July 6th, evening.
A Galley docked at the southwest pier of Golden Horn. Simon and two guards got off the ship and ran towards the palace wall not far away.
Arriving at the east side door of the palace, Simon held up a sealed wooden box and shouted, "I am Simon Mykonos, and I have brought His Majesty's decree from the palace."
The guard recognized the person's face, but still followed the procedure to search him, check his ID and waist tag, "Let's go in."
The side door opened slowly, and Simon walked quickly along the familiar corridor.
The sun gradually sets in the west, casting large shadows over the entire palace. The cool mountain breeze brought by the inland hills blows through, dispelling the heat of the palace.
Blachernae Palace is located in "Sixth Hill" of "Seven Hills". The terrain in the east is low. The drainage canal and sewage canal lead directly to Golden Horn in the east. On the way, the subtle sound of underground water can be vaguely heard.
It was getting dark, and a Eunuch wearing Flax clothes appeared in the corridor, lighting the oil lamps on the right wall one by one.
It is now 6:30 in the afternoon, Simon must deliver the decree as soon as possible. Central Administration The dining hall has been closed, and the small dining hall in the palace is opening for dinner. If it continues, there will not be much food in the dining hall!
Arriving at Cabinet, Simon saw scribes leaving the courtyard one after another.
"Oh, I delayed getting off work for more than an hour today. Speaking of which, "Constantinople Past" at the Grand Theater has been playing for twenty days. When will it be replaced with a new show?"
"Writing a new play is time-consuming and laborious. How can a theater change plays every now and then? Good scripts are so rare, and the Grand Theater doesn't want to ruin its reputation by using ordinary scripts. If you feel bored, you can go to the newly opened Arcadius Theatre, or go to the open-air theater during holidays."
"I heard that Arcadius Theatre's new play is not as good as the Grand Theater, so I'll wait and see for a few days. The amphitheater is only open during the day, and you can't go there during work hours. If you wait until the holidays, the amphitheater will be crowded with people, and your wallet will be stolen easily."
Simon was in a hurry to have dinner and did not participate in the chatter of these people. He passed through the courtyard gate sideways.
Chancellor have got off work. The ones responsible for the night watch tonight are Agricultural Minister Tucha and Inner Palace Directorate Eunuch.
Simon is the eldest son of Renaf, the future hereditary nobleman Mykonos. Tucha has chatted with him twice, and they are fairly familiar with each other.
When Eunuch was checking the seal of the official document, Tucha chatted with Simon: "How is the palace environment?"
"The climate in the mountains is cool, but the disadvantage is that there are many bugs and snakes. One maid was bitten by a snake and almost didn't survive."
After a long time, Eunuch translated Ciphertext into plain text, which contained the emperor's replies to several matters:
1. The case of Ratmir was handled in accordance with the law, and Boranov compensated the hotel and vegetable vendors for their losses.
Second, let the fleet go to the north of the Adriatic Sea and send a batch of Niter and other military supplies to the Austrian and Polish coalition forces of Slovenia.
Third, reject Charles VII's request for peace talks.
Fourth, reject the navy's Atlantic Ocean strategy. The first task is to fight for control of Western Mediterranean, and secondly to maintain the order of Eastern Mediterranean.
Five, send a reply to Rome again. In any case, Eastern Roman Empire will not hand over Sicily and Corsica after the war.
The current Pope is Callixtus III, whose secular name is Alfonso de Borgia, from Kingdom of Aragon.
Tucha didn't have much impression of him, I just read relevant news in newspapers.
The first is that he stopped the municipal projects of his predecessor Pope Nicholas V, dismissed most of the craftsmen, and no longer allocated funds to sponsor art and literature.
The second piece of news is that last year, he promoted two young family members to cardinals, namely Rodrigo Borgia and Louis Juan Borgia.
In order to successfully pass the appointment, Pope appointed seven other cardinals at the same time to win over people's hearts and then divide the reaction below.
to strength.
"Thinking about this kind of thing gives me a headache." Tucha grew up in Steppe, and it is difficult to understand the internal power operation logic of Holy See.
After reading the emperor's reply, he and Eunuch left a record in the night watch book and had it sent to the crown prince.
Tucha returned to his seat and continued to read the newspaper, "Mykonos boy, you can leave and go to the cafeteria to eat."
July 20, Sea of Marmara East Coast.
Vitus's vacation is still going on. Sometimes he stays in the palace to rest, and sometimes he goes out to relax to build up enough energy for the upcoming battle.
