The Eagle of Eastern Europe

The castle was busy for a while, and the emperor sent envoys to Hungary to negotiate with the Queen of Hungary or Prince Pozzoni.

Hungary was Rome's western barrier and also played a major role in the Venetian War, so Mircea sent Caesar to stabilize this large country in Central Europe.

By this time, the situation in Hungary had improved, and the power reshuffle caused by the currency crisis had been completed. The largest landowner is Prince Pozzoni, who owns one-tenth of Hungary's land. Mary also has many manors in Europe, and has abolished her father Lajos's special policy for the nobility. The entire country is looking eastward with all its strength.

After converting to Orthodox Christianity and speaking Romanian, the so-called pride of Hungary was gone. This made local intellectuals and nobles angry, but domestic farmers and citizens did not think so. Trade with Rome not only allowed you to sell products, but also obtained a large amount of spices and luxury goods. Trading with Rome would definitely make you rich.

In this way, the excluded nobles, intellectuals, and the Catholic Church stood together to support Sigismund in regaining the Hungarian crown, while most of the peasants, citizens, and nobles loyal to Mary supported their queen. After the war in the Eastern Mediterranean, such oppositional voices disappeared.

Everyone knows that Hungary is no longer the shield of Christ against the pagans, but the shield of Rome's Orthodoxy. Apart from the HRE, the one that can resist the influence of Rome is Poland, the Spear of God.

Mircea sent people to Prince Pozzoni several times and asked to see him, but was declined. It was obvious that he was very mysterious, even the citizens of Pozzoni did not know what the prince was doing.

"Your Majesty, the Ottomans are training their troops recently, and their cavalry has also appeared near Ancyra."

Mircea said, listening to the report from Ancyra.

"It seems that the young sultan cannot bear it any longer."

Peter also participated in the meeting. He still knew something about Muhammad. He was the sultan who ended the Ottoman Interregnum, and he was also the grandfather of the conqueror. They said that the tenth generation of Ottoman kings also had his own merits. , otherwise how could it have reunited the remaining lands and expanded eastward in the past few years.

"I can't sleep until the Ottomans are removed. The nomads should graze their cattle well instead of participating in the so-called founding war."

"Your Majesty, please let me lead the army to destroy them."

Adrian suggested to Mircea that this worry could be avoided by eliminating them.

"Your Majesty, I think we still need to recuperate now. Lithuania in the north is still a little restless, and our relations with other countries need to be repaired. Otherwise, when they invade our borders, we will end up ignoring each other."

Stekel, who was in charge of diplomacy, raised objections. This minister, who came from a scholarly family, had visited more than a dozen countries as an envoy of Manuel II, a Greek lecturer, and had personally experienced the changes in Western European countries. They were no longer Those barbarians are gone. If the empire wants to continue its eastern expedition, it must stabilize them.

"Looking to the west, Venice has been destroyed. Genoa and Florence have surrendered to the empire. Even France and Aragon have to consider the status of the empire. If we don't take this opportunity to go east, it will be difficult to destroy the Ottomans."

"But do you know that these are not the only countries in the West? Poland, Lithuania, Teutonia, and Denmark in the north, as well as France, England, Castile, and Burgundy in the west are all powerful countries. , Your Highness’s robbery of Rome is giving them an excuse. If they want to form an army and take advantage of it, that will be dangerous.”

Why did he involve himself in this? Peter's face looked a little ugly. He was just getting compensation. Why shouldn't they get the money?

"Lord Stecor, what you said will not happen. France and England are fighting for the crown, and now it is just a truce. There are also a lot of internal troubles in Castile and Aragon. As for Italy and other places, The country has its own troubles and will not pose any threat to the empire for at least ten years."

Peter's words were regarded as a blow to Stekel, and the minister also realized that his words were inappropriate, so he said nothing more.

"At present, it is best for the empire to set its sights east. The Ottomans are showing signs of coming back at any time. We occupy Ancyra and have the upper hand in the situation in Anatolia."

Peter's idea was approved by Mircea. He made the final decision to build the Eastern Defense Line, transfer a large number of soldiers and materials to Nicaea and other places, and mainly used diplomatic divisions to win over Western European countries.

At the same time in the Senate, Mircea approved Peter's examination reform plan. The empire will establish a new examination institute to be responsible for the selection of officials. All examination questions will be unified by the examination institute. Universities can still conduct independent examinations, but the examination institute is responsible for the final selection.

This brought all official selections together in the capital, and the emperor would also propose questions when necessary. The examination content is selected from books, current affairs and national conditions. The reformed examination system has become relatively fair and is conducive to the selection of the country's civil service system.

As for the country's most important agriculture and farmers, Mircea used the manor owner's cruel injury to the serfs to beat some people, and stipulated that the land transfer of the landowners could be done, but the person who purchased the land must pay a high transfer fee, and the tenant farmers and serfs life conditions must be guaranteed.

Utilizing rivers such as the Danube, the empire also carried out multiple water conservancy projects. These facilities could irrigate large amounts of land and increase the production of grain and other crops. Some people have made fortunes growing and reselling agricultural and processed products, such as cotton from Thessaloniki and wine and beeswax from Moldova.

Mineral mining activities also increased, with gold and silver in Serbia, iron in Anatolia, and coal in Bulgaria all being mined. The increase in military factories has brought about the development of iron smelting and other industries. Coupled with the popularity of iron tools in daily life, coal and iron are the two most mined minerals.

Under the influence of the economic policies carried out by the Senate, the development of handicraft industry began to catch up with and surpass the most developed northern Italy. Large numbers of workers supplied Rome's various industries with skills, and the quality of textiles was already comparable to that of Florence or Flanders. Sales through merchants in the Hanseatic League or elsewhere were lucrative.

Shipping was another industry that flourished after Venice's fall. The Eastern Mediterranean trade has achieved a monopoly. As long as you have a ship and don't encounter pirates, you can make a lot of money. Some people began to form partnerships to form shipping organizations to carry out long-distance transportation work. Among them, Greek merchants controlled the Aegean Sea trade and Wallachian merchants controlled the Black Sea trade.