Chapter 69

After the coronation ceremony, it was time for everyone to divide the spoils.

Those close associates brought back by Queen Mary from the Scottish court rose to prominence and became important figures in the British court. For example, Boswell was appointed Admiral of the Navy, Melville became Foreign Secretary, and Albert, the Italian who made outstanding contributions, not only became Admiral of the Army but was also created Earl of Hertford. For a time, they were incredibly powerful and influential.

As for the Italian and Swiss mercenaries, they all received very generous rewards, as did the Duke of Guise. He was in high spirits on the day he left London to return to France.

He was certainly not short of money and didn't care about this amount of military spending, but Mary Stuart successfully ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom, which was the greatest reward of this trip!

The fact that his close niece became Queen of England was a significant bargaining chip for him in the political struggles within France!

Others, however, were less fortunate.

In this battle for the throne, those English nobles who were fortunate enough to be in the right position, such as the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Northumberland, were naturally overjoyed. Their status and wealth inherited from their ancestors were once again preserved, and if they were lucky, they might even go further. On the other hand, the few nobles who were loyal to Queen Elizabeth were filled with regret, fearing that they and their families would be thrown into the Tower of London at any moment.

It is important to know that this newly crowned Queen of England was renowned throughout Europe for her outstanding governing abilities, as well as for her ruthless personality. Nobles often gossiped about her behind her back, from John Knox, who was beheaded, to her disgraced half-brother, the Earl of Maurice, and then to Elizabeth I, who was poisoned... The Queen of Scots never showed mercy to her enemies.

Former Secretary of State Cecil thought so too; he was prepared to be beheaded and go to heaven with Elizabeth I. But he never expected that Mary Stuart would invite him to serve as Secretary of State again to manage British affairs!

This shocked many people and reassured some nobles, who felt that the new queen had no intention of punishing them.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Cecil accepted the new queen's overtures once again.

Frankly, this will give him a terrible reputation. Elizabeth I was extremely kind to him, yet he went to serve Elizabeth's enemies while her body was still warm. Perhaps hundreds of years from now, people will still point at history books and curse him.

But God, Cecil thought, he still couldn't resist the desire to return to court and manipulate the future of England.

He loved this country and was willing to do everything in his power for England until the very last second before he went to heaven.

In a private conversation, Cecil couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty Mary, I've been scheming and plotting against you in Queen Elizabeth's ear, yet you now favor me as Minister of State instead of Maitland. Should I interpret this as me being merely a pawn for you to use to transition the situation, so that you can discard me once England is stable in a few years?"

“No, Your Excellency Cecil, I truly value your abilities. In all of the British Isles, no one is more suitable to be the Secretary of State than you,” Mary said.

The golden age of Elizabeth's reign was so glorious that at least half the credit goes to this unassuming middle-aged man before her. His abilities were enough to make Mary set aside past grievances and do everything in her power to win him over and continue to serve her.

Cecil was slightly relieved, and then offered two suggestions to the new queen.

The first step is to release the imprisoned Lady Catherine Grey, thus clearing her name somewhat and trying to quell the current widespread rumors of her poisoning Queen Elizabeth.

Catherine Grey's status was similar to that of Lord Darnley.

She was the granddaughter of Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, and was a potential heir to the throne because of this lineage.

Her sister was the unfortunate Nine-Day Queen Jane Grey, and her fate was no better. Because she had secretly married a nobleman and had a son, Elizabeth, fearing a threat to her throne, had placed her under house arrest in the Tower of London a few years earlier.

In Mary's memory, this woman, whose fate was very similar to her own, would die of tuberculosis a few years later and would never regain her freedom until her death.

Mary agreed to release Catherine Grey, and in fact, she would have done so even without Cecil's pleas.

“Anything else?” Mary asked.

“And…” Cecil paused for a moment, his expression strange, “…I suggest you take a look at the financial report submitted by Parliament.”

...

