Rome Must Perish

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!"