Chapter 1040
What piqued Publius' interest was that the finance minister also explained in detail how the income of the treasury was used this year. Specifically, how much money was used for the salaries of the kingdom's officials, how much was used for public buildings, how much was used for the education of the kingdom's schools, how much was used for the purchase of military rations, and how much was used for the manufacture of armaments …
While Mercies was on the stage, Publius was amazed. He was considered an experienced administrator, and from Mercies' explanation, he realized that the management and use of the treasury in the Kingdom of Diónia was very meticulous.
What happened next surprised him even more.
After Mersis finished his explanation, some elders and representatives raised doubts about the use of a certain item of expenses. Although Mercies looked impatient, he still explained everything in detail. He only returned to his seat when there were no more questions.
Publius let out a long sigh. Even though he was just a spectator, he felt a little nervous. He realized that it was not an easy task to hold power in the Kingdom of Diónia. Although such supervision and questioning existed in the Senate of Rome, it would not be as detailed. This required the person in charge to have good management skills, and to avoid the backroom deals that were common in the city-states. Mercies had successfully concluded his summary, but if his answer did not satisfy everyone, it would not be so easy to pass the test …
Publius remembered Tibulus mentioning the assembly of Diónia's civil officials that would be held the next day. He started to remind himself that this was Diónia, not Rome. He had to be careful when he was in office!
The next person to walk to the center of the hall was the agriculture minister, Burcos. His speech was quite inspiring.
First of all, after a drought, the entire kingdom's agriculture had a bumper harvest in September last year, greatly alleviating the predicament of the shortage of military rations. The people were also freed from the shadow of the drought. Burcos then mentioned that more than half of the eastern plains of Campania and Latin had been annexed to the kingdom, adding xxx acres of fertile land. The people who had migrated there had been xxx acres of land, and there was still xxx acres of land left. The officials of the Ministry of Agriculture had taken measures to help the newly migrated people make better use of the land …
In addition, he also mentioned the three regions of Syracuse, Sardinia, and Western Sicily. Although they had not been completely pacified, the Ministry of Agriculture had already started to plan the land there …
Burcos' speech won a round of applause, but everyone also asked questions enthusiastically, mainly about whether the young people who had just reached adulthood in their towns could get a share of the newly occupied land.
The Ministry of Agriculture had already considered this question, so Burcos answered it rather easily.
Although Publius felt a twinge of bitterness when Burkes mentioned the topic of 'Latin land distribution', he was also amazed that the Dionysian Kingdom's leaders had indeed taken the initiative to consider distributing land to every citizen.
The next person to appear was the Minister of Commerce, Marigi. This Persia man with a different appearance made Publius size him up curiously.
Marigi's speech at the beginning was within everyone's expectations. The war had a great impact on the kingdom's trade. Over the past year, there had been a significant decrease in the number of merchant ships coming and going from the various port cities, and the markets had become sluggish … Everyone could see that and were not surprised by the decline in trade.
Marigi then mentioned that the acquisition of the Latin region, the entire island of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia had greatly expanded the trade circle of the Kingdom of Diónia in the western Mediterranean Sea, and they had entered the field of precious metal trade. This would inevitably lead to greater development of the kingdom's trade after the war. Furthermore, the alliance between the kingdom and Egypt had made the trade between the two countries closer and deeper, and the trade in the eastern Mediterranean Sea had also advanced to a higher level …
Of course, Marigi was only talking about the general situation. Before the conference ended, the various departments of the kingdom would discuss their work prospects for the new year and he would talk about it in more detail.
But even so, some local councilors who were merchants still actively raised their concerns, and Marigi also gave a satisfactory answer.
The next person to appear was the Minister of Household Registration, Raffias. During the war, the Household Registration Department was also a busy department. Citizens and even freedmen were transferred to participate in the war as soldiers or as laborers for transportation, whether they made meritorious contributions in the war, or whether they were punished … These answers had to be recorded one by one. Due to the large number of people participating in the war, this was an extremely complicated work. Therefore, the Household Registration Department had the largest number of public servants among all the departments. There were many scribes, recorders, and archivists. With these detailed citizen files, other departments had a reference basis, and they could barely meet the requirement of the Devers to "reward the citizens for their contributions and punish them for their mistakes."
