Chapter 58 Economic and Cultural Development of the Principality

Walachia was winning victory after victory in the front, and was also developing slowly in the rear.

Through the Hanseatic League, the United Principalities began to grow grapes and raise sheep. Rural handicrafts also developed to a certain extent, and the export of silk, honey, beeswax, and linen surged. Tariffs also gradually increased.

Of course, there is another policy that the Grand Duke, the Senate, and Peter jointly promoted, that is, to encourage childbirth.

Population has always been regarded as the most important national resource, and it is born together with agriculture. The larger the scale of agricultural production, the stronger the national strength. Large-scale agricultural production requires a large amount of labor to maintain, and the size of the population is also directly related to the country's taxation and military service. Population is the foundation of a country and an important symbol of whether a country is strong or not. Therefore, whether it is an Eastern country or a Western country, the rulers all regard the value-added population as the core work of stabilizing their rule.

Grand Duke Mircea ordered two years ago that a woman who gave birth to three children would be exempted from her taxes. There will be certain rewards for four to five children.

In Constanta, the first hospital was also established, which was managed by religious personnel. It is used to protect newborns and mothers and avoid various postpartum diseases.

By encouraging childbirth, it is not only to increase manpower and agriculture, but also to continue to expand the main ethnic groups in the country. The fate of Austria-Hungary cannot happen.

Some craftsmen from northern Italy and the Holy Roman Empire came to the principality, and some foreign communities began to appear. Including Bohemians, Germans, Poles, and Armenians.

Industries such as glass and ceramics have developed from scratch, which has added impetus to the principality's foreign trade. Domestic merchant groups have begun to be active in Poland, Hungary and other countries.

The most jealous among them are Venice and Genoa. These two maritime powers can't wait to swallow this place. Especially Genoa, since the failure of asking for land, it has been a bit harsh on them in trade.

Peter also expected it early, and responded by cultivating domestic merchants and opening up the northern trade route. At the same time, Dobruja became a pilot site for various reforms. Who made the lord so powerful?

On the issue of peasants, Peter promoted the policy of combining taxes and labor, integrating labor into taxes, and then the government would hire people to do the work with money.

This approach can increase the enthusiasm of farmers and promote the development of commodity economy. At the same time, Constanta's trade exchanges became closer, making taxes more inclined towards industrial and commercial taxes.

But the situation in each place was different, so the Senate implemented different policies for each place. The well-developed places promoted monetary rent, and the poor places mainly relied on in-kind rent. The Grand Duke also tried his best to reduce the duration of corvée to give civilians more time to have children.

For serfs, Mircea finally compromised with the boyars. Serfs could pay to redeem themselves, or they could get freedom through the "kindness" of the lord, but if they wanted to continue to cultivate the land, they had to pay rent to the lord.

Compared with other countries, this was already very tolerant. Looking eastward, during the period from the decline of the Principality of Kiev to the rise of the Principality of Moscow, foreign invasions, civil wars, droughts, epidemics and other disasters occurred frequently, which deepened the peasants' dependence on the landlords and the landlords' bondage to the peasants. Gradually, the peasants had only one opportunity to leave their masters and go out every year, around St. George's Day in late autumn. Of course, the premise for this was that their debts had been paid.

The extortion of the Mongols further aggravated the poverty of the Russian economy. As Liubavsky said: "A huge parasite parasitizes the body of the people of Northeast Russia; it sucks nutrients from the body, consumes his physical strength for a long time, and creates chaos in his body from time to time." In addition to the impact of Mongolian conquest and extortion, the Black Death also arrived in northeastern Russia in the mid-14th century and broke out again and again in the next hundred years. The population of Russia suffered heavy losses.

Economic development also requires corresponding superstructures and laws. Mircea divided the country into 28 provinces. Senior officials were appointed by the Grand Duke and were loyal to the Grand Duke.

During the absence of the Grand Duke, the Senate was responsible for the daily affairs of the country. Of course, all the orders of the Grand Duke had to be carried out.

Peter was naturally responsible for business and trade. In order to support the reform, he handed over all the tariffs of the four ports. This touched Mircea very much.

Peter's power was second only to the Grand Duke. In order to increase income, he began to monopolize salt. At the same time, he was the only boyar who could produce and trade salt, and the profit was very large.

For the vast majority of the people, agriculture was the center of their economic life. Rye, wheat, oats, barley and millet constituted the basic crops. Agricultural technology was similar to that of Eastern Europe. Agricultural tools included wooden plows, iron plows, rakes, long-handled scythes and sickles. In addition, raising cattle, growing vegetables, hunting, fish farming, beekeeping and more specialized crops such as flax cultivation were also important farm work.

Business developed faster than agriculture. The principality exported agricultural products and handicrafts, imported luxury goods, and with other taxes, it was still acceptable.

As for culture, although the art, literature and architecture of the principality developed rapidly, they were still inferior to those of Western Europe and Constantinople.

As for the cathedral of the new capital, the design has not yet been finalized. Because the design drawings are still in the planning stage, the capital cannot be sloppy, but now it is a war period, so we will wait until it is over.

Some cultural people basically come from the Constanta Academy. They compile the stories passed down by word of mouth by the people into books, and then spread them to various places through bards. The Constanta Library is the largest library in the area, with the largest collection of books.

Under the joint promotion of various folk authors and writers, various literary forms have developed, and humorous poems, fables, poetic stories, verse chronicles, travel notes, farces, satirical essays and other literary themes have become popular. Some sorted folk tales and fairy tales, historical works, stories that promote ethics and morality, and stories that describe anecdotes from all over the world are popular among scholars and ordinary people.

As for fine arts, they generally follow the Byzantine tradition, while also developing and retaining their own characteristics. There are three common types of paintings in the Middle Ages, namely murals, icons and illustrations. Frescoes are generally painted on the interior walls and vaults of churches, and some are painted on the exterior walls; icons are generally painted on the wooden panels between the altar and the nave; illustrations often appear in religious manuscripts and documents in the form of decorative patterns, and sometimes can also be seen in books other than religious works.