When Mary lived in the modern era in her previous life, there was a popular meme online called "What You Think" and "What's Actually Like." The contrast between the two images was usually so stark that it was unbearable to look at.

Now, the new masters of the British Isles turn page after page of the financial reports submitted by Parliament, their brows furrowed in the candlelight, remaining silent for a long time.

After a while, Mary leaned back heavily in her chair, pressed her temples hard with one hand, and with the other hand she tossed the report onto the wall like trash.

"Smack—!"

The paper slid to the floor after making intimate contact with the tapestry on the wall.

Seton hummed a Scottish tune as he lightly carried a plate of almond meringues into the room, intending to give Her Majesty the Queen, who had been working tirelessly day and night, a boost of energy. She was quite startled by the sight.

“Oh my God… Your Majesty, is the British finances not in good shape?” Seton asked in confusion.

"I don't know how to describe it, but it's clearly beyond what a single word can adequately summarize," the newly appointed Queen of England said listlessly.

Mary originally assumed that Britain, as a country with millions of people and ranking among the top in Europe, should at least have a surplus in its finances, if not a large one, and if not wealthy, at least be debt-free.

Well, even if there were any debts, they shouldn't be too much. Elizabeth I's abilities are undeniable; how bad could the situation in England be?

But this time, she guessed wrong.

"We have no money? The treasury is as empty as when you first returned to Scotland?" Seton asked, walking to the corner to pick up the roll of financial reports, dusting it off, and putting it back on the table.

"So that's the national treasury's debt?" Seton asked.

Mary closed her eyes and nodded, then slowly held up three fingers for Seton to see.

“Thirty thousand pounds?” Seton guessed.

This is a lot of money. In the past, it would have taken generations of kings to save up this amount of money by living frugally for more than ten years.

Fortunately, Her Majesty the Queen is now the monarch of England, and with a frugal lifestyle at court, she can pay it off in a few years.

Mary shook her head.

Three hundred thousand pounds?

Seton gasped as he spoke, wondering what Britain had done to incur such a huge debt!

"It's three million pounds."

The Queen of England opened her eyes, turned to look at her best friend and maid, and calmly gave the answer, or rather, her expression was too calm, almost as if she were heartbroken.

“Sayton, I now have three million pounds in debt to pay.”

Seton dropped the tray in his hands with a thud, sending the sweet almond meringues tumbling about.

...

This three million pound debt was certainly not incurred by Elizabeth I. In fact, the source of the debt can be traced back to the time of Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII.

During the final years of Henry VIII's reign, he waged war on two fronts, simultaneously waging war against Scotland and France. Military expenses are a major expenditure in any era and country, so in just a few years, Henry VIII spent a full £3.2 million on the army!

If you average it out, that's £650,000 a year for military expenses. Keep in mind that the British royal family's annual revenue at the time was only £250,000!

What to do with the extra £400,000 in fiscal deficit? Borrow it.

Unlike the thriving trade in Italy in the past, Antwerp in the Netherlands has gradually risen to prominence in recent years due to the development of the New World. It is about to become the new financial market center of Europe, attracting countless bourgeoisie and wealthy nobles. With the mentality that as long as the war is won, the losses can be recovered, Henry VIII borrowed heavily in Antwerp, showing a desperate gamble.

Those merchants who were chasing money and profit were not polite to this penniless, lame old king, and directly offered him bonds with an annual interest rate as high as 14%!

Later, a plague broke out, and Henry VIII, who had gambled everything, lost. He could only return home in despair, leaving behind a mountain of debt.

“Now, more than a decade later, the British treasury has paid far more in interest than it did in principal. The merchants who dared to lend to the King back then have long since made back their principal and interest, and they can continue to do so,” Mary said.

After listening to the Queen's words, Seton remained silent for a long time before finally managing to say, "Your Majesty, could you please repay their principal as soon as possible and have this debt cancelled?"

“It’s difficult, I can only try,” Mary said frankly.

