Having a Mine at Home Gives You Confidence

In Kremnica, Upper Hungary (Slovakia), within the Mining Administration, Peter Hedervary, the Director of the Mining Administration personally appointed by the Emperor, was writing a report.

From his brisk pen strokes, it was clear that the Director was in a very pleasant mood.

The Emperor had given him such an enviable lucrative position, so he naturally did his utmost to serve the Emperor.

Today, he had just reconciled accounts with the Kremnica Royal Mint, and the tax reform over the past year had achieved great results.

The tax revenue from the gold and silver mines in Slovakia and Transylvania alone exceeded 100,000 florins, which was more than the combined total from the silver mines in Austria and Bohemia.

According to Peter's estimation, this income would likely account for about one-sixth of the total fiscal revenue.

This was actually not surprising at all.

Around 1300, the gold production in Slovakia and Transylvania accounted for five-sixths of the total European output.

For this reason, Charles I, the founder of the Anjou Dynasty, granted great privileges to Kremnica, which had prospered after the earliest discovery of gold mines.

Since then, Kremnica became a special Royal Free City independent of the county and was permitted to establish the largest mint in the kingdom, which has a history of 140 years to this day.

By now, Kremnica had become the kingdom's second-largest city outside of Pest-Budapest, with even Pressburg, which the Emperor paid special attention to, only ranking third.

This was also a law of world development.

Many wars in the Middle Ages were related to gold and silver mines and mints.

Whoever had mines and minted more coins was the boss, which was also a truth in medieval warfare.

During the heyday of the Eastern Roman Empire, they had the most gold and silver mines, and their currency circulated the most widely; even a prince from Norway had to work for the East Roman Empire.

However, now, ninety percent of all known gold and silver mines in Europe were in the hands of Laszlo.

Although they belonged to different sovereign states, they were all under one monarch.

As the 15th century arrived, many monarchs in Europe worried about the depletion of their gold and silver mines.

In the last 32 years of the Hundred Years' War, the French royal mint in Tours was only in normal operation for 7 years.

For this reason, King Charles VII even had to send his mint master, Jansen, to Mainz to study printing, attempting to change the mint's predicament.

However, Charles VII would never have imagined until his death that his mint master would inexplicably get involved in a widespread war and eventually end up in the court of his mortal enemy, the Emperor.

Currently, Jansen was still serving as the deputy director at the Austrian Royal Printing House, sponsored by Laszlo.

The mint in Florence had also stopped coining for many years, and the Venetian mint was now facing the risk of closure.

Only one monarch in all of Europe did not need to worry about this, and that was Laszlo.

The Kuttenberg Silver Mine in Bohemia and the Tyrol Silver Mine in Austria were both hailed as the largest in Europe.

Although they all belonged to the Habsburg royal family, the internal competition between them never ceased.

The gold and silver mines in Slovakia and Transylvania, and the Kosovo gold mine in Serbia, these were almost the core gold producing areas of the entire Europe.

Now, the mint in Kremnica had become the factory that minted the most florins in all of Europe.

And the Florence mint, the original birthplace of the florin gold coin, had already closed down many years ago.

It was just that because the florin had such a good reputation, imperial princes often used the florin gold coin's mold when making inferior coins.

The Hungarians were no different.

Just two years ago, the Emperor changed the design of the florin gold coin, leading to the so-called Imperial florin, which was benchmarked against the florin gold coin in Austria's new currency system.

Specifically, it retained the image of John the Baptist on the reverse side of the gold coin, while changing the Florentine lily pattern on the obverse to the Imperial double-headed eagle pattern.

The value of the gold coin remained unchanged.

People quickly accepted this subtle change, because no one had higher credit than the Emperor, who held numerous gold and silver mines, to issue currency.

To this, Laszlo only wanted to say: "Collecting land rent? How can it be as good as directly printing money!"

Until the discovery of the New World, the supply of precious metal currency in all of Europe would be monopolized by him.

This was his confidence to resist pressure from all sides; with soldiers and money in hand, it was others who should be anxious.

However, as mentioned in Peter's report, many mines had not fulfilled their obligation to pay sufficient mining taxes to the Emperor before this.

With the decline of Hungarian royal power in recent years, more and more mine owners began to withhold the share that should have been submitted to the royal family, putting it into their own pockets.

