1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 385: Pilgrim's Path

In the golden autumn of September, the cool breeze blows away the summer heat.

As the sun rises, a small port on the northwest coast of the Aegean Sea welcomes a new day. A temporarily organized construction team is busy expanding the small dock. Slaves are carrying building materials, and workers are piling up bricks and stones, applying cement at the joints to fix them.

This is the coastal town of Yerissos located on the Chalkidi Peninsula. It is under the jurisdiction of the South Macedonia Region and is influenced by the city of Thessalonica. The natural scenery here is very beautiful, with soft and golden beaches and calm and blue sea. If it were in the 21st century, it would definitely be a great place for a vacation.

Of course, at the end of the fifteenth century, overly beautiful natural landscapes often meant relatively scarce fertile farmland. It was difficult to open up large tracts of farmland in these places and to feed a large population, so the road to development was naturally full of difficulties.

In the previous few hundred years, small coastal towns like Yelithos have remained mediocre. Residents rely on fishing at sea and cultivating a small amount of land to meet their daily needs. Their lives are not rich and there is basically no hope of getting ahead.

Since the revival of the Eastern Roman Empire, all industries have developed steadily. Capitalism has brought about an increase in productivity, which has led to a steady increase in the market demand for various commodities. The vast rural areas have gradually become prosperous due to the advancement of agricultural technology and the promotion of land liquidation reforms, and the people live a happy and healthy life. However, fishing villages and towns near the ocean have not been able to enjoy too many technological dividends, and their development speed lags significantly behind that of inland rural areas.

In the autumn of 1475, a capitalist councillor in the South Macedonia region who was engaged in aquatic product processing submitted a research report to the imperial government, stating that there was a serious population loss in coastal fishing villages. Many fishermen left their homes in pursuit of a better life. Except for some skilled ones who chose to go to the city to work as craftsmen, most of them moved into inland villages and began to grow crops and harvest grain.

The members of parliament believed that for a maritime hegemonic empire like the Eastern Roman Empire, fishermen were more important than farmers and citizens. They had been fighting the ocean since childhood and were more adaptable to wind and waves. Every fishing village was a natural training base for sailors. Protecting fishing villages was protecting the future of the empire.

Although the congressman's words were biased and everyone knew that he was probably doing it for his own business, the government accepted his suggestion and immediately began to improve the conditions of the fishing village. It revitalized the Eastern Roman fishing village by issuing support policies, regulating the aquatic product market and providing fishery technology.

The ocean, which occupies about 70% of the earth's surface, is undoubtedly a valuable asset of mankind. However, in this era, the various minerals in the ocean are completely impossible to mine. In addition to shipping convenience, the only thing the ocean can provide for mankind is various seafood.

Live by the mountain, live by the sea. The Aegean Sea is rich in various aquatic products. If we can utilize them, we can still create considerable value.

Before the Eastern Roman Empire decided to revitalize the fishing villages, the person who made the greatest contribution to the Aegean aquaculture industry was the late Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. This famous conqueror in the original time and space was a very fond of food, especially of all kinds of seafood. During his reign, he had repeatedly asked coastal fishermen to provide him with fresh seafood, including sea fish, lobster, abalone, crabs, sea cucumbers... He loved everything. Even a severe stroke could not stop his love for seafood. The amount of seafood consumed by the Sultan's court every day was simply an astronomical figure.

Under his influence, many dignitaries also learned to eat seafood like the Sultan. With his encouragement, the seafood fishing industry in coastal towns developed to a certain extent. At his request, many places set up underground ice cellars that were available all year round. Administrators stored ice in the winter and used it to preserve seafood in the summer. A large number of logistics personnel worked hard for seafood just to satisfy the Sultan's appetite.

Most importantly, during the reign of Mehmed II, many seafood products that were once regarded as "monsters" appeared on the tables of Aegean people. They gradually discovered that those hideous seafood were not only non-toxic, but also very delicious.

For a nation, the wider the diet, the better. The more food people can eat, the less chance they have of going hungry. This is a simple truth. It is never a good thing to avoid too many foods.

Most of the food taboos of the three major Abrahamic religions come from the Hebrew Bible - Old Testament. This nation that has been wandering for thousands of years has many taboos. Pigs, dogs, donkeys, horses, camels, shrimps, crabs, shellfish, scaleless fish, blood products, animal oil... Nearly half of the meat is not tolerated by the Hebrew religion. Even if they slaughter a cow, they cannot make full use of all the resources, and a large part of the edible parts will be discarded.

