The weather turned cold, and the French side Battleship stayed in the port most of the time. Cruiser carried out its tasks as usual, slowing down the progress of the other side's control of Western Mediterranean.
Sicily Island's land battle continues, French Army sticks to the northern mountainous area, trying to cause as much damage to Rome as possible.
The supplies for the mountainous area French Army come from the north of Strait of Messina. The sea conditions in the strait are complex and Eastern Roman Navy cannot block it for a long time.
Xerxes submitted a report to Central Administration. It is expected that the war in Sicily will continue for another year.
In the middle of November, Perolo, the surrendered nobleman of Sciacca, received the edict, and the emperor summoned him and two other local noble families.
"Hurry up and pack your things and leave tomorrow." Eunuch gave the order with a cold face. Even though Perolo tried his best to find out, there was no accurate information.
"What does the emperor want to do?"
He took his eldest son, nephew and a few servants and boarded the Cruiser anxiously.
Along the way, Perolo and the two other surrendered nobles inquired for information. The only thing that was certain was that they would be treated better than the captured nobles and would most likely be granted the status of hereditary lords.
Twenty days later, Perolo arrived in this city that has been praised by countless travelers. It is said that the total population of the city and surrounding areas is more than 300,000, which is similar to the population size of the entire Sicily Island.
The largest city Perolo has ever been to in his life is Palermo. In comparison, Palermo is not even as good as a city district like Constantinople.
"Golden Horn has parked hundreds of ships, how much tax can be collected?"
Emperor Perolojue was so rich that he probably wouldn't care about anything. When he was happy, he might be able to give out some rewards.
"Let your people leave quickly, don't block the place, others have to do business." Eunuch passed the order and led the group of Sicily people to leave the dock and come to the Caravanserai District area south of Central Administration.
The empire has a vast territory, and there are many people who come to report on their work and meet with them. In order to accommodate such groups, Caravanserai District has a huge area and is composed of numerous courtyards and row houses.
Eunuch walked into a house and chatted with the civil servant in charge of registration.
"I have brought three families of surrendered nobles Sicily. They are expected to stay for a while. Finish your work quickly. I am still waiting to return to the palace."
After checking the relevant procedures, the civil servant opened the registration book and arranged a house facing the street for each of them.
Delivering the message, Eunuch skillfully signed the end of the register and led Perolo and others to the southwest of Caravanserai District.
The streets here can accommodate two carriages running in parallel, and Streetlightss are erected at regular intervals, but there are no street trees like the main roads.
Perolo looked at the three-story stone house located on the street.
"Should I live in the same house as the servants?"
Eunuch handed over the key and a bronze medal, "This is the rule. If you insist on living in a separate courtyard or a larger mansion, you must pay for it yourself."
After talking about the precautions, Eunuch couldn't wait to leave, leaving Perolo and others in a daze.
At this time, a middle-aged man with a sad face walked out of the house across the street. He greeted him with Greek at first, but found that Perolo did not respond, so he changed it to Latin:
"Where are you from?"
Perolo quickly replied, "I am a noble from Sicily Island. His Majesty asked me to come over, but he did not give a specific summoning time..."
Upon hearing this guy's appeal, the middle-aged man's expression was extremely complicated, "Do you know how long I've been waiting?"
The middle-aged man is called Borupa, who is the surrendered nobleman of Serbia.
After the armistice between the emperor and Władysław, Borupa and the other eight nobles were not able to stay in their hometown. Instead, they were called to Central Administration to wait for transfer. In the blink of an eye, they went from last year to now.
So long?
Perolo thought this was just a short trip. If the Serbia noble had been waiting for more than a year, how long would he have to wait?
Unknowingly, Perolo adapted to his new life. The sanitation facilities here are complete, and the toilets are connected to underground sewage drains that can discharge directly into the ocean.
On rainy days, the streets will not be muddy and the rainwater will drain away along the pipes.
Address:\\\\\\.\\\
In terms of drinking water, not far away is the water distribution point of Elevated Aqueduct. The water source comes from the forest in the northwest suburbs. It tastes good and does not taste as salty as well water.
"The only drawback is that the consumption level is too high."
Perolo invited Borupa and other neighbors to have dinner, and spent more than tens of Florin in high-end restaurants! One meal is equivalent to the annual rent and tax of several tenant farmers.
Soon, he no longer dared to spend money randomly. He went to the canteen to eat at the specified time every day. In his free time, he chatted and played chess with his neighbors and inquired about Central Administration.
