Chapter 376 The Journey of the Inspector

Chapter 376 The Journey of the Inspector

A drizzling rain announced the official arrival of autumn, the short slack season ended, and another busy season for sowing.

The southern Balkans, the western coast of the Aegean Sea, the capital of the southern Greek province, Athens City.

A few years ago, due to the gradual expansion of territory and the gradual increase of population, the Eastern Roman Empire began to restore the provincial system after expanding its administrative departments. The Attica region and the Moria region were merged into the South Greek province, the capital city of Athens.

When the provincial system was established, many people had objected to the central government's move to regard Athens as the provincial capital, believing that this ancient city had long lost its glory, had sparse population, insufficient output, and its economic level was far inferior to that of Mistras, the capital of the Moria Region, and even could not compare to another port city in the Attica Region, Halkis.

However, the central government decided to make Athens an administrative center and formulated a series of assistance measures to help Athens develop its economy.

The reason is nothing more than that, just because in the Eastern Roman Empire, the emperor had the final say.

In Isaac's view, Athens was the only three cities on the Balkans that the Eastern Roman Empire was expected to develop into an international metropolis. The plains on the Attica Peninsula and the Moria Peninsula provided it with food and various economic crops. The excellent deep-water port also allowed Athens to become a crossroads for trade in the Eastern Mediterranean. It connects the Apennines in the west, Asia Minor in the east, Constantinople in the north, and the North African continent in the south.

Furthermore, Athens is the mother of Western civilization and the origin of democratic politics. It has countless scenic spots and historical sites. Since the Renaissance, many Italian scholars have yearned 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 recent years, the central government has given Athens a lot of support. In addition to funds, immigration and talents, the most important thing is policy.

If the country is compared to a company, the most important commodity it can sell is policy.

In Athens, in an upscale hotel near the port area, a young man stands on the terrace on the third floor overlooking the scenery of Athens.

The autumn of Athens is very gentle, without the cold and cold rain in the north, without the smoke from Constantinople and Adrian Fort, the ships in and out of the harbor, and the warm sunshine shines on the beautiful Aegean Sea.

Since Athens is located in the south and has a subtropical Mediterranean climate, the temperature is not high in winter and rarely drops below zero. The demand for coal is not large, and there is no annoying coal soot, which makes young people very pleased.

He took out his pocket watch and looked at the time. The pocket watch was carved with his family emblem and a vivid 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 have hereditary territory and absolute control over the people, and did not have such a strong tradition of "noble heraldry".

However, over 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 badge often made their family's products sell better, creating a brand effect, personal heraldry, chamber of commerce heraldry and aristocratic heraldry quickly became popular, and heraldry science also became a real science in the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the new heralds of the Sfranchis family.

The Sfranchis family is one of the traditional political families of the Eastern Roman Empire. It has strong political power and is second only to the Valleolic royal family. The family members serve as prime ministers, foreign ministers and transportation ministers. In front of them, the military family Notaras, the business family Fuger, the slave trade family Mavro and Gattilucio are not enough to see it.

Perhaps it was to avoid the emperor's suspicion, or perhaps it was because the blood ties were relatively weak, the two branches extended by Prime Minister Isult Sfranchis and Foreign Minister George Sfranchis have been officially separated. The former uses olive flowers as the family emblem, also known as the olive system, and the latter uses monk seals as the family emblem, also known as the seal system.

A year ago, Foreign Minister George Sfranchis passed away due to illness and was buried in the family tomb in Constantinople. The grandson of the emperor Constantine and Queen Leonor came to pay their respects to the old minister of the four dynasties.

George Sfranchis was Constantine XI's best friend, the most capable minister in the darkest moments of Eastern Rome. He spent his whole life working for the cause of the country. He grew up in Manuel II's short and illusory revival period, witnessing the embarrassment and helplessness of Yoannis VII, witnessing the fierce and bravery of Constantine XI, and also witnessing the turning of the tide of Isaac III and the triumphant songs along the way.

Of course, as a traditional Eastern Roman aristocrat, George Sfranchis also felt lonely and confused in the new era. He watched with his own eyes the traditional values ​​gradually collapse and the traditional society became unrecognizable. This familiar country became increasingly strange. The adventure ship leading to the new world, the rich stock exchange, the Linlang goods brought by workshop production, the excitement and excitement outside the civil service examination room, the thick black smoke over Constantinople... He knew that this might be right, but it was still difficult to integrate.

