Under Laszlo's guidance, immigration work began to be systematically implemented in the Kingdom of Hungary.
John, the minister responsible for immigration affairs, first investigated the situation of the royal domains in the Kingdom of Hungary.
In the central region of Hungary, especially on the vast plains between the Danube River and the Tisza River, more than half of the land directly belonged to the Emperor.
However, due to a shortage of population, large tracts of land were used as public pastures, or even remained undeveloped.
In contrast, the areas near the capital Budapest and the northwestern part of the Kingdom, adjacent to Austria, were much better developed, and immigration work proceeded relatively smoothly in these regions.
After determining the destination for the immigrants, John personally led several of his subordinate officials to the southwest of the Empire.
With the connections of the Montfort family and the help of Matthias, the Governor of Outer Austria, John successfully contacted many Swabian lords.
After paying a fee, he obtained permission to recruit immigrants in certain areas.
In addition to immigrants from the Swabian region, at Laszlo's suggestion, John, with a thick skin, went to the Swiss Confederation, which had been forcibly disbanded.
After a series of negotiations, the councils of cantons like Zug and Lucerne finally agreed to John's request under pressure from Austria's trade blockade, lifting restrictions on local residents emigrating.
Soon, John led the first batch of immigrants from the shores of Lake Constance, traveling by boat to Tyrol, then by land across most of Austria to Vienna.
In Vienna, these immigrants with their families boarded boats and traveled east along the Danube River, disembarking in Hungary, where they were settled on undeveloped land chosen for them by John.
This relatively fixed route was later called the "Hungarian Road," continuously transporting German immigrants to the Hungarian region for decades to come.
These immigrants enjoyed very favorable treatment, including tax exemptions, land allocation, and even the right to use some royal resources. Except for the first few years, which would be relatively difficult, their lives afterward would be quite easy.
The officials sent by Laszlo to manage immigrant villages, communities, and towns were mostly Austrian, and they could form German communities. Although they had to abide by Hungarian law, they enjoyed certain special rights.
Regardless of whether Hungary would become another Bohemia, Laszlo now only hoped to bring in more people to develop the land of Hungary and enhance national strength.
Immigration was just one of many aspects of developing Hungary. After completely pacifying Hungary, Laszlo could finally implement policies according to his own wishes, putting Hungary on the fast track to development.
In Budapest Castle, Laszlo had just reviewed the new "Free City Charter" for cities like Budapest, Pest, and Pressburg, granting these cities autonomy and many commercial privileges.
At the end of the charter, after careful consideration, Laszlo added some clauses protecting the rights of guilds and artisans, and encouraged various handicraft industries in the cities to establish guilds.
In this era, the benefits of guilds were still very obvious.
They regulated industry production and pricing standards, improved product competitiveness, limited disorderly competition, systematized skill inheritance, and promoted technological improvement and secrecy.
These benefits were undoubtedly very advantageous for Hungarian cities currently in the nascent stage of handicraft industry.
Most of Hungary's major cities maintained autonomy, but this did not mean that Laszlo had no way to influence them.
Once this new charter was promulgated, the powerful figures in those cities would know what to do.
In addition to these clauses protecting guilds, Laszlo decided to organize more people to formulate laws for several major guilds to protect their common interests.
He needed to show an attitude, letting people know that he hoped all industries in Hungary would develop.
As for some people's requests to establish tariff barriers against certain Austrian products—like ironware—Laszlo splendidly ignored them.
Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary all had their own distinctive industries, and their markets could form a complementary relationship.
All he was doing was bringing out the strengths of all parties.
With the continued implementation of agricultural protection laws, the influx of new immigrants, and Laszlo's ongoing work to promote the three-field system and the wheeled iron plow, Hungary's grain production still had very considerable room for improvement in the future.
These clearly surplus grains had many uses. If used for export trade, areas with high grain demand, such as Austria, Bohemia, and the Balkans, could essentially absorb these grains, and also improve the living standards of the people in those countries.
The same principle applied to Austria's ironware, Bohemia's textile industry, and glass manufacturing.
Relying on the "internal circulation" of trade and Austria's convenience as a European trade hub, Laszlo could collect huge tariff revenues from it.
After handing the new charter to Ernest, the Finance Minister waiting by his side, Laszlo immediately met with Péter Hedervári, the Director of the Mining Administration.
"How has the mining industry been developing recently?"
Laszlo toyed with a seemingly ordinary piece of ore in his hand, hearing that it contained gold, but Laszlo couldn't discern it at all.
