Moreover, to bring these disgruntled Gentiles together and form armies to garrison the perilous frontier with no hope for a long time would have led to even greater trouble. In the previous Roman Empire, the reason why the Roman Empire was able to keep soldiers in service for more than 20 years was because most of the soldiers they recruited were Roman citizens.

Perhaps at this stage, the number of years given by Cipros is more appropriate...... Davers tapped his fingers on the back of his chair, silently thinking.

Unlike Davers's composure, the ministers were a little surprised by Sipros's proposal.

Rafias first asked: "Lord Sipros, do you mean to abolish the immigration decree that we have been in place for 20 years and replace it with this new decree that 'you must serve at the border in order to become a citizen of the Kingdom?!'" ”

"Yes, Lord Rafias." Sipros calmly replied: "If the new immigration decree is promulgated and the old immigration decree is still in force, then the vast majority of Gentile freedmen will definitely still choose the old decree rather than serve, after all, it is relatively easy and easy to achieve, then the promulgation of this new decree is meaningless." ”

"But if the old decree is abolished, and the new decree of which you speak is carried out, and all the freemen who wish to join the kingdom run to serve, then the labor force in the kingdom will be greatly reduced...... We all know that after the war with Carthage, the kingdom's land has more than doubled, and now there is still a lot of land left unallocated, and a lot of labor is urgently needed.

What's more, the recruits must be young and strong free people, so what about the older free people who have a lot of skills, or unmarried women, children who have lost their parents? Could it be that no matter how hard they tried, they would never be able to become Ionian citizens? Shall we abandon a conviction that has been developed since the foundation of the kingdom and which has taken place over a long period of time among the Greek freedmen throughout the Mediterranean—" Burrkus took a deep breath and said aloud: "Dionya is a kingdom of fairness and fraternity, and that no one, of any origin, race, young or old, can become a citizen of this country if he aspires to it and makes an effort to serve it!" ”

Bulkos's last few words were so loud that even Davers was a little moved when he heard them, and of course they caused a burst of discussion among the ministers.

Sipros apparently did not take this aspect into account, and was lost in thought, failing to respond immediately.

At this time, Ataris said, "Lord Burkos, you just said it very well. But I would like to ask, was Athens only Athenian citizens? ”

Burgus was a little puzzled by this irrelevant question, but replied seriously: "Of course not, there were many Gentiles in Athens, and even more than the citizens of Athens. ”

"So did these freemen stay in Athens for a long time to become Athenian citizens?" Antaoris then asked.

This time, Bulkos somewhat understood what Antaoris meant, but he still answered the well-known fact frankly: "Of course not, Athens did not allow outsiders to become citizens. In fact, not only Athens, but also Thebes, Corinth, Argos, Sparta...... Almost all Greek city-states do not easily absorb outsiders as citizens of the city-states, but this is why we in Dionia are able to attract a large number of Greek freedmen from the Eastern Mediterranean to this place every year. ”

"But there were still a large number of freemen in Athens, in Corinth, in Argos, in Thebes, and even in Sparta, and the reason why they stayed in these city-states was just to survive better, even if they did not have any political rights, and their lives were not absolutely guaranteed (the Greek city-states did not have any laws specifically protecting freemen), and they could only engage in all kinds of menial jobs in the city-states, and even had to be conscripted as auxiliaries or sailors in the event of war, and the living conditions were very bad!"

Antaoris let out a heavy sigh, then his voice rose and he said confidently, "But what about the freedmen who live in our kingdom? There are several decrees that specifically protect some of their rights, and they have been amended many times! They were able to rent the kingdom's communal lands relatively easily, and the tax rate they paid was not very high. They can also serve as low-ranking officials in the kingdom, and although they seem lowly to us, they are still influential to the common people. Although we have recruited them in the war, we rarely involve them directly in the fighting, and in the event of an accidental death, the family receives a generous bereavement benefit......

