The empty barracks were quiet after the first rays of the morning sun shone in, and the silence was frightening, the decaying walls were unrepaired, and the mossy fences were rotting.

The two of them walked in this supposed heavily guarded imperial military camp, and even they felt incredible, they actually walked in so easily, and no one stopped them, this place was completely deserted.

"Is this indeed the Empire's Anadoria Military District camp?"

"So it's over here?"

"I'm afraid so!"

The speaker recrossed a red cross in the seventh row above a roster, and the Anatolian Anadorian Military District, one of the most elite units in the eastern part of the empire, completely collapsed.

The investigators who made the record were all members of the Sword of Damocles from the imperial capital of Constantinople, and they were ordered to make an unannounced visit to inspect the situation in the Eastern Military District of the Empire.

Unlike the garrisons assigned to the Empire's newly formed five legions, everything here was miserable, and the few remaining troops of the Empire's native military districts were poor and lacked armor.

The old imperial district replaced the ancient Roman legions with its inevitable and accidental factors, and the existence of the legion system is the embodiment of the armed forces of professional soldiers, who are killing machines in war and can carry out combat missions for a long time.

The ancient Roman legions in the Mediterranean could quickly rely on the power of the sea to reach any battlefield, and the tortoiseshell array of heavily armed sword and shield soldiers was never eliminated even in the future society, which can be seen from the armament of the military and police.

However, high salaries became a problem in the middle of the empire, and the ancient Roman-style armed forces could no longer be sustained.

And unlike the barbarians on the border, invaders can squander the lives of their subordinates without any scruples, and for the chiefs they are just a group of slaves, but the empire cannot.

Every Roman was a valuable resource, they were professional soldiers cultivated by the state for a long time, and the rising war loss ratio inevitably led to the reform of the army.

As the Byzantine period began, the empire could no longer maintain such a large professional army, and the defense system consisting of 650,000 emperors at its peak completely collapsed.

You must know that in the heyday of the Anadoria Military District, the military budget for one year reached 1,230,000 solids, which was equivalent to half of the country's tax revenue at that time, which was undoubtedly an unbearable burden.

However, Anadoria at that time was the most important military district of the empire, and it was worth such a sacrifice.

Heraclius, the former Imperial Supreme, boasted of the military strength of the Eastern Military District: "If the Persians invade from the east, we will only need to gather 30,000 reservist cavalry from Anadolia and Thrace and Armenia to easily repel the enemy." ”

But when Emperor Alexios I conscripted soldiers from the Eastern Military District before the Battle of Terasium, Princess Anna Komunen described her father's despair.

"These warriors from the east, they have no swords or other weapons, they can only fight with hunting forks and sickles instead, and they have no horses or other equipment."

"Probably because it has been a long time since the emperor summoned them to the battlefield, their salaries and equipment maintenance fees have long been misappropriated."

What is even more terrifying is that these words describe the Isurian mountain warriors, who were once the most elite of the Anatolian military districts.

The Isurians, the predecessors of the Anadolian Military Region, joined the Imperial Realm at the same time as the Ostrogoths, and after the Ostrogoths were bloodily suppressed, the Isurians took their place as the pillars of the Emperor.

But all the glory of Rusi has been reduced to dust, and the glorious elite of the Emperor Mountain has become an addition to the Sam (soldiers' roster) and an excuse for the generals of the military region to embezzle the imperial fee.

The elite of the empire that doesn't exist?

"Despite their heroic struggle, the war inevitably failed!"

"My father's soldiers and riders from all over the world scattered, and the last remaining soldiers of the military region were all killed after stubborn resistance, and we were defeated."

This is the last record left by Princess Anna Komnenos that belongs to this imperial elite, and then ......

No more then!

The investigation team, who had gone through all the information, could no longer find the past of this unit, and I am afraid that even the mountain people themselves had forgotten that their ancestors had fought for the empire until they died.

After another hundred years, the current Supreme Emperor of the Roman Empire, Alexios II, sent his investigation team down.

Anadolia has long been in ruins, the imperial decree to restore the old military region is estimated to have been ignored, and the allocated military funds have long been embezzled.

"So you can report it, right?"

"Well, there's no need to read on, this is the most powerful of the Eastern Military Regions of the Empire, of course, on paper."

The members of the Sword of Damocles with a wry smile were also shocked by the audacity of the magnates, and now they understood the suffering of the empire that could only use mercenaries in several major wars.

It seems that it is not for nothing that the empire never regained its strength after the Battle of Manchicott.

In the past, in order to supplement the shortage of soldiers, the successive supreme kings before the Macedonian dynasty had major measures of immigration.

For example, in the seventh century, the empire once moved 70,000 Slavs to the Ephkin Military District and 210,000 Slavs to Anatolia, such an important measure ensured the stability of the empire's borders.

But how have you ever seen such a grand scene now?

Could it be that a few Imperial Supremes don't know?

No!

Although the Imperial Supremes are well aware of the shortcomings, who has the courage to break the deadlock?

Relying on the production of military service land, the peasants and soldiers of the various military districts of the empire were able to multiply, they managed the land in peacetime, and officers at all levels below the general level could be self-sufficient, and they prepared their own weapons, and did not need the empire to spend additional military expenses.

The fifteen-year term of military service land is inalienable, and it enjoys tax exemption and can be transferred to heirs, which greatly ensures the military morale of the soldiers and allows them to fight for the country without worries.

But it all ended after the battle of Manchikot, yes, long ago.

"Your Majesty, you should have thought of this situation a long time ago."

"But why do we still send personnel to the Quartet to investigate the last existence of those military district peasants?"

"When these old military service lands are restored, we can recruit new peasant soldiers." Betak was puzzled.

"We need to make all the courtiers aware of the seriousness of the problem at the right time."

"Unlike the emperors of the past, I am not asking the Imperial Council to increase military spending, but reminding them that the Empire is sliding into the abyss with an unstoppable trend, if we don't continue to take measures to save it!"

"The Empire can no longer rely on the force of force from the Franks, Uzze, Varangians, or other passing mercenaries to defend itself, for we will perish sooner or later."

"Alas, yes, then sooner or later we will perish......"