Eagle Byzantium

Gawain extended his hand and spared everyone's lives, but there were conditions. "The Oghuz, Kurds, Saracens and Persians must face three choices - expulsion, migration and conversion."

This is already a very generous condition. The so-called expulsion means that you leave, whether you go to Armenia or Erzurum. Next time you can fight against my Gawain's army and horses to defend your beliefs, but here The fields and industries were left to me; and Gawain also chose the destination of the migration, which was all in Heath County, and he went to work as craftsmen in the mines with thousands of captives.

At this time, loud wailing was heard in the square. Some Crescent believers pleaded that women, young people and old people were not qualified to move, nor were they qualified to live in the sweltering heat of iron mine pits. They asked the patron saint to give them appropriate and loving care. arrange.

Gawain nodded and said with a compassionate tone, "I have already considered this. Your suggestions are sincere."

Then the great patron proposed the "next best" plan: Those who were unwilling to migrate were unified into Melitene's "armed group" and stayed to dig canals on the Comaches River - and Sanus The rivers are connected. In this case, Melitene, Tronzac, Vanca and Tarsus can be connected in a line, realizing a shared network of transportation, grains and the most important minerals.

However, the emergence of this canal requires the digging of at least thirty kilometers, but Gawain and Anna have already discussed it in advance, "Ask them (referring to the Crescent Cult) to dig it first, and then send engineers to sum up the gains and losses and learn valuable information." experience, and other more important canal ditches were dug in the counties of Tarsus and Sis."

What a cruel labor!

So when Gawain said it, there was a dead silence in the square. The Roman natives and Armenians who were also kneeling looked at each other in disbelief, obviously showing an expression of gloating, while the Crescent Cultists were so miserable that their faces were as pale as earth. They did not expect that they would become slaves. exist.

Therefore, there is only one option left, which is to convert.

This conversion is also very interesting. The object of the reform is not the Orthodox Church, because it lacks the courage and ability to digest new converts, but the Reform Society directly under Gawain. As long as you accept a new baptism and accept the rules and regulations of the new church, such as "Sins to the church, sins to Caesar" (meaning that your own sins are handed over to religion, and your sins have always been punished by Caesar, in short, it is the state of the church) Separation), "earn one's own livelihood, work for salvation", etc., are registered there, and the process is completed.

After becoming a member of the new society, you can keep your property and family business, and continue to maintain the guild organization in the city. However, the tax is heavier because you will have the label of "new person" for twenty years (those who join this organization will Christians do not have to bear the burden) and must pay an additional annual tax, the "renewal tax", to the headquarters in the city of Bari on the other side of the Adriatic Sea. Otherwise, they will be expelled immediately, and their property and rights will lose all protection.

In the end, when the great patron, surrounded by swords and bows and arrows, proposed "three choices," he forced the Crescent Cultists in the square to express their stance.

The results came out quickly. Eleven thousand Crescent believers inside and outside the city gave up the idea of ​​being ransomed, because Anna Caesar's edict stipulated very early on that "there is no such thing as a prisoner of war in our country, so there is no such thing as a prisoner of war." There is no talk of redemption. "Few of this group of people are willing to move to Tronzac City. The rest, 3,000 people, choose to self-deport, more than 2,000 people choose to convert, and the rest are incorporated into armed groups and dig. Get up the canal.

Of course, it is the men who make the choice, and behind them are as many as 60,000 to 100,000 family members.

For those three thousand who left, Gawain did not let their families go. "The property remains, as well as the wives and children. You can take them away, old man."

For those who were incorporated into the armed regiment, Gawain ordered the transfer of their fields, and together with their families, they were concentrated in the area between the Comaches and Sanus rivers to facilitate management and work.

Most of those who converted were the wealthy members of the Crescent Church. In order to preserve their family property, they became traitor-like beings. Therefore, the considerate patronage was also worried about their embarrassment and said, "You don't have to travel across mountains and rivers to hand over your new taxes to the city of Bari. You can pay them on the spot to the treasury of the newly established Melitene Frontier Fortress District." It will be used to support the border troops, so that you can ensure your own safety, right? After all, there are too many people who want to harm you, and as your guarantor, I have to protect your property."

This measure was set very reasonably by Gawain. Compared with the autonomous policy of the Ikonium region that voluntarily submitted and surrendered, he handed over a considerable part of the military service burden in Melitene to the "new converts", and at the same time It can also drive them and the lower-level armed groups to suspect each other and monitor each other, which really saves a lot of energy.

Gawain even told the confidential officer Philactus: In the future, such a policy will also be adopted in Erzurum, Greater Armenia and other places. He also directly announced that Melitene's "three choices" would be included in the national charter, making it a "Grand Order" level.

In addition, in order to continue to win over the Oghuz Turks in Ikonium, most of them were former subjects of Giliki and are now incorporated into the Oghuz cavalry and archery regiment, as well as the herdsmen in Cappadocia to serve as the backbone of the horse administration. Gawain also announced in the "Edict of the Grand Army" that "with the joint certification of the great patron and the divine power of Caesar, the twenty-four families of Iconium are designated as the true Ugu Among them, the Giliki-Masud lineage is the most honorable. They enjoy the same power as the Roman subjects of Tarsus. Masud enjoys the status of a prince and is hereditary. He can serve as an officer and courtier. , can also freely operate farms, pastures, workshops and caravans, can marry other ethnic groups, can enjoy religious rights, maintain mosques and temples (but cannot hold The Adhan activities of the Madrasa), future generations can study the scriptures and hadiths translated in Greek and authorized by the court of Tarsus (????)... The Patron and Caesar appointed It is not belief, but bloodline, and this must be strictly distinguished... Therefore, the conquered Turkic Persians in other areas will never be allowed to call themselves Oghuz people. The unified name was changed to Turkmens (the Turkmens said that I had to beep the entire Erzurum Mountain Zoo to get such an honor), and those who violated the rules were hanged or beheaded... The designated Oghuz family, Once a child marries a Turkmen, the entire family will automatically be downgraded to Turkmen and will have to leave the fief of Ikonium and settle in the frontier..."

In this way, Gawain returned to the theory of blood, shattered and divided the "faith country" of the Crescent Church, "separated" the naturalized Turks of the original Roma Sultanate from other areas, and in other areas "separated" "New converts" and ordinary believers were "separated", allowing them to contain each other. (To be continued ~^~)