The Council of Morea

Constantine would soon shoot up from his bed and begin looking around confused

'What happened? Where am I?" he thought

Constantine would get out of bed and then move to the door of his chambers, and then exit out to see Gregory sitting there knitting

"Ah! My lord!" yells out Gregory

"You had us all scared! Are you ok?"

Constantine would look at him confused before asking,

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"Well, you had came back from your little trip yesterday, and then passed out as soon as you entered the palace hall." responds Gregory

"We rushed you immediately to your bed and had called a doctor who informed us you had a fever! From how we described what you were doing before, he believes you may be overworking yourself and to take a bit of time to enjoy yourself and get some rest."

"Ah I see, thank you Gregory." responds Constantine

"Please be sure to inform the others that I am ok, I will be returning to my bed for a bit."

Constantine would walk back inside his room and lay down a bit, how could he take time to rest when there was so much to do? The Achaians, the Latins, the Aristocracy that don't want centralization, the Ottomans, there was so much to do it was tiring. He couldn't manage this alone and he knew this, people would come to him for small civil issues to be decided for he was the highest authority in the land, and this took up all of his time. Then he thought about it,

'Wait! That's it! A judge is needed to carry out law here, someone that knows the laws set in place and someone who can be trusted to follow them accordingly."

Constantine would jump out of bed, though stumbling a bit with a massive headache after doing so, and then crack the door of his chambers open to inform Gregory of a new request of his,

"Gregory, please bring me my cousin Theophilos."

Theophilus, another student of Plethon's, was well versed in law, a humanist, grammarist, and mathematician and Constantine knew that he would be an excellent candidate for this position. Soon his cousin would arrive before asking what was needed,

"I'd like you to become judge of Mystras, to carry out the law of the land and deal with legal troubles here in Morea. You will be given the same authority as me to make such decisions."

informs Constantine

Theophilus would nod his head and inform Constantine that he'd be happy to accept such a position, and then would be informed that a building for him will be constructed within Mystras in order to carry out law.

"Give me a few months and it shall be completed, thank you Theophilus."

The man would then make his way out of the building and Constantine would lay back down, it had already been late afternoon when he woke up and had reached evening by time he had finished talking with his cousin.

'I might as well sleep the rest of the day, i need it.'

A few days would pass, and soon, the big day had come regarding one of Constantine's biggest ambitions, an advisory council made up of educated men. Many carts would enter the city from different areas with many pushing their way into the library of Mystras. The men would move to the room of debating, which was made of marble and had a fireplace to help warm the room for people wishing to be there.

"Everyone! Please make your way to one of the seats!"

shouted an older man in the middle of the room, the seats were organized around the platform for speaking for people to listen to the speaker. Many would be speaking loudly to each other, many in excitement, many determined to help Morea, and many others wishing to challenge others in intellectual thought over different subjects. By afternoon, the room was filled with intellectuals and those of important status.

"Hello everyone, welcome to the first session of the Advisory council of Morea. I've talked to all of you before regarding the purpose of this, and i'm sure it will be chaotic as debates usually are, however if we are civil and can find ways to work together, things many proceed well. First we will be starting with reforms brought forward by the Despot, and then local issues regarding the region. When discussing a subject, if you have a question you will be asked to raise your hand, and when we're voting, I will ask you to raise a hand to vote in agreement. If there is a majority, this will show that the council is in agreement of such an issue." yells out Plethon

"Now! I will ask for Constantine Palaiologos to please come to the stage and address the council with potential reforms."

The kephale would walk from his seat up towards the stage, and then look out towards the large crowd in front of them. Many of the people watching would lean in forward in anticipation for what was going to be said.

"Thank you all for attending, I created the advisory council as a way to help deal with issues within Morea and have a broader voice from the educated and informed people of the state who could assist with a greater Morea to serve the empire and protect the people here. Now, before I start, may I ask how was your trip here to Mystras?"

Many hands would shoot up in succession, with Constantine then looking at a singular man in the front and saying,

"You sir, your name please, and what is your response?"

"My name is Leo Chalkokondyl, a noble from the area around Corinth, the ride here by carriage was miserable, the old roman roads are poorly maintained and there were many parts that were just destroyed altogether. The weather has gotten to them."

Many others would nod their head in agreement to this, and Constantine would smile before saying,

"I agree with this sentiment, which is why I was hoping to see I wasn't the only one who thought that!"