After his life reached the end of his life, George gradually stopped in charge of affairs and began to cultivate his body and mind. Foreign affairs were managed by two deputy ministers. They were young and energetic, and knew how to implement the emperor's foreign policy, what "gold-yuan diplomacy" was, and how to squeeze the colonial indigenous people out of the last drop of blood and sweat through various deceptive clauses.

George was dead, and the times of Joannis VIII and Constantine XI never returned. This capable minister who had experienced ups and downs in the dark years fell in the midsummer of the Golden Age with a puzzled smile.

After his death, Minister of Transport Jerm became the patriarch of the monk seal system of the Sfranchis family. The position of Foreign Minister was also appointed by Deputy Prime Minister Basilius, in charge of the East, and Deputy Foreign Minister Marcus Komuning turned to the West, which was promoted to half a level.

The young man standing on the rooftop is named Joggs Sfranchis, the grand-nephew of George Sfranchis, the cousin of Jerm, and the fourth generation of the old prime minister Isult.

Due to his weak blood ties, Joggs' father was just a member of the unrespected sidelines. He had no possibility of inheriting the political legacy of the Sfranchis family and could only rely on himself.

Of course, it is certainly of course that it has many benefits to be born into a big family. As a civil servant family, the Sfranchis family has always attached great importance to cultural education. When he was a child, Joggs studied in the family school and was a frequent visitor to the family library. He had more knowledge reserves and broader vision than ordinary families. He obtained an admission permit from the Department of Philosophy of the University of Constantinople through internal assessment. After graduation, he achieved quite good results in the civil servant examination in 1474 and was arranged to be in the Imperial Supervision Bureau.

The Supervision Bureau exercises supervision power, which originally belonged to the Grand Court, and then became independent. All civil servants in the government, courts and parliament are supervised by this department, reviewing official performance, inspecting local development, and investigating corruption. It is a first-class practical department in the civil servant government.

This time, Joggs and several colleagues formed a visiting team to inspect the development and administration of several Balkan cities including Adrianburg, Thessalonian, Larissa, Athens and Mystras.

According to regulations, Joggs's team must submit a complete report for each city covering economic conditions, stability, reputation of officials and happiness of the people, which are important factors in evaluating the work of local governments.

Of course, in order to avoid their fraud, Joggs must also conduct interviews with representative citizens of each class. The interview content must be recorded in detail, and the interviewee's hometown, name, family status and work content must also be clearly understood, so as to facilitate random inspections by superiors.

The team members were in groups of two and the lottery decided to inspect the city. Joggs' teammate was an Athens native who also passed the exam and entered the government. He was also a candidate in 1474 and was a classmate with Joggs.

Before coming to Athens, Joggs had already been to Adrianburg, and in his personal opinion, the situation was not very good.

"Joggs, what do you think of the report from Fort Adrian?"

Footsteps sounded from behind, and this was his teammate Stefanos, a native Athenian.

"Do we write it truthfully?"

"Of course, it must be true."

Joggs said.

"Adrian Castle is so close to Constantinople, you know everything clearly, and we don't need to cover it up."

"Besides, Adrian Fort's consul is nothing wrong. The economic growth rate ranks among the top in the country. He just hasn't implemented the central government's assimilation policy and stability work."

Joggs narrowed his eyes and recalled.

"I know the consul of Adrianburg. He was a poor man from Thrace. He worked part-time in the school opened by our family. He had no background and lived a very simple life. Now he only wants to be promoted, but he may be too hasty."

"Anyway, my few weeks in Adrian Castle were very depressed and I didn't like that place very much."

"However, Adrian Fort was originally the center of heavy industry development designated by His Majesty. Perhaps what we see is a necessary price."

Adrian Fort is located in the western part of the Thrace Plain, along the Melic River, backed by the Rodope Mountains. It was originally the capital of the Ottoman Empire. It has the benefits of inland shipping and abundant mineral resources. It is one of the two major cities of the Eastern Roman Empire on the Thrace Plain.

Since Constantinople is the facade of the empire, aiming to develop "garden city" and "financial city", in the past decade, heavy industrial and high-pollution projects near Constantinople have successively moved to Adrian Castle, which has stimulated local economic development, and of course also brought about a series of problems.

