Chapter 220 Smooth Transition

Chapter 220 Smooth Transition

The attack on Cyprus went very smoothly, and with the exception of Nicosia, all other places were recaptured by Wallachia in less than a month. Peter also sent a fleet to deliver supplies to Cyprus, while keeping an eye on Venice to prevent him from interfering.

Mircea was delighted with the impending reconquest of Cyprus, and at the same time accelerated his actions.

The former Queen Mother was not honest when she entered the monastery. She often contacted some nobles by transporting supplies. If a monk had not told him, the other party's conspiracy might have succeeded.

Mircea directly executed the noble who secretly contacted him, and his body was hung in front of Jelena's window. The Queen Mother was frightened out of her mind. But whether she was pretending to be crazy or really crazy, Mircea ordered her to become a monk and not allow anyone to see her. The former queen mother started life in a monastery under the name of Marfa.

As for brother John, the younger Theodore was raised by Mircea's most trusted Mairescu family, one of the ancient boyar families in Wallachia, who were responsible for Theodore's life. and education.

John VIII was much more difficult. Because he was older and had the ability to think for himself, the possibility of assimilating him through education was very slim, so Mircea had to consider the last resort-killing him. But he hasn't made a decision yet. For now, he has to be kept until he reaches Zen status.

Mircea also agreed to the Hungarian King's request and sent 30 missionaries to Hungary. The Patriarch of Constantinople also appointed the bishop currently stationed in Buda as Patriarch of Hungary. The Church of Hungary was in communion with the Church of Constantinople.

Unlike Catholicism, Orthodox churches are not so close-knit. Except for the fact that there is a universal patriarch above, there are no other changes. The various churches are not subordinate to each other, which has a negative impact on the spread of Orthodox Christianity and can easily lead to the emergence of heresy.

In response to this situation, some of the Andreanians put forward the slogan of one country, one religion, and one church, demanding reforms. Mircea and Peter were also interested in this. According to their ideas, the Ecumenical Patriarch, as the only spiritual leader of the Orthodox world, can only be selected from the Patriarchs, and only the Emperor is qualified to appoint Patriarchs and Archbishops. The Emperor is God. The rulers elected in the human world, in order to assist the emperor in governing the spiritual world, the Universal Patriarch came into being.

The Emperor and the Ecumenical Patriarch must be in the highest position, and other local churches must obey the orders of Constantinople unconditionally. Such an idea is attractive to governments that want to further control the church. Some clergy have also discussed reforms. They hope that through reforms, the church can reunify the East and the West and become a complete universal church.

In Greece, the Despot Theodore successfully captured the county of Cephalonia. The last obstacle to Naples disappeared. To reward him, Mircea sent people a lot of property and allocated funds for construction.

Wallachia also made reforms in culture and education. The first experiments were in Wallachia. After the establishment of universities, some junior schools were also established. Including secular schools such as arithmetic, mining, navigation, and crafts, as well as military colleges such as artillery, engineering, and navy. It also stipulates that learning scientific knowledge is an obligation for children of prominent families to serve the country. Mircea also issued an order: "If some people do not want to go to school, then force them to go to school."

Mircea not only stipulated by law that nobles and their children must learn scientific knowledge, but also checked their enrollment status many times. If he found that the children of nobles who did not enter school to study, he sent them to domestic schools or sent them abroad to study. In this way, the number of students studying in various schools is increasing day by day, basically meeting the needs of talents.

Mircea's transformation in these ten years was inseparable from Peter's influence, especially his European travel notes, which became his must-read books. The description of the northern Italian region made Mircea feel that the East needed to change, and if no one took action, it would start with them. The fate of the Angelos dynasty must never be repeated.

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The expansion and reform of Wallachia also brought great changes to the domestic people. The social status of merchants, soldiers, and doctors improved. The boyar nobles submitted to the monarch's scepter, and the economy prospered and the society was basically stable.

This prosperity also affected neighboring countries. Due to the geographical location of the Balkans, merchants from the east and west gathered in Wallachia to trade. Wallachia earned a lot of tax revenue from it. In order to expand tax revenue and curb Italian commercial city-states such as Venice, Wallachia took the initiative to introduce the Hanseatic League for trade. Establish Hanseatic trading posts in Suceava and Uxhall and use each other to sell goods produced in Wallachia to the North Sea. The wine, wool, fish, and grain it produces are exported to Western Europe and the North Sea, especially the first two, which directly hit Burgundy and the United Kingdom, the major producing countries in Western Europe. Forcing the bold Duke of Burgundy, Philip issued a ban on Wallachian wine. John of Gaunt, the English regent, raised the tax rate on Wallachian goods. Being able to allow them to do so shows that Wallachia's productivity has reached a new level. .

Merino sheep smuggled through Genoa were mated with native Wallachian sheep to obtain native Merino sheep. The quality of wool was comparable to that of Britain and could be used as a substitute for British wool when necessary. But it is not enough to just sell raw materials. They must also be processed and sold, which can directly attack textile regions such as Flanders.

The economy of Eastern Rome also relied on its own manufacturing industries, such as textiles, silk, weapons, and wine. Rome obtained income from these, but when Western Europe surpassed the East, this advantage no longer existed. Wallachia now had to reestablish its advantage, which was somewhat difficult, but the payoff was huge.

Moreover, Wallachia also has an industrial advantage, which is the cotton textile industry. Most areas in Europe are not suitable for cotton growth, but Greece and Anatolia under Wallachia happen to be one of the few areas suitable for cotton growth. With the encouragement of the government, the cotton planting area began to expand, and the Morea region could earn 100,000 lei in taxes every year from cotton exports. Textiles sell well in Western Europe, especially in the cold and cold regions of the north, and are more expensive.

Such market effects directly increase the expansion of the textile industry. The southern city of Thessaloniki is the most developed cotton textile industry in the country because of its proximity to the origin of raw materials. There are a total of more than 1,500 looms and 3,000 workers. Cotton from the Greek region will first be sent here, processed into textiles in the factory, and then exported to other regions. Sometimes raw materials are insufficient and they are imported from Syria. Faster and faster business development requires more markets. If input and output can be proportional, they are happy to pay.