How to spend money

"Your Majesty, the envoys from both sides failed to achieve a satisfactory outcome at your Royal Court.

Now, this dispute has escalated into a full-scale war between Pomerania and Brandenburg."

The distant war fires did not disturb the tranquility of the Vienna court. At the regular Privy Council meeting, Eyczing, the Chief Minister for Foreign Affairs, reported the latest developments to the Emperor.

Laszlo nodded slightly and smiled, "At least I tried to resolve the Stettin succession issue peacefully, but neither side was very interested in the proposal to divide Stettin.

In that case, let them fight until they are battered and bruised first."

"I heard that the Duke of Pomerania is relocating the people around Stettin, planning to burn everything around the city, and supply the Stettin defenders from the sea."

Marshal Adolf, Chairman of the Imperial Military Committee, praised Erick II's courage.

The Duke of Pomerania, fighting against the powerful Brandenburg Elector, was a classic case of a small force challenging a larger one, and he had to give it his all.

Before the slow reinforcements from the Teutonic Order arrived, Erick II had to hold Stettin while weakening the Brandenburg army as much as possible.

Elector Frederick II had already assembled a large army of over five thousand men, advancing in three columns towards Stettin and East Pomerania.

Erick and his brother Wartislaw, combining their forces, barely mustered two thousand men.

Field battles would be suicidal for them; the best approach was to defend the city, wear down the enemy, and await allies.

The Elector's large army required a massive amount of supplies daily, so Erick chose a scorched-earth tactic to counter Frederick.

Before the Brandenburg army invaded his controlled territory, Erick first plundered half of Stettin, leaving only scorched earth for the enemy.

"Ultimately, it is my Empire's subjects who suffer," Laszlo sighed, though it wasn't as if his heart was truly heavy.

This was the inevitable outcome of the disputes among the princes.

Only at such times would people reflect on how important an orderly Empire united under his banner truly was.

Unfortunately, those unruly princes would never understand this point.

"Let them fight for now; it's not our time to intervene yet.

The financial reports from all the vassal states have already been sent to Vienna.

Earning money is not easy, and even I cannot spend it lavishly, so the deployment and use of the army must be handled with great caution."

Hearing the Emperor's admonition, the ministers of the Privy Council all nodded in agreement.

After all, military expenditures during wartime are not on the same scale as during peacetime.

Laszlo learned the method of "contract for hire" from Venice and Milan to save costs during peacetime while maintaining a large army.

Soldiers stationed received only about half of their wartime pay.

However, a mobilized Imperial Army would instantly transform into a gold-devouring beast, emptying Laszlo's coffers.

Eyczing suddenly thought of something and reported to Laszlo with a smile, "Your Majesty, speaking of financial matters, the Kalmar Union in the North recently ran into big trouble because of it."

"Could it be Charles VIII attacking the mainland again?"

Laszlo could only think of this possibility.

Initially, Poland supported Charles VIII of Sweden in his bid for independence, and the subsequent Prussian War turned the entire Baltic Sea coast into chaos.

Later, the Danish army captured Stockholm and expelled Charles VIII.

This Swedish King first became a pirate king based in Danzig, and after Danzig was recaptured by Denmark's ally, the Teutonic Order, he fled to Gotland.

In recent years, he had been leading his pirate fleet from Gotland, attacking Danish merchant ships, and some Hanseatic League vessels were also targeted.

Laszlo vaguely remembered that the city representative of Lübeck had complained to him about this matter.

The Teutonic Order's fleet nearly sank Charles VIII's flagship in a naval battle, which made the Swedish pirate king rein in his activities somewhat.

Laszlo did not take the defunct Kalmar Union seriously.

"The situation is not far from what you predicted.

Do you still remember the deal with King Christian I of Denmark a few years ago?"

"You mean that deal in Holstein?"

Laszlo certainly wouldn't forget; the generous King of Denmark had left a deep impression on him at the time.

He exchanged a mere title of Duke of Holstein for tens of thousands of florins from the Danish King.

In the days that followed, Laszlo often wished for another such transaction.

"Indeed, Your Majesty, Christian I spent one hundred fifty thousand florins to successfully inherit Holstein.

He incurred a huge loan for this, and in recent years, he has shifted the burden of the loan onto the peasants of Sweden, beginning to levy taxes repeatedly without restraint.

This action aroused public resentment in Sweden, and recently the Swedes elected the opposition nobleman Ketil Karlsson as the national regent.

He publicly announced the dethronement of Christian I and welcomed Charles VIII back as King of Sweden.

Now Christian I is assembling the Danish army, preparing to go to war with Sweden to re-establish joint rule."

"A lesson to be learned, indeed.

