eastern european eagle

Chapter 586 The First Shot

Sigismund began to gather troops and informed the nobles of Bohemia to act as an insider. As long as they could control Wenzel, the outcome would be decided.

At this time, the Berlin Alliance was thriving under the leadership of Brandenburg, and the countries could discuss things in a relatively peaceful manner. Moreover, with a leader to support them, they could also operate their own estates to increase their income.

The past few years have been a rare period of peace for the alliance, although Brandenburg has been suppressing them as the leader of the alliance. But the eldest brother has given too much, as long as it does not involve their property, the political power will be given to him.

The Hanseatic League had the same idea. A peaceful environment not only increased their trade, but also enabled them to compete with Denmark. As long as their property was not damaged, they could obey Brandenburg's command.

Vlad walked along the Danube to Pozzonie in Hungary, and then took the land route through Silesia back to Berlin. Along the way, he was thinking about what his elder brother had said to him.

"Remember, although the alliance is good, it will be dissolved one day. You need to make some changes to this."

How to change the alliance? The eldest brother did not say, everything can only be explored by himself.

"Sir, you are back."

"Well, what's going on lately?"

"Nothing serious, just proposing in Parliament that His Excellency should be made king."

Vlad was stunned and asked quickly, "What did you say?"

"The councillors of Hamburg, Lübeck and Schleswig ask you to attack Copenhagen and become King of Denmark."

They were quite self-centered. After conquering Denmark, they would gain control of the Øresund Strait, and the trade in the Baltic Sea would be completely under their control.

"I see. But let's wait until the matter in Bohemia is over."

Vlad did not continue to speak, as he was thinking about how to improve the cohesion of the alliance. However, the more territories, the easier it would be to do things, so he decided to confirm Silesia first.

"How many troops can be assembled now?"

"Excluding those guarding the city, we can have 13000 troops."

"Well, gather them all and come with me to Breslau."

Vlad has already decided that he will intervene clearly in Bohemia this time. Since his brothers don't want to fire the first shot, let him do it.

Although Silesia was not a no-man's land, he entered in the name of maintaining stability, and the other party did not know what reason to expel him for a while. He had to seize this opportunity.

——————————Władysław has moved the capital from Krakow to Warsaw. Fortunately, he brought back most of the property from Lithuania, which supported him to bribe the Sejm to pass the resolution to move the capital.

Poland's situation was not much better than other countries, but thanks to the economic recovery of its neighbors, Poland's grain exports reached a new high. Masovia, which was directly under Władysław's jurisdiction, produced the most grain. With the profits from grain exports, he began to reorganize his army and planned to recover the lost territory in Lithuania.

At this time, Vytautas only had the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania. The nobles hated him for losing his land, the common people hated him for signing the peace treaty so easily, and Władysław hated him even more for giving away the land he had worked so hard to obtain.

But what could he do at the time? If Władysław had come earlier, he might not have to sign.

The two brothers hated each other so much that Vytautas could only rely on the few pieces of land he had to increase his power. The large area before was like a moon in the water and a flower in the mirror. Lithuania had to return to its place in the end.

Vytautas also led his troops to attack Minsk, but was repelled by the defenders. Michael spent a lot of effort to protect the new territory. The Russian boyars were also proud to defend the old territory of Rus. The Orthodox Church also gave Minsk a sacred status. Lithuania, a pagan, wanted to take it back, but it would have to wait for the next life.

In the south, the Roman-controlled provinces of Ruthenia and the vassal Cossack states had been very peaceful. Most of the food produced locally was exported through the Black Sea, and mining and iron smelting in Donetsk and Luhansk provided a lot of resources. These also became the materials for Rome's expansion in the Caucasus.

Constantinople invested 200 million lei here and built hundreds of fortresses and towns. As a border province, Kiev Province naturally had the largest number of troops.

Listerlin arrived in Kiev by boat, and the mayor of Kiev had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Welcome to Kiev, Your Excellency."

"Okay, starting today, things are going to change here."

At this time, Kiev had a population of 4, the city walls had been replaced with stone, and Basil's Cathedral in the city center was rebuilt.

Taking advantage of Kiev's geographical location, it quickly attracted merchants from Russia, Poland and other countries to trade here. It is also a trade node between Russia and Romania, and there are a lot of tariffs and transaction taxes from it, but it has been undergoing large-scale construction in recent years, and the money will soon be spent. If the army is not paid directly by the central government, it will go bankrupt.

Listerlin also asked about Kiev's taxation, but the other party said that the big landowners here were people who could not be touched. How could the former prime minister not know that there must be a big noble figure among them?

"Don't panic, someone told me."

The other party also said directly that not only the former ministers of the Senate, but also members of the parliament and even the royal family were involved. However, according to the imperial decree, they all had to pay taxes, so at least they didn't have to worry about not being able to pay the taxes.

The fertility of the land here has attracted many people, but no one can compare to the royal family. Dnipro Province has almost become a direct territory of the royal family. Except for a few old nobles who own a few manors, the royal family has become the only landowner here.

With Mircea Castle as the center, the most fertile land around it all belonged to the royal family. The workshops and shops in the city also provided funds. Baptiste had discussed the problem with the emperor before, and finally reached a compromise: taxes here could be waived, but the royal family would bear the construction expenses here.

Listerlin learned the specific situation. Although the border is peaceful at present, Poland may launch a surprise attack at any time. Now it is necessary to make defensive preparations and pay close attention to the direction of Poland and Russia.

(End of this chapter)