At Easter, the birth of the prince was a happy event, but the momentary joy could not last a lifetime, and Constantine also prepared the next work in an orderly manner after a short period of joy.

"This matter is to be distributed throughout the country, and a new workhouse is to be opened in the city of Constantinople, named after my children, and it is to be called the Romanus Workhouse, and there must be rations every day in the city, and the money shall be taken from the Holy Treasury and not go through the treasury,"

Not only Constantine was jubilant, but the cabinet government was all smiling, and in time for such a good day, the city of Constantinople was immediately lit up with lights, and the news of the birth of the prince was publicized with great fanfare, and Constantine himself gave the name of the prince, Romanus Valleolog, which is already known to everyone, Romanus, that is, the Greek word for 'Rome'.

"Although the birth of the prince is a great joy, it is important to remember that the royal family should not waste money and money, and the royal family should organize the ceremonies, and all expenses should be allocated from the holy treasury, and taxes should not be raised without permission, so as to interfere with the lives of the people."

Seeing Constantine tell him like this, although he knew that Constantine was such a person, the admiration in everyone's hearts deepened a lot, and the heads of the six major families immediately stood up,

"We are all willing to contribute our part to the celebration of the prince, and it just so happens that the celebration of the prince can be combined with the celebration of Easter, and all this money will be paid by us."

In addition to the loyalty of the six major families, the head of the Kantakuzenoy family also generously expressed his generosity.

"I am willing to give His Royal Highness as a gift the fifty yugram field estate between Constantinople and Thessaloniki, as a sign of the sincerity of the Kantakuzenoi family and their heartfelt blessings to the prince and the empire."

Fifty yugrams, which is four thousand acres of land, and the fact that the Kantakuzenoi family was able to take out so much property casually shows that their family is rich.

Led by the Kantakuzenoi family, the other five families also followed, expressing their willingness to give up a part of the land as a fief or gift for the prince, and everyone was chattering, and the scene was very chaotic.

The cabinet ministers who watched this scene secretly communicated with each other, and they all felt that this kind of scene was very incredible, although they knew that the power of the six major families was strong, but they didn't know that it was so powerful, and the land that was casually given away was the entire family property of an ordinary big family, fifty eugrams, and it was also a wealthy family in the two river basins at that time.

Constantine was unaware of the small actions of the ministers, nodded happily to the patriarchs, and said,

"You don't know that at Easter I'm going to announce the statute for the division of the ranks of nobility,"

Constantine's words stopped the voices of the patriarchs, and now it was time for them to listen intently to Constantine's words,

"As for your family land, of course I will not take back the state, this is the ancestral property granted to you by the previous emperors, in order to reward you for the merits of your family, as an emperor, of course, I have to uphold the decisions of the previous emperors, my brother John VIII and my father Manuel II, the emperors of the Valleolog family, the emperors of the Komnenos, their decisions are in some respects I want to inherit,"

first gave these people a reassuring pill and made them secretly relax in their hearts, and then Constantine talked about what he wanted to do,

"However, now the country is in danger, it is obvious, the basis of the existence of the Roman Empire is the principle of the corresponding rights and duties of citizens, as the emperor of the Roman Empire, I naturally have the obligation to protect the citizens of Rome, but there are still many lands within the empire, they have no obligation to the empire, neither pay taxes nor provide soldiers, with more and more such lands, the burden of the empire is also getting heavier, in the time of the emperors of the Komnenos, the empire still has commercial trade to provide tax revenue for the empire, but the current situation, The Venetians and the Genoese were important rivals of the empire in maritime trade, and therefore the edicts issued by the emperors of the Komnenos granting you privileged lands were clearly out of place."

Just as the hearts of the patriarchs gradually sank, Constantine's next words made the hearts of several patriarchs doubtful,

"Therefore, in addition to your fiefdoms, other lands will be used as your family property for normal tax collection and conscription activities, and your family members will not be exempt from the obligation of military service, but on this basis, your family members can enjoy preferential treatment to a certain extent, this is the core of this title classification, you are clear?"

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, how many fiefs are there? What kind of land can be considered our fiefdom? Are our fiefdoms tax-exempt? ”

The patriarch of the Kantakuzenoi family couldn't help but ask, it was really a major matter related to the rise and fall of the family, and they didn't dare to be ambiguous.

Constantine's answer seems to be irrelevant, but it really solves the problem.

