industrial lord

Chapter 591 Clarifying the Scope of Authority
Frederick left Milan and visited the Duchy of Turin, the Duchy of Liguria, Florence and the Golden City. He arrived at Diplomat, the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in late August.

This road was later called the "Gold Coin Fountain Road". The Duchy of Turin acquired the vehicle industry, the Duchy of Liguria would build an ironworks by the sea, Florence was preparing to build a paper mill and a printing factory, and the Golden City, the original site of the national treasury, would become a hardware city.

Before leaving the Golden City, Frederick called Aleppo to ask: "Did the Venetians contact Garlic?"

Aleppe said dejectedly, "No."

They thought the Venetians would not ignore this spy and would certainly use her.

As a result, the Venetians did not take any action along the way, and did not even take the initiative to contact Frederick.

Frederick said: "Then send her away."

He speculated that the Venetians should have judged that both sides had the chips that the other side needed, so they were not in a hurry.

Garlic was sent away, and she thought Frederick sent her to Weissenburg. She thought she was favored and felt very happy.

When she returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, she was already an old woman. The diary she wrote in the north was compiled into "Grouse Forest Diary" by later generations, which became an important historical material for studying the history, climate, legends, daily life, folk music and history of Frederick in the northern region.

After arriving in Diplomat, Frederick stayed in a palace outside the city.

The city of Diberri is adjacent to the Holy City, the headquarters of the Church of Light. The king himself, the Grand Duke of Milan and others would fast and bathe in this palace every time before going to the Holy City to show their piety.

That being said, when Frederick saw the luxurious bath, he knew that the people here knew how to have fun.

He rested in the palace for two days, and then went to the city of Diplomat to meet King Francesco.

This was not the first time the two had met. Two years ago, when the Duchy of Franconia was in trouble, Frederick was in a hurry to return and came to Diberli City to borrow a griffin.

Time was tight that time and we didn't have the chance to have a deep conversation.

In the living room, after the two exchanged pleasantries, Francisco got down to business: "I have a question that I would like you to answer."

Frederick replied: "Your Majesty, please ask."

He thought it was about the railroad, but Francisco asked, "What do you think of power?"

"I and many of my staff have studied you, and I feel... allow me to describe you as weird."

"The political power of the Duchy of Wessen is concentrated in your hands and extends downward to the countryside. There is no place for others to interfere."

"I am sure that a government like yours, where your decrees reach every corner, is coveted by all the kings of the world."

Frederick nodded. Under the current political system, government orders only reach vassals, and vassals of vassals are not his own vassals.

Francesco's decrees can be given to the Duke of Milan, but he can be ignored.

There are some nobles in the Principality of Wessen now, but they are just a blank slate, with scattered fiefs. The largest one is just two connected villages, which is not a big deal at all.

Therefore, the kings of other countries can only envy, unless their countries reshuffle the cards with blood.

Francisco continued: "But you personally do not seem to be obsessed with power, and the departments in the government have a high degree of autonomy and power."

"I used to be able to explain it by my young age, but now I can't explain it anymore."

"I think this is very dangerous, and there is a high possibility that you will be sidelined by the Supreme Council of Ministers."

Frederick was silent for a moment. This question had been raised privately.

He organized his words and said: "The Supreme Council of Ministers sidelining the Grand Duke is one of the functions of my design of this government structure."

Francisco's eyes suddenly became sharp. No ruler would ever put himself in shackles.

If the person who said this was not Frederick, he would have thought that the person was being forced.

Frederick further explained: "Governments run according to the will of the rulers, but I cannot ensure that I am always right, nor can I ensure that my descendants will be as smart as I am."

"Of course, I am not alluding to His Majesty Rudolf and His Majesty the late King William. Please don't over-interpret it."

Francisco nodded thoughtfully. It was indeed true.

There are too many cases in history where a country is strong if the monarch is virtuous, and weak if the monarch is weak. If a weak monarch has capable ministers to assist him, the country can also be strong. However, there are very few examples of complete mutual trust between the monarch and his ministers, and many of them often end in tragedy for one of the parties.

Not to mention anything else, just the current Rhine Confederation. Frederick is also one of the ministers left by the late king to Rudolf. Before he has any ideas about the Rhine Confederation, he must consider what Grand Duke Wessen thinks.