Islam also has some taboos, the most famous of which is their extreme rejection of pork. For the sake of so-called cleanliness, they abandon the world's cheapest and easiest to raise large livestock. Whether it can be kept clean is not the point, the fact is that it is extremely stupid.

As for Christianity, although it also originated from Hebrew Christianity and was born earlier than Islam, compared with the other two religions, the food taboos of Christianity are almost negligible. The church only imposes some restrictions on blood products, fat products, organ products, scaleless fish and the methods of processing livestock, and most of them are just empty words. People can eat whatever they want, and no one is willing to meddle in it.

Blood sausage and liver sausage of the Germans, eels and squid of the Nordic people, raw pickled fat of the Eastern Slavs... When these ethnic groups converted to Christianity, they also brought their own food traditions into the Christian world and carried them forward, even though these foods were theoretically contrary to the Bible.

Will the priests care? Of course not.

Therefore, in order to make the most of the seafood in the Aegean Sea, the first step is to expand the diet of Eastern Roman citizens, make them willing to try more seafood, and indirectly increase the income of fishermen by expanding market demand.

To achieve this goal, the Eastern Roman Prime Minister Isurtus arranged for his ministers to develop a plan, which was mainly divided into two parts: the first was to promote food culture, and the second was to develop food technology.

Therefore, when the Iberian War entered its white-hot stage, the Eastern Roman Queen Leonor, at the call of the Prime Minister, funded the construction of the Imperial Hotel, allowing the excellent chefs who originally served only the royal family to provide services to more citizens. Although the Imperial Hotel was expensive, the people of Constantinople had always been wealthy, and it was not a luxury for the middle and upper class citizens to eat there occasionally.

Then, Isult also ordered government departments and universities at all levels in the central province to boldly try Aegean seafood. Officials and students would eat carefully cooked fish, shrimp, crabs and shellfish in the cafeteria every few days. As some seafood was indeed delicious, capitalists and middle-class citizens followed suit, and this trend soon spread to Constantinople and Thessalonica.

In addition to religious taboos, another important factor restricting the entry of blood products, organ products and seafood into thousands of households is the single cooking methods and lack of seasonings. In other words, the dietary skills are not good enough to remove the nauseating fishy smell.

However, the Eastern Roman Empire was a global colonial power and was able to obtain culinary techniques from other civilizations. Some capitalists were thinking about brewing aged vinegar according to the steps recorded in Ming Dynasty books, some food processing workshops had begun to make curry powder according to the methods of Indian immigrants, and some chefs had begun to grow soybeans brought back from the East and make soy sauce according to the methods in the books.

As an ancient civilization with a long history, the Eastern Roman Empire certainly had its own food culture. However, hundreds of years of social unrest and extortion made it difficult for the people to afford even bread and salt, let alone the pursuit of higher-level appetites. The Eastern Roman food culture undoubtedly fell into stagnation and decline for hundreds of years.

In the Mediterranean world at this time, French cuisine and Turkish cuisine had not yet risen. The region with the most prosperous food culture was the rich and romantic Italy. With the revival of the Eastern Roman Empire and the decline of Italy, more and more Italians began to immigrate to the Eastern Roman Empire, and they injected strong impetus into the Eastern Roman cuisine.

As demand increased, transportation and storage became a big problem. The Eastern Roman government did not have any new ideas and continued to follow the example of Mehmed II, setting up large ice cellars in several major seafood transit ports to temporarily store fresh seafood.

During transportation, in addition to ice, the transport ships will also cover the cabins filled with seafood with tinfoil, and some ships carrying precious seafood will also use rubber with better heat-insulating properties.

Under a series of macro-adjustments, the seafood market is booming, fishermen are getting higher incomes, and citizens are enjoying better life.

Against this background, the once depressed coastal town of Yelithos has become prosperous, and young people are no longer clamoring to go to the city to work or start farms. They can still live a rich life by living by the sea.

In recent days, Yelithos has been very busy, with waves of tourists from other places pouring into the town. In the several taverns in the town, the proprietresses are all smiling.

There is a newly opened tavern in the center of the town. The decoration of this tavern is very luxurious. A wolf head is installed as a decoration on the wall opposite the gate. A naval scimitar is hung on the left wall, and on the right is a map of the Mediterranean. A specially invited bard is telling stories from afar on the podium, and several musicians are playing light music behind the scenes. Elegantly dressed waiters are moving among the crowd, bringing delicious dishes and glasses of fine wine to the customers' wooden tables.

