January 5, 1445, Central Administration usually holds its annual meeting today.
However, due to well-known reasons, last year's statements and account books have not been sorted out. Cabinet hastily drafted a briefing report and submitted it to the emperor.
At eight o'clock in the morning, after receiving the briefing from Cabinet, Vitus threw the document aside without looking through it. "I'm going to the church to pray. I won't work today. You can continue to do your own things."
After saying that, he wrapped himself in a thick fur and left the palace, taking a bus to the southeastern city where Hagia Sophia was located.
The sky was dark, and the snowflakes were fine and dense. They were carried by the sea breeze blowing from Bosphorus Strait, and they blew against the glass window of the carriage, making a fine rustling sound.
Vitus When the curtains were opened, the flow of people on the street was less than in autumn. The best business was in the fur stores, followed by the woolen clothing stores.
Eastern Roman Empire's furs come from the north. Every year, the furs of Rus forces and Steppe Khanate gather at the Trade center of Northern Black Sea Coast - Chersonesus. Foreign businessmen gather at the fur market near the port to purchase goods, and then sell the goods to southern cities, selling them as luxury goods to middle- and upper-class residents.
Through the car window, Vitus saw a few wealthy people strutting through the market wearing mink coats and beaver fur hats. From the appearance, this hat looked like a black cylinder.
Ordinary citizens cannot afford expensive fur coats, so they choose lower-priced squirrel skin hats and squirrel skin scarves to meet their heating needs.
"The report of 1443 mentioned the amount of fur imports. Chersonesus imported 200,000 squirrel skins, 80,000 mink skins, 10,000 beaver skins, and a small amount of other furs throughout the year.
According to rumors from businessmen, it is said that fur accounts for 20% of Moscow Grand Duchy Finance's income, followed by wood, Tar, Rosin, honey, and Beeswax. Raw materials are exported in exchange for handicrafts. The situation for Ryazan and Kazan is similar."
In my impression, the North America colony also relied on fur income in the early days. There were tens of millions of beavers scattered across the entire continent, providing Trade with seemingly unlimited resources. Beaver skins were most suitable for felt hats. Europe immigrants went deep into the wilderness to hunt beavers, and used glass beads, spirits, and iron tools to purchase the furs from the aboriginal people, and made absolute huge profits from them.
In order to monopolize this Trade, Britain, France and the Netherlands launched a long struggle. In the end, England won the Seven Years' War (1756~1763) and obtained most of the North America colonies. It was not until 1775 that North American War of Independence broke out...
The carriage continued to move forward. Not far away, several figures were busy at the top of Aqueduct of Valens.
The weather this year is extremely cold, and there is ice in a few sections of Elevated Aqueduct. Workers need to cut through the ice to ensure normal water supply in the city.
For a long time, the carriage stopped at Augustus Forum, and some penitents knelt on the ground covered with thin snow, praying in extremely weak voices.
Accompanied by the church bells, a group of deacons wearing cassocks filed out. The stoves in their hands swayed out white smoke of Frankincense, and snowflakes fell. The deacons walked slowly through the crowd, their faces solemn, and the hem of their cassocks dragged through the muddy snow, stained with a little gray and black.
"The weather is really cold this year. I wonder what the Little Ice Age will be like two hundred years from now?"
Vitus left the carriage and exhaled a breath of white mist into the air. He quickly walked into the church and discussed with Patriarch the affairs of the past period and the upcoming religious ceremony.
During the conversation, Patriarch hesitated to speak many times. He wanted to mention the chaotic situation of Central Administration, but he never said it.
Vitus was aware of the other party's doubts, so he was too lazy to take the initiative to explain. He stayed in the church for more than half an hour, and then took a carriage to wander around other areas.
More than a week later, Vitus still did not attend Imperial Council. On January 20, Cabinet finally sent an annual report, and there were some omissions in the content. Carlo explained to the emperor, "After a few more days, and the documents from the financial department are available, Cabinet can compile a complete annual report."