A lesson to be learned." Laszlo wiped away the non-existent cold sweat from his brow, carefully recalling if he had ever shifted financial burdens to vassal states.

However, he immediately realized that his armies were already spread across Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia,

and his control over the vassal states was far stronger than the childish Kalmar Union, so there was no need to worry about such a thing happening.

Thinking this, Laszlo regained his confidence.

"You have all seen this financial budget report drafted by Jacob, haven't you? Please give your opinions."

Laszlo's Finance Minister and financial expert, Jakob Fugger, was currently busy earning money for the Emperor, harvesting the Empire's resources, and also managing Austria's finances.

The burden on him was heavy, which had led to his recent poor mental state, making him look very haggard.

Fortunately, the Emperor had brought back many talented financial managers from Italy, and Jakob's son had also begun to show his capabilities, which brought him great comfort.

Not long ago, his eldest son, Ulrich Fugger, was granted a court position by the Emperor, seemingly with the intention of grooming him to be the next Finance Minister.

Jakob sometimes thought of his elder brother Andreas.

Andreas had dumped all the family's assets on his younger brother, while he himself used the inheritance left by his father to buy a rather worthless castle and a noble title.

Later, he married a young lady from a fallen noble family, fancied himself part of high society, and then lived a peaceful life.

Shortly after Andreas's death, Jakob was able to witness firsthand the formation of the Empire's highest echelons of power and participate in it.

In all of Europe, almost no Jew could reach his position.

Since the Emperor valued his talent regardless of his background, he naturally had to do everything in his power to help the Emperor amass wealth and manage the national treasury.

And incidentally, allow his family to earn a little "small money," which was already very satisfying.

His greatest pressure each year came at this time: to rationally allocate the impoverished Austrian treasury and satisfy the demands of all parties.

Military expenditures alone would first deduct one hundred eighty thousand florins, which included the cost of maintaining the Independent Army, funds allocated to the navy, and fortress maintenance fees.

The military expenses of the Imperial Guard were directly disbursed from the Emperor's private coffers, which was not too great a burden for Laszlo.

Following that were the costs of maintaining the normal operation of the government, which would consume nearly one hundred thousand florins.

There were also diplomatic expenses and the cost of maintaining the Emperor's vast court, another expenditure of tens of thousands of florins.

This was still under the condition that the Emperor avoided extravagance as much as possible.

One must know that a certain Count within the Empire, to celebrate his son's wedding, held a six-day feast that directly consumed a year's fiscal revenue of his domain.

If Laszlo were to do this a few times, Jakob would probably faint from shock.

However, such a predicament only applied to Austria's national treasury; Laszlo's private coffers, supported by multiple national treasuries, had always been bulging.

Even at this point, Laszlo still had sixty to seventy thousand florins in savings.

In recent years, the construction of trade routes from Vienna to Innsbruck had been initially completed, and Austria's financial pressure was expected to ease somewhat, yet the Emperor was planning to build a trade route from Venetia to Vienna.

This matter had not yet been finalized, but seeing the hesitant expressions of the other ministers, Jakob knew that there would likely be no surplus in the national treasury this year either.

"Your Majesty, regarding the proposal to renovate the palace in Linz and expand the palace in Vienna Neustadt…

Court Chancellor Aeneas's words were cut short by Marshal Adolf.

"Your Majesty, regarding the proposal to rebuild the fortress in Linz and expand the fortress in Vienna Neustadt, I hope you will consider it.

Linz is an important node for us to control the Duke of Landshut, and Vienna Neustadt can defend Vienna against threats from the direction of Hungary."

Laszlo's eyes widened. What did he mean by threats from the direction of Hungary?

Pressburg, the eastern gateway of Vienna, now had Saxon Army stationed there, Graz to the south still had the Independent Army, and the Imperial Guard was stationed just outside Vienna City. What danger could there be?

However, the fortress in Linz certainly needed to be built.

Linz City was not far from the Landshut border, and using it as a forward base could directly threaten Landshut's homeland.

Aeneas gave Marshal Adolf a displeased look and advised, "Your Majesty, building a luxurious palace can showcase your splendor and the glory of the entire dynasty to the world.

You have already achieved great military success; perhaps you should also leave a profound impression in other areas."

"No more arguing. I will allocate funds for building the fortress in Linz and expanding the palace in Vienna Neustadt.

If finances are tight, then complete the Linz project first, Jakob, you make the arrangements."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Jakob's hanging heart finally settled.

In fact, he would have preferred the Emperor to invest the remaining fiscal revenue into the mines of Tyrol or to invest more in building markets and the like.

However, military expenditure was always the Emperor's top priority, and no one could change that.

