eastern european eagle

Chapter 534 Year-end Meeting ()

This winter was the most difficult for Poland and Lithuania. Although the enemy troops stopped attacking, the sudden increase in hunting teams caused heavy losses to their population.

A large number of cavalry rushed into the countryside and arrested people on sight. The nobles suffered heavy losses, which were the basis of their tax revenue. Wladyslaw began to be asked to send troops to solve the problem.

But the king who has returned to Warsaw will not go out to expel him. What he is thinking about now is how to keep the land of Lithuania.

The area south of Kiev is definitely dead, and the area around Minsk seems to be unsustainable, so it will be directly knocked back to its original shape.

These are the lands acquired by our fathers, and they were just handed over to others. He was really unwilling to do so.

No matter what he can do, he can still defeat Rome. Wake up.

Fortunately, Lithuania's roots are near Samogitia and Vilnius. Even if these lands are lost, Lithuania's roots are not lost. But he was still prepared to negotiate, maybe he could force the other party to spit out a little bit.

But it is worth celebrating that Poland was the last country to submit to Rome. Castile, Aragon, and Portugal have surrendered, and envoys are currently on their way to Minsk to seek the emperor's signature.

According to the treaty negotiated by the Duke of Allgäu and them, the three Iberian countries must recognize Rome's occupation of Andalusia and must pay compensation of 150 million lei.

The Senate is very busy at the end of the year, because the summary of this year and the planning for the next year have to be completed.

Baptiste started by saying that as finance minister, he was in charge of the economic lifeline of the empire. Every year's treasury expenditures had to be negotiated with him.

"Long live your Majesty! Long live the Empire!"

After cheering, everyone began to report on matters in their respective areas.

"Everyone, under the leadership of His Majesty, the Empire has achieved victory after victory this year, and has brought Switzerland as an ally to the Empire. Let us cheer for Your Majesty and cheer for the Empire."

"In this year, the empire's fiscal revenue reached 408 million lei. This is only the empire's domestic income. If colonial and indemnity payments are included, it reached 689 million lei."

----------

How can this be justified? If we lose our land, we will have to pay a lot of money. The Reconquista could end early, because now it was not pagans, but heretics.

Everyone was very surprised when they heard this number. This is a record high. The previous financial constraints have disappeared, and the empire can do more things.

The integration of money and labor has been implemented smoothly in the Balkans. Most people choose to pay more money so that they can devote their energy to work.

In Asia Minor, most local people choose to serve, so that they can get salary and military merit, and can be promoted. Especially the people in the central plateau region, they prefer to be in the army rather than in the fields. "Being able to achieve an increase in revenue, in addition to the efforts of our own people, we should also thank the colonial officials abroad. The taxes they paid to the empire prove that they are still loyal subjects of the empire. We should reward them."

Baptiste talked about the financial support provided by the colonies to the empire. Everyone agreed with this resolution, rewarded the colonial officials, and increased their support.

“At present, Ceylon has met the provincial requirements and can be upgraded.”

"Well, in addition, the progress in India is still good. We are ready to discuss with the East India Company to integrate the Indian colonies into one, called the Indian Free State."

The Eastern Minister told everyone about the colonial arrangements in the East. Except for key passages such as Ceylon and Temasek, which were under the direct control of the empire, other large colonies adopted indirect rule. Use immigration, missionary work, education, etc. to transform the opponent into a loyal servant of the empire.

In order not to attract the attention of the Ming Dynasty, Roman colonial expansion in Southeast Asia was mainly based on trade. They set up trading stations in Java and audited the local people to see if they could rule. If not, they used the Seris people to assist.

In the Champa region, Roman rule used a large number of Seris people to assist. With their help, Rome began to collect taxes and persuaded Cambodia to pay tribute to Rome. In exchange, Rome could protect him together with the Ming Dynasty.

On their way to Rome as envoys, Zheng He and Chen Cheng saw Rome everywhere. Rome respected the Ming Dynasty's tribute system, and the Ming Dynasty also recognized Rome's trade in these countries. Because Ming Dynasty was also a beneficiary of this trade.

The shipping offices of Ningbo and Guangzhou became two ports for foreign trade, and a large amount of goods were exported from Rome to all over the world. The entire East Asian trade would have been impossible without the Romans. The trade between the Ming Dynasty, Japan, Ryukyu, and Korea all needed Rome as a middleman. And Rome draws its own profits from it, which is enough for them to live on for a lifetime.

"Our progress in the colonies exceeds that of every country. The wealth of Europe is constantly concentrated in Constantinople. We must protect these places. Therefore, the colonial system must be improved quickly."

Everyone agreed, and the proposal passed. Then the two ministers of agriculture and industry and commerce made their reports.

During this year, Rome's military industry developed rapidly, and the production of artillery, muskets, gunpowder, armor, swords and other armaments increased, and these things in turn drove the development of iron smelting, textiles and other industries. In order to transport materials, transportation was greatly improved, the small local markets of farmers were broken up, and the entire empire became one big market.

"We are planning to expand the shipyard in Smyrna and build an weapons factory in Damascus, which is expected to cost 60 lei."

This was the largest investment in industry, not to mention the construction of the Great Wall on the Roman-Timur border, and the emperor's will must persist and these investments must continue.

The East became an important place for investment by the imperial government because the local population was sparse, triggering another wave of immigration.

In addition to industry, there is also agriculture. Agricultural facilities in Syria were severely damaged, and Rome had to invest in building water conservancy facilities. At the same time, they built a steel mill in Damascus to specialize in the production of Damascus steel.

Since Syria and Jalaya border on each other, foreign trade is also an important part of the local economy. Vegetables produced in Syria are exported to the Arabian Peninsula and Baghdad, while some other goods are imported.

Shaharul of the Timur Empire valued trade and therefore encouraged business with Rome. Raw silk produced in Persia was exported in large quantities to Rome, where it was transformed into bundles of silk through local workshops, exported to Europe and sold back to Herat. The booming local trade made many people jealous, but they did not dare to plunder at will. The combat effectiveness of the local cavalry was already comparable to theirs.

(End of this chapter)