After the debriefing, Lorenzo left the admiral's office. He returned to the first floor, where the three crew members were still asking for their military pay during the period of disappearance.
Lorenzo told Official: "Admiral believes in our combat experience, you can pay my crew members military pay."
After receiving full military pay, Lorenzo said goodbye to the crew, and then quickly went to the bank to remit a sum of money to Naples's cousin.
At first, Lorenzo and the crew returned on Scala. When the sailboat was anchored at Naples, it was his cousin who helped pay the ship's fare of up to 200 Ducat.
In order to thank his cousin for his help, Lorenzo increased the remittance amount to three hundred.
After finishing this matter, he took the remaining military pay and had fun in the city, living in a daze for half a month.
In mid-August, Lorenzo's father sent a messenger from Vicenza to reunite his eldest son, who had been missing for many days.
Vicenza and Venice are forty miles apart, about two days' journey. On the way, Lorenzo saw hundreds of Venice people migrating westward with their families.
Upon closer inspection, some people are unemployed residents on the island, while others are from overseas territories such as Crete and Corfu. They cannot find a livelihood in Venice and can only follow Official's arrangements and move to Po Valley to build new settlements.
However, Venice's military strength declined, Governor did not dare to offend Po Valley's local forces, and could not allocate existing farmland to the immigrants. The immigrants could only start from scratch to reclaim the land.
During the reclamation period, Governor provided necessary supplies such as food and ironware. This subsidy lasted for two years. There was no subsidy or tax in the third year. Starting from the fourth year, immigrants were required to pay taxes.
This policy is reasonable and reasonable, but Lorenzo cannot help but feel sad.
In the past, Venice was a country with absolute maritime power, and few nobles purchased properties on land. Although everyone was crowded in Lagoon, and the living conditions were not as good as those of the nobles on land, there was an indescribable sense of superiority.
After losing Eastern Mediterranean hegemony, this "Most Serene Republic" sense of superiority was wiped out. Venice people's mentality returned to "normal" and they began to value the land they owned.
Venice's golden age is over.
Arriving outside Vicenza City, Lorenzo did not rush into the city, but rode to the reclaimed land in the southern suburbs.
Under the blazing sunshine, more than a hundred immigrants are reclaiming the hillside, placing wooden stakes at certain intervals, hoping to reclaim the slope into Vineyard.
Fruits such as grapes, figs, and apples are medium-term investments. It takes at least three years from planting new seedlings to stable output.
The harvest cycle of olive trees is too long. It takes seven years from seed germination to first fruiting, and it takes several more years to enter a stable fruit production period. Therefore, immigrants will not plant olive trees in the early stages of land reclamation. Only when their lives gradually stabilize, will they have the energy to consider these long-term plans.
The hillside extends gently eastward, gradually decreasing in height, eventually forming a low-lying area.
There is stagnant water in some depressions, and the water surface reflects the clear cloudless sky. Lush aquatic plants grow on the edges of the depressions, and a small group of mallard ducks can be seen swimming on the water surface.
At this moment, more than four hundred immigrants are digging ditches on the east side of the depression to channel the slightly smelly water into the creek two miles away.
A blacksmith shop was built not far away, with some damaged iron picks and sickles piled nearby. The young apprentice fanned the bellows next to the stove, and the blacksmith used a hammer to hit the red-hot iron tools, repair them to a complete state, and then put them into use again.
On the northeast side of the depression, some immigrants brought a lot of stones in horse-drawn carriages. Lorenzo looked at the foundation under construction and speculated that they wanted to build a drainage windmill.
After it was built, the windmill relied on wind power to run day and night, drawing the accumulated water at the lowest point into the drainage canal, which greatly saved manpower. After draining the accumulated water, the windmill could be modified and used as a wind mill.
"The one who is best at this technology is Flanders. It is said that windmills can be seen everywhere in their territory."
Lorenzo yawned and rode back to the Vicenza City gate. He happened to meet his father and two younger brothers who had returned from hunting, as well as several members of the local aristocracy.
When the relatives reunited, the youngest brother blurted out, "Brother, why have you lost so much weight? You have lost all your appearance? None of the workers in the mine are as outrageous as you."
Lorenzo ruffled the other person's hair and said, "Leaving you on a desert island for a year and a half is no better than me."
That night, the family had dinner at the city lord's official residence. Lorenzo heard that the family had purchased a large area of land, recruited workers to cultivate it, and was planning to arrange a marriage. It seemed that they wanted to take root here for a long time.
He lamented inwardly.
"Transforming from a commercial aristocracy to a traditional aristocracy, is this the development direction of our family? Yes, this can indeed avoid the attacks of the Greece people, but what should we do when the Austria and France people come over?"
August 30, Blachernae Palace.
Vitus was sitting on the throne, looking through the agricultural survey report submitted by Ilya.
