Kuntus looked at Feng Yu's indifferent smile, pointed at the cross with a little sullen in confusion and asked, "Governor, what is this?"

"Your Excellency, with your knowledge, how could you not know the meaning of this cross? Of course, this is a Christian church in the military camp. Why should you be so shocked?" Feng Yu still had a smile on his face when he spoke.

Kuntus said anxiously: "Governor, how can you set up a Christian church in a military camp? You have been in Rome for so long, don't you know that just twenty or thirty years ago, this Christianity was still a clearly designated pagan, and was severely cracked down on the Roman government. However, over the past few decades, the Caviru royal family has been tolerant of various religions, revoked the accusations of heresy for this sect and acquiesced to the civil missionary activities. But even now, Rome does not officially recognize Christianity as a decent religion. If you convert to this religion, it would be fine. Why did you come to the military camp? Hey, by the way! I remember that you clearly believed in Laojun, but why did you convert to Christianity now?"

Feng Yu then put away his smile and replied seriously: "His Excellency Kuntus, as a civilian protector, you should be proficient in Roman law. You should know that the law is not explicitly prohibited, which is legal. The Roman military law clearly stipulates that soldiers and generals can freely believe in non-heterological religions. At present, Christianity has not been explicitly designated as a heretic religion. Then it should exist in the Roman military camp. Although the Roman government has not explicitly recognized Christianity as an orthodox sect now, many religions have not been officially recognized by Roman governments, such as the Supreme Lord I believe in. Do they not allow them to exist?"

Kuntus was speechless by Feng Yu for a moment, and he paused for a few seconds before asking: "But, just let the soldiers believe in this religion, why do you still have to build such a church in the military camp? Could it be that you converted to this religion? So you pretend to be public and private..."

Quintus suddenly realized that his words were too straightforward and too unpleasant, so his words came to an abrupt end.

Feng Yu did not get angry at all and said calmly: "Who said I converted to Christianity? I still believe in the Supreme Lord. I built such a church in this barracks not only to facilitate those religious soldiers, but to this legion of my army."

"Oh, I wish you to hear your advice, what impact will this Christianity have on the Legion?"

Feng Yu did not directly answer Quintus's question, but asked: "Mr. Guardian, how do you think the current Roman legion is compared with the Mario Legion after the reform more than 300 years ago? What before the reform? What is compared with the Republican era more than 500 years ago?"

After pondering for a few breaths, Kuntus sighed: "In the Republican era more than 400 years ago, our legions were still civil conscripts. Anyone with certain property needed to join the army and serve in the military voluntarily. Their weapons and equipment even had to pay for their own money to purchase from the national arsenal. The army only provided daily food and grass, but no military pay. The only benefit of their joining the army was the spoils seized in the war.

But despite this, in the early stages of the Republic, these citizens and conscripts of the Roman Legion were still disciplined, highly morale, and brave and good at fighting. Otherwise, we, Rome, would not have such a large territory.

But more than a hundred years ago, when the Roman Republic turned the entire Mediterranean into an inner lake, for some reason, the combat effectiveness of the army quickly declined. This was not only reflected in the lack of military sources, but also in the low morale and fear of death. This led to the Roman Republic at that time suffering a series of defeats that could be regarded as national humiliation when clashing with various surrounding enemies.

Later, a generation of strongman and consul Marriott in the late Republic, reformed the legion. From a civilian mandatory mutiny to a recruitment system, not only were all equipped with weapons provided by the state, but also paid a lot of military pay on time. As a result, Roman soldiers officially became a profession. Therefore, there was no requirement for sufficient property for the source of soldiers, and as long as they were citizens or free civilians, they could join the legion. This solved the problem of lack of military sources, and at the same time, combat effectiveness, morale and other aspects were greatly restored.

But for some reason, it is not possible now. You should be able to see and feel these priests themselves. Not to mention anything else, the slave rebellion that just broke out in Sicily a few months ago is enough to prove how weak the Roman legion is today. In fact, it is not a big deal to have weak combat power. What's worse is the current legion..."

Kuntus suddenly stopped when he said this, because he realized that the next words were not appropriate to say in front of Feng Yu. Feng Yu smiled slightly and then said:

"Compared with the civil conscript system before the reform of the Marius Legion, the current legion did not actually serve in Rome, but was only loyal to those who could bring them huge benefits. Such people are generally their commanders, commanders of the legion, consuls of the large legion, etc. Behind these officers are all forces in the Roman political arena that can provide them with financial support. Therefore, the current Roman legion has become warlordized, and the warlordization of the Roman legion is the main reason for the frequent turmoil in the Roman political arena today."

Kuntus was surprised that Feng Yu said was exactly what he wanted to say but stopped, and sighed: "Governor General, I didn't expect that you, a Liang man from the far east, would have such a thorough understanding of Rome. So can you analyze the reasons why our Rome became the current situation and give a solution?"

Feng Yu laughed and said, "Don't worry, sir. If you want to say this, you won't be able to finish it in a short time. We can't chat under the sun for an hour. I have ordered people to prepare a banquet. After entering the banquet, we will have a chat."

At the banquet, after everyone had a few glasses of wine, Quintus urged Feng Yu to continue the previous topic, but forgot the original topic - the matter of the Christian Church.

Feng Yu continued to explain: "In fact, the reason is easy to understand. In the early days of the Republic, most of the Roman citizens came from 300 clans in the ten Curian tribal alliances of Rome. They were real Romans. Now most of the descendants of these people have become Roman nobles. They have a high sense of identity with Rome and will naturally be willing to fight for Rome. At the same time, war will bring them a steady stream of wealth and slaves. So both spiritually and materially, they inspire their high fighting spirit. However, by the late Republic, Rome had included all the nearby and conquered things into its own borders. Even the Mediterranean became an inland sea. At this time, the population structure of Roman citizens had changed a lot. The proportion of those citizens from Curians was very small. Most of the citizens were civilians from conquered areas or free people and citizens who were liberated by slaves..."

Speaking of this, Feng Yu picked up the wine glass and sipped the bright red wine. Kuntus, who had already heard it, couldn't wait to urge him: "Please continue to explain."
Chapter completed!