Road to the Crown

Chapter 278: Second Hearing

16th August 1574

"It's quite worrying to hear how you can only see an apocalypse for the commonwealth in its near future. You should try to tone it down a bit during the hearing, as it might easily scare away some of the nobles that would otherwise support you."

As the two of us stepped inside the main castle building in the entire complex, Rafael dropped one last hint before we finally moved inside the senate hall. Just like before, the primate was sitting at the regent's chair at the front, with the rows of seats on both sides filled to the last man. 

Maybe someone passed the news, or maybe others initially didn't deem this hearing to be of any importance, but today was the first day where the entire senatorial body appeared.

"Let's not make it any longer than necessary. To start things off, we received some worrying news about the set of laws you wish to introduce on your lands. Would you care to elaborate about your point of view in this matter, sir Bart?"

With how formal the opening of the discussion was, I could tell that all the sympathy that I managed to harness in the primate, was now gone. Whether or not was it due to having a private meeting with a high noble belonging to the protestant faction of the country, I couldn't change that fact.

But rather than complaining about how pitiful or hard my situation was, I preferred to shut my own whining away and focus on achieving whatever I targeted.

"Your excellency. Just like I mentioned previously, I strive to change the way of social advancement for the people. That's why, in my lands, one can either follow the rules and enjoy considerable welfare, or insist on acting as if he is above those laws, suffering from heavy taxation. I never thought that this kind of approach would stir so much resentment within just a few days of appearing, for it to be brought up during such a high-class meeting!"

As much as I knew that it would happen, bringing the problem of my new laws could only serve my own purpose. With how they were worded and set, no one could ever claim they were anti-noble, but as long as one had the ability to read between the lines, he would realise how harshly those laws of mine pounded on the social respect that nobility had.

In short words, those who would have this little brains required and enough dedication to push through the hardships would have no problem applying for the status of a citizen. Even those who couldn't afford to do so at the time could enjoy the benefit of being guests of the city. Only those who actually couldn't be bothered to aim for anything that the visitor rank, would be slapped hard with all the costs added on top to literally everything!

For the sake of argument, from what the laws depicted, selling a piece of bread to a citizen or a guest would bear only the minimum tax, allowing the baker to net an average price of two bronze coins per piece. On the other hand, selling it to a visitor would slap seven bronze coins tax on top of the costs, easily increasing its price to five folds of what it should otherwise be!

And that wasn't all! With how the visitorial tax was applied to every step required to take in order to end up with the finished product, the more complicated the product in question was, the higher its outside cost would end up being! Just like one would only pay the harsh tax twice for the cast steel, one for the mining costs and the other for the smelting one, ordering a steam engine could easily rack up the tax to reach up to five thousand percent of the price that any guests or citizen would otherwise enjoy!

"Whether a topic will appear during our meetings or not, is a matter entirely up to us, sir Mike. As for this reason, would you please be so kind as to explain whats the difference between those two I think guests and visitor ranks?"

Hitting straight to the point, the primate proved that he wasn't a regent of the king for the entire country just for show. To gather such fine details of my law arrangement right before the meeting? Just this fact alone proved that outside of being a bishop and a senator, he was a proper politician himself!

"The explanation is rather simple. Citizens are those who proved to be a loyal and valuable part of the community within my lands. One can do so in many ways, but the officially recognised achievement is buying off either a business, production or housing space within the specified lands. As long as it fulfils certain loose requirements, it will be an official proof of status, and a handy tool for the planners to manage the growth of my lands."

Stretching my back right on my chair placed in the middle of my room, I could feel the eyes of the various senators focusing on me, as they waited for me to continue with full attention focused on me.

"For the guests, everyone who has a job or frequently trades on the lands ruled over by Tarnowian land can apply for this status. Those who actively work will get the card proving their identity during the first day at work, while those frequently trading on my lands can receive it by renting a warehousing space in specified areas."

Taking a short break once again, I could see how the faces of some high nobles were tensing up, awaiting my reveal of what the last class that would most likely apply to every single one of them, meant.

"And to finish things up, there are visitors. Those who do not live on my lands governed by Tarnowian lands, those who do not work there nor make active investments. While they are welcomed within the city borders, not only will they be banned from actively buying the most recent line of promoted products, even those that are already a widespread commodity of the inner market will be sold at a premium price."

This was the general idea behind the entire system of my laws. Rather than forcing people to give up their identity for the sake of joining the prosperous community of mine, I was simply offering them a choice.

Retain your nobility but act as if it didn't exist, and you may prosper along with me. Try to throw your weight around, and you will be left behind in the dust of history!

"I have to admit That's quite a crafty way to put the matters in order. As much as it pains me, it doesn't look like we can influence your decision in any way or form then."

With how the harsh tax that I applied to every single product of mine sold to the visitors was nothing more but the standard tax rate that nobles put over the commoners working on their lands, if anyone dared to flame me for such actions, he would have to lose his own source of income first. The fact that I could freely give the low taxes for my own people steemed from the fact that rather than relying on this kind of passive income to get by, I was profiting from the sheer fact that most of the production was mine in the first place!

That's why, rather than killing the flow of energy, money and products around the city with heavy taxation, I opted to keep my focus to the innovation, always allowing me to stay at the apex of technological prowess around the world. Only in this way, and by slowly but rationally distributing the outdated tech, I could make sure that my technological supremacy would not be challenged!

After all, while others had to invest serious money and effort to replicate just a single product of mine, by the time they would be done, my lands would already introduce three new generations of said invention!

"Since that's the case, how about me move on to the next topic? If my memory serves me right, with two covered yesterday, one moved out of the way today, there should only be two more topics remaining?"

Rather than allowing the primate to steer the discussion towards the next matter at hand, I took the initiative to do it for him. This way, despite the topic changing into something entirely else, I would still maintain at least a bit of my momentum from dealing with the Tarnowian Laws!

"That's truly a good idea But I'm worried that the last two topics I would want to tackle here, are soo deeply interconnected, that we have no choice but to discuss them both at the same time. To not make you, gentleman, wait anymore, let me explain what I and several other senators and magnates have in mind."

Standing up from his simple chair, this time, his excellency didn't focus his sight on me alone, but actually moved it around the room, as if warning everyone present about the seriousness of the situation.

"The first topic, is how should we deal with the traitors? Given all the game of shadows that clouded our view before, it would be unbecoming of us if we didn't offer some sort of reparations for mister Mike as he was harmed by our biased accusations, but it also brings us to the next topic."

Suddenly stopping in place, the primate turned around, showing his back to the deserted King's throne and embracing everyone in the hall with his penetrating sight.

"How should we punish the traitors, and how should we divide the spoils of doing so."