Chapter 459
Rome now also sends palace ambassadors to Georgia, Moscow, and Brandenburg. Although they are diplomatic envoys on the surface, they actually act as liaisons with allies and spies.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that Moscow is already an ally of Rome. One provides troops and the other provides resources. Lithuania is addicted to it. Even matters in the north had to come last because Rome was too strong.
Vytautas needed funds to reorganize the army, so he was particularly enthusiastic about the Teutonic Knights' compensation and kept pressing for it. The knights were speechless. They had never seen such a tight situation. Lithuania has a vast territory and abundant products. How could it be reduced to the point where it had to rely on indemnities to live?
Don't blame him. Lithuania looks quite big, but in fact the places it can control are Samogitia and Lithuania, where there are many nobles. There are very few nobles in the vast Ruthenia region in the south, and even if there are, they are in Lviv. and near Kiev. In the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper River, the rapid rise of a group of cities represented by Mirceaburg and Zaporozhye changed the pattern of Ruthenia.
Immigrants from Rome began to cultivate this land with preferential policies and encouragement, and used the Black Sea and the Dnieper and Don rivers to conduct trade deep inland.
Five years ago, the Northern Government learned that an iron mine had been discovered in Donetsk Province, which opened a new starting point for development in the northern region. And embarked on the industrial road with the discovery of coal mines.
Due to the use of artillery and the expansion of the population, the use of iron increased, so coal and iron from Donetsk became an important source of the empire. A large number of people came here to become farmers and miners, producing coal and iron ore for the empire and transporting them to steel plants set up by the government for production.
In the south, the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions are farmers' sites, and the output of cultivated farmland is comparable to that of Wallachia. Not only can it be transported to other provinces, but it can also be exported to other places.
Precisely because of the growing importance of the northern region, Rome was preparing to open up land routes to Northern Ruthenia, including from Transnistria and the Caucasus. Completely complete the monopoly of the Black Sea.
Roman caravans crossed the Don River and expanded trade southward along the Black Sea coast and the Volga River. After the decline of the Golden Horde, local trade was basically controlled by Roman merchants. The local social order was also being controlled by Roman missionaries.
While Constantinople was expanding its overseas territories, it also began to expand its northern lands. The Northern Yamen was responsible for this. In order to better complete the emperor's mission, they encouraged Lithuania, which controlled a large area of Ruthenian land, to go to war. There was another reason: these places were once Orthodox Christian lands, but now they are occupied by Catholic Lithuania. This is not acceptable.
Attacking from all sides like this, if no one around them was strong or there were internal problems, they would have been attacked long ago. But now Rome is the strongest, and these countries also feel the threat and are ready to unite.
----Dividing line----
Sigismund was furious after receiving Vlad's letter. He, a small elector, openly disobeyed the German king's order, which was simply rebellious.
"This is really not going to work anymore. Brandenburg is going to resist the imperial edict." Sigismund said fiercely.
Now that the entire Shinra is under his control, he thought that the Berlin Alliance would be able to capture him without mercy, but the opponent was so tough. Who gave him the courage?
In addition to its own status being threatened, the situation within the HRE was also precarious. The Hussite movement in Bohemia was intensifying, seriously threatening the status of the Catholic Church.
Although Sigismund relied on the Vienna League to stabilize the situation, his still poor wallet prevented the further growth of his ambitions. This is also the reason why he wants to attack the Berlin Alliance as soon as possible, just to blackmail the opponent severely.
"Your Majesty, Brandenburg is unscrupulous because of the support of Constantinople. Not only that, he also has the support of Moscow, Naples, Hungary and other countries. He cannot act rashly."
The minister's persuasion did not make him calm down, but made him even more angry.
"Am I just so insulted by that boy from Berlin?"
Sigismund was furious, and at this moment, the messenger came back with another news: Wenzel had been re-established as King Germany.
After Vlad wrote a letter, he began to think of other methods. Since King De is not on their side, it would be better to establish a new one. It happened that his father-in-law Wenzel had been the German king, so he led the Berlin Alliance to support his return to the throne again.
However, before that, Vlad needs to defeat the nobles of Bohemia. They created obstacles to their plans, and the rise of the Hussite movement gave them the opportunity. Wenzel strongly supported the reform movement, making the nobles and bishops panic all day long.
In order to protect themselves, most of the nobles fled Prague, and Wenzel also went to Bethlehem Church with the support of the Hussites to be re-crowned as German King. and was supported by the Berlin Union.
Although Wenzel did not have many troops, he was supported by 10,000 troops from the Berlin League. The Hanseatic League also provided some financial assistance. Hus also told the believers that he supported the king. In this way, two kings appeared in the HRE, one was Sigismund, who was supported by most nobles and princes, and the other was Wenzel, who was supported by the northern princes and religious reform forces.
The last time Shinra was in this situation was during the Great Interregnum. Now it should be called the Luxembourg Civil War. This was considered a complete break between the Berlin Union and the Shinra. After that, they directly began to confiscate the property of the Catholic Church and expel their clergy. This had a serious impact on the Catholic world in the north, but it also forced the Catholic Church to unite tightly around Sigismund. The Archbishop of Mainz, as the Prime Minister of the Empire, announced that he would conquer Bohemia and asked the king to do so before repent.
But although Wenzel was said to be a fool, he really kept walking away from this matter. Anyway, he and his brother could not have a son, and he had also been imprisoned by Sigismund. With all these factors, the possibility of reconciliation was directly declared to be zero. In order to further attack, Wenzel directly converted to Orthodox Christianity in front of the people.
At this time, the Orthodox Church and the Hussites were in a period of friendship, and both sides could tolerate it until Catholicism was eliminated.
Although the Hanseatic League felt reluctant to give up the trade of other cities, they had to give up and gain, and Rome's trade routes were waiting for them.
What's more, they are now tied to Brandenburg's chariot and cannot get on or off. Even if the other party is wrong, they still have to go all the way to the dark side.
So when Vlad asked the representatives to sign the agreement, the members of the Hanseatic League were the first to sign. This is not for the sake of righteousness. Protect yourself first and then talk about other things.