" Eric, it's hard for me to believe what happened to me. "Is all this - a reality?
"My dear, what is it that prevents you from believing? "
- Six years ago I lay, gathered on the ground, torn, half-naked, thrown by all, and a crowd of peasants mocked me, beaten and wanted to drown in a village pond. This terrible cesspool, which was covered almost entirely by a floating goose litter. And now I'm lying on soft cushions in the imperial palace of Constantinople, the servants before me bow and honorably call the princess. Yes, although I am of a royal kind, but life has so much worn me about the bottom that I did not even dream about it.
- And I, running away from my native castle in a rusty chain mail and fleeing from my own uncle, that he wanted to die, could I think that in just six years I'll rise so high?
- Yes, everything flows, everything changes. It is good that we are not yet very much in front of ordinary people. But recently they sat in a cesspool with everyone.
- I think we will not go, not from that test. Although sometimes it seems to me that the diamonds have become shallow. And anyway, I should add my golden coats to my camisole, or I look like a poor relative to Alexei. - With a perfectly serious face, said the prince. Morrigan, almost suppressed by wine, pushed Erik lightly over her shoulder and laughed, so gulky that von Lenzburg, although he was serious, could not stand it and laughed too.
"By the way, remember, then, six years ago, did you propose to make fun of my brother? "
"Send him a letter, informing us about our marriage? "
- Are not you afraid to lose your beloved brother? He after all such happiness can not go through.
"I think I'll be just glad to hear such heartbreaking news. "
" Then I just have to do you such a favor. "Especially since I have sheets of blank paper with me.
In the last days of December 1202 Eric von Lenzburg was promoted to princely dignity by the hand of Emperor Alexis III Angel. He rolled out to the people, as usual, wine and snacks. We walked for a few days, but it's time to do business, because the principality is in a very neglected state. You always need to start with an understanding of what you want, so on the ship on the way to Bospor the prince began to work out the state structure of his power, that is, an assessment of what is and what is needed. So, the question of the state system. The various republican forms of government are ineffective and not sufficiently dynamic, so the choice was only from one form or another of the monarchy. After long meditations, he opted for the British form of government of the time of the famous Queen Victoria, of course, in a form adjusted to current realities. For the ordering of the right to inherit the throne, cognitive primogeniture was introduced. Under this terrible phrase, a rather simple explanation was placed: the throne passed directly to the senior descendant of the ruling monarch, regardless of whether he was a masculine or a female descendant. If it turned out that a man and a woman had equal rights to the throne, then the man received the advantage of sex. No boyars' thoughts or parliaments were to be introduced. For the first time in the Middle Ages, the prince organized a branch government, that is, he introduced seven of his assistants who are engaged in the development of given sectors in the state. All these seven people headed secretariats - finance, crafts and trade, agriculture, state security, the armed forces, education and science, as well as diplomatic relations. The Secretary of State had the right to very limited staff and a wide range of responsibilities. To conduct a variety of correspondence and accounting, Latin is introduced as a state language, Arabic numerals and a decimal system of counting. The problem arose with units of measures, so it was decided to bring the system to mind on the go. In other words, Erik scored on this question, finding an excuse for himself. A special problem arose in connection with the need to create an apparatus of officials who would manage certain objects and directly conduct business. The problem is complex, because, firstly, they will communicate against each other, and secondly, they will steal. Donations should be transferred to the State Security Council, where they established the procedure for their reception, more precisely, their registration for further production. They could now be done only by name, that is, by signing, since in the event of slander, the deceiver was punished. First poroli, and on the third libel - executed. But for the right denunciation was rewarded, and it is very tangible. The problem of theft was also solved quite simply. Since the officials were few, their work was paid very solidly. True, together with impressive sums, they bore no lesser responsibility, and not only the official, but his entire family, was subjected to a number of the most dangerous crimes of execution. There were no qualified guys to take from nowhere, so Eric solved the problem of personnel hunger, making a selection of poor teenagers, mostly orphans, who were placed in a closed boarding house where they studied far from other people. By the end of 1203 people from the poor had taken a number of positions instead of executed officials. The situation was frighteningly rotten, because he specifically adhered to the executions of most of the initially typed bureaucratic apparatus in order to have time to prepare new ones, so it was impossible to delay the training of personnel.
Since the state with the feudal organization principle is rather loose, then a mechanism of gradual independent centralization, that is, extension of the basic domain to the whole territory of the state, is needed. Of course - the principality will expand, and grow, including vassals. You could, of course, include all the lands in the domain, but this will not work right away, since people's minds are not yet ready for this. In the end, we get the effect of delayed camber. Yes, while he is alive, everything will be fine, but as soon as he dies - his conquests will again become either traditionally feudal education, or close to this state. If at all, it does not split into several independent states. It was necessary to change the institute into something new, which would allow changing its social niche and the field of activity of the feudal lords. After much torment, the idea of changing the character of the lyre was born. Why was he given to the feudal lord? It is true that in order to be able to feed and arm with it, it was the main source of income in peacetime, and not only, since wars are not always successful. To receive more funds and, accordingly, more opportunities, each individual feudal lord sought to increase his personal domain. I want to make a reservation right away that vassals were necessary and important in the military-political plan rather than the economic one. Such a nature of cases was caused by numerous internal strife and wars, which deprived the state of stability, slowed down the pace of development and often led to the destruction of the single economic space. If you do not take into account the specifics of the regions and speak roughly, then the size of the lena was directly related to its profitability, therefore, it became a stumbling block. Hence the conclusion - you need to change the character of the child, it should become a kind of social status, and not a profitable place. In Eric's situation, the situation was simple-neither the nobles nor the feudal lords of the Bosporan principality existed yet, they had to be created by him himself, in order to occupy an empty niche, and not abandon the business. Accordingly, the lilies have not yet been issued to anyone. So, special problems with the formation of a system of small status lenas, that is, places for the construction of either a small castle or a residence, should not arise. Now the source of income. It is simple - public service, which is very well paid. As in the case of the army, a small number of highly paid specialists was placed on the table, since the title and position were hereditary, which served as an incentive for effective management. Few of this, the growing offspring of a noble family already from childhood knew what he would do, but because he was preparing. The next pleasant moment was that since the incomes were now associated with the title, position and flax, the feudal strife for "bread with caviar" is simply transferred to a place where they are not so ruinous for the country and are more easily suppressed. It turned out some kind of a transitional form from feudalism to state capitalism, when there is a privileged class, but it is under full control and on a "short leash. " Among other things, the entire state apparatus was vitally interested in expanding the domain, because it directly depended not only on their incomes, but also on the opportunity to attach the child to a warm place.
