Chapter 285 The Winter of 1402

Chapter 285 The Winter of 1402

Just as the coalition forces were preparing to set off, another disturbance occurred in the south. King Laszlo of Naples announced his conversion to Orthodox Christianity and joined Rome in declaring war on the Venetian League.

This directly disrupted the rhythm of the coalition forces. Whether to go south or to march eastward troubled the alliance. So, they debated for two more days and finally decided to divide their forces. Fifteen thousand people marched eastward and 10,000 went south.

I really don’t know how to describe it in words, they can only recruit mercenaries again. But now the Italian market is gone, so we can only recruit from the HRE and French markets.

The alliance could only use its own bottom-line money to provide relief, and Rome had to raise taxes to cope. But in terms of size, Rome is still larger.

Most of Venice's fleet has been conscripted into armed merchant ships, and the spice trade with Egypt has been greatly reduced. However, the volume of trade exports remained unchanged, as it was now the responsibility of the Roman East India Company.

The East India Company accumulated a lot of spices, transported them to the company on the other side through Egypt, and then distributed half of the money earned from the sales to the company's branches in the East.

The various industries that Venice was proud of were in depression, and their army was not good at all. Therefore, the Consulate gave the governor an idea to capture Constantinople from the sea and force Rome to sign a peace treaty.

The governor approved the proposal and prepared to capture Constantinople in one go. He ordered that 90% of the ships in the country be mobilized and armed, with the main force going to Constantinople and the rest to relieve Crete and Rhodes.

This time Venice really spent money, because after several months of destruction, the number of ships in Venice dropped from the original 3,300 to 2,800. More than two thousand ships have gone out. In the imagination of the ruling group, Rome will surrender immediately after seeing such a huge fleet, and it has to be obedient.

The war situation in Northern Italy came to a standstill again. The originally sunny weather continued to rain for more than a month, followed by light rain from time to time. The roads were muddy and difficult to walk. Peter had no choice but to let the army rest and think about the next tactics.

He wrote in a letter to his father: The empire's army can quickly destroy the opponent's army, but be careful about their navy. It is best to find a way to destroy their main force in one go.

Mircea was convinced and ordered Theodore, the Greek Despot, to pay attention to the developments in Venice and report them in a timely manner. At the same time, another 20,000 people were recruited for army training.

After the Governor of Venice's order was issued, there was instant opposition because it was going to use most of the ships for combat, which would have a great impact on Venice, a maritime country.

Moreover, Venice looks good on its books. It says there are 3,300 ships, but that’s just a number. However, those that were sunk and plundered by the Romans and pirates were all real. The Venetian government and merchants have up to 2,000 ships, and with so many ships, where are the sailors?

According to a ship with 50 people, 2,000 ships would require 100,000 people. This is to move the entire city of Venice onto the boat, which is obviously impossible.

The Venetian Parliament and the ruling group had a long quarrel. Since the strength of the various merchant factions was almost the same, it was impossible to govern dictatorship. The long wrangling began again.

Florence already regretted it at this time. She had only been brainwashed by the threats exaggerated by Venice when she joined the alliance. After joining, they found that they had no benefit at all, but instead gained a lot.

Some people became dissatisfied, and they began to attack the consul's Obici family. But Obiqi is also very distressed. Now he can only go all the way to the dark side, otherwise he and his family will be finished if he stops now.

----Dividing line----

The war between Rome and the Venetian Alliance also affected trade. Countries such as the HRE and France discovered that goods that usually needed to be purchased through Italian city-states could be imported directly from Rome.

The goods gathered from Constantinople were transported to Western Europe via the Danube River. Since they bypassed several second-tier dealers, the price was a little cheaper. The order volume of the nobles and citizens increased directly, and Hungary in the middle also became rich.

In order to further attract Western labor, Rome also opened up the white slave trade, encouraging those pagans to capture a large number of Western Europeans for trade, and Rome would also provide reasonable prices based on market prices. This order attracted the attention of North Africa and Granada, both of whom were short of money.

And the plundered population was placed in Anatolia. Didn't it mean that there were no people in the hollowing out? Now there are. They were slaves from the beginning, responsible for development, planting and construction. Some obedient ones will be freed according to time, and in the end Those who fail will become serfs and have no hope for the rest of their lives.

In addition to Anatolia, Cyprus and the Aegean Islands will also purchase some to supplement the labor force for local plantations. The sugar they produce is also a high-value commodity for export and requires a lot of labor.

The Orthodox Church will preach and brainwash them, and those who have gained freedom will also be promoted as role models, and the rights they will receive after joining the team serving Rome will be explained, including being promoted to officials and receiving titles. It is a great temptation for civilians.

During this period of inability to go to war, Bavaria and the Palatinate sent letters to Venice expressing their willingness to join the alliance. This brought tears to the Governor's eyes. Finally, there was support from a big shot. It would be great if all the seven Electors supported it.

Peter also received the news. The Elector joined the war, and it seemed that he had to find a way to visit the southern region.

Fortunately, the weather has cleared up. However, winter is coming soon, and the most important thing is to take advantage of this opportunity to continue to expand the results. Peter ordered Wojke to lead troops north to attack Styria, while Constantine went south to seize the Istria Peninsula. Try to finish before Epiphany.

"The Roman army is coming!!!" This sentence spread like a plague to all parts of Austria. They dragged their families and fled to avoid becoming the dead souls of Rome.

Bavaria and the Palatinate accelerated the gathering of troops, and the Wittelsbach family gathered almost 10,000 troops to go south for support. Prepare to join forces with the Bishops of Salzburg and Trento to jointly deal with Rome.

Bohemia and Brandenburg continued to watch the show. Because Jobst had taken hundreds of thousands of gold coins from Rome, he was actively preparing to give Brandenburg to Vlad. It happened that the ruler of the Countess of Mason was about to die. , and he had no heirs, so giving him this place together was considered a gift.

The Bartland family had no roots in Germany, and it would be difficult for Vlad to rule here. Local family power was also an obstacle. In Peter's mind, if the religious war that affected the entire Western European world could be expanded to Brandenburg, it would be relatively easy to rule.