Pack up and sell the territory?

In China, this is a complete act of betraying the ancestors and ignoring the spirit of heaven. Few emperors in the past dared to do this. Of course, troubled times are certainly not comparable. And in Europe, this is very common behavior.

Because when nationalism and so on have not yet been developed, there are many things that Europe has to buy as a price code. When there is no money, they often pledge their territory to exchange for money or materials. For example, the Duchy of Morea, which the Romans pledged to Qin Cang, they obviously didn't want to go back.

After all, the fief was not actually a fief at the beginning, but was used to pay salaries to various officials, and the word earl was preceded by a title at the beginning, such as the forest earl, the mineral earl, and so on. Therefore, the word earl should not be translated according to the Chinese five titles at that time, but should mean officials. When the Frankish kingdom was first established, a large number of counts took official positions, and because they couldn't afford to pay money, they took land to top their salaries (not Jiangnan tanneries), which were called caiyi. But later, as the royal family could not afford to pay salaries, the power of officials became greater, so the earl became a hereditary title, and finally recognized by the whole of Europe.

Thomas asked excitedly, "Del Otto!" Will you forsake the covenant of a hundred years? ”

Conrador didn't reply at all, but waved his hand directly, "Send it off." Thomas, I don't know what leverage you have to impress that king. ”

Thomas felt cold and stuffed with pain. After holding out for so long, Rome is finally going to die?

"Where are you going?" Thomas asked, grabbing Conrado.

Conrador turned around with a headache and said, "I'm going to Chizhou." That capital is now much more important to me than Constantinople. Do you know? Recently, many strange merchants have come here to ask for various supplies. Constantinople has fallen! I have to speed up my pace, or when I go back, everything will be unpredictable. ”

"I'm going too! Take me to the king! Thomas said firmly.

"You're still going to save the city that has no future?" Conraddo said impatiently.

"Even if my family and country are lost, even if it is dark, I will save my land!" Thomas said impassionedly!

Looking at his determined expression, Conrado felt a wave of impatience. What does it matter to me if you can't save your country? Do you have less time to wipe your buttocks? Obviously, you can't help yourself, and others can't pull it anymore!

"Let's go, then. As it happens, I can also see what the Valleolo family is going to sell again. ”

The tone was completely different from the first meeting, which made Thomas feel very disappointed. Conrado could no longer see the potential of Thomas and the Roman Empire behind him. So naturally, Conrado didn't want to be with Thomas anymore.

The two men went out together, but instead of going to the pier, they went to the Karaim fortress.

As Conrador rode in the carriage to the Karaim fortress, Thomas curiously lifted the curtains and observed the changes outside. Wearing a unique dress that is completely different from the traditional costume of the Greeks, people come and go in beautiful and good-looking clothes.

Among them were Tatars, Greeks, and many people with faces similar to Tatars, but very different in temperament, who set up stalls carrying goods.

The road is full of black market-like vendors. Piles of yellowed salt were piled on both sides of the road, along with coarse cloth spread out on the ground and filled with hammers, shovels and other tools. The cloth seller hung the white plain cloth on a horizontal pole and sold it. Merchants from Trabzon, Anapa brought new silks, spices, and quirky slaves, as well as all sorts of oddities, along with the roadside.

"A very dynamic market .......," Thomas had to admit.

"That's right. But you know what? I've never had a tax here. Conrador sighed.

"What?" Thomas almost popped his eyeballs out! Such a big market, you don't tax?

"What would you think if I told you that the people of Sebula (in the southern part of the port of Sisse) went to the port of Sisai in the Han kingdom every morning to be hired to cultivate land and build houses, smuggle supplies in the afternoon, and go home and sleep at night?" Conrador smiled wryly, "You saw it. The land I am responsible for has been corrupted by the Han Chinese. On the coast, the Greeks rowed small boats to the territory of the Han Chinese to buy supplies. How do I intercept it? And those coastal cities are eager to arrest me and cut me into pieces of meat in the same way that the Han Chinese deal with the most vicious criminals!

I broke the news a few days ago that I want to negotiate land with the Han Kingdom, but you know what? As soon as the news of me spread, those bastards drove the boat to the arms of the Han people like they were running to their own father! Damn ......"

Thomas was a little speechless.

"It's here. Master. ”

A few hundred meters north of Kaffa City, the Karaim fortress can almost be said to be spent on getting along day and night. The road is full of small traders and vendors and all kinds of tents, so to speak, the black market connects a fortress and a port into a city.

"Well, get out of the car. We walked a few steps and went to the east of the fortress to rent a carriage. Conrador exhaled.

Two men and a few servants got out of the car and walked east around the cement-poured road outside the bustling fortress. Soon, an impossibly wide avenue appeared in front of them.

"This is a new 'national artery' built by the Han people. That king called the road the veins of the nation. I think that's really right. In the past, when I led my troops eastward, I trekked through the grass and swamps, and I ran for a few days before I was halfway there. Now I take a carriage, take a carriage in the morning, I can get to Desheng County in the evening, and I can go to Chizhou at noon the next day. It's much faster than before. You see that the market here is very prosperous, but if you go to Desheng County, you will be really surprised, there is a big market of tens of thousands of people. ”

Conrador said as he handed a silver coin to the merchant who rented the car.

The new department, called the Transportation Bureau, is currently being planned and built on the basis of these carriage and horse shops in every major city.

The carriage did not have shock-absorbing springs, but the flat surface was enough for the people in the carriage to feel comfortable.

"I love life here. It's a pity that I'm going back to fight soon. I will probably never see such a prosperous and new life again. Conrado said.

Thomas didn't reply. He looked at the peasants building houses on both sides of the road, and at the land that was constantly being excavated, and his heart gradually fell into peace.

If only Constantinople were like this! (Once Literature Network,)