The interior space of the pub is very large, divided into four floors. The kitchen and wine table are on the largest floor, the card table and gambling table are on the second floor, and the third and fourth floors are guest rooms. The guest rooms are equipped with glass windows and independent toilets, making them look very high-end.

Even though it has caught up with the wave of seafood revitalization, Yelissos Town is still a remote town. It is very strange that such a high-end tavern exists in such a place.

At a square table near the bar, two drinkers were looking around with great interest. They were both wearing expensive Eastern Roman costumes, silk on the upper body, woolen trousers on the lower body, and leather boots on their feet. They spoke Greek with a slight local flavor, and their beards and hair accessories were no different from those of other Eastern Roman citizens.

However, their skin is yellow and they have a shining silver cross on their chest.

It was obvious that they were all native Elysium people who had converted to Orthodoxy, and they were of relatively high status.

In recent days, many Elysium natives who converted to Orthodoxy have arrived in the Eastern Roman mainland. These people, regardless of gender or age, all wear various crosses.

A beautiful waitress came to the table and handed two servings of sea cucumber soup to the customers, along with a large plate of bread for dipping in the soup.

"Gentlemen who have come from afar, these are locally produced sea cucumbers, carefully prepared by chefs from Italy. I hope you enjoy your meal."

The maid said generously, bowing slightly.

"Sea cucumber soup is a nourishing food for the body and is a specialty of the Claw Peninsula. United Claw Aquatic Products is also the exclusive food supplier for the Macedonian Forest Football Club. If you are interested, please cheer for our Macedonian team and don't forget to buy some dried sea cucumbers as a specialty for your wife and children."

"Thank you, ma'am."

A young native said with a smile, putting a Justinian silver coin into the maid's palm as a tip.

"We watched the match between Macedonia Forest and Larissa Spurs in Thessalonica. Judging from the result, Macedonia Forest was naturally better."

After the maid bowed and left, the two did not wolf down their food immediately. Instead, in the slightly surprised looks of the other drinkers, they closed their eyes, folded their fingers, and began to pray before the meal.

“Lord, our Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this meal. May your holy name be praised, may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…”

“Lord, please bless this meal so that it nourishes our bodies and comforts our hearts. Please bless those who prepare this food for us and those who provide us with the necessities of life…”

"Once again, Lord, we thank you for being the source of all good things. May your glory and praise fill this world forever. Amen."

The other drinkers saw the entire process of the prayer before the meal. Some looked on with disdain, some remained silent, and some nodded in appreciation.

Both Catholics and Orthodox Christians pray before eating to thank God for bringing them food. The prayers in each local church may vary, but believers only recite a few simple prayers or simply make the sign of the cross during their daily meals. Such formal and lengthy prayers are indeed uncommon.

"Here's to your piety, dear children."

The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw a priest with an admiring look on his face.

"I don't know where you come from, but I would like to pray to God for your health and happiness, and hope that you can find your own value in God's land."

"Thank you, Father."

The two men answered and raised their glasses to the priest.

"so good!"

The young man couldn't help but speak as he tasted the delicious soup.

"Everything in the Eastern Empire is so novel, so beautiful, and so advanced. The maid speaking the slogan just now was very cute, and the priest who toasted us was also very respectable!"

"The sky here is blue and the air here is sweet!"

“There is no doubt that this land must be blessed by God!”

"God will bless every land, Sivis."

His companion spoke slowly.

"The reason why this place is so prosperous is entirely due to the emperor's efforts."

"I originally thought that such prosperous scenes could only be seen in big cities like Constantinople, Carthage and Thessalonica, but I didn't expect that these rural and fishing villages also had a unique tranquility."

"Yes, the priests often say that the Eastern Empire is the most civilized and free country in the world. In the past few months, I have finally seen it."

Sivis smiled and drank his wine, clicking his tongue in praise.

"No wonder so many people are trying their best to become Roman citizens. With such low taxes and high welfare, who wouldn't want a better and easier life?"

"Pacheco, what are you going to do when we finish our journey?"

Sivis looked at Pacheco.

"Me? Didn't I tell you a long time ago that I'm going to college? I've already received admission to the University of Constantinople and I'm going to study journalism."

Pacheco said.

"We can talk about other things after we get our degree." "Ha, you're such a fool and you want to go to college? Why would they give you permission?"

Sivis teased.

"My alpacas are smarter than you."

"Of course, my father donated a library to the school."

Pacheco shrugged.

