Chapter 18 Preparation
Now that we are ready to attack Moldova, we must summon the army. Some boyars have gone back to raise the army, and some have directly paid a large sum of money to the Grand Duke to be exempted from military service.
But it takes time to gather an army, and it is impossible to gather all the troops. Part of it needs to defend against the Ottomans in the south, and part of it needs to defend against Hungary in the west. After calculation, Mircea can bring out up to 20,000 troops.
Although it is said that if everything is prepared, there will be few everywhere, but there is nothing that can be done about it. Unless your border is the sea. (No way, they will have warships to attack you)
Mircea is also willing to risk everything. Whether Wallachia can become strong or not depends on this. He used all Wallachia's financial surplus in recent years to manufacture weapons and collect supplies. But it was still winter and the march would cause too much damage.
At this time, Roman, the Grand Duke of Moldova, was supporting Fyodor Koryatovich, a nobleman in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He and the current Grand Duke Vytautas belonged to the same family, but he did not want to be commanded by Vytautas, so He began to rebel a year ago and did not know what conditions were used to convince Roman to support him. And he also led the army to fight.
Peter is also preparing to fight, and his target is the two most important fortresses in Moldova-Kilia and Ackerman.
The owner of Kilia had already offered Peter a price of 8,000 Venetian ducats and a manor house.
The owner thought that he, a child, could not afford such a large amount of money, but unexpectedly, the envoy brought gold coins and smashed him in the face.
Sorry, I just spoke too loudly. Please…
With so many gold coins, the lord signed the transaction documents happily. Then he took the gold coins and left. And in Peter's opinion, this place is definitely worth the price.
Territorial transactions have never been hidden from the eyes of the upper-class rulers. Roman, the Archduke of Moldova, became a little nervous because Kilia's geographical location was so important. It was an important node on the northern trade route and a barrier to the south.
He originally thought about bringing this place under his rule in a few years, but he didn't expect Wallachia to take the first step. How could this not make him angry?
But territory transactions are all voluntary (you can also point a sword at it), unless he snatches it, but this is a declaration of war on Wallachia.
Damn it, this was what Roman was thinking.
Since military means don't work, then we should try trade. Roman ordered that the export of wine to Dobroga was prohibited, and Dobroga wine was prohibited from passing through Moldova.
Wine is an important export product of various countries and territories. In the Middle Ages, most Europeans did not drink plain water. Whether they are nobles or commoners, they all like to drink wine or beer as daily drinks. Only serfs with extremely low status would drink plain water, and raw water at that.
Roman thought that this would allow the other party to negotiate with him, and Kilia would come back. But has he ever thought that this would also give the opponent a reasonable excuse to attack.
Peter told Mircea what had happened, omitting the reason. After all, one result is enough.
"What, he is too brave. This is a provocation to Wallachia."
"Yes, father, the ruler of Moldova has proven that he cannot become a qualified Grand Duke and must be replaced by someone else."
Mircea was persuaded that instead of being a prince, she might as well give it a try and maybe turn her bicycle into a motorcycle.
Moreover, Moldova is also very rich in natural resources, especially agriculture. Various types of black soil can be found in Moldova. Its territory is covered with more than 1 billion tons of fertile humus soil at a depth of 1 meter, 5,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer, 6,000 tons of phosphate fertilizer, and 700 million tons of potassium fertilizer. There are podzolized soils in the south, dealkaline soils in the central part, and typical black soils in the north. More importantly, 80% of the land in Moldova is owned by the Grand Duke and has not yet been given to the nobles below.
Moldova is one of the important links connecting East and West trade. A trade route starts from the Middle East, passes through Ackerman (also known as Belgorod), Kilia, passes through Moldova to Lviv, and then reaches Western Europe. Trade routes to Transylvania, Hungary and other Central European countries must pass through Suceava in Moldova. With so many trade routes passing through Moldova, Moldova has naturally become a cargo transit point for international trade.
Now that Kiliya is in the bag, Ackerman is his next target.
In the Middle Ages, Transnistria was a major trading area and it was one of the main trade routes from the western regions of Eastern Europe. The purpose of Ackerman Fortress was not only to protect the city's views, but also to control trade with Europeans, Slavs.
Ackermann Fortress is surrounded by a moat wide enough (up to 14 meters). The shape of the building resembles the irregular polygon of a fortress. The height of the city wall ranges from 5 to 15 meters, and the width also ranges from 1.5 to 5 meters. It's not easy to win this.
Mircea also decided to move the capital. He asked Peter if there was a suitable place. Peter immediately expressed his thoughts.
Bukuri, this place is well connected and protected by the Giurgiu and Danube rivers. If you set up your capital here, you can radiate to all places. However, the construction of the new city will take a long time, so it is still in Kemplonga for now.
In recent years, with the economic development of Wallachia. A new type of merchant emerged in trade: the package buyer.
Buyers are familiar with the sales situation in the market and know what kind of products are easy to sell and where to sell them. At the same time, they also know the supply of raw materials and can obtain the raw materials needed to produce a certain product. These are their The advantages.
Through contract buyers, some farmers and handicraftsmen can obtain relatively stable income through them. Buying merchants also use their own flexible information to sell goods to places with higher prices to gain maximum profits. This can also be regarded as a way to activate the economy.
At the same time, the development of commerce also promoted the rise of handicraft industry. Some larger workshops have emerged in textile, winemaking, woodworking and other industries. In Constanta, there is a large manual workshop employing more than 100 people. (Guess whose?)
There are almost no guilds in Wallachia, and the guild system carried out from Western Europe has no soil for survival. The guilds they established were just voluntary organizations of small businessmen and had little effect.
Some boyars also entered industry and commerce because they found that the income from agriculture was too little and their expenses were increasing. So you have to rely on other ways to get income. And commerce is one of them.