Warlock Royal Family

From north to south, the commercial route between the Scandinavian countries and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Liguria and Venice in the Mediterranean is called the Amber Road.

As the name suggests, the most important trade product of this business route is amber from the Northland. This precious product is extremely popular in various wealthy city-states in the Mediterranean. Together with fur, beeswax and wood, it forms a road of wealth.

The Danube originates from the Black Forest and flows from west to east into the Black Sea.

Because the main stream and its tributaries have abundant flow and good navigation performance, millions of tons of materials are shipped through the Danube every year, which is the main artery of Central Europe.

The intersection of the Amber Road and the Danube is the territory of the Habsburg family in the Holy Roman Empire - the capital of the Grand Duchy of Austria, where Vienna is located.

The center of the city is Schönbrunn Palace, the royal palace carefully built by successive Habsburg rulers.

At midnight, when Ladislaus was killing in the wilderness, the grand duchess' banquet was brightly lit, and hundreds of noblemen and women were enjoying the life of the sixteenth-century metropolis.

Archduke of Austria, Duke of Württemberg, His Royal Highness Ferdinand Habsburg, "The Just Sovereign," is a great man indeed.

In addition to the above titles, he also has the shocking status of a 19th-level warlock, the entire Europa world, and is generally considered to be a powerful existence second only to Pope Cyric in Rome.

Gao Shuaifu is not enough to describe him.

Of course, His Royal Highness Ferdinand himself would not think of himself as tall, handsome and rich. Maybe he is over 1.8 meters tall, his body proportions are extremely fit, his face is both firm and soft, and his demeanor is perfect. Even that strange ha Bootsburg's chin fits him just as well.

Even in the large collection of handsome men and beautiful women like Warlock, she is also the most handsome one.

But Fu has nothing to do with him at all.

Now, while the Duchess could enjoy the banquet, he was listening to the real rich man, Mr. Anton-Fugger, listing his possessions, or rather his debts.

"All the taxes for this year have been collected, including taxes for November and December. You have received 93 thalers from the Grand Duchy of Austria, including the Duchy of Württemberg. You paid another 6 thalers in the territory of Alsace, including miscellaneous items including the registration fee for the appointment of the bishop, and received a total of [-] thalers, agricultural tax, commercial tax, Danube dock tax, silver mine, The coastal saltworks are the main part of your income. In addition, the [-] thaler rent of the royal land and the [-] thaler income from your several vineyards and wineries are included in your private treasury. At the beginning of the year you You have succeeded in showing off your strength with the emperor, and this year the emperor will probably receive [-] talers from the princes of the empire, and you can share a quarter of it according to the agreement, but the money has not arrived." Mr. Fugger said in a calm tone. , It seems to be a pretty good number. The noble lord does not do production, and nearly one million Thalers come into his account every year. With such a huge income, why is the jaw of the acting Grand Duke still trembling in such a painful and nervous way?

"Under the Fugger Textile Association, your total debt is 70 talers. Even if my father, Chairman Jacob, gave you such a preferential interest rate of 650%, it still means a total of 15 talers interest. Your court expenses have been effectively reduced in the second half of the year. Including the Duchess, the expenses are only 29 talers, but the Duchess has another 11 talers in pocket money. Serving you There are a total of 26 people under the roster of the Royal Guards and the Vienna Guards, including salaries and necessary maintenance costs such as updating armor and weapons, maintenance supplies, etc., a total of 930 thaler was spent. The two "guards Last year, the annuity of His Royal Highness Warrior of the Kingdom was 22 thalers, and the allowance of [-] national mages including the "Zhen Guo" mages was [-] thalers last year. Hiring mercenaries and sending some guards to fight Futeng Fort Duchy, eliminating the local rebels who opposed you cost a total of [-] talers. This does not include the spell-casting materials consumed by you and several battle mages on that battlefield, especially the precious spell-casting materials you used to use high-level magic. This year The inventory is consumed, and the pressure next year will be even greater. There are a total of [-] people under the roster of zheng fu institutions serving you, including Chen, with a total salary and benefits of [-] thalers, sponsored [-] thalers by the University of Vienna, and renovation of the Danube The water conservancy system is [-] thaler, and the road renovation is [-] thaler.

Several national stud farms have done a remarkable job of balancing their finances this year by increasing the breeding rate and leasing out land for inferior horses, but the horses that can provide you are also very limited, no more than two hundred horses.