Mineral mining, metal smelting, coal coking, weapon manufacturing, dye extraction, cement processing, fertilizer production, tool production, pig, cattle and sheep raising, meat processing... These industries have made Adrianburg increasingly polluted.

The soot above Constantinople mainly comes from heating and combustion, which is inevitable, while Adrianburg mainly comes from metal smelting, which is better than Constantinople's pollution level.

Furthermore, the labor vacancies in Adrian Castle attracted a large number of migrant population, which is backed by Bulgaria. Many Bulgarians, Wallachians and Ross people regard this place as an immigration destination. The proportion of slaves in the workshop is also very high. They have no skills and can only engage in heavy work that sells their physical strength and endangers the body.

In order to accelerate economic development, the consul of the Adrian Fort directly divided Adrian Fort into three urban areas, with three urban areas clearly divided, just like three worlds.

The Upper Town is located on the hillside with the freshest air and is mainly lived by Greek merchants, nobles and capitalists. The scenery here is beautiful, with independent water sources, and burning fragrant fruit trees as heating objects. The consul built many high-end hotels and high-end hotels to provide enjoyment for Constantinople who come to invest.

The Midtown District is located on the Melic River and is mainly lived by Greek, Bulgarian and Rossian citizens. They are mainly engaged in the service industry and high-level handicrafts, such as small vendors, contractors and high-level craftsmen, and belong to the middle class of the citizens.

The Lower City is located in the mining area and workshop area. The residents include the Ross people who have no skills, Wallachians and Sarasen slaves. These people at the bottom will naturally be classified. The Wallachians look down on the Ross people, and the Ross people look down on the Sarachian slaves.

Here is narrow and dirty, with slums scattered around the workshops. The blast furnace of the iron smelting workshop spewed black smoke day and night. The entrance of the mine was like a giant beast that swallowed people. The sulfuric acid manufacturer did not have a good skin on his palm. The bleacher would cough up blood all year round by the toxic sulfur dioxide. The workers who operated hydraulic forging hammers and animal forging hammers often had empty cuffs and were fired by the workshop owner for not having the ability to work.

Workers received a meager salary and barely supported the family. They drank heavy metal sewage discharged from the workshop and ate the cheapest black bread of wood chips. Children played on the garbage pile covered with coal ash. The mother breastfeeded by the sewage ditch...

People die here every day, and every week, a contractor brings a large group of "new blood" to replenish them. They provide the flowers and wine in Shangcheng District, satisfy the peaceful years of the Zhongcheng District, and create a better life in the world's desire city, but they can only struggle to survive on the brink of death.

When Joggs first came to Adrian Castle, he was very confused. Constantinople is also a big handicraft city, but the capitalists there are not so conscientious. Since most Greek Orthodox people are strong, the church is very powerful, and most of them are advanced handicrafts. The Orthodox Workers Protection Regulations can be implemented in place. Craftsmen go to get off work and get off work, and everything is in order according to the teachings.

Of course, what puzzled Joggs was not that the workshop owners here were trying hard to exploit Sarasen's slaves, but that they actually applied this set to the immigrant Ross, Moldavians and Wallachians.

You should know that these people are also Orthodox people. When they come to the Eastern Roman Empire, they can be regarded as Roman citizens and are protected by the church, and cannot be equated with Sarasen slaves.

Later, Joggs mixed into the lower town of Adrian Fort. He endured the stench of feces and the pungent smell of chemicals, and used a few glasses of cheap ale to pry open the mouth of a Ross immigrant, and then learned the inside story behind it.

It turned out that it was precisely because the central government was too tough in protecting Orthodox people that the local Greek Orthodox people had more civic consciousness and legal consciousness, and the Sarasen slaves were rebellious and liked to defect, and the capitalists put their ideas on the northern Slavs who were also Orthodox people.

They had formed an industry, dedicated to traveling north with comfortable ships, attracting Slavic Orthodox people to the south with the prosperity and tranquility of Constantinople. These people were mostly illiterate escapees, unwilling to go to the Cossack Kingdom on the grassland because of their cowardice. They had no civilized qualities and no legal awareness. From the moment they crossed the Black Sea and landed in Thrace, the hopeful journey ended. The capitalists would deceive them to sign harsh employment terms, coax them not to go to the government to obtain citizenship, drag them directly to the workshop area of ​​Adrianburg, and sell their labor in the form of foreign hired workers.

