Having shaken off the war and his sons, Laszlo's pace on his return journey became much lighter.
In Innsbruck, the legions stationed in Venetia bid farewell to the Emperor alongside Maximilian and headed for Northern Italy; meanwhile, Laszlo received two encyclicals from the Cardinal of Trento.
According to the terms negotiated with Bernhard before they parted, Laszlo had ceded the right to appoint clergy in two dioceses of Provence to the Pope. In return, Bernhard quickly settled the College of Cardinals and issued two consecutive papal bulls.
The first decree was concise: Pope Benedict XIII reaffirmed the right of the Archduke of Austria to nominate bishops for the dioceses of Trento, Brixen, Gurk, Trieste, Chur, Pettau, Vienna New City, and Vienna—a right previously confirmed by Nicholas V in 1447, Callixtus III in 1456, Pius II in 1459, and Paul II in 1469.
Although the effectiveness of this edict had been limited to the Emperor before Paul II, through a small textual modification, control over the Austrian church had now fallen entirely into the hands of the Archduke, rather than being restricted solely to the Emperor.
The bishops of Trento, Brixen, and Chur, who originally held seats in the Imperial Diet as ecclesiastical princes, finally fell completely under Laszlo's control.
Trento had long been dependent on Austria, and Brixen was controlled by Laszlo after Pius II became Pope. Only the Bishop of Chur, the sole high-ranking cleric in the Swiss region, had maintained a high degree of independence. However, once this decree spread through Austria, it wouldn't be long before the Three Leagues of Graubünden, centered around Chur, would be firmly grasped by Laszlo.
Those Swiss people would not have any chance to turn the tide.
In a wonderful mood, Laszlo opened the second decree.
This one was even more extraordinary. Its formal title was the 'Encyclical of Imperial Nomination.'
Broadly, it stated that to repay the Emperor for his assistance in opposing the heretical papacy, the Pope granted the Emperor the right to nominate three hundred ecclesiastical benefices within the Holy Roman Empire.
This nomination right covered two categories: those requiring pastoral duties and those that did not. it involved the clergy of the Order of Saint George and the Teutonic Order, high-ranking positions in the Imperial Church, eligibility for benefices, and church administrative bodies and officials.
The encyclical was issued in triplicate, sent respectively to the Emperor, the Archbishop of Mainz, and the Archbishop of Vienna.
It might seem complicated, but it's easier to understand if viewed as a check.
It was equivalent to the Pope giving the Emperor a check worth three hundred ecclesiastical posts. Within this scope, should a vacancy occur in the Empire's grassroots clergy, the Emperor could bypass the Pope and directly nominate a successor.
While high-ranking positions like Imperial Bishops or Grand Masters of Orders could not be decided by the Emperor alone, positions such as parish priests, members of knightly monastic Orders, monastery chaplains or even abbots, and administrative roles in dioceses could be selected by the Emperor himself.
The only restriction was that the appointment of clergy required review by the Archbishop of Mainz and the Archbishop of Vienna.
This was practically no restriction at all.
With this encyclical, Laszlo could stuff his confidants into the service of various ecclesiastical princes throughout the Empire at will. If anyone resisted, he would have a reason to take action.
Although this authority could not compare to the numerous Imperial Prince-level ecclesiastical posts acquired by families like the Wittelsbachs through painstaking effort and financial influence, it allowed his influence to gradually spread across the entire Empire.
To better utilize this check issued by the Pope, Laszlo immediately ordered people to collect and organize information on potential clerical vacancies within the Empire.
This was undoubtedly a heavy task, but the church's information network was relatively well-developed, and Laszlo temporarily limited the scope to the South German region, so the obstacles were not as great as imagined.
Once the Archbishop of Mainz arrived in Vienna with the Imperial Privy Council, Laszlo could dispatch clergy loyal to the Emperor to dioceses throughout the Empire.
To say he would control every diocese in the Empire was a bit of an exaggeration, but as a reward for his court advisors, granting them an ecclesiastical stipend for nothing would save Laszlo a lot of expenses.
These ecclesiastical posts could also be used to win over princes. After all, which family didn't have a few children in need of placement?
Just like this time, after conquering Dauphiné, noble sons were selected from the families of Imperial Princes to manage church lands in the French-speaking areas.