After the promulgation of the new golden bull, the mine owners in Slovakia even organized a collective protest, attempting to force the Emperor to abolish one-third of the royal share.

Laszlo, far away in Vienna, paid no mind to it; a decree from Pressburg ordered a legion from the Saxon Army stationed there to be transferred to Kremnica.

Seeing the well-equipped and fierce soldiers of the Imperial Army, all opposing voices quickly vanished.

Apart from gold and silver mines, the rich salt mines of Transylvania, and the copper mines produced in Slovakia also provided considerable fiscal revenue.

Adding everything up, the Mining Administration under Peter collected nearly 150,000 florins in mining taxes in the past year of 1463 alone.

This value could be said to have doubled compared to previous years.

"In this way, I can say that I have not failed His Majesty the Emperor's expectations."

Peter finished writing the first part of the mining tax report, let out a long breath, took a sip of water, and continued writing.

"A new vein is suspected to have been discovered in the mountains of Pozsony County, requesting increased investment in mineral exploration."

"There have been instances of private mining and smuggling of gold from Saxon miners in Transylvania, which have been transferred to the Saxon city court for handling. The autonomous Saxon immigrant cities have become a haven for smugglers; it is recommended to reduce their autonomy, or establish a special court to deal with gold and salt smuggling issues."

"The royal mines in Slovakia still need to introduce more German miners to increase mining intensity and improve mining revenue."

In the second part of the report, he summarized important events related to the development of the kingdom's mining industry and some suggestions, awaiting the Emperor's final decision.

The report was finished, put into an envelope, and a messenger quickly dispatched it to Budapest, to be delivered to Ernest, the Kingdom's Minister of Finance.

Recently, this minister had been pressing hard, probably because the Emperor's tour was about to end, and he needed to complete the financial report for the first year of tax reform before then.

This work was not easy, but fortunately, the Emperor arranged for more than a dozen Italian accountants for Ernest; they greatly reduced errors using a sophisticated accounting method.

The past year was certainly a bumper harvest.

The customs duty exemptions in Transylvania were abolished, many nobles' and cities' tax exemptions were canceled, and the Emperor levied taxes on more people.

Even in peacetime, without the Emperor imposing so-called "special taxes" due to war, the kingdom's tax revenue could reach 600,000 florins.

With so much tax revenue, His Majesty the Emperor should be satisfied.

Peter thought so, instructed the accountants to double-check the accounts, and then left the Mining Administration.

Next, he had a banquet to attend, to meet with the mine owners who held mines in Kremnica.

Although he had forcefully taken one-third of their output from these mine owners, they were still willing to curry favor with him,

hoping to find a win-win solution.

The twilight slanted across a secluded manor on the outskirts of Kremnica. This place belonged to the wealthy Thurzo family, and its head, Jonas Thurzo, was a representative of the emerging mine owners.

The noble mine owners looked down on these merchants who contracted mines, but Peter was very willing to cooperate with them.

After all, Hungary had so many mineral resources, even the King could not afford to develop them all himself; some people who controlled resources were always needed to help.

Some of these merchants had obtained mining rights from the former King Albrecht, while others had obtained them from Emperor Laszlo in recent years.

They generally invested heavily in the mines and developed them better than the mines operated by the Royal Family itself.

Of course, letting them only make big money was not in the Emperor's interest, which is why the tax reform targeting mine owners was implemented.

Laszlo needed these people to fund his large army, and in return, he could avoid troubling them.

Clearly, at this time, they were in the throes of reform, and the mine owners were a bit restless.

And appeasing their restless emotions was one of Peter's jobs.

If he failed to appease them, then it would be the Imperial Army stationed in Kremnica's turn to do the job.

Compared to the fierce and terrifying Imperial Army, Peter was clearly much more approachable.

Inside the banquet hall, the mine owners and Peter clinked glasses, and the atmosphere was joyful, showing no sign that they had regarded Peter as a mortal enemy just a few weeks ago.

After several rounds of drinks, Jonas Thurzo and Peter stood on the second-floor terrace of the manor, away from the banquet's noise, enjoying the night view of the garden.

"Jonas, you called me over, is there something you want to say?"

Peter gazed at the host of the banquet who had quietly invited him, a hint of vigilance in his heart.