"Although there are more universities in the Eastern Empire, the entrance exams for good universities have become more difficult, especially for the schools in St. John's Academy."

"I heard that the University of Constantinople is going to take the lead in forming a university alliance to share educational resources. I think it's called the Olive Leaf Alliance."

"I definitely won't be able to pass the exam, so I'll just have to spend money."

"Then how are you going to pass the exams every semester? Or just by spending money?"

Sivis curled his lips.

"Is your business so good recently?"

"It's OK. After I learn how to spread news, I will probably go back to manage the business."

Pacheco chuckled, and Sivis looked at him with disdain.

Sivis knew that Pacheco was born in the city-state of Tlaxcala, which was the "City of Conversion" on the Mexican Plateau. It was the first large city-state to convert voluntarily and the first to formally announce the abolition of the local language and writing and to fully switch to Greek and Greek. They gained the most benefits under the new order and directly crushed their old enemy Tenochtitlan. They always regarded God and the emperor as their saviors and were most loyal to the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Roman Empire.

Pacheco's father was a Tlaxcala nobleman who chose to submit to the Eastern Roman Empire because he hated the people of Tenochtitlan. He had a high prestige in the local area. Later, he found opportunities in the exchanges between the New and Old Worlds and established an ocean shipping company with an Eastern Roman capitalist.

What this company transported was not merchandise or slaves, but immigrants.

After the Eastern Roman Empire occupied the central and eastern parts of the Mexican Plateau, the Elysium colonial government was formally established. Since the Eastern Roman Empire did not carry out massacres like the Spaniards in the original time and space, it adopted a more moderate ruling model. As long as an indigenous person was willing to convert to Orthodoxy and intended to make Greek his mother tongue, he could receive God's "blessing" and save his life in the so-called "Last Judgment Day."

However, despite the premeditated and organized attack, the smallpox plague quickly swept across half of the Mexican Plateau. The indigenous people who were unwilling to convert to Orthodoxy could not obtain antibodies through any means, and the population of the Mexican Plateau still experienced a major decline. According to incomplete statistics from the Elysium government, as of 1477, the population of the area actually controlled by the Elysium government was approximately million, roughly the same as that of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the actual population was even greater.

However, because the lives of the Eastern Roman people were too good, only a few were willing to immigrate to the New World. At present, there were only more than 10,000 white immigrants in the entire Elysium, and most of them were minor criminals who were forcibly exiled in recent years.

The Elysium government is mainly run by priests. For now, they are the most friendly class to the indigenous forces. Under the exploitation of capitalists and immigrants, the local indigenous people can only regard the priests with universal ideas as an umbrella. This political model has greatly accelerated the speed of indigenous conversion and made some moderate indigenous people willing to accept Orthodox ideas, but this is far from enough.

As an outsider, if they did not want to gain greater benefits at the cost of completely destroying the local political model, they had to support local forces. The Eastern Roman Empire granted a large amount of land in Elysium to friendly forces, making them large landowners. The Tlaxcalans who converted first naturally gained the most benefits.

In addition to the mandatory requirements of faith and language, these patrons also had to change their clothing traditions, food traditions, and behavioral habits, and completely transform themselves into Romans.

Then, the Eastern Roman Empire also made some arrangements for the marriage system. White men who immigrated there could only marry indigenous women. Naturally, they could only have one wife, but no one could control their mistresses. Indigenous landlords of marriageable age who were willing to be "friendly" also had to marry a white woman, and the mixed-race children born to them and the white woman had to be taken as heirs. Mixed-race Romans could receive more preferential treatment.

If the heirs of the indigenous landowners are not mixed-race, then sorry, the inheritance tax will be increased tenfold.

The colonial government of the Eastern Roman Empire had absolute military suppression and absolute say in the redistribution of benefits. Anyway, there were more people than porridge, and there were a lot of people rushing to express their loyalty.

In addition, during its heyday, the Aztec Empire had established a very complete administrative system, a relatively complete education system and a large number of fairly good infrastructures. The Eastern Roman Empire did not destroy them all, but chose to inherit them, replacing the local language with Greek, the local history with Roman history, and senior administrators and senior educators with friendly persons, who were naturally subject to the same requirements.

As a result, Elysium developed a strong demand for white women. They did not care about their appearance or identity, as long as they could speak Greek, have Roman citizenship, and help them inherit the family property stably.

