Chapter 417 Turning Point

Since Peter started the examination system, the direction of study of intellectuals in Rome began to shift from art and culture to governance. Coupled with the temptation of noble titles, officials were keen to increase their political achievements to get promoted. Especially in the Balkans, the work of checking the land was also the most active.

Officials across the country began to re-check and reclaim, and more than 2 million acres of arable land were added last year alone. They fell into a frenzy of agriculturalism, especially in the east, where the construction of water conservancy facilities irrigated a lot of land, which also stabilized the local society.

"All submitted documents, all sent to the study, I want to read them one by one."

Now I have to cheer up. Except for Peter, the other three sons and two daughters are abroad. If I don't do my best, it may harm my family. I must not let this happen.

Mircea learned a lot from the East. Compared with the East, the imperial power of Rome is simply a younger brother. In terms of centralization and efficiency, it is far behind the East. In particular, the fact that there has never been a mutiny of the Guards in the East makes him particularly envious.

In comparison, the supreme imperial power of Rome seems too weak. Bureaucracy cannot replace aristocracy, which is a disaster. Although the Bartlan family relied on this power to reach its peak, changes must be made in Rome.

In the West, at the invitation of the Governor of Venice, Captain Muzio Sforza of Milan brought his mercenaries into Venice. This mercenary once fought against the Romagna army and accumulated rich combat experience.

"Working for money, working for adventure" is his unswerving life creed. Sforza's team was hired to carry out various assassinations, kidnappings, smuggling, and even coups. Moreover, his mercenaries are complex, with all kinds of people, but they all have one thing in common, that is, they like war, and war is everything in their lives.

Of course, he could not be satisfied with a mercenary leader. What he wanted was the supreme position of Milan. Therefore, he, who had many children, constantly married nobles and forced the surrounding small cities to recognize his authority, but even Savoy looked down on him as a mercenary.

And Venice's request for help gave him an opportunity, and he could take the opportunity to seize the local ruling power and establish himself as king. Then let all countries recognize him, so that the family can enter the upper class.

"General, we have entered Venice. Verona has sent people to give you gifts."

"What are they?"

"Gold coins, all florins, the mayor of Verona said this is for tolls."

Sforza knew that it must be money to avoid disaster when he heard it. Since he is so sensible, he can't be unreasonable. Just go around and spare their lives.

However, those towns that did not pay the protection fee are unlucky. Before attacking Rome, we will attack you once, who knows if you are Rome's insider. As a result, the facilities that were finally restored were destroyed again, and the local wealth was looted. The degree of destruction is no less than that of Peter's army sweeping.

The people of Venice never thought of the current situation. It would be better to be a good citizen under Rome, so that they can live a stable life.

It's a pity that such a good opportunity was destroyed by them. The only thing they can do is to escape. As for national justice, go to hell, it's really not worth mentioning in front of survival.

For the first time, Domenic doubted democracy. In order to quickly pass the proposal, he directly brought soldiers to force the parliamentarians to agree. Then he ordered Petro, the only one with military experience in their cabinet, to lead 8,000 people to attack Trieste. Although he said he had military experience, he actually had only been in Venice for two years. Others who had the ability to lead were either eliminated or contributed to the agriculture in the east of Rome.

Petro could be said to be forcing the duck to the shelf. He would only charge once. His only confidence was that Trieste's defense was not as strong as before. If he charged directly, he might be able to take it down, and then the situation would be revived.

"My lord, Trieste is already in front of us."

Looking at the walls in front of him and the corpses around him, Petro felt a lot of pressure. He still pointed forward and launched the first wave of attack orders.

The defense of Trieste's walls declined after many attacks, but the gunpowder reserves were still sufficient. Thanks to the continuous delivery of supplies by the Roman navy, the city did not fall into a state of collapse. Moreover, soldiers could be transported from the south to support the city, which could be said to have made up for the loss of the city wall to a large extent.

The artillery on the city wall fired again, and the falling shells caused a lot of losses to the Venetian army. However, due to the use of many days, some artillery had not been cleaned for a long time. As a result, one artillery exploded, taking the lives of three soldiers and part of the city wall. But fortunately, the other side also ordered to withdraw troops. The loss of attacking without large siege equipment was too great.

Because Rome imposed a very strict naval blockade on Venice, Venice could not beat the other side even if it had a navy. Domenic made a choice under the strong opposition of some people: give up building a navy and sink all ships in important waterways to prevent the Roman navy from landing.

"I know it is painful to make this decision, but we have to face the reality. Venice's navy is not enough to resist the Roman navy. Only by preserving its strength can it have a chance to survive."

The speech of the governor was not understood by the parliament. They believed that the navy was the pride of Venice and could not be abolished easily. Now the governor directly implemented this treasonous policy, which violated Venice's original intention.

It's really a matter of life and death, but fortunately, most of the policies were passed under the force of the governor: increase the head tax by 50%, devalue the currency by 20%, change to in-kind tax, and recruit 10,000 more soldiers.

There is no other way. If it doesn't do this, the government of Venice will collapse. Local agricultural output takes time. Some remote areas have begun to flee. In order to avoid accountability, local officials directly join the fleeing team. This makes the already small population become smaller and smaller.

And there are problems with their own foreign aid. Austria doesn't know why it is arguing in the Holy Roman Empire. It is said that Brandenburg proposed something that he can't accept, but he doesn't know what it is. They just hope that the aid funds can come quickly.

Now Austria is also selling pots and irons, robbing Peter to pay Paul to make ends meet. It can only borrow money from Genoese merchants to repay the money of the Hanseatic League. Relying on all means, it is finally settled here, but there are still many things waiting for him to deal with. The scope of the Berlin Alliance led by Brandenburg is expanding, and its strength is comparable to that of the Swabian Alliance. A storm is coming.