Only a few months after returning to Vienna, Laszlo had to embark on a new journey.
To the subjects of the Empire, it seemed as if they had returned to the era of the Empire's founding hundreds of years ago, when powerful emperors would tour the entire Empire with a vast court to ensure their control over it.
From Magdeburg to the Rhine River, from Swabia to Italy, there were traces left by successive monarchs of the Empire everywhere—some were magnificent palaces, others were ruins of battlefields. It was the emperor's responsibility to make the entire Empire prostrate at his feet through prestige and military might.
Hundreds of years later, imperial power had long since declined, and emperors no longer needed to tour everywhere—or rather, current conditions no longer supported them doing so.
As the independence of the princes gradually increased, many imperial castles and temporary palaces scattered throughout the Empire were seized by the princes, with only a few prosperous Free Cities retaining the right for the emperor to use their ancient palaces due to frequently hosting the emperor and the Imperial Diet.
In the past, whenever the emperor's court traveled to a place, the local princes had to bear most of the expenses of the imperial court, which directly led to widespread complaints from the populace wherever the emperor toured, and the princes also did not welcome the emperor's arrival.
After Frederick II, the emperor's tours gradually evolved into armed parades within the Empire.
On one hand, this was to ensure their own safety; after all, Emperor Albrecht I of the Habsburg Family was assassinated by his nephew in a conspiracy while touring his Swabia territory due to a lack of vigilance, and later emperors did not dare to relax even when inspecting their own territories.
On the other hand, it was to demonstrate the emperor's strength, sometimes even with specific military objectives, such as several elected emperors who led armies to Milan, where they engaged in fierce wars with the locals, just to be crowned in Rome—a considerable number of them ultimately failed to achieve their goal.
It was already a great concession for the princes to allow the emperor to pass through their territories with his court and army; asking them to bear more expenses was not a simple matter.
For this reason, each of Laszlo's imperial tours consumed a great deal of money and resources, and sometimes unexpected situations would arise.
At such times, the role of the Imperial Diet and the Privy Council would become apparent.
The Diet could allocate a portion of the collected imperial taxes to support the emperor, while the Privy Council, through communication and negotiation with the various regions, ensured that the princes willingly bore part of the emperor's expenses.
Even so, this trip still made Laszlo uneasy.
Nuremberg, Regensburg, and even Frankfurt, where he often visited in the past, were not particularly far from Austria proper, and he had strong influence there.
This time, he was going to Aachen, a distant place he had not visited since his coronation as King of the Romans.
Aachen's location was delicate, situated between Liège, controlled by the Burgundians, and the Archbishops of Cologne's ecclesiastical territory, with whom he had a terrible relationship. It lay between the Westphalia region and the Rhenish Electorate in the northwest of the Empire, a corner rarely touched by his imperial power.
Such corners, besides Westphalia, included Lower Saxony. The status of these two regions within the Empire could be said to be very awkward.
In fact, before he clearly delineated the various regions of the Empire through the Imperial Diet, people's understanding of the Empire had become blurred to an extremely exaggerated degree.
A merchant from Lübeck once wrote in his travel diary, "Traveling from Hamburg, Stettin, or even Leipzig to Cologne, Nuremberg, or Augsburg is a journey into the Empire."
Due to the ruling centers of the Luxembourg Dynasty, the Wittelsbach Dynasty, and the Habsburg Dynasty all being in the central and southern parts of the Empire, or even in Hungary outside the Empire, many people at this time considered North German to have been expelled from the Empire.
Among these, Upper Saxony, which had two Electors and was adjacent to Bohemia, was still relatively well off.
Later, Laszlo's deal with the King of Denmark unexpectedly established the fact that the northern border of the Empire was Schleswig and Holstein.
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Thus, Lower Saxony was also established, and the remaining pile of ecclesiastical princes near the Low Countries and the several indistinct political entities mixed in between were jumbled together, forming the last piece of the imperial puzzle, namely Westphalia.
The central and southern parts of the Empire are now deeply influenced by Laszlo, which goes without saying. In Upper Saxony, there is the Duke of Pomerania who is loyal to Laszlo, and the Kingdom of Bohemia nearby facilitates influence. In Lower Saxony, he mainly maintains communication with the King of Denmark and the Hanseatic League to maintain a thin influence.
Only in the Westphalia region, his greatest influence probably still relies on Charles. His son married Charles's daughter, and the local princes were all dismayed and even angry about this.