Even though Duke Ludwig IX of Landshut, "the Rich," had been repeatedly targeted, the Emperor still had no intention of letting him off. After rebuilding the fortress in Linz, Ludwig IX would probably not have many good nights of sleep.

After the Privy Council meeting, Laszlo returned to his study alone, where several financial reports awaited his review.

The three states of the Kingdom of Bohemia were all doing well, especially Bohemia, which was gradually recovering from its decline after a large number of German immigrants and some Austrian nobles moved in.

Laszlo made only a few demands on the Bohemian government for the short term.

Maintain an army capable of fighting abroad at any time, ensure the normal operation of the government, and strictly guard against the resurgence of Hussite heretical ideas.

The rest was probably to actively rebuild the severely damaged Bohemia, especially the areas around Prague, striving to restore its former prosperity as soon as possible.

This was an extremely long process, but Laszlo had plenty of time.

Putting aside the Bohemian financial report, which was not much different from previous years, Laszlo picked up the Kingdom of Hungary's financial report from last year.

This was the main event of the day.

Last year was the first year of Hungary's tax reform, and he was very much looking forward to the results of the reform.

After quelling Hunyadi's rebellion, the so-called powerful Hungarian magnates had essentially lost their threat.

However, Laszlo intended to further suppress their power.

Abolishing the nobles' various privileges was just the beginning; next, he would use more methods to completely crush those Hungarian nobles.

"Taxes collected include various in-kind goods and currencies, with an estimated total value of six hundred twenty thousand florins after conversion."

It would be a lie to say he wasn't excited; the Kingdom of Hungary's tax revenue had finally returned to its pre-1460 level, which meant his financial pressure would further decrease.

Of this large sum of hundreds of thousands of florins in tax revenue, in addition to mainland Hungary, it also included taxes submitted to the central government from governorates such as Transylvania, Slavonia,

Croatia, and Bosnia.

Among them, the tax revenue from the Transylvania Governorate increased significantly compared to previous years, almost doubling.

This was the main reason for the surge in the Hungarian treasury's income.

Firstly, the income from royal lands increased significantly, with a much smaller proportion being withheld than before.

In addition, the tariff exemption privileges in the Transylvania region were abolished, and a large number of rich gold and salt mines were reclaimed by Laszlo.

The new Governor, Szécsényi, dared not, nor was he able to, deceive his superiors and enrich himself like Hunyadi.

The nobles and clerics of mainland Hungary paid land taxes to the Emperor, and the mines in Slovakia also contributed significantly to the increase in tax revenue.

Unfortunately, this money was not easy to keep.

Just maintaining the fifteen thousand troops stationed throughout Hungary, plus the Danube Flotilla, would cost nearly three hundred thousand florins in military expenses.

Laszlo would also use most of the remaining money to invest in the construction of administrative departments.

He planned to further upgrade Hungary's administrative system to complement the military and enhance control over the Hungarian heartland.

Laszlo turned to the next part of the report, which summarized many proposals by Ernest.

Although these proposals varied widely in content, their core was, without exception, asking Laszlo for money.

"What is this? The 'Danube Iron Wall Plan' by Paul Kinizsi, the commander of Timisoara and Royal Inspector?

Building twelve military fortresses along the Danube River between Belgrade and Ilok in Slavonia, based on the camps of the Order of Saint George?

Restoring local militia training and preparing the southeastern border defenses?"

When Laszlo saw the estimated cost of one hundred fifty thousand florins at the end, he silently skipped this proposal.

"Hmm... building a grand library in Budapest, and also rebuilding the University of Pécs?"

Laszlo immediately recognized that this was a proposal from his secretary, Janus Pannonius.

This was indeed something Laszlo had promised him, so Laszlo made a mark next to this proposal.

Rebuilding the university and constructing a grand library were both good suggestions.

"The position of Bishop of Pecs happens to be vacant recently, so let this boy fill it.

I wonder how the 'Hungarian Chronicles' I commissioned him to write is coming along; I hope there are no issues."

Laszlo was quite afraid that Janus, in a fit of artistic temperament, might write some strange theories in the chronicles that were unfavorable to Austria-Hungary friendship.

After all, he had requested that the chronicles emphasize the legitimacy and rationality of the Habsburg Family's rule over Hungary.

It would be best to portray all of this as divinely ordained.

At that time, he would also have the royal printing press mass-produce the chronicles and then forcibly sell them to the Hungarian elite. As for the Austrian chronicles, Laszlo merely instructed the court historians to leave more records and had no immediate plans to fabricate a new history book.

Laszlo then looked at the remaining proposals, none of which particularly caught his eye.

After a moment of thought, he took up his pen and began to write an edict, putting all his instructions into it, and ordered it to be sent to Budapest, to be delivered to Archbishop Veszter, the Regent of Hungary.