Paying interest alone has already strained the British treasury, let alone repaying the principal in one lump sum. She can only try to pay off the debt with excessively high interest rates, or renegotiate the terms and contracts with them, and if necessary, use the threat of force to see if she can lower the interest rate.

Upon learning of this astronomical debt, Mary instantly understood why Henry VIII, in his later years, once again targeted monasteries and churches across the country, and why Elizabeth I was known for her stinginess, even delaying her soldiers' wages and allowing pirates to plunder Spanish ships of gold and silver.

Because we were really too poor.

“And that’s not even the worst of it,” Mary said.

The vast profits brought by the ocean and the New World were always enjoyed by Spain and Portugal. In order to snatch the spoils from the tiger's mouth, Britain had been tacitly allowing pirates to rob Spanish ships and bring back large amounts of gold, silver and spices. These pirates were, in a sense, regarded as "heroes" of Britain and were worshipped by the people in the coastal ports.

However, during the reign of Mary I, after marrying Philip II of Spain, in order to maintain harmony in the marriage, she strictly forbade English pirates from plundering Spain, causing England to lose a large amount of revenue!

In addition, to make matters worse, in 1563, seven years earlier, Spain, which controlled the Netherlands, refused to import wool and cloth from England, bringing England's foreign trade to a near standstill!

“…I don’t quite understand,” Seton said, looking troubled.

“Because woolen fabrics are very, very, very important to Britain,” Mary said, emphasizing her words.

Have you heard of the enclosure movement?

Aside from food, which is essential for survival, Britain's only thriving foreign trade industry was wool and cloth; there were no other major profitable industries.

In the past, wool was processed into woolen fabrics and sold abroad, earning more money than ordinary farming. So for centuries, the bourgeoisie and nobles drove away farmers and used the land to raise sheep. Lucky farmers could continue to work as wool workers in workshops around the world, while countless unlucky farmers could only become vagrants, or to put it another way, beggars.

This is the origin of the story of sheep eating people.

Farmers lost their land and became wool workers and migrants; the amount of grain produced on the land decreased, leading to reliance on imports; and other industries were underdeveloped. These problems had not surfaced before, but now workers can't sell their wool and wool for money. If they can't sell it for money, they can't buy goods. As goods become scarce, prices rise, and as prices rise, money becomes worthless.

The financial reports that the members of parliament presented to her ostensibly only stated this one thing.

The national treasury owes an astronomical amount of debt, making it difficult to even pay the annual interest. However, the two major sources of income that generate revenue have been cut off one after another due to various grievances.

...

“Actually, in recent years, Elizabeth I has already paid off some of the money, reducing the debt to more than 2.8 million. It’s just that with the war between our two sides, the debt has risen back to 3 million,” Mary added.

She also lost the patent sale of the mirror and the more than 200,000 gold florins she had accumulated over the years.

“Your Majesty, you need not worry. The debtors are just some merchants. No matter what, they wouldn’t dare to break into Whitehall Palace to collect their debts from you,” Seton reassured him.

“Actually, that’s not what I’m really worried about,” Mary said, shaking her head, then suddenly sighed.

The apparent problem is the huge debt, but the real problem goes far beyond that.

After Henry VIII's death, Edward VI, a Protestant, reigned for six years, followed by Mary I, a Catholic, who reigned for five years. Then Elizabeth, a Protestant, ascended the throne. Now, as a Catholic, she has dethroned Elizabeth and put the crown on herself.

The turmoil at the top also led to turmoil at the bottom, with Protestantism and Catholicism taking turns gaining and losing power, making the religious conflict so acute that it could no longer be concealed.

In addition to these problems, Britain also faced issues such as a powerful and self-serving aristocracy, widespread unemployment and vagrants, disrupted foreign trade and profits from the New World, rising domestic prices, and a constantly depreciating currency.

To put it simply, they are beset by internal and external troubles.

“Anyway…” Mary sat up straight again, forcing herself to stay alert, and asked someone to call Cecil over.

"In short, I need to find a way to open up trade routes in the Netherlands first."