Warlock Royal Family

With more than [-] million people, the Kingdom of Spain barely reached the national strength of half the population of the Kingdom of France. It was able to compete with France for hegemony in Europe for a long time and at the same time open up new continents, thanks to its martial spirit and strict military law.

This time, he heard that he could not move forward and attracted the Prime Minister to go out in person, which really scared the Marquis of Pescara to death. The Prime Minister of Sazastan, who had been in the base camp for many years, came to the Apennine Peninsula regardless of the Pyrenees defense line.

With the passage of time, too many and too heavy responsibilities to the family have already worn down the once high-spirited young man into a cautious old man.

The commander-in-chief stationed in Sardinia and Naples all the year round is naturally able to deal with the messengers of the king or the prime minister, but he has little experience in dealing with the prime minister who can be regarded as the center itself.

Although he is also a Marquis like the Marquis of Mantua, the life and death of the Marquis of the Kingdom of Spain is completely in the hands of the emperor, which is very different from the Marquis of the Holy Roman Empire who was actually torn apart and the nobles did their own thing.

Whether he will be severely punished, how many territories he will lose, and whether he will be deprived of his annuity, these series of questions kept the Marquis of Pescara awake at night, and the huge psychological pressure finally led to his performance today.

Fortunately, Comrade Ladislaus is loyal and reliable.

Although he didn't dare to guarantee the ticket beforehand, and his attitude was vague, he actually spoke for himself at the critical moment.

After the Marquis Scala, who escaped by chance, left the meeting, he immediately went to Ladislaus's temporary residence, intending to thank him for his help.

He was really moved by Ladislaus' loyalty of "doing things with benefits". Kind man, although his position as coach must have been actually replaced by the prime minister, but no matter what, the family territory has not been reduced, nor has the personal annuity. To be deprived is already far more magnanimous than expected.

He thought that Sazastan and Old Colonna would end the meeting with just a few polite words from Ladislaus, but he waited for several hours without waiting for Ladislaus. . .

He had no choice but to leave and go to the barracks to rectify military affairs. After all, he really couldn't be too willful now, and he had to be more active in order to pay off his merits.

It is not surprising that Ladislaus returned to his residence and learned of the visit of the Marquis of Pescara from the servant provided by the Duke of Modena.

However, compared to the return of the Marquis of Pescara, Ladislaus is currently most concerned about the Prime Minister of Sarzastan.

Although his attitude was vacillating and he refused to meet, the Medici Cardinal expressed his respect to Prime Minister Sarzastan through a messenger.

Ladislaus became the Cardinal's backing.

Originally there were a huge number of cardinals in Austria and Spain, and with the support of the most influential cardinal in Italy, Sarzastan believed that the appointment of Cardinal Ladislaus was almost certain.

Although his former colleague, the current Pope Adrian VI, did not show any care for his former motherland after he moved to Rome.

However, now the King of France is even more rebellious towards the Dark Church after all.

Under strong pressure, the True Elect probably has no choice but to accept Ladislaus as the spokesperson of the warlock royal family in the College of Cardinals.

Sazastan's request is that Ladislaus should not rush back to Rome immediately to compete for this position, but to give the Prime Minister a little more time so that the Prime Minister can get more benefits from the strange death of Officer Sforza. The election of the pope must make greater compensation.

Although Emperor Charles V owns the Netherlands, the richest region in Europe, mainland Spain, southern Italy, half of the North African coastline, and vast territories in the New World, his financial situation is actually not much better than that of the acting Grand Duke. Worse words.

Wars with the Kingdom of France and the conquest of the New World consumed a great deal of wealth.

Although many explorers in the New World are said to have robbed mountains of gold and silver, most of the wealth belongs to them according to the agreement. What the emperor can get is land ownership and various future taxes. Maybe the New World does have a bright future, but For now, it is more of a burden than a support to the emperor. \\.. \\

In order to cobble together force to deal with the populous Kingdom of France, Prime Minister Sarzastan really broke his heart. Since the previous treasurer of the kingdom was jumped off the building, this position has been vacant, and Prime Minister Sarzastan has become the actual treasurer.

As an old-fashioned figure, he really hated borrowing money to survive, but since he ran for the emperor, he had no choice but to rely on the support of the Fugger family to maintain the operation of the government.

Now the Fugger family alone already owns more than 200 million talers of debt in the Kingdom of Spain, and several other banking families have a total of about the same amount, which is equivalent to the annual income of the emperor, and the interest alone exceeds 20 talers a year. Le.