Ilya recently visited Moesia, Northern Thrace, and Eastern Thrace. These three Province have large plains with sufficient water sources, suitable for the development of farming, and are major grain production areas.
There are a large number of immigrants in Moesia. They followed the chief executive's arrangements and switched from ox farming to more efficient horse farming. The proportion of horse farming in Province reached 35%.
Harness Horse has high farmland efficiency, but Harness Horse eats Barley and oats, and has higher feed requirements than cattle that eat grass and straw, so the economic benefits are not outstanding.
The military benefit is that this improves the riding skills of farmers, gives the empire a number of potential cavalry soldiers, and reduces its reliance on nomadic cavalry.
To this end, Central Administration has permanently lowered the tax rate on racecourses to encourage industrial owners to invest in racecourses and breed more horses, allowing some rich farmers to gradually switch from cattle farming to horse farming.
Vitus Turn to the next page of the report, which records Moesia's yield per mu of various crops, approximate planting area and expected harvest.
He estimated in his mind. "Converting Stremma into acres, the wheat yield per mu is about fifty kilograms.
According to the information in the archives, in the early Middle Ages when Justinian was located, the wheat yield per mu of Moesia was 30 to 40 kilograms. If calculated based on the average value of 35 kilograms, after hundreds of years, the wheat yield of Moesia has increased by 50%.
However, the yield in the Moesia area is still not as good as that in the France core area and Northern Italy. It is said that their wheat yield per mu can reach 60~70 kilograms, ranking among the top in the Europe area.
Over the years, technology has been advancing, from the two-field system to the three-field system, heavy iron plows, and the introduction of Eastern crops, and grain production has slowly increased.
At the beginning, Egypt was lost in the Heraclius era, Eastern Roman Empire fell into the predicament of food shortage, and Constantinople's free bread policy was cancelled.
Now there is no food for Egypt, but Eastern Roman Empire is still doing well.
The church often complained to me, saying that the number of drunkards in Constantinople city has increased significantly, which proves that there is a surplus of food in the country. The excess food cannot be eaten and can only be used to make wine."
Vitus is concerned that subordinates cannot drink alcohol during work. As for people's eating habits, this kind of thing cannot be controlled.
At the end of the report, Agricultural Department requested that more prisoners of war be mobilized to build more water conservancy facilities and drain swamps in Moesia and Northern Thrace.
"Draining swamps can expand agricultural land, which is always a good thing."
Shortly after the war ended, Eastern Roman Empire had enough prisoners of war, and Vitus readily agreed to this request.
As the meeting ended, the civil servants left Cabinet one after another and went to the canteen outside the palace to have lunch. Only Prime Minister stayed where he was, as if he had something to say.
Sensing the emperor's gaze, the remaining attendants also withdrew, leaving only the emperor, Prime Minister and Pelato in the palace.
Vitus thought to himself, "I guess I have to resign."
Prime Minister is getting older and more and more mentally depressed. Cabinet is transferring more and more affairs to Savard and Balram. Occasionally, he will suddenly become distracted while talking.
These days, although Vitus and the two Deputy Prime Minister have not expressed their opinions, the outside world has already made a lot of speculation about the next Prime Minister candidate and which minister can join the cabinet.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your continued trust..."
Chrysaphi Noratas talked for a long time and said a lot of meaningless clichés.
Near the end, whether because of his conscience or because he wanted to keep a good reputation, Chrysaphi suddenly mentioned a past incident and began to admonish the emperor:
"Your Majesty, ten years ago, you and Emperor John raised Agricultural Tax from 20% to 25%. The reason was that more military expenditures were needed to build an army and regain the eastern land occupied by Ottoman.
It has been four years since the collapse of Ottoman. I am about to leave office. Finally, I would like to make a suggestion, please adjust the tax rate. The tax rate of 25% is indeed too great for the people. In any case, do not adopt Deputy Prime Minister Balram's suggestion to further increase taxes."
Hearing Prime Minister's true words before parting, Vitus was surprised at first, and then muttered in his heart:
"That's right, the tax rate of 2.5% is indeed a bit much. Patriarch mentioned before that if there is a private additional apportionment in a certain place, the total burden of the farmers will exceed 30%."
For a long time, Vitus let out a long sigh, "Oh, Ottoman, Venice, Mamluk, White Sheep... There are endless enemies. Rome has been fighting in recent years, and there is really nothing we can do.
My original idea was to bring down the tax rate after defeating White Sheep and Mamluk. Since Patriarch and you have mentioned this matter, starting from next autumn, Agricultural Tax will return to 20%."
After Uzon Hassan defeated Black Sheep, his strength expanded rapidly. He recently defeated Timur Empire and occupied the western part of Persia.
According to rumors provided by businessmen, Uzun Hassan is promoting innovative measures on a large scale, suppressing local forces, reforming the army, and his strength is increasing day by day.