It's a pity that Perolo was frugal and frugal, but his eldest son and nephew didn't care about this.
The two young people came to the metropolis for the first time and were addicted to the prosperity and entertainment of Constantinople. They went crazy.
More than a week later, the eldest son Roger spent the two hundred Florin he brought with him. His rings and pendants were mortgaged, and all the money he gained was spent.
Most of the funds are spent on a certain theater.
Perolo asked his nephew that the eldest son had fallen in love with a singer and wanted to please this beauty...
"You brainless fool, you have disgraced your ancestors. Why didn't you inherit Norman Knights's bravery? I think back then, they defeated Sicily with just a few hundred warriors."
The eldest son did not ask for the money, but was scolded by his father and became more and more agitated.
"The lie has been repeated so many times, do you really believe it? You know better than me how the first Perolo made his fortune. Did he really get all this from the battlefield?"
He was not the one who was canonized as a noble in the first place!
After the death of the first generation of nobles, there were no heirs. As a steward, he used the nobles' money to bribe Court powerful officials, and luckily inherited it all. He relied on his brains and connections, not his bravery.
That theater has a lot of important people visiting it. I can expand my network and maybe get some useful information. You know, I heard that Your Majesty..."
In the end, the father and son had a big quarrel, and Perolo vowed not to give this guy a single Copper Coin, and would find a time to throw the other person back to Sciacca to avoid embarrassment here.
For more than half a month, Perolo spent time at Caravanserai District, while his eldest son continued to idle outside. One day, Perolo received a notification:
Five days later, Court held a dinner party and he was allowed to attend.
"Your Majesty invited me to a banquet, did you intend to canonize me?"
He asked his neighbors for information and found out that it was just a misunderstanding.
As usual, the number of invited guests ranges from hundreds to thousands. Guests with lower rankings are not eligible to enter the main hall and have no access to the emperor at all.
Borupa tells this Sicily noble:
"You, like us, are arranged in the west courtyard to stay with the hereditary lords who come to perform Hajj.
A kind reminder, don't talk nonsense during the dinner, pay attention to how you eat, it doesn't matter if you eat less. After the dinner is over, come back and eat some bread to fill your stomach."
In early January 1457, at dusk and with heavy snow falling, Perolo followed the crowd through Alexius Gate and walked along the straight street towards the palace.
Passing through the Royal Palace South Gate, Perolo was taken to the courtyard on the west side of the main palace.
Before entering the courtyard, he looked enviously at the main hall, which was as bright as day. A few people in red official uniforms walked through the door and disappeared in the warm light.
"Aragon, Naples, Greece. Alas, whoever rules Sicily does not regard us as one of their own."
He sighed and walked towards the banquet venue. There were many long tables here, and the guests sat together according to their respective status.
The noisiest ones were the Tatars leaders, who kept slapping the table without caring about the eyes of others.
The lords of Circassia, Armenia, Egypt and other areas were relatively quiet. They whispered to each other so that they could size up the crowd who had just entered.
What's there to see?
Perolo noticed a certain look of contempt and stared back fiercely.
Three Norman nobles and nine Serbia nobles have not yet acquired land, and their seats are arranged uniformly in the corner area.
To be honest, Perolo was a little disappointed when the servant delivered the meal.
He once treated guests to a high-end restaurant in Constantinople. The dishes at that time were similar to those now. The dishes tonight were bland, the wine was not strong enough, and there were only some low-alcohol wines and meads.
"The skill of frying the lamb chops is good, but it's a pity that the chef forgot to add seasonings."
Perolo complained softly before picking up several small silver jars on the table, which contained pepper and other spices. He picked up the silver jars one by one and sprinkled some spices on the surface of the lamb chops.
"This tastes just right. I wonder what kind of good food the main hall eats?"
A noble Serbia explained, "I asked Phil of Di Maggio's family and Otto of Gaces's family. The dishes in the main hall are not much different from those in the side hall.
We don't give strong alcohol because we are worried about people getting drunk and making trouble, such as those noisy Tatars. The reason why the dishes are light is because the empire is vast and local customs are different. If you like spices, then put more of them yourself."
After finishing the dinner, Perolo followed the crowd and left along the same road. Twenty guards followed behind carrying stretchers, and on each stretcher lay a drunken hereditary chief.
The road outside the palace gate was paved with a layer of snow. After being trampled by the crowd in front, the snow was no longer fluffy, as if it had been paved with a dirty old felt.
The team walked quietly, with only the sound of breathing one after another, and occasionally the gibberish of a drunkard on the stretcher.