The income of Charles V was mainly obtained from the Netherlands and Spain. The income from the Alsace and Swiss family territories, which were very important to the acting Grand Duke, was of much less value to the emperor, and the several territories in North Africa were even more valuable. Money-losing goods consume a lot of resources every year to defend, but only because if they are not defended, the threat of the pirates to the Spanish mainland will become greater, so they barely support it.

The title of the Holy Roman Emperor is indeed honorable, but it is meaningless from an economic point of view. Last year, he succeeded in showing off his military strength. Relying on the performance of two powerful magicians, the princes of the empire finally reluctantly agreed to a five-year regular tax. From the electors to the imperial knights, they all have to pay a large and small imperial tax.

The total amount of this tax is said to be more than 5 per year. In fact, the prime minister has done his best to receive more than [-] thalers. There are several powerful princes, such as the Hohenzollern family, the elector of Brandenburg. , as the price for their support for the establishment of the imperial tax, not only should they be given [-]% rebates, but also political returns.

What's even more hateful is that the money will be divided into [-]% of the agent.

The emperor's various expenditures are cumbersome and huge, and the prime minister can only delay the payment that can be delayed as much as possible.

The emperor promised to give the acting Grand Duke [-]% of the imperial tax share. The emperor refused to hurt his brother's feelings and kept hemming and hawing, but Prime Minister Sazastan didn't care so much.

From "I will definitely give it, just take it easy" to "pay the accounts together with the five-year share", and then to "I just have no money", this is the degeneration process of the Prime Minister after being repeatedly reminded by the envoy of the acting Grand Duke.

This can't be entirely blamed on the prime minister, the deputy grand duke only looks at the total amount, disregarding the cost, and refuses to share the kickbacks. He actually asks for a share of [-] yuan, which is really intolerable.

The Prime Minister is very clear that his own decision to do this will of course greatly damage the relationship with the acting Grand Duke, but although Spain has many ways to make money, its expenses are much higher than that of Austria.

And although the emperor didn't say it clearly, as the prime minister of Spain, he certainly understood that the necessary constraints on the "agent" were indispensable. Only by firmly holding on to the financial power could it be ensured that Madrid, not the ancient Vienna, was the Habsburg empire. brain.

Even the emperor's brother is owed payment, the situation of various other military suppliers and royal architects, public works contractors is even more conceivable, now there are zheng fu projects in spain no one wants to fight, let alone Great harmony of bribery.

But even if he greatly offended the emperor's brother, Prime Minister Sazastan still couldn't stop the gold-eating beast of war from cleaning up Madrid's treasury more and more.

The really important thing for him to come to the Apennine Peninsula in person this time is to get the financial support of the Pope Elect and the loan with a relatively low interest rate from the Medici Bank.

Even the possible threat of the French Pyrenees was ignored.

Without silver thaler, that's true all rest.

Another point is to be as close as possible to the position of the Deputy Grand Duke, hoping to eliminate the adverse effects of his own bad debts, and to get the cooperation of the Deputy Grand Duke on the issue of fighting against France.

However, this matter is secondary. After all, the Republic of Venice is so rich and powerful that it can mobilize several armies. Sazastan is also very clear about the financial situation of the acting Grand Duke.

From the Prime Minister's point of view, it is good that the acting Grand Duke can barely protect himself, but it is still necessary to send envoys to sneak across the enemy's territory to urge him to send troops.

Because of the above, Prime Minister Sarzastan needs the support of Ladislaus. Only when Ladislaus is consistent with him can the negotiations with the Pope Elect and the Cardinal Medici proceed smoothly.

This means that Ladislaus has to bear the risk of losing the status of cardinal if the situation changes.

In the eyes of Prime Minister Sazastan, this is not a small price. The cardinal also has the nickname of "Ecclesiastical Prince" in Europa, and is widely regarded as a prominent position comparable to ordinary dukes and powerful marquises.

Ladislaus was well aware of the potential risks of such delays, and the old Colonna tried his best to make him refuse.

But the risk of "entering the Sistine Chapel" is really huge. Although the task reminds that the sooner you enter, the less damage you will suffer, but Ladislaus feels that everything is normal and there is nothing wrong with him, let alone feel any damage. On the contrary, the sooner you enter It is true that the greater the danger.

In front of Prime Minister Sarzastan, who has insight into the world, Ladislaus decided not to pretend to hesitate, so as not to self-defeating.

After a brief consideration, he readily accepted Prime Minister Sazastan's suggestion.

Szastan, who originally thought it was inevitable to have a good discussion of interests and even to overwhelm others, was moved by this spirit of sacrifice for the great cause of the family.

The position of the cardinal, at the risk of not attaining such eminence, asked for nothing in return.

However, although Prime Minister Sazastan was satisfied, he did not show it. He just kept this loyalty in his heart and looked forward to the right time to reciprocate.