The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Mircea sat in the conference room, listening to the Grand Vizier talking about the diplomatic situation in Rome.

"Jobst agreed to convene a parliament to discuss the legitimacy of Brandenburg. There has been some commotion in Novgorod recently, and there is also some instability in Naples and Hungary. Some local nobles want to subvert the current order."

Listerine read these things out in an emphatic tone, but Mircea felt that it was not a big problem. It takes considerable energy to force a king to step down, but at present he does not see a strong pretender to the throne.

"Now they are all watching who will lose the power of France. It is so far to the east that it will not attract attention. And there has been no war recently."

Mircea thought optimistically that under his governance, Rome would have a prosperous economy, a strong army, a wealthy people, and all nations would come to visit. The arrival of envoys from the east is proof of the country's strength. If an enemy country invades, it will be easily destroyed by the Roman army.

Mircea still remembered that he pointed at the map and told the ministers about the future direction of governance: improving transportation, increasing territory, prospering the economy, and feeding the people. Now it has basically been realized. And he also explored eastward and continued to add land to the empire.

"Now they are all staring at the crown on top of the madman, and nothing else is as important as this."

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing. There have been some commotions in Van City, Aleppo and other places recently."

"what happened?"

Mircea asked about this matter, fearing that it was not the pagans causing trouble.

Things turned out exactly as he thought. These things were caused by a religious organization called the Baitakshi Order inciting pagans to protest. During Rome's reconquest of Anatolia, this order had a long-term confrontation with the imperial government. As large areas of land were recovered, the scope of their activities also expanded.

They were most active in Van and Aleppo, assassinating officials, disturbing people's lives, and some even smashed local churches. This is no longer an ordinary group, and it must hit hard.

"These people must be caught, and a reward must be issued so that the people will keep an eye on these people at all times."

Mircea even wanted to set up an inquisition, but he was afraid that it would arouse opposition from other believers, so he failed. This time the commotion of the Baitakshi cult must be completely eliminated. It is better to suppress it with the army first and then discuss it with Peter.

"Be careful of these cultists from the east. The empire's many years of war with them have proven their vitality and fighting ability. If we want to rule for a long time, then most of the people must be eliminated."

In addition to physical annihilation, Mircea is talking about cultural annihilation. The Arabs have no other cultural achievements except founding religion and spreading numbers. The bureaucracy is Persian. Most scholars are either Persians or other nationalities, and the proportion of Arabs is very small. Rome could influence them through cultural advantages and make them the vanguard of unifying Western Asia.

He did the same. After the war with the Ottomans, Mircea signed the "Edict of Constantinople", which stipulated that the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Druze and Alawites of the Crescent Church were tolerable religions, People of faith have a higher status than pagans but lower than Orthodox Christians. Their head tax was halved and they could do business and farm normally, but they had to convert to Orthodox Christianity if they wanted to take the exams. This is the rule.

In addition to converting, he also had to learn Romanian in order to take the exam. Originally there could still be a Greek language exam, but in recent years the policy has gradually tightened, and Romanian has become the only language in remote areas. So there was a craze for learning Romanian in the newly recovered lands. Even Greek is only spoken by people in Greece and Western Anatolia, and it has become a regional language.

Such a policy was already quite friendly to intellectuals, so they all poured into cities such as Constantinople, intending to enter the bureaucracy with their talents. However, the empire has regulations for foreigners. They must settle here for two years before they can participate. They can also join the army, but their status is one rank lower than that of the local people.

This is also to protect the security of the country. Who knows whether these foreigners will pass news to the mother country after entering the bureaucracy. When the secret information is leaked, it will be a great harm to the empire.

In the border areas, Rome will always have one or two vassal states or friendly countries to protect the security of the border. They are Hungary, Romagna, and Naples in the west, and Black Sheep, Georgia, and Zaira in the east. Six states provided a buffer for Rome, which also gave the empire time to react.

The king of Georgia came to Constantinople in person to meet the Roman emperor and signed a contract. The Roman Empire would not hold Georgia accountable for supporting Alexios, but the other party would need to hand over one-tenth of the tax as tribute every year. , but also to remain consistent on the front. Businessmen with difficulties are allowed to enter Georgia to do business, taxes need to be reduced, and appointments to positions such as the Archbishop of Tbilisi need to be approved by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Such a treaty directly cut most of Georgia's independence, but Alexander still had to endure it. What if the opponent directly attacks us with a large army, or incites the Circassians to harass us? You must know that Georgia's national strength is no longer what it used to be, and it must deal with other countries. But that's no longer possible.

Compared with Georgia, living in Romagna is very comfortable. Because the Duke clearly understands that he must rely on the Roman Empire to survive, he remains consistent in diplomacy and religion, and there is nothing else to say.

In order to promote closer relations between the two countries, the emperor decided to engage the Duke's son Julian to his youngest daughter. Elena also met the other party in person and found that the other party was quite handsome, so she agreed. After all, she would have to go to a monastery if she didn't get married, and she didn't want to be an old maid.

At this time, the relationship between Rome and Italy was tightly tied. But then he won't leave the game, leaving it for the opponent to play with. The only thing to do next is to wait for the other party to extinguish the heir, and then to have the family exterminated.

Romagna has moved its capital from Ancona to Bologna and invested heavily in the port of Pisa. Some Roman merchants from the Illyrian region also paid tolls and came to Pisa to do business with other countries. Francisco saw the potential and continued to maintain various local investments so that he could get more money.

Milan is still engaged in internal fighting, and Florence has not yet recovered from the loss. This is a God-given opportunity for Romagna. They must train the army quickly so that they can offer a good price to the Roman Empire in the future. hope everything is fine.