After hearing what Guo Kang said, Theodora also helped him smooth things over.
"What you mentioned is indeed a very special place. So, what impact does this have on army recruitment?" she asked proactively.
"Of course." Mrs. Elena nodded: "This is actually the most difficult part."
"Roman soldiers were mainly recruited from legion farms. But in the Rus region, the main soldiers of various countries basically came from cities."
"The prince's personal guard is called 'Druzhina', which is the core of the principality's army. Most of them live in the central city of the principality, and some are assigned to various places. Other reliable troops are basically from urban citizens."
"The countryside generally can only provide some levies. Their quality and fighting will are very poor, and they are of little use except to fill the front line."
"The most important thing is, as I said before, the relationship between the countryside and the city is very tense. Many village communities are actually hostile to the prince, but they just don't talk about it because they can't defeat him."
"Therefore, unless it is absolutely necessary, the village community will not send people to join the war at all. Even if it is necessary to send people, they will deliberately choose the most annoying thorns in the village to try to kill them with a borrowed knife and get rid of them. In this case, we cannot expect to have anyone. What a high-quality source of soldiers."
"There's nothing we can do about it." Tuohuan understood this: "If you let people follow you to fight, you have to pay them. Looking at the situation over there, they probably won't give these people any good treatment, right? Then they won't do anything. normal."
"The main problem is that, according to general experience, their efforts are useless." Mrs. Elena told him:
"Villages can never beat the citizens. Every year when taxes are collected, the princes and the citizens often go to the countryside to plunder the villagers. Although some village communities resist desperately, and there are indeed cases where they suffer heavy losses due to tax collection, the vast majority of them Sometimes, even if they try their best, they still can't defeat the princes and citizen armies."
"In the past, everyone didn't care too much about the combat effectiveness of the village militia, but don't we just have the need now." Mrs. Elena shook her head: "So, in view of the situation in the Ross area, I feel that we must think more about it. Method."
"Then how did you come up with the idea of organizing them to join the army?" Theodora asked.
"Unlike other nobles, our husband and wife have spent a long time in the countryside." Mrs. Elena replied: "My husband was persecuted by evil people and fled to my hometown. My father and ministers did not dare to let him stay. In the main city, I hid him in the countryside for fear of attracting revenge. Later, I left Dadu to look for him, and the two of us lived in the countryside for several years. We waited until the storm passed before returning to the city."
"I'm afraid other people won't have so many personal insights." She sighed: "After all, we have seen it in various places, so we always feel that we should...can do something."
"In the past few years, we just helped my brother and did some charity. But last year, I met the organizer of the 'New Sparta Commune', Mr. Persopoulos. Their actions inspired me a lot."
"Oh, it's them." Theodora seemed to understand what she meant.
"What is this?" Guo Kang asked curiously.
"You are bored at home and in the cathedral every day, and you have too little contact with things. I will still take you to various activities in the future." Theodora shook his head and said: "This is an organization that appeared a few years ago. Grandma and I even went to see it.”
"We talked with them." The Queen Mother also said: "Persopoulos was a businessman before and has always been fond of things from the classical era. Later, someone said that the Greeks today are too degenerate, and they had a dispute with him about this. So he had a dispute. In anger, he decided to found a school to cultivate the moral character of young people and let the new generation regain the mental state of the ancients."
"He had some like-minded friends, so he found Marsalis, a philosopher who taught at the University of Constantine, to be the principal. Marsalis believed that the essence of Greek culture lies in wisdom and fighting spirit. Nowadays, there is no shortage of wisdom. But the fighting spirit of unity and cooperation is too scarce.”
"So, they invested money to buy a piece of land in the old land of Sparta, built a school, and taught philosophy and martial arts." She recalled: "I even went to compete with them, and several of the children had pretty good qualifications. of."
"So that's it." Guo Kang nodded: "But why did the school have this name?"
"It was definitely not called this at the beginning," the Queen Mother said. "After a few years of business, everyone felt that it was quite successful, but Marsalis thought that something was still missing. He studied ancient documents and believed that the fighting spirit did not come out of thin air. . Relying only on education is still a rootless tree, and the effect is limited."
"He believed that the fighting spirit of the Spartans came from their form of social organization. It was the Spartan warrior communes that provided support for this spirit. Because of the relatively fair and equal rules within the communes, the Spartans The masters were able to become more united. Later, as the commune gradually collapsed, the Spartan spirit disappeared."
"This statement seems to make some sense." Guo Kang thought for a while and said.
"Yes, so many people were inspired." Mrs. Elena said: "We also listened to his speech at the time. Looking back and thinking about it, we felt that the same situation might be the same for my hometown."
"Marsalis felt that if he wanted to restore this spirit, he had to find a way to maintain this fair rule for a long time. He studied all the information he could find and believed that even Legion Farm was not perfect. So, he also Gotta find a better way.”
"Do you support his exploration?" Guo Kang asked with interest.
"Yes, although the slogan is to revive the Greek spirit, it is difficult for them to get the support of the Greek nobles." Mrs. Elena replied: "We also hope that his research can provide us with a reference, so we sponsored him."
"The idea of 'fighting spirit' is also very inspiring to us. I have always felt that the key to gaining recognition and equal power is to be able to fight. But you also know that this is exactly what the residents of my hometown lack the most. "
"Now, they have purchased another manor near the school and are trying to manage it. If there are results, we will find a place with suitable conditions in Ryazan and give it a try. Although we don't know whether it will succeed, at least You can also provide some ideas.”
"I see." Guo Kang understood this.
It was obvious that the Cao couple did not make this decision on the spur of the moment. They have probably considered many methods and may even have made some progress. This time I decided to join forces with myself, probably because I saw an opportunity and took advantage of it.
For Guo Kang, this is a good thing. At least it can prove that the other party's support is in line with their consistent goals, so it is more reliable.
(End of chapter)
