Over the past year, Vitus had recaptured Konya, Cappadocia, Cilicia, and other territories. With limited standing forces, he needed to establish garrison districts to supplement them.
This time, the number of garrison districts rose to sixty-two. Spread across key locations, they would help defend the provinces.
Once he had settled on their locations, Vitus summoned his attendants and ordered them to compile records of wartime achievements and information on the people involved.
The work took ten days. Vitus drew up a preliminary list. Overall, cavalry units had suffered the most casualties and earned the most merit, so a greater proportion of their men would become hereditary officers.
"One-third of the places go to the cavalry? Hmm. So be it."
Numerous nomadic tribes were scattered across the inland plateau, and they were hostile to the Eastern Roman Empire. For a long time to come, the provinces would face raids and rebellions by nomads. The more cavalry the garrison districts had, the better suited they would be to fighting there.
Vitus considered granting more land to some of the military households in the garrison districts, ensuring that each could support a riding horse. That would give him a low-cost cavalry force to handle unrest in the surrounding areas.
The idea drew on eighteenth-century Europe, where Dragoons were commonly used to maintain local order, as with the Scots Greys and Russia's garrison Dragoon regiments.
Dragoons were easier to train. Their horses were usually hardy packhorses or inexpensive riding horses, and their horsemanship training was less demanding. This sharply reduced costs while leaving them well suited to such low-intensity conflicts.
He quickly wrote an edict, stamped it with his seal, and turned to the next question: the supply of warhorses for the standing army.
Cappadocia had vast natural pastures, little rainfall throughout the year,