Chapter 230 Eastern Strategy

The first city to be surrounded was Nicomedia. The city had less than 500 defenders and was soon surrounded by the Wallachian army. Within a few days, the defenders in the city were frightened and surrendered the city.

After Nicomedia, the Wallachian army went south to Nicaea. In order to ensure the timely arrival of the army, all the merchant ships of Wallachia in the Aegean Sea were mobilized, some for religious enthusiasm, some for the employment fees given by the government, and some Genoese merchant ships also joined the transportation process. For a time, the entire Sea of ​​Marmara was full of merchant ships for transportation.

The Patriarch of Constantinople gave this conquest the sacredness of religion. He announced that as long as everyone joined the conquest against the Ottomans, they could go to heaven after death. Peter also said in the announcement that those who joined the war would get land and wealth as long as they succeeded. Few people could resist such temptation.

This was a rare action with battles on both sides of the Black Sea, and the expenses were also very huge. The taxes paid from other places were spent before they entered the treasury. The finance minister fell ill because of the money problem, so Peter had to take over the financial work temporarily, because he was the appointed finance director.

In order to reduce some expenses, Peter decided to collect part of the spoils obtained from the wars against the Ottoman Empire and the Golden Horde into the national treasury, and try to distribute the other part in the form of land. I hope the national treasury can still support it, otherwise the tableware will have to be melted as salary.

Poor Peter could only seek various financial support day and night, but his political efforts in recent years have exceeded his concern for his industry. It was not until the bank report was submitted that he called himself stupid, didn’t he have a bank?

At this time, banks had spread throughout the Balkans and other regions. With Peter’s acquiescence and support, Anatolia and the Holy Roman Empire left traces of banks, and even cities such as Cairo and Palermo had them. It can be seen that its trade scope.

Peter urgently negotiated with the general manager of the bank in Constantinople because he also needed to act in accordance with business practices. Facing the biggest boss, the head of the bank was not ambiguous. According to the minimum required funds of other banks, a total of 300,000 gold lei will be transported to Constantinople. This will greatly ease the financial pressure, and Peter finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the development of banks is fast, there are still risks. If the locals owe money and do not pay it back, they will suffer a loss in vain. But fortunately, the improvement of trade routes has allowed the exchange business to continue to maintain the first place in profitability, and there is basically no loss.

In addition to handling political affairs in the Senate, the Boyar Conference of Wallachia was also moved to Constantinople.

The Boyar Conference has lost most of its political power after castration, and now only has the role of consultation and etiquette. Despite this, Mircea did not think of completely canceling the meeting, which needs to be analyzed with local conditions.

When Mircea and Peter strengthened centralization, the Boyar Conference continued to split. Some local noble members who had existed for a long time looked down on those merchants, officials, and small and medium nobles, and held meetings alone in one room, while other members held meetings in another room, and the Boyar Conference was divided into two. The conflict between the old boyars and the new boyars was very intense, and it was all up to Mircea's designated conference leader to mediate.

In addition to the nobles, Mircea also stuffed some religious personnel into the old boyar meeting, all of whom obeyed his orders. The qualifications of the new boyars were also jointly determined by the Senate and the rulers. They could discuss some issues, but they could not propose motions or vote, and they would attend once a year. To put it bluntly, it was an honorary title.

This was also a restriction on the power of the nobles. After all, everyone wanted to learn from the Western parliaments, all of whom were all all-round talents like Solon and Pericles. Peter could understand their feelings, but it was not appropriate now. Look at Poland next door, what a disaster it has been.

In terms of economy, Wallachia has begun to compete for Mediterranean trade from Venice. After taking Cyprus, the transit between Cilicia and the Levant must pass through Wallachia, and Venice must also pay taxes to do business. At Peter's instruction, part of the plantation in Cyprus was expanded to produce sugar and other products.

In diplomacy, Peter looked for countries to interact with and roads to the East. After Mason agreed to become a member of the Eastern Fleet, he was ready to set off. Before that, he asked the Egyptian branch of the Eastern Company to go to Suez to inspect the old canal 500 years ago to see if it could be reopened.

In the 19th century, France reopened the Suez Canal, which took 10 years and cost 120,000 people, but this was in the 14th and 15th centuries, and it was unknown how much money and lives it would cost. Otherwise, you can only go around the Cape of Good Hope to the East.

According to the time, there are still more than five years before the largest overseas expedition in the East, and more than two years before the Eastern lord succeeds to the throne. There is enough time to drive a nail in the Red Sea area, and then march to the East again. After passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, there is the vast Indian Ocean and the Indian continent, where gold, spices, and jewelry are waiting for them.

Mamluks and Wallachia have established a stable trade relationship, and the Sultan has allocated a piece of land in Alexandria for Wallachian merchants as a trading house. The Sultan also agreed to their transit request. But they were asked to pay a transit fee, which Peter thought was normal and decided to pay.

The Wallachian navy conducted some patrols and crackdowns on pirates in the waters near the Levant. The pagan pirates were eliminated, and the Christian pirates were first recruited and then eliminated if that failed.

Between Wallachia and Venice, the Knights Hospitaller were in an awkward position. Wallachia was less than two days away from Rhodes, and Crete, controlled by Venice, was not far away either. Both sides wanted to control this place, and the Grand Master maintained a balance.

Mircea had not thought about obtaining Rhodes through peaceful means. He first offered the Knights Hospitaller a price of 40,000 gold coins, but the Grand Master was unmoved. He said that unless Wallachia was willing to give them a piece of land as a place to stay, there would be no discussion.

Mircea certainly knew what a place to stay meant, and he did not want to see the idea of ​​a country within a country, but if the Grand Master was willing to secularize the Knights Hospitaller and join Wallachia in the name of the Duke and convert to Orthodoxy, he could agree to their request.

At this point, there was no need for the two sides to negotiate, because they were all loyal to their religions. Those knights even boasted that they would definitely attack Smyrna and Constantinople to teach Wallachia a lesson. Mircea was also merciless and sent people to say that if they did not agree, then they would die.