Furthermore, although the arrival of the colonists caused a rapid decrease in the population of the Mexican plateau, it also brought about a rapid increase in productivity. Oxen, horses, simple fertilizers, pyrethrum pesticides, Adrian fluid, iron tools... These things were first promoted on church land, and then more and more landlords used them on their own farmland. Every month, a large number of Eastern Roman ships loaded with various farming materials were shipped to the New World. Due to the large number, the freight costs were well spread out. Elysium's agricultural productivity experienced an explosive increase, and the grain market prospered abnormally.

As the saying goes, one cow is worth ten men. The rapid agricultural innovation caused the old Aztec labor-intensive agriculture based on a large population to collapse. Farmers no longer needed to hire so many tenants. The farmland that once required twenty people to cultivate and manage now only required two people.

However, the rising agricultural output did not allow ordinary people in Elysium to live a much better life than before. The Eastern Roman capitalists and indigenous landlords joined forces to manipulate grain prices. The capitalists first threw a large amount of grain into the market, making it impossible for small and middle peasants to even recover their planting costs. The indigenous landlords took the opportunity to encroach on farmland and implement a monopoly. After the preliminary preparations were completed, they began to raise grain prices, reap people's property, and continue to occupy a large amount of land.

In order to keep grain prices high, indigenous landlords would sell large quantities of grain to Eastern Roman capitalists, who would ship the grain to the Mediterranean world. Even if the grain could not be transported away, they would let it rot in warehouses and would never sell it at low prices to ordinary people.

If this happened in Europe, this situation would undoubtedly cause a large number of workers to move to cities for work, indirectly promoting the development of large cities and the emergence of capitalism. However, Elysium was different. The agricultural technology here was forcibly improved, and other industries failed to keep up. After the Eastern Roman Empire acquired smelting and textile technologies from the East, a large number of iron tools, shoes, hats and clothing that could not be sold in the Old World were sold to the New World, which in turn brought about a wave of bankruptcy for local artisans in Elysium.

This is one of the reasons why in the Elysium colony, those who were most enthusiastic about promoting the Eastern Roman clothing culture were never the priests, but the Eastern Roman capitalists of all sizes and the indigenous compradors who reached agreements with the Eastern Roman capitalists.

In this context, a large number of Elysium farmers poured into the cities, but the cities still could not support such a large population. Major cities fell into a state of universal poverty. The vested interests who surrendered to the Eastern Roman Empire earlier made a fortune, while their own compatriots were in poverty.

Return to the countryside? The big landlords had already swallowed up all the land, and even if it was abandoned, they would not allow people to reclaim it at will. This was their private property, purchased through legal means and protected by colonial law.

Revolt? If they did, the first to rise up would probably not be the Eastern Roman colonists, but their own compatriots, the upstarts who had made their fortunes under the Eastern Roman colonial system.

These people living in poverty have nothing but to go to church and pour out their troubles to the priests. In this absurd land, in this materialistic world, only the priests are willing to provide them with some shelter. Although it cannot be guaranteed in the long run, the weekly relief food is distributed on time. Even though the capitalists and indigenous landlords strongly oppose it, believing that it will make the civilians develop the bad habit of "laziness", the priests still distribute it without error.

The priests were also very sympathetic to the plight of the local people, but they were helpless - although the activities of the Eastern Roman capitalists and indigenous landlords were very disgusting to them, they were indeed legal and compliant.

Capital has been soaked in blood and filth since its birth, and the progress it brings is nothing more than a means of expanding capital. As an emperor, all Isaac can do is to protect his people as much as possible.

After all, there probably won’t be many rulers who would choose to regress to feudalism, “de-urbanize,” and return to rural society because of the sacrifices brought about by the development of capitalism and urbanization.

The priests would sigh and tell the natives who came to seek asylum that things should not be this way. In the empire, everything was so beautiful, everyone was well fed and clothed, and there was abundance everywhere. The emperor protected all his subjects, children could enter official careers through studying, people from rural areas could become craftsmen by learning skills, and a commoner could become a wealthy capitalist with his own wisdom and trample the arrogant nobles and landlords under his feet.

The priests described a dream country to the natives and told them that as long as they could speak Greek, once they set foot on the land of the Eastern Roman Empire, obtaining citizenship would no longer be just a dream.

Under such propaganda, countless poor natives dreamed of setting foot on the homeland of the Eastern Roman Empire and becoming citizens. They had nowhere to go, so they waited at the port with their families, asking every passing sailor about the price of the ticket.

As a result, some capitalists and some indigenous compradors saw business opportunities. They would modify the former slave ships, slightly improve the comfort level, and use relatively low tickets to attract the poor and destitute, setting the highest price they could accept, exploiting their last bit of blood and sweat, and then throwing them directly into the ports of North Africa or the Balkans to fend for themselves.

