Anno Domini 830, October-2
"Tell him the following…" I said while taking a sword and a dagger from the supply crates. "You did an excellent job and showed bravery in battle. That is why I must reward you, so take these gifts. From me, the best steel that can be produced in the forges under my control." I said looking at the translator before focusing on the young Serb who had knelt before me.
The Serbian translator I had in the army translated my words into the Slavic tongue and I saw the young man smile and extend his hands.
Quickly I placed the sword and the dagger inside their sheaths into his hands, expecting him to take them and leave.
But before he left, he drew the sword from its sheath and ran the edge across his finger several times, remaining mesmerized as he looked at the steel before putting it away and leaving.
Since I had a long line of Serbian soldiers that needed to be rewarded now that the conflict had largely ended, now that the Carolingians were withdrawing from Croatia.
Illyria was returning to the hands of Rome, and of course now it was necessary to organize the land to repopulate it with Romans. That is Greeks, Armenians, Pontics and all the cultures that have been properly Romanized by the empire.
And now I was rewarding the Serbs, since I was going to take them with me, since these Serbs, in addition to the Croats who had joined my ranks after the withdrawal of the Carolingians from the region, would be important because of their way of waging war. Since every army needs light infantry for missions like this, where the Varangians with their heavy armor had trouble pursuing their enemies in hills and mountains.
So I planned to take many Serbs as troops in my army, since according to the diplomat the Carolingians had not accepted the terms of Theophilos. So the war would continue, and apparently this was happening in Italy. Although the strategos of the region was managing to defend himself against the Carolingian forces in Italy, which were around 14,000 men, and only a few reinforcements were needed for the front to remain stable.
So I had the necessary time to return to the north and see that the extraction of gold would begin.
So while distributing rewards to the Serbs who would continue serving me when I went north, I organized the conquered lands so that later Theophilos could organize them into themas that would be easier to administer, and at the same time I made sure to keep Vlastimir under control, who began to demand that the Croatian lands be handed over to him for the Serbian effort.
Something I did not allow, since this rat was someone to be careful with. If it were up to me, that snake should be eliminated as soon as possible. March to his troops and cut off his head. And make sure the Serbs were divided into themas. But for now he was useful to the plans of Theophilos, so until then the man could keep his head on his shoulders.
So when the first officials of Theophilos arrived along with the new strategos assigned to the six themas that I had created in the region, bringing nearly 20,000 thematic soldiers from different parts of the empire, who populated the area with their families, with around 100,000 people expected to arrive from various regions so that this land would begin to be settled with loyal people. That was when I prepared my journey north, taking advantage of the fact that the war was not yet over and I would likely need to find a way to strike the most important Carolingian regions.
Although the problem lay in the fact that passing through Germany would be a damn nightmare, since the Avars had enormous problems when raiding Germany due to all the castles of the feudal lords, in addition to the dense forests, which made cavalry operations very difficult as a military maneuver.
But with winter approaching, it was better to spend that time supervising my new holdings rather than returning to Crete, since securing the gold in the Carpathians would be enough to pay for anything I could think of. And the only real problem would be inflation from extracting so much gold, but with a monetary policy like that of Theophilos, which sought stability, it should be more than enough to ensure nothing goes wrong while gold is extracted in large quantities.
So with nearly 40,000 men we marched north using the roads we had secured, and local forces joined us along the way, while the thematic troops replaced my men in the local fortresses.
Meanwhile I once again crossed all the hills, mountains and rivers of the region until I reached Carpathia.
As I crossed the Danube I could notice the immediate effects of the time I had not personally been in the region, since there were vast stretches of plowed land along the river, where small Varangian Slavic settlements were beginning to rise, guarding large expanses of land ready for the next harvest. The preparations for winter were clearly visible.
Thus as we advanced toward the capital of Carpathia, observing larger and larger settlements, and noticing the commercial flow along the Danube, which was carried out by Varangian drakkars, as it was common to see them sailing along the river transporting goods in their holds.
"It seems your people have adapted well to the place." I said looking at Sigurd while keeping the normal pace of my horse.
"The climate is good, or so I think, since most of the time we have been here it has always been autumn, almost reaching winter, but winter is not as harsh as in the north, so I would say anything that does not reach the temperatures of Svearike is better… it may not be Crete with its warm climate, but this place is much better than our home." Sigurd replied, drinking from his canteen.
