Chapter 254: Revolution 5

Chapter 254: Revolution 5

< 254. Revolution 5 >

The triumphant Senate widely announced the bill they had created to the citizens in the Forum Romanum.

They believed that they had stopped Marcus from stepping down with their efforts.

In fact, Marcus seemed to be more interested in various things than politics lately.

Anyway, the citizens welcomed the Senates decision wholeheartedly this time.

Actually, their cheers were directed to Caesar and Marcus, not the Senate, but the senators were satisfied nonetheless.

Caesar and Marcus decided to take turns in handling the state affairs, alternating every month like the traditional consuls.

On his first day of taking charge of the administration, Marcus announced a major overhaul of Romes governance.

I will carry out various reforms in accordance with your wishes, who trust me. The current administrative capacity of Rome is insufficient to rule over the enlarged state.

Will you increase the number of consuls?

Of course, I am considering that as well, but I also intend to place several bureaucrats under the consuls. The consuls will set up the big picture, and the bureaucrats below them will handle the practical matters.

The Senate did not actively agree or disagree.

Instead, many of the nobles who had served as censors or praetors recently expressed their support.

The administration and judiciary of Rome were becoming more complex day by day, and the burden on the consuls was too heavy.

We just ask that you do not reduce the authority of the consuls.

The Senates condition was that they did not want their rights to be infringed.

Marcus said that he had intended to do so from the beginning and immediately proposed a reform bill.

This was not just about filling up the administrative bureaucrats.

It was a radical reform that completely revamped Romes governing system.FOlloow newest stories at no(v)el/bi/n(.)com

It was based on Augustuss administrative reorganization in the original history, which Marcus had appropriately modified.

The first thing that passed was a reform bill for the provinces.

Currently, almost all of the provinces were under the direct control of Marcus and Caesar, leaving no room for the Senate to do anything.

Marcus took out a considerable number of provinces and gave them back as senatorial provinces.

The governor of a senatorial province had the authority delegated by the Senate as before.

However, there were no legions stationed in these provinces.

Marcus had deliberately chosen provinces that did not need legions to be stationed there.

The provinces that fell into this category were Sicily and Sardinia islands, Narbonensis which corresponded to modern southern France, Achaia which corresponded to southern Greece, Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, and North Africa and Numidia provinces.

They were areas that had no risk of being invaded by outsiders and did not need standing armies.

And even the governors of these senatorial provinces were under the supervision of Marcus and Caesar.

A typical example was that Marcus had the right to request the dismissal of any provincial governor to the Senate at any time.

The rest of the provinces were directly ruled by Marcus and Caesar as before.

They appointed and dismissed the governors as they pleased.

And at least one legion was stationed in each province and followed the orders of their superiors.

In other words, the governor of a province was only responsible for the administration of the province, not a ruler.

The legitimate rulers of these provinces were still Marcus and Caesar.

Still, the Senate welcomed and accepted this reform bill with open arms.

Compared to their current state where they could not do anything, it was better to have some provinces where they could appoint governors.

Marcus also added a legal guard unit and stationed it in Rome and Antioch.

This was not something he suggested first.

It was something he started after receiving a request from the Senate to prevent any unpleasant incidents like assassination from happening again.

It was because they had completely taken over the Red Sea, Arabia, and Persia.

Marcus went one step further and invested in building large ocean-going ships.

He invited excellent designers from all over the country and asked them to build ocean-going ships that could sail across oceans instead of galleys.

Of course, since he could obtain basic designs or concepts with his own abilities, the progress was incredibly fast.

As long as Marcus ruled it seemed like Rome would have no problem with money.

But all he had done so far was spending money, not earning it.

It was easy to spend money lavishly and abuse policies, but if there was not enough income to match it, it was inevitable that finance would collapse.

He knew very well that a huge amount of funds had been exhausted by fighting the Hunnic War.

Moreover, Rome had a better welfare system for its citizens than any medieval country.

All kinds of free entertainment facilities and free grain support for the poor class, road maintenance and administration, defense system overhaul.

All this was money.

If he had not increased his treasury by various financial reforms until now, he would not have been able to dream of such reforms.

The problem was that there was no guarantee that it would continue to run well even after Marcus died.

Even if someone sat on top of him, he needed to set up various safety devices to prevent financial collapse.

To collect taxes, a reliable census must follow first.

Marcus conducted a large-scale census by referring to Augustuss method.

At the same time, he completely revamped his weak tax system.

Romes tax system operated on the principle of collecting widely and shallowly.

But this method was prone to degenerate into collecting narrowly and shallowly at any moment.

Roman citizens only paid manumission tax and inheritance tax as direct taxes, and luxury tax, customs, and consumption tax as indirect taxes.

The provincials also paid only a tenth of their income as provincial tax, which was not much different.

The number of Roman citizens would only increase in the future, and the proportion of provincials would decrease.

In other words, there were fewer places where taxes could come out, and not many places where they could increase.

To overcome this, he had no choice but to collect direct taxes from citizens.

But if he collected taxes that he had not collected before, he would face tremendous tax resistance.

Marcus decided to solve this slowly.

He had enough money to worry about until he died anyway.

So he made tax reform a lifelong project and improved it over decades.

If I take 5% of the tax, but the income increases by more than 30%, they will gladly pay. I have to set it up like this.

There were still many ways to increase peoples productivity.

He could use bait such as the introduction of new crops, more advanced farming methods, and seedling methods to make them pay taxes little by little, minimizing resistance.

He had been working on building the foundation of the new empire for over a year, but reality was harder than he thought.

He barely achieved 70% of his initial goal, let alone completion.

I made such a big noise to Brutus, but I dont know if I can make a proper system by the time I die.

Marcuss eyes darkened as he looked at the mountain of paperwork that seemed to be three times more than when he was a provincial governor.

But there was nothing that would change by crying.

Marcus regained his composure and searched through the pile of documents classified as diplomacy, calling the bureaucrats.

Next up is Han Empire I dont know about anything else, but I cant leave these guys alone.

A mischievous smile appeared on Marcuss face, which had been soaked with annoyance.

It was like enjoying the misfortune of someone he hated.

< 254. Revolution 5 > End