The Eagle of Eastern Europe

"Father, do you mean that His Highness went to the West to avoid His Majesty?"

"This is the only explanation. The battle between the royal families is also very fierce."

Among the emperor's four sons, the eldest son is the most qualified to inherit the empire. He was also canonized as Caesar, but he seemed to be too good, and some things even overshadowed the emperor. Such excellence would hardly make the emperor's psychology unbalanced. If villains interfered with it, it would easily lead to the tragedy of father and son killing each other.

For the sake of the empire, and even more for himself, Peter would take Sophia to travel to the West, and indulge in other affairs, trying not to conflict with the emperor. Even Angel had to admit that it was unjust for Peter not to inherit the throne.

Moreover, during the conquest and expansion, the Angel family also contributed money and efforts, participating in the Battle of Sofia and the Battle of Adrian. The rewards were manors and vineyards on the newly conquered lands, and wool in Sofia and Thessaloniki. Textile workshops, titles of nobility, and a host of other honors including residence in Constantinople. The eldest son Emilian served in the New Wallachia Yamen, while the second son entered the naval school. He was also the prime minister. No family was more powerful than theirs.

"By the way, did that person do anything?"

"Listerine seems to be just looking at his business in Adrian and Constantinople, and not much else."

"I hope so, their family is very tough."

Who is this Listerine? Angel can ask for news about him all the time. He was appointed Minister of the Interior by Mircea three years ago. Due to his outstanding achievements, he was often discussed as the next prime minister. However, he often opposed Angel in the Senate, so he was also Angel's political enemy.

Unlike Angel, who was born into a noble family, Listerine was just a small Moldovan nobleman. If he were a small nobleman, it would be impossible to enter the Senate. But he had a good brother, Bogdan, the head of the Iasi Parliament in Moldova.

Yes, it was the Bogdan who was appointed by Peter as the director of the Iasi Conference. He later served as governor for a time and then became a high official in Suceava. But his son fell ill and died less than a year later, and he himself was thrown to the ground by a horse during a hunt and never got up again. His title and property were inherited by his younger brother.

However, before Bogdan died, he warned Listerine that he must fully support the royal family, no matter what the circumstances. He has always adhered to his brother's teachings and firmly stood on Mircea's side.

After his brother's death, Listerine also became the director of the conference in Iasi. During this period, he sent a large amount of cash and soldiers to Mircea during the war. At the same time, he also bribed Mircha's close ministers to achieve the goal of promotion.

He first became a high-ranking official in Suceava Province, and then the administrator of Bukur Yesti. He took the lead in the siege of Constantinople and won Mircea's favor and was qualified to enter the Senate.

Whether it was military expansion or governance, Listerine stood by Mircea. This made Mircea pay more and more attention to him, and eventually he became the interior minister of the empire.

In addition to Mircea, Listerine also favored Peter. He knew that Caesar favored people with strong abilities, so he worked diligently in the position of Minister of the Interior. Not only did he handle many matters, he also assisted Peter in domestic affairs in Anatolia. This made both rulers feel good about him, and he gained a lot of land and property.

Listerine's rapid rise caught Angel off guard. He had anticipated all the prime minister's successors, but he had not thought of him. This makes him feel that his power is being challenged and therefore he must be watched.

The battle between Angel and Listerine is also a microcosm of Roman domestic politics, with the big nobles competing for political power with the newly rising small and medium-sized nobles and common people. They use various means to compete for power, but the final arbiter is the emperor, which means that no matter what the final result is, the emperor will gain the greatest benefit.

After the implementation of the Official Rank List, the situation in which the big nobles controlled government and local affairs changed greatly. Businessmen, small and medium-sized nobles, landowners, and even civilians could participate in politics. The influence of these noble families has weakened, and some people want to resist, but they dare not think of what happened in Kemplonge.

The big landowners are in a dilemma. They are collaborators in local governance and are also the reserve group of bureaucrats. The reform of official positions has damaged some interests, but this is not fatal. The most fatal ones are the protection measures for small farmers and the suppression of land mergers. This directly touched their big cake. The landowners wanted to fight against the imperial power, but those groups that benefited would first stand up for the emperor and crush them.

Citizens and wealthy businessmen were a group that gradually grew up to play a political role. They relied on the funds in their hands to obtain assets and policies conducive to industry and commerce. At the same time, they also needed to open up markets and open trade routes to fund the expansion of the empire. Those nobles who were obsessed with saving face would also use their manors as collateral to obtain money, and even marry their daughters to businessmen to solve their urgent needs. Businessmen also entered the upper class through marriages with nobles.

Merchants were the most dynamic group in the empire and supporters of imperial power and expansion. Their colonization and exploration teams were no worse than the official ones. The journey from Moscow to Constantinople was explored by the Ross Company in cooperation with some businessmen. Romanian merchants controlled most of the Black Sea trade, and their presence was found on major Eastern European rivers such as the Dnieper, Don, and Vistula.

Cities are places where business people are concentrated. What industrial and commercial people, no matter how big or small, fear most is social unrest, chaos, disorder and war. If the situation of feudal lords being allowed to divide their empires, compete with each other for territory, and even block roads and rob the city, the losses suffered by the city would be much greater than those suffered after the unification of imperial power. Even if a centralized system was established under imperial power, it would still be better than the disorderly state of feudal separatism. Besides, big businessmen in the city hoped for strong imperial unification and support for business more than small businessmen. In addition to the large scale of their operations and greater losses due to social disorder, they are also profitable in business, and new capital is constantly entering the business field. Some new small businessmen entering this field do not have capital and rely on borrowing money to do business. The entry of small businessmen disrupted the original order of business, and the traditional status of large businessmen was also challenged, so they instead hoped that authoritative authorities would manage the business order.

It can be seen that the city, especially the upper class in the city, has great hopes for the imperial power's future actions. They believe that the imperial power will not forget the price and contribution they have made in supporting the imperial power, and the imperial power will definitely reward them with policies and measures that are conducive to the development of industry and commerce. They believe that if cities can gain economic benefits from the unification of the domestic market and the development of foreign markets in the future, then it will be worthwhile even if the city loses its independent status due to the establishment of a centralized system.