Since they did not obtain citizenship, the Orthodox Church could not provide protection to them. Since most of them were with their families, they could not escape. They like to have children and believed that this might bring a glimmer of opportunities to this difficult small family. I hope that the promise of "birth as a citizen" by the Eastern Roman Empire was not empty talk.

But in fact, the Eastern Roman government certainly agreed with the policy of "birth is citizenship", provided that you have to go to the local government to register and leave your name on the government and church registration books.

But in fact, the Slavic Orthodox habit of having children provides capitalists with the rope to restrain them, that is, the family.

A small number of Orthodox priests also colluded with capitalists, turned a blind eye to this matter, and instead asked the Slavic Orthodox people to settle for poverty, let them think of the more cruel serf exploitation of the Polish Lithuanians, and the Sarasen slaves who lived worse than them.

Is it illegal? It seems not.

Have a conscience? Surely not.

According to Joggs speculated that the Adrian Fort's consul must have known this situation, but he chose not to ask for his political achievements. When the administrator excitedly explained to Joggs the outstanding achievements Adrian Fort's economic development in recent years to Joggs, Joggs didn't listen to a word, and the despair scene in the lower city still lingered in his mind.

Joggs knew that the consul did not care about money and beauty, nor did he accept bribes from capitalists. He was also a middle-aged man with ideals. The reason why he did this was simply for outstanding political achievements.

Born in 1453, Joggs grew up in a hatred education for Muslims. He did not feel much about the bad treatment of Sarasen slaves, but he was very sympathetic to the deceited Slavic Orthodox Christians. In his opinion, they deserve to be a member of citizens and enjoy a better life, rather than wasting their lives in sweatshops.

He and his teammates truthfully told the consul of Adrianburg of the past few days, telling him that fortunately he and the capitalists just took advantage of the legal loopholes and did not put their ideas on Greek Orthodox people, otherwise it would be possible to exile New Thrace.

"Joggs, do you think that consul will be punished by His Majesty?"

Stefanos asked.

"It's probably just a verbal punishment."

Joggs shrugged.

"Your Majesty may send someone to rescue these Orthodox people, formulate more perfect laws, and fill the gaps with a large number of Sarasen slaves."

"In this way, those Slavic Orthodox people will be very grateful to the royal family, and the capitalists will restrain themselves a lot, and they will still make some money."

"I have to say that the consul is indeed a talent. In five years, the goods produced by Adrian Castle have increased fifteen times, faster than Constantinople. He did not break the law, did not accept corruption and bribes, and he voluntarily provided help to the capitalists. His Majesty may not be willing to punish him."

"As for the Sarasen slaves... His Majesty has communicated with the three major slave gangs and will formulate more complete guild rules, establish slave concentration camps in Anatolia and North Africa, and erase the Saracens' ability to think freely."

Joggs said.

"The only people who were victimized are the Saracen people. They still invade our Ankara, Antakiah, Antioch, Jerusalem and Cairo, and they deserve it."

"Oh, forget it, we are just small employees of the Supervision Bureau and we can't control these matters."

Stefanos shook his head.

"I am from Athens and don't like this. Let's take you to see the city of Athens. Although it is not as economically as Adrian Castle, it definitely makes people feel relaxed and comfortable."

"Why don't you like this? Do you think that those positions with extremely high mortality rates should be filled by your compatriots?"

Joggs glanced at his teammate and shook his head toward the steps.

"Forget it, you are not from Constantinople and you can't understand our hatred for those white turbans."

"The Latins have harmed us and helped us, both good and bad. The Saracens are all untouchable people and should be drowned in lard."

"As long as the walls of Theodosy, soaked in the blood of the jihadists, remain, Constantinople will never open their doors to the Saracen Freemen."

Joggs walked to the door, but stopped Stefanos from following further.

"You are from Athenians and you cannot participate in the supervision of Athens according to the rules."

"Alas, are the Constantinople so rigid?"

Stefanos shook his head regretfully.

"Don't you know much about Athens? I want to introduce this glorious city to you..." "No need, we can only make the most objective judgment after eliminating the influence of personal emotions."

Joggs walked downstairs on his own.

"You write that report about Adrianburg in the hotel, I will write this from Athens."

Walking down the stairs, Joggs unfolded a map of Athens and thought carefully about where to go next.

