Chapter 235 The Origin of the Navy
On November 2, 1523, the first topic of the State Council was that Austria would establish closer economic relations with the Republic of Venice, starting with mutual reductions in tariffs.
In addition to compensating the big nobles who could talk to him directly, Ladislaus also had to arrange a way for the small businessmen to survive. In his opinion, this was his job.
As a price for the reconstruction of the Port of Trieste, Venetian merchants and Austrian merchants will be given the same tax treatment. This means that most Austrian coastal foreign trade merchants will not be able to survive. Fair competition and free trade have always been beneficial to the strong.
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Although this group of businessmen were originally operating poorly, their contribution to the national treasury was minimal.
However, Ladislaus still had to give them certain accommodation and compensation, and at the same time prevent their wealth and enthusiasm from being destroyed by the Venetians, and prevent them from firing their staff in panic. Vienna's business still needed these people.
Moreover, free trade is limited to trade along the Adriatic Sea. Around Vienna, Ladislaus can still provide considerable help to local merchants.
In fact, as long as Ladislaus did not have to do anything, the tax collectors in Vienna would not be polite. After all, being soft on the Venetians actually needs to be promoted from the top down.
In the past few days, Machiavelli has been contacting all Austrian merchants doing maritime trade one by one to provide encouragement, especially those who suffered heavy losses when Trieste was destroyed by Barbarossa. Ladislaus also gave him
The state compensated them, which was unprecedented.
Of course, the current economic situation of Ladislaus makes it impossible to give them any cash. The so-called compensation is that they can get a discount when renting a new warehouse on the Danube River and a new store in Vienna Neustadt. This is a win-win plan, businessmen
We have a new beginning. Vienna has a new beginning.
In return for these efforts, Ladislaus asked for an interest-free loan of 800,000 talers from the Republic of Venice to the Grand Duchy of Austria to renovate the Austrian part of the road from Vienna to the city of Venice.
Although the money still needs approval from the Assembly of the Republic of Venice, it will not arrive until Austria actually reduces tariffs.
Ladislaus asked Chancellor Hohenzollern to be responsible for this work and to implement the loan as soon as possible and start construction as soon as possible.
Even with optimistic predictions, this project will take at least three years, but Ladislaus requested that roads near Vienna be renovated first, so that the capital's economic circle can be revitalized as soon as possible.
The second issue is the improvement plan and assessment procedures for the officer corps. There are actually very different opinions on whether to choose German or Latin as the examination language for the officer corps.
It was just that Ladislaus's mother tongue was Italian, and although he could also speak German and Latin, if he rashly suggested using German, it would probably make Ladislaus extremely unhappy, so no one was willing to come forward.
In fact, Ladislaus has recently captured a large number of Italian territories, especially the Milan area where the economy is prosperous and talented people gather. Ladislaus's memory in his previous life told him that the economic base determines the superstructure. From an economic point of view, the Grand Duchy of Austria has
Since Milan and Friuli are the richest provinces, giving Italians a certain amount of respect is of great long-term value in maintaining the country's stability.
Choosing Latin is a choice acceptable to both parties, and the Dark Sun is the first faith in Europe after all. Choosing Latin as the official language of the Roman Church will also help to slightly ease the relationship between the Warlock Royal Family and the Roman Church.
Frundsberg had been convinced by Ladislaus, and the power to arrange the specific process and write the outline was still left to Frundsberg, and everyone was still satisfied.
Since Frunzberg, as the chief training officer, did not fully oppose this issue and others naturally had no say in it, it was passed smoothly.
A unanimous State Council is very valuable. Although Ladislaus now has enough power in terms of actual power and system votes to force through any national policy he wants to pass, in essence, the State Council is the major factions.
If you completely ignore the interests of a certain party when showing your own requirements, there will be many constraints in the implementation process. After all, success is difficult and failure is easy.
Only the harmonious atmosphere was destroyed on the third issue. Ladislaus had thought that there would not be much opposition to this proposal.
The third topic is the reconstruction of the Austrian Navy. Ladislaus's plan to reorganize the Austrian Navy shocked everyone. Ladislaus's plan just had no plan.
He sincerely wanted to quit fighting for maritime interests and no longer tried to restore the military port on the Adriatic Sea. Instead, he wanted to build a new military port on the Danube River.
After all, there are still some experienced sailors left in the navy that cannot be wasted. There is still a place for them in Ladislaus's grand strategy.
Opposite the city of Vienna, the north bank of the Danube River will become the new base camp of the Austrian Navy. Of course, it is more accurate to say it is a river army.
