Chapter 235 Romania's Influence on the West
In addition to his position in the government, Peter put more attention on navigation and trade.
In the Golden Horn Bay of Constantinople, a fleet was quietly parked inside. The Romanian flag was flying above, and the crew inside was full of energy and ready to set off at any time.
"Your Highness"
Mason, who was responsible for dealing with other countries, was ready. Before leaving, he had to take over the task from Peter.
"This time, we are looking for the East to get rid of the obstacles of those pagans. God has given us excellent harbors, so that we can explore the blue land and explore the country with gold and spices."
After saying a lot of words, Peter handed Mason some documents, which were diplomatic letters submitted to the local rulers after arriving in the new country. One of them not only used the highest-grade ink and paper, but also was full of praise.
The fleet set off. Because it had to cross Egypt, the scale was not very large, with only 50 ships. They planned to find a place to build a dock shipyard as a frontier supply position after crossing Egypt. Then explore eastward.
As for the survey in Suez, they also sent back news. They walked along the ancient road in the nearby areas and finally concluded that it would take at least 1 million people to work continuously for 50 years to reopen the road. This is still a preliminary result. The specific results have to wait until they start working.
Last year's financial summary has also been released. Romania's income finally broke the 10 million mark, reaching 10.42 million silver lei, which is 1 million gold coins.
The biggest increase in revenue is tariffs and salt, wine, and beehive taxes. Romania's trade is growing rapidly, among which beeswax, wine and other commodities are sold the most and earn the most income.
Next is land tax and head tax. Influenced by Romania's encouragement of reclamation and immigration, these two taxes have also increased a lot. Then there is industrial and commercial tax. Craftsmen from Ottoman and Italian cities have contributed to economic development in cities such as Constantinople, and luxury industries such as weapons, armor, and jewelry have been restored and developed.
Relying on the wealth gained from 10 years of reform, Mircea and Peter can continue to expand the army and invest in other areas. The training level of the standing army is better than that of the surrounding countries. Mircea attaches great importance to this army and continues to expand it.
In addition to expanding the army, Romania began to increase its influence in the West. In Hungary, Queen Mary reused the nobles and officials of the Transylvanian faction and even used the lei as currency. This move originally made the nobles dissatisfied, but under her rule, the situation in Hungary has improved, the economy is relatively stable, and the small and medium nobles and citizens support her, so Mary can continue to sit firmly in the position of king in Buda.
"Your Majesty, at present, Zgmund has assembled a large number of troops and will attack Buda in a short time. Judging from the current strength of the kingdom, it cannot be resisted. We must ask for help."
The ministers under him hope to get rescue, and Mary thinks so too. The troops brought from Transylvania are not enough to protect such a large territory, and Croatia in the south is also preparing to make a fortune from Hungary. Looking around, only Romania can help them.
Mary sent an envoy to Constantinople to request reinforcements. She also wrote a letter by herself and asked someone else to secretly deliver it to Peter. She knew that if he could agree, then half of the success would be achieved.
Mary also made a lot of efforts to promote the integration of Hungary and Romania. For example, she established the Orthodox Church as the state religion, began to use Greek and Romanian for writing and translation, and used the lei and Romanian weights and measures. Due to the currency crisis and civil war, these policies were implemented without much effort. If all goes well, Hungary will be incorporated into Romania in a hundred years.
In Bohemia, which is adjacent to Hungary, the great nobles united to attack Wenzel. Wenzel was worried that they would attack his family and had sent his wife and daughter to Bavaria, but the Duke of Bavaria refused them to enter. For this reason, he had to turn to Constantinople, hoping to ensure their safety.
At this time in Bohemia, the call for religious reform was getting stronger and stronger. Wycliffe's works entered Bohemia under the cover of the Orthodox Church, and the prestige of Catholicism dropped to the freezing point.
In Naples, King Laszlo used his relationship with Romania to promote centralization, winning over the church and citizens to deal with the nobles, while the nobles were closely connected with the Papal States and other forces. Laszlo's marriage was even attacked, and the struggle between the two sides was intensifying.
As for Croatia and Bosnia, which were sandwiched between Hungary and Naples, Romania had long regarded them as a treasure in its pocket. No matter how they made a fuss, it was just a splash and it was gone in an instant.
————Dividing line————
In Augsburg, Sigismund, a strong contender for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, signed an agreement with Albrecht, who proclaimed himself the Archduke of Austria. If the Archduke of Austria had a son in the future, he would marry Sigismund's daughter Elizabeth, and if Sigismund had no son, his daughter would inherit all his titles.
With this document, Albrecht was very happy. He wanted to have a good child and strive to realize this agreement as soon as possible to restore the glory of his ancestor Rudolf. At the same time, in order to continue to please Sigismund, Austria continued to provide him with soldiers and political support.
Batran also gave a lot of support. For example, Sigismund owed 500,000 silver coins one after another. Because he had no ability to repay, and the other party had a professional debt collection team, he could only continue to mortgage Hungarian titles and cities. The towns and cities in the Bozzoni area were mortgaged, and the local residents were helpless. They thought that they could not be worse than Sigismund, so they accepted them.
Then, the bank auctioned the land directly, and finally an oriental nobleman named Ceausescu bought the land and the title of Duke of Bozzoni for 600,000 silver coins. Became a small independent force in the local area.
This ruler usually did not show up, and appointed a governor to rule the local area. He was also an Orthodox Christian. He funded the construction of a series of churches and church schools, repaired roads, reduced taxes, etc., and Bozzoni soon resumed prosperity. Residents all wanted to meet the Duke Ceausescu, but no one thought that the Duke was now in Constantinople to discuss other things.
Seeing that Constantinople had not fallen, the voices asking the West to send a crusade disappeared, and instead Romania called for the continuation of the recovery of lost territory. Just like Iberia, the land was recovered in the hands of Christians. However, militarism is not a good thing. What Romania needs now is a two-year rest to consolidate its rule, and military operations are on the agenda.