Seventeen years have passed since Battle of Sakarya. This land has been managed by Central Administration. The wounds left by the war have been healed, and the development and public security conditions are good.
Coming outside Sakarya City, he explained to Agnes, "At the beginning, Turahan of Ottoman imitated my defense strategy and built a new type of city wall. I had no choice but to Using Trench Siege Method, soldiers dug three Parallel Trench trenches and hundreds of traffic trenches outside the city. Now, this moat is the innermost Parallel Trench, and the other trenches have been filled in."
Agnes stepped out of the carriage with the help of the maid. In front of him was a straight and wide main road, with large areas on both sides.
The flat farmland is almost the same as the suburban scene in other cities.
She observed for a long time that there were some traces of shelling left on the surface of the city wall, and the color of the battlements was slightly different from the wall.
Turning around, two low hills in the northern suburbs were covered with lush vegetation. Agnes asked curiously, "Which hill was Sultan on during the decisive battle?"
Vitus turned over and dismounted, poured some water from the kettle and wiped his cheeks, recalling the battle that decided Anatolia's fate.
"No, at that time Sultan was in Mount Emali further north. After the decisive battle, a military cemetery was built there. When the people were plowing the fields on the plain below the mountain, they occasionally dug out cannonballs, weapons and other objects."
Agnes listened for a long time, but still did not understand the battlefield layout at that time. The sun made her head dizzy, so she returned to the carriage and began to think about future property arrangements.
When Leo got married, Agnes thought about leaving most of his property to his second son.
The advantage of the factory is that it is highly profitable, but it requires careful management. The second son has been staying at North Africa and it is difficult to take care of the local business. As time goes by, the factory is destined to slowly decline.
Compared with factories, land is more "valuable". Although the profit rate of manors is not as good as that of factories, the advantage is that the income is stable and not as easy to go bankrupt as factories.
During this time, Agnes considered selling the factory under his name and using the money to purchase a manor.
In the future, Leo will be able to obtain a stable land rent income every year to meet daily needs.
Vitus did not interfere with Agnes's property arrangements. Since she felt she owed her younger son, it was up to her to do it.
Land is always the most reliable form of inheritance.
Not only Agnes but also Eastern Roman Empire businessmen generally have this idea.
Once a businessman confirms that his descendants have no business ability, they usually sell the property they have worked hard for most of their lives, buy urban land or country manors, and sign an additional agreement requiring the heirs not to sell the land within a specified period of time.
In view of this rush to buy land, the new code stipulates the upper limit of the land that people can hold. This prevents the land of several villages or even a town from falling into the hands of one person, making him a de facto hereditary lord.
At present, Eastern Roman Empire mainly levies land tax on rural areas.
The more land someone owned, the more taxes the administrative agency levied on him. If a war broke out, the property owner would be required to bear corresponding military obligations, usually by paying a tax exemption.
Assume that a yeoman farmer owns thirty Stremma. All he needs to bear is infantry military service, and the tax exemption is extremely low.
(Stremma is an area unit, which is approximately equal to 1,000 square meters, which is currently 1.5 acres)
If the real estate income exceeds 300 Stremma of farmland, the owner must assume the obligation of cavalry, provide his own horses to fight, or pay a higher tax exemption.
In addition to land tax, there was also a popular form of taxation at the same time: poll tax.
In short, the latter levies taxes based on population. The larger the number of people in a household, the higher the burden.
For the poor, taxes account for a large part of their meager income, but for landlords and wealthy businessmen, they are insignificant.
Vitus feels that the disadvantages of the poll tax are huge. The overall tax amount is not as good as the land tax, and it can easily trigger rebellions among the people at the bottom, so it has not been implemented.
Its only advantage is that it is quick to produce results and the cost of taxation is low. When the army captures a place, it only needs to gather the people, count them, and then tax them. There is no need to waste time and effort in measuring the acres of land.
If the head tax is combined with the tax farming system, the rulers can minimize the administrative costs of tax collection, and the costs will be borne by the bottom class.
The most typical ones are France from Ottoman, Louis XIV to Louis XVI.
Ottoman imposed a poll tax called "Jizya" on Christian people, which not only increased the burden on the people at the bottom, but also led to the expansion of the power of local tax collectors and the weakening of national power.
France's tax system was greatly improved during the Napoleon period. He launched the national Cadastral Survey to fairly collect land taxes and levied consumption taxes on wine, coffee, salt, tobacco, etc. This move allowed him to obtain more tax revenue than the Bourbon dynasty, supporting him in launching wars again and again.
