more than 20% to the state. It was just that a lot of the money was used to buy daily necessities. They turned the money they gave to the merchants into the state.

However, the empire's revenue was as high as 9.2 million dinars, and its expenses were also huge.

There were fifty battalions of auxiliary troops, and each person received thirty silver coins per month, which was three times the salary of an ordinary person. The monthly military pay was 1.5 million silver coins.

The Dark Angels Legion and the Varyag Legion currently have 16,000 people. The military pay of these elite troops is higher. The most ordinary soldier can get 120 silver coins a month, which adds up to a total of 2 million silver coins.

The sea

The army is a bottomless pit. Now the Aegean Fleet has thirteen caravels and thirty galleys; the Black Sea Fleet has ten caravels and twenty galleys, a total of 73 large ships, each of which has hundreds of sailors. The navy salaries, ship maintenance, gunpowder and ammunition replenishment, Greek fire replenishment, on average each ship costs about ten thousand silver coins, adding up to an expenditure of seven hundred thirty thousand silver coins.

Add to that the consumption of the Thessaly horse farm, the gunpowder used in routine training, the consumption of javelins... military expenses cost 4.7 million dinars every month, accounting for half of the national finances.

In order to support the Eastern Roman official system, another 1.8 million silver coins were consumed, which was more than 20% of the total tax revenue. The remaining money was used to repair city walls, expand the army, and reclaim wasteland to attract population. It could not be said to be sufficient, but only enough.

While Aenarion was managing the army, suddenly, a messenger from Constantinople came to find him.

The former leader of the Sixth Legion, Iskandar Dire Wolf, and now the King of Macedonia, Leman Russ, requested a loan of 1.8 million dinars, which is roughly three months' salary for the Iskandar Dire Wolf Legion. She said that she could set any interest rate, as long as the loan was granted. This is a big deal, and you should come back. The five regents will discuss it. Also, the mansion that His Majesty the Emperor built for you, the war marshal, in Constantinople has been completed, and the servants have been arranged. You and your family can return to Beijing to live at any time.

Aenarion was puzzled. He was not in charge of finances. Wasn't this Caledor's business? Besides, what was there to discuss? With the economic situation in Macedonia, Leman Russ couldn't even afford to support his own Janissary Legion. She took out a loan? She would pay it back with her head? Loaning so much money would definitely be a bad debt that could never be recovered.

"Oh, General, you can't say that. The purpose of some loan sharks is not just to collect a little interest, but to risk the life and property of the borrower. We know that the Macedonian Kingdom has no repayment ability at all, so in order to avoid risks, we can legitimately ask her for some collateral, or sign a risk agreement. If she cannot repay the loan on time, we can give the Roman Empire some cities and land to pay off the debt.