Chapter 222: Vacuum in the North

In Cyprus, facing the threat of Wallachia's army and artillery, King Janus proposed a manor and an annual pension of 7,000 ducats in exchange for his position. Peter agreed. After more than a month, Nicosia finally opened the city gate.

After Nicosia surrendered, other places surrendered one after another. The Lucinian dynasty that ruled Cyprus for nearly three hundred years was destroyed, and the Orthodox Church recovered it.

Mihaly recovered from the excitement. Compared with the excitement of killing the enemy, the casualties after the war and the tragedy on the battlefield were more eye-catching. The stream of water composed of corpses and blood on the ground made him vomit. The glorious deeds of those people came from here.

This is also a process of growth. After this battle, Mihaly has matured a lot. In his letter to Peter, he admitted his recklessness and shortcomings, but he was unwilling to return to Constantinople to learn those boring stripes, and asked his brother to give him a piece of land or an official position.

"It seems that he has learned a lot."

After reading Mihaly's letter, Peter felt that his younger brother had really grown up a lot. In response to his request, Peter temporarily planned to let him study in Cyprus and then transfer him to the north.

The situation in Anatolia has been relatively stable recently, and the Ottoman civil war has entered a brief calm. Sultan Suleiman, who occupies the orthodox position, has recently been addicted to opium and beauties, while Muhammad, who is in the far east, has been gathering his strength and preparing to push forward in one go.

Peter is also preparing to push eastward, and for this purpose, the Anatolian Legion began to be formed. This legion was initially scheduled to have 40,000 people, mainly infantry, supplemented by cavalry, equipped with 170 artillery pieces, 10,000 muskets, and the artifact Peter claimed to have obtained from the East: the rocket car.

Peter was also the first to imitate this. It was something that was hundreds of years old, and he only looked at it roughly. It was not easy to make it into a real thing. He could only keep trying and making mistakes, using the later monkey as a prototype, turning the front end into an iron arrow and putting it in a compartment. A rocket car has 64 so-called rockets with a maximum range of 120 meters, which has a certain deterrent effect on cavalry.

An army of 40,000 people, plus weapons, firearms, war horses, and food, all add up to a lot of expenses. At present, more than 28,000 people have been recruited and are being trained intensively. In addition, the surrendered tribes can also provide some light cavalry. There is definitely no problem with defense, and the only thing left is attack.

The news of the recovery of Cyprus also reached Constantinople. Mircea felt that this co-emperor was no longer suitable. He planned to monopolize power, and the little emperor should go to the monastery to practice.

The continuous recovery of lost lands has brought the Orthodox Church to a collective peak, and its efficiency is no better than that of Iberia. It took Iberia more than 600 years to recover a large area of ​​land in the Balkans and Anatolia in just ten years, and there was only one Granada left after more than 600 years. This is really unbearable to watch.

Mircea met with the Polish envoy, who said that the attack on Suceava was entirely the unauthorized action of more than 1,000 people and had nothing to do with the king. But Mircea knew that Władysław was jealous of his acquisition of a large area of ​​land, and was afraid of the rapid rise of Wallachia and the danger of southern Poland. So he released this despicable trick.

However, Mircea did not want to fall out with Poland for the time being. He endured the discomfort and calmly said that he was willing to coexist peacefully with Poland, and gave gifts to the other party to show his sincerity. After the meeting, he sponsored the Cossack Emirate with 20,000 gold coins to let them gain a foothold and then attack Lithuania.

For the two towns established by the Rus Company in Lithuania, Mircea followed the example of Central Europe and granted them city charters. Under the control of the central government, some autonomy was obtained and expanded to the surrounding areas. In this way, it maintained contact with Moscow.

At this time, the Golden Horde took advantage of the situation after defeating Lithuania and attacked southward, with the goal of Crimea. At the call of the local church and government, many free people took up arms and gathered in Viruga, ready to live and die with the city. People living in the suburbs burned their homes, killed or moved their livestock, transferred food, poisoned water wells, and used all the tricks that could consume the opponent. And the army of the Golden Horde, like the Mongolian army, came as fast as the wind.

This time the army did not bring siege weapons, and they had no way to deal with the city of Viruga. They began to shout that they would not kill the residents in the city as long as the city gates were opened. Some timid people intended to listen to them, but were stopped by most people. Bishop Viruga directly said that this was a conspiracy of pagans, and they would rather die than see pagan clothes.

Seeing that the other party was not fooled, the Golden Horde directly ordered an attack. But the lightly armed cavalry had no way to face the city wall, not to mention that it was a town that had been built for several years. After a week of failure to capture it, they had to order a retreat. Because their food was gone, there was a long section of the road between Viruga and Sarai that would not provide them with food, and they had to cross the Don River before they could get better.

Neither Lithuania nor the Golden Horde gained any benefits from this expedition. Lithuania suffered heavy losses, and the Golden Horde could not control the land west of the Don River. Wallachia's opportunity came again.

A peasant crusade formed by the Crimean church and government set out northward, along the Dnieper River, striving to open up a land route between the two cities of the Rus Company. This action was entirely sponsored by the church and local people, and was a private crusade.

They quickly occupied many places because they were all burned and killed by the Golden Horde army. The only threats left in the area were disease and sparse population, and the Tatars who would appear from time to time.

Despite the difficult situation, they pushed all the way to the Dnieper River. They headed north to the first Rus town, where caravans found them and not only gave them food but also brought news to their destination. Because the Orthodox Church had regained confidence, they could do what the Catholic Church did.

Thousands of miles away, Moscow also heard about what happened in Lithuania. Grand Duke Vasily I took the opportunity to seize a lot of Novgorod land to the north and was ready to annex other Rus principalities. Because the bishop of Moscow was promoted to patriarch, the local religious orthodoxy was also improved. The Orthodox leader appointed by Lithuania became illegal, which made Vasily feel that his ally was really worth it.

In this case, he had to start working. Since last year, Moscow has been constantly annexing nearby small countries, first the Second Principality of Rostov, and then the Principality of Yaroslav in the north. The Principality of Ryazan in the south is also in danger, and a unified Rus country is about to emerge.

Lithuania, a Catholic country, is about to face a two-sided attack, and it is time to test Vytautas. It is really exciting to see what tactics this famous Lithuanian ruler will use in Vilnius to deal with this different situation in Eastern Europe.