Although there is still a big gap compared to the rights obtained by the citizens, compared to the freedmen of Greece itself, their lives are very good. What's more, the Kingdom of Dioonia was strong and prosperous, and its territory was peaceful and tranquil, unlike those Greek city-states in the east that were weak and often suffered from wars that led to the destruction of their homes. So even if the old immigration decree is abolished, and many Gentiles are unable to become citizens of Dioria, I think they will still come and settle here, because the kingdom of Dioonia is indeed the best place for them to live! ”

"Lord Antaoris is right!" Chair-in-office Hermon (three years after the end of the Western Mediterranean War, affected by the death of Cornelus, the 70-year-old Wesbah took the initiative to ask Davers to resign from the chairmanship, and begged not to participate in the Senate meetings anymore, to retire at home. Davers agreed to his request, and proposed that the Senate elect Hmon to replace him) took over: "In the past, Dionya needed a large number of new recruits to quickly increase the strength of the country and cope with the perilous environment around it, so the treatment given to the foreign freedmen was very good, but as your Majesty said earlier, as time and the situation change, the old decrees should be adapted to the new needs, and should be changed accordingly.

Now that the kingdom is so powerful that any city-state or nation will not dare to challenge us, it will actively seek an alliance with us. With such a relatively safe surrounding environment, do we really need to be so eager to convert these Gentile freedmen into citizens of the kingdom?! There is indeed a lot of vacant land in the kingdom now, and we can't look at our own people, except for those freedmen who want to become citizens of the kingdom? Now that the population of the kingdom is more than 3 million, how many adult citizens are there each year? ”

Hemon was the new Minister of Education, Monmentotik Els, and why did he ask him instead of Raphaels, the Minister of Registrar? Because Hmon believed that 20 years after the establishment of Dionia, almost all the children of citizens would attend the schools of the cities, the Minister of Education, who was in charge of all schools, should have a greater say in this.

Mentotik Els, however, said: "I don't know how many citizens of the kingdom come of age each year, because many students have graduated from school before they are minors, and I can only tell you that the number of students who graduated last year was 23,571. ”

"The number of adult citizens in the kingdom is about 20,000 per year, but the number has increased dramatically in recent years, because after the last war, the kingdom was annexed into several regions and had a larger population......"

Hemon thanked them and then asked the Minister of Registrar, "Lord Rafias, how many of the families of all the citizens of the kingdom have more than two boys?" ”

This question was a little difficult for Laphias, he thought for a while, and then said uncertainly: "I'm afraid there are at least seventy percent, because of the blessing of Hades, coupled with the high level of medical skills in our kingdom, with the strong support of His Majesty, Lord Herps led the doctors to invest a lot of energy in fertility and infant treatment, and made great progress, so that the success rate of pregnant women giving birth has been greatly improved, and the mortality rate of babies after birth has also been greatly reduced, and now the vast majority of families have more than two children, And for the old citizens, almost every family has a child who has successfully reached adulthood......" Rafias said, and turned to the Minister of Medicine, Phelps, to nod his thanks.

"How many regular citizens, then, does the kingdom receive each year, converted from Gentile freemen?" Hmon asked again.

"This number is uncertain, in the years before the last war, due to the small amount of land left, the Ministry of Agriculture and our Ministry of Household Registration, as required by His Majesty and the Senate, and the stability of the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, there were only about 2,000 people a year at least...... In recent years, the kingdom was in dire need of labor, and the wars in Greece itself had intensified, so at least 10,000 people per year......"

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have all heard that the kingdom has about 20,000 adult citizens every year, which is not much different from the number of citizens of a traditional Greek powerhouse, and although the Registrar has also allocated land to them in recent years, this is only a temporary measure, in order to occupy the vacant land more quickly. In fact, the kingdom does not have a special decree requiring the distribution of land to adult citizens, because it is customary for us to think that in the future they will inherit the property left by their fathers.

However, the current situation in the kingdom is that most of the citizens have several sons, and according to the kingdom decree that "the inheritance shall be freely distributed by the original owner according to his own will", most citizens may choose to divide their property equally among several children, and each child may even own less land than the original kingdom allocated to the citizens. These Kingdom-born, Kingdom-raised children are educated in the Kingdom, obey the laws of the Kingdom, are familiar with all that the Kingdom has to offer, and they love and are loyal to the Kingdom, yet they do not receive as many as these Gentile freemen converted full-fledged citizens when they become citizens! Guys, are you saying that's fair?! ”