The Second Tune, Section 9: Two People Willing to Surrender
In other words, in the end, Tilika was still the person in charge of Selimbria, or the archon, but the difference was that Hilde only gave him the title of archon, making him a spokesperson for the Byzantine Kingdom to rule Selimbria. Of course, Hilde's guarantee was that she would never kill Tilika.
Life, and reputation.
Which one is more important?
There are different answers for different people.
As for Tilika, he seemed to feel that life was more important.
If he refused Hilde, he would have a good reputation, but it would have no practical significance. The people of Selimbria would forget Tilika in the years to come. No one would remember that Tilika refused to cooperate with the invaders for the sake of the city-state and his own glory. If he chose to obey, some people might scold him, but the most important thing was that he could save his life, which was enough.
So, Tilika made up her mind.
"I, I promise!"
"Really?"
"It's true! I am willing to serve you!"
Tilika quickly leaned down to express her obedience.
Hilde smiled and said to him: "Since you are willing, from now on, you are a glorious Byzantine. Remember your identity and the people and country you swore allegiance to."
"Yes, from today on, I will be loyal to Her Majesty Queen Hilde of Byzantium and a Byzantine who is loyal to the Byzantine Kingdom!"
"That's fine, that's fine."
Hilde nodded with satisfaction.
"Then you should go and rest."
"Yes……"
Tilika raised her head cautiously and looked at Hilde.
However, he found that Hilde was also looking at her, with a terrifying red light in his eyes.
This frightened Tilika so much that he quickly lowered his head.
Isn't Hilde beautiful? Of course she is beautiful. She is the most beautiful woman Tilika has ever seen in his life. Even Helen can't be compared with Hilde. However, when Tilika sees her now, he only feels deep fear. He can still remember that Hilde led the cavalry and rushed into his position fiercely. A large number of soldiers were knocked away by the horses, and blood and screams filled the entire battlefield. And Hilde took the lead, with a spear in her hand like the divine spear in the hand of Athena.
Wherever he went, there was death.
Under such a devastating attack.
Tilika and his men had no ability to fight back.
It was a fear that was deeply engraved in one's heart.
No one could persevere under that kind of fear.
Tilika's feelings towards Hilde changed from contempt and even lust for her to fear. If Tilika were given another chance, he would not dare to confront Hilde head-on. Therefore, choosing to surrender and obey Hilde honestly might be the best way.
Tilika has it done.
The next person is Aeneas.
As the governor of Perintus, Aeneas showed a mentally handicapped performance that was inconsistent with his status. However, Hild was very clear that Aeneas had a high reputation in Perintus. Aeneas was born in a large family in Samos. His father and many people in his family were members of the Samos Aristocratic Council. Aeneas came to Perintus early and worked in this colony. With the support of his father and others, Aeneas quickly gained a foothold in Perintus.
And this Perintus, is he without any ability? Actually, not entirely. This Perintus still has relatively strong strength. Although he is not a very good military commander, he has a good vision. He knows that it is difficult to deal with the Thracians alone, so he plans to establish a military alliance with Perintus as the leader on the surface and Samos as the main driving force behind the scenes, and recruit Hilde as well.
At the same time, in terms of the city construction of Perinthos.
Aeneas also did well.
When Hilde first arrived in Perinthos, he was also surprised by the prosperity and city construction of Perinthos.
This shows that Aeneas is definitely not a coward. He is just not suitable to be a leader. However, as an official, it is naturally very attractive to be responsible for the construction of cities and kingdoms. Therefore, the next person Hilde met was Aeneas.
However, for Bitirica.
Aeneas obviously seemed reluctant to cooperate.
He was tied up and had been in a state of resistance.
"Aeneas, I didn't expect to meet you this way."
"You...Hilde!"
Aeneas was now wounded. He sat on the ground and said angrily:
"You actually attacked us! You will be punished by God for doing this!"
"Curse?"
Hilde couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"But I am God's oracle."
"……snort."
This Aeneas is quite arrogant.
Hilde was in a good mood. She walked around to Aeneas, squatted down, and looked at him with a smile. Although Aeneas was very cruel to Hilde, after all, the girl in front of him was Hilde, the most beautiful woman in Thrace and the pearl of the Athenians. Seeing such a beautiful woman, Aeneas couldn't help coughing twice, and then turned his head. At this time, Hilde said: "I won't kill you, and I hope you can help me."
"Help you? Why!"
"Because Perinthos is already mine."
Hilde found a clean place and sat down.
"After we occupy Perintus, it will become the territory of our Byzantine Kingdom. Therefore, all Perintus people are citizens of our country. Not only will I not harm them, but I will also let them live a better life than they do now. However, it will take some time to achieve this goal. In particular, I need an outstanding talent who is good at internal affairs construction to help me manage Perintus, Selimbria, and even Samos."
"You... Samos! You plan to conquer Samos!?"
Aeneas showed an expression of disbelief.
"So what? I have captured all the main forces of the Samos army. Now Samos has no choice but to surrender. There are more than 13,000 prisoners in our hands in a city with a population of 120,000. If you don't surrender, I will kill and bury them one by one. I don't believe that your Samos council can watch more than 10,000 citizens die like this."
"You, you..."
Aeneas was out of breath with rage.
Hilde's move was indeed too vicious.
For the city-state, the citizen group composed of adult men is the most important component. There are only 20,000 to 30,000 male adult citizens with full citizenship in Samos, and Hilde captured more than 10,000 at once. If Hilde really wants to massacre these Samians, then the Samian Council will be immediately overthrown by those angry civilians. This is inevitable. Therefore, Samos will definitely surrender, and Aeneas knows this.
"So, are you willing to cooperate?"
"I……"
Aeneas was terrified.
