Chapter 155 Absorption and Digestion

Chapter 155 Absorption and Digestion

The prestige of the Bartland family has increased a lot, and Mircea has begun to provide better education for the children. From literature to martial arts, we use the best teachers.

Peter has no enjoyment in these things. Who asked him to bear such a big responsibility at such a young age. The archduke felt he owed him a lot and gave him great powers, which Peter was happy to use.

Based on his experiences over the years, Peter concluded two things. The first was to completely transform the newly conquered land, and the second was to vigorously support churches and religious orders. They were the pioneers of external expansion.

Like the Crusades in the West and the Holy War in the Crescent, religious wars are a tried and true excuse. Therefore, the war caused by sending churches to preach is the best way to annex land.

For the Church to expand, it is not enough to have religious orders. There must also be a corresponding military group. In this case, establishing a knighthood is a good choice.

After the First Crusade, the Crusaders successively occupied the richest areas and the most prosperous industrial and commercial cities on the east coast of the Mediterranean, and established four Crusader countries in this area. To consolidate these countries, there is an urgent need to establish a standing armed force. As a result, the Pope organized several orders of monks and knights. These are the three famous knights, namely the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights. Its mission was to suppress the resistance of the people in the Crusader countries and to wage war against neighboring countries.

With the decline and collapse of the Crusader countries, the Knights were no longer able to gain a foothold in the East, but they did not disband. Instead, they returned to Europe wearing monastic uniforms and armor and continued to serve the Pope. The Teutonic Knights even established knightly states in Europe and exerted a long-term influence on European political and military life.

The Knights can help Wallachia expand faster, but how to control them is also a problem. Just like the Teutonic Knights, if you are too good to them, you risk independence, but if you don't give them anything, you will break the hearts of the believers.

Peter called Dean Cyril over again.

The André Order developed rapidly with the support of the government. In just three years, the order grew to 1,800 members and 350 propaganda bases. Especially in the newly conquered lands, the missionary efforts were particularly strong.

Peter told Cyril about the idea of ​​establishing a knighthood, and Cyril was very willing to support it. And began to recruit people, Peter also provided a large number of gold coins to support. A castle near the Ottomans was also given to them as their headquarters and named the Order of the Rose.

No one knows why the lord chose such a name, but the decision to establish the Knights has been approved by the Grand Duke and the Patriarch, and it is believed that it will be established soon.

----Dividing line----

Perhaps the prestige of Wallachia was so great that some Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman territory rioted one after another. Salonika and other places protested against the Ottoman high-pressure policy. Christian strongholds such as Smyrna also attacked everywhere. The Knights Hospitallers There was even an attack, which unfortunately failed.

The Ottomans have marched eastward, and the emirs have begun to unite to resist, but Wallachia cannot be dealt with by lightning, and they cannot be dealt with. Except for Karaman, who is a bit difficult to deal with, the Ottomans have captured the emirates on the Black Sea coast. A certain amount of strength has been restored.

With the loss of important cities such as Adrian and Skopje, the Ottoman territories in the Balkans were vulnerable to Wallachian attacks at any time. Therefore, the Ottomans mainly defended themselves in the Balkans, holding on to various castles and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. This is currently the method with the least loss. It is also a helpless move.

Ottoman had to defend Wallachia along hundreds of kilometers of border, but he didn't know where the other side would attack. So we can only take precautions everywhere, but this kind of vulnerability is even greater. In order not to cause another war, Bayezid issued a death order prohibiting anyone from provoking and plundering Wallachia, otherwise he would be beheaded in public.

With the Sultan's order, some vassals had no intention of doing so. They were afraid that the Sultan would kill them, but the Balkan Sipashi was in Anatolia at the moment and had no time to fight against Wallachia. Their monarchs are now thinking about how to expand and how to make up for the lost land and national power.

Almost the entire small Balkan country paid tribute to Wallachia, and Morea also sent gifts. The only one that did not pay tribute was the Kingdom of Bosnia, because it defected to Hungary.

Relying on these tributes, Wallachia was able to invest more funds in military construction and national governance. And based on the border, we continue to promote Orthodox Christianity. So among the titles of Grand Duke, there is also the title of Guardian of the Orthodox Church.

As for its foreign policy, Wallachia adopts a strategy of diplomacy at a distance and attack at home. It pursues a friendly strategy towards large countries such as Hungary and Poland, and adopts an offensive strategy against small countries in the Balkans. The territory of Zeta and the Republic of Ragusa surrendered to Wallachia, of which Zeta was incorporated as a direct administration.

Zeta was a place established by the Montenegrins after the collapse of the Serbian Empire. It originally formed an alliance with Serbia, but when Serbia failed, it surrendered to Wallachia and sold the land to Wallachia for 17,000 ducats. This gave Wallachia an additional outlet to the Adriatic Sea.

The Republic of Ragusa has previously cooperated with new forces such as Serbia and Bosnia, turning itself into the best candidate for each other's pursuit of shipping development. After the rise of Wallachia, Ragusa cooperated with them again, because the territory of the Republic of Venice covered almost the entire area, even extending eastward to Crete and the Aegean Sea. Ragusa became a breakthrough point, serving as a shipping hub for landlocked powers in Central Europe or the Balkans. The territory directly under the jurisdiction of this small republic was also able to extend to both sea and land.

Ragusa took the initiative to pay tribute to Wallachia in order to defeat Venice and gain more trade. The two countries are competitors and naturally compete for customers. Wallachia was Ragusa's client.

Mircea approved trade terms and diplomatic treaties with Ragusa so that Wallachia could bypass Venice and obtain Western goods at a lower cost, and Ragusa could also directly obtain Wallachia's specialties. Going to sales is a win-win situation. It was much better than Venice, and for the first time the flag of San Marco was not flying haphazardly in a new country.

The ever-increasing land is also a reflection of Wallachia's national strength. From a peaceful corner to the current Balkan power, Wallachia has achieved transformation. Just like Emperor Lajos of Hungary, Wallachia also made the surrounding countries surrender, and ruled the territory from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea, truly from one sea to another.