The reconstruction of the city of Athens was gradually put on the agenda. With most of the port area of Piraeus reduced to ashes, the Venetian merchants had to find a new trading port on the western coast of the Aegean Sea.

And their goal coincided with the decision of the Empire.

The Doge's Palace in the inner city of Athens was destroyed, and most of the city's buildings collapsed. In any case, Athens could no longer be the administrative core of Greece, and the empire chose its replacement, Thessaloniki, the former capital of Macedonia.

Thessaloniki was also one of the economic centers of Greater Greece and the largest silk producer in the empire. Not only that, but Thessaloniki is also one of the few plains in the empire that is important for agriculture, with convenient transportation and easy access. The port of Thessaloniki is second only to Athens in terms of trade throughput. If Athens were to be completely rebuilt, Thessaloniki should be enough to replace Athens in a few years.

Of course, the rebuilding of the Doge's Palace also required financial support, and the walls of Athens were completely damaged, and the arsenal had to be relocated for safety, which was quite a huge project. Perhaps the Doge's Palace could be expanded on the basis of the original Thessaloniki, but the arsenal had to be restarted in terms of site selection and defense, and the spy network originally laid in Athens also needed to shift its focus.

"All in all, it's a lot of money." Sophia seemed to have imagined Kincki's desperate expression.

Yet John was still in his wheelchair, basking in the sun with a face full of enjoyment. Although the pain in his chest continued to torment him, all pain could be overcome compared to the sun.

"Thessaloniki and Athens are a little different. Indeed, it has almost the same economic and political status as Athens once was. But the port of Thessaloniki does not have the unique geographical advantages of the port of Piraeus. A fire in Athens gave the Venetian merchants a great wake-up call, and it was a big question whether they would continue to invest and trade in Thessaloniki in the future. After a long time, John opened his eyes, took the freshly brewed honey drink from Evelei's hand, and took two sips, "Trade taxes have always been the bulk of Athens' income, followed by commodity exports, including precious resources such as silk, the importance is still difficult to compare with the caravans of Venice. ”

"Businessmen are profit-seeking animals, brother. Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about that. Even if the Empire doesn't compensate them for opening, they will come uninvited if we don't invite them after they see the potential of Salonika's trade. This was the case when we first negotiated with the port of Combrigne. Sofia read the report submitted by the tax collector of Salonika several times, and although the copy had been thoroughly studied at the Imperial Council, Sofia felt that it was a waste to invest extra in making Salonika the largest town in Greater Greece.

After all, the reconstruction of Athens is not expected to take more than ten years at most, and most of the original buildings will be repaired, and even the inner city walls can be demolished for decoration, and the port area of Piraeus will be expanded. This is much less than the amount of money required to start construction at both Athens and Thessaloniki.

What's more, now the empire is not only in a tight economic situation, but also in a tight forced population. First of all, the new buildings of all sizes in Constantinople, then the great triumphal arch of Hadrian's Fort, which symbolizes the liberation of the Balkans, and the Chapel of God's Wish in Epirus, plus the reconstruction of the port of Piraeus, the outer city of Athens, the construction of the Academy of Athens, and the expansion of the Governor's Palace of Thessaloniki, which consumed the real manpower of the empire.

The Empire has indeed seen a population explosion in recent years, but it has not yet reached the point where it can be squandered. If these works were to start at the same time, the agricultural, handicraft and military service population would be reduced to a minimum. This meant that the domestic production of the empire would reach a critical point of its greatest tension. In the past few years, any accident may cause a population crisis.

"So...... It's not just a matter of money, it's just that if you build Great Greece like this, sooner or later you won't have enough manpower to replenish the army. Sophia sighed.

The lack of manpower in the empire is not a matter of a day or two, and after the loss of Nicaea and the Crusades, the population of the Eastern Balkans is really pitiful. Otherwise, raising two more legions would not have much impact on the Empire. How to recover, or how to rapidly increase the population, should be the most important problem for the empire to solve right now.

"Population...... Actually, it's not a difficult problem to solve. Besides, these projects can also be prioritized. It's like a grand triumphal arch...... You can put it there first. This may become the spiritual belief of these citizens in Fort Hadrian, but it would be nice to let them sacrifice for the sake of the empire as a whole......"

"I think...... If this continues, sooner or later, domestic contradictions will intensify. Brother, the professional union is something we have to help ourselves. When the time comes, all the workers in other industries will be mobilized to the construction site, and you will see if the group of guys in the professional union will turn against the royal family. They're not slick guys like nobles. To put it bluntly, they are just ordinary citizens who have just acquired certain rights. The empire had promised them such a bright future, and they had been stripped of everything in just a few months, and you thought they would let you go like this? Sophia's good impression of the upper and lower ranks of the new Senate has almost disappeared after these few times, "and now the alliance between the new nobles has also been shattered by our plots, and when they are relieved, they may have to unite the entire Senate to share the same hatred." ”

"Okay Sophia, after all, the Senate has no real executive power, do you think we really need to see the face of the new Senate now? They did not control any violent institutions, and their source of income depended on the Empire for their income. The only option for such a senate is to respect all decisions made by the royal family. If they dare to resist...... It's a big deal to reassemble a group......" John was still laughing, but it seemed to be a mockery of the new Senate, "As for the population problem...... Why don't you think about it, go back and tell your father that I miss him. ”

"Brother, what are you going to do again?"

"Let the gang of the Imperial Council think of another way to attract some outsiders. What the empire needs now is not fertility, but a real working population. On this basis, we can sacrifice some of the economy to enact laws that stimulate the population. ”