The thought of picking up the newspaper and reading it lasted only a moment, and the thought of hearing her son's small cry vanished from Sheila's mind. She picked up her baby, looked at her little lips and sucked it, and unbuttoned her shirt to breastfeed her son. The joy of being a mother filled Sheila's body, and she didn't have any other thoughts.

In the study, Senator Patrick was talking with his father-in-law, Maximi, about his latest victory. The 150,000 Eastern Roman legions entered Bulgaria and Romania by land and sea, and the largest force in the region could recruit no more than 10,000 troops, far inferior to the Eastern Roman legions in terms of equipment and training. Just after the New Year's Day of 340 of the Great Song Dynasty, the Eastern Roman legions had eliminated the rebels, and all the other forces that did not want to be eliminated surrendered and came to Constantinople with their families to pay allegiance to the Eastern Roman Emperor.

"The empire is now safe!" Patrick happily recounted his expectations.

Maximi had peace in mind after the war, "the need to hasten the establishment of provinces in Bulgaria and Romania." Bulgaria and Romania need to be divided into several provinces as soon as possible. ”

After hearing this, Patrick nodded again and again, "The patriarchs are also talking about this, this is the father-in-law who brought it up first, right?" ”

Maximi did not answer this question, and it was Tiberius who first put forward this idea, and when the Eastern Roman Empire was interested in recovering Bulgaria and Romania, Tiberius had the foresight to divide the two regions by establishing new provinces, so as to achieve the goal of complete occupation and digestion. Maximi asked Patrick, "What do the senators think of this plan?" ”

"The patriarchs are supportive. It's just that some people want to be the governor of the province of Shinji, which is too ugly. Patrick's tone was a little disapproving. The Roman governors had a bad reputation, and from the time of the Republic onwards, they exploited the provinces. When Caesar went to Spain to be a governor, he left a passage in which when they came to Spain, the Spaniards were rich and the Romans were poor. By the time they were gone, the Romans were laden with wealth and left poor Spain behind. If this is in the Great Song Dynasty, it will probably be three feet to the ground.

Maximi immediately admonished his son-in-law, "The western aristocracy wants the plains of Romania, and you must not mention this." Anyone can mention it, but don't mention it. ”

Patrick did not hide the central matter when the old man told him, he recounted the recent situation, "However, the nobles on our side are now jumping up and down. Some people say that the imperial court wants to divide the land for the legions. ”

"Don't believe that. The imperial court had managed to eliminate the rebellious nobles, and now how could it be possible for the legions to own the land. Those plains will be the new granary of the Empire, and if you come out and speak at this time, you will be immediately used. Patrick, as long as Suren can sit firmly in the position of Minister of Agriculture, many things will be easy to do in the future. It's just a few years earlier and a few years later. If you're being taken advantage of, someone is bound to deal with Suren. ”

Patrick was shocked, he thought his father-in-law was a scholar, not a strategist. What he heard at this time was an incisive discussion of personnel, which made Patrick's opinion of his father-in-law change greatly. However, Patrick had some pantothenic acid in his heart, Suren, a small nobleman in the east, was suddenly about to soar into the sky, and he saw that he might become the Minister of Agriculture in the new policy of the Eastern Roman Empire. His wife, Sheila, was indeed born into a family of scholars and received a good education, but all she lacked was opportunities. Su Lun actually took advantage of the changes of the times to soar to the sky, and Patrick's status in the future will be under Su Lun. Such a change...... It's completely different from the old days.

