In late December, Military Academy began to take vacation. Leo returned to the palace and saw Romanus standing in the corridor in a daze.
If it were before, Leo would have definitely sneaked over, yelled, and ran away before his brother could react.
Now, after experiencing the hardships on the battlefield, Leo's character has become calmer. He walked to Romanus and said hello, silently watching the snowy scene in the courtyard.
Sensing that Leo was worrying, Romanus suddenly felt in a good mood and asked, "Glutty Leo, what are you thinking about?"
"It's nothing. Military Academy's coursework is too heavy. On the one hand, it is the calculus required for Artillery. On the other hand, I also minored in engineering, learning to build fortifications, roads, bridges and Trace Italienne. After studying these, I feel that I can serve as a project manager for a construction team."
After listening to his brother's complaint, Romanus looked suspicious, feeling that the other party was hiding something.
"Something's wrong. The schoolwork was just as heavy as before. You were happy all day long and only thought about eating and playing. With your expression now, could it be possible that you've fallen in love with someone?"
Leo quickly defended. "Of course not! Why do you raise such a question for no reason?"
Romanus grinned and said that he was just teasing him.
When Leo left, Romanus looked at his back, thoughtfully.
This guy most likely likes someone. He lives in the Military Academy on weekdays. Could it be that he met the person when he went out for training?
During the dinner party at night, Agnes also noticed something unusual about Leo.
In the next few days, she sent someone to inquire privately and found out that Leo liked the daughter of a country squire family. She was in good health, but her only shortcoming was that she was from a lower family background and did not have any famous bloodline.
"My poor child, why don't you choose a better one?"
Vitus thinks it doesn't matter, "Leo has almost finished the course. After graduation next summer, we will get married and then take up the position of Tripoli Governor."
The word Tripoli means "three cities".
In the seventh century BC, the Phoenicia people established settlements on this coast. During the Rome period, this place was called Tripolitania and produced grains and olive oil.
Due to climate change and war, the agricultural conditions on this coast have deteriorated, and they are no longer as prosperous as they were in the classical period. The largest city has less than 10,000 people, and the population of the entire area is about 100,000 to 150,000.
Occupying this coast will bring little direct economic benefits. The advantage is to expel the pirates here, drive them further west, and improve the business environment of Eastern Mediterranean.
Hearing this result, Leo did not react too much. He is now focused on next year's wedding. Whether it is North Africa, Eastern Europe or East Africa, he can accept it.
Although Tripoli is a little poorer, Agnes promised to leave most of the shares of the Chamber of Commerce to him. Even if the area cannot collect taxes, Leo can still live comfortably.
The arrangements for the second son came to an end, and Vitus returned his energy to work. At the beginning of 1453, he held a summary meeting for the previous year.
Last year's Finance's income was 3.7 million. Adding Venice's war compensation, the total was 3.85 million.
The largest increase is in commercial tax. With the development of Levant, Egypt, and Abyssinia markets, Eastern Roman Empire's textile and iron smelting industries have developed rapidly.
Sinai Peninsula's toll tax amounted to 320,000 Florin, and the tax contributed by India cotton accounted for 60%.
Last year's Finance expenditure was 3.8 million, and military expenditure was nearly 70%, as much as 2.6 million.
The good news is that the security environment in the Anatolia interior has improved. The field troops and the Province defenders cooperated in the operation and wiped out most of the horse bandits and the connections behind them. The inland tribes began to transform into settled villages or Ranch.
In the future, the security costs of the four Provinces will be reduced, and they will be able to reach a balance of payments, and Central Administrations will no longer need to spend extra money to fill the hole.
"The situation is temporarily stable. In the next few years, as long as there is no major war, we can save a sum of money every year."
Vitus put down the Finance report and picked up another document, which recorded the affairs of Foreign Affairs.
The first was the England Civil War. According to the definition of later historians, it was called "Wars of the Roses".
The person in power now is House of Lancaster, whose family emblem is a red rose, and the family emblem of Duke of York, who covets the throne, is a white rose. Both parties are descendants of Edward III.
"It seems to be earlier than I thought."
Vitus turned to the second page and found that the reason for Duke of York's rebellion was "to eliminate the traitors around the king."
After England lost the land in the Europe continent, the local nobles, immigrants, and troops returned to their homeland. Many veterans had been in battle for a long time and were not used to farming and herding sheep in the countryside. They joined the Duke of York team not because of the other party's so-called legal claims or bloodline succession, but because they just wanted to make a living.
