Chapter 68 Working hard to govern the country
Autumn is about to enter, but summer is still exuding its final power. Of course, the one who felt the hottest was Prime Minister Angel.
After becoming prime minister, Angel had no time for leisure. He needs to integrate all forces to assist the Grand Duke, and at the same time provide advice and suggestions for national governance.
"We must now improve the relationship between Poland and Hungary. Falling out with them will not bring good results."
"The Grand Duke has approved it. The most important thing now is domestic issues." Angel said to the noisy supervisors.
"Our country has added a lot of land and population, and the Grand Duke has kindly reduced their tax burden. Then these expenses must be found elsewhere."
After saying that, Angel looked at Artur, who was in charge of finance. Atul also began to talk about this year's financial situation.
"Thanks to the development in the past few years, tax revenue has increased a lot compared to before, especially since the tariff increased after the implementation of the new tax system last year. This year there should be 600,000 lei in tariff revenue."
600,000 is already a lot, because it is silver coins, and it is also a lot if converted into gold coins. In addition, there are salt revenue, fixed taxes on subjects and specific commodity taxes, which will probably exceed 1.1 million lei this year. This is already a big improvement.
But in addition to income, expenses are also huge, including construction, military, and personal expenses. Especially the construction of the new capital city is a huge waste of money.
"Sir, although we have a lot of territory right now, we just don't have enough officials to take charge of military and civil affairs. After all, the territory is expanding too fast."
Many people complained to them about the lack of manpower. Even if they were transferred from the University of Constanta, it was still not enough.
"Everyone, what's your problem?" Grand Duke Mircea said and walked in.
"Grand Duke" "Grand Duke"
Mircea looked around and fixed his gaze on Prime Minister Angel.
"Angel Petrescu, tell me."
Angel, who was named, honestly stated the discussion just now. Especially the problem of insufficient manpower.
"Grand Duke, letters have been sent from all provinces, hoping to increase manpower. Especially the provinces of Suceava and Pitesti."
"Let's transfer them from Dobroga Province first. Talents are not available all at once."
Mircea didn't know that, but now the country is full of waste and needs more time to develop. We have to endure the current difficulties.
Mircea then walked to the newly drawn map of the country. Under Mircea's rule, the territory of Wallachia more than tripled, which was very impressive.
"Okay everyone, we have to do more things next." Mircea pointed to the map.
"Clear the forest of bandits and make trade normal."
“Clear the rivers, build the navy, and make them flow smoothly.”
“Build more universities, more churches.”
"Encourage reclamation. Moldova still has a lot of land that needs to be developed."
"Strengthen border construction to prevent the Ottomans from coming back."
………
Mircea said a dozen words in a row, which made the ministers confused.
"Grand Duke" military director Adrian spoke. "We also have to watch out for Hungary. After occupying Moldova, the border between the two countries doubled, and we must have enough defenders to prevent their surprise attack."
"I was negligent in this matter. Although the two countries are at peace, they still need to make plans early."
Wallachia is located between the three great powers of Ottoman, Hungary and Poland. These three are still larger than Wallachia, so they have to reduce their sense of existence. Now they need peace, even if it's ten years, or even five years.
"I know it's difficult for you, but it's also difficult for the country. Now we are like a woman waiting to be married with a large dowry, surrounded by people who want to get the dowry and are ready to steal the marriage."
"They thought well, but they didn't expect that this woman had an army. And she would fight them back."
Mircea used this metaphor to express his confidence that Wallachia would grow into a great country, and a long-lived one. Unlike the Serbian Empire, it disappeared in a few decades.
In addition to the day-to-day business, most representatives of the codification conference have already arrived. They discussed all aspects, including serfs, trade, society, etc.
So you see boyars arguing with businessmen, landowners arguing with citizens, and boyars with different interests arguing with each other. It's rare to see such a scene in Eastern Europe, but I didn't expect it to happen today.
There were 263 representatives in the entire meeting, 79 of whom were boyars, 32 were senior monks, and the rest were small and medium-sized landowners and businessmen. Although the citizen class made up the majority, it was the boyar class that dominated.
The first common denominator that the parties reached after the debate was the creation of a Supreme Court to oversee the enforcement of the code. He also granted Grand Duke Mircea the title of Father of the Nation, but Mircea refused.
"I asked them to discuss the code, but they discussed my character. Is this what the Senate of the Roman Empire talked about?"
Mircea asked them to formulate a code of law as soon as possible, not only for him, but also for everyone in this land.
As the longest-reigning Grand Duke of Wallachia, it is not unreasonable for Mircea to reign for more than 30 years. Such a move won the support of small and medium-sized landowners and citizens. At the same time, his devout religious beliefs made the church on his side. Several boyars wanted to cause trouble, but they did not have many followers.
To celebrate the victory, Mircea ordered the issuance of gold lei coins. The ducat currency, which began with Grand Duke Basarab, officially withdrew from the stage of history and was replaced by the leu that was exclusive to Wallachia.
After some initial discomfort, the scope of Lei's use became wider and wider. Because of its high silver content, it is very popular among merchants.
Gold and silver ore was purchased from Transylvania and processed into currency, which is why precious metal mines were scarce in Wallachia. But this is already good. After all, not everyone can make coins, because you still have to circulate them. If the quality is not good, you will lose confidence. Unless you force circulation and suffer the loss of merchants.
Mircea also ordered the construction of a highway from Bukur Yesti to Sofia, passing through Giurgiu and Tervono. If completed, this would be very good for military and trade.
The finance minister is the most difficult. After all, it is difficult to make money and easy to spend money. Building the highway is also very expensive, but the news came from Sofia that the governor paid half of the cost, which directly relieved a lot of pressure.