Affairs in Italy were slowly progressing, and Laszlo once again focused his attention on the development of his territory.
First was the Hungary region. He came to Budapest and convened a Hungarian Parliament to hear about the situation in various parts of Hungary and...
Debate with the Hungarian nobles.
According to Laszlo's plan, the number of Hungarian troops was being reduced year by year.
Currently, the mobile forces of the Hungarian Border Guard, after removing the garrisons in border fortresses, have been reduced from 30,000 to around 20,000, with an equal number of cavalry and infantry.
This army was jointly supported by the finances of Hungary, Croatia, and Bosnia.
As the pressure from the Ottoman had been largely relieved, if Hungary's military expenditure continued to remain above the 60% red line, it would likely lead to the Kingdom's bankruptcy.
To this end, Laszlo had repeatedly summoned large numbers of Hungarian cavalry during various wars. After these cavalry suffered losses, he only issued pensions and did not fill the vacancies, gradually weakening the strength of the Hungarian army.
The exploitation of this army had caused Hungary's development to stagnate for a long time.
Therefore, reducing the army while lightening taxes, easing the burden on the people within the Hungarian royal domains, and promoting long-term development were necessary measures.
To fill the financial gap caused by tax reductions, Laszlo attempted to monopolize strategic resources such as salt mines and gold and silver mines within the Kingdom of Hungary,
thereby increasing the royal income.
Trade barriers between the various territories of the dynasty were gradually weakening as the rule strengthened.
The reform of the administrative system was also slowly progressing. By absorbing East Roman remnants and selecting outstanding officials from among the minor nobles to hold important positions, Laszlo was gradually weakening the nobles' control over local administration.
In addition, the Court of the Kingdom of Hungary, modeled after the Court of the Empire, began to directly handle major cases within the Kingdom, breaking the nobles' monopoly on judicial power.
This series of measures caused many Hungarian nobles to panic. Their power was constantly eroding, and a new conspiracy was brewing.
However, Laszlo was still not satisfied. To completely control Hungary, the most important thing was, of course, to abolish the golden bull of 1222.
Its contents included: confirming noble territories as hereditary property, exempting nobles and the church from taxes, allowing local nobles to elect officials below the county level,
nobles could not be forced to fight outside the national borders;
the King must convene a Parliament once a year, and all nobles could freely participate;
if the King did not fulfill his promises, nobles had the right to resist without punishment, and so on.
This edict directly elevated the power of the Hungarian nobles to an unprecedented height. For over two hundred years, there had been almost no monarch who had successfully suppressed the Hungarian nobles again through overwhelming strength.
Albrecht II, in order to contend with the great Hungarian nobles, could only promote lower-ranking nobles into the center of power on one hand, and continuously draw resources from Austria to expand his strength on the other.
He achieved temporary success. The royal power in Hungary did indeed recover to a certain extent, but there was still a long way to go to completely overpower the Hungarian nobles.
After confirming that the situation in Hungary was not a major problem, Laszlo quickly returned to Vienna.
Bulgaria was too far away; he could only learn about its development through the monthly reports of the royal bailiffs. The situation in Italy now required his constant attention, so the visit to Bulgaria could only be postponed.
With the development of silver mines and the increase in the territory's population, Austria's income was steadily rising, but the problem of military shortage became increasingly apparent.
The four standing armies were not enough to support Laszlo's ambitions, and the reduction of the Hungarian army exacerbated this problem.
"Your Majesty, more troops?"
When Jacob was granted a private audience with Laszlo and arrived at Hofburg Palace, the Emperor informed the Financial Director of this idea.
Laszlo affirmed with a serious expression: "I need more troops."
Jacob said with some helplessness: "If you want to organize another new army, while it won't cause financial collapse, it will undoubtedly bring a huge financial burden."
"I plan to expand my personal guards to 3,000 men, with the expansion consisting of one musketeer squadron and three mixed infantry squadrons. Is this feasible?"
Jacob immediately began to calculate. If the equipment for the pikemen and arquebusiers were all provided by the Emperor, then only a lower salary would be needed to recruit some impoverished soldiers, so the cost would not be high.
Only greatswordsmen, due to the difficulty of training and undertaking the most dangerous tasks, would certainly have high recruitment costs and salaries. However, if the number was not too large, it would not generate too much expense.
"As you said, the recruitment cost for expanding the army should be around 50,000 florins, but the Empire needs to supply the equipment, such as arquebuses, pikes, and armor. The arsenal in Tyrol may still have insufficient production capacity."
Hearing Jacob's words, Laszlo began to ponder. To save the cost of military expansion, the simplest method was to expand the production of the arsenal. The arsenal in Tyrol seemed unable to fill the equipment gap of the Imperial Army.
Where else would be suitable for establishing an arsenal? The name of the Graz Armory suddenly appeared in Laszlo's mind.
In the original world, Graz established an armory over a hundred years later and became one of Austria's important arms production bases due to its iron ore.
In later generations, it became the largest historical military museum of the medieval era in the world. At its peak, it had a vast reserve of armaments sufficient to equip 28,000 people.
"Is it feasible to build another arsenal in Graz?"
"This..." Jacob was first stunned, then began to consider the Emperor's question.
"Graz has many excellent blacksmiths who possess the technology to manufacture large cannons, and there are iron mines near Graz, so it is indeed a suitable location and can save a lot of investment."
"Good, then invest in establishing an armory in Graz to manufacture and store armor and weapons here. As for military expansion... first recruit soldiers within the Empire, and then issue weapons after training is complete. For greatswordsmen, still recruit experienced mercenaries; their combat effectiveness is trustworthy. I will later have the Imperial Military Council provide a clear budget. When you review it, be careful and pay attention to cost control."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Oh, also, Aeneas's previous proposal regarding the expansion of Vienna University and the establishment of a Faculty of Literature and Arts, as well as the proposal to send people to Mainz to learn printing technology and establish a printing workshop in Austria, I think both are very good and funds can be allocated to the Imperial Chancellery."
"Your Majesty, for the expansion of Vienna University, we can try to seek sponsorship from citizens and nobles, just like when we rebuilt Prague University previously. At that time, we received large sums of funding by restoring the privileges of German students. This time, we can also seek broader funding,
to alleviate the financial burden."
"A good idea, approved."
After the conversation, various government departments continued to operate in an orderly manner according to the Emperor's decree.
Laszlo began to prepare for the reception of Renaissance ideas. Sponsoring art and introducing printing were key steps.
In fact, he quite wanted to establish another Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in addition to Vienna University, but considering the cost, this proposal was dissuaded by the Privy Council meeting.
Later, Aeneas suggested adding a Faculty of Literature and Arts to Vienna University, in addition to the existing Faculties of Philosophy, Law, Theology, and Medicine. This suggestion was reasonable.
In addition, Laszlo also wanted to introduce some Italian architects and artists to carry out some Renaissance-style renovations to Hofburg Palace, and add some frescoes.
However, currently, those great artists he knew were still young children, or some were not even born yet, so he temporarily abandoned this idea.
Another major purpose of establishing an art academy was to attract artists from various places, especially Italy, to settle in Vienna, while also cultivating local artists, allowing the spring breeze of humanism to blow into Austria, a land firmly bound by religion.
While gradually promoting humanism, he also had to find ways to avoid direct conflict with traditional scholastic philosophy. Laszlo did not need to worry about these matters for now.
He himself tended towards cultural conservatism, weakening the influence of the Church but not necessarily completely breaking with it. The ultimate goal was, of course, to initiate the secularization process early, but all of this required the accumulation of time.