eastern european eagle

Chapter 560 Tax Collection
In 1412, the Roman Emperor Peter ended the war against the Roman League, which lasted for more than a year. During this period, Rome joined forces with several other countries to beat Egypt, Poland, Lithuania, Castile and other countries, and regained its international status. Although some wars continued in Central Europe, Europe generally returned to peace, and countries did not engage in large-scale wars. History books call it the Romanian Peace.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is the year 1417.

The weather in August was extremely hot, but tax officials in Donetsk were still running around the fields to reconfirm the land owned by each household and the growth of crops, so as to roughly estimate how much land tax each household in the jurisdiction should pay after the autumn harvest.

"Baliwick, how is your job going?" asked another tax collector, Galas.

"It's OK. Except for a few who still want to resist, the others are collecting taxes smoothly. How about you?"

"Same, they are all very obedient. We may even set a new record this year."

Donetsk is the province with the most development potential in Ruthenia. In recent years, the tax revenue collected from here has exceeded one-third of the entire Ruthenia. The abundant resources have attracted a lot of people to come. In just a few years, the population of Donetsk has increased from 10 to 25. This has brought about explosive growth in the local economy.

"I have to admit that it was a good decision to come here. The coal and iron produced here have made other provinces scramble for it."

This achievement made them proud, and the coal and iron produced in Donetsk and Luhansk became the main source of the empire. The endless resources became the local cash cow, relying on this, they were able to be so rich in Donetsk.

"Two years ago, His Majesty invited the Crown Prince to come here for an inspection. It is an honor for this place. Relying on the Don River and the port, our income will increase year by year."

When the Eastern envoys came to Constantinople, Peter asked them what the name of the heir to the empire was. Chen Cheng said it was the Crown Prince, and Peter thought the name was very good, so he quoted it. Then the coronation ceremony of Alexander was held in Hagia Sophia, and the Crown Prince officially became Alexander's title, and it was also the name of every heir to the empire in the future.

In recent years, Romanian schools have been established in most cities in the empire. Many people who want to work in public office have greatly improved their literacy, writing and arithmetic skills after studying in schools, and then take the civil service examination. Citizens who cannot pass the formal examination can also take the secondary examination and serve as minor officials. Depending on their years of service and performance in the empire, they still have the opportunity to be promoted to formal public office.

The tax collectors who followed them were all locals. They received a certain salary as tax collectors during the slack season, and had to go home to cultivate the fields during the busy season. In fact, they were doing part-time jobs. The empire relied on these part-time clerks to support the various management tasks at the grassroots level of the entire country. Therefore, every official who officially took office would be warned by his superiors: respect the clerks under you, otherwise your work would not be supported and it would be difficult to complete the tasks assigned by your superiors!

In addition to Donetsk and Luhansk, Dnipro, Kiev, Zaporizhia and other places have the fastest population growth and income growth. Ruthenia, which was once a wilderness, has regained the prosperity of the Kievan Rus period and provided a steady supply of goods to the empire. "Since the establishment of this place, most of the past ten years have been bumper years. God is really blessing us!" One person exclaimed.

"This is all thanks to his great Majesty! He is protected by God, which is why the gods will always bless our empire!" Baliwick emphasized. As a young man, he has a stronger sense of identity with the empire.

Since this place was incorporated into Rome, the Orthodox faith has gradually spread. Catholics, Crescents, Jews, etc. were forced to move. In particular, Peter's Jewish decree directly destroyed most of the synagogues, and Orthodox churches rose from the ground, most of which were made of wood.

The church established two dioceses, Ruthenia and Kiev, with two archbishops in Mircea Fort and Kiev respectively responsible for local religious affairs. This was to prevent one diocese from becoming too powerful and competing for the status of Constantinople.

"By the way, we have to visit this last one in person," Balivik said to the tax officer in charge of collecting taxes in the city.

The other party naturally understood that the last person was Angel Iliescu, who had served as prime minister. After retirement, Angel began to manage the family property. He bought a lot of land in Donetsk. Although the empire had restrictions on land purchases, there were no restrictions on workshops and minerals. Therefore, Angel contracted two coal mines, a logging camp, and several caravans in the local area, earning a large amount of silver every year. Although they also paid taxes, they had to ask nicely. After all, he was a person respected by both emperors.

Today, although Angell has retired, his children are still active in politics. The eldest has become a member of the House of Lords, the second has joined the Empire Ministry of Commerce, and the youngest, the third, is engaged in family affairs and trying to expand the family business. Such experience naturally makes others rely on him for protection, and everyone is polite to him.

"In that case, then go early, or else we'll be blamed for it."

That being said, in reality, the local nobles really couldn't touch them. Although the current mayors of the empire had much more power than before, there were two semi-system officials in each city that they could not control: tax officials, whether junior or mid-level, were directly under the Imperial Ministry of Finance, under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Finance, and directly responsible to the king.

The other is a judge, who is assigned to various cities by the Imperial Supreme Court. He is not subject to interference from other people or departments in either trying cases or making judgments. The other half is a military training officer, who is assigned by the training stations of each legion and ultimately comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Local administrative heads are not allowed to interfere in military affairs, but every time a city or region organizes large-scale military training, countless people have to put down their farm work and abandon their complicated official duties, which is bound to cause some disorder in local government affairs. Both sides must coordinate to resolve it. Therefore, the training officer and the local administrative head are in a cooperative relationship, and can only be counted as half.

The two came to Angel's mansion, and the butler led them into the reception room. Because the former prime minister was nearly 80 years old, every step had to be careful. Fortunately, the other party did not say much. He had witnessed a lot in the past few decades, so he paid the tax. As long as it was paid, the royal family would continue to reuse their family one day. The old boyar's honor would not be lost.

(End of this chapter)