Laszlo was very satisfied with the returns obtained from the church.
However, for a war whose purpose was to stir up the situation and scavenge for resources, the bulk of the final harvest lay in the spoils of war.
It was basically impossible to get much return from the lands of Dauphiné in the short term. At most, it would serve as a self-governing military border region, continuously applying pressure on Provence.
Chambéry, the hub connecting Dauphiné and Milan, was returned during the negotiations between Laszlo and Charles, but the armies of Austria and its vassal states gained permanent military transit rights through the nearby mountain passes.
In this way, if an unexpected situation arose in Dauphiné, Franche-Comté could send aid directly through Dijon to Lyon, while the Duchy of Milan could cross the mountains from Turin via Chambéry to the heart of Dauphiné to reinforce.
With double insurance, the Rhône River as a barrier, and a garrison organized locally by the Independent Army and the Count of Fürstenberg, it was almost foolproof.
Once the Black Death gradually faded, the Imperial Army would head south to strip Provence of its lands. When the sea route was opened, controlling the Rhône Valley would be much easier.
Besides securing a large fief for Christopher, the Emperor-in-waiting, the loyalist faction within the Empire and the armies of Austria and its vassal states, which had contributed much in this war, also received significant rewards.
Land grants were one aspect, but the harvest of wealth was also not to be underestimated.
France truly lived up to its name of being prosperous; the Paris Basin and the Rhône Valley were places where wealth converged.
Previously, Laszlo only knew from history that Louis XI had once bought off the Swiss with large sums of money to serve him, and used a bribe of two hundred thousand florins plus an annual tribute of over a hundred thousand florins to dissuade the English reinforcements Charles had brought, even drinking merrily arm-in-arm with Charles's 'good ally' Edward IV in Paris.
Ultimately, Charles, known for his wealth, poured all his money into a new army that seemed strong but was actually fragile. Meanwhile, the equally wealthy Louis XI spent vast amounts on diplomatic activities. Although this led to consecutive defeats for the French Army during his reign, he eventually stumbled his way to the standard ending of destroying Burgundy.
Now, Laszlo had a more direct sense of the wealth of Louis XI and France.
After leaving Paris, whether it was the Imperial Army or the Burgundian army, the soldiers' footsteps were heavy, but the men themselves seemed to be floating.
Many soldiers who yearned to make a fortune through war fulfilled their wishes in Paris, looting a great deal of wealth, and the southern army also reaped a bountiful harvest in Avignon.
As the supreme commander of the army, Laszlo split the wealth of Paris with Charles, which greatly enriched his private treasury.
Even after allocating a portion to the Empire to appease the princes and leaving another portion as pension funds to stabilize the army and the people, over a hundred thousand florins remained.
Besides money, among the many physical spoils of war, the numerous books captured from the University of Paris library were the most precious.
During the development of past years, Laszlo's library in the Hofburg Palace had successively received ancient texts collected from various Italian states and was expanded by the private collection of Bessarion, the Patriarch of Constantinople. With precious books collected from the East and within the Empire, its scale had now become the largest in Europe.
The Vatican Library, which Paul II had only formally begun building a few years ago, was not even worth mentioning compared to Laszlo's collection.
Furthermore, Laszlo attached great importance to the spread of printing technology. Centered in Vienna, the number of printing houses and books in Hungary, throughout the Empire, and in the Italian regions was rapidly increasing.
In places like Prague and Budapest, the governments of vassal states also built royal libraries, and more private libraries were springing up like bamboo shoots after rain, showing a strong trend of replacing monastery libraries that had lasted for nearly a thousand years.
Universities and the church were direct beneficiaries of the new technology. Laszlo made a small profit by investing in printing houses, and the expansion of universities brought him more potential officials with excellent qualifications.
Both to satisfy his desire for collecting and to further develop culture and education, Laszlo ordered the collection of the University of Paris to be completely swept clean.
As for whether French cultural development would suffer any blow because of this looting, what did that have to do with Laszlo?
One must know that the professors at the University of Paris, in Order to argue for Louis XI and prove the legitimacy of the pragmatic sanction of bourges, had come up with so-called Gallicanism, allowing France to stride forward on the path toward absolutism.