However, the armory and arsenal of England are located in London. The Duke has troops, but he does not have enough firearms. Most of them are equipped with traditional longbows and cold weapons.
In less than two months, the rebels were defeated by the royal standing army, and the Duke's faction fled in all directions. Some people ran to Ireland, while others fled to France.
"It is normal for the standing army to fight against the noble army and win. Henry VI's money was not wasted."
The second is the destruction of Teutonic Knights. Vitus has already received this news, so he continues to read back.
Overall, nothing major happened last year, and Vitus hopes it will be the same this year.
A week later, a group of visitors arrived at Constantinople. Among them, more than thirty people were wearing burqas with black crosses on a white background and a long sword hanging from their waists. They were standard Teutonic Knights attire.
This time, Teutonic Knights's attitude was even more humble. He no longer asked for all the Knights' real estate in Levant, but only prayed for a place to stay.
Vitus was having a meeting at Cabinet. When he heard the attendant relaying Teutonic Knights's words, he immediately laughed out loud.
"A place of shelter? Levant's last batch of unclaimed real estate has been auctioned. Is it possible that they want me to give them the royal territory?"
Last year, the grand leader of Teutonic Knights was killed by Poland-Lithuania Coalition. The whole territory of Prussian Region fell, and the remnants of the knights were in exile. If Vitus gives up a piece of land to accommodate these people, more exiled knights will soon be attracted.
Prime Minister mentioned. "Army Department is considering forming a second Cuirassiers brigade, why not let them?"
Vitus smiled and shook his head, "Now is not the Komnenos period. Rome no longer needs to rely on Latin Knights for combat."
Cuirassiers's soldiers come from wealthy squire families, or are the children of guards officers.
This group has no worries about food, clothing, and nutrition. They have hunted and practiced martial arts in the countryside since childhood. Most of them can read and count. They are equivalent to the good family members in the Han and Tang Dynasties. They are the most loyal and high-quality sources of soldiers.
He has always believed that the importance of discipline ranks before bravery. The Cuirassiers cultivated by the empire is more disciplined and does not need these traditional medieval knights.
"Let these people stay at Caravanserai District. After a while, they will most likely take a boat to Jerusalem and defect to Knights Hospitaller."
There is precedent for this approach.
Back then, after Knights Templar was destroyed, Knights Hospitaller took over part of the organization's real estate and survivors. Now that Teutonic Knights has been destroyed, survivors can still join Knights Hospitaller.
Mentioning Knights Hospitaller, Romanus suddenly spoke:
"Phoenicia Borderland Region (South of Levant) sent an official document regarding the tax issues of the Knights.
According to the original agreement, a large area in the south of Jerusalem was allocated to them, which was the jurisdiction of the Knights. The Knights did business within the jurisdiction and did not need to pay taxes.
However, part of their lending business and withdrawal business have been extended to our Phoenicia Borderland Region, and Governor believes that this part of the business needs to be taxed.
Otherwise, if the Knights' banks are tax-free, while ordinary banks collect taxes, the Knights can gain an advantage in commercial competition and squeeze the living space of private banks.
On the other hand, last autumn, a France nobleman died of illness in Jerusalem. Before his death, he made a will and donated a manor in the northern suburbs to Knights Hospitaller.
This manor is in our jurisdiction. Governor asked if the summer harvest is over this year and whether the tax will be collected normally on the manor?"
Nonsense, this is my money!
Vitus handed over the task of negotiation to Attendant Officer Edric, asking him to set off immediately, negotiate the matter as soon as possible, and then go to Cyrenaica Borderland Region to serve as Finance officer.
Borderland Region?
When he heard that he was going to be released, Edric felt anxious and uneasy, wondering if he had offended the emperor in some way.
"As you command, Your Majesty."
After the salute was over, he took the edict from Eunuch and walked out of the hall in despair.
The biting cold wind blew, making a low whimpering sound in the corridor. Edric walked around a corner, and a group of servants were cleaning the corridor in front. The leader was Inner Palace Directorate's chief Eunuch Pelato.
"What trouble did you get into? You made that face."
Edric raised his head and forced himself to calmly reply, "Sir, I was assigned to Cyrenaica as officer Finance."
Pelato continued to sweep the snow on the ground, his tone still calm, "From an administrative level, you have been promoted. You were promoted to a local Finance official when you were only in your twenties. This is a good thing. You have to be more responsible as a person. You should learn to be content."
