Chapter 213 Foreign Policy

After recapturing Antalya, the Crusaders continued eastward toward the region of Cilicia. Many people came to vote along the way, and a large part of them were Armenians.

After the fall of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the local Armenians could only accept the rule of the pagans. After Timur came, they suffered a disaster. Now that Wallachia has come, many people think that they are all Christians. , would not fight their own brothers, so they joined the army one after another, causing the Crusade to grow bigger and bigger like a snowball.

Wallachia adopts a policy of surveillance on the Armenian Church. In addition to beliefs and language, everything needs to be changed, but it is not mandatory.

Mircea was also very happy after receiving the news of Antalya's recovery. If he hadn't been busy, he would have even planned to go to the front line to fight in person. To express encouragement, he promoted many people's military ranks and sent the navy to ensure supplies. I hope to let them fight all the way to Antioch, another holy city will be recovered, and the fragments of the five patriarchates will be added by one.

After two busy months, Constantinople finally looked like a capital. Mircea ordered 120 noble families to be moved here first, which not only facilitated surveillance, but also increased the prosperity of the city by bringing followers and property. Various craftsmen, scholars, and businessmen returned to the city, which made local residents feel hopeful.

Although John VIII is still the emperor, he can only appear when meeting foreign guests and usually does not see anyone. Mircea took complete control of the situation and brought his family over to enjoy the supreme glory together.

As co-emperor, Mircea naturally began to plan to regain the lost territory. At present, everything seems to be going well, but as the land increases and the status improves, diplomacy becomes Wallachia's most important action when facing more and more countries.

"Now we are making very good progress towards Anatolia. Those Western countries will not attack us because of heretics, but Hungary and Transylvania are also our targets, but they will not watch us annex them. "

The director of diplomacy was the first to stand up. He told Mircea about the current diplomatic situation in Wallachia.

"Currently Naples, Moscow and Transylvania support us, Milan and Bohemia are neutral, England and France are not interested in the East, and Venice and Genoa may secretly sabotage it."

"Those two only have interests in their eyes. As long as they use trade to stabilize them, they will not stop them."

"By the way, Your Majesty, King Laszlo of Naples hopes that you will support his actions in Italy."

"What, is he going to Rome?"

Mircea was really right. When Laszlo was forced to leave Naples, it was because of the Papal State. For revenge and expansion, he was ready to attack Rome.

At the same time, he claimed the inheritance rights of the County of Provence, and he planned to establish a powerful Italian kingdom integrating the entire Apennine Peninsula. Before that, he needed to prepare for war.

The Kingdom of Naples has a population of about 3 million, but only about 30,000 troops are available, because the current military system is still based on recruiting troops from the nobles. The king's control over the nobles directly affects how many troops he can obtain. After Laszlo returned to Naples, he set out to form a new type of army. They listened directly to the king and used firepower purchased from Wallachia. Their combat effectiveness was several times higher than that of levies.

Now that the army was formed, it was time to practice, and finally he set his sights on the Papal States.

The Papal State continued the feudal system of the Lombard Kingdom. There were many feudal fiefs of counts and marquises in the papal territory. They were all almost independent lords. Places like Ravenna awaited his conquest.

He wrote to the Archduke of Wallachia, no, he should now be the co-emperor of Rome, offering to support his military campaign in exchange for allowing Orthodox Christianity to spread and land in Dalmatia.

Mircea thought for a moment and said.

"The alliance between the two countries is unbreakable. Our country supports his territorial claims to Provence and Heresy, but he must ensure that in the future war between our country and Venice, he must firmly support our country."

Mircea is ready to completely regain control of the Eastern Mediterranean. An alliance with Naples will provide additional security, as will Milan.

In addition to the west, Mircea also paid attention to the northeastern region. Like Moscow, he also coveted large tracts of land in Eastern Europe, especially the Rus' region occupied by Lithuania. Its rich resources and cultural heritage were the most suitable place for expansion. It was just that Lithuania took the lead.

In order to obtain the land in Northeast Europe, Mircea began to discuss the partition results with Vasily I of Muscovy. Vasily believed that Moscow needed to restore all the lands from the Kievan Rus' period, but this was unrealistic, so he made concessions and Wallachia could get the original Rus' territories south and west of Kiev.

But for Wallachia, Moscow has not even released the shackles of the Mongols, and Donskoy's counterattack is only short-lived so far. What's more, the Novgorod Republic in the north is still eyeing it, and Lithuania in the west is also planning to expand. This makes Wallachia feel that Moscow's current strength is not worthy of its ambitions, and Wallachia now has Constantine. Fort, he himself has defeated the pagans many times, so he has the responsibility to protect all orthodox Christians, and Kiev should get it. The worst case scenario is to let Moscow take Livonia and Sweden, as they have no interest in the northern region.

An agreement between the two countries was not reached, but relations did not break down. After elevating the Bishop of Moscow to Patriarch, Basil I also wrote a letter praising Mircea as the savior of the Orthodox world.

The Golden Horde could no longer control the land of Ukraine. Some people had launched an attack on Crimea again, but all failed. After the city of Kaffa was sold, the whole Crimea was acquired by Wallachia. This also angered the nomadic tribes who survived on the slave trade, and they were ready to take revenge on Wallachia at any time.

Seeing that Crimea was completely recovered, a new province was born. Relying on its geographical location, it became a gathering place for goods between the East and the West and a transit station for the population, and was ready to continue expanding northward.

The opportunity came soon. Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania and King Wladyslaw of Poland won the opportunity granted by the Pope to organize a crusade to attack the Mongols. This move officially declared to Western European countries that Lithuania and Poland belonged to the Christian world, and the Knights had no excuse to attack Poland and Lithuania.

The two countries assembled the country's army and succeeded in the previous two expeditions. Vytautas believed that this time would be the same, and there would be a steady stream of wealth and honor flowing into Vilnius.