Chapter 376 The Inspector's Journey
A drizzle of cool rain announced the official arrival of autumn. The short farming off-season ended and it was another busy sowing season.
In the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, on the western coast of the Aegean Sea, the capital of the southern Greek province, Athens.
A few years ago, as the territory gradually expanded and the population increased, the Eastern Roman Empire began to restore the provincial system after expanding its administrative departments. The Attica and Morea regions were merged into the Southern Greece province with Athens as its capital.
When the province was established, many people objected to the central government's decision to make Athens the provincial capital, believing that this ancient city had long lost its past glory, had a sparse population, insufficient output, and an economic level far inferior to Mystras, the capital of the Morea region, and was even inferior to Chalcis, another port city in the Attica region.
However, the central government decided to make Athens the administrative center and formulated a series of support measures to help Athens develop its economy.
The reason is simple: in the Eastern Roman Empire, the emperor has the final say.
In Isaac's view, Athens was one of only three cities in the Balkan Peninsula of the Eastern Roman Empire that had the potential to develop into an international metropolis. The plains on the Attica Peninsula and the Morea Peninsula provided it with food and various cash crops. The excellent deep-water port also made Athens a crossroads of trade in the eastern Mediterranean, connecting to the Apennines in the west, Asia Minor in the east, Constantinople in the north, and the North African continent across the sea in the south.
Furthermore, Athens is the mother of Western civilization and the birthplace of democratic politics. It has countless historical sites. Since the Renaissance, many Italian scholars have been yearning for this city and regarded it as a "holy land". If Athens can make breakthroughs in cultural undertakings, it can also bring about economic progress.
Therefore, in the past few years, the central government has given a lot of support to the city of Athens. In addition to funding, immigration and talent, the most important thing is policy.
If a country is compared to a company, the most important commodity it can sell is its policy.
In the city of Athens, in a high-end hotel near the port area, a young man stood on the terrace on the third floor, overlooking the scenery of Athens.
The autumn in Athens is very mild. There is no cold air and rain in the north, no smoke in Constantinople and Adrianople. Ships are coming in and out of the port, and the warm sunshine is shining on the beautiful Aegean Sea.
Since Athens is located in the south and has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, the temperature in winter is not high and rarely drops below zero. The demand for coal is not large, and there is no annoying coal smoke, which makes the young people very relieved.
He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. On the watch was engraved his family crest, a lifelike monk seal.
In fact, unlike the Catholic world in Western Europe, the Eastern Roman Empire was not a feudal state. Even the most powerful political families did not nominally have hereditary territories or absolute control over their subjects, nor did they have such a strong tradition of "aristocratic heraldry."
However, in the past few decades, the great Eastern Roman nobles began to enter the industry and commerce. Under the guidance of the royal family, they gradually discovered that an iconic emblem would often make their family's products sell better and create a brand effect. Personal coats of arms, chamber of commerce coats of arms, and aristocratic coats of arms quickly became popular, and heraldry became a real science in the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the new emblems of the Sfrangise family.
The Sfrancis family is one of the traditional political families in the Eastern Roman Empire. It has great political power and its status is second only to the Palaiologos family. Family members also serve as prime minister, foreign minister and transport minister. In front of them, the military family Notaras, the business family Fugger, and the slave trading families Mavro and Gattiluccio are all not as good as them.
Perhaps in order to avoid the emperor's suspicion, or perhaps because the blood relationship was originally weak, the two branches extending from Prime Minister Isurt Sfranchis and Foreign Minister George Sfranchis have officially separated. The former uses the olive flower as the family emblem, also known as the olive line, and the latter uses the monk seal as the family emblem, also known as the seal line.
A year ago, Foreign Minister George Sfrangis died of illness and was buried in the family mausoleum in Constantinople. Crown Prince Constantine and Queen Leonor came to pay their respects in person, giving the greatest respect to this veteran minister who had served four dynasties.
George Sphrankis was a close friend of Constantine XI and the most capable minister in the darkest hour of the Eastern Roman Empire. He worked hard for the cause of the country all his life. He grew up in the short and illusory period of revival of Manuel II. He witnessed the embarrassment and helplessness of Ioannis VIII, the fierce bravery of Constantine XI, and the turning of the tide and the triumph of Isaac III.
Of course, as a traditional Eastern Roman nobleman, George Sfrangis also felt lonely and confused in the new era. He witnessed the gradual collapse of traditional values, the traditional society becoming unrecognizable, and this familiar country becoming more and more unfamiliar. The exploration ships heading to the New World, the glamorous stock exchange, the dazzling array of goods brought about by workshop production, the excitement and excitement outside the civil service examination hall, the thick black smoke over Constantinople... He knew that this might be right, but still found it difficult to fit in.
Towards the end of his life, George gradually stopped taking charge of affairs and began to cultivate his body and mind. Diplomatic affairs were managed by two deputy ministers. They were young and energetic, knew how to implement the emperor's foreign policy, knew what "dollar diplomacy" was, and knew how to squeeze the last drop of blood and sweat out of the indigenous people of the colonies through various deceptive clauses.
George died, and the era of Ioannis VIII and Constantine XI was gone forever. This capable minister who had experienced many hardships in the dark years fell in the midsummer of the golden age with a doubtful smile.
After his death, Minister of Transport Jerome became the patriarch of the monk seal branch of the Sfrancis family. The position of Foreign Minister was concurrently taken over by Deputy Prime Minister Basilius, who was in charge of the East. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcus Comnenus was then in charge of the West, which was considered a half-level promotion.
The young man standing on the rooftop was named Georges Sfrangis, the great-nephew of George Sfrangis, the cousin of Jerome, and the fourth-great-great-nephew of the old Prime Minister Isurte.
Due to the weak blood relationship, Jorges' father was just an unappreciated member of the collateral family. He had no possibility of inheriting the political legacy of the Sfrangis family and could only rely on himself.
Of course, being born into a big family certainly has many advantages. As a civil servant family, the Sfrangise family has always attached great importance to cultural education. Jorges studied in the family school at a very young age and was a frequent visitor to the family library. He had more knowledge reserves and a broader vision than ordinary people. He passed the internal assessment and was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of the University of Constantinople. After graduation, he achieved very good results in the civil servant examination in 1474 and was assigned to the Imperial Inspectorate.
The Supervisory Bureau exercises supervisory power and was originally under the Supreme Court, but was later made independent. All civil servants in the government, courts and parliament are supervised by this department, which reviews the performance of officials, examines local development, and investigates corruption. It is a first-class powerful department in the civil service government.
This time, Jorges and several colleagues formed an exploration team to investigate the development and governance of several major Balkan cities, including Adrianople, Thessalonica, Larissa, Athens and Mystras.
According to regulations, Jorges' team must submit a complete report for each city, covering economic conditions, stability, official reputation and people's happiness, which are important factors in evaluating the performance of local governments.
Of course, in order to prevent them from cheating, Jogues also had to interview representative citizens from each class. The interview content had to be recorded in detail, and the interviewee's place of origin, name, family situation and work content had to be clear, so as to facilitate random checks by superiors.
The team members were divided into two teams and drew lots to decide which city to inspect. Jogues' teammate was a native of Athens who also passed the exam to enter the government. He was also a candidate in 1474 and was a classmate of Jogues.
Before coming to Athens, Jorges had already been to Adrianople, and in his personal opinion, the situation was not very good.
"Jorges, what do you think of the report from Adrianople?"
Footsteps sounded from behind. It was his teammate Stefanos, a native of Athens.
"Shall we write it down as it is?"
"Of course, it must be true."
Jogues said.
"Adrianople is so close to Constantinople, everything is known clearly, there is no need for us to hide it."
"Besides, there was nothing wrong with the governor of Adrianople. The economic growth rate was among the highest in the country. He just did not implement the central government's assimilation policy and stabilization work well."