Suddenly, Perolo felt his trousers feel cold. He looked down and saw that the hem of his robe was stained with a lot of light gray snow.
"I spent a lot of money to customize the clothes, and this is just the first time I wear them."
He lowered his head and exhaled a large mouthful of white mist to vent his inner frustration. Later, he deliberately avoided the dirty snow pits until he walked out of Alexius Gate.
Outside, two rows of Streetlights stretched into the distance, with snowflakes floating in the dim yellow light. The carriages of the guests left one after another, and their shadows were stretched thin and long by the Streetlights.
At this time in previous years, Perolo stayed at the Sciacca mansion, entertaining businessmen in the city and manor owners in the suburbs.
Whenever the banquet is over, he likes to walk to the terrace and look down at the guests who are gradually leaving.
"I wonder what the emperor is doing?"
Perolo turned his head, Alexius Gate was like a silent giant, blocking his prying eyes.
He walked hundreds of steps along the main road and looked back again, only to see a large roof covered with thin snow. Maybe the emperor was under the eaves somewhere, observing this City Desired by the World.
Perolo's situation was not as bad as he thought.
The nobles who surrender first are usually treated better than others, such as Tucha of Northern Black Sea Coast, Copts lord Athanasius of Egypt.
The day after the banquet, Vitus planned to send a group of officials to take over most of the Sicily Island currently occupied.
After obtaining detailed land information, he will canonize Perollo Family as a hereditary lord. The territory is the surrounding area of Sciacca, but does not include the city itself. Central Administration will appoint City Official and tax officer at Sciacca.
The terrain of Sicily Island is gentle, and most of the land can be used for agriculture (cultivated land, orchards).
However, the people of Sicily believe in Catholic Church, which is quite different from the mainstream culture and beliefs of the Eastern Roman Empire. They abandoned their Rome identity and regarded Emperor Eastern Roman Empire as an ordinary foreign monarch.
The cost of governance here is higher than that of Serbia, and is only better than those pagan and foreign cultural areas in the east of Anatolia.
The cost-effectiveness of Sicily Island under direct jurisdiction is low. Vitus is considering transferring the idle nobles of Serbia to it and giving each of them a territory.
The remaining land is still the old method. The main cities are under the direct jurisdiction of Central Administration, part of the cultivated land is distributed to soldiers, part of the cultivated land is repaid to War Bonds, and the remaining land is sold to Agricultural Company.
Agricultural Company adopts large-scale operations, has funds to purchase agricultural tools and improves technology, and its production efficiency is higher than that of ordinary farmers.
Moreover, Sicily Island has a large manor system. Those large manors are like tailor-made for Agricultural Company. They are a perfect match.
"Well, I worked hard to expel French Army, and Sicily Island is the reward for this time."
He walked around in his sable coat and finally made up his mind.
The cold wind is howling, the grass and trees in the courtyard are withered, and the water in the fountain pool is drained in advance to avoid freezing.
The bottom of the pool is inlaid with the Marseille gram pattern. The picture is more detailed than the previous pattern, and the style has nothing to do with religion.
Vitus stood by the pool and watched quietly. Not far away, Agnes passed by with a group of maids. She walked to the pool to chat and talked about some trivial things she had heard recently.
Maybe he was tired, Agnes sat by the pool, pressed his hands on the cold stone edge, raised his head slightly, and observed the brown turtle dove on the eaves.
Suddenly, a gray cat jumped out of nowhere. The turtle dove was frightened and flew into the gloomy and cloudy sky. A few pieces of brown feathers slowly fell. Losing its target, the gray cat licked its paws and left the roof gracefully.
"Romanus is going to the front line to watch the battle. Do you agree?"
Hearing the emperor and empress talking about business, Pelato glanced around and signaled the irrelevant people to leave. The two maids at the front were dressed up deliberately, and Pelato didn't care and watched everyone leave indifferently.
Vitus stretched out his hand to sweep away the white snow next to him, and sat next to Agnes.
"Romanus just went there for inspection and will come back in a few months. It's a pity that Manuel is young, otherwise he would have been allowed to go."
Among the children of Romanus, Manuel is eight years old this year, John is five years old this year, and Nikephoros is one year old.
According to the law of succession, Manuel will become emperor after Romanus.
At this stage, Manuel is young and is receiving some general education.
In a few years, Manuel will enter Army Elementary School, and then Army Higher School or college.
This is a routine that Vitus wants to develop. Heirs must know how the army operates. It is better than focusing on philosophy, theology, etc.
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