Although the pirate invasion of Ilovan Castle has been temporarily solved, the castle seems to have been reborn and everyone is happy. Especially the villagers. Although they suffered heavy losses due to the pirates, they did not expect them.

The young man who was the lord actually generously gave them compensation to rebuild their homes.

Not only that, Justinian also asked everyone in the castle to contribute to rebuilding the port that was in disrepair and dredging the waterway.

To gain a foothold here, Justinian needed a stable site, so he had to build Ilovan Castle no matter what. If Alexius III knew that he was squandering his property in this way, he would definitely

He was half angry to death.

Justinian looked at the location of Ilovan Castle and pondered slightly. The location of the port here is not bad. It used to be a trading point, but now only by reviving it can the situation be reversed. But he still faced a very serious situation.

The first is the Croatian pirates. From their conversation, Justinian has already guessed that the Venetians have bribed them, which means that this group of pirates must be uprooted before they can get ahead. But currently, looking at his

The power is far from enough. Secondly, with the maritime expansion of the Venetians, their nearest territory, Corfu, is very close to Epirus. If they rise, they will definitely respond to their attention. The Adriatic Sea has always been Venice.

Human beings are forbidden, and Justinian will have to fight them to the death sooner or later.

Justinian made a rough estimate that there were hundreds of acres of wasteland available for reclamation along the coast of these villages. Although the land by the sea was not fertile, it was enough to support more people.

Unfortunately, the water conservancy system is in disrepair, irrigation is inconvenient, the home society is in chaos, and the population is sparse, which undoubtedly exacerbates the difficulties.

But no matter what, stable agriculture must be restored. Only by completing this most basic point can Ilovan Castle have a new beginning.

Justinian took people to inspect every village, and saw that the villagers were enthusiastically restoring their homes. Although they suffered heavy losses due to burning, killing and looting by pirates, the money Justinian gave them was enough to make up for it.

Everyone's face was covered with happy sweat.

Justinian couldn't help but nodded. As long as the rural economy recovers and the castle has a fixed income, he can then repair his dilapidated city so that villagers can set up stalls in the castle to attract vendors.

, the repaired port will then come into play.

Although this may take a long time to be achieved, Justinian was full of confidence.

Riding his horse and looking around, Justinian suddenly pointed to the wasteland not far away from Captain Leo who was following him: "Leo, this area is all good land. If we dig some pools, build some canals, and cultivate it, this area will become a wasteland in the future."

It can become fertile farmland. Then there will be a bumper harvest next year."

But Leo nodded first, and then said helplessly: "But Mr. Justinian, we really don't have enough young people. Besides, the population here is not large, so I'm afraid we don't need that many."

Land!"

There was nothing wrong with what Leo said. In fact, the land in the village was already enough, and he couldn't quite understand why Justinian wanted to open up wasteland for farming.

However, Justinian shook his head and said: "Not enough, far from enough. Now a large number of refugees have fled here from Macedonia and Thrace, and then these lands will be put to use."

"What do you want?!" Looking at Justinian in surprise, Leo seemed to realize what Justinian's intention was.

Yes, all he has to do is take in the refugees. The current situation of Ilovan Castle cannot attract many people, and if the population is not large, then the prosperity here will never be discussed. As long as there is enough land and stability

The environment will definitely attract a large number of refugees, so that it will have enough power to continue to develop.

But the most important thing at the moment is to completely eliminate the pirates who threaten Ilovan Castle. After all, war and desolation are more terrible than poverty! The pirates captured before were frightened to the point of peeing after being tortured, and they immediately knew that they

Everything was told, and Justinian also learned about the strongholds of several other pirates.

However, there is no need to be too anxious about these actions for the time being. Justinian is currently thinking about how to recruit refugees to farm. If these refugees can be reassured, the recovery and development of Ilovan Castle can be accelerated a lot.

What Justinian wants to do now is to restore the military district system within his own jurisdiction. The Byzantine military district system, also known as the Sem system, can be said to be the foundation of the Byzantine Empire. The military districts obtain corresponding land and establish military camps.

The system incorporated free peasants into the army, allocated their hereditary land, and allowed them to become "military-peasant-in-one" field soldiers. They paid land tax, poll tax, etc. to the state, but did not serve in public labor; a large amount of land was allocated to military generals.

Granted, with land income as its basic salary.

The "military district system" is a system that is compatible with military and political affairs and integrates soldiers and farmers. It basically solves the difficulties in soldiers and military expenditures, controls the unorganized state of population mobility, and eases sharp social conflicts. But this

This reform contributed to the rise of the military aristocracy. They merged with the remaining old aristocrats, occupied a large amount of land, strengthened their control over the peasants, and formed local separatist forces with the subsequent decline of the Byzantine Empire. However, it has to be admitted that Byzantium was in this geographical situation.

Under the scrutiny of powerful enemies, this is the only way to go, but it also means that the road to revival set off by Justinian will inevitably cause a bloody storm.

…

After some inspections, Justinian basically understood the situation of several villages in his territory. They were engaged in fishery and agriculture, and everything was going smoothly now that they were recovering and developing. Justinian, who was completely relieved, took Leo and other entourage

Returning to his castle. After a day of running around, he went to visit Abdra who was protecting his hand.

But as soon as he entered the castle, Justinian felt a heavy atmosphere. When he arrived at the door of Abdera's house, he saw a group of soldiers surrounding him, which immediately made Justinian feel bad.

"What happened?"

Justinian looked at the soldiers' expressions and asked suspiciously.

At this time, Vasily walked out of the crowd with an ugly face. After a while, he said: "Sir, Captain Abdra's injury seems to be a little bad!"

Subconsciously startled, Justinian walked into the room without saying a word and saw the doctor taking care of the unconscious middle-aged man sweating profusely. He saw that Abdra was suffering from a high fever at this time, and

His injured shoulder was also hot and red, and it was obviously in a bad condition.

"What's going on?"

Justinian stepped forward, looked at the doctor and asked.

…

…
Chapter completed!