The amount of land is really not small.
Even some farmers here have only a thousand acres of land. If they can get 10,000 acres of land at once, even if they don't grow food but only grow grapes, that's enough! Hilde looked at the reactions of these people and continued, "First of all, I will give these lands to those who are capable of managing them. Moreover, the lands are used for specific purposes. These lands can only be used to grow crops such as grapes, flax, olives, or to raise cattle and sheep. And these lands are free, and I will also give many preferential policies."
free?
Preferential policies?
The two items raised by Hilde made everyone wonder.
At this time, Hilde looked at them with a smile.
"As for how to arrange it, it depends on your performance."
"Yes Yes……"
"Regarding the repurchase of the slaves and lands you have, I will leave it to the treasurer. I have already informed you of my thoughts."
Hilde turned around, but seemed to remember that there was something else she hadn't said, so she turned back and added with a smile:
"By the way, how to arrange the land allocation? After referring to your performance, I will let you know when I have made a decision."
Done.
Hilde left.
The nobles were left staring at each other.
At this time, Alcibiades came in from the other side with a gentle smile on his face. He had heard everything Hilde had said just now. So he said, "Everyone, I am the treasurer. I hope you can tell me the number of your apprentices and slaves, as well as the expected repurchase price within today. And I hope you will not waste too much of my time."
"I'll come first!"
At this time, a mountain miner took the lead.
"I have no land, only three mines! I will keep four slaves for myself, and the remaining fifty-two slaves can be sold. The mines can produce..."
"Really? I've made a note of it."
Alcibiades sat at the table, writing down his message expertly.
Then, he smiled and asked, "So how much do you plan to sell it for?"
"What does your majesty mean?"
"It is difficult to measure the specific value of large-scale industries such as land and mines. Your Majesty and I have not been back to Athens for a long time, so you will need to propose your own prices."
"That, that..."
The man hesitated for a long time.
Finally a price was agreed upon.
"There are three mines, each of which costs fifty minas, which adds up to one hundred and fifty minas. All my slaves are strong men, healthy and capable, and can be sold at a high price in the market. But since your majesty has taken them over, then each slave will cost sixty drachmas, and fifty-two slaves will cost three thousand one hundred and twenty drachmas, which is equivalent to thirty-one minas plus twenty drachmas, a total of one hundred and eighty minas plus twenty drachmas. What do you think of this?"
“You’re too expensive.”
A person standing behind the man couldn't help but complain:
“This is basically based on the market price.”
"With your family's small fortune, can you sell it for three talents of silver?"
The mina was one of the Greek monetary units. One mina was equal to 430 drachmas, equivalent to grams of silver. One talent was equal to minas, equivalent to kilograms of silver. In Athens, the daily salary of a heavy infantryman was about three drachmas, which was half a drachma. It was about drachmas a month, and drachmas a year, which was equivalent to minas. In other words, the property of this merchant, added together, could pay the salary of a heavy infantryman for about years, or the expenses of maintaining a century for a year.
But his family's business is still relatively small.
For example, there are hundreds of slaves and dozens of mines.
The family fortune would probably require dozens of talents of silver.
If these things were recovered in full, it would be a huge pressure on the finances of the Greek Empire.
However, Hilde already had a solution.
The first adjustment is the offer given by Hield in the sixth quarter
So Alcibiades smiled and reminded:
"Well, don't forget one thing, everyone."
"what?"
"Your Majesty Hilde said that the distribution of land is based on your performance." Alcibiades smiled and looked at these people, "Although you may think that money is the most important thing, in the Greek Empire, who can win the favor of His Majesty is actually more important than how much money. After all, if you offend His Majesty, if you are not careful, you may lose your head. Every year, there are many greedy people who ignore this point, and as a result, they disappear without knowing it."
"what do you mean?"
At this time, a man came forward.
"Actually, this is the opportunity your majesty gives us?"
"correct."
Alcibiades sighed helplessly.
"Everyone, I am also an Athenian. I think many of you here know me. I am Socrates' student, Alcibiades. I once served Athens as a cavalryman. So, I understand your feelings very well, but there are many things that cannot be rushed, such as this matter. It is good to love money, but compared with your own life safety, or your own future, how much money is really that important?"
Alcibiades' words.
No one present dared to breathe.
Only now did they understand what Hilde's meaningful words just now meant.
"Moreover, you probably don't understand how Your Majesty treats nobles who own a large number of slaves and land in the Greek Empire. Generally speaking, when Your Majesty conquers a new territory, he will hold a meeting like today, and tell them that if they hand over their land and slaves, they can be spared. After that, there will always be people who are not convinced. At that time, their heads will be chopped off and placed on crosses. From the city gates to the roads, passing merchants can see one head after another..."
"But this is naked tyranny!"
"tyranny?"
Alcibiades sneered.
“Do you really think this is tyranny?”
"Why not!"
"The land taken from you will be distributed to landless farmers in appropriate proportions. The money taken from you will be turned into concrete materials, such as bricks and food, to help these farmers build houses and villages to get through the first year of the busy farming season. Afterwards, after the first year of harvest, Your Majesty will allow them to reclaim wasteland and expand their own land within their capabilities. At the same time, land officials will be sent to restrict the sale or circulation of land. And you who are killed only account for one thousandth of the population, but you can benefit 80% of the farmers and slaves."
These words.
After listening to it, everyone felt horrified.
Alcibiades concluded:
"This is called tyranny over a minority of people and benevolence over the majority of people."
"……I see."
Now everyone has a clear idea of their position.