Constantine would then pull out a map that consisted of many areas circled in ink,

"These areas here, which I assume many of you have potentially gone by on the way here, have the worst roads so far within Morea due to their poor maintenance and with the amount of traffic from these areas, it's been over a millennia since being built, it's not a surprise that they are beginning to fall apart, but we shouldn't just sit and watch as they do so! However, this in itself is not something that can be cheaply done, as to restore a good road would need a good amount of money and resources to do so. Trying to make a road based off of roman design will be extremely expensive, but altogether would help with travel. We would need to pass an additional tax to be collected, more so than the tax i'm sure you've all been informed about by Plethon."

This would see mixed reactions with people crossing their arms or shouting their disapproval of an additional tax

"Such would be too much for people to function!"

"We must find a better alternative"

"I do not support the tax for gravel roads!"

Constantine would move his hands to quiet the crowd, and then begin speaking again, saying,

"The other alternative, which is cheaper, and should be covered under the new budget we hope to look forward to would be the usage of timber roads over areas which see many cases of flooding or just are damaged in general, wouldn't be too costly and could be fixed much quicker. They will need to be maintained, but such is the case when using a cheaper alternative."

This choice to would see many cheering for this solution while many against it, the majority on both sides choosing to stay quiet on the issue

"Now, I'd like to ask all to take a vote on this, Timber roads or Gravel roads?"

Overall, 29 hands would shoot up for Timber roads while the other 11 would be in support of Gravel roads, this would make the choice very clear what the council was in favor of, and Constantine would nod in approval

"Wonderful! Now, with that finished, I think it's time we move towards the discussion of taxation…"

Constantine would write the decision of the council on a piece of paper before folding it.

"I'm sure Plethon has informed all of you of my Tax proposal, so I won't need to talk much about it. The proposal is a flat exercise tax on goods, a flat tax chosen to make the process of taxation easier rather than needing to look at different tax amounts for different products. Along with a land tax as well on landowning individuals. The flat exercise tax will consist of a tax of 1/15 on the total value of goods going through the land. While the land tax will be at approximately 2 Stavraton (7.4 g of silver each) per 100 acres of land. The land tax itself should grant around 640,000 grams of silver, more with more land taken. The exchange for this would be around 20,000 Venetian Ducats which isn't an extreme amount. Along with an additional gain of around 42,000 ducats via other taxes. This would grant us around 62,000 in taxes to aid with the defense of Morea. Not to mention imperial held farms here which generate around 4,000 ducats in revenue each year. With this, we can at maximum pay for 60 3 man lances for 10,000 ducats a year. 600 Crossbowmen for 18,000 a year. 28,800 ducats for 1,200 heavy infantry. I believe these wages which would be guaranteed for current wandering mercenaries. These can be used to bolster our forces. Not to mention ending the contract between some pronoia soldiers which were given tax exemption in exchange for potentially being called to war. With our professional force and garrison forces, this should raise the number or well trained and equipped men to around 4-5,000. We can keep an additional 10,000 pronoia soldiers incase of being needed as well. I'm unsure of how much additional tax revenue will be generated with the disbanding of some, however we will see."

Many of the people applaud such a result and are pleased to hear this, a hand then raised from the crowd to ask,

"Will this stop the Turks however?"

The man would continue with,

"Would 15,000 men stop the Turks from raiding into Morea however if we were to engage them once more?"

Constantine would look at the man before saying,

"No, in open battle on the field, the chance of us achieving overall victory against the Turks is low."

The man in the crowd would continue forth to then say,

"I myself am a landowner from Eastern Morea, there continues to be raids by independent Turkish parties seeking to gain loot, we have received zero assistance otherwise. I, and i'm sure many others would be pleased to see something to stop them."

Constantine would look out into the crowd and say,

"And this is why we're here, any suggestions to stop them?"

The crowd would stay silent until a man would raise his hand and shout out,

"I have a solution."

"Please inform us," asks Constantine

"I had worked on the hexamilion under your father, Manuel Palaiologos, and while the wall didn't stop the attack in 1423, it served its purpose well for what it had and deterred smaller attacks. Now it's breached once more, and allows for people to flood through. If we can do a few repairs over the course of a year, by 1429 I believe this would be sustainable enough to ensure it doesn't allow for raiders to come through once more. I would be happy as well to lead such an effort. No doubt an additional tax would need to be passed, but that's the cost of protection." responds the man

"What kind of figures are you thinking of?" asks Constantine

"An additional tax would be needed, similar to what your father did, but not so rushed. It upset many locals due to the expenses being asked to pay, a similar cost over 9 times the period of time shouldn't be too overbearing. Not to mention with this, we can efficiently tax trade heading into Morea granting us some funds." responds the man

The noble from Eastern Morea would then stand up to respond saying,

"Ah yes, I was around during this time, many in my family were quite upset about what was being charged, not charging so much out of nowhere would be preferable. Though overall, I think I and many others would prefer this. Though with the hexamillion being construction, how can we ensure the same doesn't happen with it being breached?"