"This title is graded, divided into dukes, earls, viscounts, knights, etc., as the highest level of nobility in the empire, it is natural that as dukes, according to their respective fiefdoms, each has its own duke name, starting from the earl, the earl and above do not enjoy state subsidies, and the duke's fief is unified into one hundred yugrams, that is, there are one hundred yugrams' land exempt from taxes."

For the math, a Roman pound of gold is ninety-two ducats, and the annual income of the citizens of Constantinople is about one-sixth to a quarter of a pound of gold, that is, fifteen to twenty-three ducats per year, a donkey is about 1.5 ducats, and a sturdy bull is 2.5 ducats.

A knight's equipment, including helmets, armor, swords, scabbards, leggings, spears, shields, war horses, etc., the most basic knight cost, that is, a war horse, a sword, a suit of armor, the value of this equipment is equal to the value of twenty-four bulls, that is, sixty ducats of gold,

The output of one acre of land is about half a ducats to one ducat, so if this equipment alone needs to produce a fief in a year, a knight's fief should be between sixty and one hundred and twenty acres, that is, between 0.75 yugram and 1.5 yugrams, 33

One yugram is eighty acres of land, so one hundred yugram is eight thousand acres, fortunately, the number of dukes Constantine does not intend to be discriminate, otherwise the country's finances will have to collapse again.

"Other titles, knights are divided into two kinds, namely superior knights and inferior knights, the inferior knights enjoy the land of one eugram, the superior knights enjoy the land of one and a half eugrams, the knighthood is a lifelong title, not hereditary, and the viscount and above are hereditary titles,"

Knights are going to join the army, and it can be seen from the number of fiefs that this is the amount of money needed for a piece of equipment, and naturally some brave and good fighters are needed, and those who eat old books enter the army to destroy the combat effectiveness of the army, and these nobles must enter the army as officers, the empire only provides basic equipment, and the rest needs to be carried by the knights themselves, which is similar to the Timar system of the Ottoman Empire in history.

"Viscounts are divided into three classes, the third class viscount is the lowest, and enjoys the fief of five yugrams, the second class viscount eight yugrams, the first class viscount ten yugrams, the count is also the third class, the third count enjoys the fief of thirty yugrams, the second count enjoys the fief of fifty yugrams, and the first count enjoys the land of seventy yugrams, this is the latest aristocratic system of the empire,"

"It is worth mentioning that if the nobles above the viscount level obtain a fief for the first time, the empire will not issue the fief at one time, for example, the third-class viscount will issue a eugram fief, and the remaining four eugram lands will either be purchased from others under the watchful eye of the imperial documents, or purchased from the imperial government, based on the market price of the year, and so on."

Constantine's trick is very ingenious, people with fiefs, if they want to get all the fiefs in full, it is equivalent to paying a sum of money, which is a lot of income, which is very good for the government of Constantinople, enough to greatly increase the revenue of the treasury.

"Your Majesty, this... Isn't this a good one? If some nobles are not well-off, then they will not be able to get a real fief for the rest of their lives? Isn't this a bit inappropriate for the aristocracy?"

The Skley family asked cautiously.

"This method I proposed to Your Majesty, which is of great benefit to the Empire,"

Chavez's sudden interjection made Constantine, who was originally trying to explain, stop, and watched Chavez speak,

"The treasury is empty, Your Majesty is wise and powerful, saving the empire from danger, these years, the treasury has not only to provide for the maintenance of various holy places, such as Hagia Sophia, St. Irina's Cathedral, etc., but also the monastery of Christ on the holy mountain of Athos, the ascetics are the spiritual pillars of the people, and it is normal for the monastery to need to be repaired,"

"And with the reconstruction of the Roman road in various places, the new construction, these are all large sums of money, to hire labor, to maintain the army, to sail the navy, to train the army, the officials in various places need to pay money, the nobles need to pay allowances, these are all places where money needs to be used, and the arrears of Venice and Genoa, mainly the Italian city-states, in order to protect our reputation, we also have to pay, His Majesty Laszló is now at war with Frederick III, The Viceroyalty of Mesopotamia to the east was often harassed by Uzun Hassan and needed to be invested, and to the south it was again harassed by the Hafsian dynasty,"

"Although the envoys of Timur's monarch Abu Saeyid conveyed goodwill to us and were willing to strengthen trade, the presence of Uzun Hassan made it impossible for the Viceroyalty of Mesopotamia to be self-sufficient for the time being, and on the contrary, the expenditure on education there was also subsidized by the cabinet government, which is why the nobles needed to bear more, because the nobility was the backbone of the empire and should have some support for the current state of the empire and the changes that would take place in the empire."

Some people died, but not completely......