"It is now a matter of completely stopping any incursions into Roman lands, and these lands will be yours for several generations, although of course that means you will have to fight hard to keep them, considering that many tribes seek to be in this place to raid the Roman frontiers." I said while observing the large herds of animals that were in the villages that belonged to the Slavs.
Talking along the entire road, the further north we advanced the more noticeable the presence of my architects became, since there were several towns that clearly had been built by Greek architects. It was visible in the style of construction, which was inspired by the buildings of Constantinople, only using much less wood and using bricks with cement.
Although there was also a strong presence of barbarian masonry, since all the buildings had some decorations, such as runes, stones or other things that gave an exotic touch to the Greek buildings.
Observing some cities along the Danube I noticed that trade was the most developed, since many drakkars would usually stop and unload construction materials that had to arrive through our logistical network.
Finally, after days of marching and after a large camp of followers had formed, which were mostly merchants trying to sell their goods and Slavs trying to sell and buy animals that had been captured, we had finally arrived at the capital of Carpathia.
Although Carpathia had been administratively divided into four sectors with their own governors, they were all brothers of Sigurd who were in charge of managing the military forces, although his older brother, Hjalmar, was the one who led the group of brothers.
Leaving two governors more focused on civil matters and two governors more focused on military matters, centered on defending the Carolingian frontier and securing the entrance to the Carpathians against the Slavs.
Although if the integration of the Slavs into a Varangian Greek culture was done properly, it was likely that we would invite more tribes to join the governance of the foederati, since there was a lot of land for so few people. According to my most generous estimates, we should only have around 2 million inhabitants.
Discounting women, the elderly and children, that would leave us with around 300,000 to 500,000 men fit for military work, so the policy of attracting more people would be the best option, but trying to generate a certain cultural stability, because the moment I leave or there is no strong power like Sigurd's brothers, this will turn into a powder keg of war trying to control the region.
"Well, they have certainly been working…" I said observing the perimeter walls of the city that had already been raised, and it was clear that they had copied the system of Constantinople, with wide and thick walls creating defenses around the Danube.
"Yes… something like that the messengers told me. Many Roman workers arrived, many architects and many workers from the cities, since taxes were low, so many people came looking for land, or at least that is what I was told, so there are many workers building the city." Sigurd replied.
"Oh, it is good to know… I doubt there are many among them who can read and write, but if there are they should be used in administration… good, let us enter." I said pointing with my horse while greeting the guards, who did not take long to open the gate, since they had used a portcullis system.
While the gates were opening I ordered the army to camp outside the city, since I still did not know what was happening inside nor if there was space available to house nearly 50,000 men returning from the campaign.
But what I did do was release the Slavs, Vlachs and Rhomaioi from their service temporarily so that they could return to their homes for the winter, while I kept the Varangians and the Serbs under my command, which greatly reduced the army, since within moments 32,000 men had begun to return to their homes taking their loot with them.
So I finally entered the city with some Varangians and we observed everything that had been built while I was away.
At first glance it was clear that there was a system of sewers and cisterns, since I noticed the entrances to those places, which indicated that the city had been built properly. Construction of multiple residential buildings was advancing, and the area near the Danube had a large number of ports and warehouses linked to the Varangians, since they were the ones who managed trade along the river, trading with all the settlements that extended along the Danube.
In some residential sectors two things had been built that I had asked Leo to design in order to make them as efficient as possible for their purpose, a public school, already thinking about the idea of Romanizing the Varangians and Slavs.
Since neither of the two groups had a very advanced writing system, it would be easy to educate them in Greek and make it remain as a second language, and then try to turn it into the main language, but that would be decided by time, since these processes of assimilation take many generations.
And the other was closer to a hospital, trying to have emergency areas and areas where people could work and be educated in healing, since no one knows when a pandemic could arrive through rats or anything else.
So all of this was very important when planning the city, since in theory there should be one of these buildings for every 20,000 inhabitants, trying to ensure that the service was stable and of sufficient quality so that people would have more reasons to want to live here.
More than observing the workers and the inhabitants of the city, who were Varangians and Slavs, the city was more like a construction site, where one could only see workers moving wooden planks, moving bricks or preparing the ground to raise more buildings.
In addition to the foundations of more internal walls, preparing to turn this city into a great fortress if necessary.
Well… it is time to speak with Hjalmar before departing to look for those gold mines.
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