eastern european eagle

Chapter 614 The Crown Prince's Human Geography Lesson (I)

These suggestions were naturally adopted. Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the empire launched a major conquest to the east.

As the crown prince, Alexander was responsible for all national affairs, and all military, intelligence, and supplies needed to be reviewed by him. Batista assisted him as the prime minister.

"Your Highness, this is the basic situation of our country, including population, territory, diplomacy, taxation, and military. These factors constitute the basic situation of the empire."

Alexander felt a headache as he looked at the pile of documents in front of him. But he still picked up the first one to look at, which was the population of the empire.

As of now, the total population of the Empire is 1550 million. This is the number of people currently registered, and the Georgia region has not yet been registered, and it is estimated that there will be nearly one million people.

The Balkans and Anatolia account for more than 80% of the population, followed by the Apennines and Ukraine, and finally Syria. Most people are farmers who own their own land for cultivation, pay taxes to the government every year, and perform military service when necessary.

At this time, most areas had already switched to monetary taxes, and tenant farmers also paid monetary rents, which enhanced the empire's commerce and trade. A large amount of agricultural products were sold through the market, and the industrial and commercial departments established by the government were responsible for maintaining stable food prices and preventing them from fluctuating.

Most people speak Romanian and believe in the Orthodox Church. Others either believe in the Orthodox Church and speak other languages, or vice versa. There are not many people who believe in Crescent Moon Christianity or Buddhism, and they can be ignored.

At this time, there were already some Oriental people in Constantinople, all of whom came here to make money. Some of them converted to Orthodoxy, but most of them maintained their original beliefs.

"Your Highness, the lives of our subjects are much better now than they were ten years ago. Their prosperity has increased the government's revenue, and industry and commerce have also been boosted."

Batista handed the chapter on fiscal revenue to Alexander. The annual revenue of 700 million gold lei was enough to cover the government's annual expenditure. Although industry and commerce had developed, agricultural taxes still accounted for more than half of the revenue.

"Our trade with the East is of utmost importance. The income from trade accounts for one-fifth of the fiscal revenue. The canal from Egypt naturally needs to be protected."

At this time, the trade in the East was completely controlled by Romania. Whether it was on the sea or in the grassland, it had to go through Rome or Russia. The excavation of the canal made this waterway the only circulation point for merchant ships, and many ships came every year. In order to ensure safety, the empire also set up strongholds along the way to protect the safety of the trade route. The most important of these was India, which was governed by the East India Company.

The East India Company established more than 50 strongholds and fortresses in mainland India, with Bengal as the main ruling area, and was responsible for exhausting the local resources. Under such circumstances, the East India Company recognized the administrative power of the local rulers, and the company had the privilege of "Diwan" (financial management). In this system, the princes were nominally in charge of the government, but because the local finances were controlled by the East India Company, their income was often not even enough to cover their daily expenses, let alone resist it.

Among the administrative officials of the East India Company, the most important were the tax collectors. They were not only responsible for taxation but also for administrative and judicial affairs. In addition, the company also set up magistrates and police stations to maintain social order.

A few years ago, the emperor began to separate the commercial and government functions of the East India Company. Peter divided the company's employees into two categories: commercial employees and administrative employees. One person could not have two jobs at the same time. Administrative employees became officials, responsible for taxation, justice, and administration, and were promoted step by step according to their qualifications. Employees signed a contract with the company, so it was also called the "contractual civil service system." Company employees were not allowed to use administrative power to engage in commercial trade, and acts of extortion that undermined the fairness and freedom of trade were prohibited; administrative employees were not allowed to accept gifts from anyone; people engaged in taxation and judicial work and those engaged in company trade were prohibited from engaging in private trade.

Due to the vast territory of India, the East India Company knew that it would be difficult to effectively rule India on its own. Therefore, after conquering India, the East India Company created two forms of rule: directly owned colonies and indirectly ruled dependent states. The company directly ruled and established provinces in these areas; the other was a dependent state, called the "Indian princely state", which was indirectly ruled by the company through resident officials. The company adopted the method of colluding with the princes and nobles of the Indian princely states, using India's own power to implement violent rule over India, and collecting taxes on behalf of Indian landlords to achieve the goal of permanent occupation.

The economic benefits gained from India brought Rome a lot of benefits. A large amount of spices and textiles were transported, and local taxes were also paid. In addition to the East Asian trade, Rome and a group of merchants made huge profits. The safety of the waterway must be guaranteed at all costs.

Another direction of Rome's colonization was Africa. The prince of the Kingdom of Abyssinia came to visit with an embassy, ​​and the two sides got along very well. Trade continued to expand.

As a result, Andronikos Port broke through the upper limit of farming and became mainly engaged in business and trade. The local population also quickly exceeded 4000, becoming an important trading city.

Due to geographical factors, Africa has not had a mature political regime since the desert south, and most people live in tribal form. Although Romania tried to avoid conflicts with indigenous tribes, they repeatedly went deep into the interior of Africa and in the process of establishing trade points, they had hundreds of battles with local indigenous peoples.

With the advantage of equipment, there were few direct casualties in direct battles. However, due to the complexity of geographical warfare, many soldiers were ambushed by natives or attacked by large animals, and eventually died without effective treatment. After many colonial troops launched attacks to eliminate hostile native tribes, the empire gradually established small castles along the Blue Nile and White Nile that combined trade and military control.

Small castles were usually built with their backs against the main river channel. Each trading point was stationed with thirty soldiers and about twenty black servants. They used the weapons and supplies transported by the fleet to maintain the safety of the waterways near the trading points and implemented a deterrent policy against the nearby indigenous peoples.

At this time, Romania had built fifteen small castles in the upper reaches of the Nile. Through interconnected trade points, the colonial army established a tight grid chessboard in the vast inland. When any hat point on the chessboard was attacked by indigenous forces, the neighboring soldiers could quickly arrive at the battle site by boat and attack the attacking indigenous forces. In this way, Romania could firmly control the upper reaches of the Nile.

(End of this chapter)