Along with the black ripples, a large number of silver coins and gold appeared out of thin air behind Animusfia.
"Governor, what are these?"
"These are the gold and silver I took from the treasury of the Temple of Sethun, and they are all here."
Perhaps for ordinary people, this is a fortune that is difficult to squander in a lifetime.
But for an entire country, especially a large empire like Rome that spanned three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa and was one of the best in the world in terms of culture and economy, it was obviously a drop in the bucket.
In the thousands of years after the demise of Rome, until the Renaissance, the Germans and Slavs who occupied Europe failed to regain its glory.
In the fourteenth century, Mansa Musa, King of Mali in Africa, brought 30,000 pounds of gold for consumption on his pilgrimage to Mecca, the Holy Land.
Thirty thousand pounds is about thirteen metric tons, not much different from the gold that Animusphia found in the temple of Sethun.
Fortunately, what Animusfia wants to reorganize now is not an entire huge empire, but only the "Province of Romagna" near Rome, which is about one-third of the area of the Italian peninsula.
This is also where Nero's decree, which currently has no soldiers, can really radiate.
The area in the north of the peninsula, close to Gaul and the Alps, was given full authority by Nero to Boudicca.
The province of Sicily in the south of the peninsula and the territory up to Naples have lost all contact with other provinces.
If things go well, when Animusphia arrives there with Nero's orders, the people who have been ruled by Rome for hundreds of years will naturally be brought back into the jurisdiction.
There is no need to worry about the scenes of rebellion and alienation throughout the south like during the Hannibal period.
All this is based on the premise that Sicily has not been captured by the "United Empire".
At least so far, except for Caligula's unknown origin, all known "United Empire" attacks have come from the Gallo-Alps in the north.
Otherwise, Rome, which had no time to fight on two fronts, might not be able to support the arrival of Animusfia, and would be destroyed in an instant.
There is still a lot that Animusfia needs to do.
"Didn't you expect that this is all that is left in the treasury? Is it enough? Governor."
"I can't say it's sufficient. The total amount of money here can only be considered as barely enough, but I will try my best to find a way to make it enough."
Animusfia said matter-of-factly.
"Yu is really a spendthrift monarch... No wonder later generations will call Yu the tyrant."
"You have nothing to do with this, Your Majesty. Wealth can only be called wealth when it is used. You have done a good enough job."
If gold doesn't circulate, it's just a bunch of soft and heavy metal.
The value of gold is not in itself, but in its circulation.
"Thank you, Governor."
Nero gave Animusfia a forced smile.
"But Yu himself knows exactly how the savings in the treasury have been squandered over the years."
"...I promise you that a new and powerful Rome will be presented to you."
At the moment, Animusfia can only make such a promise.
Because Nero's extravagance is indeed undeniable.
However, is Nero still Nero who is calculating and calculating?
Apparently Nero's current prestige in Rome did not come from her being a monarch capable of amassing wealth.
Just because Nero was Nero.
That's all.
It is not like the two emperors Wen and Jing of the Han Dynasty who were able to fill the treasury until the ropes for stringing copper coins were weathered and unused, nor like the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who was full of martial virtue but exhausted all his savings.
Nero was an emperor like Nero.
"Well, I trust you, you will definitely do it, Governor Yu."
"Please feel free to trust me——but to do all this, Your Majesty will need to make some sacrifices."
"sacrifice?"
Animusfia nodded and continued:
"It's not a big sacrifice. Your Majesty doesn't need to do anything."
"So Governor, what's the price?"
Nero looked up at Animusfia.
"This..."
Animusfia almost blurted out the classic line,
"one?"
Nero was confused.
"No, nothing. Just wanted to ask you, would you like to free all the slaves you own?"
"Slaves? Are you planning to recruit them into the army?"
"exactly."
Animusfia affirmed.
"It's impossible...Governor, you probably don't know yet. Once the slaves are given weapons, they will rebel. Even without weapons, it will be very troublesome once they rebel, so everyone will not even Let the slaves from the same place gather together.”