Vitus sat behind the desk, reading the report intently, "No more waiting, the annual meeting will be held tomorrow. Notify Patriarch, Grand Auditor... and ask them to arrive on time."
Hearing these words, Carlo felt a sense of relief in his heart.
The emperor did not attend the imperial meeting for fifty days in a row, and the affairs of various ministries were piled up in the cabinet, which made the cabinet and inner palace supervisors exhausted. More than twenty people have fallen ill.
No matter what the outcome of tomorrow's meeting is, Carlo feels that the future work will definitely be easier than it is now, and we should be able to breathe for a while.
The next morning, Alexius Hall.
This time, there were as many as twenty-seven people participating in the meeting, including three ministers of Imperial Council, two Imperial Clan members Constantine and Thomas, Patriarch, some civil servants from the Administrative Department, and local Governor who came regularly to report on their work.
As usual, Governor returns to Central Administration every two years to report on his work. This year, twelve Governor came from other places and were ordered to observe this meeting.
According to the status of each Province and Borderland Region, there is a clear gap in the grades of Governor. Governor of Province like Eastern Thrace is in the fourth grade, second only to the third grade of Imperial Council members.
Galatia, Circassia and other places have low development levels, Governor is at the fifth level, and Borderland Region Governor is also at this level. What makes Ilya most sad is that he is ranked second to last in the Governor series, only ahead of Outer Tauris Governor.
However, there are advantages to sitting in the back.
Ilya had the lowest status and received the least attention. He looked up at Mosaic on the dome to pass the time. The same was true for the other ministers. No one was chatting, and the only sound in the whole hall was the slight sound of Pelato sorting documents. After waiting for a while, there were dense footsteps outside the hall. Vitus led Romanus into the hall. The attendants and Eunuch stayed outside the hall. Seeing this, everyone in the hall began to salute, and the tedious etiquette process lasted for several minutes.
"There are many topics on today's agenda. Don't waste time. The meeting will officially begin now."
Vitus did not explain the reason for the absence of Imperial Council, and immediately got down to business, discussing the events that occurred in the past year. Listening to the emperor's calm tone, everyone became more and more uneasy, and speculated on the content of the subsequent meeting.
In less than four hours, Vitus briefly reviewed the events of 1444. Finally, he put together the annual report and asked Pelato to distribute a copy of Administrative Plan to everyone.
A long time ago, at the suggestion of Vitus, John VIII adjusted the relevant system. John is mild-mannered by nature, and his position is in a state of swing. He was restrained throughout the process and did not achieve the expected results.
In the past hundreds of years, Eastern Roman Empire promoted Pronoia System, and accordingly derived certain institutions and regulations. Nowadays, they are no longer in line with the actual situation, and Vitus decided to change it completely at once.
His primary goal is to let Cabinet control the power of discussion and decision-making, with each ministry responsible for specific administrative powers, and improve administrative efficiency. The second goal is to solve the problem of usurping the throne by powerful ministers.
Historically, Komnenian Dynasty showed signs of revival, but was interrupted by the turmoil caused by the usurpation of power by powerful officials.
In 1180, Manuel I died of illness, and in 1183, Andronikos I took the opportunity to usurp the throne. Two years later, Isaac of the Angelos family usurped the throne again, and then Isaac's brother Alexios III... The domestic situation was turbulent, and finally Fourth Crusade was brought in.
In the last century, the situation in the Palaiologos Dynasty was equally bad. There were civil wars among family members and rebellions caused by John·Kantakouzenos. The situation in the Eastern Roman Empire has since become out of control.
Vitus thought about it for a long time and felt that the Ming Dynasty system was worth learning from. The entire dynasty lasted for nearly three hundred years, and the possibility of rebellion by powerful ministers was suppressed to a minimum. At the end of the period, more than 100,000 field troops could be assembled and put into the front line. Compared with Komnenos and Palaiologos's situation is much better. Therefore, on the one hand, he referred to the systems and traditions of Rome in each period, and at the same time, he also referred to the system design of the Ming Dynasty and Western Europe in the eighteenth century, and finally got an eighty-page Administrative Plan.