According to Ladislaus, this construction plan has many benefits. First of all, it makes the Venetians more confident that they have no intention of competing with them and can smoothly seek more and faster loans. Another unspeakable advantage is that it further reduces the other party's
Be wary.
Secondly, this plan is also very beneficial to the construction of Vienna Neustadt. Although it is a military port construction plan, in fact this plan is very valuable for strengthening Vienna's logistics capabilities. Although it has been helped by the Amber Road for a long time, Vienna actually does not have enough
To effectively utilize the transportation capacity of the Danube River, annual trade exchanges are very insufficient, whether with the Principality of Bavaria and the Imperial Municipality of Ulm in the upper reaches or with the Kingdom of Hungary, the Principality of Moldova and the Principality of Wallachia in the lower reaches.
More importantly, these trade volumes are still very disordered, and taxes are basically uncollectible.
Under the protection and surveillance of the river fleet on the north bank, commercial activities on the Danube will become safer and easier to manage.
If trade was brought under the jurisdiction of the Vienna Municipal Government, then taxes would give the government the incentive to crack down on river piracy and regulate the market.
Good public security and an orderly environment will in turn further stimulate the prosperity of trade.
This plan is beneficial at no cost. There are already many private ports on both sides of Vienna, but they currently contribute little to the national finance. The forces that control the interests here are small forces and they will definitely not have their direct patrons at the State Council.
Not having a say also means that these forces do not have much ability to obstruct.
These wild ferries and private ports can be directly confiscated or redeemed with a negligible compensation. On this basis, expanding the scale can immediately make Vienna take a big step towards becoming a trade center.
However, at the State Council, Ladislaus unexpectedly encountered great opposition.
The Hohenzollern Chancellor first expressed his objection: "Your Highness the Archbishop, Austria has spent more than fifty years of hard work in the past century to expand its territory to the sea. Since the time of the old emperor Maximilian, Austria has been
It took half a century of operation to gain a foothold on the Adriatic Sea. The sea has been Austria's long-standing dream. Even the Venetians will not openly ask us to destroy their navy. I suggest that in any case,
The port of Astor resumes a minimal fleet presence."
The Chancellor of Hohenzollern was a native of the Electorate of Brandenburg, but he resonated with Austria's desire to have access to the sea. The Electorate of Brandenburg is also a landlocked country, and it is the same as the Principality of Northern Pomerania.
Centuries of fighting were fought to gain access to the sea.
During the years he served in the Grand Duchy of Austria, as an important minister, he also devoted a lot of effort to the construction of the Austrian Navy. Starting from scratch is a very difficult process, especially for an enterprise like the navy.
Sazastan also expressed his true views: "His Royal Highness the Archbishop, the ocean is the future of mankind and the source of wealth. Although river trade along the Danube will also have a great future, it is nothing compared to the wealth that the ocean can provide.
It’s a drop in the bucket. Of course, I agree to focus on the less competitive Danube River first, but there is no need to completely withdraw the navy. You may not know how weak the aboriginal people in the New World are compared to our expeditionary force. With Austria and Spain
If we make a request, His Majesty Ferdinand will definitely consider giving us an island in the Headwind Islands area."
The voice of support that Ladislaus thought he would definitely receive did not ring out.
Although Frunzberg hated the navy's competition for military spending for many years, he found that it was against his own heart to support Ladislaus. As the spokesperson of the army, he should have opposed any attempt to expand the navy, but as an Austrian
He was also heartbroken about giving up the Navy.
So he just kept silent.
"The grand blueprint is not important, what is important is the current state of the treasury. Since everyone knows that this is the result of decades of operation, then they should understand that the reconstruction costs after being completely destroyed by the Barbary pirates, if the support is concentrated in a few years, it will be
How vast and unacceptable." Machiavelli, who still managed money, jumped out to support Ladislaus, and his reasons were very good.
"Those special military port facilities and a small fleet even if there is no resistance at all will cost at least 200,000 thalers in the budget, as well as the special supplies and warehouses needed by the navy, which is another 200,000 thalers. This amount
Will Qian Venetians still take out loans?”
Although this expenditure is actually not large compared to Ladislaus's trade center plan, this money has no output. In the short term, it is purely a kind of psychological satisfaction. Although national pride is not unimportant, it is still money after all.
Number one.
After another half hour of discussion and persuasion, both the Hohenzollern Chancellor and the Inspector-General of Sazastan reluctantly agreed to this "reconstruction plan" without reconstruction.
Chapter completed!