This is the case with the "North Sea War" currently taking place in the north. As soon as the army of the Principality of Wessen arrived at Hammar, the Kingdom of Sverrier immediately announced that it was only targeting the Kingdom of Danmar and had no intention of interfering with the Rhine Alliance. Francisco did not think that Frederick and Rudolf could live in peace, and one of them would have to leave in the future.

Frederick continued: "The greatest feature of the government structure I designed is that the boundaries of power between the Grand Duke and the various departments are clearly defined in the form of law."

"Power is a piece of cake. It is only this big. Instead of fighting over it, it is better to divide the cake clearly."

"I have completely divided the administration, law and military into three parts, which are independent of each other and restrict each other."

"Each administrative department is independent of the others. The command, personnel and logistics of the military are separated. The courts and procuratorates in the legal system are separated. The legislative power will be stripped away at the appropriate time."

"The departments were like loose cables that were twisted into a strand in my hands."

Francisco's body shook, as if a new door had opened.

The struggle between royal power and local governments within a country has been going on throughout history.

Many people use the method of dividing power, but the boundaries of power are vague, and it is common to change orders every day. There are many uncontrollable conflicts caused by overlapping power.

If state power is clearly divided in legal form, it should be possible to reach an agreement with local nobles and exchange interests at a clearly marked price.

The Kingdom of Sardinia has a tradition of sharing power among local councils, and the political forces in the wealthy northern regions of the country are highly independent, so Francisco thought this way. Kings of other countries would only shake their heads.

Allowing local nobles to enter the center of national power seemed to dilute the royal power, but through the exchange of interests, the royal power was also able to sink.

The pros and cons are difficult to weigh at once, and require deep thinking and countless discussions.

Francisco carefully inquired about the division of powers among the various departments of the government of the Duchy of Wessen, and Frederick gave a relatively detailed answer.

These are not secrets. Every year during the civil service examination, a brief introduction to government departments is published so that candidates can register with a purpose.

This thing is not cheap, anyway, it’s a matter of one willing to fight and the other willing to be beaten.

After thinking for a while, Francisco suggested that the prince go to the Duchy of Wessen for inspection, and Frederick agreed.

The political situation of the Kingdom of Sardinia is completely different from that of the Duchy of Wessen, so it is naturally impossible to copy it. We mainly refer to their ideas.

Then there is the issue of shipyards.

The Duchy of Liguria wanted Frederick to build a shipyard there, but he declined and only agreed to build an ironworks that relied on local and southern seaborne iron ore.

The shipyard had too much influence, so it was built on royal territory.

The place was also chosen. Just over 4 kilometers southwest of Dibaili City, there was a piece of land about 3 kilometers long from east to west and kilometers wide from north to south. There was the sea on the west and rivers on the other three sides.

From an economic point of view, this place is indeed not as good as the Duchy of Liguria, which is close to the timber production area, but from a political perspective, it is better to be closer to the king.

Francesco agreed and granted the land to Frederick.

It's just that the place is easy to irrigate and is planted with red eggplants, so it is called "Red Eggplant Island".

According to tradition, Frederick should be known as the Baron of the Red Eggplant in the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Frederick didn't want to say anything anymore. Whatever, some people now said that his red and yellow double-headed eagle emblem was the color of red eggplants, pumpkins and Elizabethan potatoes.

The investiture ceremony was held with great ceremony, and the plenipotentiary envoys from the Duchy of Milan, the Duchy of Turin, the Duchy of Liguria, Florence, the City of Gold, Venice and the Isle of Oranges all attended.

After the ceremony, a "Memorandum of Understanding on the Construction of the Weissenburg-Diberli Railway" was signed. All of Frederick's plans were based on the opening of this railway, and all parties were willing to purchase bonds used to build the railway.

The plenipotentiary envoy of Venice could no longer sit still, but after returning to the palace, Frederick immediately fasted and bathed with the help of the nuns sent from the Holy City. On Sunday, August 30, he went to the Holy City to attend the ceremony presided over by Pope Valentine in person, and prayed in the Cathedral of Light for five days.

These days, Frederick was getting tired of signing contracts to sell special bonds.

He knew that these fat sheep wearing god robes were rich, but he didn't expect them to be so rich. They sold bonds worth nearly four million Orei gold coins in total.

At this point, the railway funding was secure, and a large sum of money was squeezed out of the hands of the priests. The affairs between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Church of Light were considered settled.

The next thing to do was to check out the United Fruit Company.

Frederick had sent a telegram to the United Fruit Company before leaving Weissenburg and had not concealed his whereabouts along the way. I believe they had already known about it.

(End of this chapter)