Of course, the ship was not empty. The bottom cabin with the worst living conditions belonged to the poor immigrants, while the upper cabins belonged to the high-ranking natives. They would go to the Eastern Roman Empire, choose the female citizens of their choice to marry, and fulfill the mandatory requirements of the colonial government.

Although these people are considered indigenous, they also have their own unique advantage - they are rich.

Over the years, the gender ratio in the Eastern Roman Empire had been somewhat imbalanced. The improvement of obstetrics and gynecology had greatly reduced the rate of difficult labor for women. However, continuous wars, development, navigation, colonization and exile had caused a large number of male citizens to die or go overseas. The proportion of women actually exceeded that of men.

Of course, the main factor causing this phenomenon is the surrender of Turkic women. In the Muslim world, women cannot control the means of production, participate in government affairs or become clergy. Their fanaticism for religion is far lower than that of men. In addition, they have a relatively gentle personality and have no concept of ethnicity. Therefore, there are far more Turkic women willing to convert than men.

These extra women either work as low-level laborers in the city, or become prostitutes or mistresses. Their living standards are very low, not to mention the dignity and freedom as human beings. It is a good thing that they now have more choices.

As a result, a series of industrial chains thrived under the stimulation of money. Pacheco's father was an "immigration agent" who relied on deceiving his compatriots and sucking their last blood.

Poor natives would often sell their property for a ship ticket and cut off all ties with their hometown. The native landlords continued to expand the area of ​​their private land and continued to collude with the Eastern Roman capitalists.

They could make a lot of money by relying on agricultural output, and all kinds of luxury goods needed for life could be purchased from Eastern Roman capitalists. The improvement of agricultural technology meant that they no longer needed so many tenant farmers. For them, these extra poor people were no longer good labor, but a "powder keg" that could trigger riots at any time.

In order to stimulate the immigration market, Eastern Roman capitalists and indigenous compradors tried every means possible. Some priests were also bribed or deceived by them. They took advantage of the poor indigenous people's yearning for a better life and the extreme religious fanaticism born out of fear, and packaged this immigration as a "great pilgrimage in pursuit of happiness," which had both secular and religious progressive significance.

Therefore, this immigration road soaked in blood and full of fraud was given a nice name by some people: The Pilgrim's Way.

"Speaking of which, can those savages really live a good life after arriving in the empire?"

Sivis drank his beer and looked at Pacheco.

"After all, they are not like us who received three full years of Roman education. They are just a bunch of semi-civilized barbarians."

"That depends on what you compare it with."

Pacheco was a little drunk and was shaking his head.

"Compared to life in Elysium, it must be happy and perfect. After all, here, there is a shortage of people everywhere, there are opportunities everywhere, and it is difficult to starve to death."

"This business has only been going on for less than two years. Some immigrants have obtained full citizenship by learning to read and write, and have passed the exam to become civil servants. Some immigrants have been selected by the church to become priests. Some work in workshops, some work as tenant farmers for others, and some go to Anatolia to fight for a better future, and even become ranchers."

"Some successful immigrants would go back to show off, which further stimulated the enthusiasm of the savages to immigrate. They really thought that as long as they went to the empire, everyone could become a rancher."

Pacheco laughed.

"In fact, only those immigrants who succeeded were able to return home in glory. The information of others could not be transmitted back to Elysium at all."

"However, the current empire is indeed more tolerant. The economy is so good, everyone is busy making money, and all conflicts are suppressed."

Pacheco looked at Sivis with a smile and whispered.

"To be honest, I have heard some news. The emperor's archenemy, Uzon Hasan of the Aries Dynasty, may be dying soon. Several legions have entered Anatolia, and an eastern expedition is about to begin. By then, there will definitely be a large amount of land that needs to be filled urgently. The immigration market will definitely have a bright future."

"The Romans' religious enthusiasm had been aroused by their long-term hatred with the Turkic Muslims. Compared with those white Muslims, they were more willing to accept us. At least we were Orthodox Christians, spoke Greek, and were willing to accept Roman culture."

At this, Pacheco shrugged.

"I have met quite a few Greek Romans, and to be honest, when it comes to piety to God, they are not even as devout as us."

Sivis dipped the last piece of bread into the sauce, stuffed it into his mouth, clapped his hands, and took out a map from his pocket.

"Okay, enough small talk, it's time to get down to business."

(End of this chapter)