eastern european eagle

Chapter 579 England's Plans for France
In London, the capital of England, Stefan welcomes his brother Vlad, Elector of Brandenburg, who has come from afar, at Westminster Palace.

"Long time no see brother, how are you?"

"Everything is fine. I didn't expect you to be the king already. That's great."

Vlad was a little jealous. The title of Elector looked good, but it only worked when electing the Holy Roman Emperor. Normally, his title was still the Margrave of Brandenburg, just like the title of the Elector of the Palatinate was the Count. He also wanted a title like the King of Bohemia.

However, it seems a bit impossible at present. They were already defeated by the Orthodox Church. Without Bohemia, the Catholic Church would not be able to survive. Therefore, they worked particularly hard to eliminate heresy. The religious princes contributed a lot of funds and troops. If they had not oppressed Bohemia too much and caused the wrath of heaven and people, they should be celebrating in Prague now.

Regarding his proposal to take Silesia, Sigismund politely sent his envoy away. He really didn't know what was good for him. He couldn't even get this place. It seemed that his power was not enough. He had to let him know his own strength.

Brandenburg's population was only about 500,000. In order to maintain a capable army, Vlad had to cooperate with local landlords, giving them power over the land in exchange for their army and long-term loyalty. As for ordinary people, they were directly recruited into the army, and as long as they fought bravely, they could be given land.

Vlad attached great importance to the newly acquired territory from Teutonia as the only outlet to the sea. The annual tax revenue from Danzig was an important source of income for him, so he had a heavy military presence in East Pomerania and continued to encroach on Teutonia.

However, the progress in the east was too slow, so Vlad turned his attention to the west. Using the platform of the Berlin Alliance, he recruited other small countries in various ways, and currently expanded in East Frisia and Westphalia.

According to the previous brotherly treaty, although the land east of the Rhine belonged to Stefan, the treaty could still be changed. He was not greedy and only wanted half of Burgundy. So he came to discuss it with his dear brother.

"I never thought we would meet again in this situation. You are the King of England, and I am the Elector of Brandenburg. There is a French kingdom between us, but it will soon be gone."

Hearing what his third brother said, Stefan knew that he wanted some places. He would be satisfied as long as he could get Britain and France, but he still had to fight for the specific situation.

"It's still a little early now. It would have been better if we attacked earlier. At that time, Orleans and Burgundy were at war. Now is not the best time."

Stefan took Vlad to look at the map of Western Europe. "Look, Burgundy now occupies the east of France, Orleans occupies the south of France, and there is also Bourbon, which is immediately ruled out as a brother-in-law of the family. We only need to take Paris, and then there will be no problem in the north. It's just that the south will require a long-term attack, and it will be possible only after Orleans and Lyon are taken."

"Brother, before, in order to prevent France from hurting you behind your back, you gave up Gascony in exchange for England. Now it seems that the difficulty has increased a lot." Vlad said.

"Different times have different situations. Even with Gascony, it is easy to split the troops and cause failure. It is better to concentrate the troops in one place so that we can win the battle quickly.

So, what do you want, Third Brother? "

The sudden question made Vlad at a loss, but he quickly adjusted himself and spoke.

"It's nothing, just follow the current border between France and Germany." If we follow the current border, there will be nothing east of Antwerp. Stefan felt that his brother's ambition was too big.

"Actually, I think it's best to divide Frisia into two. This is relatively fair. And don't you already have Silesia?"

Vlad was happy when he heard this, as his army had already established itself in cities such as Breslau, and Sigismund was ready to recognize that this was Brandenburg, which added hundreds of thousands of people and a large amount of economic resources to him.

"Even though we have Silesia, the locals still don't obey orders. It's too miserable to lose money before we even make it."

Stefan was not at all moved by his brother's crying poor. When it comes to international interests, no one can be soft-hearted.

"Friesland is easy, but what about Dijon?"

"This is French territory, there is no doubt about it."

Vlad had no interest in the French interior, just Friesland. This made things much better.

Stephen will attack France again in two years, and Vlad can create some trouble on the border to attract some people's attention. Then he will directly intervene to occupy Paris, and the overall situation will be determined. At that time, he will gradually erode the territory and directly become the common monarch of Frank and Britain.

This is indeed a good idea. For this battle, Stefan has assembled all his troops and is determined to fight a life-and-death battle.

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At this time in Bohemia, the Hussites had established the city of Tabor 60 kilometers away from Prague. They adopted egalitarianism here, everyone worked together, harvested together, and everyone could receive the Holy Grail. They were preparing to expand further and turn Bohemia into a utopia.

But this approach was beyond Hus's imagination. He only wanted to eliminate the corrupt church and did not want to overthrow the existing system. The situation in Tabor not only alienated some people, but also seriously hurt the feelings of their Orthodox allies. The reason was that the Taborites believed that they were the only sect that represented God, and Catholicism was not, let alone the Orthodox Church.

This made the Orthodox Christians feel that they had been deceived. It happened that Silesia was under the jurisdiction of Brandenburg, and they were ready to move there to re-establish their faith. Huss persuaded them to temporarily appease the emotions of his allies. But for now, it is better to end the war as soon as possible.

The Catholic Church's repeated crusades made it difficult for them to produce in peace, and their king, Wenzel, was already seriously ill. Hus had to get a treaty that was favorable to him before he died. To this end, he kept letting people who were inclined to peace negotiate with Sigismund.

There were two main demands regarding Huss: to cancel the charges against Huss and to recognize the existence of the Hussites. The Catholic Church would not agree to this. In their view, the Hussites were traitors who should be burned to death. But Sigismund could not wait any longer. Wenzel's health was getting worse and worse. If he really died and he had not yet obtained the title of king, then Vlad would definitely compete with him, which would definitely delay it for a few more years. After all, who wouldn't be tempted by such a large piece of land?

(End of this chapter)