In urban supervision, Joggs is no longer a novice. He participated in the supervision of the Carlsyton District of Constantinople a year ago and found an intermediate civil servant who misappropriated public funds and some dock administrators who colluded with smugglers, and had gained some experience.

"Carrier, how many taverns are there in Athens?"

Joggs asked.

"I want to eat something."

"Sir, aren't you just staying in a better hotel in Athens?"

The coachman didn't understand why.

"The first floor of the hotel is the tavern, and the food there is delicious."

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"I want to go and see the others."

Joggs said.

"This is how you go. Take me to any one you usually go to."

The coachman mumbled and turned his horse's head.

Joggs sat in a carriage and scanned the streets of Athens.

In fact, although he repeatedly reminded himself that he needed to be objective, he still had a brief understanding of the development history of Athens according to the documents provided by his superiors before performing his mission, and had a basic understanding of the city.

Athens, an ancient emerging city, is very different from other major cities in Eastern Rome. The Latin Crusades broke this place out of 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 there was no industry. Today, Athens was almost rebuilt step by step since 1453.

In the first ten years, the city of Athens developed slowly. Immigrants either went to Constantinople and Thessalonia, or went to Mestras to the south. The only prosperous area was around the Athenian Academy. This was the result of the Minister of Education Barshamun running around and raising funds for the resumption of Athenian Academy.

Joggs knew that the Minister of Education Barsammon liked Athens and the Academy of Athens and put in a lot of effort here. Some civil servants who entered the political arena from the Academy of Athens are also called the Athenian faction. This faction did not have too fierce political propositions. In addition to resisting slavery, the biggest requirement was to increase humanistic investment.

Costas, the current consul of the Southern Greek province and former consul of the Attica region, is a student of Barsammon and one of the representatives of the Athenian faction.

Costas was originally a quartermaster of the Guards. After retiring, he went to university and his mentor was Barsammon. He was later appointed as the consul of the Athenian Administrative Region and was in charge of Athens' development.

After taking office, Costas began to investigate the situation in Athens. After a month of hard thinking, he finally came up with a feasible plan that would make Athens great again, summoned 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 advantage cannot be exerted for the time being. If the agricultural and animal husbandry distribution and port transit are solely relied on, the recovery speed of Athens City will be very slow.

Costas believes that in addition to the deep water harbor, Athens City has two major advantages: the first is the old and the second is the new.

The so-called old is the ancient. The city of Athens is undoubtedly the absolute center of the ancient Greek city-state, with huge cultural potential, but as he said before, without a population, cultural undertakings are difficult to develop, and we must find another way.

So, Costas organized Athenian citizens and, according to ancient records, explored ancient Greek relics around Athens on a large scale, excavated graves, mined cultural relics, and developed the "archaeology" cause.

Of course, it is archaeology, but in layman's terms, it is actually tomb robbery.

After Costas asked the central government for advice, he immediately started his own action and set up an archaeology major in Athens Academy. Through three years of "archaeology", nearly 6,000 historical relics were successfully excavated. 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 understanding of ancient Greek culture, Costas naturally knew the value of these cultural relics. He divided the cultural relics into several levels. The highest-level cultural relics were purchased by the royal family and stored in the Roman Empire Museum. The cultural relics that were second-class were prohibited from flowing abroad and could only be sold to wealthy merchants and nobles in the country. The cultural relics with the lowest value can be freely circulated among the people and can be bought and sold freely in the antique market.

In fact, unlike the East, neither the Western world nor the Arab world has such a strong tradition of "tomb robbery". This is not because of their noble morality, but because after the spread of Christianity and Islam, the funeral specifications were kept simple. There were no burial objects in the tombs of Muslims. Sometimes the tomb owners liked during their lifetime were stored in the tombs, and there would be no too much wealth.

This model can be both good and bad, and it can indeed leave more material wealth to the living people in front of you, but it is very unfavorable to archaeological research in later generations, so that half-volume of Western history seems to be covered with a thick layer of fog.

However, ancient Greece was different, with a very ancient tomb tradition. There are thousands of historical relics in some large tombs. This bonus is really something that Athens can eat.

Of course, there is another important premise for Athens City to make money by "archaeology", that is, the royal family is willing to spend money to buy it, and is willing to lead the trend, calling on other wealthy businessmen and nobles to collect cultural relics. If the royal family sneered at ancient pagan cultural relics like many European nobles, or directly took them away in the name of the country, Athens City still would not make much money.

