eastern european eagle

Chapter 621 The Tsar’s Order

Władysław was sure that the enemy would be happy after capturing Lviv and would relax their guard during the celebration, which was their best chance. Their charge would catch the enemy off guard.

But when they arrived in Lviv, they found that the city was quiet, the gates were closed, and there were enemy soldiers fully armed and ready for battle.

The actual situation was different from what they had imagined before, and Władysław was a little nervous, but he still ordered his soldiers to launch a trial attack.

As a result, the Polish soldiers climbed over the trenches with great difficulty and arrived at the city gate, but suffered many casualties under the long-range attack of the defenders.

In this case, he had no choice but to go in person. The envoy went to the city and asked to see the Romanian emperor, and Peter agreed.

He rode out of the city gate, surrounded by guards, and Władysław came up to confront him.

"Long time no see, Emperor of Romania, I wonder if you still recognize me."

"Of course I know you, you are the Polish king who took advantage of the situation to rob people"

The hurtful words almost caused the almost 60-year-old man to die suddenly, but he quickly changed the subject.

"Poland has always been friendly with Romania. We don't know what happened, but we let you attack with your army. Isn't this a bad thing to do?"

Peter looked down on him and said, “I think you should know what Lithuania has done to Russia and our country. I captured Vytautas myself and then released him to teach him a lesson, but what was the result?

He did not learn his lesson and started to go to war again, destroying the peace. He even dragged Livonia into it. Such behavior is intolerable to the empire. "

Władysław knew that Vytautas was upset, but he didn't expect him to do such a thing. He had originally discussed with him that he would take action after getting Sigismund's support, but he couldn't help but come early. Now it's too late to turn back, and he doesn't know how much it will cost.

Before he could speak, Peter continued, "Jagiełło, I hope you understand that I will not give up this time. I advise you to go back to Warsaw and enjoy your last moments."

After that, Peter led his men back to Lviv, leaving Władysław in the wind. Hearing the other party calling his name directly, he felt dizzy and hurried back to the tent.

Peter refused to negotiate, so Władysław had to camp outside the city, at least to prevent them from marching towards Krakow.

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Riga surrendered, and the mayor and local merchants could not stand it anymore. They and some citizens launched a coup, tied up the Livonian leader, the archbishop and others, and then sent people to surrender to the Russian army.

After repeated confirmation, Grushenko decided to accept the surrender, and Riga was peacefully opened. The mayor personally came to surrender with the captives. The once glorious Livonian nobles, commanders, and bishops now lay on the ground like dogs. They never expected that the Russians would rise so quickly.

"Dear commander, I, the mayor of Riga, on behalf of the citizens of Riga, formally express my allegiance to you."

It has been a long time since I last saw this obedient city, so Grushenko decided to keep them for now. After all, it is not realistic to kill them all, so he only asked them to convert to Orthodox Christianity and speak Russian. This is quite good for the citizens, as long as they can save their lives.

After the Northern Crusades, Livonia finally met its end. It was destroyed after 217 years.

Russia has acquired a large amount of Baltic Sea coastline, and important ports such as Reval and Riga will become the driving force of Russia's economic development.

While fighting on the front lines, Michael did not forget to govern the country. Currently, Russia is jointly governed by the queen, the prime minister and the patriarch. As the main driving force behind Michael's becoming the tsar, the queen has gained great power. When the tsar is away, she can receive foreign envoys, appoint and dismiss officials, etc.

As for the prime minister, he was promoted by Mihaly from Novgorod. He was a good bureaucrat who could provide a steady stream of funds for the front line while also promoting the country's economic development.

Trade with Romania was Russia's most important source of income. The two sides had frequent trade, and the Volga and Dnieper rivers became golden waterways. Russia also exported a large amount of logs to the south, which became the main raw material for the Roman shipbuilding industry.

In addition to logs, Russia also exported hemp, flax, beeswax, fish, honey, wood, fur, leather, bristles, etc. Imports from Romania included woolen cloth, silk fabrics, wine, metal products, weapons, luxury goods, etc. At the same time, relying on the Volga River, Russia traded with Eastern countries.

Relying on rich foreign trade, Russia has developed rapidly in recent years. The population of Moscow has increased to 85000, and Novgorod has 30000. The urban population has increased rapidly, and in the countryside, a large number of farmers have separated from agriculture and engaged in handicraft production. They work as blacksmiths, potters, carpenters, coopers, icon painters, woodcarvers, stone carvers, etc. to run handicrafts. In the clothing industry of Novgorod alone, there are 9 handicraft industries.

At the same time, trade between various parts of Russia was strengthened. At that time, Moscow was the regional trade center of all of Russia. More than 120 kinds of goods were concentrated and sold in the Moscow market.

In order to obtain more arable land, the Russian army began to expand eastward, all the way to the Ural Mountains. But even so, Russia still had too little arable land, and they wanted to continue to expand eastward. But at present, the expansion has reached its limit, so they have to slow down.

The decrees signed by Michael included the appointment and dismissal of local governors and central bureaucrats, and the local boyars still had great political power. In order to centralize power, Michael promoted the development of the territorial system in Russia.

The so-called manorial system refers to a land system in which the tsar divided the feudal hereditary estate into small pieces as fiefdoms and awarded them to his cronies, great feudal lords, dukes, nobles, meritorious officials, and soldiers, and handed them over together with the peasants living on the fiefdoms to the inheritors. The purpose of the tsarist government in implementing the manorial system was to make the land inheritors obey the tsar, be loyal to the tsar, and assume feudal service or corvée obligations.

Mihaly also knew that peasants were the source of vitality for the national economy, and while consolidating serfdom he also tried his best to find a way for the peasants to survive.

One of the policies was to promote monetary and in-kind rents. Most of the major landlords in Russia were satisfied with in-kind and monetary rents, while small landlords in various parts of Russia forcibly implemented labor rents and exploited dependent farmers.

Now the Tsar directly encouraged the adoption of monetary and in-kind rents, and with the development of handicrafts and commerce, the small landlords were also somewhat tempted and began to change. The peasants got a chance to breathe under the serfdom.

(End of this chapter)