The Eagle of Eastern Europe

"Your Highness"

“Here you come, Controller.

Fernando, the royal family's private treasury manager, came to Peter. This shrewd Bohemian had been the private treasury manager for less than a year, but he managed the royal family's property in an orderly manner and was able to spend money while maintaining the royal family's expenses. part of it for investment or sponsorship.

The private treasury is divided into two categories: real objects and currency. Real objects include food, wine, silk, cotton, luxury goods, etc., which are produced in manors, mines, and handicraft workshops controlled by the royal family. Currency is obviously direct gold and silver coins. income.

The exquisite goods produced in the handicraft workshops controlled by the royal family were sought-after goods in various European countries, and they could earn a lot of income every year. There were also gold coins harvested from the spice trade in the East, which maintained the daily expenses of the royal family.

Peter asked him to come this time just to get the latest status of the royal family's finances. After all, these industries only pay a small amount of symbolic tax. In addition, it is okay to set aside a part of the occupied land as royal property. If all the land output in the world is allocated to the royal family, then the treasury will have no money.

"I want to know about the private treasury, please tell me."

"Follow your orders"

Fernando reported the royal family's property truthfully: 6 million lei in silver, 200,000 lei in gold, countless materials such as silk, cotton, and coffee, 400 large and small manors, 40 handicraft workshops, 6,000 workers, and 140,000 serfs.

The situation of serfs is most difficult to identify during the census. Sometimes they are tenant farmers, sometimes they are slave farmers. In addition, the manor owner will give some gifts to the staff, so a considerable number of serfs are not counted in the national population. Therefore, if a census is conducted vigorously, the population should still increase.

Moreover, these people are said to be serfs, but in fact they should be called royal peasants. Their treatment is better than that of serfs in ordinary manors. As long as they save enough money, they can buy their freedom. They can continue to rent land and farm here, but they also have to pay taxes to the state.

The royal handicraft industry represents the highest level of national craftsmanship. Most of them are craftsmen recruited or hired from other places to produce glass, jewelry, silk, etc. for the royal family.

Peter planned to build a palace on the outskirts of Constantinople to host parties. The building should be gorgeous and decorated with all possible decorations. This requires long-term investment, which is one of the reasons why I called Fernando here today.

“I plan to build a palace outside Constantinople and you will be in charge of it.

Fernando almost fainted at this request. "Your Highness, please forgive me for being difficult to obey. We can include this place in the plan, but it is really not feasible to start construction now."

"I know, I just came to talk to you today."

Peter didn't want to start construction now. To build a palace, it was not possible to use only royal finances, but also to use the national treasury.

To build a large palace, at least 2 million lei are needed. Fortunately, the wealth obtained from Venice is more than enough, and it only needs to be approved by the emperor when he comes back.

Of course, the royal treasury did not represent Peter's own coffers. Even Sofia doesn't know how much private money her husband has. I'm afraid only Peter knows.

----Dividing line----

After Mason stabilized the situation at Temasek, he began to look for the basic situation of Eastern countries. Among them was a policy called a sea ban, which puzzled him very much. Why did they ban people from going to the sea?

"Your Excellency, you don't know. Since the founding of the new dynasty, Emperor Hongwu has stipulated that no piece of wood can enter the sea or be sold overseas. Otherwise, it will be a pirate. Not only will it be a crime, but the whole family will also be sent to the army."

Mason listened to the stories of the Seris people who ventured to Southeast Asia a few years ago, and became even more curious about the country they called Ming. He knew that the country could not issue a sea ban for no reason. Since it was said to be due to pirates, he would take the people he captured to the Ming Dynasty to collect the bounty.

Seris and Romanians get along well with each other. After all, the empire has wiped out the pirates and maintained the local living environment. Mason also said that people loyal to the empire could go to Ceylon, India and Aden for trade, which was also to increase local control.

In this way, Mason decided to go north to Ming Dynasty to collect the bounty, taking the goods produced by the Roman Empire and local spices, and see if he could get the emperor to open the port for trade with the empire.

There are only more than 3,500 Romanians who have gone to the East. Among them, Androniko Port accounts for one-third, and the rest is distributed in Aden, India, Ceylon and other places. They became an important class in the local area where the company ruled, followed by the tribes and local governments that converted to the company. After all, they were for monopoly interests, not to directly rule the place.

Mason has done a good job in national foreign policy in Southeast Asia. Hearing that the Governor-General was going to the East, many special envoys planned to go together. Paramesuara of Malacca also sent special envoys. He planned to get rid of Siam's vassal status. , gained independence.

Some ships have begun returning to Aden with goods for sale, and they are also bringing letters and news from the governor, who now does not have to go to court.

In Temasek, a fortress has been planned and built. Some people wanted to live a better life and converted directly to Orthodox Christianity and imitated Romanian living habits and culture. Except for the appearance and skin color, everything else is no different from Romanians.

The Romanian colony at the top of the Bab el Mandeb Strait now has a different look. The shipyards and artillery factories in Aden are at full capacity, and the natural saltpeter that can be purchased from India directly saves them from the problem of insufficient gunpowder raw materials. Arabs who have converted to Orthodox Christianity work in factories, and their salary is one-third less than that of Romanians, but it is enough to live on.

Colonial officials were puzzled as to why Caesar had repeatedly ordered not to exploit the local people too much. This was obviously the fastest way to obtain money and raw materials.

The East India Company's immigration department began looking for people in the city's slums and told them of opportunities to get rich overnight in the East, which made the poor feel good luck had come.

They were loaded onto ships and headed all the way to Egypt, and then had to walk dozens of kilometers to transfer to the next ship heading east. Some people brought their families with them. It should be said that current immigration is quite humane. There is a pharmacist on board the ship, otherwise the mortality rate would be high.

I think when they immigrated to Andronico, many people couldn't adapt to the climate and disappeared. Now they finally recovered and expanded. The "unowned land" around them was given to them by God. This must be protected carefully, otherwise we will be sorry to God and his old man.