To put it bluntly, As with Thessalonian and Adrian Castle, Athens also enjoyed the wealth transfer dividends brought by the booming development of Constantinople, but in a different way.

As a result, the city of Athens became the largest trading market for ancient artifacts in the Eastern Roman Empire. Several antique streets were very prosperous. The wealthy merchants and nobles from Constantinople came to Athens for a trip. At least they had to buy a few cheapest owl silver coins to take them back to show off.

Later, Costas also discovered the disadvantages of this development model. The shallow monuments were excavated one after another, and fewer cultural relics were mined, and the phenomenon of fraud was gradually prominent...

In the final analysis, making money by reselling cultural relics can only make temporary profits, but it cannot last long.

So, Costas began to change his thinking and give full play to the second advantage of Athens City, new.

The so-called "new" refers to the city of Athens being rebuilt from a ruin. Its local power is weak and the citizen class is weak. It is not as strong as the northern big cities, which can attract a large number of immigrants.

Because the main ethnic groups of the Eastern Roman Empire are too rare, the demand for immigration is very large. As long as a person believes in Orthodox or other acceptable Christian sects, speaks Greek, Latin or has the intention to learn these two languages, he can directly obtain citizenship of the Eastern Roman Empire and enjoy equal treatment with Greek Orthodox people.

Of course, this is only nominal. In Thrace, areas with developed capital economy and strong national ideas, even Slavic Orthodox people will occasionally be discriminated against by Greeks, let alone converting to the Turks. These theoretical citizens are not actually fully treated by citizens. Many Old Constantinople also prohibit the converting Turks from entering their shops or taverns.

Since we are all white Mediterraneans, the difference in appearance is not big, and judging our identity mainly depends on the clothes and language. If a pure Turkic person wears like Greeks and speaks like Greeks, he will of course be fully accepted.

A developed economy, a prosperous life, a prosperous culture, a strong national and religious sentiment, abundant educational resources... These factors make Constantinople a machine for national assimilation.

However, Constantinople is not a diverse city. It can only accommodate Greek and Orthodox, Ross, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turks... Although these cultures also exist, they are difficult to get on the forefront. If you are unwilling to completely join the large group of Constantinople, you can only live on the edge of society.

However, Athens is different, with almost no locals, everyone is immigrant, and no one looks down on each other.

Costas took advantage of Athens to vigorously recruit immigrants who were not very popular in capitalist cities, such as Armenians who maintained heresy, Latins from Italy, Sarasen converts who had just left slaves, and mixed-race Romans who returned from overseas, allowing them to develop their own culture, allow them to maintain their customs and allow them to form their own communities.

Among them, most of them were Italians and converts. Italy's feudal manor economy gradually collapsed due to the development of capitalism for a long time. The people were mobility strong. Several major industrial and commercial states went bankrupt on a large scale due to the rapid capital of Eastern Romans. The countryside collapsed, and the cities could not support the excess population. They began to immigrate to the Eastern Roman Empire on a large scale, which has been particularly prominent in recent years.

As for converts, they were also very willing to come to Athens to live. Many Saracen people who had escaped slavery still retain some Islamic traditions in secret, and sometimes worshipped Mecca at home.

If this situation was discovered in Constantinople, once they were discovered, they would be dragged by angry citizens to the walls of Theodosio to kneel all day, and then become slaves again.

But in Athens, the atmosphere is relatively open, and citizens and officials often choose to turn a blind eye. As long as you don’t harm society, everyone will not care much about you. You can just pay whatever you worship. Just go to church service on time, and you have to express an attitude without rebellion.

According to the research results, the city of Athens now has more than 14,000 people, more than 3,000 are descendants of Italians and Italians, nearly 4,000 are converted to Turks, more than 5,000 are Greek Orthodox people, and other immigrants account for 2,000, which can be said to be mixed ethnic groups and diverse in culture.

In order to make these immigrants feel a sense of belonging to Athens City, Costas spent a lot of effort. He conducted a survey of various ethnic groups in Athens City, fully understood their wishes, and came up with a very simple and incisive result.

The so-called immigrants, those who leave their hometowns, those who abandon their clans, those who have no homes, are nothing more than a more stable and beautiful life.

