Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 690: Does the Alemanni Kingdom have inherent territory?
Now, Xiongtou Village is more like a huge construction site than a village; their village itself is a dormitory.

According to Sergeant Yang, dozens of such places have been added this year. I heard that most of them had problems, which led to new plans from the higher-ups.

At the beginning of the year, the imperial court issued a document clearly stating that the entire Dnieper River Basin would be comprehensively planned and constructed. Due to the huge scale of the project and the backward local infrastructure, militarized management should be carried out in areas where the current administrative power cannot effectively control, in order to improve efficiency, complete basic governance work as soon as possible, and pave the way for future development.

To this end, the court set up as many as three corps in Crimea, with their garrisons lined up along the Dnieper River. In the past, this meant that a war was about to break out and a large-scale field army needed to be formed. But this time, they were not preparing for war.

The villagers don't really understand this. Most people here have no idea of ​​geography outside their hometown. Occasionally, those who have some knowledge just run along the river and do business. But Sergeant Yang said that it's not hard to understand.

The Black Sea is Rome's inland sea, but the coastal areas of the Black Sea have generally been affected by long-term wars and have developed very slowly. Many places are not even as developed as they were two thousand years ago during the Greek city-state era. Therefore, the entire development history of the court is also the history of building this circle of areas.

After all, reviving Rome is not something that can be done by words. If all places develop, Rome's strength will naturally recover.

Of course, this is also true on their side on the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Rome once controlled this area. Through fiefdoms and vassalage, it controlled most of Ruthenia. However, with the decline of Rome, this area also fell apart.

In 1204, the Crusaders invaded the capital, and Rome was lost for more than a hundred years. The Crimea region formed a semi-independent Principality of Theodore, which was attached to the small court of Trebizond and maintained its existence by taking advantage of the conflict between Venice and Genoa. Other places were completely lost. It was not until the Renaissance of Rome that Rome was unified again.

Therefore, the imperial court is also working hard to restore the area. These local infrastructure projects will have to be completed sooner or later.

The locals also knew nothing about this history, and after hearing what he said, it seemed quite interesting. However, as more people came, some knowledgeable people raised doubts, saying that the rulers here seemed to be either various nomads from the grasslands or Russian princes from the north, and there seemed to be no trace of the Romans.

In this regard, Officer Yang explained that this is because the history is too long and this place is indeed remote, otherwise it would not be ruled only through fiefdoms. However, in slightly more developed places, many obvious traces can still be found.

For example, the largest city in Crimea is called "Sebastopolis" in Greek. The first half of the word "Sebastos" is the name of "Augustus" in Greek; the second half "Polis" is the city. Therefore, this city is the "City of Augustus", which is a very Roman name at first glance.

In Russian pronunciation, the Greek "b" is pronounced as "v". Therefore, Russian merchants who traveled back and forth used to call "Sebastopolis" "Sevastopol".

This port is now one of the most important hubs for the export of goods in the entire Ross region. Anyone who has done business here must know this name to some extent. If you think about it, you will understand the origin of it.

Many other cities, big and small, also have this name, not just on the Crimean Peninsula. Northeast of the peninsula is a city called "Melitopol". The Greek name of this place is "Merita-Polis", which means "City of Honey".

Further north, a little downstream from Zaporizhia, there is a "Nicopol", which was originally called "Nicopolis". It was a settlement established by Pompey after he defeated Mithridates and seized the northern coast of the Black Sea from the Kingdom of Pontus. The name of the "Victory City" was specially taken as a memorial. However, later, there were too many "Nicopolis", so the name of the locals is more commonly used.

Therefore, it can be seen that although the previous control areas have changed a lot and are not very stable, there is no doubt that this place has been the homeland of Rome since ancient times.

As for the areas further north and east, the territories of the grassland people that were divided out, whether they belonged to the Romans, he believed that of course they should be counted.

According to him, the Russian states, the Khazars and Rome were fighting against each other, sometimes united and sometimes confronted each other. The relationship was indeed very complicated. But these were all internal affairs of the Roman system. It cannot be said that because the vassal rebelled or even wanted to establish his own country, it means that this is not a country, right? Otherwise, most of the countries here would have little land left.

In the neighboring Alemanni, there are still many people who are against the nominal king Sigismund and want to expel him. If this point of view is followed, then the Alemanni is simply a country without territory.

The imperial court was also very aware of this, and therefore continued to operate here. If it was not their own land, who would bother with it so much?
But for a long time, only the Romanian region in the west was well managed. In the vast Slavic land, only Crimea, an outpost, had a slightly better foundation. So, we had to take it slow.