Jorgs narrowed his eyes, recalling.
"I know the Archon of Adrianople. He was born in the lower class of Thrace. He worked and studied part-time in the school opened by our family. He has no background and lives a very simple life. Now he only wants to get promoted. Maybe he is rushing things."
"Anyway, I spent a very depressing few weeks in Adrianople. I didn't like the place very much."
"However, Adrianople was originally designated by His Majesty as a center for the development of heavy industry. Perhaps what we have seen is a necessary price to pay."
Adrianople is located in the western part of the Thracian Plain, along the Merici River and backed by the Rhodope Mountains. It was originally the capital of the Ottoman Empire. It has the advantages of inland shipping and rich mineral resources. It is one of the two major cities of the Eastern Roman Empire on the Thracian Plain.
Since Constantinople was the face of the empire and aimed to develop into a "garden city" and a "financial city", in the past decade, heavy industries and high-pollution projects near Constantinople have been moved to Adrianople. While this has stimulated local economic development, it has also brought a series of problems.
Mineral mining, metal smelting, coal coking, weapons manufacturing, dye extraction, cement processing, fertilizer production, tool making, pig, cattle and sheep farming, meat processing... these industries have made the level of pollution in Adrianople increasingly high.
The soot over Constantinople mainly came from burning for heating, which was unavoidable, while the soot over Adrianople mainly came from metal smelting, and the pollution level was even higher than that of Constantinople.
Furthermore, the labor shortage in Adrianople attracted a large number of immigrants. It was backed by Bulgaria, and many Bulgarians, Wallachians and Russians regarded it as an immigration destination. The proportion of slaves in the workshops was also very high. They had no skills and could only do some heavy work that required physical labor and was harmful to their bodies.
In order to accelerate economic development, the consul of Adrianople directly divided Adrianople into three districts, with clear distinctions between the three districts, like three worlds.
The Upper Town is located on the hillside where the air is freshest. It is mainly inhabited by Greek merchants, nobles and capitalists. It has beautiful scenery, independent water sources, and burns fragrant fruit wood for heating. The archons built many high-end inns and restaurants to provide enjoyment for the Constantinople capitalists who came to invest.
The central city is located on the banks of the Merici River and is mainly inhabited by Greek, Bulgarian and Russian citizens. They are mainly engaged in the service industry and high-end handicrafts, such as small vendors, contractors and high-level craftsmen, and belong to the middle class.
The lower city is located in the mining and workshop areas, and its residents include unskilled Rus, Wallachians and Saracen slaves. These lowest-level people are naturally divided into different levels. Wallachians look down on Rus, and Rus look down on Saracen slaves.
It was narrow and dirty here, with residents' huts scattered around the workshops. The blast furnaces in the ironworks spewed out black smoke day and night, the mine entrances looked like man-eating beasts, the sulfuric acid makers had no good skin on their hands, the bleachers coughed up blood all year round due to the toxic sulfur dioxide, and the workers who operated the hydraulic and animal-powered forging hammers often ended up with empty sleeves and were then dismissed by the workshop owners for being unable to work.
The workers received meager wages, barely enough to support their families. They drank heavy metal wastewater discharged from the workshops and ate the cheapest sawdust and black bread. Children played on garbage heaps covered with coal dust, and mothers breastfed their children next to sewage ditches...
People die here every day, and every week a contractor brings in a large group of "new blood" to replenish the city. They supply the Upper City with a life of debauchery, satisfy the peaceful life in the Central City, and create the wonderful life in the city that the world desires, but they themselves can only struggle to survive on the brink of death.
When Jorges first arrived in Adrianople, he felt very confused. Constantinople was also a big handicraft city, but the capitalists there were not so unscrupulous. Since there were mostly Greek Orthodox Christians, the church was very powerful, and most of them were high-end handicrafts, the "Orthodox Workers Protection Regulations" could be implemented in place, and the craftsmen went to get off work and went home, and celebrated holidays according to religious laws, and everything was in order.
Of course, what puzzled Jogues was not that the workshop owners here were desperately exploiting the Saracen slaves, but that they actually applied this method to the immigrants from Russia, Moldavians and Wallachians.
You must know that these people are also Orthodox Christians. When they come to the Eastern Roman Empire, they are regarded as Roman citizens and protected by the church. They cannot be equated with Saracen slaves.
Later, Jorges disguised himself and sneaked into the lower city of Adrianople. He endured the stench of feces and the pungent smell of chemicals, and pried open the mouth of a Russian immigrant with a few glasses of cheap beer, only then did he learn the hidden inside story.
It turned out that it was precisely because the central government's protection of the Orthodox Christians was too tough, the local Greek Orthodox Christians had more civic and legal awareness, and the Saracen slaves were unruly and liked to defect, so the capitalists set their sights on the Northern Slavs who were also Orthodox Christians.
They have formed an industry that specializes in sailing comfortable large ships to the north, using the prosperity and tranquility of Constantinople to attract Slavic Orthodox Christians to move south. Most of these people are illiterate escaped slaves who are unwilling to go to the Cossack Kingdom on the grassland because of cowardice. They have no civilized qualities and no legal awareness. From the moment they cross the Black Sea and land in Thrace, their hopeful journey ends. The capitalists will deceive them into signing harsh employment terms, coax them not to go to the government to obtain citizenship, and drag them directly to the workshop area of Adrianople to sell their labor as foreign workers.
As they did not obtain citizenship, the Orthodox Church could not provide them with protection. As most of them had families with them and could not escape, they liked to have children, believing that this might bring a glimmer of hope for their poor small families. They hoped that the Eastern Roman Empire's promise of "citizenship by birth" was not empty words.
But in fact, the Eastern Roman government certainly agreed with the policy of "birthright citizenship", provided that you had to go to the local government to register and leave your name in the government and church registration documents.
But in fact, the Slavic Orthodox Christians' habit of having children provides the capitalists with a rope to restrain them, that is, the family.
A small number of Orthodox priests also colluded with the capitalists and turned a blind eye to this matter. Instead, they asked the Slavic Orthodox Christians to be content with poverty and thought about the even more cruel exploitation of serfs by the Polish and Lithuanian people and the Saracen slaves who lived even worse than them.
Is it illegal? Probably not.
Do you have a conscience? Definitely not.
According to Jorges's speculation, the governor of Adrianople must have known about this situation, but he chose to ignore it for the sake of his own political achievements. When the administrator excitedly explained to Jorges in his simple office the outstanding achievements that Adrianople had made in economic development in recent years, Jorges did not hear a word he said. The desperate scene in the lower city still lingered in his mind.
Jorges knew that the consul did not care about money or beauty, nor did he accept bribes from capitalists. He was also a middle-aged man with ideals, and he did this simply for outstanding political achievements.
Born in 1453, Jorges grew up in an environment of hatred towards Muslims. He did not feel much about the poor treatment of Saracen slaves, but he felt very sympathetic towards the deceived Slavic Orthodox Christians. In his opinion, they should become citizens and enjoy a better life instead of wasting their lives in sweatshops.
He and his teammates truthfully reported the findings of the past few days to the Archon of Adrianople, telling him that fortunately he and the capitalists had only exploited loopholes in the law and had not set their sights on Greek Orthodox Christians, otherwise they would have been exiled to New Thrace.
"Jorges, do you think that consul will be punished by His Majesty?"
Stefanos asked.
"It's probably just verbal punishment."
Jogues shrugged.
"Your Majesty may send people to rescue these Orthodox Christians, make more perfect laws, and fill the vacancies with a large number of Saracen slaves."
"In this way, the Slavic Orthodox Christians will be grateful to the royal family, and the capitalists will be more restrained, and they will still make money."