In Hilde's eyes, these nobles and wealthy people who occupied the vast majority of land and mines were thorns in Hilde's eyes. Hilde had never been a king elected by the nobles, so she did not need to consider the feelings of the nobles. At the same time, because of her policies that were friendly enough to the commoners, Hilde had a very high reputation among the commoners. If you stood on the opposite side of Hilde, you would not only be courting death, but also be against the commoners. Tens of thousands of commoners would benefit from this wave of equal distribution.
Civilians as vested interests.
How could we allow such a thing as nobles causing trouble to happen?
So, Hilde has already given them a chance.
It was originally a matter of death, but now, it all depends on their performance.
So, the merchant who had just asked for 180 minas quickly said, "I, I don't want it. All my slaves and mines are given to Your Majesty for free. As long as Your Majesty can give us a family and a good piece of land to restart the business."
"I, I don't want it either!"
As soon as such words were spoken.
One after another, the nobles took away all their properties.
In fact, the vast majority are unwilling to do so.
However, when more and more people took the initiative to donate all their property, the people behind them panicked. After all, Hilde said that she would see what kind of good impression these people would leave on her, and then decide what kind of property should be arranged for them. Therefore, those who came after were afraid that their names would be written at the end, and Hilde would give them a small manor of dozens of acres in the end. Therefore, the more people were willing to donate all their property, the more anxious the people behind them became.
Everyone crowded to the front, making Alcibiades a little overwhelmed.
And Hilde stood behind the curtain.
When she saw this scene, she nodded with satisfaction.
This is the result she wants.
In fact, Greece is different from Byzantium. In Byzantium, there are vast plains with abundant water and grass, which are very suitable for agricultural reclamation. Therefore, the scale of Byzantium is not very large. It has only 50,000 people so far, which is incomparable to Athens with a population of 200,000. One of the important reasons is that Byzantium has a very developed rural system. Outside of Byzantium, there are villages and farmlands scattered all over the plains. Each village has dozens of households. Hundreds of villages are like stars, scattered across the Byzantine province.
In Greece, there are more mountains than plains, and there is not much land suitable for growing food. Although Attica is a rare plain area, its arable area may not be half the size of the farmland around Byzantium. But Attica has a population of 300,000. Although Hildesh does not need Athens to produce enough food, it must at least ensure a certain level of agricultural productivity. Moreover, after a large number of slaves are liberated, some of the excess slaves need to be resettled to engage in agricultural production.
And, Hilde is most concerned.
It is the extensive farm production model of Athens.
The farms built by these landowners are not large and lack professionalism.
Productivity could not be improved, and a lot of land resources were wasted. Plains that were originally suitable for growing food were planted with grapes or olives. Hilly areas that were more suitable for building vineyards were underdeveloped. For the long-term consideration of Athens' economy, such a drastic reform had to be made.
Section 7 of the First Adjustment: Measures for the Treatment of Coastal Groups
Of course, Hilde and Alcibiades used a method.
It is to stimulate internal circulation.
Their act of donating their property just now has already proved this point.
When someone starts to abandon all his wealth, it will cause panic among others, because the benefits will be so little, and if the performance is not outstanding and excellent, it may even be lost. Under such pressure, these nobles will rush to try to leave a good impression in front of Hilde, and the sooner the better. In the end, a strong internal competition was formed, and everyone rushed to donate land, and even the later nobles, in order to perform better, took out their savings.
Of course, this is also their best result.
If they unite and fight against Hilde.
The sharks in the Gulf of Athens will have food to eat tomorrow.
Soon, Alcibiades' statistical work was completed.
All the nobles who were handed over took out all their property. Hilde not only did not redeem the loss of apprentices and slaves, but made a lot of money. These wealthy merchants and landlords in Athens were really rich. The donations they handed over to show their loyalty amounted to 3,000 talents of silver. If converted into drachmas, it would be at least million drachmas.
One million and eight hundred thousand!
This is a huge sum of money!
Hilde never hated money.
The million drachmas would naturally be used by Hilde to develop the economy, and the economic value of these rich people was not squeezed out, but Hilde thought it would be better to stop there. After that, Hilde would divide the farms suitable for developing cash crops according to the degree of "loyalty" of these people. Basically, every noble family could get a piece of land that would allow their family to live a wealthy life, as long as they were honest enough.
At the same time, Hilde has started a new round of rural construction plans.
The city of Athens was too large.
Now, after the land has been liberated.
Ordinary people need to be arranged to distribute farmland.
Hilde entrusted this task to the treasurer and tribune he brought with him.
That evening, Alcibiades came to Hilde and reported today's work to her: "Your Majesty, we have perfectly completed all our goals today. After these people understood what we meant, they immediately took out all the money they had on hand. They were so scared. This time, the expenses we spent on the expedition have basically been recouped."
"I know."
Hilde looked at the record on the papyrus.
"Not only did I not spend any money, I also made a lot of money."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Alcibiades could hardly hide the joy on his face.
However, Hilde asked instead: "What do you think? Should I take action against the Coast Faction?"
"I think it's necessary."
"Hmm? But isn't your family also from the Coast faction?"
"Your Majesty, to be honest, although my family has become rich through business, we can only be considered a medium-sized wealthy businessman among the Coast Faction, and those big merchants who almost monopolized the trade before are the real rich people. The combined assets of these people are probably more than ten times more than the million drachmas. At the same time, they are highly respected in Athens and have a wide network of contacts. Although they are cooperating with our work now, if something changes in the future, these people may..."
"I see."
Alcibiades was able to offer to deal with the Coast faction.
It still surprised Hilde a little.
After all, Alcibiades himself was part of the Coast Party.