Vienna, Linz, and Innsbruck's city defense renovations totaled [-] thalers. In addition, you specifically asked the city of Vienna to start construction in the southern outskirts of the city, although the nobles and businessmen in Vienna enthusiastically supported the fundraising. For this sum, the treasury still has to spend an additional thirty thousand thalers.

The maintenance of the naval ships and the naval port of Trieste amounted to eleven thousand talers.

Other miscellaneous expenses were about [-] talers.

To sum up, the deficit this year can be kept below [-] thalers.

It will not be difficult for Fugger Textile Association to loan you this figure. "

It was less than [-]. Anton seemed to be quite satisfied with this figure. The treasurer concluded that the account books among European monarchs were not very miserable, and finally recommended his family's loan business to Ferdinand.

It's no wonder that, if he didn't owe Fugger so much money, how could Mr. Anton-Fugger, as the son of a merchant without a noble title, possibly get the treasurer's management, this tradition must belong to the top nobles. duty.

Ferdinand, who grew up in the courts of the Netherlands and Spain in his youth, was always a romantic young man with a lot of pocket money because of his extraordinary talent as a warlock. Before he got married, he never worried about money. To consider the price.

But when he married the daughter of the kings of Hungary and Bohemia and became the Acting Grand Duke of Austria, after he got a huge income, the deficit was even bigger, even though he himself had a dowry of 30 talers from his wife that did not belong to the treasury. A large amount of private money, but the huge hole in the national treasury still makes the deputy grand duke a headache.

Who would have thought that His Royal Highness, the Acting Grand Duke who is rampant in Switzerland, would have such a clean treasury.

The Habsburg family now has three main territories, Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain.

There are also some small principalities in South Germany including Alsace and Württemberg.

These territories, except the Kingdom of Spain, were all part of the Holy Roman Empire.

In recent years, Emperor Charles V's main energy has been concentrated on taking over the power of Spain. After the death of Charles V's grandfather and uncle, the royal family of Trastamara in Spain became extinct, and only recently did he inherit the status of his grandson. Spanish throne.

The emperor's energy could not be invested in the area where the Habsburg family originated.

So after the election of the throne, the emperor entrusted his younger brother to handle Austrian affairs and deal with the untamed princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

So that the emperor can deal with France and open up the New World.

Since it is a secondary aspect, it is not surprising that the acting Grand Duke's finances are stretched.

What's more, it is natural that His Majesty the Emperor also wants to guard against his younger brother being too powerful and stupid.

"What about the confiscated land and property of the Württemberg rebels? This should be a big deal." This piece of land was bought by Emperor Charles V last year for 22 taler for his younger brother. The original duke family coveted the wealth of the free city of the Ulm Empire and launched an invasion, but was defeated by the Swabian city alliance where Ulm was located. However, the alliance did not have an excuse to annex the duke's territory, and the alliance was divided on how to divide the spoils As a result, when Charles V intervened in the name of mediating the internal conflicts of the Holy Roman Empire, he could only be picked by the royal family of warlocks who had the title of emperor.A mere 22 thalers obtained the sovereignty of the principality of tens of thousands of square kilometers.

This territory is no longer "administrated on behalf of", it is an agreed territory that belongs entirely to Ferdinand and his descendants.

It’s just that it’s not easy to eat peaches. There are cities where the original duke’s resistance force and some Swabian alliances gave in because of dissatisfaction. In the past two years, Austria’s main human and material resources have been spent on suppressing Württemberg. up.

The three parties fought for two full years.

In the end, after all, the power of the Habsburg family is much stronger than the former duke and some Swabian cities that were originally inconsistent. Ferdinand himself personally took the arrow, and his ninth-level magic summoned the elders of the elements to play on the battlefield. It has played a great role. Although the high-level magic casting materials are expensive, relatively speaking, the cost performance is still very high. This is the most important reason why the Austrian army has the upper hand when they can hire less than [-] mercenaries. There are not many mercenaries. , the financial gap will naturally be much smaller.

His finger of death posed an astonishing threat to mages. He killed several well-known mages on the other side, and the few enemy mages who survived were also terrified by Ferdinand's finger of death. Dare to go to the front line again.

This year, the Austrian army has won several victories, eliminated more than [-] enemies, and basically controlled the situation.

Now that the situation is under control, the territory of the Duke's supporters should now be sold.

"Is this income not enough to make up for this year's shortfall?" The Deputy Grand Duke's jaw began to tremble nervously again.