"I have to say that the consul is indeed a talented person. In five years, the goods produced in Adrianople have increased fifteen times, which is faster than Constantinople. He has not broken the law, nor has he engaged in corruption or bribery. He has voluntarily provided assistance to the capitalists. Your Majesty probably cannot bear to punish him."
"As for the Saracen slaves... Your Majesty has already communicated with the three major slave guilds. He will formulate more complete guild rules and establish slave concentration camps in Anatolia and North Africa to eliminate the Saracens' ability to think freely."
Jogues said.
"The only victims are the Saracens, who still occupy our Ankara, Antakya, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cairo, and they deserve it."
"Oh, forget it. We are just small employees of the Supervisory Bureau. We can't control these things."
Stefanos shook his head.
"I'm from Athens. I don't like this. Let me show you Athens. Although it can't compare to Adrianople economically, it definitely makes people feel relaxed and comfortable."
"Why don't you like this? Do you think those jobs with extremely high mortality rates should be filled by your compatriots?"
Jogues glanced at his teammates, shook his head, and walked towards the steps.
"Forget it. You are not from Constantinople and cannot understand our hatred for those white turbans."
"The Latins have hurt us and helped us, some for good and some for bad. The Saracens are a bunch of untouchables and they all deserve to be drowned in lard."
"As long as the walls of Theodosius, stained with the blood of the holy warriors, stand, Constantinople will never open its gates to the Saracen freemen."
Jorges walked to the door, but stopped Stefanos from following further.
"You are an Athenian. According to the rules, you cannot participate in the supervision of Athens."
"Ah, are all people in Constantinople so rigid?"
Stefanos shook his head regretfully.
"You don't know much about Athens, I want to introduce you to this glorious city..." "No need, we can only make the most objective judgment after eliminating the influence of personal emotions."
Jorges went downstairs on his own.
"You write the report on Adrianople in the inn, and I'll do the one on Athens."
Walking down the stairs, Jorges unfolded a map of Athens and thought carefully about where to go next.
When it comes to city supervision, Jorges is no novice. He participated in the supervision of the Chalcedon district of Constantinople a year ago, and uncovered a mid-level civil servant who embezzled public funds and some dock managers who colluded with smugglers, and has gained some experience.
"Coachman, how many taverns are there in Athens?"
Jogues asked.
"I want to go get something to eat."
"Sir, isn't the hotel you just stayed in one of the better hotels in Athens?"
The driver didn't understand.
“There’s a tavern on the first floor of the hotel, and the food there is delicious.”
“I want to see the others.”
Jogues said.
"How about this, take me to whichever restaurant you usually go to."
The driver grunted and turned his horse around.
Jogues sat in the carriage and scanned the streets of Athens.
In fact, although he repeatedly reminded himself to be objective, he still learned a little about the development history of Athens based on the documents provided by his superiors before carrying out the mission, and gained a basic understanding of the city.
Athens, an ancient emerging city, is very different from other major cities in the Eastern Roman Empire. The Latin Crusaders made it escape the control of the empire, and the Ottoman looters in 1446 turned it into a barren land.
When Athens just returned to the empire, there were less than a thousand people here and no industry. Today's Athens was rebuilt step by step over a period of twenty-three years starting in 1453.
In the first ten years, the city of Athens developed slowly. Immigrants either went to Constantinople and Thessalonica or to Mystras in the south. The only relatively prosperous area was around the Academy of Athens, and this was the result of the Minister of Education Barsamon's efforts to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Academy of Athens.
Jorges knew that the Minister of Education, Balsamon, loved Athens and the Academy of Athens and had put a lot of effort into it. Some civil servants who entered politics from the Academy of Athens were also called the Athens Faction. This faction did not have overly radical political views. In addition to resisting slavery, its biggest demand was to increase investment in the humanities.
Costas, the current governor of the southern Greek province and former governor of Attica, is a student of Balsamon and one of the representatives of the Athenian school.
Costas was originally a quartermaster of the Guards. After retiring, he went to university, where his tutor was Balsamon. He was later appointed archon of the Athens administrative district, in charge of the development of Athens.
After Costas took office, he began to investigate the situation in Athens. After a month of hard thinking, he finally came up with a feasible plan to make Athens great again. He gathered more than 2,000 people in the city and announced his plan.
In his opinion, due to the sparse population and dilapidated infrastructure, it is difficult to attract population and the port's advantages cannot be brought into play for the time being. If Athens relies solely on agricultural and pastoral distribution and port transit, the recovery of the city will be very slow.
Costas believes that in addition to its deep-water port, Athens has two other advantages: the first is that it is old, and the second is that it is new.
The so-called old means ancient. The city of Athens is undoubtedly the absolute center of the ancient Greek city-state and has huge cultural potential. But as he said before, without population, cultural undertakings will be difficult to develop and other ways must be found.
So, Costas organized the citizens of Athens and, based on ancient records, carried out large-scale exploration of ancient Greek ruins around Athens, excavated tombs, mined cultural relics, and developed the "archaeology" business.
The official level is of course archaeology, but in layman's terms, it is actually tomb robbing.
After consulting the central government, Costas immediately took action and established an archaeology major in the Academy of Athens. Through three years of "archaeology", he successfully excavated nearly 6,000 historical relics. In addition to reliefs, jewelry and ancient pottery, the largest number were ancient coins. Various owl silver coins, Alexander gold coins, Corinthian silver coins and Spartan silver coins were unearthed one after another.
Of course, as a civil servant with sufficient knowledge of ancient Greek culture, Costas naturally knew the value of these cultural relics. He divided the cultural relics into several grades. The highest grade cultural relics were purchased by the royal family and stored in the Roman Empire Museum. The slightly lower grade cultural relics were prohibited from flowing abroad and could only be sold to wealthy businessmen and nobles in the country. The lowest value cultural relics could be circulated freely among the people and could be freely bought and sold in the antique market.
In fact, unlike the East, the Western world and the Arab world do not have such a strong "tomb robbing" tradition. This is not because they are morally noble, but because after the spread of Christianity and Islam, funeral specifications have been simplified. Muslim tombs do not have any burial objects at all. Christian tombs sometimes contain the tomb owner's favorite armor, swords or some small jewelry, and there will not be too much wealth.
This model has both advantages and disadvantages. It can indeed leave more material wealth to the living people at present, but it is very unfavorable for archaeological research in later generations, so that half of Western history seems to be shrouded in a thick fog.
However, ancient Greece was different. It had a very ancient burial tradition. Some large tombs contained thousands of historical relics. Only Athens could really reap this bonus.
Of course, there is an important prerequisite for the city of Athens to make money from "archaeology", that is, the royal family is willing to spend money to buy, and is willing to lead the trend and call on other wealthy businessmen and nobles to collect cultural relics. If the royal family, like many European nobles, sneers at ancient pagan cultural relics, or directly takes them away in the name of the country, the city of Athens will still not make much money.
To put it bluntly, Athens, like Thessalonica and Adrianople, also benefited from the wealth transfer brought about by the booming development of Constantinople, but in a different way.
As a result, the city of Athens became the largest ancient artifact trading market in the Eastern Roman Empire, and several antique streets were very prosperous. When wealthy businessmen and nobles from Constantinople came to Athens for sightseeing, they would at least buy a few of the cheapest owl silver coins to take back and show off.
Later, Costas also discovered the drawbacks of this development model. The shallower ancient sites were excavated one after another, and the number of cultural relics excavated became less and less, and the phenomenon of counterfeiting became increasingly prominent...
In the final analysis, making money by reselling cultural relics can only bring short-term benefits and will not last long.
So, Costas began to change his thinking and make use of Athens’ second advantage: its newness.
The so-called "new" refers to the fact that the city of Athens was rebuilt from ruins. The local forces were weak, the urban middle class was small, and there was no strong national sentiment and xenophobic tradition like in the big cities in the north, which could attract a large number of immigrants.
