Appointing the Capable

Laszlo was not idle while waiting for the members of the Hungarian Parliament to arrive in Budapest.

The Kingdom of Hungary's territory was now vast, almost surpassing the Kingdom of France.

Although its population was less than half that of France, there were still numerous state affairs to handle, fortunately, Archbishop Veszter shared the burden.

Additionally, there was a large retinue of advisors who helped Laszlo deal with these complex state matters, which prevented him from being overworked.

The recent toil, coupled with the need for tax collection reform in Hungary, led Laszlo to re-examine Hungary's rudimentary bureaucratic system.

During the few years Archbishop Veszter served as Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, he extensively promoted church elites into the royal government to assist him in managing the Kingdom.

These clerics, possessing excellent literacy skills, were very adept at handling tedious paperwork.

Under Archbishop Veszter's leadership, they managed the Kingdom in an orderly fashion… at least the royal demesne was well-managed.

However, Laszlo had never let his guard down regarding the church.

Church power often stood in opposition to royal authority; they were the third estate of the Kingdom, below the great nobles and above the lower nobility. In recent years, the church's land had been continuously encroached upon, shrinking significantly.

This led to a deepening of cooperation between the royal family and the church.

Laszlo was also willing to appoint Veszter, the Hungarian religious leader, as Regent to oversee the Kingdom of Hungary for him.

Laszlo felt that Archbishop Veszter's extensive promotion of clerics was understandable.

It was the mid-15th century, and over ninety percent of people across Europe were illiterate, with ninety percent of the literate minority being clerics.

Even so, extensively employing clerics, much like great nobles holding power, was not a good sign.

The past incident where Pope Innocent III used the Hungarian church to disrupt Hungarian politics, even manipulating the Hungarian succession dispute and directly leading to the decline of Hungarian royal power, was still vivid in memory.

The church's interference in administration was also something that had to be guarded against.

Therefore, since the Hungarian Parliament convened in 1460, Laszlo opened up avenues for promotion, turning his attention to lower nobility and non-noble secular intellectuals.

Take the most important 'Little Privy Council' Regency Cabinet, for example.

Of its seven core ministers, almost all were lower nobles and church elites loyal to the royal family, with only Szilágyi and Archbishop Veszter being exceptions.

Of course, these church elites were often deeply influenced by the Archbishop.

However, the cabinet members Laszlo selected, apart from the sidelined Szilágyi, were basically all loyal to him.

And in the increasingly full central and local governments, lower nobility, clerics, and propertied citizens became the backbone.

Lower nobility, here specifically refers to the baronial class who were 'royal vassals'.

These were nobles who had served the royal family, received enfeoffment, became new aristocrats, and did not enjoy full privileges.

Aside from the Hunyadi Family, who were an anomaly, most so-called barons needed to rely on the King's favor to climb higher.

And to weaken the influence of the great nobles and the church, Laszlo extensively employed lower nobles who genuinely possessed certain talents.

All the county governors of the royal demesne were personally selected by him—relying on his simple yet practical ability to discern people.

They played an important role in the regional administrative affairs of the royal demesne.

At the same time, propertied citizens gained the opportunity to hold government positions by purchasing the charters of nobility sold by Laszlo.

This is generally referred to as political donations.

Of course, a cruder way of putting it is selling official titles, though there is a slight difference between the two.

Most of these propertied citizens joined the financial system, beginning to weave a tax network for Laszlo that covered the entire Hungarian royal demesne.

Although Laszlo did not spend much time in Hungary each year, the officials he employed were countless.

In the quiet royal study, Laszlo looked through the day's political affairs and closed his eyes in some pain.

He began to miss his leisurely life in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna; Eyczing would handle everything for him.

Although Austria also experienced the pains of administrative reform, it had now completely emerged from its predicament, and the situation in Bohemia had also improved.

In Austria, Vienna University and Freiburg University could provide the Habsburg Family with many administrative talents each year.

In Bohemia, after Prague University was rebuilt, it also continuously supplied Bohemia with talent.

The local noble forces of both countries were also pillars of the administrative system.

Coupled with the Italian scholars Laszlo 'invited' to Vienna during the Italian War.

Now, Austria's administrative system had initially taken shape, and Laszlo gathered many courtiers around him to offer advice. Sometimes, they would act as messengers, diplomats, or even as bailiffs representing him to inspect designated royal demesnes.

Maintaining a nascent bureaucratic system required a significant amount of money, so tax reform always preceded administrative reform.

Laszlo's land surveys in Austria, the establishment of supervisory bodies to combat corruption, and the creation of professional tax agencies were all aimed at ensuring that the taxes from the royal demesne were indeed collected by the royal family.

Of course, customs duties, royal property income, war reparations, and mining monopolies were also important economic pillars.

Especially the silver mines in Bohemia and Austria, which provided him with capital for expansion.

In Hungary, it was not as complicated as in Austria.

All he needed was to centralize tax collection, taking back the money that rightfully belonged to him, nothing more.

However, this had already touched the bottom line of the Hungarian great nobles, and some resentful individuals would certainly emerge.

Rebellion was inevitable, and Laszlo had already prepared for it.

Putting aside those distracting thoughts, Laszlo's attention was drawn to a petition in his hand.

Its content was a request for Laszlo to allocate funds to reopen the University of Pécs.

"University of Pécs?"

Laszlo frowned slightly, not because the name reminded him of a certain pink hairdryer, but because of the Count of Pécs.

Chak István, the Hungarian great noble who had repeatedly defied him and caused trouble in the middle Danube River, was the Count of Pécs.

However, upon seeing the end, Laszlo found the petition very reasonable.

The petition repeatedly emphasized that the University of Pécs was established by Emperor Louis the Great, the first university in Hungary, and thus held a very important status.

In recent years, due to reduced royal funding, the university was forced to close.

By now, this sole university within the Kingdom of Hungary no longer admitted students, and teachers had sought other opportunities.

This led to the Kingdom of Hungary directly losing its ability to cultivate specialized talents, which was detrimental to the long-term development of the Kingdom.

"This reminds me," Laszlo muttered, stroking his chin, "I had previously planned to establish a new university in Pressburg to promote cultural exchange between Hungary and Austria.

I didn't expect there to be a University of Pécs…"

Laszlo took out his notebook and wrote down the proposal to build a university in Hungary.

Selecting talent solely from nobles, the church, and citizens was still too unstable, and inviting foreign talent was the same.

Indeed, it was better to establish a university.

Although universities would still be influenced by the church, it was much better than directly employing clerics from the church.

However, he now needed to focus on military matters, so investing in a university could only be slightly delayed.

Laszlo put away his notebook and looked at the signature on the petition; it was Janus's petition.

He wondered how his work on compiling the 'golden bull' was progressing these days…

As Laszlo was pondering, a servant entered to announce that Janus was seeking an audience outside the palace.