Hilde breathed a sigh of relief.
Now it seems that everything happened exactly as Hilde expected.
At this time, Xerxes suddenly straightened up, looked down at Hilde's face and said, "But, you bad guy, where did you learn this? Could it be that you have already..."
Chapter 6, Chapter 8: The Persian Emperor's Gift
"Do you remember Sophia?"
"The little maid?"
"It's not small now..."
In every sense, it is not small.
Xerxes didn't know what Sophia meant, so he asked, "I know, that Carthaginian, what's wrong?"
“I learned it from her.”
"Ah... I didn't expect that the proper maid would actually do such a thing."
However, Xerxes didn't seem to care.
In this era, it was normal for something to happen to slaves, so Xerxes II didn't care about it at all. At this moment, she stood up, picked up her purple robe from the ground, and put it on. Hilde also stood up. She looked at Xerxes' back and asked, "Xiaoxue, where is my mother?"
"Don't worry, you'll be able to see her in the evening."
Xerxes turned around and walked in front of Hilde.
"But there's still some work to do, isn't there?"
"Yeah, that's right."
The current situation was obtained by Hilde's sacrifice, the most important of which was the oath of allegiance. Therefore, Hilde had to sign an agreement with Xerxes II. This was an official procedure that had to be followed. Even if the relationship between the two was extraordinary, it could not be taken lightly. Therefore, after Hilde put on her clothes, she left the temple with Xerxes II.
"His Majesty!"
At this time, the official who had been waiting outside for a long time came over immediately.
"what happened?"
"not us……"
"Don't worry, I got out safely."
The officials were worried because Xerxes had not appeared in the temple for a long time. Now Xerxes II's hair was a little messy and his cheeks were a little red. They didn't know what happened, so the officials were naturally worried. On the other hand, Hilde looked calm and composed. She just broke a laurel branch and put her hair behind her head, using the laurel branch as a hairpin to fix her hair.
"Now prepare paper and pen."
"Yes!"
After receiving the order, the officials left quickly.
"So, my dear Sissi, I have prepared a gift for you."
"Gift?"
"Yes, I just thought about it. Since you are willing to be loyal to me, then I must also show my sincerity, right?" Having said this, Xerxes II turned around and looked at Hilde with a smile. "This gift may be very important to you now. You will definitely be very happy. Now, you are the governor of Thrace in my Persian Empire, so you must conquer and manage the entire Thrace region for me. So, you are short of people, right?"
"Indeed."
Hilde nodded.
Hilde has always been worried about the population problem.
"Then I'll give you all the Mili."
"Miletus? What!?"
"I told you, Miletus, but not the city of Miletus. I plan to occupy this city completely as a warning to the Ionians. But, people of Miletus, I will give you everything. Moreover, not only these, I will also give you a lot of food and money so that these people can live in your country. How about it, is this a generous gift?" When Xerxes II said this, he looked at Hilde with anticipation.
It was as if he was waiting for Hilde's praise.
And Hilde was also a little shocked.
Hilde didn't want the city of Miletus either.
Even if Hilde was given the city of Miletus, she wouldn't be able to control it.
However, giving it directly to people is different.
The Milesians who lost their homes would become a loose group. Hilde only needed to disperse the Milesians and get rid of their leaders, and they would become the best citizens of the Byzantine Kingdom, because many Byzantines migrated from Miletus, so they were all of the same clan. Moreover, the most important thing was that the population of Miletus was 110,000, not including slaves. If Persia would bear the food and relocation costs of these 110,000 people, this would be a sure win!
Hilde was also surprised at Xerxes II's generosity.
One hundred and ten thousand people. That's one hundred and ten thousand people.
The current city of Byzantium has a population of only 50,000.
With these 110,000 people, Hilder will have a population of over 160,000 people, and can recruit at least 15,000 soldiers, enough to form at least two legions. With an available army of 15,000 people, Hilder will be able to sweep across the entire Greek city-state along the Thracian coast. Even the traditional city-state of Samos does not have enough strength to be compared with Hilder's Byzantine city. Therefore, Xerxes II really gave a great gift.
"But, these are valuable, right?"
"Is there a price?"
Xerxes was stunned for a moment.
"The price is that you have to be loyal to me."
"only these?"
"of course."
Chapter 6, Section 9: Population explosion
Hearing this, Hilde seemed unmoved.
In fact, my heart was already blossoming with joy.
One hundred and ten thousand people, Xerxes is too good.
Perhaps the Persian Empire was too powerful and didn't care about 110,000 people. In addition, the management of the Milesians was indeed a problem, so Xerxes II simply acted like a good person and sent these 110,000 people to Hilde. So Hilde naturally bowed her head and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Don't be so polite in private."
Xerxes saw that Hilde seemed very happy.
So she smiled too.
"You are mine. As long as you stay with me, I will leave all the good things for you."
"Ah, really?"
Hilde smiled and couldn't help rubbing his hands.