Slaves in Rome came from all over the world, including Syracusans as close as Sicily, Jews as far away as Jerusalem, and Celts and Germans from Gaul and Britain.
Slave owners were worried about slaves rioting, so they had agreed to separate slaves by race to prevent them from communicating with each other.
Slaves who had no training and were unable to do even the most basic commands and prohibitions were regarded as extremely unreliable soldiers in this era.
Only in the most critical moments would the consuls and Augustus choose to use a small number of educated and trustworthy slaves in the army and give them the opportunity to exchange their military exploits for freedom.
And Nero had already done this.
In Rome, it was an extremely serious crime for a slave to conceal his identity and join the army privately. If an officer knowingly accepted a slave as a soldier without an order, even the officer would be held accountable.
"No, Your Majesty. The soldiers I am recruiting into my army will not be slaves, I assure you that every one of them will be a citizen of Rome."
"But now Rome has exhausted all its manpower——————"
"That's what I was saying, will you free all your slaves?"
"Are you going to give them the status of free persons directly?"
Nero looked at Animusfia in disbelief.
"On top of that, Your Majesty. I want them all to become [citizens]."
Rome's "Law of Nations" stipulates that people who have escaped from slavery are called "free people." It should be noted that free people are not equivalent to citizens.
Although free men had lifted the yoke of slaves, they did not have the rights of citizens.
Only their children will become citizens.
"...If it's just Yu...Yu agreed."
Although he thought Animusfia's idea was too bizarre, Nero still chose to trust him.
But Nero could never imagine why slaves who had obtained citizenship would willingly serve the army.
If they mutiny again, the consequences will be disastrous.
"You have to go above and beyond this, Your Majesty. If you want to widen the gap with the [United Empire], you must liberate all slaves. You are just setting an example."
"You want to free all the slaves in Rome?"
"Yes, I want there to be no more slaves in Rome."
"If we don't talk about the Senate, the citizens will not agree."
Animusfia said confidently:
"Please believe me, Your Majesty. I will make 80% of the citizens agree."
"Where's the remaining 20%?"
"I will no longer be needed by then, and they will agree to the 80% chance."
Animusfia said with a slight smile.
"...Then I agree with what you have done, but I have one condition——"
"Just ask."
"Governor, can you stay here... until I fall asleep?"
Nero makes an unexpected request from Animusfia.
"Of course. Even if I stay here all night, I have no problem."
"...The Governor also needs to rest...just wait until I fall asleep."
Nero said weakly, stroking his forehead slightly.
It was probably because her chronic headache had returned.
Animusfia thought instantly.
The royal bloodline of the Julius Claudian dynasty was actually not good, and epilepsy and mental illness were always a nightmare for Augustus.
Not to mention that the Romans’ diet and daily life were closely related to lead.
A large part of the reason for the decline of the Roman Empire can be attributed to the heavy metal tableware they used.
Lead was the element that poisoned the Roman Empire.
Nero leaned on the chief chair of the Senate Palace and closed his eyes slightly.
The palace was destroyed, and now she had no choice but to temporarily settle down in the Senate Palace.
Animusfia silently added two more things to do on the notepad in her mind.
...
After a long silence.
"Tell me a little story, Governor."
"What do you want to hear?"
"Aren't you from the future? You must know a lot of things that you don't know. Let's start with what you like."
"Then let me tell you a story that happened in Tianfang Kingdom."
"Where is Tianfang Kingdom?"
"This is the Parthian Empire as you know it."
"Parthia...I really haven't heard of the stories there. What kind of story is it?"
"It's a story about a girl who was forced by the king to be his concubine and told the king a story every night. If she didn't tell it well, she would be executed."
"Yu Cai is not that kind of king!"
"Haha, it's just a story, don't take it seriously, Your Majesty."
"snort."
"There are one thousand and one stories, so it's called One Thousand and One Nights. But I prefer to call it another name."
"What is it?"
""Arabian Nights""
