Before Constantine XI could be completely angry, John crawled out of the purple palace.

"You've done me a good thing! A group of veterans of the garrison blocked in front of the palace and demanded that the crown prince be judged! Don't talk about the slash on Murad's head, now you've even cut off your own people? ”

"I've been told since I was a kid that you need to be strong, but also humble! Do you dare to ride on the head of the Imperial Council and the Inquisition now? Do you think the empire isn't messy enough right now? ”

"I tell you! If the garrison didn't openly rebel, then you are lucky, do you think that in Constantine Square, the armed force of nearly 10,000 people can be easily suppressed by your Phoenix Legion? ”

"Reform and reform! Are you addicted? Do you know the price and consequences behind these two words? ”

"You're going to do something to the laws of the Empire, yes, I have the power to protect you now, but when you sit on the Holy Throne yourself, you haven't thought about what the nobles who were persecuted for reforms will do to you?"

"Don't forget, how your sister took Trabzon! The bones of your eponymous brother are not yet cold! ”

"Don't mention this kind of thing to me in the future!"

"Get out!"

……

After a violent argument, all the reform plans in John's mind were put on hold for the time being.

After a whole day of thinking without eating or drinking in the Slou Gardens, John finally admitted that Constantine XI and Sophia had a better judgment of the current situation in the Empire.

Sure enough, an idiot when it comes to internal affairs......

He was too obsessed with emulating the great men of history who had changed the law and rejuvenated the country, but he didn't care much about the actual state of the empire at the moment. Even though the power of the nobility within the empire weakened and the imperial power reached an unprecedented peak due to the defections of the nobles in previous years, the political structure of the empire was still fragile due to the intertwined network of interests and the prying eyes of external forces.

Before the Ottomans were driven out of the Balkans, the logic of development like that of Florence was in fact self-defeating.

"Hoo ......"

In John's hand, a thick layer of scrapped manuscripts had been piled up. Most of them are about the loopholes in Roman law currently in force, with the interested parties behind these provisions.

The more he thought about these questions, the more John realized how naïve his conclusions were.

"Figured it out?"

I don't know if Sophia has been squatting at the door, but after hearing this deep breath, she happened to push the door and come in.

"I didn't figure it out, but I understood a lot." John spread out a stack of manuscripts, "Feudal jurisprudence, it's a strange thing. It seems that there are many holes in the law of balance, but it has not been abandoned for thousands of years. ”

Sophia smiled and sat down beside John noncommittally.

"Brother, from the very beginning, you were thinking wrong. You are the crown prince of the empire, not the leader of the merchant class. The aristocracy of the empire now had little binding power on the merchants and townspeople, and blindly strengthened and supported the merchant class and allowed them to make money...... Maybe brother, you think that the merchants are the best to control, I have to say, this idea is a bit simple. ”

"Why?" John looked up a little confused.

The opening of factories in large numbers, the encouragement of investment, and the enhancement of capital accumulation were the means used by many capitalist powers to rise to prominence. Even if the national conditions of the empire are not the same as those of other countries, capital knows no borders, and the merchants of the world are probably the same.

As long as the capital in the hands of the burghers and the merchant class was sufficient, the state income would naturally increase. Venice and Genoa, as well as many independent states on the Apennine Peninsula, were strengthened by the power of the merchant class.

"The merchant class, so to speak, is the easiest to control and the easiest to betray. In their eyes, capital is everything. As long as they are given enough benefits, they will have absolute loyalty. ”

Seeing John's affirmative expression, Sophia paused, then explained.

"But it's a pity that the appetite of this group of businessmen will never be satisfied. The more you give, the more they will demand, and in the end, the powerful merchants will demand the entire empire. I prefer the aristocracy to the merchants."

"We cannot control the process and intensity of reform...... Maximizing the Empire's benefits while suppressing the merchant class so that they don't overexpand? ”

"Your Highness, it's a pity that this kind of thinking doesn't work within the Empire."

Another person came into the room.

It's Jinqi, the treasurer from the East. It seems that she received an invitation from Sophia to take a break from the current busy affairs of the Empire.

"Jinqi...... Why? ”

"If we have to explain, we can support free trade for merchants, but we can't try to interfere with it." He saluted John and Sophia in an unskilled manner, and then said, "I have heard the princess and His majesty the emperor talk about the reforms proposed by His Highness...... It's bold and sounds good. But that's just what it sounds. ”

"Just like there are merchants, there are aristocrats, there are ordinary citizens, there is a religious class that you Westerners value very much. If His Highness wants a revolution, then there will be a rapid mass formation of factions in the country. This is very common in my home country. The palace battles also revolve around factions. ”

"And Eastern Rome is still an empire, factions, that is, things that every emperor doesn't like so much, including royalists."

"Her Royal Highness the princess also said that the faction has not appeared on a large scale in the controlled area of the empire now, because of the defection of the nobles, the prestige of the remaining nobles within the empire has been discredited, and the influence has been greatly reduced. However, with the recovery of Greece and Thrace, the expansion of the empire will be gradually unfolded, and the nobility will re-emerge within the empire. ”

"Well, reform before the nobility has that much influence...... Shouldn't it be a good choice? Within the court, there are no powerful ministers, no big nobles, and no parties, and the resistance to reform should be minimal. ”

"That is to overdraw the loyalty of the present and the nobles of the future empire. The princess also said just now that the loyalty of the nobles is much greater than that of the merchants, and if Your Majesty wants the imperial system to continue to be carried out steadily, the idea of reform must be put aside for the time being. The most important thing right now is to build up military capabilities. The speed of tax development is good, Your Highness doesn't have to worry about it......"

In fact, this has been said very tactfully. Ginghy, as the treasurer, gave a blanket denial of John's current domestic ability. At only twelve years old, John's understanding of medieval political philosophy was not as profound as that of the aborigines.

"Brother......

left the Slou Gardens with some regrets.