Last King of Kings

Chapter 23: Reforming the empire

"My wuzurg framadar, could you explain these to me? I am not very knowledgeable about administrative documents and their expressions. I don't understand these."

Farrukhzad was standing in front of Yazdegerd's table, on which countless papers were scattered. He was dumbfounded and thought that his liege has gone insane. When Yazdegerd asked him to explain them, he first had to himself understand what these were about. He picked up a pile of papers, put them together and read through them. They were the rewritten reforms by old Khosrow I., the man who reformed the Empire. His initial reforms were superb and helped with army recruitment and more efficient taxations. He was surprised his Shahanshah thought of the same thing as him and Piruz.

"These are the reforms of Khosrow I., my Shahanshah, may he be immortal."

"I already see that. What I want to know is if I can use them or not. If they are efficient."

"These are far from the original reforms. This is just what nobles and clergy rewrote to suit them. These are already implemented. If you restored the original ones, it could benefit the country, but they still may be a bit outdated. So if you'd like to restore reforms of Khosrow I., I suggest we also modernize them a bit."

Yazdegerd looked at Farrukhzad with a blank expression. Farrukhzad found this very uncomfortable. It was strange. After a while, Yazdegerd seemed to emerge from his train of thoughts.

"First explain these reforms to me. What do they mean? Rather, what did Khosrow I. want to achieve through these reforms? And how did they work in practice?"

"Main point of these reforms is centralization of government and concentrating power to the ruler, or you, my Shahanshah. He cut off the dependency of crown on big noble families and houses by creating a new social class – deghans, who were small landowners, basically a lower nobility. These were much more trustworthy than noble families and the fact they owned majority of land, Khosrow could use them to cut the tax exemption for nobles. Once the military and taxes stopped relying on nobles, crown had much more power to utilize. The reforms you see in front of you have been stripped of the anti-noble policies and no longer work as intended. Simply rewriting the paper would also do nothing, as we would have to implement them in practice."

"And you can do that? Rewrite them and implement them?"

"Theoretically. But I would need advice of some economist and a lot of money. And I have to warn you, my Shahanshah, these reforms take time before their effect can be seen. And you would also cause unrest among the nobles and clergy."

Yazdegerd's eyes shined.

"I will give you all the money you need. Just do it. Once you revise and rewrite them, be sure they start implementing them right away. And don't worry about the nobles. Now that I am allied with Rome, they won't dare to go against me and my will."

Farrukhzad looked unconvinced but then bowed and left.

---

"But how does he plan to achieve something like that? Isn't it crystal clear they'll try to rebel?"

"I don't know. But I do believe him, you know. He surprised me more than once before."

"Farrukhzad, I can't understand you. I just can't. But understanding you or our Shahanshah, may he be immortal, isn't my work, right?"

"Exactly, Bijan. Here they are."

Bijan was an acquaintance of Farrukhzad, who employed him as the reformation advisor. Bijan, being renowned economist didn't pass the opportunity to make a name for himself for the young Shah. But this time, he thought he may have bit off more than he could swallow. Farrukhzad put a pile of papers in front of him saying they have to go through them and rewrite anything that interferes with the crown's power and then modernize them if needed.

"Here you have it. Do you see it? This basically means that nobles will tax their local regions and provincial areas."

What Bijan showed to Farrukhzad was an unobstructed line of text containing at least hundred words, that could be summarized into the few words Bijan said. Astonishing, Farrukhzad thought.

"Yes, I see it. What should we do with it? Write it so the taxing right goes to the crown?"

"That would be easiest, yes."

"Alright, so let's do it like that."

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Bijan was a bit surprised but paid it no attention. Farrukhzad was very surprised as he had no idea who it might be. He went to the door and opened them. Behind them stood Yazdegerd.

"My Shahanshah, may he be immortal, what brings you here?" said Farrukhzad and immediately knelt. Bijan followed him, confused.

"Stand up. I wanted to talk to you, my wuzurg framadar."

Then he turned to Bijan, expecting something from him. Bijan immediately understood.

"Bijan, economist, at your service, my Shahanshah, may he be immortal."

Yazdegerd nodded and continued.

"Make the reforms as drastic and effective as you can. So at least clergy will try to rebel. If you can manage that, I will be very grateful."

Both Farrukhzad and Bijan looked, stunned, at Yazdegerd, trying to understand his intentions. But no matter how long they stared at him, they weren't able to read anything from his calm face.

"My Shahanshah, I don't understand. Why would you want that?"

"Farrukhzad, your work is not to understand my intentions. That is the work for political scientists or enemy spies perhaps, but not for wuzurg framadar. Just trust me."

That was of course easier said than done. None of those two wanted to plunge the empire into civil war and then look how it crumbles, because Yazdegerd wasn't able to defeat the revolt. And all that because of their reforms. Only leaders and rulers had to bear deaths of countless lives. Not politicians or scientist.

"And, just reminding, that this is not an offer. This is an order. So you better get to work. Farewell."

With just these few words Yazdegerd left the room, leaving the two men to their fates and to their decision.