In the meeting room of the provincial office, the Duchess of Bardon was chatting with Yang Sixian, the director of the office, over tea, and the two happened to talk about Sulun. Duchess Bardon said sincerely: "Thank you to the province for helping my niece and son-in-law, without the province, this child is just farming at home." ”

Yang Congrong smiled slightly, "I think Your Excellency is the one who is really capable." Director Xie, who was in charge of the previous term, was still worried that Sheila's temper would not be able to get married, but he didn't expect that the Barden-Crecius family had become the most prominent family alliance in Eastern Rome in such a short period of time. ”

The duchess smiled slightly, but she was not happy in her heart. No one likes the strong to focus on their own strength, but it's unavoidable. The Balden-Cresius family was indeed a very powerful family alliance in the Eastern Roman Empire at this time, and this family alliance actually controlled more than 400,000 acres of land, ranking first in Eastern Rome in terms of production. In addition to huge land and huge wealth, this family already has two patriarchs, Patrick and Sheila. Sheila's elder brother was a lieutenant general of the legion, and at this time was fighting against the slave dynasty of the Faith in God on the Mongol side of Damascus. If victory comes, Cicelius will become the captain of the legion fighting the heathen. Among the Roman legions, they would be ranked in the top 50.

In addition to land, commerce, and legions, in the Eastern Roman court, Suren was likely to become Minister of Agriculture, and Maximi was said to be a future Vice-Minister. Because the republic was a consul system, there was no title of consul in the imperial era. So the consul was renamed Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Even a great nobleman like the Barden family has never reached today's heights.

After stabilizing her mind, Duchess Bardon said sincerely: "Your Excellency Yang, I have not come to visit this time to show off my family, but to pay tribute to Your Excellency, and look forward to more cooperation with the province. ”

Yang Sixian was very satisfied with this statement, the province had already passed the cultivation period of Eastern Rome at this time, and had begun to enter the harvest stage of cultivation and harvest at this time. The stronger the collaborators, the more sincere the cooperation, and the greater the benefits to the province. Yang Sixian replied: "Our Great Song Dynasty has always been very willing to have friendly exchanges with civilized countries. I think Your Excellency has already felt this. ”

Duchess Bardon was a little tired in her heart, she didn't like literati very much, civilized country or something, in the eyes of Duchess Bardon, who was a woman, it was just a term coined by men when they were full of food and bragging. But as a woman, the Duchess knew very well who the strong were, and the strong did not like to be puffed up against their ideas, no matter how boring they were. The duchess replied seriously: "I understand the greatness of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty is not keen on gaining benefits by conquest. So I am very willing to cooperate with Da Song. ”

"Your Excellency, we think that what Eastern Rome needs most now is currency, that reliable currency. Whether it is Europa or Eastern Roman food stamps, or banknotes that will be issued by the Eastern Roman Empire in the future, they all belong to this category. And this currency must be valuable, collateralized. It can't be the kind of thing that is issued randomly without a principal. I don't know what you think. ”

"Of course I agree with Your Excellency!" The Duchess immediately became serious. Any civilized country is bullshit, and Yang Sixian's view of currency is what really makes sense. The Duchess said angrily, "Your Excellency, I don't believe in those oaths, I don't believe in any guarantees. At my age, I've seen too many scams and too many big words. Something valuable is the only thing that can be trusted, and I very much agree with you. ”

"Then we would like to open a bank with Your Excellency in the west. Don't worry about currency, we can provide currency as one of the shareholders. But I have to tell you first, we don't want the Eastern Roman court to issue food stamps or other currencies on its own. Do you think you can trust those people? ”

"Huh." The duchess laughed dryly, of course she couldn't trust the court. The legions possessed by the Imperial Court were feared by the Barr and other clans, who were local nobles, and the distrust of the Imperial Court was reinforced by the many messages she heard. No one in the court was a good man or a woman, and those people would bargain in the face of powerful provinces to issue food stamps, and the food stamps that should have been used to buy grain were intercepted by those people for the court's own private use. If it weren't for the Baldons' power, the legion would have to give them a blank stitch. Those who do not have the power to sell grain receive only one part of the stamps, and the other part of the income is a blank slip that will take months to be cashed into food stamps.

"What questions do you have about the cooperation in the construction of the bank?" Yang Sixian asked knowingly.

"No, there is no question. I am willing to cooperate with the province. The Duchess replied decisively.

"That's good. With your strength, your bank can easily get rich. Future cooperation will be discussed later. ”

Coming out of the office, Duchess Bardon only felt that the sky was blue and her body was comfortable. Although her daughter-in-law Sheila has a very close relationship with the office, no matter how close it is, it is not as close as establishing a direct relationship with the office. Everything needs to be in your own hands.