When the area was first recaptured, the imperial court restored the ancient organization of the Kherson Military District. However, the speed of development here even exceeded the government's expectations, so various administrative agencies were quickly improved.

However, before this, most of Rome's operations were carried out from the Black Sea, along the rivers. This method was similar in all places in the past - the court liked to develop along the river since its establishment. Wherever there was a river, they would go there to organize people to build water conservancy projects and cultivate land, and they would quickly get obvious results, so it was easy to get support from local people and quickly take root.

However, the Russian region was too desolate, and the court had limited energy, so for a long time, the real control area was only the transportation lines of several main rivers and some settlements along the coast. It was not until crossing the Nistru River to the west that the territory was roughly connected.

Now, the court's goal is to "fill up" the areas between these lines. You can rest assured, because this kind of thing has been done many times before. As long as you are determined, there is nothing you can't do. Although it is a bit tiring now, the benefits in the future will definitely satisfy everyone.

The villagers also didn’t quite understand these theories. However, what they were interested in was not the theories themselves, but the attitude and ability of the government.

The villagers here are illiterate and don't care whether this place is really the territory of Rome since ancient times. But the government has made a public statement and sent people here, which means they really want to do something. Because from previous experience, this kind of declaration is actually a declaration of management responsibility, and it is generally not abandoned casually.

Similarly, these historical stories tell us that the imperial court has succeeded several times. They have the ability and the corresponding successful experience. If you follow them, there is indeed a high probability of getting benefits. After providing this expectation, everyone can feel more at ease.

Therefore, this may be the most direct impact of history.

However, not everyone is as easy to talk to as Officer Yang. For example, Father Alexander in the village is much stricter than him.

Sergeant Yang is a foreigner, his hometown is in Romania. He is very young, but he has performed well during his training in the local regiment, and was specially recommended to go to the Alemanni front and participated in a series of battles commanded by Baisai Khan himself last year.

Because of his merits in the war, he was invited to stay when the legion was disbanded after the war. At that time, everyone believed that there would be no large-scale wars on the Western and Northern Fronts in the short term. In the Ross region, although the environment was harsh and there were risks, the probability of meritorious service was also high.

Moreover, according to the tradition of the army, even if there is no war, just the outstanding performance in building water conservancy and roads is also considered a merit and can be promoted. The current Prime Minister Bu was promoted because of his achievements in water control here. Therefore, he did not think too much and reported to the new army here.

Because the expansion came so suddenly, almost all applicants were appointed. As an outstanding talent, he was also assigned an important task, which is why he came here.

His resume was outstanding even among the Romans. However, Father Alexander disagreed.

Father Alexander is a complete local. Except for the time he goes to Kiev for school and further studies, he spends almost all his time in this wilderness.

However, the current situation in the village is that Sergeant Yang, an elite figure from Rome, is very friendly to the villagers, and is easy to get along with. He is polite when speaking to everyone and gets along well with everyone. On the contrary, Father Alexander, a local, has a stinky face all day long, and he always teaches this and scolds that for no reason. He is very strict with his fellow villagers, and the villagers are a little afraid of him.

Sergeant Yang thought that this was not a good idea and talked to him about it. But Father Alexander said that his actions did not exceed the scope of the church's mandate and there was no problem, so he continued to do what he wanted.

His deacon was a little worried about this, thinking that this was not a good idea, but Father Alexander said that it was Sergeant Yang's management style that was problematic.

He thought that Officer Yang had had it too easy in the past. He was born and raised in the heartland ruled by the Romans, and received a standard Roman education since childhood. Even his achievements were made within the Roman system.

He had asked others about the situation on the battlefield. Rome and Alemanni had been at war for a long time, and the people near the battlefield knew the situation. Therefore, although it was on the front line, people were more friendly to the Romans. The environment over there was also better than here.

He told the assistant priest that Sergeant Yang was indeed capable, but his life was too easy. Normally, this was an advantage, because such a friendly environment would cultivate more kind people. And kind soldiers were very rare, which was a great thing for both the people and the army itself.

However, kindness is a luxury in this land. Because kindness can easily be seen as weakness, and weakness is fatal. Therefore, he always felt that Officer Yang was too naive and lacked survival experience. If he continued like this, he would suffer a great loss.

But the deacon and the others didn't really believe it. If it was just an ordinary newcomer, it would be fine; but he was a reserved non-commissioned officer who had been on the battlefield and chopped off the enemy's heads. You said he was weak and naive, and had no experience... Even the deacon, who was also a local, thought he was making a big fuss.

(End of this chapter)