Hilde is not the type who talks but does nothing.
It is really possible that she would kill everyone.
"If you are willing to cooperate, I plan to establish the newest Samothrace Province, which includes the three major cities of Samos, Perintus and Serimbria, as well as some small cities in the surrounding areas, with a total population of 170,000. This is equal to the combined population of the Byzantine Province, Apollonia Province and Asia Minor Province. For such a large province, I plan to let you be in charge of tasks such as municipal construction. If you do a good job, you may even be the governor of the province."
"..."
have to say.
This is a huge temptation.
Aeneas couldn't help but be moved.
"I, I need to think about it..."
"There's no time for you to think about it."
Hilde continued, "I know you are a Greek. The Thracian threat is growing. You know better than anyone that your fragile alliance cannot face the Thracians. But now it is different. After the establishment of the Samothrace Province, we have a total population of 350,000, which can maintain the combat effectiveness of three standing legions, and the total number of soldiers can reach more than 34,000. In this way, we have the ability to fight the Thracian king head-on."
"Um……"
Aeneas nodded.
Hilde was indeed right.
"Besides, you have seen the fighting power of my army. If you are willing to submit and contribute your strength to the kingdom, then you will have made contributions after defeating the King of Thrace in the future. I, Hilde, promise you that no matter what, I will not harm your life or the lives of your family. As long as you behave yourself, I will protect your safety."
"...Yes, I understand."
That's all that has been said.
Aeneas sat up straight, bowed his head and said:
"I am willing to submit to you."
“…That’s right.”
Hilde stood up and drew his sword.
Before Aeneas could react, Hilde slashed at him with her sword.
"what……"
At this time, Aeneas found that all the ropes on his body had been cut.
"Remember, from today on, you are also a Byzantine, and your career will be greater than before, limited to Perintus. You are injured, go outside and bandage it simply, and after I finish everything, I will assign you a position so that you can have something to do." After saying this, Hilde turned around and left, leaving Aeneas alone to think.
If Samos could be conquered successfully.
Hilde truly gained the ability to fight to the death with the King of Thracian.
By then, the Byzantine Kingdom will have a population of more than 350,000 and an army of more than 30,000. Not to mention the Thracian King, even if it is Macedonia, Hilde is confident that he can fight it.
The Queen Who Suddenly Appeared
However, Hilde's idea was based on the assumption that Samos could surrender smoothly. Although Hilde had more than 10,000 hostages and was very confident that the other side would surrender, one could not assume the outcome of all things unilaterally. What if the Samos were stubborn and did not know how to adapt to such a situation? They chose to never surrender and even gave up more than 10,000 hostages? In such a situation, Hilde would have no choice.
After all, Hilde did not focus on developing his navy.
The naval force is still quite weak.
Samos really stayed on his island and refused to come out, so Hilde couldn't do anything about it.
After resolving the ruling issues of several city-states here, the Byzantine Kingdom expanded its ruling area from Byzantium, Apollonia and Chalcedon to Perintus. If you continue westward from here, you will most likely come into contact with the Macedonian forces.
However, this does not mean that Hilde has no possibility of continuing to march westward. There are still several city-states with a population of about 10,000 to the west, and there are not many plains in Thrace. If the army can occupy that place, it will be able to obtain a very rich grain-producing land.
And for Hilde.
Now is a very good opportunity.
The Macedonians are currently busy fighting with the Thessalians.
Although they have plans to expand westward, they have no plans to include Thrace in their sphere of influence. Facing the threat of the Thracians, Macedonia's policy is only to protect the interests of its power. In other words, the most powerful Macedonian Kingdom nearby is actually not interested in the territories Hilton needs. Therefore, Hild can immediately expand its power to some places west of Thrace before they react, but that will be considered after solving the current problems.
Hilder's army was not idle.
The Byzantine First Legion achieved such great results on the front line.
The Second Legion continued to expand its sphere of influence in the north. With the protection of the Second Legion, the reclamation plan of the Apollonia Province was completed very smoothly. On the one hand, by cutting down those virgin forests that had not been developed, a large amount of wood was obtained, which would become one of the most important raw materials in the early urban construction of the Byzantine Kingdom.
In addition, the controllable area of the Apollonia province also expanded as the forests continued to disappear. You should know that the Apollonia area is the very rich North Thracian Plain, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side. It is actually a basin terrain with abundant water and grass. If it can be properly developed, it will definitely become the future granary of the Byzantine Kingdom. Similarly, if this place can be stabilized, it will also be a great benefit to the Thracian rule.
After Perintus and other big city-states surrendered.
Other small city-states and villages also surrendered.
According to Hilde's wishes.
The province of Samothrace had been established.
Hilde looked at the map showing the territory controlled by her country and felt quite proud. Although the population was still not comparable to some larger countries, the territory controlled by the Byzantine Kingdom had already exceeded that of the Macedonian Kingdom. Of course, the Byzantine Kingdom could not be compared with the Macedonian Kingdom with a population of millions.
At the same time, Hilde also sent envoys to Samos.
The messenger conveyed Hilde's intention.
When the civilians in Samos learned that more than 10,000 soldiers who had gone out to fight had been captured by Hilder, and that the general Dolops who was in charge of commanding the troops had also been captured by Hilder, this news immediately caused a stir in Samos.
"calm down!"
Faced with civilians who were almost on the verge of rioting.
The people of the Samos Council spoke in the theater.
“This is a conspiracy!”
"How could it be a conspiracy!"
"We sent out more than 10,000 elite soldiers and generals. The Byzantine Empire was established only a little over a year ago. How could they possibly defeat our army? They said our troops surrendered, so will we surrender? Everyone should remain calm, the truth will naturally come to light!"
