Chapter 1080
As Maximus spoke, he sighed in his heart: Even a small traffic problem was considered so thoroughly. From this, it could be seen that Diónia's officials were very thorough and meticulous in their management of the city. It was no wonder that such a large city could be managed in such an orderly manner. This fully demonstrated the strength and prosperity of the Kingdom of Diónia. The former Rome could not be compared to this at all.
This made Maximus even more eager to become a citizen of Diónia.
He brought his family and quickened their pace. After walking a few blocks and asking a few passers-by, they finally found the Household Registration Office.
The Household Registration Office, the Inspection Office, the Tax Office, the Fire Department, the District Court, and other public departments were all located on the same street. However, compared to the other departments, the Household Registration Office was obviously much larger. This was because the number of people who came to the Household Registration Office was obviously more than the other departments.
Today, the hall inside the building was probably already filled with people, and there were even many people crowding outside the door.
Thus, Maximus let his wife and children wait at the side while he rushed over alone.
When he got closer, he heard the heated discussions of the people. Only then did Maximus know that the reason everyone was gathered here was because yesterday, all of the Household Registration Offices in Turií City had posted a notice: temporarily suspending the processing of applications for Diónia citizenship. When it would resume was to be notified.
Maximus came in a hurry, but was suddenly splashed with a bucket of cold water. His heart was unbearably stifled.
Presumably, the other free people were also like this. They were lingering in front of the door, unwilling to leave. On one hand, they were talking to each other, venting their dissatisfaction. On the other hand, they were hoping that there would be a turn for the better.
However, no one dared to make a scene or even cause a riot. Not only was there a row of fully armed patrol officers standing in front of the door, but also because they were afraid of leaving a criminal record that would affect the smooth process of becoming an official citizen in the future.
Maximus squeezed into the crowd, listening to them speculate about the reason for the suspension of the application.
It must be known that this was not the first time. Before the war in the western Mediterranean, the Kingdom of Diónia had also implemented this measure because they did not have much land left. Therefore, a few people guessed that this was the same reason.
However, even more people refuted this, because after the war in the western Mediterranean, the Kingdom of Diónia had obtained a large amount of land. Until now, there were still a lot of unused land waiting for people to develop.
When someone thought of a possible reason, someone immediately refuted it, leading to endless arguments in front of the Household Registration Office.
But when someone put forward an idea, no one dared to refute it. He suspected that Hades had sent an oracle to the King of the Devers, and that was why today's incident happened.
This bizarre idea was actually echoed by some people. They proposed to go to the Temple of Hades to pray and ask the great god to retract his order.
Maximus listened for a while and felt that they were just making wild guesses without any evidence, but it made sense. These freedmen who came to apply were all newcomers and had no foundation in the kingdom. How could they get reliable insider information?
Maximus gradually calmed down. He looked back at his wife and children who were waiting for him at the corner of the street. Since he couldn't get the application now, he should find a place to settle down first.
Maximus squeezed his way to the entrance of the Household Registration Office. The patrolmen guarding the door immediately asked him what he was doing.
"To rent a house," replied Maximus.
The patrolmen looked at him from head to toe and let him in.
Maximus had already asked the workers in the slave camp. If he wanted to rent a house, he didn't have to go door-to-door in Turií City. Most of the rental information was gathered in the Household Registration Office in each city district.
Maximus walked into the Household Registration Office. In front of him was a spacious hall. There were already many people queuing up in front of the counters.
Of course, the Household Registration Office wasn't just for freedmen to become citizens. It also had many other things to do. For example, registering the criminal records of the people of the kingdom was mainly provided by the patrolmen and the courts.
Registering the meritorious deeds of the people of the kingdom, large-scale meritorious deeds such as war, large-scale public works … Of course, this was provided by the department. But for some individual meritorious deeds, they had to bring the department's certificate to register. If they were found to be fraudulent, the punishment would be severe.
There was also the registration of changes in the household registration of the people of the kingdom. When a citizen of the kingdom moved from one town to another, or from one city district to another, they had to register at the new district's Household Registration Office. All the information related to their household registration would be transferred later, but this process was very complicated and took a long time. It was also easy to lose some information and cause losses, so under normal circumstances, the people of the kingdom wouldn't change their household registration so easily. Of course, this was with the exception of freedmen who didn't apply for citizenship. They moved around a lot, but they still had to move to a place to register. This was for the convenience of management. Otherwise, if the patrolmen found out that they didn't register, they would very likely be expelled.