Because the main ethnic group in the Eastern Roman Empire was too rare, the demand for immigrants was huge. As long as a person believed in Eastern Orthodoxy or other acceptable Christian sects, could speak Greek and Latin or had the intention to learn these two languages, he could directly obtain citizenship of the Eastern Roman Empire and enjoy equal treatment with Greek Orthodox Christians.
Of course, this was only in name. In a region like Thrace with a developed capitalist economy and strong national ideology, even Slavic Orthodox Christians would occasionally be discriminated against by the Greeks, let alone converted Turks. These theoretical citizens did not actually receive full citizenship treatment, and many old Constantinople people would even prohibit converted Turks from entering their shops or taverns.
Since everyone is Mediterranean white, there is not much difference in appearance, and the main way to judge identity is to look at clothing and language. If a pure Turk dresses like a Greek and speaks like a Greek, he will of course be fully accepted.
Developed economy, affluent life, prosperous culture, strong national and religious sentiments, abundant educational resources... these factors made Constantinople a machine for national assimilation.
However, Constantinople is not really a diverse city. It can only accommodate Greek and Orthodox Christianity. Although these cultures also exist, it is difficult for them to come to the fore. If you are unwilling to completely join the large group of Constantinople people, you can only live on the margins of society.
However, Athens is different. There are almost no locals. Everyone is an immigrant and no one looks down on anyone.
Costas took advantage of Athens and actively recruited immigrants who were not welcome in the big capitalist cities, such as Armenians who maintained heretical beliefs, Latins from Italy, Saracen converts who had just been freed from slavery, and mixed-race Romans returning from overseas, allowing them to develop their own culture, maintain their own customs, and form their own communities.
Among them, Italians and converts were the majority. Italy's feudal manor economy had gradually collapsed due to the development of capitalism, and the people were highly mobile. Several major industrial and commercial states went bankrupt on a large scale due to the rapid growth of Eastern Roman capital. The countryside collapsed, and the cities could not support the excess population. So they began to immigrate to the Eastern Roman Empire on a large scale, which has been particularly prominent in recent years.
As for the converts, they were also very willing to live in Athens. Many Saracens who had escaped from slavery still secretly retained some Islamic traditions and sometimes made pilgrimage to Mecca at home.
If this had been discovered in Constantinople, they would have been dragged by angry citizens to the Theodosian Walls, made to kneel for a whole day, and then enslaved again.
But in Athens, the atmosphere is relatively open, and citizens and officials often choose to turn a blind eye. As long as you do not harm society, no one will care about you. It doesn't matter what you worship, as long as you go to church services on time, you have to express an attitude that you have no objection.
According to the survey results, the current city of Athens has a population of more than 14,000, of which more than 3,000 are Italians and their descendants, nearly 4,000 are converted Turks, more than 5,000 are Greek Orthodox Christians, and other immigrants account for a total of 2,000 people. It can be said that the city is ethnically diverse and culturally diverse.
In order to make these immigrants feel a sense of belonging to the city of Athens, Costas spent a lot of effort. He conducted a thorough investigation of the various ethnic groups in Athens, fully understood their wishes, and came to a very simple and insightful conclusion.
The so-called immigrants, people who have left their hometowns, people who have abandoned their tribes, people who have no home, all they want is a more stable and better life.
So he began to reform the administrative model of Athens and the Attica region, and submitted his reform plan to the central government of the empire.
The local administrative structure of the core provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire was province - region - administrative district. Senior officials at the administrative district level and above were dispatched by the central government, while officials below the administrative district were the responsibility of local governments.
Because the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire was so large and the customs of different places varied greatly, areas below the administrative regions had to be managed locally. The consuls of the administrative regions had to improve their rule according to specific circumstances and could not apply them mechanically. The grassroots people below the administrative regions exercised limited autonomy.
Local elders in Bulgaria, feudal nobles in Albania, ranchers in Anatolia, serf owners and nomadic tribes in Africa, slave traders' guilds in Cyrenaica, local gangs in Sicily... administrative district heads must communicate effectively with them and reach compromises.
Therefore, the specific operations of the various administrative regions of the Eastern Roman Empire were different. Thrace and Southern Macedonia had begun to select local officials through selection examinations, but other places were unable to do so. This was an objective fact that was difficult to change in a short period of time.
Costas decided to restore the old system and implement democratic elections in the Attica region. The mayor and councillors of each city would be elected by referendum by citizens with the right to vote, so as to build citizen identity through political awareness.
At the same time, he began to reform the Civil Law, granting different political rights to different ethnic groups according to their degree of affinity and assimilation with the mainstream Greeks.
The levels of citizenship were full citizenship, limited citizenship, Latin citizenship and permanent residency, which were granted to Greek Orthodox Christians, Slavic Orthodox Christians who did not speak Greek, Italian Catholics and converted Turks respectively.
With full citizenship, they enjoy all the benefits of Eastern Roman citizens, all the preferential treatment of the Attica region, the right to vote, the right to be elected, the right to own property and the right to inheritance.
Limited citizenship is similar to Latin citizenship, with only half the vote in elections and slightly heavier taxes on property and inheritance.
Permanent residency basically has no political rights, only the right to work legally and legally enjoy the fruits of labor. Generally, they will serve as tenants or hired laborers for other citizens.
Another special thing is the permanent right of passage that belongs exclusively to the Gypsies. Because they provided assistance to the emperor on the Bulgarian battlefield, each Gypsy camp can obtain a pass after registration and live a nomadic life in the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire according to law.
Of course, these citizen grades are changeable. Latin citizens and limited citizens can immediately become full citizens after learning Greek, and converts who only have permanent residence rights can be promoted to limited citizens after working for three years.
Under this system, the city of Athens and the Attica region have indeed developed steadily, the number of immigrants has increased, there have been no disturbances or defections, agricultural and pastoral outputs have increased year by year, and cultural undertakings have progressed steadily.
However, as a pure Constantinople native, Jogues still had doubts about this theory.
"Driver, I heard that Athens has carried out a rights reform. Which one do you belong to?"
Jogues asked.
"From the way you look and dress, it's obvious that you're not Greek."
"He was a converted slave, and now he enjoys limited citizenship rights."
said the coachman.
"In two years, if I have committed no crime and paid taxes legally, I will be a full citizen."
"How do you feel about this approach?"
Jogues asked again.
"My Lord, judging by your accent, you are from Constantinople?"
The driver was silent for a moment and then continued.
"Before I came to Athens, I was a convert from Constantinople. In theory, I am a Roman citizen like you."
"But in practice, our status is very different. On the surface, we have everything, but in reality we are still at the bottom of society and have little hope of rising."
"People's prejudices are endless. In Constantinople, many shops and taverns prohibit us from entering, even though I have converted to Christianity, even though I have never wielded a butcher's knife against you, and even though I was an old farmer near Nicaea before I was captured and enslaved."
"Now, in Athens, we seem to have lost something, but at least we have some hope. We can gain social acceptance and recognition through our own efforts. Discrimination between citizens is strictly prohibited by Mr. Costas."
"What about elections? Have you ever tried to run?"
Jogues continued to ask.
"No, if you want to be a local official or a local councillor, you must speak fluent Greek or Latin and be able to read."
The coachman shook his head.
"Sir, the Latin here is not the Latin language that Your Majesty defines, which includes Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dacian Vulgar Latin. It is the real ancient Latin, which most people cannot learn."
“So, if you want to gain political rights, you have to learn Greek and Greek.”
Jogues asked no more questions, and the carriage drove steadily until it arrived at the tavern the driver had mentioned.
"Sir, we're here. The aniseed wine here is delicious."
Jogues nodded, handed over a few copper coins, and stepped into the tavern.
