Whereas we used to look up at the sky and angrily slanted the muddy waters of matter, now we look down on the earth and believe in the heavens with the seal of the earth. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

- Umberto Eco (the world's most renowned authority on sign linguistics)

With the amount of treasury funds that Rome currently has, it was easy to cover the cost of maintaining an army of less than 8,000 gold, and since Bai Feng returned to Rome, the only way he had spent using the treasury funds was to recruit two groups of town militia.

The harvest of the five cantonment areas has filled the granaries of Rome with grain, and even the five towns that have just entered the market no longer need the food support of Rome, and now only the newly established town of Aceni is not self-sufficient.

The town of Aceni, which fed a population of more than 100,000 people, and the army of more than 160,000 people in the city of Rome were not a problem at all for the city at this time, and in the future, the city of Rome would have more and more food reserves, and more and more people and troops could be fed.

More importantly, the small towns directly under the city of Rome have already formed a self-sufficient development model, and as long as the army of the city of Rome can maintain the stability of the sphere of influence of the city of Rome, it is only a matter of time before the power of the entire city of Rome becomes prosperous and powerful.

When the matter of the legion was still busy, December also passed quietly in the busyness of Bai Feng, and Bai Feng, who woke up, stretched his waist with a smile, and then greeted the new seventeen-year-old.

December Financial Report (December 916 AH)

Agriculture: income 2400 gold, expenditure 0

Mining: income 350 gold, expenditure 0

Trade: income 10,230 gold, expenditure 0

Taxes: 7,070 gold in income and 2,400 gold in expenses (100 gold each per month for the tax officer, civil protection officer, and patrol guard)

Fortune: 400 gold (100 gold per month for each general)

Army Maintenance Cost: 7,771 gold expenditures

Recruitment: Spend 300 gold (Temple summoning generals is also part of recruitment)

Construction: Spend 0

Entertainment: 0 payouts

Diplomacy: 0 income, 0 expenditure

Corruption: 0 income, 650 gold

Last month's total: income 20,050 gold, expenditure 11,521 gold

Last month's surplus: income 8529 gold

Total amount of the treasury at the beginning of the month: 26,330 gold

Current total treasury: 34,859 gold

The city's revenues from trade have increased significantly compared to the previous month, as the inhabitants of the towns in Rome can bring their surplus food to the city in exchange for other supplies.

The policy of free trade and the presence of merchants greatly facilitated trade between these towns and the city of Rome, and increased the city's trade income, which accounted for half of the city's total income according to last month's financial report.

In the future, when the trade routes between the city of Rome and the town of Essini and the kingdom of Esini are opened, the trade income of the city of Rome will definitely be further improved; thinking of this, Bai Feng felt that it was imperative to build a small simple port near the town of Esini.

The turbulent Cangluo River has always been a natural barrier that is difficult for the barbarian tribes on the east and west banks to cross, and the city of Rome has relied on this natural barrier to defend against the attacks of Queen Boudicca, but the city of Rome, which has unified the east and west banks, now needs to cross the barrier.

Without crossing the barrier of the Cangluo River, it would have been impossible for the city of Rome on the east bank to establish a stable connection with the town of Esine and the kingdom of Esine on the west bank, and the port had to be built for both economic and military and political reasons!

Only by building this important port connecting the east and west banks of the Cangluo River could the city of Rome expand its trade with the town of Esceni and the kingdom of Iceni, further increasing the city's trade revenue, and in addition, the city of Rome's control over the kingdom of Esine could be strengthened.

The existence of many benefits made Bai Feng determined to build this port as soon as possible; Bai Feng was originally going to send a large amount of grain to Aceni Town for free, but now it seems that it can be completely turned into a form of cash-for-work.

The city of Rome, which had plenty of food, could pay for the grain and hire the young men of the small town of Esine to build the port of Esini, which would not only find a large number of laborers to build the port of Escini, but also allow the town of Esine to obtain the food of the city of Rome in a fair and honest manner.

In any case, the food given by others is still not as good as the food earned by one's own hands, especially for the stubborn barbarians, how could they accept the free food of the city of Rome if it were not really in a situation of life and death?

The matter of the construction of the port of Esceni and the allocation of food to support the town of Esine was given by Bai Feng, and after thinking about how to increase the total income of the city of Rome, Bai Feng had to think about the population of the city of Rome.

Rome City (Large Town)

Governor: White Peak

Income: 20,050 gold/month

Population: 39,130 (the temple increases its population by 1,000 per month)

Social Security: +175%

Population growth: +5%/month

Tax rate: Medium tax rate

Treasury: 35,279 gold

Towns: Tasia (95,456 people, normal), Greno (85,642 people, poor), Rai town (95,398 people, poor), Hobulo town (99,342 people, poor), Vasco town (77,101 people, poor), Aceni town (132303 people, normal)

Existing buildings: Doge's Palace, Wooden Wall, Temple of Apollo, Town Barracks, Bazaar, Public Farm, Cavern Mine, Stables, Blacksmith's Shop, Stone Paving, Training Ground, Sewer, Harbor

Under Construction: None

Buildable: None

The city of Rome, with a population of nearly 40,000, can add more than 1,000 people every month to this growth rate, and it has been in a steady upward phase.

In addition, the role of the temple of Apollo should not be underestimated, the fixed increase of a thousand people per month also brought a considerable number of people to the city of Rome; of course, in Bai Feng's heart, the greater role of the temple of Apollo is to sacrifice sacred objects.

Facts have proved that the power of faith obtained by sacrificing sacred objects is the most valuable thing to promote the development of the city of Rome, and the power of faith has long become the most precious treasure in the development of the city of Rome due to the growth of population, the shortening of the construction period, and the call of special troops!

When Bai Feng's Roman army marched into the Aceni Kingdom, they captured a total of sixteen new statues, and the long-established and powerful Aceni Kingdom was indeed not comparable to ordinary barbarian tribes, and even the quality and quantity of the statues far exceeded those of ordinary barbarian tribes.

With these sixteen precious idols, plus the sixteen idols that Bai Feng still stored, there are now as many as thirty-two idols that can be used for his own development in Rome City, but Bai Feng, who understands the value of the gods, does not plan to use all the gods in his hands.

No one knows what kind of crisis the city of Rome will encounter in the development process, no one knows how much potential value of the power of faith has not been tapped, and is it really only these things that even beings like Apollo want to get are the things that are used for the moment?