The Household Registration Office was the most important place that anyone who lived in the kingdom would have to deal with. Of course, the Household Registration Office was also the most burdensome of the departments. It was better for small towns, but for a large city like Turií with a population of hundreds of thousands, the people in the Household Registration Office were very busy every day. Thus, the number of people in the Household Registration Office was also the largest in the kingdom.
The reason why the Household Registration Office took up so much space was because more than half of its space was used to store the information of the citizens.
The unique household registration system of the Kingdom of Diónia created two important problems. First, it required a large number of people who knew how to write records. This might be a big problem for other city-states, but Diónia had been promoting school education for almost 20 years, and the people it had cultivated were more than enough to meet the needs. Second, it required a large amount of writing materials. Because Egypt and Diónia were allied, most of the papyrus produced in Egypt was sold to the Kingdom of Diónia, and the price increased year after year. This not only made the Household Registration Office somewhat unable to bear, but even the Ministry of Finance was constantly complaining. This was because not only did the Household Registration Office consume a large amount of papyrus, but also the Ministry of Commerce, hospitals, schools … and even the Ministry of Finance were large consumers. The entire Kingdom of Diónia was a country built on the collection of information, records, and statistics.
This predicament finally forced the Devers to put aside their inner conflicts and resolve to make convenient and practical paper. He told his wife, Christoya, some of the processes of the village's papermaking workshop that he had learned about when he was a village official in his previous life. She arranged for her subordinates to be in charge of research and development, and now there was already some progress.
The walls of the Household Registration Office's hall were painted black, and at first glance, it made people feel depressed. However, this was definitely not because the Household Registration Office wanted to curry favor with Hades and create a hell like environment. Instead, it was because they could use white pen to write the information they wanted to release on the black walls. For example, the notice "Temporarily Suspending the Application of Freedmen" was written in very large and eye-catching words on the front wall. There were also messages such as "A certain citizen's meritorious service has been confirmed …" and so on.
These announcements were written neatly and clearly on each wall, and they were usually kept for two or three days. After the people who had come to register saw these announcements, they did not need to line up to ask questions anymore, and this also saved a lot of time for the staff to answer.
Of course, some announcements were made here so that others who understood the situation could raise objections after seeing them, making it easier to investigate.
Like the others, Maximus raised his head to look at the wall.
After a while, he felt his neck ache, but he still did not see the rental information. He had to ask the patrol at the door, and only then did he know that the small room next to the hall was the rental.
After thanking him, he hurried over.
Compared to the bustling hall, this place was much quieter. Other than the staff sitting behind the wooden counter, there was no one else.
Seeing Maximus come in, the staff asked rather warmly, "Are you here to rent a room?"
Maximus nodded.
"Have you applied for citizenship, or have you not? Or are you already a probationary citizen? "
"Originally, I was going to apply, but now it has been stopped."
When the staff heard this, not only did he not become cold, but he also became more enthusiastic. He pointed to the opposite wall and said, "You have not applied, so you cannot enjoy the rental provided by the kingdom. You can only rent a private room. The information for private rooms is written on the opposite wall, you can choose for yourself."
Since the establishment of Diónia, Turkistan had developed rapidly, and the population had expanded rapidly. The rental market had always been very hot, but it had always been the private sector that enjoyed the benefits. Later, the minister of commerce, Marigi, made a suggestion: when the kingdom's cities and towns, including Turkistan, were first planned, there were a lot of empty spaces in the inner and outer city. Instead of leaving them empty, it would be better to first build a large number of temporary residences on these empty spaces, and rent them out at a price that was slightly lower than the market price. This was both a benefit for those who temporarily did not have land, and a bit of income for the kingdom's treasury.
Since land was readily available, free labor was available, and the kingdom had abundant stone mines and endless volcanic ash accumulated by the two volcanoes, it would not cost much to build a large number of public rental houses. Thus, this suggestion was accepted by the Devers, and was quickly carried out by the Ministry of Construction.
Considering that the people who needed to rent houses were mainly outsiders, free citizens, and probationary citizens, and that the place they most often went to was the Household Registration Office, the Ministry of Household Registration was put in charge of the public rental houses. This was a bit of compensation from the Devers to this busy department. (The Ministry of Household Registration handed over most of the rental income to the kingdom's treasury, and kept a small portion for their own use, so that they could hire temporary workers when they were lacking in manpower.)
Although the kingdom left some leeway for private rentals, the appearance of public rentals was still a huge blow to private rentals. In the past, private rentals were too expensive, the facilities were not good, and the service was not good enough. This caused many outsiders to rather stay in the city's inns first, and then immediately apply for public rentals once their applications were approved. Even though private rentals had improved, the situation was still not good.
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