From Raffias's narration, everyone knew that the casualties of the people of Diónia in this war were not only limited to the soldiers on the battlefield, but also the ordinary people, such as the Downey region that was attacked by the Samonians, the Catania Plains that was destroyed by the Carthage, and the Apulia region that was attacked by the remaining forces.
Therefore, the number of casualties given by Raffias was much higher than that given by the Ministry of Military Affairs, but the total population of the kingdom was still a little higher than the year before. What was the reason? It was because the population of the newly incorporated areas had increased. The city of Rome alone had brought more than 50,000 people to Diónia, and many people from Syracuse had also surrendered. In addition, there were also the city-states that had surrendered, such as Via, Casrella, Alenia, and Santa Iberia. The new population had increased by more than 100,000 people.
In addition, the number of slaves in the Slave Administration Office under the Household Registration Department had also increased several times over the past year. People from Rome, Latin, Syracuse, Carthage, and Phoenicians had become slaves of the Kingdom of Diónia, greatly alleviating the problem of labor shortage in the kingdom this year.
But at the same time, it had also brought great pressure to the management of slaves by the Household Registration Department. Raffias also talked about the riots caused by the slaves and the casualties of the officials of the Household Registration Department without any taboo. In fact, it was to prepare an ambush in advance for the "increase in the number of officials of the Household Registration Department and the establishment of slave guards" that he would propose at the kingdom's general assembly in the next few days.
Publius listened very carefully to Raffias's narration because it involved his fellow Rome citizens who had become slaves. He also asked a question for the first time after Raffias's narration, asking about the current situation of the slaves in Rome and whether it was possible for them to be freed in the future.
Considering that Publius had just joined the kingdom, Raffias specially explained to him the management regulations of the kingdom's slaves in detail: slaves had simple but clean accommodation, two meals a day were guaranteed, and heavy manual labor was even three meals a day. Occasionally, they would be given meat. If they were sick, there would be specialized doctors to treat them. Those with families would not be separated. As long as they completed their tasks seriously and did not antagonize the management, they would not be beaten or scolded at will. Moreover, the union of male and female slaves was not prohibited. Slaves who performed well in the first year would receive a small monthly salary from the second year. If they continued to perform well, they might be put on the watch list from the third year until they finally obtained freedom during the celebration of Hades.
Raffias also specifically emphasized that out of respect for Hades, and at the same time, many of the officials in the Slave Administration Office were slaves. Coupled with the random inspection by the Ministry of Supervision, the management of public efforts had always been carried out in strict accordance with the law, and the slaves lived well. On the contrary, the kingdom could only conduct regular monthly inspections on private slaves, and their living conditions were worse.
After Publius heard this, the guilt in his heart lessened slightly. In fact, he knew that these slaves of Rome lived in the slave camp north of the city of Rome, on the Tino River. However, he had never thought of visiting them, because he would only be cursed and not thanked.
The next to speak was the Minister of Construction, Young Heraclius. As the kingdom had invested all the revenue from the treasury into the war, the construction and maintenance of domestic public buildings had been stopped, but this did not mean that Young Heraclius had nothing to say.
The reconstruction of the old city of Rome was a key point. Although Publius had personally experienced the process of reconstruction in Rome, it was a different experience for him to consider the reconstruction of the entire city of Rome from the perspective of a planner, so he listened very carefully.
In addition, Young Heraclius also mentioned that after these new territories were incorporated into the kingdom, the construction of roads was already in the process of planning. After the end of the spring sowing, the Ministry of Construction would organize labor, prepare funds, and extend the kingdom's roads to these territories as soon as possible so that it would be more convenient to travel with the old territories of the kingdom, and more conducive to the kingdom's governance.
The next minister to speak not only made the local councilors afraid, but also the senators often felt fear in their hearts. He was the Minister of Supervision, Sesta.
This important minister of the kingdom, who had punished many officials and was known by the people as' Radamandas in the Sun ', stood in the center of the venue, and the entire venue became much quieter. Perhaps because he had been engaged in supervision all year round, he had developed a cold and stern temperament.
However, in his summary of the supervision work last year, in fact, there were fewer kingdom officials punished by the Ministry of Supervision than in previous years. One of the important reasons was because of the war. Because of this large-scale war, the entire kingdom was in a state of emergency mobilization. If they made a mistake at this time, they would be punished double, so few people dared to go against the muzzle of the gun at this critical moment.
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