eastern european eagle

Chapter 202 Split Consciousness and Undecided Situation

Outside St. George's Church in Constantinople, two groups of people were confronting each other, holding iron tools and stones, with fierce eyes.

"Scaparis, are you sure you want to help outsiders defile this city again?"

"Hey, Barthold, you are the ones who have shamed Constantinople. The tragedy of a hundred years ago has not gone away, and you have to ask for their help again. Are you worthy of this city and the innocent citizens who died a hundred years ago?"

The quarrel between the two sides became louder and louder, and even the church priest came to stop it to no avail. Later, someone threw a stone and ignited the powder kegs of both sides. They fought quickly, blood was flying in the air, screams and collisions were heard endlessly, and some people directly joined the fight after hearing the reason.

In King's Castle, such a situation can be staged every day, and the reason for the struggle is whether to ask Wallachia for help, or to invite the Grand Duke Mircea of ​​Wallachia to take over Constantinople.

This should be put in the past, the emperor had already killed all these ministers.But today is different from the past. The pro-Western European faction and the Orthodox Church are fighting to the death, and even the people at the bottom have joined the debate.Especially when Wallachia invaded Anatolia, the Orthodox Church directly began to prepare for the new emperor.

In order to keep his position, Manuel temporarily cooperated with the Western European faction.He frequently met with envoys from Venice, Genoa, Florence and other countries, and negotiated with them a large number of loan contracts, all of which were in silver coins.

It turns out that the Roman Empire stopped minting gold coins a few decades ago.Since Constantine IX at the end of the Macedonian dynasty, the gold coin Nomisma has been continuously depreciated due to the decline in fineness.During the Komnen dynasty, the depreciation of Nomisma continued, and the government issued Hypiron gold coins instead of Nomisma gold coins, but it still couldn't stop the trend of depreciation.After the fall of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Nicaean Empire still minted Hypironian gold coins, but the quality was not as good as that of the Comnnenic and Anchilian dynasties.

After the establishment of the Paleolio dynasty, Helenpoe gold coins continued to be minted, but the fineness was insufficient.A series of civil wars later caused the value of gold coins to fall into the abyss, so from 1341 onwards, there were no gold coins in the Roman Empire, and all silver coins were minted.

The separation of nobles and the struggle among the people are tormenting the 47-year-old emperor. His opponent, the 42-year-old Mircea, is sharpening his sword and staring at his throne. Whether to voluntarily abdicate or fight to the death, these two options may make him irreparable. Looking at it now, he seems to have chosen the first one.

"Your Majesty, there have been several brawls in Constantinople today."

"I see, back down."

Manuel waved wearily. Osman’s retreat hadn’t brought him joy for a few days. Wallachia’s landing in Anatolia made him frightened. Isn’t this the Orthodox version of Ottoman?

Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, usurpation was very common.For example, his ancestor Mikhail VIII usurped the throne of John IV of the Nicaean Empire, and he blinded the child and locked him in a monastery.Now, he is also worried that he will have such an end.

What's more, his younger brother Theodore didn't obey his orders. Although he paid him a lot of taxes every year, he didn't say a word about the land distribution.He could forcefully enfeoff, but that would only push his family to Wallachia's side.Such a situation seems unsolvable.

However, Mircea did not pay much attention to the affairs of Constantinople.Because after landing in Anatolia, good news came from Hungary: Grand Duke Mary of Transylvania proposed an alliance between the two countries, and Wallachia helped Mary retake Hungary. In return, Transylvania could be handed over to Wallachia for management.

Mircea can finally fulfill the wish of his ancestors and take back Transylvania.Now Mary's only ally is him. If she does not rely on Wallachia, then the noble people in Transylvania will swallow her.

Mircea and Mary exchanged more than a dozen letters, and finally in Busolav, the two sides signed a treaty.

The treaty stipulated that Wallachia provided a batch of funds and weapons to Transylvania, recognized Mary's title of King of Hungary, and Mary handed Transylvania over to Wallachia after recapturing Buda, and the title of King of Croatia was purchased by Wallachia at a price of 3 gold coins.

Signing of the Treaty of Brasov, Wallachia intervenes in the Hungarian Civil War.Nearly a year of war left Hungary devastated, and a large number of people were exiled. The surrounding Poland, Shinra, and Austria were all eyeing it.

The people are fed up with this status quo, since Sigismund can't do it, then another king will rule.

Some minor nobles who had converted to the Orthodox Church held an election meeting and unanimously agreed that Mary, the Grand Duke of Transylvania, would be the King of Hungary.And sent someone to Cluj to report the news to the Grand Duke.

However, the great nobles and landowners still supported Sigismund as king, and after getting the money, he recruited some mercenaries to serve.The struggle of the civil war may have to continue for a long time.

----split line----

Anatolia temporarily regained its calm, merchants began to shuttle back and forth between the two territories of Wallachia, and Genoa was happily preparing to acquire alum.Peter used their payments to start building infrastructure.

Roads, military buildings, town halls, these are all necessary.In the era of the Roman Empire, these were the basic elements of controlling the place. Since it had been destroyed by nomadic tribes for too long, everything had to be restarted from scratch. Peter was also busy not touching the ground, for fear of making a mistake.

Relying on the church, the army, and the nomadic tribes he took refuge in, Peter managed to stabilize his rule in the local area.At the same time, the ruler of the Principality of the Aegean Islands also told Peter that they would not block the merchant ships from Wallachia. As for the Knights of the Hospital, they only proposed that the two sides should get along with each other. After all, they are a Catholic Knights, approved by the Pope, and it is not a good thing to have too much contact with the Orthodox Church.

Merchants in Wallachia took a fancy to the resources here and began to invest in the establishment of factories, including textile, metallurgy, shipping, brewing and other industries, especially the metallurgy industry. Because the exploration team sent by Peter discovered several iron ore and a coal mine in the local area, Peter established an iron smelting factory near Smyrna, as well as supporting firearms factories, responsible for the production of artillery and muskets, and the shipyard could not be left behind.These are the necessary foundations for expanding the army.

The exchanges between Thessaloniki and Smyrna began to increase, and the number of merchant ships gradually increased.Wallachia began to occupy an increasing share of the Aegean, and not even Venice could stop it.

(End of this chapter)