Since the 5th century, the mighty Roman Empire has been in decline, and its once powerful centralized power has been dissipated by many internal divisions, and then its territory has gradually been occupied by various successive regimes, such as the Germanic kingdoms, the Kingdom of France, and the Kingdom of Poland, which have risen in the old territory of the Roman Empire.

The territory of the Roman Empire was reduced again and again, and then it was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire, and then the Western Roman Empire collapsed, and the Byzantine Empire was reduced to the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea under Basil II.

This territory was less than a quarter of the size of the Holy Roman Empire at its most glorious days.

One can imagine the fall of the Roman Empire.

There were still very serious problems within the empire, such as the malaise of the monopoly of land by the big landlords throughout the empire, the powerful landlord and aristocratic class had taken possession of almost all the land in the empire, the free peasants and free craftsmen had almost disappeared, and they had been reduced to serfs of the hereditary lords.

The lords of the great territories showed increasing independence from the government as they possessed increasing wealth, and over time the lords grew strong enough to oppose or control the government, and the decline of the central power forced them to delegate much of the public administration to the lords.

In this way, the lower classes of the countryside and the cities, in order to avoid robbery, barbarian plunder, and in order to escape the extortion of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, increasingly concentrated on the great lords for refuge, and the asylum formed a feudal dependency relationship, which was at first limited to the life of the vassal himself, and later spread to the male heirs of the vassal.

This pyramid-like hierarchy of lords, large and small, with their vassals, formed the feudal system of the Byzantine Empire.

The most intuitive manifestation of this system is that the lives of the people at the bottom are worthless, and the lords call those serfs like slaves, and they are unable to do anything to resist.

...

And Jiang Yin's offer to exchange for labor at this time was like exchanging treasures for garbage from those lords.

"With all due respect, Jiang, you don't need to pay gold or silver coins for these precious commodities only for labor?" Basil II asked incredulously.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I need a lot of people, the more the better." Jiang Yin smiled.

"Are the nine carloads of goods you have left ready to trade with those big lords?" Basil II asked.

"Yes" Jiang Yin didn't beat around the bush and said directly.

"I really don't understand you Orientals sometimes." Basil II shrugged his shoulders and said, he really couldn't understand that there were hundreds of serf pariahs under every big lord, and once the value of these pariahs was exhausted, the end would be to be thrown into the wild, but Jiang Yin wanted to exchange the treasures of these carts for those serfs.

"This king can tell you for sure that if you take these treasures to do business, in the Byzantine Empire, you can exchange as many serfs as you want, but it is undeniable that this will make you suffer a big loss." Basil II kindly advised.

"No, Your Majesty, I don't lack treasures now, I just need labor." Jiang Yin smiled slightly: "If Your Majesty is willing to show a proclamation to inform the lords of the whole country that they can exchange serfs for treasures with me, the next general will be grateful." Jiang Yin bowed slightly.

And the corners of Basil II's mouth twitched slightly, since the words have been said about this, then he must want adult beauty.....

.......

...

Kafields was a Grand Duke of Nicaea in the Roman Empire, and he was also the largest lord of Nicaea, holding nearly 1,000 acres of land north of Nicaea and nearly 3,000 serfs.

It was a cloudless day, and the early October sun was shining on the earth, and Cafield was lying on a chaise longue in the hall of his mansion, surrounded by two beautiful maids, one picking grapes and bringing them to his mouth, and the other fanning him with a pampas leaf.

"Grand Duke! Duke Foreman, east of the city, asks to see him. A knight in armor came into the way from outside the house.

"Oh? Foreman? How did he come. Cafields said to himself, this Foreman was the great lord of Nicaea like him, and they occasionally went out hunting together on weekdays, but today was neither a holiday nor a Sunday, why did this Foreman suddenly visit?

Although Kafields was a little confused, he was not stunned, and waved his hand to the knight, "Let him in." ”

The knight led the order out, and soon a middle-aged fat man dressed in a peculiar costume appeared outside the door, followed by a butler-like man with a large box in his hand.

"Haha, Kafields! My old fellow! The fat man laughed heartily before he could enter the door.

Kafields also stood up and walked up to him and hugged him, "Foreman, it's only been a few days since the last hunting, why did you suddenly come to visit me today?" Also, what you're wearing makes it feel weird. ”

"Hahaha, Kafields, I don't think you have received the news of the king's decree." The fat man laughed.

"What message did the king proclaim?" Kafields was a little confused.

"Haha, I'll sell a lawsuit first, and you can take a look at the treasure I brought first." The fat man smiled mysteriously, then turned his head and ordered the butler who was following him to open the box.

The box was opened at once, and the glittering contents inside immediately caught the eye of Kafield.

"It's... What is it? Kafields was shocked.

"Haha, be surprised" Seeing Cafield's shocked look, Foreman was also very satisfied, "Come on, let me introduce you, this transparent crystal cup is called a goblet, which is specially used for drinking." Foreman pulled out a glass goblet and put it in his hand.

"This...."Kafields had also collected a lot of treasures, but this glittering wine glass in front of him was the first time in his life that he had seen it.

"How? Not bad, right? Fat Foreman continued to boast, "I still have the Oriental holy wine - champagne here. As he spoke, he took out a large transparent wine bottle from the box, which was filled with a golden liquid, and he shook the bottle gently, his eyes full of intoxication.

Kafields swallowed, years of experience had taught him that these things were rare treasures, but where did Foreman get them?

"Where did you get these things?" Kafields asked, gasping for breath.

The fat man named Forman obviously understood the temper of his old friend, and no longer continued to sell lawsuits, but quietly leaned into the ear of Kafields and said: "You only need ten serfs to go to the imperial city of Constantinople and choose a treasure in exchange, and I exchanged a hundred serfs for these things....."

........