Chapter 143 Renaissance and Weights and Measures

At the State Council meeting chaired by Grand Duke Mircea, many ministers proposed to take this opportunity to drive the Ottomans out of the Balkans, so that Wallachia would become the only ruler of the Balkans, and then march to Constantinople, be crowned as the Roman emperor, and then continue to recover the Holy Land until success.

But Peter stopped this whimsical move. The war had just ended. Instead of resting with the people, he continued the war. Was he afraid that the country would not collapse fast enough?

Peter's idea was supported by the Grand Duke. Now he really needed to rest, and the construction of the army had to continue, and the standing army had to be increased, so as to maintain the combat effectiveness against the Ottomans.

Mircea continued to reform the newly conquered lands, liberated the serfs on the Ottoman lands, issued tax reduction decrees, and checked the land and population. And promote Wallachian culture to these areas, even if it is difficult, it must be carried out.

Rome sent a special envoy for the second time. Basilius invited Grand Duke Mircea to Constantinople to meet Manuel, and still welcomed him with the highest etiquette.

This is a great honor for Wallachia. After all, other countries have always gone to Constantinople on their own, without the emperor's invitation. But if you think about it, you know that the emperor must use the power of Wallachia to drive the Ottomans out of the Balkans.

However, it is too simple to think that Wallachia will send troops with just a few words. It must be exchanged for other things, such as Constantinople or his crown.

There are still many intellectuals from Constantinople, who have made great contributions to Wallachia in art and culture. On the murals of the Cathedral of San Canito, the portrait of Grand Duke Mircea highlights his majesty, and people kneel unconsciously when they see it.

Under the influence of Greek culture, Wallachian culture also began to have a sense of antiquity. The literati in Constantinople are even more so. What they like to do most is to copy the cultural classics of ancient Greece and Rome. "The compiler John Stobeys compiled a very rich collection of poems and essays." And they also translated and collected classical culture.

Even ancient philosophy, drama, ancient grammar and rhetoric were not spared. "Constantinople was full of antiquity. Learning ancient Greek, collecting and copying ancient books became popular. Studying ancient philosophy and drama, delving into ancient grammar and rhetoric also became a "hot topic" in the intellectual community. Such a hot topic caused a wave of Greek fever in Wallachia.

The Balkans calmed down again. Wallachia's achievements made its neighbors jealous, especially Hungary. Wallachia, which was originally just a small country, has now become almost as big as Hungary.

The Hungarian nobles were a little unbalanced. They also wanted military exploits and land. Why did Wallachia have these, but they didn't? ?

Some people put pressure on Sigismund and proposed external expansion, and the king took this opportunity to make deals with them and asked them to support him. At present, his struggle with his wife Mary has become fierce, and he must gain more support from the nobles.

The Catholic Church is already on his side. As long as he gets the support of the nobles, Mary will be alone. But doesn't Mary understand this?

Although her political ability is a problem, Mary is not stupid. She can feel that the Hungarian nobles are gradually turning to Sigismund. This is all related to her long-term absence from politics. Although there are dangers, she doesn't want to give up.

"Your Majesty, do we still have a chance of winning? "

Mary's loyal supporter, Count Lajos, asked. He was a Transylvanian landlord. Unlike others, Lajos was better to the peasants, at least he didn't lynch them. He couldn't stand the fact that the country was controlled by foreigners. So when Mary sent someone to win him over, he did not hesitate to join the Queen's side.

But now, they are obviously at a disadvantage and may fail soon. I don't know what tricks Mary has.

In fact, what tricks can Mary have? It's nothing more than calling for foreign aid. But what support can she have?

Mary suddenly remembered the Crown Prince of Wallachia, who would definitely help her.

She decided to write to the Crown Prince, hoping that he could support her and put forward any conditions.

As for Poland, there was little emotion. Władysław was concentrating on the war against the Teutons, while Lithuania continued to annex the land of the Principality of Rus. There was not much energy for Wallachia.

Such a window period is very precious for Wallachia. It should take this opportunity to continue reforms and accumulate strength, and they did so.

After five years of reform After the reform, Wallachia had accumulated a certain amount of strength, and the next step should be the second reform measure. The local and military reforms were the beginning.

After that, Peter began to unify the measurement. In this era, the smallest unit of length in Europe was actually an inch...

Moreover, Europe currently does not have a modern vernier caliper, and only the UK has a ruler similar to a vernier caliper. Of course, because this ruler does not have a precise scale, the measurement is not very reliable.

In this era, the difference between a master craftsman and an apprentice lies in the grinding craftsmanship, in addition to knowledge. For example, the master craftsman has a better skill in grinding parts. When it comes to the stage close to the scale, he will be very careful, so that there are few parts that are ground and the yield is high. And those apprentices often have a bad control at a critical moment, and the parts are scrapped. Even if they are not scrapped, the running-in between parts is not very good because of poor manual control.

Moreover, it is also difficult to check the quality of workpieces in this era. It is necessary to take out the "standard" workpiece and compare it carefully against the sun, which is a test of eyesight.

And there were no centimeters and millimeters in this era, so Peter had to define them himself. So Peter needed to "create" such a measurement.

Peter got the data of the imperial unit from Genoa during his travels, and if he wanted to infer how long the standard centimeter was, he just had to figure out how long the standard inch was. According to the principle that one inch is equal to 2.54 centimeters, it is easy to find out how long 1 centimeter is. Then, every tenth of a centimeter is 1 millimeter...

At the same time, 1 standard imperial pound is equal to a gram. So, as long as you get the weight of a standard imperial pound (all countries generally cast copper weights as standard weight references), you can infer that 1 gram is a variety of weights...

Then, under the astonished gaze of his attendants, Peter inferred the lengths of 1 centimeter, 1 decimeter, 1 meter and 1 millimeter. Then, he used the imperial pound to infer the weights of grams and kilograms. After that, he arranged for craftsmen to use copper to make standard reference copper rulers of 1 meter and 1 decimeter, and to use copper to make standard copper weights of grams as standard references for weight. After making the reference objects, these standard objects were sealed and wrapped in paper. Only take it out for comparison and use when needed.