However, Manuel still felt a lot of warmth in his heart and became even more resolute in his beliefs. Though, apart from a softer smile, no change in his inner thoughts was visible on his face.
They continued their lively conversation, and as they spoke, Barbara suddenly brought up an Eastern philosophy: "Speaking of which, it seems there's a saying among the Eastern heathens that people have an afterlife. How absurd! When a person dies, they either go to heaven or hell; where would an afterlife come from? Manuel, what do you think?"
Manuel nearly choked on the water he had just drunk. He coughed a few times before answering, "How would I know? I'm a Christian. Speaking of which, supposing, just supposing, mind you," Manuel changed the subject, "if people had a past life, what do you think yours would be?"
"Hmm, let me think." Barbara pondered carefully, and after a moment, she smiled very confidently, "Then wouldn't I be an angel under the Archangel?"
"I can't believe you're so narcissistic…" Manuel muttered to himself, but his expression remained normal. At this point, Barbara asked in return, "And you, my dear Little husband?"
"Me?" Manuel recalled his past life: a freshman who died, a Russian language student, a fanatical Romanophile, a player of Swedish strategy games, a fan of moe anime, a watcher of old shows, a player of gacha games, and a revisitor of classic political dramas… In short, a complete waste of space.
For the sake of his image, Manuel could only give a mysterious smile and say, "Hehe, I don't know."
"How cunning! I understand now, you just wanted to trick me into talking, didn't you?"
"Ah, not at all, not at all…"
The two continued to bicker like this for a while longer before separating to their respective rooms to sleep.
On the third day, Manuel once again gathered with economic officials in the palace to organize Theodosia's various tax laws.
Although Theodosia was a predominantly Eastern Orthodox city, due to its long period under Genoese rule, its tax system conformed more to the traditions of the commercial Republics of Northern Italy, differing significantly from the taxation system promoted by Theodore for many years. Manuel was not particularly concerned about this; to him, tax laws only differed in whether they were applicable or not.
As an aside, it's worth mentioning the current land ownership distribution in Theodosia. During the Genoese colonial period, most of the land was concentrated in the hands of Genoa and its Liguria nobility. Although there were Eastern Orthodox landowners, their land and numbers were not extensive. After Theodore captured the city, he took advantage of the state of war and the chaotic situation to seize the land of Catholic landowners and nobles. Afterwards, to stabilize the populace and fulfill his promises, Alexius first granted some land to the new nobles he personally ennobled and to the Mangup nobles who firmly supported the operation. Later, with the end of the war, more land was allocated to those who had rendered meritorious service as part of the rewards. Currently, excluding undeveloped wasteland, Manuel can directly control 3/4 of Theodosia's land, while other lords and nobles hold the remaining 1/4.
Although most of the land was concentrated in the hands of Manuel and the Gavras Family behind him, which was sufficient for him to use this advantageous financial and military power to absolutely crush any dissenters, he himself was still not entirely satisfied. In Manuel's view, the old feudal economy and tax system could not support the demands of his various future plans.
The first issue before him was the old chestnut of the tithe. To clarify, the tithe is a general term for a type of tax, including but not limited to the Great Tithe, primarily levied on grain, the Small Tithe, primarily on fruits and dairy products, and tithes on monetary income, among others. Although under the many years of operation by the Princes of Theodoro, no successive Patriarchs of Cherson stationed in Mangup dared to be disobedient, and the Church's influence under the rule of the Gavras Family was exceedingly docile, the people on the Principality's land still bore a significant religious contribution. Of course, according to Roman tradition, the orthodox Church still had to dutifully pay taxes, so the taxes the Principality collected less from the populace could still be somewhat recuperated from the Church. Thus, it was previously business as usual, and everyone pretended nothing had happened.
However, Theodosia under Genoese rule did not have such a tradition. The orthodox Church was easy to handle; Theodore had already forced many Catholic monasteries to reorganize into orthodox ones last year, which can be said to have brought abundant gains to the orthodox organizations here. As long as His Highness the Prince ordered Patriarch Orophin to write a letter to the Church organizations here, combining grace and power, even if they wished to disobey, heavy cavalry could legitimately be stationed within the monasteries. But the Roman Catholic Church was a bit troublesome. They had previously been forced to reorganize most Catholic monasteries under the orthodox Church, and those Catholic priests probably hated them to death now. Moreover, the Kaffa diocese was vast, stretching from Varna in Bulgaria to Sarai in the east-west direction, and from the Black Sea to Ruthenia in the north-south. Although it was only a subordinate of the Genoa Archdiocese and basically had no predominantly Catholic areas within its jurisdiction, its influence was still not to be underestimated.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't difficult to deal with. The simplest way was to directly suppress the disobedient with heavy cavalry, banish the troublemakers to the Kerch Isthmus, or, once Yuzhne Prison was built, send the ringleaders there for "all-inclusive room and board." But Manuel himself, more or less, wanted to save face. He also had no intention of falling out with the Catholic Church; the fewer enemies, the better. Moreover, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Venetians might use such rash behavior to reprimand him or even the Principality of Theodoro, which Manuel was unwilling to see.
As for why such a problem needed to be addressed, besides collecting money from the Church, another reason was that if the common people paid too much money to the Church, paying taxes to the Principality would undoubtedly be a heavier burden, which might lead to widespread public discontent. And he prided himself on being a gentle ruler; while not benevolent, he was not cruel, and ensuring that ordinary people could produce peacefully was, in his eyes, a matter of course. But the total tax revenue could not be reduced, so the Church would have to be asked to generously contribute to Theodoro.
"How can we make the Catholic Church dutifully pay taxes, and at the same time, persuade both Church factions to willingly abolish some tithe categories?" Manuel was troubled by this question.
"Pardon me for speaking frankly, Your Highness, I have an immature idea." Hearing His Highness the Crown Prince's complaint, Isaac Arno tentatively leaned forward, attempting to offer a suggestion.
"Tell me."
"In my humble opinion, we can acknowledge the legitimate status of the Catholic Church in Theodosia, allow Catholics to live normally instead of being in a gray area as before, and promise to build monasteries for them. After all, Genoa ruled for so many years, and there are still some Catholics in this city, so a softer approach would be better. Of course, secretly, they must absolutely not be allowed to engage in missionary work. As the public authority, we have a myriad of reasons to declare their missionary activities illegal."
"As for the previous reorganization of monasteries, why not try to say it was because there were not many Catholics in the city, and doing so was conducive to increasing revenue and cutting expenses? If the Bishop of the Kaffa Diocese tries to hold us accountable, just push all the responsibility onto His Highness the Prince, stating that it has nothing to do with Your Highness. Then, Your Highness can adopt an attitude of religious tolerance and appease them. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"Are you suggesting I push all the responsibility onto my father? I am only the Crown Prince of the Principality; is this in accordance with the Bible? What if Venice breaks the alliance?"
"Your Highness, His Highness the Prince's actions in confiscating Catholic Church lands are already bad enough for the Catholic Church. Anyway, their reputation is already at rock bottom, so any change will be an improvement. As for Venice, it is weak in the Black Sea and will not make trouble for such a trivial reason. Besides, they have done many impious things, such as in 1204, so one or two more won't make a difference."
"What if the Bishop of the Catholic Church is a stubborn person?"
"A bishop who can navigate the complex situation in the Black Sea is no fool. When communicating with them, send a few fully armed heavy infantrymen along, saying it's for friendly exchange and harmonious coexistence. They should understand your meaning then."
"Brilliant."