(End of this chapter)
A drizzle of cool rain announced the official arrival of autumn. The short farming off-season ended and it was another busy sowing season.
In the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, on the western coast of the Aegean Sea, the capital of the southern Greek province, Athens.
A few years ago, as the territory gradually expanded and the population increased, the Eastern Roman Empire began to restore the provincial system after expanding its administrative departments. The Attica and Morea regions were merged into the Southern Greece province with Athens as its capital.
When the province was established, many people objected to the central government's decision to make Athens the provincial capital, believing that this ancient city had long lost its past glory, had a sparse population, insufficient output, and an economic level far inferior to Mystras, the capital of the Morea region, and was even inferior to Chalcis, another port city in the Attica region.
However, the central government decided to make Athens the administrative center and formulated a series of support measures to help Athens develop its economy.
The reason is simple: in the Eastern Roman Empire, the emperor has the final say.
In Isaac's view, Athens was one of only three cities in the Balkan Peninsula of the Eastern Roman Empire that had the potential to develop into an international metropolis. The plains on the Attica Peninsula and the Morea Peninsula provided it with food and various cash crops. The excellent deep-water port also made Athens a crossroads of trade in the eastern Mediterranean, connecting to the Apennines in the west, Asia Minor in the east, Constantinople in the north, and the North African continent across the sea in the south.
Furthermore, Athens is the mother of Western civilization and the birthplace of democratic politics. It has countless historical sites. Since the Renaissance, many Italian scholars have been yearning for this city and regarded it as a "holy land". If Athens can make breakthroughs in cultural undertakings, it can also bring about economic progress.
Therefore, in the past few years, the central government has given a lot of support to the city of Athens. In addition to funding, immigration and talent, the most important thing is policy.
If a country is compared to a company, the most important commodity it can sell is its policy.
In the city of Athens, in a high-end hotel near the port area, a young man stood on the terrace on the third floor, overlooking the scenery of Athens.
The autumn in Athens is very mild. There is no cold air and rain in the north, no smoke in Constantinople and Adrianople. Ships are coming in and out of the port, and the warm sunshine is shining on the beautiful Aegean Sea.
Since Athens is located in the south and has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, the temperature in winter is not high and rarely drops below zero. The demand for coal is not large, and there is no annoying coal smoke, which makes the young people very relieved.
He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. On the watch was engraved his family crest, a lifelike monk seal.
In fact, unlike the Catholic world in Western Europe, the Eastern Roman Empire was not a feudal state. Even the most powerful political families did not nominally have hereditary territories or absolute control over their subjects, nor did they have such a strong tradition of "aristocratic heraldry."
However, in the past few decades, the great Eastern Roman nobles began to enter the industry and commerce. Under the guidance of the royal family, they gradually discovered that an iconic emblem would often make their family's products sell better and create a brand effect. Personal coats of arms, chamber of commerce coats of arms, and aristocratic coats of arms quickly became popular, and heraldry became a real science in the Eastern Roman Empire.
The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the new emblems of the Sfrangise family.
The Sfrancis family is one of the traditional political families in the Eastern Roman Empire. It has great political power and its status is second only to the Palaiologos family. Family members also serve as prime minister, foreign minister and transport minister. In front of them, the military family Notaras, the business family Fugger, and the slave trading families Mavro and Gattiluccio are all not as good as them.
Perhaps in order to avoid the emperor's suspicion, or perhaps because the blood relationship was originally weak, the two branches extending from Prime Minister Isurt Sfranchis and Foreign Minister George Sfranchis have officially separated. The former uses the olive flower as the family emblem, also known as the olive line, and the latter uses the monk seal as the family emblem, also known as the seal line.
A year ago, Foreign Minister George Sfrangis died of illness and was buried in the family mausoleum in Constantinople. Crown Prince Constantine and Queen Leonor came to pay their respects in person, giving the greatest respect to this veteran minister who had served four dynasties.
George Sphrankis was a close friend of Constantine XI and the most capable minister in the darkest hour of the Eastern Roman Empire. He worked hard for the cause of the country all his life. He grew up in the short and illusory period of revival of Manuel II. He witnessed the embarrassment and helplessness of Ioannis VIII, the fierce bravery of Constantine XI, and the turning of the tide and the triumph of Isaac III.
Of course, as a traditional Eastern Roman nobleman, George Sfrangis also felt lonely and confused in the new era. He witnessed the gradual collapse of traditional values, the traditional society becoming unrecognizable, and this familiar country becoming more and more unfamiliar. The exploration ships heading to the New World, the glamorous stock exchange, the dazzling array of goods brought about by workshop production, the excitement and excitement outside the civil service examination hall, the thick black smoke over Constantinople... He knew that this might be right, but still found it difficult to fit in.
Towards the end of his life, George gradually stopped taking charge of affairs and began to cultivate his body and mind. Diplomatic affairs were managed by two deputy ministers. They were young and energetic, knew how to implement the emperor's foreign policy, knew what "dollar diplomacy" was, and knew how to squeeze the last drop of blood and sweat out of the indigenous people of the colonies through various deceptive clauses.
George died, and the era of Ioannis VIII and Constantine XI was gone forever. This capable minister who had experienced many hardships in the dark years fell in the midsummer of the golden age with a doubtful smile.
After his death, Minister of Transport Jerome became the patriarch of the monk seal branch of the Sfrancis family. The position of Foreign Minister was concurrently taken over by Deputy Prime Minister Basilius, who was in charge of the East. Deputy Foreign Minister Marcus Comnenus was then in charge of the West, which was considered a half-level promotion.
The young man standing on the rooftop was named Georges Sfrangis, the great-nephew of George Sfrangis, the cousin of Jerome, and the fourth-great-great-nephew of the old Prime Minister Isurte.
Due to the weak blood relationship, Jorges' father was just an unappreciated member of the collateral family. He had no possibility of inheriting the political legacy of the Sfrangis family and could only rely on himself.
Of course, being born into a big family certainly has many advantages. As a civil servant family, the Sfrangise family has always attached great importance to cultural education. Jorges studied in the family school at a very young age and was a frequent visitor to the family library. He had more knowledge reserves and a broader vision than ordinary people. He passed the internal assessment and was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of the University of Constantinople. After graduation, he achieved very good results in the civil servant examination in 1474 and was assigned to the Imperial Inspectorate.
The Supervisory Bureau exercises supervisory power and was originally under the Supreme Court, but was later made independent. All civil servants in the government, courts and parliament are supervised by this department, which reviews the performance of officials, examines local development, and investigates corruption. It is a first-class powerful department in the civil service government.
This time, Jorges and several colleagues formed an exploration team to investigate the development and governance of several major Balkan cities, including Adrianople, Thessalonica, Larissa, Athens and Mystras.
According to regulations, Jorges' team must submit a complete report for each city, covering economic conditions, stability, official reputation and people's happiness, which are important factors in evaluating the performance of local governments.
Of course, in order to prevent them from cheating, Jogues also had to interview representative citizens from each class. The interview content had to be recorded in detail, and the interviewee's place of origin, name, family situation and work content had to be clear, so as to facilitate random checks by superiors.
The team members were divided into two teams and drew lots to decide which city to inspect. Jogues' teammate was a native of Athens who also passed the exam to enter the government. He was also a candidate in 1474 and was a classmate of Jogues.
Before coming to Athens, Jorges had already been to Adrianople, and in his personal opinion, the situation was not very good.
"Jorges, what do you think of the report from Adrianople?"
Footsteps sounded from behind. It was his teammate Stefanos, a native of Athens.
"Shall we write it down as it is?"
"Of course, it must be true."
Jogues said.
"Adrianople is so close to Constantinople, everything is known clearly, there is no need for us to hide it."
"Besides, there was nothing wrong with the governor of Adrianople. The economic growth rate was among the highest in the country. He just did not implement the central government's assimilation policy and stabilization work well."
