Chapter 160 Grand Duke of Transylvania

Mary followed the Sava River and came to Belgrade again. The scene here was completely different from the last time she saw it.

The population is sparse, the market is sluggish, and the last massacre seems like yesterday. Even though it had been cleaned up, there was still a strong smell of blood in the air.

Mary was speechless. Her husband's cruelty was beyond her imagination. The prosperity here seemed like yesterday. Mary was speechless, but they still had to continue on their way. She could only take a sympathetic look at what happened to Belgrade, and then left.

"I really don't know why my father wants me to marry that devil."

Mary complained about her father Lajoche at this time. His father never cared about her and her sister at all, but only turned himself into a marriage tool.

After walking some distance along the Danube, Mary began to enter the territory of the rebel army.

The Hungarian army crossed the Theiss River and officially invaded Transylvania. The troops in Timisoara were defeated and retreated, and Hungary reoccupied the area.

Mary had the certificate and entourage given by Peter, so the journey could be said to be smooth. She soon arrived at Tamesborg, one of the larger towns in Transylvania.

"Your Majesty, be careful"

Mary stepped out of the carriage with the help of the maid. The order here was pretty good, but the local Catholic church was destroyed. The new church has not yet been built.

Mary rested in a local monastery and wrote personally to the Bishop of Cluj, explaining that she had converted to Orthodox Christianity and that she could promise them something as long as they supported her.

Time was tight, the messenger rushed to Cluj non-stop, and Mary also set off two days later. She plans to do something big in Cluj.

The rebel army began to encounter difficulties, mainly due to insufficient troops. The army composed of farmers and citizens had low combat effectiveness and was no match for Hungary. They need support.

By chance, a chamber of commerce from Wallachia heard about their difficulties and purchased a batch of muskets and three artillery pieces from abroad and gave them to them, which made the bishop extremely grateful.

The enthusiasm of the Vlachs was gradually aroused. Under their heroic resistance, the Hungarians gradually slowed down and finally froze, unable to move forward.

Archduke Mircea ordered the Serbian Governor Peter to lead his troops to march on the Hungarian border. Sigismund did not panic before Branković panicked first. Who told others to speak softly? Moreover, Wallachia's previous punishment of the noble rebels still left him with lingering fears. If Wallachia wanted to annex them at this time, he still didn't know what to do with these nobles. Therefore, he had better see what they wanted to do first.

The upper class of Serbia were relocated to Wallachia and Moldova, and some Serbians were also dispersed and sent to border areas, where they would interact with the locals and eventually integrate.

The Wallachian language underwent an expansion due to strong government promotion, and other languages ​​were used less. Balkan integration has taken a giant step forward.

Wallachia is still continuing to build its core, and its expansion is slowly declining. Although Wallachia has developed well, the financial system was overwhelmed by the use of troops for more than half of the five years. It was only possible to survive thanks to the confiscation of the nobles' properties. This is also One reason why the Grand Duke showed no mercy to the noble rebels.

In recent years, due to the war against the Ottomans, more than 70,000 troops have been recruited. Although the time was short, a lot of money and food were consumed. On the one hand, the Grand Duke ensured the supply of the army, and on the other hand, he continued to increase revenue, encouraged the development of all walks of life, and prevented the church from occupying more land. The purpose was manpower and tax revenue.

Moreover, the previous ruling regimes in Wallachia and Moldova were either Bulgarians or nomadic peoples. The local agricultural and social systems were still relatively backward and required a lot of development, so a larger population was what Wallachia needed most.

Unlike the governance systems adopted by other countries, Wallachia governed the newly conquered lands as native lands. Taxation power, military power, and administrative power are balanced between the provinces and the center. The reason why the HRE and the Ottomans survived for a long time is because they were too scattered, which also led to the inability to fully utilize local power as a centralized country. , Wallachia still went another way.

(I digressed, come back)

Back to Transylvania, after hearing about the uprising of the local Orthodox Christians, Dean Cyril began to call for people to join in to protect the people there, and also got some mercenaries to join. Their idea was simple, Just more wealth and land.

As mentioned before, most of the land in Transylvania is controlled by Hungarian and German landowners. If they were all killed, wouldn't it be free?

And the rich mineral resources are also the source of local wealth, with abundant reserves of various metallic and non-metallic minerals. It needs to be mined well. If you can contract one or two...

In any case, the church saw this as a good opportunity to take revenge on the West and encouraged believers to go to Transylvania to help the local Orthodox Christians.

"Go, go to Cluj, go to Tamesh, go and help the brothers and sisters there, they are being slaughtered. Only by uniting can we defeat those devils, and God will bless you."

More and more Orthodox Christians came to Transylvania, coming from Serbia, Wallachia, and even from Constantinople and the Rus' region. After experiencing a trough period, the Orthodox Church has ushered in its own rising period, and it has no end.

Mary also arrived in Cluj after nearly ten days of travel. The Vlachs saw that it was the King of Hungary who came and said they wanted to kill her. But Mary made an unexpected move. She knelt down in front of the Orthodox Church to pray and received the Holy Communion.

Such a move showed that Mary was already a believer like them. Some people calmed down, and then Mary began her speech. This was the first time she announced her decision to so many people.

"I have been betrayed before, the first time by my family and the second time by my husband, but God blessed me and I survived."

"I understand how you feel. You can only live under their oppression. You eat little food and wear shabby clothes, while those people live a luxurious life and squander the taxes you pay. This is their sin, and God will punish them."

"Transylvania, I promise you, I will protect this land with my life, even if I am the last one left, I will fight to the death to protect it."

Such words moved many people, they shouted for revenge below, and the Bishop of Cluj announced Mary as the ruler of Transylvania. Leaders from all over the country originally surrendered to Mary, and the division of Hungary was irreversible.