Marin's digression paid off, and countries quickly shifted their attention from the conflict between the Papal States and the Republic of Siena to the discussion of "tithes."

It stands to reason that after the churches of various countries collect the "tithes", they should remove the normal expenses of the local churches, and the rest should be handed over to the Holy See. However, that is only theoretical. It's like theoretically having zero friction, but in practice it's not possible.

Acts of deception and tax evasion are not unique to the East. Moreover, in this era, because of the backwardness of information, the Holy See could not confirm the amount of "tithes" to be paid by each country. In the end, the Holy See had to resort to a stupid method – to calculate the "tithes" according to the output of the acre. As for commercial income and mining income, it is impossible to calculate it specifically, and countries tacitly do not report these revenues to the Holy See. In this way, the Holy See does not collect much of the "tithes" payable on the output of the acres of land in various countries.

This is because the local church would falsely state the amount of "tithes." Obviously received 100,000 gold coins, and I will give you a quote of 10,000, what can you do?

If it is a country like the German Bishop's State, because the position of the bishop needs to be confirmed by the Holy See, it has to be more intersected. And those sovereign countries are not so polite. The bishops of sovereign states are often nominated by each country itself, and then go through a process and are confirmed by the Holy See. In this way, the bishop of a sovereign state is clearly on the side of the monarch of each country. Then, when the bishops supported by these monarchs came to power, they also shared the benefits of the "tithes" to the monarchs. Of course, these spoils will never be seen in the annals of history, but quietly put into the monarch's own pocket, unaware.

Generally speaking, those who can be recommended as bishops are often the children of noble families, and often the non-eldest sons of large noble families.

Such bishops, after taking power, tend to pay great attention to the protection and expansion of family interests. For an aristocratic family, in addition to money, titles and fiefs are probably the most important pursuits. And in many cases, titles and fiefs are often more important than money.

Therefore, after a bishop takes office, he will often use the greedy "tithe" to secretly trade with the king. For example, to expand the fief of the noble family where the bishop belongs, and even to raise the title. This includes nephews who have no right of inheritance and even illegitimate children who are given fiefs and titles to bishops. The king took out the title and fief, and the bishop took out the greedy "tithe", and the two sides made an equal transaction, and they were all happy......

The only thing that doesn't rejoice is probably the Holy See. Because, their interests are ignored. However, the Holy See could not help it. Because, the Holy See cannot casually tear its face with a sovereign country because of the issue of money. It was only during the time of the Crusades that the "tithes" of the countries were paid in full. In normal times, it is normal to give discounts to the Holy See. According to an article that Marin had read in his previous life, during the Crusades, the Pope set a standard of "tithe" for England at 20,300 pounds sterling (1291 standard) per year, or 30,450 marks of silver. France and Germany have more populations and arable land than England, and the tithes are naturally much higher. However, it is only when something as big as the Crusades happens, that the nations come together. At other times, they would find all sorts of excuses to pay most of the tithes they had paid and pay only a small portion to the Holy See. Without a "holy war" such as the Crusades, there is no reason for the Holy See to force the Churches of all countries to surrender. If you don't fight, why do you want so much money?

In normal years, it is common for the Church to bribe the corresponding heads of the cardinals in an effort to pay as few tithes as possible. In the end, what fell into the Holy See's treasury was basically the meaning of the meaning......

Siena is a sovereign state, and it was a republic that deprived the bishop of his rule as early as 1167. Despite its proximity to Rome, the Republic of Siena was very contemptuous of the Holy See. In addition to not being interested in the Church, the Holy See has always been inadequate, which is also an important reason why Siena dares to be presumptuous.

As a commercial republic, 250,000 "tithes" are definitely not all there is to the Republic of Siena. It should be pointed out that in this era, the big aristocrats generally did not pay "tithes", and basically ordinary people paid them. Moreover, the standard for the collection of "tithes" is mostly calculated according to the area of cultivated land. Only those craftsmen with little background would be unlucky enough to be included in the "tithe" collection like the peasants.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the Holy See. Even if the annual "tithe" of the Republic of Siena is 250,000 gold coins, the Republic of Siena will also give the Holy See a few thousand gold coins every year. If you encounter a bad year, simply don't pay it.

Frankly speaking, Siena is right next to Rome, and its approach is so arrogant, it is very slap in the face of the Holy See. Successive popes were very unhappy with Siena, a disobedient state in front of them, but the Papal States were never strong militarily, and the terrain of Siena was very steep and difficult to attack. Therefore, successive popes have endured. Only Julius II, the "God of War Pope", has great ambitions, hoping to use Marin's hand to remove Siena, the "thorn in the eye" of the Holy See.

……

As time passed, the autumn harvest began to draw to a close. There was a great deal of joy all over Europe, not only for the peasants, but also for the nobles. Because, the autumn harvest is the most abundant time of the year for these nobles. It is said that in the early Middle Ages, because everyone was very poor, even the king would lead a large army to the fiefs of various nobles after the autumn harvest, and fight the autumn wind in the name of "inspection", and take hundreds of thousands of people under his command to eat and drink in the noble territory...... Of course, a nobleman can't afford to eat and drink like this. Therefore, at that time, the king would take turns with his army to eat in the territories of various nobles. Some of the poorer lords were directly eaten......

Of course, that was during the dark ages of the early Middle Ages. Now that Europe is relatively developed, the king will not do shameful things such as eating and drinking. The early lords would wage war over a few boxes of bees, all of them poor......

At this harvest season, the explosive news came from Austria that Maximilian I had decided to lead a large army "into Rome" and seek to be officially crowned emperor......

But at the same time, Maximilian I swore that he would lead a large army into Rome, and there was absolutely no disrespect to the Pope. As for the reason...... It is said that he was afraid that the Swiss mercenaries would ambush him halfway......

Although this argument is very nonsense, it is not without a little truth. After all, the Habsburg army is currently engaged in a tug-of-war with the Swiss Resistance in central Switzerland. Those Swiss mercenaries who sought independence must have been eager to kill the "tyrant" of Maximilian I. At the very least, they would be much like capturing Maximilian I and then blackmailing the Habsburg army out of Switzerland...... And the Swiss mercenaries are so strong in combat......

Therefore, it also makes sense that Maximilian I accompanied the army for protection. The only thing that doesn't make sense is that Maximilian I actually took 20,000 troops with him......