Jorgs narrowed his eyes, recalling.
"I know the Archon of Adrianople. He was born in the lower class of Thrace. He worked and studied part-time in the school opened by our family. He has no background and lives a very simple life. Now he only wants to get promoted. Maybe he is rushing things."
"Anyway, I spent a very depressing few weeks in Adrianople. I didn't like the place very much."
"However, Adrianople was originally designated by His Majesty as a center for the development of heavy industry. Perhaps what we have seen is a necessary price to pay."
Adrianople is located in the western part of the Thracian Plain, along the Merici River and backed by the Rhodope Mountains. It was originally the capital of the Ottoman Empire. It has the advantages of inland shipping and rich mineral resources. It is one of the two major cities of the Eastern Roman Empire on the Thracian Plain.
Since Constantinople was the face of the empire and aimed to develop into a "garden city" and a "financial city", in the past decade, heavy industries and high-pollution projects near Constantinople have been moved to Adrianople. While this has stimulated local economic development, it has also brought a series of problems.
Mineral mining, metal smelting, coal coking, weapons manufacturing, dye extraction, cement processing, fertilizer production, tool making, pig, cattle and sheep farming, meat processing... these industries have made the level of pollution in Adrianople increasingly high.
The soot over Constantinople mainly came from burning for heating, which was unavoidable, while the soot over Adrianople mainly came from metal smelting, and the pollution level was even higher than that of Constantinople.
Furthermore, the labor shortage in Adrianople attracted a large number of immigrants. It was backed by Bulgaria, and many Bulgarians, Wallachians and Russians regarded it as an immigration destination. The proportion of slaves in the workshops was also very high. They had no skills and could only do some heavy work that required physical labor and was harmful to their bodies.
In order to accelerate economic development, the consul of Adrianople directly divided Adrianople into three districts, with clear distinctions between the three districts, like three worlds.
The Upper Town is located on the hillside where the air is freshest. It is mainly inhabited by Greek merchants, nobles and capitalists. It has beautiful scenery, independent water sources, and burns fragrant fruit wood for heating. The archons built many high-end inns and restaurants to provide enjoyment for the Constantinople capitalists who came to invest.
The central city is located on the banks of the Merici River and is mainly inhabited by Greek, Bulgarian and Russian citizens. They are mainly engaged in the service industry and high-end handicrafts, such as small vendors, contractors and high-level craftsmen, and belong to the middle class.
The lower city is located in the mining and workshop areas, and its residents include unskilled Rus, Wallachians and Saracen slaves. These lowest-level people are naturally divided into different levels. Wallachians look down on Rus, and Rus look down on Saracen slaves.
It was narrow and dirty here, with residents' huts scattered around the workshops. The blast furnaces in the ironworks spewed out black smoke day and night, the mine entrances looked like man-eating beasts, the sulfuric acid makers had no good skin on their hands, the bleachers coughed up blood all year round due to the toxic sulfur dioxide, and the workers who operated the hydraulic and animal-powered forging hammers often ended up with empty sleeves and were then dismissed by the workshop owners for being unable to work.
The workers received meager wages, barely enough to support their families. They drank heavy metal wastewater discharged from the workshops and ate the cheapest sawdust and black bread. Children played on garbage heaps covered with coal dust, and mothers breastfed their children next to sewage ditches...
People die here every day, and every week a contractor brings in a large group of "new blood" to replenish the city. They supply the Upper City with a life of debauchery, satisfy the peaceful life in the Central City, and create the wonderful life in the city that the world desires, but they themselves can only struggle to survive on the brink of death.
When Jorges first arrived in Adrianople, he felt very confused. Constantinople was also a big handicraft city, but the capitalists there were not so unscrupulous. Since there were mostly Greek Orthodox Christians, the church was very powerful, and most of them were high-end handicrafts, the "Orthodox Workers Protection Regulations" could be implemented in place, and the craftsmen went to get off work and went home, and celebrated holidays according to religious laws, and everything was in order.
Of course, what puzzled Jogues was not that the workshop owners here were desperately exploiting the Saracen slaves, but that they actually applied this method to the immigrants from Russia, Moldavians and Wallachians.
You must know that these people are also Orthodox Christians. When they come to the Eastern Roman Empire, they are regarded as Roman citizens and protected by the church. They cannot be equated with Saracen slaves.
Later, Jorges disguised himself and sneaked into the lower city of Adrianople. He endured the stench of feces and the pungent smell of chemicals, and pried open the mouth of a Russian immigrant with a few glasses of cheap beer, only then did he learn the hidden inside story.
It turned out that it was precisely because the central government's protection of the Orthodox Christians was too tough, the local Greek Orthodox Christians had more civic and legal awareness, and the Saracen slaves were unruly and liked to defect, so the capitalists set their sights on the Northern Slavs who were also Orthodox Christians.
They have formed an industry that specializes in sailing comfortable large ships to the north, using the prosperity and tranquility of Constantinople to attract Slavic Orthodox Christians to move south. Most of these people are illiterate escaped slaves who are unwilling to go to the Cossack Kingdom on the grassland because of cowardice. They have no civilized qualities and no legal awareness. From the moment they cross the Black Sea and land in Thrace, their hopeful journey ends. The capitalists will deceive them into signing harsh employment terms, coax them not to go to the government to obtain citizenship, and drag them directly to the workshop area of Adrianople to sell their labor as foreign workers.
As they did not obtain citizenship, the Orthodox Church could not provide them with protection. As most of them had families with them and could not escape, they liked to have children, believing that this might bring a glimmer of hope for their poor small families. They hoped that the Eastern Roman Empire's promise of "citizenship by birth" was not empty words.
But in fact, the Eastern Roman government certainly agreed with the policy of "birthright citizenship", provided that you had to go to the local government to register and leave your name in the government and church registration documents.
But in fact, the Slavic Orthodox Christians' habit of having children provides the capitalists with a rope to restrain them, that is, the family.
A small number of Orthodox priests also colluded with the capitalists and turned a blind eye to this matter. Instead, they asked the Slavic Orthodox Christians to be content with poverty and thought about the even more cruel exploitation of serfs by the Polish and Lithuanian people and the Saracen slaves who lived even worse than them.
Is it illegal? Probably not.
Do you have a conscience? Definitely not.
According to Jorges's speculation, the governor of Adrianople must have known about this situation, but he chose to ignore it for the sake of his own political achievements. When the administrator excitedly explained to Jorges in his simple office the outstanding achievements that Adrianople had made in economic development in recent years, Jorges did not hear a word he said. The desperate scene in the lower city still lingered in his mind.
Jorges knew that the consul did not care about money or beauty, nor did he accept bribes from capitalists. He was also a middle-aged man with ideals, and he did this simply for outstanding political achievements.
Born in 1453, Jorges grew up in an environment of hatred towards Muslims. He did not feel much about the poor treatment of Saracen slaves, but he felt very sympathetic towards the deceived Slavic Orthodox Christians. In his opinion, they should become citizens and enjoy a better life instead of wasting their lives in sweatshops.
He and his teammates truthfully reported the findings of the past few days to the Archon of Adrianople, telling him that fortunately he and the capitalists had only exploited loopholes in the law and had not set their sights on Greek Orthodox Christians, otherwise they would have been exiled to New Thrace.
"Jorges, do you think that consul will be punished by His Majesty?"
Stefanos asked.
"It's probably just verbal punishment."
Jogues shrugged.
"Your Majesty may send people to rescue these Orthodox Christians, make more perfect laws, and fill the vacancies with a large number of Saracen slaves."
"In this way, the Slavic Orthodox Christians will be grateful to the royal family, and the capitalists will be more restrained, and they will still make money."
