eastern european eagle

Chapter 143 The Renaissance and Weights and Measures
At the state meeting hosted by Grand Duke Mircea, many ministers proposed to take this opportunity to expel Ottoman from the Balkans, so that Wallachia became the sole ruler of the Balkans, and then marched towards Constantinople to be crowned Roman Emperor , and then continue to recover the Holy Land until success.

But Peter stopped this whimsical move. Now that the war has just ended, instead of going to rest with the people, he continues the war. Is this because he is afraid that the country will not collapse fast enough?

Peter's idea has been supported by the Grand Duke, and now he really needs to recuperate, and the construction of the army must continue, and the standing army must be increased, so as to maintain the combat effectiveness against Ottoman.

Mircea continued to implement reforms on the newly conquered lands, liberating serfs on Ottoman lands, promulgating tax reduction decrees, and inventorying land and population.And to promote Wallachian culture to these areas, even if it is difficult, it has to go on.

Rome sent a special envoy for the second time, Basilius invited Grand Duke Mircea to Constantinople to meet Manuel, and welcomed him with the highest courtesy.

This is a great honor for Wallachia. After all, other countries have always gone to Constantinople by themselves. There was no invitation from the emperor. But after thinking about it, I know that the emperor must rely on the power of Wallachia. Drive the Ottomans out of the Balkans.

However, it would be too simple to ask Wallachia to send troops with a few words, and it would have to be exchanged for other things, such as the king's castle or his crown.

There are still many intellectuals from Constantinople, and they have made great contributions to Wallachia in terms of art and culture.On the murals of San Canito Cathedral, the portrait of Grand Duke Mircea highlights his majesty, making people kneel unconsciously when they see it.

Under the influence of Greek culture, Wallachian culture also began to have an ancient character.The literati in Constantinople are especially fond of copying the cultural classics of ancient Greece and Rome. collection.” And they also translated and collected classic culture.

Even ancient philosophy, drama, ancient grammar and rhetoric are not spared, "Constantinople is very ancient, learning ancient Greek, collecting and copying ancient books has become a common practice, studying ancient philosophy and drama, delving into ancient grammar and Rhetoric, too, became a "hot spot" in intellectual circles, and this hotness caused a Greek fever in Wallachia.

The Balkans calmed down again, and Wallachia's achievements envied its neighbors, especially Hungary.Wallachia, which was originally a small country, has now become about the size of Hungary.

The Hungarian nobles are a bit unbalanced. They also want military exploits and land. Why can Wallachia have these, but they don't?
Some people put pressure on Sigismund to expand abroad, and the king took this opportunity to make a deal with them and ask them to support him.At present, his struggle with his wife Mary has become fierce, and he must obtain more support from the nobles.

The Catholic Church was already on his side, and as long as he had the support of the nobles, Mary would be left alone.But doesn't Mary understand this truth?
Although her political ability is a problem, Mary is not stupid. She can feel that the Hungarian nobles are gradually taking refuge in Sigismund.This is because she has not participated in politics for a long time. Although it is dangerous, she still does not want to give up.

"Your Majesty, do we still have a chance of winning?"

Asked Count Lajos, a loyal supporter of Mary, a Transylvanian landowner who, unlike the others, was kind to the peasants, at least not lynching them.And he couldn't understand the country being controlled by foreigners, so when Mary sent someone to win him over, he did not hesitate to join the queen.

But now, they are obviously in a weak position, and I am afraid that they will fail soon. I don't know what other tricks Mary has.

In fact, what else can Mary do, it is nothing more than calling for foreign aid.But what support does she have?

Mary suddenly thought of the Wallachia Crown Prince, who would definitely help her.

She decided to write a letter to the crown prince, hoping that he could support her, and the conditions were casually mentioned.

As for Poland, the mood is very small, Wladyslaw is concentrating on the war against Teutonic, while Lithuania continues to annex the land of the Principality of Rus.Not too much energy for Wallachia.

Such a window period is very precious to Wallachia, and they should continue to reform and accumulate strength while taking advantage of this opportunity, and they are doing the same.

After five years of reforms, Wallachia has accumulated a certain strength, and the next step should be the second reform measure.And local and military reforms are just beginning.

Afterwards, Peter began the work of unifying weights and measures.In this era, the smallest unit of length in Europe turned out to be an inch...

Moreover, there is no vernier caliper in the modern sense in Europe at present, and only the UK has a ruler similar to a vernier caliper.Of course, because this ruler does not have a precise scale, the measurement is not very reliable.

In this era, the difference between a master craftsman and an apprentice, apart from knowledge, lies in the grinding skills.For example, great craftsmen have good craftsmanship in grinding parts, and when they are close to the scale, they will be very careful, so that few parts are worn out and the yield is high.As for those apprentices, often at a critical moment, one of the controls is not good, and the parts are scrapped.Even if it is not scrapped, the running-in between parts is not very good because of poor manual control.

Moreover, it is also very difficult to check the quality of workpieces in this era. It is necessary to take out "standard" workpieces and compare them carefully against the sun, which is a test of eyesight.

Moreover, there is no measurement of centimeters and millimeters in this era, so Peter needs to define it himself.Therefore, Peter needs to "create" such weights and measures himself.

Peter got the data in imperial units from Genoa during his travels, and to deduce the standard centimeters, all he had to do was figure out the standard inches.According to the principle that one inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters, the length of 1 centimeter can be calculated quickly.Then, every tenth of a centimeter is 10 millimeter...

At the same time, 1 standard British pound is equal to grams.Therefore, as long as you get the standard weight of 1 British pound (copper weights are generally cast in various countries as a standard weight reference), you can deduce that 1 gram is a variety of...

Then, under the amazed gaze of his attendants, Peter deduced the lengths of 1 centimeter, 1 decimeter, 1 meter and 1 millimeter.Then, with the British pound, weights in grams and kilograms were deduced.Later, craftsmen were arranged to make standard reference copper rulers of 1 meter and 1 decimeter out of copper, and standard copper weights of grams were made out of copper as a standard reference for weight.After making reference materials, these standard items were sealed up and wrapped in paper.Take it out for comparison and use only when needed.

(End of this chapter)