Chapter 68: Striving to Govern the Country

It is almost autumn, but summer is still emitting its last power. Of course, the one who feels the hottest is Angel, the chancellor.

After becoming the chancellor, Angel has no time to relax. He needs to integrate various forces to assist the Grand Duke, and at the same time, he needs to make suggestions for national governance.

"We must now improve the relationship between Poland and Hungary. There is no good result if we fall out with them."

"The Grand Duke has approved this. The most important thing now is domestic issues." Angel said to the noisy supervisors.

"Our country has added a lot of land and population, and the Grand Duke has kindly reduced their taxes. Then these expenses have to be found from other places."

After that, Angel looked at Artur, who was in charge of finance. And Artur also began to talk about this year's financial situation.

"Thanks to the development in the past few years, tax revenue has increased a lot compared to before, especially the increase in tariffs after the implementation of the new tax system last year. This year, there should be 600,000 lei in tariff revenue."

600,000 is not a small amount, because it is silver coins, and there are also a lot of gold coins. In addition, there are salt income, fixed taxes on subjects, and taxes on specific commodities, which will probably exceed 1.1 million lei this year. This is already a great improvement.

But in addition to income, expenses are also huge, including construction, military, and personal expenses. Especially the construction of the new capital, which is a big expense.

"Sir, although there are many territories at present, there are not enough officials to take charge of military and civil affairs. After all, the speed of territorial expansion is too fast."

Many people complained to them about the lack of manpower, even if they were transferred from the University of Constanta, it was still not enough.

"Everyone, what difficulties do you have?" Grand Duke Mircea said as he walked in.

"Grand Duke" "Grand Duke"

Mircea looked around and fixed his eyes on Prime Minister Angel.

"Angel Petrescu, tell me."

Angel, who was named, honestly told the discussion just now. Especially the problem of insufficient manpower.

"Grand Duke, all provinces have sent letters, hoping to increase manpower. Especially in Suceava and Pitesti."

"First transfer from Dobruja Province, talents are not available all at once."

Mircea knew it well, but now the country is in ruins and needs more time to develop. The current difficulties have to be endured.

Then, Mircea walked to the newly drawn national map. Under Mircea's rule, the territory of Wallachia has more than tripled, which is very impressive.

"Okay, everyone, we have to do more next." Mircea pointed to the map.

"Clear the bandits in the forest and make trade normal."

"Dredge the river and build a navy to make it unobstructed."

"Build more universities and churches."

"Encourage reclamation, Moldova still has a lot of land to be developed."

"Strengthen border construction to prevent the Ottomans from making a comeback."

………

Mircea said more than a dozen in a row, which made the ministers' minds confused.

Adrian, the military director of the "Grand Duke", spoke. "We also have to be wary of Hungary. After occupying Moldova, the border between the two countries has doubled. We must have enough garrisons to prevent their sudden attacks."

"I neglected this matter. Although the two countries are at peace, we still need to make plans early."

Walachia is located between the three major powers of Ottoman, Hungary and Poland. The size of these three is still larger than Wallachia, so it is necessary to reduce its presence. Now they need peace, even if it is ten years or even five years.

"I know it is difficult for you, but it is also difficult for the country. Now we are like a woman who is waiting to get married with a large dowry, and there are people around who want to get the dowry and are ready to rob the marriage."

"They thought well, but they didn't expect that this woman has an army. And they will beat them back."

Mircea used this metaphor to express his confidence that Wallachia will grow into a great power, and a long-lived great power. Unlike the Serbian Empire, it disappeared in a few decades.

In addition to daily affairs, most of the delegates to the conference on the compilation of the code have arrived. They discussed all aspects, including serfs, trade, society, etc.

So, you can see boyars arguing with merchants, landlords arguing with citizens, and boyars with different interests arguing with each other. Such a scene is rare in Eastern Europe, but I didn't expect it to happen today.

There were 263 representatives in the entire meeting, of which 79 were boyars, 32 were senior monks, and the rest were small and medium-sized landowners and merchants. Although the citizen class was in the majority, the boyar class was still dominant.

After endless arguments, the first common point reached by all parties was to establish a Supreme Court to supervise the implementation of the code. And to give Grand Duke Mircea the title of father of the nation, but Mircea refused.

"I asked them to discuss the code, but they discussed my character. Is this what the Senate of the Roman Empire said?"

Mircea asked them to formulate a code as soon as possible, not only for him, but also for everyone on this land.

As the longest-serving grand duke of Wallachia, it is not unreasonable that Mircea could be in office for more than 30 years. Such a move won the support of small and medium-sized landowners and citizens, and at the same time, his devout religious beliefs made the church stand on his side. A few boyars wanted to make trouble, but they didn't have many followers.

In order to celebrate the victory, Mircea ordered the issuance of gold coins of lei. The ducat currency that started with Grand Duke Basarab officially withdrew from the stage of history, and was replaced by the lei exclusive to Wallachia.

After some initial discomfort, the use of lei became wider and wider. Because of its high silver content, it is very popular among merchants.

Buying gold and silver ore from Transylvania and then processing it into currency is also due to the scarcity of precious metal mines in Wallachia. But this is already very good. After all, not everyone can cast coins, because you have to let it circulate, and if the quality is not good, you will lose confidence. Unless you force circulation and bear the loss of merchants.

Mircea also ordered the construction of a highway from Bucuriesti to Sofia, passing through Giurgiu and Tervono. If it is built, it will be very good for both military and trade.

The Minister of Finance is the most difficult, after all, it is difficult to make money, but it is easy to spend money. Building a highway is also very expensive, but the news from Sofia said that the governor borne half of the cost, which directly relieved a lot of pressure.