Chapter 155 Absorption and Digestion

The prestige of the Bartlan family has been greatly improved, and Mircea has also begun to provide better training for the children. From literature to martial arts, the best teachers are used.

Peter has no enjoyment of these, because he has to bear such a great responsibility at such a young age. The Grand Duke felt that he owed him a lot, so he gave him a lot of power, and Peter was happy to use it.

Peter summed up two points based on his experience over the years. The first is to thoroughly transform the newly conquered land, and the second is to strongly support the church and the order, which are the pioneers of external expansion.

Just like the West launched the Crusades and the Crescent launched the Holy War, religious wars are a tried and tested excuse. Therefore, the war caused by sending the church to preach is the best way to annex land.

If you want the church to expand, it is not enough to have an order. There must also be a corresponding military group. In this case, the establishment of a knightly order is a good choice.

After the end of the First Crusade, the Crusaders successively occupied the richest areas and the most prosperous industrial and commercial cities on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and established four Crusader states in this area. In order to consolidate these countries, it is urgent to establish a standing armed force. Therefore, the Pope organized several monks and knights, which are the three famous knights, namely the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights. Their mission is to suppress the resistance of the people in the Crusader States and to wage war against neighboring countries.

With the decline and collapse of the Crusader States, the Knights could no longer gain a foothold in the East, but they did not disband. Instead, they returned to Europe in monastic robes and armor and continued to serve the Pope. The Teutonic Knights even established a knight state in Europe, which had a long-term impact on the political and military life of Europe.

The Knights can help Wallachia expand faster, but how to control them is also a difficult problem. Just like the Teutonic Knights, if they are too good to them, there will be a risk of independence, but if nothing is given, it will chill the hearts of the believers.

Peter brought Abbot Cyril over again.

With the support of the government, the Andrews developed rapidly. In just three years, the order grew to 1,800 members and 350 propaganda bases, especially in the newly conquered lands, where the missionary efforts were particularly strong.

Peter told Cyril about the idea of ​​establishing the Knights' Order, and Cyril was very willing to support it. He began to recruit people, and Peter also provided a large amount of gold coins. He also gave them a castle near the Ottomans as their headquarters and named it the Order of the Rose.

No one knows why the lord chose such a name, but the decision to establish the Knights' Order has been approved by the Grand Duke and the Patriarch, and I believe it will be established soon.

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Perhaps it was because Wallachia was so famous that some Orthodox Christians in the Ottomans rioted one after another. Places such as Salonika protested against the Ottomans' high-pressure policies. Christian strongholds such as Smyrna also attacked everywhere. The Knights Hospitaller even launched an attack, but unfortunately failed.

The Ottomans have marched eastward, and the emirs have begun to fight together, but lightning can't deal with Wallachia and them. Except for Karaman, who is a bit difficult, the Ottomans have captured the Emirate on the Black Sea coast. Restored a certain strength.

Due to the loss of important cities such as Adrian and Skopje, the Ottoman territory in the Balkans could be attacked by Wallachia at any time. Therefore, the Ottomans mainly defended in the Balkans, holding on to various castles and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. This is the way with the least loss at present. It is also a helpless move.

The Ottomans had to guard Wallachia on the border line of hundreds of kilometers, but he didn't know where the other side would attack from. So they could only guard against it everywhere, but this loophole was bigger. In order not to cause war again, Bayezid issued a death order, prohibiting anyone from provoking and looting Wallachia, otherwise they would be beheaded.

With the Sultan's order, some vassals had no thoughts. They were afraid that the Sultan would cut them off, but the Sipahi in the Balkans was in Anatolia at this time and had no time to fight Wallachia. Their monarchs are now thinking about how to expand and how to make up for their land and national strength.

Almost all the small Balkan countries paid tribute to Wallachia, and Morea also sent people to send gifts. The only one who did not pay tribute was the Kingdom of Bosnia, because he defected to Hungary.

Relying on these tributes, Wallachia was able to invest more funds in military construction and national governance. And based on the border, it continued to promote Orthodoxy. So in the title of Grand Duke, there is also a guardian of Orthodoxy.

For foreign policy, Wallachia adopts the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones. It pursues a friendly strategy towards large countries such as Hungary and Poland, and adopts an offensive strategy towards small countries in the Balkans. The Territory of Zeta and the Republic of Ragusa took refuge in Wallachia, and Zeta was incorporated as a direct jurisdiction.

Zeta was a place established by the Montenegrins after the collapse of the Serbian Empire. It was originally allied with Serbia, but after seeing that Serbia was not doing well, it surrendered to Wallachia and sold the land to Wallachia for 17,000 ducats. In this way, Wallachia has an additional outlet to the Adriatic Sea.

The Republic of Ragusa had previously cooperated with new forces such as Serbia and Bosnia, turning itself into the only choice for the other party to pursue shipping development. After the rise of Wallachia, Ragusa cooperated with them again, because the territory of the Republic of Venice almost covered the entire area, even extending eastward to Crete and the Aegean Sea. Ragusa became a breakthrough point, serving as a shipping hub for inland powers in Central Europe or the Balkans. The direct jurisdiction of this small republic was also able to extend both on land and sea.

Ragusa took the initiative to pay tribute to Wallachia in order to defeat Venice and obtain more trade. The two countries are competitors, so they naturally have to compete for customers. Wallachia is Ragusa's customer.

Mircea approved the trade terms and diplomatic treaty with Ragusa, so that Wallachia could bypass Venice and obtain Western goods at a lower cost, and Ragusa could also directly obtain Wallachia's specialties to sell, which was a win-win situation. This is much better than Venice. For the first time, the flag of St. Mark did not fly freely in the new country.

The increasing land is also a reflection of Wallachia's national strength. From its original remote corner to the current Balkan power, Wallachia has achieved a transformation. Just like King Lajos the Great of Hungary, Wallachia also made the surrounding countries surrender, and the territory it ruled extended from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea, truly realizing the transition from one sea to another.