"I have to say that the consul is indeed a talented person. In five years, the goods produced in Adrianople have increased fifteen times, which is faster than Constantinople. He has not broken the law, nor has he engaged in corruption or bribery. He has voluntarily provided assistance to the capitalists. Your Majesty probably cannot bear to punish him."
"As for the Saracen slaves... Your Majesty has already communicated with the three major slave guilds. He will formulate more complete guild rules and establish slave concentration camps in Anatolia and North Africa to eliminate the Saracens' ability to think freely."
Jogues said.
"The only victims are the Saracens, who still occupy our Ankara, Antakya, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cairo, and they deserve it."
"Oh, forget it. We are just small employees of the Supervisory Bureau. We can't control these things."
Stefanos shook his head.
"I'm from Athens. I don't like this. Let me show you Athens. Although it can't compare to Adrianople economically, it definitely makes people feel relaxed and comfortable."
"Why don't you like this? Do you think those jobs with extremely high mortality rates should be filled by your compatriots?"
Jogues glanced at his teammates, shook his head, and walked towards the steps.
"Forget it. You are not from Constantinople and cannot understand our hatred for those white turbans."
"The Latins have hurt us and helped us, some for good and some for bad. The Saracens are a bunch of untouchables and they all deserve to be drowned in lard."
"As long as the walls of Theodosius, stained with the blood of the holy warriors, stand, Constantinople will never open its gates to the Saracen freemen."
Jorges walked to the door, but stopped Stefanos from following further.
"You are an Athenian. According to the rules, you cannot participate in the supervision of Athens."
"Ah, are all people in Constantinople so rigid?"
Stefanos shook his head regretfully.
"You don't know much about Athens, I want to introduce you to this glorious city..." "No need, we can only make the most objective judgment after eliminating the influence of personal emotions."
Jorges went downstairs on his own.
"You write the report on Adrianople in the inn, and I'll do the one on Athens."
Walking down the stairs, Jorges unfolded a map of Athens and thought carefully about where to go next.
When it comes to city supervision, Jorges is no novice. He participated in the supervision of the Chalcedon district of Constantinople a year ago, and uncovered a mid-level civil servant who embezzled public funds and some dock managers who colluded with smugglers, and has gained some experience.
"Coachman, how many taverns are there in Athens?"
Jogues asked.
"I want to go get something to eat."
"Sir, isn't the hotel you just stayed in one of the better hotels in Athens?"
The driver didn't understand.
“There’s a tavern on the first floor of the hotel, and the food there is delicious.”
“I want to see the others.”
Jogues said.
"How about this, take me to whichever restaurant you usually go to."
The driver grunted and turned his horse around.
Jogues sat in the carriage and scanned the streets of Athens.
In fact, although he repeatedly reminded himself to be objective, he still learned a little about the development history of Athens based on the documents provided by his superiors before carrying out the mission, and gained a basic understanding of the city.
Athens, an ancient emerging city, is very different from other major cities in the Eastern Roman Empire. The Latin Crusaders made it escape the control of the empire, and the Ottoman looters in 1446 turned it into a barren land.
When Athens just returned to the empire, there were less than a thousand people here and no industry. Today's Athens was rebuilt step by step over a period of twenty-three years starting in 1453.
In the first ten years, the city of Athens developed slowly. Immigrants either went to Constantinople and Thessalonica or to Mystras in the south. The only relatively prosperous area was around the Academy of Athens, and this was the result of the Minister of Education Barsamon's efforts to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Academy of Athens.
Jorges knew that the Minister of Education, Balsamon, loved Athens and the Academy of Athens and had put a lot of effort into it. Some civil servants who entered politics from the Academy of Athens were also called the Athens Faction. This faction did not have overly radical political views. In addition to resisting slavery, its biggest demand was to increase investment in the humanities.
Costas, the current governor of the southern Greek province and former governor of Attica, is a student of Balsamon and one of the representatives of the Athenian school.
Costas was originally a quartermaster of the Guards. After retiring, he went to university, where his tutor was Balsamon. He was later appointed archon of the Athens administrative district, in charge of the development of Athens.
After Costas took office, he began to investigate the situation in Athens. After a month of hard thinking, he finally came up with a feasible plan to make Athens great again. He gathered more than 2,000 people in the city and announced his plan.
In his opinion, due to the sparse population and dilapidated infrastructure, it is difficult to attract population and the port's advantages cannot be brought into play for the time being. If Athens relies solely on agricultural and pastoral distribution and port transit, the recovery of the city will be very slow.
Costas believes that in addition to its deep-water port, Athens has two other advantages: the first is that it is old, and the second is that it is new.
The so-called old means ancient. The city of Athens is undoubtedly the absolute center of the ancient Greek city-state and has huge cultural potential. But as he said before, without population, cultural undertakings will be difficult to develop and other ways must be found.
So, Costas organized the citizens of Athens and, based on ancient records, carried out large-scale exploration of ancient Greek ruins around Athens, excavated tombs, mined cultural relics, and developed the "archaeology" business.
The official level is of course archaeology, but in layman's terms, it is actually tomb robbing.
After consulting the central government, Costas immediately took action and established an archaeology major in the Academy of Athens. Through three years of "archaeology", he successfully excavated nearly 6,000 historical relics. In addition to reliefs, jewelry and ancient pottery, the largest number were ancient coins. Various owl silver coins, Alexander gold coins, Corinthian silver coins and Spartan silver coins were unearthed one after another.
Of course, as a civil servant with sufficient knowledge of ancient Greek culture, Costas naturally knew the value of these cultural relics. He divided the cultural relics into several grades. The highest grade cultural relics were purchased by the royal family and stored in the Roman Empire Museum. The slightly lower grade cultural relics were prohibited from flowing abroad and could only be sold to wealthy businessmen and nobles in the country. The lowest value cultural relics could be circulated freely among the people and could be freely bought and sold in the antique market.
In fact, unlike the East, the Western world and the Arab world do not have such a strong "tomb robbing" tradition. This is not because they are morally noble, but because after the spread of Christianity and Islam, funeral specifications have been simplified. Muslim tombs do not have any burial objects at all. Christian tombs sometimes contain the tomb owner's favorite armor, swords or some small jewelry, and there will not be too much wealth.
This model has both advantages and disadvantages. It can indeed leave more material wealth to the living people at present, but it is very unfavorable for archaeological research in later generations, so that half of Western history seems to be shrouded in a thick fog.
However, ancient Greece was different. It had a very ancient burial tradition. Some large tombs contained thousands of historical relics. Only Athens could really reap this bonus.
Of course, there is an important prerequisite for the city of Athens to make money from "archaeology", that is, the royal family is willing to spend money to buy, and is willing to lead the trend and call on other wealthy businessmen and nobles to collect cultural relics. If the royal family, like many European nobles, sneers at ancient pagan cultural relics, or directly takes them away in the name of the country, the city of Athens will still not make much money.
To put it bluntly, Athens, like Thessalonica and Adrianople, also benefited from the wealth transfer brought about by the booming development of Constantinople, but in a different way.
As a result, the city of Athens became the largest ancient artifact trading market in the Eastern Roman Empire, and several antique streets were very prosperous. When wealthy businessmen and nobles from Constantinople came to Athens for sightseeing, they would at least buy a few of the cheapest owl silver coins to take back and show off.
Later, Costas also discovered the drawbacks of this development model. The shallower ancient sites were excavated one after another, and the number of cultural relics excavated became less and less, and the phenomenon of counterfeiting became increasingly prominent...
In the final analysis, making money by reselling cultural relics can only bring short-term benefits and will not last long.
So, Costas began to change his thinking and make use of Athens’ second advantage: its newness.
The so-called "new" refers to the fact that the city of Athens was rebuilt from ruins. The local forces were weak, the urban middle class was small, and there was no strong national sentiment and xenophobic tradition like in the big cities in the north, which could attract a large number of immigrants.
