Rome Must Perish-Chapter 269 - 170: The Mind of a Segestica Woman

Amidst Torrelugo’s helpless cursing, everyone burst into joyous laughter, making the atmosphere even more fervent.

"If I get promoted to the rank of Baron or above, can I receive several or even a dozen households’ worth of that ’fiefdom’? Wouldn’t that mean I could live comfortably without doing anything, and my children could also enjoy many benefits?" Another Centurion asked.

"When you are promoted to Baron or above, the fiefdom granted to you by the tribe can indeed allow you to live comfortably, but you still need to pay your land taxes on time and in full. Leader Maximus has also said that the higher the rank, the greater the responsibility. You might be required to lead armies to expand territories, or you might be sent to manage a town or a piece of land.

If you perform poorly or make grave mistakes, you might face a demotion and punishment. Your rank can indeed be inherited by your children, but they will inherit a rank that is one level lower. If they cannot establish new achievements and make contributions to the tribe, by the time they pass the title to your grandchild, it will continue to downgrade...

Therefore, neither you nor your descendants can rest on past laurels and only seek enjoyment; otherwise, after a few generations, you’ll become ordinary tribe members."

Oh, so there’s both promotion and demotion... everyone silently took heed.

Another Centurion stood up: "You said that collecting taxes is to strengthen the tribe, but now you’re saying that the collected taxes are given as fiefdoms to those with titles. Wouldn’t that mean the tribe won’t have any money?"

"Thank you for your concern for the tribe," Valgius said earnestly. "I also raised a similar question to the leader before. The leader told me that our tribe now has less than twenty thousand people and doesn’t yet possess a piece of land of its own, and everyone is just ordinary tribe members. But when there are Barons, Viscounts, Earls, Dukes... the Nix Tribe will probably have tens or even hundreds of thousands of people, occupying vast lands. The rewards given to meritorious tribe members will only account for a small part of the huge tax revenue and won’t deplete the tribe’s strength.

The leader also told me that only when all tribe members strive to contribute to the tribe will it rapidly develop and grow strong. When the tribe develops and strengthens, it will then have the ability to grant enough title rewards to deserving tribe members — these two aspects are complementary."

The leader further said—" Valgius suddenly raised his voice, "He hopes that through your relentless efforts, the Nix Tribe can gradually grow from a newly established small tribe into a powerful one, and then become a Kingdom, or even a powerful nation like Rome or Persia, allowing each of you to enjoy the glory of being a citizen of a strong country!"

These words greatly excited the listeners, prompting someone to suddenly shout, "Long live Leader Maximus! Long live the Nix Tribe!"

This immediately sparked enthusiastic responses from others, and the cheers lasted for some time before being ruthlessly interrupted by Torrelugo.

The team officers continued to ask questions, all concerning matters that the soldiers cared about, but Anfel finally couldn’t hold back and stood up, dissatisfied, and said sternly, "Why are only you men allowed to ask questions, and we women cannot?"

Only then did Torrelugo realize he’d overlooked this point. He quickly said, "Of course, you too can ask. Go ahead with your questions now!"

"Then I’ll ask," Anfel said assertively. "First, I want to ask, you just said all Free Italy people are ordinary tribe members. Does that include us women? If it does, will land be allocated to us?"

"Anfel asked well! That’s what we wanted to ask!" the women expressed their support.

"As it’s everyone, it naturally includes you women," Valgius said seriously. "Before I came, the leader specifically emphasized that you, as part of Free Italy, made significant contributions to our successful arrival here, and thus each of you will be allocated 50 acres of good land. However, apart from you, women who join the tribe in the future generally won’t be allocated land separately—"

"Great! Turns out the leader was speaking the truth!" the women cheered.

"What if we get married? How will the allocated land be counted?" Anfel glanced at Tini Bazus next to her and asked.

"As long as you marry an ordinary tribesman of the tribe, a family can be allocated 100 acres of land—"

This statement caused a stir among the crowd, especially among the single soldiers who felt greatly challenged, even if a beautiful Skodisqi or Segestica woman sat beside them, they suddenly lost interest in making conversation, as those friends in relationships with fellow rebels were about to receive twice the land they were.

Valgius noted this and continued, "In our tribe, there are over 3,000 women from Free Italy, and only these 3,000 have this special case. However, having more land isn’t necessarily a good thing; 100 acres of land requires you to pay taxes corresponding to 100 acres. Farming 100 acres isn’t easy for two people. If you’re unable to pay the taxes for the 100 acres, you might face demotion penalties. Thus, the tribe can offer you another option—"

Valgius paused, looked at Anfel, and softly said, "After you get married, you can choose not to take those 50 acres of land and instead let your husband be promoted by one rank to become a Second-class citizen, receiving a reward of 10 acres of land... This is a special benefit from the leader for you, and you don’t have to decide now. You can think it over carefully when you go back and make the decision when the time for actual land allocation comes."

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