So he began to reform the administrative model of Athens City and Attica region, and submitted his reform plan to the Central Committee of the Empire.

The local administrative structure of the core provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire is the province-region-administrative region. Senior officials from administrative regions and above are dispatched by the central government, and the local governments are responsible for the administrative regions below.

Because the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire is too large and the people's sentiments are different in different places, the administrative regions can only be handed over to local management. The consuls of the administrative regions must improve their rule according to the specific circumstances and cannot be copied and copied. Grassroots people below the administrative regions shall implement limited autonomy.

Local elders in Bulgaria, feudal aristocrats in Albania, ranchers in Anatolia, serf estate owners and nomadic tribes in Afilica, slave trade unions in Cyrenaiga, local gangs in Sicily... The chiefs of the administrative district must communicate effectively with them and reach a compromise.

Therefore, the specific operations of the administrative regions of the Eastern Roman Empire are different. Thrace and Southern Macedonia have begun to pass the selection examination to select local officials, but other places just cannot do this. This is an objective fact and it is difficult to change in a short period of time.

Costas decided to revise the retro reform and implement democratic elections in the Attica region. The mayors and councillors in each city are elected by citizens with election rights, and citizens' identity is built through political awareness.

At the same time, he began to reform the Civil Code and grant different political rights to different ethnic groups according to their affinity and assimilation levels with mainstream Greeks.

The ranks of citizens are complete civil rights, limited civil rights, Latin civil rights and permanent residence, respectively, granted to Greek Orthodox, Slavic Orthodox, Italian Catholic and converting Turks.

The complete citizenship rights enjoy all the benefits of Eastern Rome citizens, all preferential treatments in the Attica region, enjoy the right to vote, be elected, and property rights and inheritance rights.

Limited civil rights are very similar to Latin civil rights. There are only half votes in the election, and the taxes on property purchases and inheritance are slightly heavy.

The right to permanent residence has basically no political rights, only the right to work legally and legally enjoy the fruits of labor, and will generally serve as tenant farmers or hire workers for other citizens.

Another special thing is the permanent right of passage exclusively to the gypsies. Because they provided help to the emperor on the Bulgarian battlefield, each gypsy camp can obtain a pass permit after registration and live a nomadic life in the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire according to law.

Of course, these citizens can be changed. Latin citizens and limited citizens will immediately become complete citizens after learning Greek. Converts who only have permanent residence will be promoted to limited citizens after working for three years.

Under this system, Athens City and Attica have indeed developed steadily, with more and more immigrants, and there have been no disturbances or defections. The output of agriculture and animal husbandry has increased year by year, and the cultural undertakings have been progressing steadily.

However, as a pure Constantinople, Joggs still has questions about this theory.

"Carrier, I heard that Athens City has undergone rights reform. Which one do you belong to?"

Joggs asked.

"I see your appearance and clothes, you are obviously not from Greek."

"It turned out to be a convert slave, but now I enjoy limited civil rights."

The coachman said.

"In two years, if there is no crime and legal tax payment, I will be a complete citizen."

"How do you feel about this?"

Joggs asked again.

"Sir, you are from Constantinople, right?"

The coachman was silent for a moment and continued.

"Before I came to Athens, I was a convert from Constantinople. In theory, I am a Roman citizen like you."

"However, in specific implementation, our status is extremely different. We have everything on the surface, but in fact we are still at the bottom of society and there is no hope of going up."

"The prejudices are endless. In Constantinople, many shops and taverns prohibit us from entering, even though I have converted to Christ, even though I have never waved my butcher knife at you, and even though I have always been an old peasant near Nicea until I was arrested as a slave."

"Now, in Athens, we seem to have lost some, 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 His Excellency Costas."

"Where are the elections? Have you tried to run for the election?"

Joggs continued to ask.

"No, if you want to become a local official or a local councillor, you must speak fluent Greek or Latin, and you must also know how to read."

The coachman shook his head.

"Sir, the Latin here is not the Latin language defined by His Majesty, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dacia's popular Latin, but the real ancient Latin that ordinary people cannot learn."

"So, if you want to gain political rights, you have to learn Greek and Greek."

Joggs didn't ask again, the carriage drove steadily and arrived at the tavern the coachman said.

"Sir, we're here, the anise wine here is very delicious."

Joggs nodded, handed over a few copper plates, and stepped into the tavern gate.

(This chapter ends)