His deepest connection was with the Archbishop of Cologne, located in Westphalia but belonging to the Rhenish Electorate. Unfortunately, their relationship had reached the point of
No matter how you look at it, the gradual deepening of imperial reforms actually defined the scope of his nominal imperial control and expanded and deepened imperial rule both generally and locally.
With reforms having progressed this far, Laszlo consequently developed more interest in Westphalia, a region he had been unable to intervene in—primarily focusing on the Archbishop of Cologne.
On a small road in the Styrian mountains, the vast touring entourage slowly advanced.
Archbishop Adolf, unable to bear the jolting of the carriage, could only lift the curtain to observe the Styrian countryside in midsummer.
A quiet town nestled on a distant mountainside, with sparse forests beyond its walls.
Farmers grazed sheep on alpine meadows or sought flat land among the hillsides and forests, cultivating it into precious farmland.
From a distance, it looked like an idyllic utopia.
Most mountain villages or manors were like this; their geographical disadvantages made their lives harder than people in other regions, but at the same time, it shielded them from many misfortunes.
Thanks to the emperor's might, Austria proper had not suffered foreign invasion for decades.
However, the obstruction of the Alps foothills meant that the power of the Styrian nobles, entrenched in their valley castles, remained as solid as a rock.
It is said that when the emperor was campaigning in France, a dozen or so nobles from this area conspired to cause trouble, but because they quickly yielded, they ultimately only received symbolic punishments.
Thinking of this, the Archbishop turned to look at the emperor sitting opposite him, only to find him lost in thought, pondering who knows what.
"Your Majesty, are you worried about this trip?"
Laszlo shook his head, denying it.
From a security perspective, many of the princely territories traversed along the way belonged to his political allies, including Baden, Mainz, and Trier. Only in the Palatinate and Cologne was there a need to worry about accidents, and even that possibility was very low.
However, one could not be too sure, as not long ago, the former Elector Palatine Frederick I fell seriously ill in his place of soft imprisonment in Vienna.
Although he eventually survived with the doctors' treatment, his body became much weaker than before, and at just under fifty years old, he had to spend most of his day in bed.
Laszlo himself, with a clear conscience, informed the members of the Wittelsbach Family, but what others thought was beyond Laszlo's control.
He had no need to harm a defeated opponent; after all, even Mehmed II and his son had received his lenient treatment, and this time they were even able to accompany him to Aachen.
Just imagining a living Ottoman Sultan appearing at his son's coronation ceremony as King of the Romans made Laszlo feel very excited.
He did not intend to take Frederick I's life, but it was hard to say whether the Count Palatine of the Rhine and the Archbishop of Cologne would overthink it. Fortunately, he had accompanying Imperial Knights and his Imperial Guard for protection, and the Imperial Guard was also accompanying him, so accidents were unlikely.
From an economic perspective, he indeed had to spend a large sum of money for this tour, but the patronage from the princes and the imperial government could offset some expenses, and the gifts from the princes received at the coronation ceremony would also allow him to recoup a significant amount, possibly even making a profit.
Therefore, there was nothing to worry about regarding the trip to Aachen. What he was thinking about at this moment was how to use this opportunity to intervene in the affairs of the Westphalia region, and incidentally, see if he could find a chance to depose the Archbishop of Cologne from the Wittelsbach Family.
He had long been displeased with that fellow, who not only always used his distance from the emperor to oppose him in the Imperial Diet, but also recently seemed to have instigated the North German princes to unite and resist his rule.
Although these were just rumors, they were enough to alarm Laszlo.
He had not forgotten the news he had previously received about Ludwig of Landshut, who was in exile, returning to the Empire.
Given the communication efficiency of this era, he was truly beyond reach in the northern part of the Empire, but once a rebellion broke out in North German, he would have to commit troops and money to suppress it, which was undoubtedly infuriating.
So the best approach was to nip it in the bud, first subdue all the Electors who had the prestige and power to rally princes against him, and then slowly deal with the rest.
"The Empire has ushered in peace and order, so what do I have to worry about?"
"Of course, the Empire owes its current state to your wise leadership and decisive actions." Adolf had now honed his flattery skills to perfection.
Laszlo smiled helplessly, then said seriously, "The Empire still has many unresolved issues. We cannot become complacent over a small achievement."
