Margarita has been cooperating with Ladislaus in handling official affairs recently. Although Ladislaus is careful not to give her too much power, even if she is just a secretary, this is still a great power.

"The provinces around the Danube have made preparations for flood control according to your request. The rule that mayors and governors will be beheaded wherever there is a breach has also been issued." Although this kind of blanket order is not very scientific, but

Sometimes it can really bring out people's potential.

"Family members of bureaucrats at all levels who are always with them cannot be sent away during heavy rains. Anyone who dares to slip away on his own or disturb the morale of the army will be executed once verified, and the family members will be sent to the Black Continent as slaves." Ladislaus

Added another sentence.

"Your Highness, this form is related to my work. The warehouse in the palace is also filled with bacon and wheat according to your request. The palace guards and maids have worked overtime for several days. For this reason, I have been working overtime for several days.

Rideau bought some capons and eggs to add some vegetables to them, so last month's budget was overrun." Margarita handed a bill to Ladislaus.

Although the trivial matters in the palace cannot provide the influence that pouring water for Ladislaus can bring, they are still the foundation of Margarita's reputation.

"Fifteen talers." Ladislaus shrugged, not wondering why such a small amount of money came to him for confirmation.

Overspending is overspending. In order to limit the power of the steward and to avoid the terrible corruption incidents that have occurred many times in history, Machiavelli stipulated that no matter how small the palace overspending was, it must have the consent of the monarch. Ladislaus believed that this was

It was a good idea, so I supported him.

All these additional expenditures were not accounted for by the state treasury, but were made up by Ladislaus's private treasury.

He signed his name in a flourish, in Hungarian.

Ladislaus did not know that his Hungarian name added a lot of resistance to his goodwill plan.

In fact he hardly realized that he often signed his Hungarian letters to letters in German and Latin. This was even more true for bills.

Since childhood, his parents had always called him by his Hungarian name, and Ladislaus never realized that it contained the deepest longing of their branch.

However, although Ladislaus was not clearly aware of this desire, he was actively and firmly making effective arrangements to realize this dream.

As Mary warned, he did have this desire subconsciously.

After Margarita's overspending statement, Ladislaus approved several more documents, which were basically documents requesting additional funding for intelligence work from Boss Jones and Sirica.

Machiavelli and the Chancellor of Hohenzollern generally would not ask for Ladislaus's internal funds in this way. After all, their expenditures are very large. If they want special allocations, they must have a complete plan and a special amount.

Big ones may even have to be discussed at a state council meeting.

Ladislaus's attitude towards the inner treasury was very clear. He had greater freedom with this money than the money in the treasury. But it was also not used for selfish purposes.

Ladislaus has always been generous in his investment in intelligence, which is why reports from the Bureau of Secrecy appear most often on his desk.

However, both Jones and Silica boss can feel that their master is no longer as generous as in the past few months.

Recently, Jones's request to create a batch of spider silk armor through drow skills, and Boss Sirica's request to recruit twenty new people for his anti-smuggling team were all rejected.

The treasury that Ladislaus had managed to fill with great effort was being rapidly devoured by war machines.

Although it is Ladislaus's creed to use all resources before the decisive battle, the recent state of the treasury is indeed bad enough.

The issuance plan of national debt is not going very smoothly. The wealthy businessmen seem to be more sensitive to the current situation than the King of Hungary.

In this era, the country was no more creditworthy than super financial institutions. Except for a few members of the Austrian State Council who subscribed for a few large sums, the purchases of government bonds by other individuals were very limited.

All these funds were quickly spent by Frunzberg.

"The price of armor needs to be increased by 25% again?! Those blacksmith shops in Milan still want to increase their prices? I gave them such a large order and prioritized protecting them, but they still want to increase their prices?" Ladislaus

Si saw a document that made him angry. He had done a lot to support domestic industries. But those capitalists obviously have no national borders.

"It's like this, Your Highness, after the city of Milan went through several wars, several blacksmith shops could not be maintained. Now the two big families have swallowed up several competitors. Now there are 'Yonghe Yongtuo' and 'Saltwater Valley'

'These two giant workshops produced more than two-fifths of Milan's armor. Years of war have shrunk the supply and increased demand. Not only are you ordering, France and the Spanish Naples Legion also need supplies there." This is an excellent thing.

The value of a secretary.

Although Austria and France have been at war for years, trade has greatly recovered in recent months. Although trade will definitely decline again after the Madrid Contract is invalidated, France obviously wants to seize the supply in these months.

Margarita continued: "Vienna's iron smelting industry is expanding rapidly with the prosperity of Danube shipping and your military strength. I think in two to three years, those monopolies will not be able to control the market."

"Show me the tax return for the share exported to France and Spain." It took Margarita two or three minutes to find a form from a filing cabinet in the room.

Ladislaus looked at it and said nothing. The figures above made him decide not to attack these two giants for the time being. Compared with providing himself with weapons, the tax on exports would be heavier.

Armor manufacturing is the core industry of Milan and an important financial source for Ladislaus.

On the one hand, the recent situation prevents him from taking the risk of reducing armor production to destroy the monopoly. On the other hand, although he is not an absolute free trader, these steel giants obviously do not have the tax avoidance ability of the Cassus Church.

One-third of the profits belong to Ladislaus, and Ladislaus also knows very well that if an enemy country needs to purchase weapons from his own country, it will be of great benefit in the long run.

The third reason is that Ladislaus couldn't figure out whose industry the emerging blacksmith shops in Austria belonged to, and which giant in the Council of State the blacksmith shops in Milan were connected to.

Without this information, Ladislaus thought it would be better not to act rashly. The balance in the State Council was the basis for Austria's stability.

Whoever is attacked and supported must be limited and precise, and it must not just consider fairness and justice.

Without the support of intelligence, blindly attacking giant companies is likely to destroy the balance of power and threaten the powerful ministers of the royal power.

This is the situation that needs to be avoided most in internal affairs.

His intelligence agency has been overwhelmed, and these things have recently been done with a blind eye.

Another thing that makes Ladislaus unmotivated is that the armor purchased by France is basically just to cause trouble for His Majesty Ferdinand for the time being.

Ladislaus shook his head and thought: "I don't care about you now, cousin. Anyway, the Naples Legion can pay for it. I really have no money."

If Queen Mary had known that Ladislaus's treasury contained less than one hundred thousand thalers as an emergency fund, she would have better understood the significance of the two hundred thousand thalers.

"This suggestion from the Governor of Salzburg is very constructive. Keep this document on file. I will read it again when the tax comes in the fall."

Ladislaus knew that documents stored in a special-colored cabinet had little chance.

The timing is not right, Austria's recent expenditure must be directed towards the Eastern Front.

"Director Jones and Deputy Director Sirica requested an urgent meeting." This is a very rare situation. Only major events that truly involve the fate of the country can allow the two of them to report together.
Chapter completed!