Chapter 180 The Land of Greece

Andreas followed Peter's reforms and confiscated all the land of local pagans and distributed it to Orthodox Christians. At the same time, he announced a two-year tax exemption, which won the support of farmers, merchants and other groups.

The entire population of Thessaloniki was only 30,000. The Knights brought 1,300 mercenaries, and Andreas brought 3,000 fanatical armed believers. With a short mobilization, the garrison exceeded 5,500.

Peter also allocated several artillery pieces as defensive defenses, hoping to withstand the Ottoman offensive.

And Peter's spies in the Ottomans also heard that the Grand Vizier was going to sell Thessaloniki to Venice. If the deal was really successful, it would be difficult to get it back.

Peter began to use the simplest trick of destruction: spreading rumors. He directly said that Venice was ready to offer preferential trade and information about European countries to the Ottomans, and in order to express friendship, the Ottomans were ready to hand over Smyrna, Bursa and Thessaloniki to Venice. This transaction was revealed by a man who was loyal to God and could not stand the virtue of Venice. He hoped that European countries could unite and fight against the Ottomans and the fickle Venice.

In this era, anti-Ottomanism is a kind of political correctness. Whoever makes a deal with the Ottomans will be despised. Even if the upper class knows it, the lower class people don't know it. They will only scold the leaders as traitors, and the church will punish them in order to maintain their power.

The rumor spread quickly. In Wallachia, the Venetians have been compared with thieves, and their originally low reputation has fallen to the bottom. Merchants from various countries spread this news to other places, and it became more and more outrageous, saying that Venice was ready to pay tribute to the Ottomans, the Governor of Venice planned to convert, and the Ottomans promised to let him become the Pasha of Italy.

The rumor was very terrible. The Governor of Venice was so angry that he vomited blood when he heard the news. What kind of rumor was this without a king or a father? He only believed in God. For this reason, he also bribed the archbishop with 100,000 gold coins. The archbishop also said that he had withstood the test and was a firm believer in God.

However, even if it withstood the test, the proposal for Osman could not be used. The governor directly rejected the proposal and scolded the Venetian envoy, claiming that he would put him in prison. The envoy was afraid and ran to Smyrna to hide.

The Knights took this opportunity to attack westward, expanded the area of ​​control, and again asked for assistance from Bucuriesti, and Peter could not help openly, so he could only transport weapons and funds to Thessaloniki in the form of a chamber of commerce. At the same time, he wrote a letter to his father-in-law Theodore, asking him to send troops north.

At this time, the Morea was no longer the regime that was isolated in the corner. After conquering the Principality of Athens, the economy began to grow rapidly. At the same time, the marriage with Wallachia and the trade concessions to Wallachia attracted many Wallachians to come to trade.

Now there is another opportunity for expansion in front of him, how could Theodore let it go. And he also has a clear goal, that is, to expand to Larissa, so that he can build a second line of defense to prevent Osman from coming back.

It takes time to reorganize the army, but Osman is sitting still at this time. Neither the European nor the Asian armies had any intention of recovering lost territory. I don't know why it became like this. Maybe they were scared by Wallachia.

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After the Principality of Athens was annexed by Morea, Athens not only did not decline, but gradually recovered its economic vitality. This was not only due to its geographical location, but also because of the participation of Wallachian merchants.

As one of the most glorious city-states in ancient Greece, Athens still has many ancient buildings standing here, including the Acropolis composed of the Parthenon.

Many intellectuals marveled at the splendor of ancient architecture and also had some research on ancient Greek culture. They gathered in Athens to discuss philosophy and literature together, and the Athenian School began to develop.

At the ruins of a theater, several young people were discussing ancient Greek art and literature and admiring the brilliant achievements of their ancestors.

"Their history is even older than Rome. They created the earliest civilization. If Rome conquered Greece by force, then Greece conquered Rome by culture."

"Okay, Helias, you've said a lot along the way. Take a break. No matter how glorious they were, they are just dust now."

"How can you say that? Their culture still affects us. It's just declining now. One day it will revive again."

Helias retorted loudly, while the other person talked about something else.

"I heard that the people of Venice, Genoa, and Florence are very interested in Greece. Many people in Constantinople were hired by them to Italy."

They were angry about this way of poaching people. These belonged to Greece and Rome, but were snatched away by those nouveau riche; at the same time, they felt regretful because Rome was already dying, and even if they wanted to, they were powerless to stop it.

"No, we can't do this. We must take action."

"Tsipras, it's easy for you to say that. We only have a few people now. How can we act?"

"Of course we can't rely on ourselves, so we must seek external help."

"Who to find? Rome, Morea, or Trebizond. No one in these three places will invest in this aspect."

"Have you forgotten that there is another country. As long as he agrees, it will be easy."

"You mean..."

Tsipras nodded, "Walachia, only Wallachia can take on this responsibility. They are now the most powerful country in the East and the only country that can fight against pagans and heretics. Their strength is still growing. If the Grand Duke of Wallachia is eliminated, we will get back everything that belongs to us, not only culture, but also land."

Tsipras became more and more excited as he spoke, and even imagined the future prosperity. But some people raised doubts.

"But will Wallachia do this? Will they invest gold coins in these places?"

"Have you not noticed that more and more people have come to Wallachia from Constantinople in recent years, and most of them go to a place called Constanta. It is said that the local cultural and artistic atmosphere is more intense than Constantinople, and that is the fiefdom of the Grand Duke's heir."

Tsipras paused and continued.

"Besides, I don't believe they don't have their eyes on Constantinople. The marriage between the Grand Duke's heir and the Princess of Morea proves this. We can go to Constanta and write a petition with the scholars there, hoping that they will be accepted."

I don't know where they got this idea from, but in Wallachia, where the official selection system is based on examinations, there is a certain chance of success, provided that they can pass the university examination.