"Very smoothly, Your Majesty."
Peter was beaming with pride. He had not failed the Emperor's trust; the revenue from Hungarian mining was increasing year by year, and he had also profited handsomely from it. This was called a win-win.
"The exploitation of gold, silver, copper, and salt mines in the Slovakia and Transylvania regions is expanding year by year, and the one-third share collected by the Crown is also increasing annually.
Just last year, the number of miners in the two mining areas exceeded 30,000. Although it still cannot compare to your Tyrol mining area, it has already surpassed most mining areas across the entire continent."
"Oh? It's growing so rapidly. What about the revenue?"
According to Laszlo, the population engaged in mining at the Schwaz silver mine in Tyrol was already approaching 40,000, with an astonishing 11 tons of silver produced annually.
Most of this silver was used to mint Austrian groschen, with a total value of approximately 250,000 florins.
Each year, the Austrian government earned about 50,000 florins in fiscal revenue from minting silver coins, and a large sum of money flowed into the imperial private treasury and the pockets of the Fugger Family, who were responsible for developing the mines.
The remaining bit of profit was enough to promote the economic prosperity of Tyrol, and also allowed the miners to earn a lot, which in turn attracted more miners to Tyrol to engage in mining.
"Currently, the mining revenue of the Kingdom of Hungary has reached 150,000 florins, with gold and silver mines still accounting for the vast majority, providing a stable income of 100,000 florins annually.
After all, the entire continent is currently facing a shortage of precious metals, and you, blessed by God, control most of the gold and silver deposits.
This is the foundation of your hegemony!
In the past, the Branković family of Serbia cooperated with the Venetians, earning 50,000 florins annually by exporting gold and silver ore to the Venetians for coining.
And the Venetians, relying on Serbia's large mineral deposits, suddenly became the backbone of currency issuance across the continent. Their ducat gold coins gradually replaced the previously circulating florin gold coins, becoming the most common and widely accepted high-quality currency in international trade.
Now, the gold and silver mines of Serbia, Hungary, Austria, and Bohemia all serve the royal mints you have established in various places.
Even Venice, France, and the Ottomans are forced to use our Empire florin and Austrian groschen for transactions.
Otherwise, they would have to use inferior currencies with a lot of impurities, such as Venice's black money, or the new akçe silver coins recently issued by the Ottomans."
"Hmm? New akçe silver coins? Tell me about it."
Hearing "Ottomans," Laszlo reacted as if instinctively, immediately clutching the ore in his hand and looking curiously at the fluent mining minister.
Peter saw the Emperor's reaction and immediately smiled. As he expected, this topic indeed attracted the Emperor's attention, so the difficulty of the upcoming budget should also be significantly reduced.
"Haha, Your Majesty, you must be well aware that the Ottoman Empire constantly maintains a large army for military conquests, and the start of the Karaman expedition in the past two years has further exacerbated their already strained financial situation.
The maintenance of a large army has led to a surge in their demand for precious metals. In the past, when they controlled the gold and silver mines of Serbia, the Ottomans's economic situation was good, but times have changed, and they are facing a severe shortage of precious metals.
To sustain the massive military expenditure, Mehmed II has already carried out two rounds of silver coin debasement since the last Crusade, collecting a large amount of seigniorage to fund the war.
Just last year, before the Karaman expedition began, the Ottoman Empire conducted another major silver coin debasement. The silver content of the newly issued akçe silver coins dropped again and again, almost on par with the lowest quality privately minted currencies of the Empire's vassals under your rule.
Now, even merchants within the Ottoman Empire are unwilling to use their own Ottoman currency and prefer to use the gold and silver coins we mint. We have also profited greatly from our Eastern trade with the Ottoman as a result.
Mehmed II reaped approximately 600,000 florins in seigniorage from this silver coin debasement, using it to support the ongoing Karaman expedition.
It is with this money that Mehmed II is said to have led his army to capture Konya, the core city of Karaman.
However, the Karaman's resistance is quite fierce. Their ruler still maintains an army of over ten thousand, and there are many guerrilla units harassing the Ottomans's supply lines.
If the Ottomans cannot complete the military conquest of Karaman in the short term, their domestic economy may collapse first."
Upon hearing this, Laszlo's eyes lit up. Even a genius in internal affairs as strong as Mehmed II was now on the verge of succumbing to immense domestic pressure, which made Laszlo see an opportunity.
Perhaps, recapturing Constantinople was not a very distant goal.