Soon Basil would stand up and ask,

"what about trying to station the Army of Morea here, with the commander of the army here as well to lead?"

Many others would look toward him and then begin to murmur at the response, he'd then continue saying,

"If our army is closer to the hexamilion, instead of taking a good 2 week's to consolidate and get there, we can respond more appropriately. I think also trying to consolidate control over Corinth once more and repopulating the land would be something necessary for us to do."

Many would nod their head and agree with Basil in his judgement, Constantine would then put up his hand to put everyone to silence before saying,

"Now, we will take a vote on such, those who agree raise your hand, those who don't leave it down, we will be voting on the rebuilding of the hexamilion!"

Soon after he would say this, Every hand in the hall would shoot up in uniformity

"Perfect, with that settled, regarding Basil's plans, should we move towards repopulating the area?"

Many hands would also shoot up in uniformity as well, in which Constantine would smile before saying,

"Wonderful! Basil! Not only are you in charge of your previous task, but you will be placed in charge of this as well now. I expect great things from you!"

Basil would bow and thank the Despot

"Now moving on, another situation which has come to our attention is regarding Rhomaioi in Thessaloniki, i've received information that many wish to flee the city due to fear of the Turks there, what are your opinions on such?"

The crowd would begin to talk among themselves and debate the benefits of doing so, a man would then stand up with his hand raised to speak, and then proceed to say,

"I don't see why not, we can use them to repopulate Corinth and other needed cities such would generate more revenue for Morea, I am personally in favor of such."

"I agree"

"Aye"

"Agreed"

many people from around the hall would agree with helping them resettle, though the question now would be how and where, in which further discussions would come across this until another educated man would raise their hand,

"I believe our focus should be on raising our trading potential and defensive capabilities, settling them in Corinth, Glarentza, Monemvasia, and Passsavas should be our priorities. Corinth for a city dedicated to defending the Hexamilion, Glarentza as it's an important hub of trading, Mondmvasia as it's one of our biggest port cities in Southern Morea and could use more manpower; and Passavas to establish a stable port in the region for a road in the future to allow for quick movement to Mystras. What we could give them is aid using peasants and themselves working to develop the land, we have a lot of marble and stone we can transport as well for the development of such. They can be given empty plots of land within city zones also to help encourage growth."

The room would agree with the thoughts of the man and so Constantine would put this up to a vote to accept the pleas of those in Thessaloniki. The vote would be unanimous with all in support of it passing.

They would then proceed to talk about the reform on the minting of coinage and send their request for such to John, with the hope that he may accept.

The discussion would continue for more hours as they would then go on to discuss local issues, with many bringing up the fact of outdated farming methods and lack of silos to store grain and that much food would go to waste. As a result of this, it would be decided that a group of men educated in farming techniques in Western Europe would be sent to enforce a policy of building silos and new farming techniques at the risk of being fined for refusing to do so.

Soon, the discussion would die down, and the end of the first advisor's council would end. Seeing much support among the people present and bringing forth many issues unseen. The decisions chose upon would see these put in place with varying results. The push for silos and farming techniques would see much resistance amongst many aristocratic farming families while free land owners would be more receptive to such, the threat of a fine only saw significance towards the poorer landowning families, though as a result it would also see them growing more and outcompeting many from before, growing their wealth as a result using methods such as the three field system, which would be expected to grow in usage overtime. The hexamilion would again see kickback, though with less of a burden many wouldn't be as against its reconstruction. The allowance for Rhomaioi in Thessaloniki to migrate would see 1,000 leave within the first few months to varying areas given to them. Corinth rising fast as a result. The timber roads would aid many in traveling over wet roads or over areas with heavy snow. Though would have to be replaced frequently. The tax would of course see people fighting against such, though it wasn't overburdening enough to make them rebel while the Morean Army would reach its goal of recruitment by May. The tax revenue would be only slightly better than expected. The expectations of the council would be grand, and the results would be great, by time everything had been implemented, June had arrived, and it was almost time for Constantine to be married