Jonas noticed Peter's mood, smiled slightly, and said, "I heard that you, sir, are recently planning to explore new mineral deposits in Pozsony County."

"Your news is really well-informed," Peter said impatiently, "I just reported this to His Majesty the Emperor, and there's no result yet."

Pozsony was not far east of Kremnica, and the news of new mineral discoveries there could not be hidden. Mine owners who followed these matters closely were naturally well aware.

"I have a cooperation plan, I wonder if you would be willing to hear it?"

"Stop," Peter didn't give Jonas a chance to speak, "That's likely a gold mine, and His Majesty the Emperor won't let it go.

Besides, doesn't your family's copper mining business still need investment? Why are you thinking about new mineral deposits at this time?"

"Oh, that's because not long ago I just found a few new partners, and they easily solved my difficulties.

Fugger, have you heard this name?"

Hearing Jonas's words, Peter's pupils slightly contracted.

"Don't tell me you've hooked up with the Austrian Minister of Finance, the Emperor's most trusted banker and biggest financier, Jakob Fugger of Augsburg?"

"More or less. A few days ago, his son, Ulrich Fugger, came to me, hoping to reach some cooperation."

Jonas's face was beaming with a joyful smile; clearly, he was very satisfied with this cooperation.

Why would the Fugger family seek cooperation with Hungarian mine owners?

Peter had some doubts in his heart, but he was not so tactless as to ask about such a business secret.

Moreover, who didn't know that the Fugger family was the Emperor's front man? Perhaps there was even the Emperor's shadow behind this matter.

Based on this alone, Peter dared not delve deeper.

"Aren't you curious why they want to cooperate with me?"

"If you're willing to say."

"Fugger and several other wealthy Augsburg merchants monopolized the copper mines of Tyrol. They pay the Emperor fifteen thousand florins annually in exchange for independent operating rights for the copper mines."

"The copper mines of Austria... So they are your competitors?"

"Yes and no.

Although they control the copper in Tyrol, the output is not enough to supply the entire Empire.

A large part of the copper produced here has to be transported for sale within the Empire."

"You're not planning to collude to create a monopoly within the Empire, are you?"

"Your thinking is truly sharp.

Fugger and his partners have promised to provide me with funds, as well as new prospecting equipment and machinery, and I will join their joint cartel."

At this point, Peter completely understood that there was definitely a big hand secretly manipulating everything behind this.

In this era of frequent warfare, copper, as a strategic material, was still very precious.

Copper could be used for coining, casting cannons, and manufacturing various industrial, handicraft, and household items.

As the saying goes, copper is the poor man's gold.

Once the Augsburg merchants controlled the two major copper producing areas of Tyrol and Slovakia, the price of copper in the Empire would be entirely up to their mood.

At that time, by raising the price of copper, these mine owners who controlled copper mines could earn more money.

The more they earned, the more taxes they paid to the Emperor, and only the vast Imperial market would suffer.

Those free cities and Imperial princes who needed to import large quantities of copper as raw materials would pay the price for this.

It seemed that merely monopolizing gold and silver was not enough to satisfy the ambition of that young Emperor; now he had turned his attention to copper, an equally common and important metal resource.

However, would doing so truly not provoke resistance from various strata of the Empire?

Peter gently shook his head; as a Hungarian, why should he worry about Imperial affairs? That was something the Emperor and his advisors in Austria should worry about.

He only needed to care about how Hungary's mining industry was developing and how much tax revenue it could provide for the Emperor, nothing more.

"You're telling me all this, do you have some plan?"

Peter would not trust these merchants who did nothing without profit, especially Jonas.

"As you know, I'm not the only one operating copper mines around Kremnica. I want to take the lead in organizing a merchant association, but this requires your approval."

As Peter listened, a heavy bag suddenly appeared in his hand. The feel of it made him instantly understand what was inside the bag.

"That's not a problem."

Peter nonchalantly put the bag into his pocket. Although his annual salary was already very high, this money was easy to earn.

Even if he refused, perhaps one day the Emperor would issue a decree giving Jonas the green light.

"It's just that a few noble mine owners..."

"I will go and communicate with them."

"Then thank you, sir."

The two clinked their wine glasses, one with a smile on his face, the other expressionless, but it was undoubtedly a pleasant dinner for both host and guest.