However, at this stage, Laszlo still needed to make more thorough preparations, such as developing a powerful fleet capable of dominating the Mediterranean Sea, and continuing to deplete the Ottoman Empire's national strength.
"Good. What about the mining situation for other minerals besides gold and silver?"
"New policies stipulate that the extraction and sale of salt mines must obtain special royal permission. Those mine owners and merchants must pay large sums of money annually for the concession.
The Transylvania Turda salt mine controlled by the Crown also yields generous profits annually.
However, the biggest growth point in the Kingdom's mining revenue is copper ore, and this relies on the strong support of His Excellency Fugger, the Finance Minister of Austria.
With his help, wealthy merchants from Augsburg formed a united cartel, cooperating with copper mine owners in the Slovakia region to monopolize the Empire's copper mines.
They brought many experienced miners and more advanced mining equipment from Tyrol, significantly increasing copper production.
Since the copper mines of Tyrol and Slovakia were both controlled by this united cartel, they continuously raised the price of copper within the Empire, bringing a large amount of direct revenue and tariff revenue to the Kingdom's treasury."
Peter carefully observed the Emperor's expression, finding that the Emperor appeared quite calm about the matter, which further confirmed his earlier speculation.
Laszlo was actually one of the masterminds behind the monopoly of the Empire's copper mines.
Agricultural development was too slow to generate money. The best way to maintain the massive royal and military expenditures was to open mines.
Laszlo controlled a large number of gold and silver mines, but this did not satisfy him. With Fugger's help, he set his sights on copper mines.
At this time, over 90% of the copper ore in the Empire came from Tyrol, Milan, Trento, and Hungary, all regions directly or indirectly controlled by Laszlo.
Therefore, Laszlo teamed up with Fugger, brought in several wealthy Augsburg merchants who provided sponsorship, and established a united cartel, directly controlling the entire Empire's copper market.
Annually, the Austrian and Hungarian governments could each share tens of thousands of florins in profit from this, and Laszlo's private treasury could also receive a considerable dividend.
A while ago, Fugger mentioned to him the newly discovered alum deposits in the Papal States, and expressed great interest.
Alum played an important role in dyeing cloth and leather processing, but previously there were no alum mines in Europe, and all alum relied on imports from the Ottoman Empire.
The Venetians and the Ottomans partnered to monopolize all of Europe's alum, earning enormous profits from it.
Now, as soon as the alum mine in the Papal States was discovered, Pope Paul II claimed it as his own in the name of God's grace.
However, the Pope did not have sufficient funds and technology to mine alum, so he had to entrust it to merchants with strong capital to operate.
Among the several options, the declining Medici Family and the under-resourced Pazzi Family were immediately ruled out. Pope Paul II's native Venice also had no interest in developing the mine—they were still hoping to continue monopolizing the Eastern alum trade route to reap huge profits.
The only remaining entity with the ability and willingness to develop the Papal States' alum mine was the combined capital of Laszlo and Fugger.
As long as the Papal States' alum mine was extensively exploited, the Ottomans would no longer be able to profit from the alum monopoly over Europeans. Even to weaken the Ottomans, Laszlo had to support this project.
Negotiations had already been concluded by the end of last year. Laszlo even personally wrote a letter to the Pope, explaining the pros and cons and demonstrating his determination to fight against the infidels.
Paul II had a large appetite, but Laszlo, who was making money with Fugger, would definitely not lose out. The ones who would truly suffer significant losses were only the Venetians and the Ottomans.
"Your Majesty, the prospecting experts you hired recently discovered new sulfur deposits in the Szepes region, and it is likely a rich mine.
Driven by you, gunpowder weapons are rapidly developing and being promoted across the European continent, and sulfur is gradually becoming a war essential.
Previously, most of the sulfur we used was imported from Sicily, which was expensive, and the Kingdom of Aragon, which controlled the sulfur market, had a relationship with you that was... not so friendly.
If we can increase investment in mining Hungarian sulfur, not only will the army's sulfur supply be guaranteed, but we will also have the opportunity to capture the sulfur markets in the Balkans and the Empire, earning more profits."
"Alright, I'm investing in this project. Just report the required budget directly to Ernest."
Laszlo waved his hand, making the decision directly.
As an important raw material for gunpowder, it was best if sulfur could be self-sufficient.
Peter, having received the Emperor's permission, happily went to discuss the investment and development of new mineral resources with the Finance Minister.
After Peter left, Laszlo pondered over the ore for a while longer, then put away his smile and began to consider more ways to deal with the Ottomans.