The next day, Agnes stayed in the city to check the accounts, while Vitus led the guards out for inspection.
The terrain of the surrounding area is flat, and sufficient irrigation water can be obtained from the Sakarya River. The agricultural conditions are superior, attracting many wealthy Constantinople to purchase properties here.
Leaving the plain and heading east, the terrain becomes rugged and undulating, the pine forest is filled with the noisy chirping of cicadas, and the dirt roads in the country are heated by the sun.
In the afternoon, Vitus rested in a village. Among the more than 100 households, one-third were retired soldiers.
When the Sakarya war ended, Eastern Roman Empire could not pay out rewards, so it issued land coupons to the army, and everyone had a share.
The area of land coupons for ordinary soldiers is limited. Some people want to settle here, so they use money to purchase land coupons in Paoze, collect dozens of Stremma of cultivated land, and then register and settle in nearby towns.
"We are just passing by, there is no need to prepare meals, just provide some fodder and water for the horses."
Vitus declined the hospitality of the villagers and only chatted with them inside the church.
The living standards here are similar to those in rural areas of Eastern Thrace. There are no war disasters or banditry, and the tax burden is moderate. Some villagers are troubled by insufficient water sources, making it difficult to irrigate cash crops that require large amounts of water.
To this end, three villages cooperated to build a dam.
Before the start of construction, each village agreed on the proportion of investment and the distribution of water resources. In normal years, the conflicts between the villagers are relatively small. During drought seasons, some villagers will quarrel when their own fields lack water resources.
The dam is located in a valley southeast of the village.
When Vitus came to visit, he saw three old men sitting under the shade of a tree. They came from three villages respectively. They always paid attention to the sluices and water diversion channels to prevent people from the neighboring villages from diverting water privately.
It was midsummer, the climate was hot and dry, the sluice gate was only half opened, and clear water flowed along the main canal.
Two hydraulic mills were built on the west side of the main canal. Due to insufficient water flow, only one mill was put into use to grind the newly harvested wheat in summer.
When the canal water passes through a certain water diversion outlet, villagers can adjust the gate to divert a stream of water from the main canal to the branch canal.
The dam is very small, with a height of only five meters, a length of more than 30 meters, a width of six meters at the bottom, and a width of about two meters at the top, which is enough for one person to walk.
He came to the top of the dam. Days of high temperature and drought had caused the water surface to shrink continuously, revealing a large area of cracked silt beach. The water surface was green and calm, like an irregular turquoise, reflecting the blue sky and the olive trees on the west slope.
"The climate has been unstable in recent years, with periods of drought and floods. This year, drought has begun again, and food prices are bound to rise."
Regarding the issue of water sources, Justinian's code has a long chapter. The code distinguishes between public rivers and private water sources.
There are detailed regulations on water rights, drainage rights and livestock drinking water rights.
The new code also includes this part.
However, the situation in various places is complex and changeable, and conflicts caused by water sources occur from time to time.
In the first half of the year, a medium-sized dam was built in Galatia. The project itself is fine, the water storage effect is good, and it can use water power to drive ten workshops.
Not long after the water pump was put into operation, a fight broke out between nearby residents over water distribution rights. Two people died and dozens were injured. The civil servants who led the project were implicated.
Vitus has an impression of this unfortunate guy. His name is Chiron, and he was Romanus's childhood companion.
During this term of office, Chiron has been busy with this matter, trying to regard this project as his signature political achievement.
Unexpectedly, due to bad luck, the two nearby villages had long-standing grievances, and the newly added water source actually triggered a conflict.
One village is composed of Rus immigrants, and the other village is composed of Bulgaria immigrants. Although they have the same beliefs, when faced with issues such as water diversion and regional public labor, the two sides do not care about the same belief.
"Farmers quarreled over water sources, herdsmen quarreled over neighbor's sheep gnawing their pastures, and citizens and fishermen also had their own conflicts. Such disputes could only be mediated by priests and grassroots officials.
There are fewer people in the Eastern Roman Empire, and the population density in the three core areas of Greece, Thrace, and Anatolia is much lower than that in the Macedonia period. The internal conflicts at this stage are relatively light, so just make do with it."
Vitus's character has always been like this. He only uses all his energy when he goes out to fight. Perhaps it is because fighting consumes so much energy that he lacks enthusiasm for work during peacetime.