"Look, these 110,000 people are coming to my side, but my country has only more than 50,000 people in total. If they rebel, I may not be able to suppress it. After all, I don't have many troops on hand. Xiao Xuexue, how about this, I ask you to borrow some things..." At this point, the smile on Hilde's face became even brighter.
-------------------------------------
"So, you borrowed two thousand Immortals from Xerxes II?"
"correct."
Hilde ate the chickpeas in her bowl and sighed helplessly.
"It's a waste if you don't lend it."
"But...isn't this like a knife stuck in your heart?"
Aspasia couldn't understand Hilde's behavior.
After listening to Hilde's story of what happened today, Aspasia felt very surprised. She had never expected that Hilde would come here in person to save her, and even swear allegiance to Xerxes. This was something she had never heard of. In addition, Xerxes II also gave all the people in Miletus to Hilde, which was beyond Aspasia's expectations. As for Hilde's next move, she could not understand it even more.
"That's the effect we want."
Hilde held his chin and said helplessly:
"I have to make Xerxes trust me more."
"You mean, if you take the initiative to let the Persian army stationed next to you, Xerxes II will definitely trust you?"
"It will be even more so. They cannot guarantee that they will trust me absolutely." Hilde said this, and then stood up. "As for me, since I have already promised to be loyal to Persia, it is like I am on a pirate ship, and there is no turning back. Moreover, the Persian Empire has no plans to march westward. They are fighting the rebels in the east, and the nomadic peoples on the northern border are also causing them a lot of trouble. Therefore, Xerxes launched a large army to attack Miletus only because Miletus caused relatively large economic losses to Persia in trade, and he also intended to give Ionia and even the entire Greek region a warning."
"This is really..."
Aspasia placed her hand on her chest.
"That's great, luckily nothing serious happened."
"Mother, you have suffered a lot these days."
"I am fine."
Aspasia gently stroked Hilde's cheek.
"It's so good to see you again."
"Mother, there is something I must tell you in advance."
"Well, tell me."
"There are 110,000 Milesians in total. They all come from the same city-state. They would definitely not like to be ruled by a king like me. Therefore, there will definitely be many problems. However, I hope you can understand one thing. Although they are Milesians, they are Byzantines after they came to the Byzantine Kingdom. The nobility and system left by Miles no longer exist. Therefore, if someone intends to cause trouble in my kingdom..."
"You'll kill them."
"Yes, mother."
Hilde said this, her eyes fixed on her mother.
And Aspasia took a deep breath.
"Child, I know you are the king. You don't have to tell me about this. If someone really hinders your rule, then you can do it your way." Aspasia knew better than anyone that he could not stop this kind of thing. Hilde told him about this just to show respect for him. "The Milesians have experienced many disasters that they should not have experienced, so I hope you can treat them well."
"I will treat all legal citizens well."
"That's good."
For Hilde.
These Milesians joined the Byzantine Empire, that is, the citizen class of the Byzantine Empire.
After all, the Byzantine Kingdom was a Greek kingdom, and the Milesians, who were also Greeks, were naturally considered as part of the main ethnic group. As long as they obeyed the law, Hilde would definitely treat them well. However, if any of them planned to establish a second Miletus in Byzantium and planned to undermine Hilde, then she would never allow such a thing to happen.
However, such things are inevitable.
Especially those nobles from the Council of Miletus.
Chapter 6, Section 10: Unexpected Road
Hilde could fully foresee that these nobles of the Miletus Council would definitely try to undermine Hilde's royal power after arriving in the Byzantine Kingdom. After all, this kind of thing had happened once when Hilde established the Byzantine Kingdom, and now the Miletus nobles, who had the advantage in numbers and thought they were extremely noble, would definitely do such a stupid thing.
Therefore, if we want to solve this matter.
The disaster of war is inevitable.
But Hilde was already used to killing people.
If the other party really doesn't appreciate it and is still planning to cause trouble, then Hilde only needs to pick out and kill all the leaders of the trouble. The remaining Milesians will then be a group of lambs to be slaughtered and will not pose any threat at all.
"Mother."
Hilde, who had figured it out at this time, turned around and continued speaking to Aspasia.
“You should also come and live in Byzantium.”
“…I have nowhere else to go.”
"The Kingdom of Byzantium is your home."
Hilde smiled slightly, reached out her hand, and gently stroked her mother's hand: "Athens is a very dangerous place now. If you go back, Pericles may do something bad to you, so stay with me for the time being. If a war really happens, you may as well leave as soon as possible."
"Row."
Aspasia nodded.
"I'm sorry to bother you."
"You are my mother, it's no trouble."
"Kid, remember, you have sworn allegiance to the Persian emperor, which means you are on the opposite side of the Greek world. Although most people don't care about this, after all, Persia doesn't have the ability to attack the Greek world again, there will definitely be people who will make things difficult for you, especially those around you."
"Don't worry, mother. I know what's going on. I've already thought about how to deal with any problems that may arise." Facing Aspasia's concerns, Hilde smiled and explained, "Power is the most absolute in this world. Swearing allegiance to the Persian emperor, Xerxes II, is also a helpless choice. If we don't take this step, we may both die here."
