Chapter 256 The Iron Duke

"Oh, that's a pity."

Horvat looked at Mary and said with contempt.

"Now, get out of my palace!"

Mary issued an order to expel them, and the other party had to leave, but after they left, Mary was on the verge of collapse. These nobles relied on their own strength to do whatever they wanted, and Mary could not do anything to them, but could only deprive them of the right to participate in the parliament. Now they are here to force the palace, it seems that Buda can't stay.

Mary asked people to pack their luggage and soldiers and prepare to go to Pest. After entering Buda, she repaired and reinforced the nearby Pest Castle to prevent a coup, which happened to be used now.

And those nobles who forced the palace did not give up. They were ready to gather their soldiers and force Mary to reopen the parliament and form a regency meeting by force. Without these nobles, how could Lajos become the most powerful king of Hungary? Wasn't it the help of these nobles?

However, they forgot that the soldiers that Mary could control were in Szekesfehervar, not far from Buda. As long as there was a little disturbance, they would rush to Buda and would not be bribed by them. The reason was that most of the army was composed of Transylvanian nobles and self-employed farmers who obtained land in Hungary. They were both Orthodox Christians and vested interests, so they would naturally not oppose the king who supported them.

After preparing to go to Pest, Mary also looked at the sky from the window sill of the palace. She didn't know what the future of Hungary would be, but the country must not be destroyed in her hands.

Mary spent the most difficult two days, because the nobles mobilized their followers to launch a public opinion offensive in Buda, saying that Hungary was all caused by Mary's incompetence, and only by opening a parliament could Hungary get better.

There would be a few fools who took the bait for any speech, and the civilians who had the most difficult life believed the nobles' lies and began to oppose Mary. The Catholic Church had been at war with her and began to incite believers, especially businessmen and citizens, to oppose. I thought that the king might confess obediently in front of the church, but their happy time would only be 55 hours.

On the tense third day, an army of 1,000 people came to Buda. Unlike other armies, this army was uniformly dressed in black armor, black horses and black cloaks. The leader was wearing an iron mask, which looked very scary.

A soldier ran to the city and told the guards to inform the Duke of Bozzoni that he was coming. He told him to inform the king as soon as possible, and the guards did not dare to neglect it and ran to the Buda Palace.

Not long after, the gates of Buda opened to welcome the Duke's visit. His army was well treated in the barracks outside the city, and the Duke went to see Queen Mary with his guards.

The sound of heavy armor knocked in the hearts of every soldier. What kind of person was this was what every noble thought in his heart. Mary was the same. She hoped that the Duke was here to help her, because the large tracts of land and soldiers under his name were important guarantees to fight against the opposition.

"Welcome to you, Duke."

The Iron Mask did not speak, but greeted Mary according to etiquette, and then asked someone to hand over a letter to show that he would be loyal to her.

Mary was overjoyed when she saw it. This was really a surprise. Then she quickly asked people to prepare a banquet, and she wanted to entertain the Duke well.

Duke Bozzoni was then arranged to stay in the palace. In order to get his support, Mary took a walk with him in the garden.

"I wonder if the Duke has been to Buda?"

The Duke took a look and didn't plan to continue.

"I have been here, and I have entered here."

The familiar voice made Mary stunned for a moment. She would never believe that someone far away would appear in front of her.

"Your voice reminds me of someone, but he should be in Constantinople."

Peter understood that she had probably guessed his identity, so he took off the mask. Mary saw that it was really him, and tears flowed down.

"I knew that no nobles would stand on my side except you. They all went to Zhigmond."

Mary confided to Peter in Romanian that it was Peter who saved her when she was in the most dangerous time. And he helped Mary gain a foothold many times. Such a favor can never be forgotten.

"Duke Bozzoni is always at the service of the king"

Peter's words of loyalty to Mary made her laugh. With Peter around, there was no need to worry about the opposition.

Soon, the banquet to welcome Peter began. He still wore an iron mask, and many people called him the Iron-faced Duke, which was exactly what Peter wanted.

The next day, Mary announced that Duke Bozzoni would be the commander-in-chief of the country and lead the army to resist the enemy. Before Peter left, he hanged all the opposition nobles who did not run away. Especially the one named Horvath, who was clamoring to make him pay before he died, which was really funny.

The army that Hungary had obtained with the efforts of the whole country was handed over to Peter, a total of 20,000 people, all attacking westward. This caught Sigismund off guard. No one expected Mary to take the initiative to seek death. You know, they are the battle-hardened German militia and mercenaries, not the kind that Hungary can compare with.

But Sigismund was not afraid, Albrecht was terrible, because Bozzoni was less than 70 kilometers away from Vienna, close at hand. If they counterattacked, he would be the first to suffer. While gathering the army, he also moved his family to other places. Linz and Tyrol were not good options, as he didn't know what the relatives there would do with this threat, so he temporarily moved them to Styria and brought them back after the war.

As for Sigismund's other supporter: Count Frederick of Nuremberg gave him 100,000 gold coins of support. Relying on the important position of the local area, the Count collected taxes well, and Sigismund gave Brandenburg as a gift to repay his support, so the gold coins were spent quite a lot.

But no matter how he tried to get sponsorship, Sigismund's financial resources could only support the army's salary for two months. It was simply a fantasy to resolve the battle in two months. All he could expect was an internal coup in Hungary.

After resolving the opposition, Mary directly issued a decree to nationalize part of the nobles' land, give the other part to the Duke of Bozzoni, and give the Duke the right to rule the northern region, and use documents as evidence. Now Peter is also the most powerful person in Hungary. According to Mary's reward, the land of those disobedient lords in northern Hungary will belong to him, which is tens of thousands of square kilometers. And there is also the right to reduce taxes. The local nobles of Hungary were suppressed, and coupled with the struggle against Catholicism, the Eastern forces had more and more advantages. The war that determined Hungary's future had come.