Chapter 71 Gathering Strength
Peter began to confiscate the fiefs of the Janissary and Ottoman soldiers, and distributed some of them to his soldiers and some to farmers. At the same time, it squeezed the living space of the Catholic Church and forced them to spit out most of their land.
At the same time, Peter also formulated a road plan for Bulgaria and upgraded it based on the original roads. Open the road from Niš to Burgas and consolidate the local foundation.
Lei replaced the complicated local currency, as did the written language, but the locals mainly used Bulgarian and Serbian, which took time.
The economic foundation laid by Bulgaria during the Second Empire is still there. After the unification of the currency, the economies of Tervono and Vidin recovered rapidly. There are also more business trips.
"Sir, Bulgaria's business tax this year should exceed 300,000 lei."
Peter was very happy when he heard so much money. Because the Grand Duke specifically approved it, he could get part of it as private money, and the rest would be handed over directly to the superiors except for backup.
Important agricultural taxes are still exempted for one to three years, which is also for the sake of public support. Moreover, Peter directly promoted the policy of combining corvee and taxation here, promoting monetary rent and physical rent, and reducing the burden on the people.
"Is there anything new recently?"
"What's new is that many merchants from Venice and Genoa have left. I heard they all went to Trabizon."
This incident was also expected by Peter. After all, who would be here if the privileges were gone. Therefore, we have always talked about cultivating domestic businessmen, just to prevent them from interfering.
Sofia has a population of 6,000 people, and Tervono has only 15,000 people, but these are already large cities.
If a country with an area of 200,000 square kilometers has its capital, Bukur Yesti is a very good choice, but if you want to build a super empire, you have to choose another capital. Especially the ambition to control the Eastern Mediterranean.
After screening all the cities, only Constantinople was suitable, and the others were too biased. There was a geographical reason why Emperor Constantine made his capital here.
Although Venice and Genoa began to move away from Wallachia, another group of merchants came here, and they were the merchants of the Hanseatic League.
The Hanseatic League and Venetian Genoa had always been in harmony with each other, but when it came to Wallachia, they also had thoughts of expanding southward.
Suceava was the place with the largest number of Hanseatic merchants, and all major transactions were conducted here. They bought large quantities of linen, beeswax, livestock and other things from Wallachia, and also purchased large quantities of golden honeydew. Kraków became the fastest growing city in the Vistula Valley, and trade with Wallachia added fuel to its fire.
The recruitment of refugees has also increased the development of Moldova, and these Ruthenians have enriched Moldova's manpower. According to this year's inspection results, Moldova has a total population of only 260,000.
If the population is not enough, the economy and military will naturally be weak, so encouraging childbirth will rise to the level of a national policy. In Iasi, orphanages were established and charitable hospitals were established. The social status of midwives is also rising.
Of course, it is also most important to give civilians certain opportunities for social advancement and promote social mobility. But the mobility cannot be too great, otherwise it will be like the stagnant population of France.
To the east, Wallachia maintained good relations with the Cossacks. The hired Cossack soldiers were organized into guards and paid directly.
Some Cossacks also settled here with their families, and they gradually learned the local language. After all, the faith is the same.
The Cossack leaders are also expanding their influence along the Black Sea coast and are preparing to confront Lithuania. This country is expanding too much and must be resisted.
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In Kemplonga, Grand Duke Mircea received an unexpected guest. Pope Boniface IX sent an envoy to persuade the archduke to fight against the Ottomans.
This was the period of the Great Schism of the Catholic Church, and the struggle between Rome and Avignon intensified. The two popes criticized each other, excommunicated each other, and at the same time levied tributes and taxes from various countries in Western Europe. Each country supported one of the popes based on their political attitudes and relationships with France, Germany, and Italy, forming two power groups. At that time, in addition to Germany and France, those who recognized the Pope included England, which was in the Hundred Years War with France, and Poland, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, etc., which were influenced by Germany. In addition to France and its ally Spain, those who recognized the Pope of Avignon also included Scotland, which was at odds with England, and Sicily and Sardinia, which were under French influence. Churches in various places basically acted according to the attitude of their respective monarchs.
The Great Schism of the Catholic Church and its various evil deeds such as chaos, corruption, and plundering of people's wealth, greatly reduced the prestige of the Church in the minds of Europeans. The power and prestige of the Pope also plummeted, and he was gradually disliked and ridiculed by society. Subsequently, various countries began to withdraw their support for the Pope and demanded an end to the schism.
The Pope sent people here, naturally, to persuade Archduke Mircea to launch an attack on Ottoman, so that he could gain more political achievements and attack Avignon. And as long as you convert, there will be a lot of foreign aid.
But such a particularly good plan was vetoed by Mircea, and the peace treaty was torn up less than a year after the signing of the nonsense. Isn't this just what he said? The face is so big that I don’t know how many thousands of miles away it is.
Mircea sternly refused, and the envoy actually issued threats, saying that since they can punish those in the castle, they can also punish you. Finally, he was kicked out in a very unfriendly way.
Mircea didn't want to listen to his nonsense, he could still understand the international situation. I don’t know why they are not on the front line against the Ottomans. God is really unfair.
The central government was further improved and the administrative divisions were changed from 28 provinces to 30 provinces. In order to avoid wasting administrative resources, expand the power of the financial department and centralize all local military, financial and judicial powers to the government.
For the Boyar Conference, Mircea normalized it and attracted citizens and small and medium-sized landowners to participate. Soon the meeting increased from more than 70 people to 155 people, but these boyars did not bother to be with them, so they left the original hall and went to another house for the meeting. The remaining meeting members were still meeting in the original hall.