Because the main ethnic group in the Eastern Roman Empire was too rare, the demand for immigrants was huge. As long as a person believed in Eastern Orthodoxy or other acceptable Christian sects, could speak Greek and Latin or had the intention to learn these two languages, he could directly obtain citizenship of the Eastern Roman Empire and enjoy equal treatment with Greek Orthodox Christians.
Of course, this was only in name. In a region like Thrace with a developed capitalist economy and strong national ideology, even Slavic Orthodox Christians would occasionally be discriminated against by the Greeks, let alone converted Turks. These theoretical citizens did not actually receive full citizenship treatment, and many old Constantinople people would even prohibit converted Turks from entering their shops or taverns.
Since everyone is Mediterranean white, there is not much difference in appearance, and the main way to judge identity is to look at clothing and language. If a pure Turk dresses like a Greek and speaks like a Greek, he will of course be fully accepted.
Developed economy, affluent life, prosperous culture, strong national and religious sentiments, abundant educational resources... these factors made Constantinople a machine for national assimilation.
However, Constantinople is not really a diverse city. It can only accommodate Greek and Orthodox Christianity. Although these cultures also exist, it is difficult for them to come to the fore. If you are unwilling to completely join the large group of Constantinople people, you can only live on the margins of society.
However, Athens is different. There are almost no locals. Everyone is an immigrant and no one looks down on anyone.
Costas took advantage of Athens and actively recruited immigrants who were not welcome in the big capitalist cities, such as Armenians who maintained heretical beliefs, Latins from Italy, Saracen converts who had just been freed from slavery, and mixed-race Romans returning from overseas, allowing them to develop their own culture, maintain their own customs, and form their own communities.
Among them, Italians and converts were the majority. Italy's feudal manor economy had gradually collapsed due to the development of capitalism, and the people were highly mobile. Several major industrial and commercial states went bankrupt on a large scale due to the rapid growth of Eastern Roman capital. The countryside collapsed, and the cities could not support the excess population. So they began to immigrate to the Eastern Roman Empire on a large scale, which has been particularly prominent in recent years.
As for the converts, they were also very willing to live in Athens. Many Saracens who had escaped from slavery still secretly retained some Islamic traditions and sometimes made pilgrimage to Mecca at home.
If this had been discovered in Constantinople, they would have been dragged by angry citizens to the Theodosian Walls, made to kneel for a whole day, and then enslaved again.
But in Athens, the atmosphere is relatively open, and citizens and officials often choose to turn a blind eye. As long as you do not harm society, no one will care about you. It doesn't matter what you worship, as long as you go to church services on time, you have to express an attitude that you have no objection.
According to the survey results, the current city of Athens has a population of more than 14,000, of which more than 3,000 are Italians and their descendants, nearly 4,000 are converted Turks, more than 5,000 are Greek Orthodox Christians, and other immigrants account for a total of 2,000 people. It can be said that the city is ethnically diverse and culturally diverse.
In order to make these immigrants feel a sense of belonging to the city of Athens, Costas spent a lot of effort. He conducted a thorough investigation of the various ethnic groups in Athens, fully understood their wishes, and came to a very simple and insightful conclusion.
The so-called immigrants, people who have left their hometowns, people who have abandoned their tribes, people who have no home, all they want is a more stable and better life.
So he began to reform the administrative model of Athens and the Attica region, and submitted his reform plan to the central government of the empire.
The local administrative structure of the core provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire was province - region - administrative district. Senior officials at the administrative district level and above were dispatched by the central government, while officials below the administrative district were the responsibility of local governments.
Because the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire was so large and the customs of different places varied greatly, areas below the administrative regions had to be managed locally. The consuls of the administrative regions had to improve their rule according to specific circumstances and could not apply them mechanically. The grassroots people below the administrative regions exercised limited autonomy.
Local elders in Bulgaria, feudal nobles in Albania, ranchers in Anatolia, serf owners and nomadic tribes in Africa, slave traders' guilds in Cyrenaica, local gangs in Sicily... administrative district heads must communicate effectively with them and reach compromises.
Therefore, the specific operations of the various administrative regions of the Eastern Roman Empire were different. Thrace and Southern Macedonia had begun to select local officials through selection examinations, but other places were unable to do so. This was an objective fact that was difficult to change in a short period of time.
Costas decided to restore the old system and implement democratic elections in the Attica region. The mayor and councillors of each city would be elected by referendum by citizens with the right to vote, so as to build citizen identity through political awareness.
At the same time, he began to reform the Civil Law, granting different political rights to different ethnic groups according to their degree of affinity and assimilation with the mainstream Greeks.
The levels of citizenship were full citizenship, limited citizenship, Latin citizenship and permanent residency, which were granted to Greek Orthodox Christians, Slavic Orthodox Christians who did not speak Greek, Italian Catholics and converted Turks respectively.
With full citizenship, they enjoy all the benefits of Eastern Roman citizens, all the preferential treatment of the Attica region, the right to vote, the right to be elected, the right to own property and the right to inheritance.
Limited citizenship is similar to Latin citizenship, with only half the vote in elections and slightly heavier taxes on property and inheritance.
Permanent residency basically has no political rights, only the right to work legally and legally enjoy the fruits of labor. Generally, they will serve as tenants or hired laborers for other citizens.
Another special thing is the permanent right of passage that belongs exclusively to the Gypsies. Because they provided assistance to the emperor on the Bulgarian battlefield, each Gypsy camp can obtain a pass after registration and live a nomadic life in the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire according to law.
Of course, these citizen grades are changeable. Latin citizens and limited citizens can immediately become full citizens after learning Greek, and converts who only have permanent residence rights can be promoted to limited citizens after working for three years.
Under this system, the city of Athens and the Attica region have indeed developed steadily, the number of immigrants has increased, there have been no disturbances or defections, agricultural and pastoral outputs have increased year by year, and cultural undertakings have progressed steadily.
However, as a pure Constantinople native, Jogues still had doubts about this theory.
"Driver, I heard that Athens has carried out a rights reform. Which one do you belong to?"
Jogues asked.
"From the way you look and dress, it's obvious that you're not Greek."
"He was a converted slave, and now he enjoys limited citizenship rights."
said the coachman.
"In two years, if I have committed no crime and paid taxes legally, I will be a full citizen."
"How do you feel about this approach?"
Jogues asked again.
"My Lord, judging by your accent, you are from Constantinople?"
The driver was silent for a moment and then continued.
"Before I came to Athens, I was a convert from Constantinople. In theory, I am a Roman citizen like you."
"But in practice, our status is very different. On the surface, we have everything, but in reality we are still at the bottom of society and have little hope of rising."
"People's prejudices are endless. In Constantinople, many shops and taverns prohibit us from entering, even though I have converted to Christianity, even though I have never wielded a butcher's knife against you, and even though I was an old farmer near Nicaea before I was captured and enslaved."
"Now, in Athens, we seem to have lost something, but at least we have some hope. We can gain social acceptance and recognition through our own efforts. Discrimination between citizens is strictly prohibited by Mr. Costas."
"What about elections? Have you ever tried to run?"
Jogues continued to ask.
"No, if you want to be a local official or a local councillor, you must speak fluent Greek or Latin and be able to read."
The coachman shook his head.
"Sir, the Latin here is not the Latin language that Your Majesty defines, which includes Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dacian Vulgar Latin. It is the real ancient Latin, which most people cannot learn."
“So, if you want to gain political rights, you have to learn Greek and Greek.”
Jogues asked no more questions, and the carriage drove steadily until it arrived at the tavern the driver had mentioned.
"Sir, we're here. The aniseed wine here is delicious."
Jogues nodded, handed over a few copper coins, and stepped into the tavern.
(End of this chapter)