The matter was irreversible. Edric felt that Eunuch was right. He respectfully walked to his side and asked the powerful eunuch for more advice.
"I'm just an old servant who doesn't understand local affairs. You should ask the ministers for advice instead of wasting time here. Let's go and don't disturb me sweeping the floor." Pelato stopped talking and swept the floor silently, with a focused expression, as if he was carrying out an extremely important task.
Helpless, Edric left the palace and went to the Administrative Department gate to complete the formalities.
Wherever he went, civil servants greeted him warmly, and Edric responded one by one. When he came to Administrative Minister's office, the other party kindly poured Edric a cup of coffee.
"Still the same as before, half a spoonful of sugar and no milk? By the way, what are your orders?"
Edric: "This is my transfer. I was ordered to go to Jerusalem for negotiation. After the matter is completed, I will be transferred to Cyrenaica as officer Finance."
"Oh? Congratulations."
In just an instant, the minister's expression became solemn and solemn, he signed a document according to the procedure, and asked the young man to handle the remaining procedures.
Today Edric is just a Borderland Region Finance official, belonging to the seventh level, and has no status as a close minister of the emperor. He has since lost the friendly treatment of Central Administration civil servants.
"Finally I can appreciate the feeling of Province Governor and Finance officers coming to report on their work."
At noon, Edric completed the transfer procedures and followed the crowd to the canteen for dinner.
Snapper, egg custard, vegetable soup, white bread. He sat in the corner with a dinner plate, lowering his head to eat the delicious dishes. If he wanted to eat here again in the future, he would only have to report on his work every two years.
Not far away, five young men in light gray uniforms gathered together, whispering in low voices, with uncontrollable excitement on their faces.
Edric recognized them. The top ten candidates in last year's civil service examination all stayed at Central Administration. He looked at these young juniors and seemed to see himself who had just joined the job.
"From the beginning to now, nine years have passed in the blink of an eye."
The next day, Edric and his party came to the dock and boarded a slender Mail Ship.
Beginning in 1450, Post Offices were successively established in important cities in the empire. Every time Mail Ship traveled, extra space was needed to carry letters or packages.
On the deck, the captain took the documents and counted the mailboxes and packages to be sent to Jerusalem item by item. After a long time, he marked the last item in the column and walked towards Edric.
"Sir, the sailboat is about to go out to sea. Do you have any people or items left on the shore?"
Edric shook his head. "No."
Seeing this, the sailors turned the winch on the stern of the ship and took up the anchor from below the water. Someone climbed to the top of the mast and untied the ties binding the canvas. A large piece of the sail dropped down and swelled rapidly in the cold wind.
Mail Ship began to slowly depart from the dock, Edric stood on the bow deck, looking at everything familiar in front of him, Blachernae Palace, Golden Horn Clock Tower...
Soon, Mail Ship drove out of the busy and noisy Golden Horn and arrived at the relatively empty Sea of Marmara. In the distance, the gray-blue sea and the lead-gray sky were connected, making it impossible to distinguish each other.
The captain asked the sailors to lower most of the sails and adjust the sail cables according to the wind direction. With the strong crosswind, the hull tilted slightly and the speed gradually increased.
The canvas bulged into a full arc in the wind, the mast made a continuous creaking sound, waves splashed from the port side, and fine water droplets sprinkled on Edric's cheeks.
"Speed is eight knots."
The chief mate's shout rang out from the rear deck. Edric's eyes moved over and saw a trail of white waves trailing from the stern of the ship. The ships on both sides were easily thrown away. The outline of the city became blurred, and Hagia Sophia's dome shrank into a small dot.
"This life is finally over."
Edric returned to the cabin to sort out information about Knights Hospitaller.
In 1113 AD, Pope issued an edict "Request for Pious Wishes", recognizing Knights Hospitaller as an independent religious order.
From then on, the Knights were only responsible to Roman Curia, without interference from any other secular monarch, and did not need to pay tithe.
This edict is the legal basis for the Knights' tax exemption. Over the past hundreds of years, although their achievements in financial business are not as good as Knights Templar, they have still built a huge financial network.
The Knights have local congregations in England, France, and Germany. Customers can deposit funds in one area, exchange for deposit certificates, and then withdraw money from the Knights' stronghold in another area, freeing customers from the trouble and danger of carrying large amounts of money.
"Found it, here is a record of the fines and taxes paid by the Knights to the monarch."
Edric used a charcoal pen to draw a thin line under the paragraph and continued to read the following content, intending to find more factual basis.