Vitus faces two choices:
Find a way to raise a military budget and attack White Sheep Dynasty as soon as possible.
Or, he can wait a few more years for Treasury to be fully charged before going to war. The disadvantage of this is that White Sheep Dynasty's strength will expand and the risk of attack will be higher.
Vitus decided to take the lead and mobilize more than 70,000 troops to defeat this emerging regime in one go, without giving White Sheep Dynasty time to rectify its internal affairs.
At this time, Prime Minister said again, "Carlo has good abilities, but his personality is a bit soft, and it is difficult to convince the ministers. I suggest that the original Deputy Prime Minister Savard be promoted to Prime Minister, and Carlo be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister. Deputy Prime Minister Balram likes to please the monarch and has no independent opinion. Please remember not to rely too much on him."
Vitus nodded. "I will consider it."
In the afternoon, Vitus did not take care of official business and took a carriage to the southeastern city.
After regaining Eastern Mediterranean's hegemony, Constantinople's Trade increased again, and the urban population entered a new period of rapid growth. Along the way, Vitus saw more three-story residences being built on both sides of the road.
According to the predictions of the municipal department, the population of Constantinople will exceed 300,000 in the next few years.
As the number of citizens increases, urban tax revenue increases accordingly, which will also bring about some health problems.
However, Constantinople, as City Desired by the World, has unique geographical advantages in this regard.
First of all, in the east part of the city is Sea of Marmara, where sewage is discharged into the ocean along the sewer pipes and is quickly washed away by strong ocean currents.
Secondly, the city's water source comes from the Belgrade Forest in the northwest. The local area is sparsely populated and has abundant rainfall, which can continuously provide clean water.
The water intake point and the sewage discharge point are in two completely opposite directions, so the water source will not be polluted, effectively reducing the spread of diseases.
In 1399, Manuel II went on a mission to the West. In more than two years, he visited Venice, Paris, London and other places.
According to private memories of him and his children, the sanitary conditions of Paris and London were very poor, not as good as Venice located in the center of Lagoon.
The streets in both cities are narrow and winding, and some areas are covered with a layer of mud mixed with garbage and rotting water.
Many citizens dumped dirt into the Thames River or Seine River, and then dug wells inside the city to get water. Citizens generally believe that as long as the water looks clear and does not taste bad, the well water is absolutely safe.
But that's not the case.
Every rainy day, rainwater will wash away the dirt on the streets, and then gradually seep into the surface, polluting the groundwater in the area where the wells are located.
Moreover, the dirty and smelly river water will also seep through the soil and come into contact with the groundwater below the urban area, causing continuous and slow pollution.
After observation, Manuel II concluded that:
The sanitary conditions in coastal cities are better, and the situation in London and Paris is not the worst. After all, they are adjacent to a large river, and the abundant river water can still wash away some of the dirt.
If an inland city is adjacent to a small river, the sanitation situation is the worst. The river water flow is small and slow, and it is difficult to dilute and wash away the sewage after being poured in. It quickly turns into a slow-flowing "sewage ditch", breeding mosquitoes and diseases...
"In terms of water intake and sewage discharge, Constantinople has reached the upper limit before the industrial era. As long as the municipal planning is reasonable, it is more than enough to accommodate 800,000 people."
Most of the measures Vitus can think of have already been put into practice, such as establishing health officials in the City Hall, enacting special laws on sewage and sewers, building public bathrooms, and keeping cemeteries away from residential areas.
However, he still thought of a neglected detail: the lighting and ventilation of the building.
Sufficient sunlight can kill a large number of germs and reduce the probability of people getting sick. Vitus asked the municipal department to implement a regulation that new houses must meet this standard.
In my mind, England introduced one of the stupidest measures: levying a window tax. The more windows a building has, the more taxes it pays.
As a result, people could only use bricks to build windows, which affected the health of the residents. Later, this measure was also used for reference by France, and it was not abolished until World War I...
Regarding lighting, Vitus also wants to set up Streetlights on several main roads in Constantinople, but small-scale experiments show that the cost of using oil lamps is higher.
"It is too luxurious to use olive oil or animal fat for lighting. In the early 19th century, London invented Gas Streetlight, and the raw material was cheap coal. If the university and Arsenal developed gas lamps, they could be promoted throughout the country."
Considering the technological differences between now and the 19th century, Vitus doesn't have high hopes for this.
In the municipal field, his greatest concern was sanitation. Cities with a population of more than 10,000 have built sewers, public bathrooms, and at least one large-scale hospital. He also spent huge sums of money to build Elevated Aqueduct specifically for large cities.
Most of municipal funds are taken up by health facilities, leaving very little funds for other areas.
Vitus calculated an account. Once the development of gas lamps failed, even if the cheapest rapeseed oil was used as a substitute, the cost would still exceed the endurance limit, so the Streetlights plan in the city could only be cancelled.