Chapter 64 Balkan Actions

The Ottoman invasion was delayed, and the knights, who knew nothing about geography, began to believe that Bayezid (they sometimes confused whether the Ottoman Sultan was Bayezid or "Amura", that is, Murad) must be recruiting troops in "Babylonian Cairo" and gathering forces in Alexandria and Damascus. They believed that Bayezid had received an "army composed of pagans from Tartar, Persia, Media, Syria, Alexandria and other more distant places", an army of "Saracens and pagans" under the "command and blessing of the Caliph of Baghdad and Asia Minor". If the enemy did not come, they should attack. They imagined that they could fight all the way from the Ottoman territory to the Persian Empire.

The Hungarians poured into Serbia unhindered and then entered the Morava River Valley. There they seized wine, "which the Turks had put into sheepskin bags. Their religion forbade them to drink it, or they would risk being put to death, so the Turks had to sell it to the Christians." The Hungarians captured some Serbian cities, where "men, women and children were slaughtered without mercy by the Christians" - a cruelty that exceeded that of the pagan Ottoman looters.

Brankovic of Serbia joined the Crusaders and converted to Catholicism, and Sigismund recognized him as the monarch of all Serbia. In this way, the southern part of Hungary was secured.

Since Niš was already occupied by Wallachia, the Crusaders planned to take another route to the Kosovo region. Some French Crusaders planned to force their way into Niš, but were warned by the garrison.

However, Peter allowed them to pass, but not into the town. But at this time the French army did not pass, in a word, we noble people disdain to pass through your land.

Well, since they don't appreciate it, just watch the show from the side.

The Crusaders continued to march and finally stopped in Skopje. The short-sighted Christian army did not bring any siege equipment from the West, and Sigismund had been preparing for defensive operations. It turned out that they had no way to break the city by force, so they had to wait in front of the city walls, hoping that Skopje would be unable to bear the famine and surrender.

The Western knights, who had no enemies to fight, looked at the war with a picnic mood, enjoying women, fine wine and luxuries brought from their hometowns, indulging in gambling and sensuality. They thought that the Ottomans were not a threat at all with great contempt. Anyone who dared to express a different opinion would be accused of spreading a sense of defeat and have his ears cut off. Moreover, there were frequent quarrels between troops from different regions, and Serbs and Transylvanians were not trusted.

Bayezid once again played the role of a tactician. He sent all the garrisons around Skopje to the front line. Although there was a risk of the other side's rapid breakthrough, Bayezid was also gambling. He bet that the Crusaders would fight Skopje to the death.

And it turned out that he was right. The Crusaders would not leave until they took this place down. This was really strange. Without heavy weapons or siege equipment, how could they not pass quickly?

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The Ottomans were confronting the Crusaders, and Wallachia began to govern the new territory. For the Turkish residents in the country, Peter adopted the same method as the Ottomans and collected a poll tax from these people.

This was done to reflect the image of Wallachia as the guardian of Orthodoxy itself, and to speed up the spread of Orthodoxy.

In addition to the poll tax, they were also inferior to the Orthodox Christians in other rights. This was already very good. Compared with the rulers of previous countries, it was a great mercy for them not to want your life, so you had to pray for him.

Although the Bulgarian Church appeared earlier than the Wallachian Church, its independence had been completely lost after the destruction of the Ottomans and the conquest of Wallachia. It could only obey the allocation of Wallachia.

At this time, although the religion in Wallachia was still dominated by the Orthodox Church, the number of Catholics, Muslims and other religious believers was also growing, and the Armenian Apostolic Church and Judaism also formed gathering areas in the country.

Among all religions, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Orthodox Church were the closest. Although the separation of the two was earlier than the Great Schism of the Eastern and Western Churches.

Mircea recognized the Armenian Church, but its bishops must be selected by the Grand Duke, and the church must support the Grand Duke and must not engage in treason. In Bukuryesti, an Armenian church is also being planned.

Some small nobles who surrendered to the Grand Duke were canonized as boyars, and some lands that surrendered to European or Ottoman nobles were nationalized and then given to loyal people by the Grand Duke. This formed the special lords of Wallachia.

Special lords are different from boyars. They obey the Grand Duke, serve in the military or pay taxes to the Grand Duke. This strengthened the Grand Duke's control over the local area and promoted the unification and feudal development of Wallachia.

Peter's Bulgarian Governor's Order was also issued to various places, not recognizing the commercial treaties signed by Bulgaria with various countries. Without the approval of Wallachia, merchants from any country did not have tax exemption privileges.

This made Venice and Genoa angry. You can just report these two ID cards. Which country can still do business in the east now? It's true.

You can't do it without tax exemption privileges. Why is it so hard to pay something?

Constanta, Varna, Sofia, Nis and other places are important customs ports in Wallachia, and all these places are managed by special personnel sent by the Grand Duke.

As the protagonist of governing the country, the economy is an unavoidable topic. Whether it is to attach importance to agriculture and sericulture or to develop trade, it is all for the purpose of making more money. If you want to learn from others, you might as well learn from the ancestors of the East more than 2,000 years ago. One is business-oriented, and the other is agriculture-oriented.

These two people who have been dead for many years, one made his country a hegemon, and the other made him unify the country in the country he defected to. They are called Guan Zhong and Shang Yang.

The government quickly monopolized Bulgaria's salt and sent those troops to suppress bandits to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes, so that even if agricultural taxes were exempted, they could live on salt income and commercial taxes.

Peter formulated the "City Benefit Book", announcing that merchants with more than 600 lei of property were exempt from corporal punishment, military service, and population tax, and only paid 8% of commercial tax and exemption fees. This policy was well received by industrialists and businessmen, and a number of handicraft workshops sprang up like mushrooms after rain.