"How is there still more?" Several impetuous nobles among the attendees secretly groaned in their hearts.
However, they did not show it directly, even though Manuel on the stage would very aptly ignore their opinions if they voiced them loudly.
Looking at the meeting, which at least on the surface showed no objections, Manuel braced himself mentally and, pretending to have taken a sip of water, loudly read out the remaining important contents of the Bosporus Code:
Regarding tax law, Manuel officially extended the series of tax systems he had established in Theodosia during his time as Crown Prince to the entire country, and stipulated a more specific scale for tax collectors and exaktors.
But to show his benevolence, he specifically ordered at the meeting, "Although the new tax law will come into effect tomorrow, considering the pressure on all social strata, the tax rate will be specially reduced by nearly 20% in the second half of this year to encourage the citizens of the Autocratic State to familiarize themselves with the new tax system."
It was a transitional period; this would give him more reason to deal with tax evasion in the future.
Regarding weights and measures, Bosporus still adopted the previously common set of standards.
However, what was different was that from today onwards, only this set of weights and measures would be officially allowed for use, while other folk weights and measures that had been more or less popular were formally abolished.
At least in the official statistics of taxation and real estate, they would no longer serve as reference.
From today onwards, all related circulating documents and archives must also actively abandon previous folk units of measurement to serve as a unified standard.
For example, in terms of length units, from today onwards, the length units of Bosporus will only be officially allowed to use the classic East Rome system based on the Greek foot.
In terms of education, Manuel, as Caesar, would publicly fund the establishment of nearly ten public schools, which would include not only common church schools but also more advanced ones.
Although compulsory education in the Middle Ages was too far ahead of its time, encouraging its promotion was still achievable.
One should know that even in places like the North Black Sea coast, which was previously a place for exiling political prisoners, the Roman tradition of valuing law and literature still spread there.
The only drawback was—
"The money will naturally come from the Autocratic State, and I will not increase related taxes because of this.
After the schools are built, two of them will not charge tuition fees, and I, as Caesar, will vigorously support this endeavor." Manuel specifically added this sentence, not only reassuring a small number of anxious attending nobles but also causing many attendees present to re-evaluate their perception of him, with some even looking at him with new eyes.
Because in Roman tradition, education in literature, law, and theology was highly valued by the people.
This trend even permeated the lower classes; it is said that in Constantinople, even old farmers could debate a few words with Catholic priests from Western Europe on theological matters.
However, when Manuel said this, his heart was practically bleeding, "Oh, my money! My military expenses!"
But to promote a bureaucratic government, he had to start planning ahead.
During the Principality of Theodoro, due to dire economic conditions, education in the Principality had always been in an awkward position; only nobles could receive relatively good education, and church schools were basically nonexistent because the local orthodox Church did not have many ducats and did not receive the favor of the rulers.
Now Bosporus had a little money, and to promote education and cultivate future bureaucrats, this money was worth spending!
By the way, some people always think that establishing public education will inevitably lead to opposition between the authorities and the nobility.
This is truly overthinking; although Manuel did intend to slightly reduce the proportion of nobles in the future government through this, he also knew very well that as long as there was no compulsory education, then unless there was special promotion by the monarch himself, important positions would still be held by nobles.
But so what? He also did not want to resolutely stand against the nobles, after all, wasn't the royal family also noble?
After confirming everyone's support, Manuel smiled and moved on to the topic of immigration.
Since the "re-baptism movement" in North Tauris would continue until the end of the year, the number of Tatars who originally lived there would inevitably decrease significantly.
At this point, the necessity of encouraging immigration became apparent.
When mentioning this aspect, Manuel quickly noticed that the attendees on the field all fell silent.
Thinking about it carefully, it was true; although North Tauris was one of the most fertile regions for the nomadic Tatars, for peoples of the Greek cultural sphere, apart from the areas north of the Tauris Mountains and around the Isthmus, other areas were simply wasteland.
Who would actively go to wasteland without any profit, except for landless poor peasants and serfs?
Manuel had long foreseen this.
So, like other Christian countries in Europe that encouraged immigration and colonization, he promulgated several laws beneficial to immigrants: newly cultivated land would be tax-exempt for five years; serfs who actively fled to North Tauris could directly regain their free status; nobles who actively moved there and made meritorious developments would have their titles upgraded as appropriate, and so on.
And among these, he also included a personal clause: the laws for moving there and reclaiming land also applied to foreign serfs and farmers, with those who spoke greek and Goth being given priority to become citizens of Bosporus.
It was self-evident which countries this was aimed at.
At this point, Manuel suddenly chuckled, directly changed the subject, and unexpectedly announced in public the final judgment on several noble families who had previously been deeply involved in the civil war, "The five major noble families who were deeply involved in the civil war, and also supported the rebels and provided military and financial resources, although according to the new laws of the Code, they should be unforgivable, I, as Caesar, am still magnanimous.
Here, I will only strip them of one rank of nobility and transfer their properties and lands to North Tauris, allowing them to retain their noble treatment."
"Isn't this just exile?" many of the attending nobles muttered in their hearts.
They were not unaware of how desolate North Tauris was now after the great purge.
Even so, none of them felt anything was amiss; this treatment both removed the rebels from the center and gave them sufficient face, and for Manuel, whom they saw as a centralizing fanatic, his approach could be said to be quite gentle and elegant.
Looking at the unopposed attendees, Manuel smiled with satisfaction in his heart.
Finally, Manuel brought up the military reforms that had already been decided upon.
Roughly as previously stated, the military system he established during his time in Theodosia was officially implemented nationwide.
Among them, the Filaka was expanded to 1,000 men, divided into four legions; the former "City Defense Force" was restored to its old name and renamed the Grand Company (μεγάλα ἀλλάγια; megalaallagia), and expanded to four thousand men; conscripted militias remained as before, except that ordinary citizens in the directly governed cities of the Autocratic State were obligated to participate in less than a day of military training with compensation each month.
As for innovations in equipment and weapons, that was not a matter for this meeting.
Afterwards, there were also the establishments of a few new departments, which Manuel simply announced all at once at the meeting.
These also passed without objection, after all, the meeting was now just a rubber stamp, to be used wherever needed.
The meeting did not officially conclude until that afternoon, but this was already more than enough.
Many of the attendees felt extremely dizzy from the new code promulgated by Manuel and its accompanying new laws and systems; the amount of information in this meeting was simply too great.
The only thing they could be sure of was that the Autocratic State should truly be centralized.
"Caesar is truly energetic in this regard.
I hope his actions are correct." After leaving the meeting, an old noble quietly sighed in a voice that others could not hear clearly.