"You are right. The agenda for the next Imperial Diet still has many items—promulgating the 'imperial code,' renewing the 'Imperial Peace Ordinance' and the 'Imperial Public Donation Tax Regulations,' and re-delineating the imperial regions. These are not minor matters.
Additionally, the Swabia Regional Council submitted a request for the establishment of detailed laws such as the 'Imperial Public Order Regulations' and the 'Imperial Coinage Regulations.' What do you think..."
"They are quite enthusiastic about this. I think these can all be discussed. Last time, the Hanseatic League's envoy even asked me to impose an empire-wide trade embargo on Denmark and other Nordic countries. It will take who knows how many more years for these things to form unified regulations within the Empire," Laszlo lamented.
Whenever he felt that his imperial reforms had made great progress, reality would always give him a rude awakening.
So far, his greatest achievements were defining the Empire's borders and administrative divisions, promoting general peace, and developing a fiscal system covering the entire Empire.
However, the public donation tax system had theoretically expired, because the agreed-upon deadline had arrived, and Laszlo had to re-sign with the various estates of the Empire at the Imperial Diet.
Such a massive "country" had one troublesome matter after another, which made Laszlo somewhat unbearable under the pressure, even contemplating resignation.
No, I must quickly train this boy Christopher and let him take over as co-emperor, otherwise, I'll be exhausted to death sooner or later... Laszlo thought to himself, then turned his thoughts to his eldest son, far away in Franche-Comté.
"Look on the bright side, the Empire is constantly moving in a better direction.
By the way, the three branch imperial courts you previously ordered to be established have been initially completed.
According to news from Cologne, the court presided over by Hermann von Hessen has accepted a large number of cases involving jurisdictional disputes, and the court is understaffed, so a large backlog of cases is likely.
When you arrive in Cologne, you will probably have to take over these cases."
The Imperial Chancellor looked at the emperor with a hint of sympathy, but then he remembered that he too was a hardworking man and let out a sigh.
"What's going on in Cologne?" Laszlo's interest was piqued.
"Alas, it's nothing more than some long-standing conflicts. Ever since the Archbishop of Cologne was expelled by the citizens of Cologne to Bonn, the Archbishop's authority in his territory has suffered a great blow.
Now, over a hundred years later, the cities, gentry, and nobles within the ecclesiastical territory have a high degree of autonomy, and the current Archbishop of Cologne is trying to strengthen the Archbishop's power like me, leading to a series of conflicts between the two sides."
"Such a thing? Why have I never received any reports about it?" Laszlo asked with a frown.
"After all, the Rhenish Electorate is special, composed of the jurisdictions of me, Cologne, and Trier, the three Archbishops. Although I nominally oversee regional affairs, in reality, we three each manage our own territories.
I found it difficult to intervene in disputes within the Archbishop of Cologne's territory. The methods used by the Archbishop's subordinates and opponents to resolve disputes were mostly armed clashes and even feuds. Also, due to the Elector's prerogatives, these issues would ultimately only be reported to the Archbishop of Cologne, who would then suppress them, allowing the conflicts to continue to accumulate until they evolved into what is now practically a civil war.
The Cologne court you ordered to be established not long ago opened a loophole, allowing local forces suppressed by the Archbishop to file lawsuits with imperial judges without leaving their own jurisdiction, and the Archbishop of Cologne could no longer suppress them."
"Oh? Such a thing?" Laszlo was secretly delighted, but his expression remained calm. "When I arrive in Aachen, I will properly handle the disputes in Cologne. I will need your and the Imperial Privy Council's help with this."
"Gladly, Your Majesty." Adolf raised an eyebrow, looking as if he was ready to watch a good show.
His ruled territory of Mainz had the Archbishop of Cologne to the north and the Count Palatine of the Rhine to the south. These two were a paternal uncle and nephew from the Wittelsbach Family.
Considering his past of harming the Elector Palatine for his own House of Nassau, Adolf decided to add fuel to the fire, using the emperor's hand to eliminate any potential threat from the Wittelsbach Family.
Moreover, this happened to align with the emperor's interests, making it a win-win situation.
Laszlo quickly understood Adolf's little scheme but did not expose it.
After all, the House of Nassau had gained something in the Mainz War, so it was only natural for them to bear this old grudge with the Palatinate. Therefore, assisting him in suppressing the Wittelsbach Family was also a matter of course.
He was now somewhat looking forward to this trip to Aachen. If handled properly, he might even be able to directly remove the Archbishop of Cologne who had been constantly challenging him.