Chapter 47 Bayezid's Preparation

Mircea kept the news of Wallachia's annexation of Vidin strictly sealed, even though he knew that doing so would also leak out.

All the remaining troops in Vidin were gathered together, no matter who they belonged to, they were gathered by Mircea.

Mircea also appeased these nobles. He distributed the land of those great nobles to them, and at the same time revoked their power to organize the army, and put all military power in the hands of the Grand Duke.

As for the money given to the Grand Duke every year, it was converted into taxes, and they could get certain exemptions and be given economic privileges.

The small nobles were unable to maintain the army, and with the attack of foreign enemies, they could only watch their property being damaged. Now that the Grand Duke was supplying the army, their burden was reduced a lot, and they only needed to pay money.

The Wallachian army began to enter Vidin, and the next question was a special dilemma. To the west of Vidin was Serbia, an Ottoman vassal, to the east was Bulgaria, and to the south was the Ottoman homeland. Wallachia's own army was not enough to launch a three-sided attack.

After consideration, Mircea decided to proceed according to the original plan. He released the news that Vidin had suffered a very serious fire. Vidin needed to be rebuilt.

This information deceived most people because fire was the most harmful. Besides, it was common for a city to be destroyed by fire, so they didn't take it seriously.

On the other side, the Dobruja army ordered by Peter had set out for Varna.

They had no obstacles along the way, because most of their troops came from Varna, so it became a meeting of fellow villagers.

The defenders saw that this was someone from that family. How did they get here?

The other side also started a tender offensive, directly saying how good Wallachia was, and also said that as long as they were allowed to rule here, everyone would be tax-free for three years.

Tax exemption has always been attractive, especially for farmers. If you tell them that it is for the country, they don't feel anything, but if you tell them that tax exemption is absolutely supported by you.

In this way, relying on tax exemption and rewards, the Dobruja vanguard quickly arrived in Varna. Ivan, the lord of Varna, didn't know where he ran to. Seeing so many people under him, the garrison surrendered directly.

(I know this is outrageous, but this is the reality, no logic is needed)

Constantine entered Varna, and Peter followed with the rest of the army. First, he used tax exemption to appease the people, and then began to prepare for war.

In just half a month, the sky in Bulgaria changed half. And Sultan Bayezid in Edirne also learned the news of Wallachia.

"How dare these people, this was originally given to the empire by Allah, they actually..."

Bayezid was really angry, and his ministers didn't say a word. Grand Vizier Ali Pasha looked at Suleiman Pasha with some gloating at this time.

I asked you to go against me, now it's all right, Wallachia has begun to expand, I'm afraid the next step will be to Trvono, followed by Sofia, Plovdiv, and finally to Edirne. What, are these given to him too?

"Grand Vizier, you speak first." Bayezid called Ali Pasha.

"Sultan" Ali Pasha saluted, "Now that Wallachia has entered Vidin, I'm afraid the next target is Tervono. We can attack them when they are exhausted and then sit back and enjoy the benefits."

"But what if Wallachia and Bulgaria join forces to fight us?"

Ali Pasha turned around and saw that it was Vizier Ibrahim Pasha. He came from Bursa (Prusa), the former capital of the Ottoman Empire. He became a vizier through family connections and was Ali Pasha's political enemy.

"Now that they have entered Vidin, they need some time to repair, and Bulgaria will not sit idly by. Within three months, the two sides will definitely fight."

Ali Pasha's words were well-founded. Vidin, Tervono and Varna were originally one, but they became so fragmented. Wallachia naturally took advantage of it, and Tervono would definitely send troops to take it back. They just had to watch.

"Grand Vizier is right, but have you ever thought about what if Bulgaria surrenders quickly, what if they form an alliance, what if they seek help from the West? I wonder if you have ever thought about these possibilities."

"I can answer these questions. First, Bulgaria's Trvono and Nicopolis fortresses are extremely strong and cannot be taken down without a few months, so they will definitely hold on here; second, since Wallachia has occupied Vidin, there is no possibility of an alliance between the two countries; third, as far as I know, the West itself has a lot of things to do and has no energy to care about here. So it is okay to send troops at this time."

"Okay!" Bayezid stopped the Grand Vizier.

"Walachia's march southward is a provocation to the great empire. They despise God and the empire's military power. If we don't teach them a lesson, they will become unscrupulous. The legacy left by our ancestors will also be lost."

"So I decided to send troops to Wallachia and make them surrender."

It was normal for the Sultan to prepare to send troops, but the Sultan actually wanted to send troops at this time, which directly scared many people.

The reason is that it is still winter and the march will cause great losses; at the same time, the service period of the Sipahi will start in March, and forcibly conscripting them at this time may cause dissatisfaction among them.

"Walachia took advantage of our winter and occupied Vidin. They thought we would have to wait two months before we could send troops, but they were wrong. We will send troops now and defeat them."

Ali Pasha tried his best to stop the Sultan from giving up the idea, but he still tried to send troops at the beginning of next month because it would take time to gather troops.

This time Bayezid planned to bring all his troops, including 10,000 sipashi, 25,000 infantry, and 3,000 newly formed troops called Janissaries.

At the same time, he sent someone to send a message to the Serbian King Lazarevich, asking him to lead the army. Together with his entourage, there will be nearly 60,000 troops gathered in the end. This is the largest army that the Ottomans can use in the Balkans.

Bayezid formulated a three-way plan. One route was led by Lazarevich's Serbian army to attack Vidin; one route was led by Suleiman Pasha to attack Varna; he led the main force to Trvono to capture the Wallachian and Bulgarian armies in one fell swoop. In this way, Bayezid would be invincible in the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire would become a nightmare for those Christian countries.