Thinking that her grandson might grow up to be the heir to the most prominent family in the Eastern Roman Empire, Duchess Baldon was very happy. Sitting in the carriage, the duchess calculated the direction of cooperation. Yang Sixian told the duchess very clearly that the province was completely resistant to the usury of Qian Zhuang, and would not allow Qian Zhuang to take advantage of the crisis of other people's property to release debts that they could not pay off, so as to seize those people's land through debt collection.

Listening to such a clear description, the duchess was very suspicious of how many hurtful things the Great Song man who was full of morality and justice on the other side had done. If he hadn't done it, how could he have been so clear about how to do these things. It is through these operations that the rich continue to acquire land, and only by ruthlessly seizing the last refuge of the poor can the vast estates of the rich be built.

However, the Duchess is not prepared to fight against the province, and Sheila's experience proves that the province will reward sincere collaborators handsomely. Sheila once proudly said that if loyalty is not rewarded, then what is the point of loyalty.

At least at this stage, full cooperation with the province is the best choice, the duchess will undoubtedly challenge the bottom line of the province, as one of the strong, the duchess knows what kind of cruel methods the strong will inflict on the enemy.

Yang Sixian, who held a meeting in the office, also made a pre-release explanation to the person in charge of the matter, "Our province has countless legitimate means to make money, so we especially do not allow our collaborators to use despicable means to make money." We are upright Song people, we are not a happy people! ”

There was a burst of laughter among the staff of the office, and after staying in Europa for a long time, everyone understood what it meant to be a "happy person". In various folklore, the real magic of Europa was to cast a spell using a magic weapon such as a human entrail. Even the internal organs after death have some kind of magical power, which shows how terrible the resentment has accumulated by the people of Yiqi Joy Industry for more than a thousand years through their own actions.

"We must control the treasury of the Eastern Romans, or at least fully control the right to issue money in the Eastern Romans. One of your jobs is to bring together our allies and work together to get them to support us in the future. ”

"Director Yang, it is said that the plan given by the imperial court is to establish the Eastern Roman Joint Reserve Committee. It is up to a series of money banks to determine the currency issuance. ”

"Hmm. The plan given by the imperial court was the Eastern Roman Joint Reserve Board, or Eastern Federal Reserve for short. It's not good for us to end up directly, so we need Eastern Rome to raise up all kinds of money. It's good for these money banks to come forward. We don't want to stand at the front desk. And what's wrong with doing this, these Eastern Roman officials in charge of finance have already dragged out and shot ten times in our Great Song Dynasty! ”

In the end, Yang Sixian's tone was full of disdain. He had not expected to see capable Eastern Roman financial officials, but if the officials were incompetent and very greedy, it would not only be unpleasant, but even disgusting, even disgusting.

"The Eastern Fed is only afraid that it will not be built well in ten years." The participants sighed.

"Don't worry, if we can't finish our term, the newcomers may be able to finish it. When it is finally completed, our credit will not be erased. Records don't lie. You can do this project, it is very promising. Well done. ”

After arranging the personnel, Yang Sixian continued his work. Now the province's new targets have shifted to the southern part of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Both regions are able to provide commodities, but the problem is that they are not very good at making qualitative judgments. In particular, Ethiopia, which provides a lot of pasture, is historically and culturally a country with a long history and some institutions. There is even a text of its own. The problem lies in Ethiopia's attitude towards the bulk forage trade.

After thinking about things for a while, Yang Sixian began to approve official documents. After approving a few copies, I saw "Opinion Inquiry on the Slave Dynasty War", Yang Siwei rubbed his eyes, and then looked at the title to make sure that he was not mistaken. He angrily called the secretary in, "How did you classify this document?!" Why don't you alert me! ”

The new secretary, a young man, was a little aggrieved by this reprimand, and he explained: "At that time, the director was meeting guests! ”

Seeing that the secretary actually explained such a question, Yang Sixian was even more angry, and he ordered loudly: "All official documents related to the imperial court, you have to remind me when you see me!" Did you hear that? ”