Chapter 202 Split Consciousness and Undetermined Situation

Chapter 202 Split Consciousness and Undetermined Situation

Outside the St. George's Church in Constantinople, two groups of people were confronting each other. Both sides were holding iron tools and stones, and their eyes revealed ferocity.

"Scaparis, are you sure you want to help outsiders tarnish this city again?"

"Bah, Barthold, you are the culprits who brought shame to Constantinople. The tragedy of a hundred years ago has not yet dissipated, so you have to ask for their help again. You are worthy of this city and the people of a hundred years ago. Innocent citizens who died?”

The quarrel between the two parties became louder and louder, and even the church priest came to stop it, but it was of no avail. Later, someone threw a stone and ignited the powder barrels on both sides. They soon started fighting, with blood flying in the air, screams, and The sound of collisions was endless, and some people directly joined the fight after hearing the cause.

In Constantinople, this kind of situation happens every day, and the reason for the battle is whether to ask for help from Wallachia, or to ask Grand Duke Mircea of ​​Wallachia to take over Constantinople.

In the past, the emperor would have killed all these ministers long ago. But today is different from the past. Pro-Western Europeans and Orthodox sects are fighting to the death, and even the people at the bottom have joined in this debate. Especially when Wallachia invaded Anatolia, the Orthodox Church directly began to prepare to support a new emperor.

In order to maintain his position, Manuel temporarily cooperated with the Western European faction. He frequently met with envoys from Venice, Genoa, Florence and other countries, and negotiated with them a large number of loan contracts, all of which were in silver coins.

It turns out that the Roman Empire stopped minting gold coins decades ago. Since the end of the Macedonian Dynasty, Constantine IX, the gold coin Nomisma has continued to depreciate due to the decline in fineness. During the Komnenos dynasty, the devaluation of Nomisma continued. The government issued Hyperion gold coins to replace Nomisma gold coins, but it still could not stop the depreciation trend. After the fall of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Nicaea Empire still minted Hyperion gold coins, but the quality was not as good as that of the Comnenus and Anchili dynasties.

After the establishment of the Palaiologos dynasty, Helenpo gold coins continued to be minted, but the quality was no longer sufficient. Later, a series of civil wars caused the value of gold coins to fall into the abyss. Therefore, from 1341 onwards, there were no gold coins in the Roman Empire, and all coins were minted in silver.

The nobles are alienated and the people are fighting, all of which are tormenting the 47-year-old emperor. His opponent, the 42-year-old Mircea, is sharpening his sword and staring at his throne. Should he abdicate voluntarily or fight to the death? These two Any of the plans might put him in jeopardy, and now it seems that he has chosen the first one.

"Your Majesty, there were several more fights in Constantinople today."

"I understand, stand down."

Manuel waved tiredly. Osman's retreat had not brought him happiness for a few days. Wallachia's landing in Anatolia frightened him. Isn't this an Orthodox version of Osman.

Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, usurpation of the throne was very common. For example, his ancestor Michael VIII usurped the throne of John IV of the Nicene Empire, and even blinded the child and imprisoned him in a monastery. Now, he is also worried that he will end up like this.

What's even more outrageous is that his brother Theodore disobeys his orders. Although he pays him a lot of taxes every year, he says nothing about the land enfeoffment. He could forcefully divide the kingdom, but this would only push his family to Wallachia's side. This situation seems unsolvable.

However, Mircea did not pay much attention to matters in Constantinople. Because after landing in Anatolia, good news came from Hungary: Mary, the Grand Duke of Transylvania, proposed an alliance between the two countries, and Wallachia helped Mary regain Hungary. In return, Transylvania Asia can be handed over to the administration of Wallachia.

Mircea can finally fulfill her ancestor's wish and take back Transylvania. Now Mary's only ally is him. If she does not rely on Wallachia, the noble people of Transylvania will swallow her up.

Mircea and Mary exchanged more than a dozen letters, and finally a treaty was signed in Busolaf.

The treaty stipulates that Wallachia provide a batch of funds and weapons to Transylvania, recognize Mary's title of King of Hungary, and Mary will hand over Transylvania to Wallachia after retaking Buda. , the title of King of Croatia was purchased by Wallachia for 30,000 gold coins.

With the signing of the Bratislava Agreement, Wallachia began to intervene in the Hungarian Civil War. Nearly a year of war left Hungary devastated and a large number of people fled into exile. The surrounding Poland, HRE, and Austria were all eyeing it.

The people were fed up with this current situation. Since Sigismund couldn't do it, then another king should rule.

Some small nobles who converted to Orthodox Christianity held an election meeting and unanimously agreed that Mary, the Grand Duke of Transylvania, would be the king of Hungary. And sent someone to Cluj to report the news to the Grand Duke.

The big nobles and big landowners still supported Sigismund as king, and after receiving the money, he recruited some mercenaries to serve. The civil war struggle will probably continue for a while.

----Dividing line----

Anatolia temporarily restored calm, merchants began to shuttle back and forth between the two territories of Wallachia, and Genoa was happily preparing to acquire alum. Peter used their payments to start building infrastructure.

Roads, military buildings, town halls, these are all necessary. During the Roman Empire, these were the basic elements for controlling a place. Since this place had been destroyed by nomadic tribes for too long, everything had to be started from scratch. Peter was also busy keeping his feet on the ground, for fear of making any mistakes.

Relying on the church, the army, and the nomadic tribes who took refuge, Peter successfully stabilized his local rule. At the same time, the ruler of the Principality of the Aegean Islands also stated to Peter that he would not block the merchant ships of Wallachia. As for the Knights Hospitaller, they only proposed that the two sides live in harmony. After all, they are a Catholic Knights, approved by the Pope, and are in harmony with the Orthodox Church. Too much contact is not a good thing.

Wallachian merchants took a fancy to the resources here and began to invest in the establishment of factories, including textiles, metallurgy, shipping, brewing and other industries, especially the metallurgy industry, because the exploration team sent by Peter discovered several iron ores and A coal mine, Peter established an iron smelting factory near Smyrna, as well as a supporting firearms factory, responsible for the production of artillery and muskets, and the shipyard could not be left behind. These are the necessary foundations for expanding the army.

The exchanges between Thessaloniki and Smyrna began to become closer, and the number of merchant ships gradually increased. Wallachia began to occupy more and more of the Aegean Sea, and not even Venice could stop it.