The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Chapter 64 Actions of all parties in the Balkans

The Ottoman invasion was delayed, and the knights who knew nothing about geography began to think that Bayezid (they sometimes couldn't figure out whether the Ottoman Sultan was Bayezid or "Amura", the Muslim rad). He must have been recruiting troops in the "Cairo of Babylon" and gathering forces in Alexandria and Damascus. Bayezid, they believed, received an army of "pagans from Tartar, Persia, Media, Syria, Alexandria, and other more distant places," composed of "Saracens and The army of "infidels" was under the "command and blessing of the Caliph of Baghdad and Asia Minor." If the enemy does not come, they should attack. They imagined that they could fight from Ottoman territory to the Persian Empire.

The Hungarians poured unimpeded into Serbia and then into the Morava River valley. There, they seized wine, which "(the wine) was put into sheepskin bags by the Turks. Their faith prohibited them from drinking alcohol, otherwise they would risk being executed, so the Turks had to sell the wine to the Christians." The Hungarians captured Serbian cities, where "men, women, and children were massacred, and the Christians showed no mercy to anyone"—a cruelty that exceeded that of the pagan Ottoman raiders.

Branković of Serbia defected to the Crusaders and converted to Catholicism, and Sigismund recognized him as king of all Serbia. In this way, the southern region of Hungary will be protected.

Since Niš was already occupied by Wallachia, the Crusaders planned to take another route to Kosovo. Some French crusaders planned to force their way into Nis, but were warned by the defenders.

However, Peter allowed them to pass, but not into the town. But at this time, the French army is unable to do anything. In one sentence, we noble people do not bother to pass through your land.

Well, since they don't appreciate it, they can just watch the show from the side.

The Crusaders continued their march, eventually stopping in Skopje. The short-sighted Christian army did not bring any siege equipment from the west, and Sigismund's preparations had been for defensive operations. It turned out that they had no way to storm the city by force, so they had to wait in front of the city wall, hoping that Skopje would be unable to bear the famine and open the city to surrender.

With no enemies to fight, the Western knights viewed the war like a picnic, enjoying women, wine and luxuries brought from home, and indulging in gambling and sex. They regarded the Ottomans with great disdain as posing no threat at all. Anyone who dares to express a different opinion will be accused of spreading feelings of failure and have their ears cut off. Moreover, there were frequent quarrels between troops from different regions, and Serbs and Transylvanians were not trusted.

Bayezid once again played the role of a tactician. He sent all the garrisons around Skopje to the front line. Although there was a risk that the opponent would break through quickly, Bayezid was also betting that the Crusaders would fight to the death. Kopje.

And it turned out that he was right. The Crusaders will not leave until they capture this place. This is really strange. There are no heavy weapons or siege equipment, so why can't they pass quickly.

----Dividing line----

The Ottomans were confronting the Crusaders, and Wallachia was beginning to govern new territory. For the Turkic residents in the country, Peter adopted the same method as the Ottomans and collected a capitation tax from these people.

This was done to reflect Wallachia's image as the guardian of Orthodoxy and to speed up the spread of Orthodoxy.

In addition to the capitation tax, they are also inferior to the Orthodox Christians in other rights. This is already considered very good. Compared with the previous rulers of various countries, it is already a great kindness for someone to not take your life, and you have to pray for him.

Although the Bulgarian Church appeared earlier than the Wallachian Church, its independence was lost after the destruction of the Ottomans and the conquest of Wallachia. They could only follow Wallachia's instructions.

At this time, although the religion in Wallachia was still dominated by Orthodox Christianity, Catholics, Muslims and other religious believers were also growing, and the Armenian Apostolic Church and Judaism also formed gathering areas in the country.

Of all the religions, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Orthodox Church are the closest. Although the separation between the two predates the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.

Mircea recognizes the Armenian Church, but its bishop must be selected by the Grand Duke, and the church must support the Grand Duke and must not commit treason. In Bukur Yesti, an Armenian church is also planned.

Some minor nobles who defected to the Grand Duke were canonized as boyars, while some lands that defected to European or Ottoman nobles were nationalized and then given to loyal people by the Grand Duke. This formed the special lords of Wallachia.

Special lords were different from boyars in that they obeyed the Grand Duke and performed military service or submitted taxes to the Grand Duke. This strengthened the archduke's local control and promoted the unification and feudal development of Wallachia.

Peter's Bulgarian Governor-General's Order was also issued everywhere, not recognizing the commercial treaties signed by Bulgaria to various countries. Without Wallachia's approval, merchants from any country will not have tax exemption and other privileges.

This made Venice and Genoa angry, so you can just show these two ID cards. Which country can still do business in the east now? Really.

If you don't have tax-free privileges for co-authoring, you won't be able to do it. Why is it so hard to pay for something?

Constanta, Varna, Sofia, Niš, etc. are important customs ports in Wallachia, and these places are all responsible for the special personnel dispatched by the Grand Duke.

As the protagonist in governing the country, economy is an unavoidable topic. Whether we pay attention to mulberry farming or develop trade, it’s all about getting more money. If you want to learn from it, you might as well learn from our ancestors in the East more than two thousand years ago. One is mercantile and the other is philanthropic.

Of these two people who had been dead for who knows how many years, one made his country the overlord, and the other made the country he surrendered to unify the whole country. They were called Guan Zhong and Shang Yang.

The government quickly monopolized Bulgaria's salt, and sent those troops to suppress bandits and ensure smooth trade routes. In this way, even if agricultural taxes were exempted, they could still live on salt income and commercial taxes.

Peter formulated the "City Interest Letter", announcing that businessmen with more than 600 lei of property were exempted from corporal punishment, military service, and capitation tax, and only paid 8% of commercial tax and exemption fee. This policy was deeply welcomed by industrial and commercial people, and a number of handicraft workshops sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

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