I am grateful for the 100,000 starting coins reward of the "seemingly master" classmates, and I also congratulate "Eagle Yang Byzantium" for having an alliance leader, and thank you for the two 5888 starting coins of my classmates.

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Gawain walked up the hillside, looking at the rafters that were still exposed, and the mottled walls, he walked into the chapel, and on the black dome, there was still the chalk that Peter had painted at the beginning, and he vaguely saw the rough appearance of the Virgin and the Son, and he smiled.

At this time, there was a neighing of cattle and horses outside, and Gao Wen walked out in surprise, only to see several ragged peasant men and women on the village road under the high slope, timidly leading the long-haired ox with a thin head, and a wooden plough covered with iron, standing under Gao Wen, rubbing his hands and shivering in the cold wind.

Gawain also looked at them, and didn't know what to say for a while, because he was mobilizing his memory, hoping to confirm that there were villagers who used to live here among these people, but he really couldn't remember, because the peasants all looked similar.

At last, the eldest of them stood up, bowed to Gawain, and said to him, "We are from Nicomide, and we have heard that the noble master of the stables has allowed the displaced people to settle down, so we have come to this abandoned village to re-cultivate the land. But I didn't expect that there was already a military master here, so I couldn't help it. ”

"Abandoned village, abandoned village," Gawain muttered to himself, and then he looked at the ruins of the village and the barren land, and his heart churned, and then he said to the old man, "Yes, this village no longer exists! But now that you are here, build new houses, granges, and wells, and attract more people to come, and we will protect you at the border. ”

After saying this, several peasants were still whispering below, but Gawain himself was much more relieved, and showed a calm expression on the long mountain forest, and then he beckoned to Fitias, who was still below, - the little servant immediately began to saddle Sabina and put her halter, and Erikson whistled the military flag, and rushed down the high slope to the front of the line.

On the way back to the barracks, Gawain, who was on horseback, looked back to see that several peasants had set up makeshift tent stands on the edge of the ruins, the cows were bolted, a woman with a child in her arms was walking towards the chapel, as if to pray, and two men in the prime of life seemed to be looking for tools, as if to reopen the abandoned well cellar in the village. While the old men were assessing the seeds and food Gawain had left behind, "Everything can start again." ”

Perhaps hope is just a small seed, taking root and sprouting in the devastated earth, soaked in tears and blood, full of sorrow and futility, but just as Jiehe said, matter and nouns are created by the devil, but it is also the devil who destroys them, and in the game between God and the devil, it is the mortals who always persist in living and growing like seeds sown by the wind and rooted in the soil.

Five days later, Gawain's army lined up and entered the magnificent and majestic city of Nicaea!

It was a city abandoned by the Turks beforehand, with a large lake, a long distance around a long wall, countless towers, and a huge gate of bronze and iron, and it is not difficult to imagine that if the Turks had resisted here, the army of George's stable would have paid a great price.

Nicaea is a sacred city, with countless churches and monasteries in it, and even after the Turks came, they did not dare to persecute and destroy them, but at least maintained basic respect. But in the crowd that greeted the reconquest of the Empire, there was also the patriarch of Nicaea, who stood at the front of the procession in full costume, and was so enthusiastic that he did not look like a priest, but more like a dancer and master of ceremonies for evenings and weddings, and in front of the church, Gawain and Theognes, who were in the forefront, took Gawain and Diognis in their arms, kissing and praying incessantly.

Then all the soldiers and townspeople stood in the square in front of the church, full of slogans and hanging garlands, and the imam took Gawain in his left hand and Diognis in his right, and the scene was very touching and embarrassing to the two parties, not because they had never dealt with each other, but because it was too much like a wedding ceremony—they were newlyweds, and the imam was a witness.

"In the days and nights of being ruled by the infidels, I want to kill you, let's go!" The Imam is a kissing maniac, and he opens his bow left and right, and keeps clicking and clicking, "Now the holy caverns, the holy painting exhibition rooms, all the churches and monasteries throughout the city of Nicaea, including all the people of this great city, are again under the protection of the emperor and the Lord, and our souls are saved!" After speaking, the imam pouted, directly hugged the guard and kissed him deeply, causing the people to cheer.

"Rejoice, flock and people of God, do not refuse the demands of this army, and support them with all your might!" Then, Gawain saw the imam's thick lips and big beard, with a clattering sound, and covered himself, hurriedly lowered his mouth first, firmly pressed his hands against the imam's rapidly approaching shoulders, and then gently wiped his lips on the imam, and then smiled and hugged the imam desperately, preventing him from moving freely, and waved his hand to the crowd.

The patriarch was right, and it didn't take long for the people of Nicaea to privately collect a large amount of supplies and money and send them to the barracks of Chief George's stables, which relieved the urgent need, and it seemed that the divine urban consciousness was extraordinary.

Subsequently, George sent detachments, also left and right, to recover Nicomidia and Maragia, and now the situation is really as George had promised, and Asia Minor is gradually dyed again with the purple of the royal family.

"The Emperor has issued an edict of gold in lieu of salaries, so that when the wages are paid, they cannot be paid in full to everyone—I have decreed that all the money now be pooled together and distributed to the mercenaries from Italy, while the units of the empire shall be given land in a unified manner, and the land granted shall be military estate." In the camp by the lake of Nicaea, the warden stood on a high platform and issued the Emperor's edict written in purple ink to the soldiers sitting on the ground below, "His Majesty has decreed that the minimum value of each military estate shall be seven gold pounds for cavalry, four gold pounds for infantry, and three gold pounds for sailors, not according to Modi as a scale, but only according to value, and the descendants of these military estates shall have the right of inheritance, and may now lease them to the peasants, and if they are leased for one year, the income shall be fifty-fifty; If the lease period is three to ten years, the income is 37, and the farmer who rents the land gets 7; If it is more than ten years, it will be opened. ”

As soon as the warden said this, there was a lot of discussion below, Gawain hugged his knees, looked at the comrades of the inner palace guards on the left and right, and each face was a look of "nothing to do with himself", after all, they received salaries and silk fabrics from the emperor on a monthly basis, and the Viking descendants who held a sword in one hand and a scale in the other reacted very coldly to this practice of digging food from the soil.