Chapter 10 Immigration, Land Purchase and Array
On the Danube, on the way to Constanta, there were large numbers of people. They were all people who had fled from Bulgaria. Faced with the Ottoman Empire getting closer and closer, they did not want to be ruled by them, so they left their homes in various ways and came to Wallachia.
In the border town of Mangalia in Dobruja, many people stayed here and waited for the procedures to be completed.
Most of them came from the Dobruja Despotate. Although half of their territory was seized by Wallachia, their vitality was not greatly damaged. Their core areas were all in the south centered on Varna. The population there was also the most dense.
"Come on, come on, all the newcomers register here, and then go to get food."
Hearing the words of a man who looked like an official, the refugees all came to a building to register. Who asked this lord to give so much?
Not only was it tax-free for three years, but also food and money were given. This is unprecedented in the Balkans. After all, it is the greatest kindness to attract refugees to be tax-free for a few years, and you also give money and food. Many people think that this lord is a bad person, but the peasants, who account for a larger proportion, don't think so. They think that this lord is the best lord in the world and is a blessing from God to them.
What should these peasants do if they are illiterate? It doesn't matter. It's okay to give a simple answer, or to point a few dots. There was no large-scale naming at this time, so a few dots would be remembered. The census only records the number of families. The specific population can only be traced back to the upper class. The lower class people will be left like this for now.
After completing the registration, a man went in another direction and received some food and enough money to live for a year. The reason why Peter was so generous was that these newly recruited refugees had to join his army for training.
These recruits are similar to those military households, but the difference is that soldiers cannot be inherited, but land can. Now it is also an extraordinary measure. When the population is large and stable, other armies will be created.
At the same time, Peter finally learned about the news of the Castle of Chilia. The current lord is unable to make ends meet due to his daughter's marriage and his own life. Seeing that Chilia is a key node in the grassland trade route, a large amount of trade is carried out here every year, the lord has greatly increased the taxation of Chilia, causing complaints from local people and merchants.
However, Peter saw an opportunity. Since he was so short of money, why didn't he buy it?
The Chilia region includes the coastal town of Chilia and the surrounding rural and urban areas. Although it is small, it is an important port city in Moldova. So Peter is also very eager to obtain it.
Regarding the ownership of territory, there are generally these types.
1. Inheritance, if you happen to have this title, don't worry about the others. What is your relationship with the lord of the previous generation? No matter if he is your father, grandfather, uncle, mother, whoever is it. According to the inheritance law, the most common inheritance law in medieval Europe is primogeniture, and there is also youngest son inheritance law and elective inheritance (mostly seen in the Apennine Peninsula).
2. Purchase, if a noble grandfather is too empty in his pocket or cannot manage his own territory, then you can buy a new territory through auction and other means. The best example is the rise of the Hohenzollern family.
3. Marriage, through marriage, the man can share the woman's property and his descendants can inherit all the titles and lands of both.
4. War (needless to say)
5. Holy war, whether it is the Iberian Reconquest or the Crusades, it has brought a lot of new territories to the entire Catholic world. Nobles who are loyal to the nobles who participated in these military operations, or nobles who participated directly or indirectly, generally will obtain new territories.
6. Rewards from the lord. If a noble has made great contributions during his lord's work or battle, he may be rewarded with territory. This applies to all nobles, regardless of whether they originally have territory or not.
7. Use claims to start a war and then obtain it.
8. Because the original territory was occupied, the lord compensated and ennobled. The Iboline family of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was occupied by the Saracens in the 12th century. In order to compensate him, the King of Jerusalem gave them a piece of land somewhere else.
9. Become a bishop, because the bishop will have his own fief.
Since the other party is so short of money, then use the land to exchange. I should have some private money.
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It is said that Peter is really generous with his soldiers. Not only do they have the most training, but they also have the best equipment and salary in the Balkans.
Those recruited wandering knights have to undergo a lot of cavalry training every day. Although many people complain, they have no choice but to give too much. And the lord is actually a child younger than them. After seeing him riding a horse with a weapon and chopping down the target, they are motivated. They don't want to be worse than a child.
In order to reduce military expenses, it is also for centralization and training. Peter also adopted some measures in Wang Anshi's reform to organize all farmers into a reserve force. Gather for military training during the slack season, patrol at night to maintain public security. It can not only enable young men from all over the country to receive military training and be used together with the regular army to save military expenses, but also establish a strict public security network and organize people from all over the country to stabilize order. At the same time, during the war, certain taxes are exempted to reduce farmers' dissatisfaction with the lords.
In order to maximize the combat effectiveness of the infantry, Peter decided to organize the Spanish phalanx, which later became famous.
The Spanish relied on this phalanx to dominate Europe for more than a century, and also forced the plate knights out of the historical stage. Later, Count Tilly also relied on the Spanish phalanx to fight from a small figure to a count, until he met the more powerful Gu Erye...
Throughout the 16th century, the Spanish phalanx was the most powerful battle formation in Europe-until Maurice emerged in the last few years and created the Maurice phalanx, which was improved from the Spanish phalanx...
The basic number of this phalanx is 1,000 to 1,500 people, with a large number of musketeers and spearmen. As long as the number of soldiers is sufficient, they will be arranged in several long phalanxes.
Although it is an invincible formation that can fire bullets in any direction, the firepower in a specific direction is also reduced a lot. In addition, it takes a lot of time to arrange this formation, so the mobility is also poor.
However, this does not mean that the Spanish phalanx is bad. You must know that this phalanx was very powerful in later generations. Whether it is the French army or the Swiss mercenaries, they can't break through the Spanish phalanx.
The reason why the early Spanish phalanx was so powerful was because it used a large number of Spanish mushket muskets. This is a heavy musket, weighing about 10 kilograms, which is twice as heavy as the muskets used in war. Correspondingly, its caliber is also larger and the projectile is heavier, weighing 50 grams, which is one tael.
One tael of lead bullets, fired by the musket, hit the knights wearing plate armor at a subsonic speed of several hundred meters per second. In addition to strong kinetic energy, there are also strong shock waves. Under such a strong blow, the knight had to fall off the horse and get injured, or even die directly. Hitting the horse is not good. If it enters the flesh, the wound caused by the one tael of lead bullets... plus the rolling effect of the lead bullets... hehe... you can arrange your funeral directly, there is no way to save it...
Of course, there are still very few muskets at this time, so let's use crossbows instead. Although the lethality is small, at least get it first.