To prevent this group of smooth-talkers from continuing to delude the French people, Laszlo had uprooted the very foundations of the University of Paris this time.
After throwing France into a complete mess, he also 'brushed off his clothes and left, hiding his achievement and name.'
Once this turmoil broke out, it wouldn't be so simple to settle it. Lasting a few years would be enough for the French people to suffer, let alone that Laszlo intended for this chaos to continue indefinitely.
Next, it would depend on whether the two Kings Charles of France and Burgundy were capable enough.
If even together they couldn't defeat one Louis XI, Laszlo would just have to trouble himself and the people of the Empire a bit more.
While Laszlo was still traveling, a banquet was held in Nuremberg, at the center of the Empire, to celebrate his victory.
Three Electors, gathered for various reasons, were now clinking glasses, celebrating the triumphant return of Elector Albrecht (Achilles) of Brandenburg and the Imperial Army.
However, unlike the smug Elector of Brandenburg or the rarely relaxed Archbishop of Mainz, Elector Ernst of Saxony was in a very bad mood.
'Archbishop, are you taking the Imperial Privy Council to the remote eastern border again?'
'Yes, the Emperor has returned to the Empire, so imperial affairs should be left to His Majesty's decision.' Adolf looked at Ernst with some confusion.
Wasn't this a matter of course?
'Then what about my lawsuit with the Halle City Council?'
'His Majesty has already given instructions. John, the Abbot of Magdeburg Monastery, will establish a committee and a court to make a ruling.'
'But this matter was already reported to the court in Nuremberg during the New Year. It was dragged out until March, and now the ball is being kicked around again. When will it finally be resolved?' Ernst asked, somewhat frantic.
'Well... once the Imperial Treasury allocates funds to John to establish the court, your dispute can be resolved.'
'And when will the Treasury allocate the funds?'
'When the treasurers have finished their review and approval.'
'And when will that be?'
'Well...' Adolf held his wine glass and shook his head helplessly.
Albrecht, watching from the side, almost couldn't help but laugh.
This Ernst also had a good temperament; as the Governor of the Upper Saxony Circle, he was driven to distraction by a New Year's market in Halle.
Although a governor possessed many powers such as convening circle diets and executing imperial resolutions, he was ultimately restricted by imperial law and could not do as he pleased.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this dispute a legacy issue; in reality, it was a conflict that arose because of money.
Halle was very close to Leipzig, a key town in the Elector of Saxony's territory. Ernst was devoted to internal development and committed to growing the Saxon economy, striving to build Leipzig into the economic center of the Upper Saxony Circle.
However, Halle's New Year's market clearly took away a portion of the trade that should have belonged to the Leipzig market, leading to a loss of commercial interests for Saxony.
To make matters worse, the Halle City Council had dug up a privilege charter of questionable authenticity, allegedly granted by Emperor Sigismund, and maintained the market despite the Elector's pressure.
The conflict thus erupted.
Thinking of this, Albrecht, who was originally quite amused, suddenly felt the wine in his mouth lose its flavor.
Saxony had fertile land, rich minerals, and prosperous trade. His Brandenburg... there was really no comparison.
'This matter cannot be delayed any longer. Do you have any way to help me?' Ernst asked the Imperial Chancellor sincerely.
'There are only two paths. Either you fully cooperate with the Emperor's decision to build the Imperial Court of Upper Saxony in Magdeburg, or you go to Vienna. I think you should know how to persuade the Emperor to stand on your side.'
Adolf didn't spell it out; anyway, as Electors, they all understood how things worked.
They would blackmail the Emperor during an electoral meeting, and blackmail him when the Empire faced a crisis. In normal times like this... they were often the ones being blackmailed.
Especially now, when the threat of the Ottomans was almost forgotten by the world and France had recently suffered a great disaster, the Emperor would certainly not be soft-handed in taking up imperial affairs.
If the matter reached the Emperor, then either the Leipzig or the Halle market would definitely be banned, while the other side could develop its commerce without hindrance.
Ernst hesitated for a moment but decided to make a trip to Vienna.
His House of Wettin had shed blood for the Emperor and contributed effort to the Empire!
Surely the Emperor would eventually make a wise choice.