The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Chapter 302 Struggling to Support

Andreas discovered that as long as he found a good backer, wealth and status would come.

Now he is no longer a run-down nobleman who accidentally became the envoy of Genoa, but the Duke of Romagna who has a certain status in Italy.

“This is incredible”

Peter stationed some troops here when he left Romagna. They would help Andreas train his own army and eradicate the landed aristocracy.

Andreas installed the entire Della Rovere family into the duchy. He inserted one of his sons into the Orthodox Church, and his successor Julian followed him in his campaign to unify the duchy.

"Father, do we really have our own fiefdom?"

Isn't it obvious that Andreas wanted to give his son a slap? He really has a fiefdom, and the hope of reviving the family lies with him.

He also knew that his honor and status were given by Rome, so he would do whatever Rome asked him to do without any second thoughts.

Previously, the Pope only had nominal feudal sovereignty over Romagna and the Papal States. The Papal States were actually divided and divided among themselves. For this reason, we must first implement unification and then develop other places.

Diplomatically, Romagna needs to rely closely on Constantinople. At least for now, Romagna needs to rely on the military power of the Roman Empire to protect itself.

The same is true for the newly established Republic of Emilia, but they don't have many choices. Following Rome is their only way out.

The economy of Northeastern Italy has been hollowed out by Peter, especially the handicraft industry. Skilled craftsmen were brought to the east to be slaves, leaving only a few who settled elsewhere.

Not only the craftsmen, but all the local cultural and religious sacred objects were taken away. Church lands were confiscated and all nuns and priests became Orthodox serfs. Agriculture became the basis of the local economy.

Peter encountered little resistance on his way north, and Florence and Siena were eager to send the great god away quickly. Milan and Savoy wanted to make a last stand, but their armies could only protect themselves. They wanted mercenaries. There were no more Italians, so they decided to go north and hire old farmers from Switzerland to fight.

But before crossing the Alps, 30,000 Roman troops led by Constantine had entered Milan and wiped out many stragglers. Then he was stationed at Piacenza near Milan, ready to retreat at any time.

Peter agreed to continue negotiations with both countries as long as the money provided to Rome was sufficient. How could the two rulers not seize the opening, and they were prepared to hand over the amount given by Florence. For this reason, let’s first suffer the hardships of the people at home.

The war in northern Italy was basically over, and Rome received more than 5 million florins in cash and items and personnel worth more than 10 million. The Republics of Venice and Bologna fell and were replaced by the Province of Dalmatia, the Republic of Emilia and the Principality of Romagna. The political landscape of Northern Italy was completely rewritten.

At the same time, the looting by the Roman army caused tens of millions of florins in losses and hundreds of thousands of deaths in Northern Italy. A large number of craftsmen were arrested, which weakened the local handicraft industry. The local economy suffered a certain blow, but it still had some foundation.

Next up was the South, where Laszlo continued to put pressure on the Catholic League. Since there was no pressure from the north, he could move his entire army toward the south.

Laszlo led the expedition in person, and he placed his wife, who was three months pregnant, to avoid assassination by assassins in the city. At the same time he received news from Peter that he had sent troops to support Naples.

Constantinople also expanded aggressively after the victory in the Battle of the Sea, and Crete and Rhodes were besieged. Orders for military supplies from there also reached Bari via Durachion and were shipped over. This made Laszlo more and more convinced that the original alliance was correct.

In order to give his heir a strong country, Laszlo was cruel to the local nobles of Naples. Through this Catholic League war, Laszlo had ordered the confiscation of their fiefdoms. And promoted some capable ministers to the central government, and the internal affairs of Naples were much better than before.

There was also trouble in Aragon. Under the influence of the East, there was also a popular uprising in Sicily. They were dissatisfied with the rule of the Kingdom of Aragon and began to rebel under the leadership of Orthodox priests and Eastern merchants. Influential families in the interior also joined in, and they were prepared to negotiate with Naples or Constantinople on this condition.

Within a week of the uprising, more than 1,000 Aragonese were killed. They wrote to Laszlo and Mircea asking for help in exchange for the crown of the Kingdom of Sicily.

The sudden change caught Martin off guard. The first thing he did was to ship himself, his family and treasure to Barcelona. Then he gathered troops from there to put down the rebellion, but his escape directly destroyed the morale of the local defenders. If you have the conditions, you run away, if you don't have the conditions, you hide. Sicily was involved in this storm of war between the East and the West.

Austria in the north heard that the Roman army was preparing to march north, and was frightened and overwhelmed. Vienna sent people directly to Buda to request peace talks, and withdrew the troops stationed in the Diocese of Trento to defend the capital.

The HRE and the princes in France who were ready to move had no idea. They were either too far away, or it had nothing to do with them, or the other party was too powerful, and even the elector was almost captured. What if something happens to his fiefdom?

The only ones who still have some ideas are Poland, Lithuania and Castile. Poland and Lithuania cannot stand the benefits gained by Rome and want to send troops, while Castile has a simple sense of religious mission and wants to fight the heretics. .

But these three countries also encountered their own difficulties. Glass needed to face the pressure of the Cossack Emirate and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Castile was overwhelmed by domestic political instability and harassment in Granada in the south. They wanted to send troops. There is also a lot of ambition but not enough strength.

Rome also sent diplomatic letters to various countries stating that this expedition was entirely for revenge against the country that initiated the Fourth Crusade. Those mercenaries were divided according to their nationality and were basically from northern Italian city-states. Therefore, they were eliminated together with their hometowns two hundred years later.

This leaves everyone stunned, isn’t it? Does it have to be written so clearly? How do you know that those soldiers are from these city-states? Who can guarantee that there is no moisture in them. But I can only say this in my heart. At least Rome has not attacked their territory. It has only been a few years since Venice, which was all-powerful in the Mediterranean, has disappeared. They don’t want to experience such a powerful fighting power. They only own one-third of an acre of land. the most important.

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