The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Turning to the east, the Ottoman army had already attacked Sivas. Their arrival here means that they are not far from the Anatolian border, and they will soon reach the Armenian region.

However, the Turkic Emirate, forced by the Ottomans, had to find protection from another power, the Timurid Empire.

Timur was born in a village south of Samarkand. It is said that he was originally a shepherd. He later joined the army and gradually rose to the rank of commander of an army. Because he married a woman from the Western Chagatai royal family, he claimed to be a descendant of Genghis Khan. In 1370, the 34-year-old Timur led his troops to overthrow the ruler of Samarkand, unified the mid-river area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, and established the Timur Empire.

Timur had a powerful cavalry that expanded in all directions. Since 1373, Timur launched four consecutive large-scale attacks on Khwarezm, and finally captured Urgench, the capital of Khwarezm, in 1379 and massacred the city. Then, Timur targeted the Ilkhanate. The Mongolian Ilkhanate has been in decline since the mid-14th century. The areas of Iran and Afghanistan it controls are controlled by some local separatist forces and do not obey the Ilkhanate's command at all. Moreover, these local separatist forces still Attacking each other, it is impossible to respond unanimously to the invasion of Timur's army.

It took him about 10 years to conquer various princes in Iran and Afghanistan one after another, and the Ilkhanate fell. In 1393, Timur captured Baghdad and the Caucasus in the same year. By this point, the vanguard of Timur's army had met the Ottoman Empire's army occupying Asia Minor.

Timur's next target was the Ottoman Empire. The leaders of Western European countries, including the Pope, the King of England, the King of France, and the King of Castile, were very happy to receive this information and believed that this was a good opportunity to contain the Ottoman Empire, which posed a real threat to Western Europe. They sent envoys to meet Timur, and their thinking was: "It is legitimate to negotiate with an infidel in order to destroy another infidel."

At the same time, some small Turkic principalities and tribes affiliated to the Ottoman Empire became increasingly dissatisfied with Bayezid I. On the one hand, they believed that they did not benefit from being annexed by the Ottoman Empire, and they did not share in the empire's spoils. Some princes and nobles lost their original privileges. On the other hand, they believed that Bayezid I's policy towards Christians in conquered areas was relatively loose. As long as Christians surrendered, they did not have to change their religious beliefs and could even participate in the Ottoman Empire as Christians. army. These people who were dissatisfied with Bayezid I secretly colluded with Timur and were willing to act as internal agents during Timur's western expedition.

Timur confessed to Osman: "You are like ants, remember not to provoke the elephant, otherwise we will ravage and retaliate." Osman's response was also unrelenting: "If I am scared away by your army, then my wife will Abandon me; but if you flee from my army, all your women will find other husbands."

It seems that with the shift of history, some things have appeared in advance. The Ottoman Empire and the Timurid Empire are at war with each other. Either you die or I die.

Wallachia took advantage of this to expand its power, and the entire Balkans were now in a state of dominance. No one dared to say no to him. All the local nobles could do was hand over their power and take good care of their property.

They also don't stay in castles in the countryside. The city has a great influence on them. Everything had to be purchased from the towns. No condiments are produced on the estate. Boiled or grilled meat can only be eaten with salt. Spices that can be used as condiments are only available in the cities because they are imported from the East. At that time spices were used not only as seasonings but also as diaphoretic and digestive aids. Sugar is also imported from the East. At most, the manor only produces honey, and it is crude. Refined honey also has to be purchased in the city. As for the living conditions, the manor is even more incomparable with the luxury houses in the city.

In order to increase their income, they turned to industry, commerce, finance, and navigation, including stock participation. However, there are still some nobles who cling to land rent, which accelerates the differentiation of the nobles. The big nobles had to postpone their daughter's wedding date repeatedly because they did not have the financial resources to pay for their daughter's lavish dowry; the small nobles had to sell off their horses and swords because they could not repay their debts. The land in the manor was mortgaged, and the wealthy serfs and serf-status craftsmen redeemed themselves, and the moneyless ones fled to cities, newly developed areas, or deep mountains and old forests.

The decline of local nobility corresponds to the growth of central power. Military power, financial power, and personnel appointments and removals are all in the hands of the central government. Unlike the governance methods of Western Europe and Rome, which effectively prevented the emergence of local separatist forces, in the provinces of Skopje and Suceava, some old nobles still made some troubles, but they were suppressed.

There are currently 239 officials in Wallachia, 159 of whom are local officials. Among the family members, more than half are civilians, including merchants, craftsmen, and rich peasants. Nobles only account for 40%. The rest are those who have no financial resources but have passed the exam, such as poor farmers and laborers.

The people's attraction to Wallachia increased, and so did its attraction to immigrants. More people have brought technology and manpower, and Wallachia's financial revenue has also increased. According to the financial department report, Wallachia's tax revenue this year is 6.82 million silver lei.

Financial prosperity provided material guarantee for Wallachia's reforms. Military factories and armies continued to expand, and Europe's first standing army was born. And there are a large number of irregular cavalry units as supplements. Without money, all this is delusional.

Colonial activities organized by some individuals also began. They established strongholds in Crimea, Anatolia, and Rus' lands to develop trade.

Colonial activities at this time were generally individual actions, with very little government promotion. Even Spain and Portugal later carried out colonization in the form of outsourcing. Large areas of colonies in the Americas were also privately owned and only nominally owned by the state.

They established colonies in pursuit of luxuries such as spices and gold, while the colonization promoted by Wallachia was a permanent conquest of this land. The costs incurred for this were also shared equally between the government and Peter, but in contrast, the revenue from salt, alcohol and other monopoly sales were also equally shared.

Peter has borne most of the costs of reform and construction. Who has allowed him to be the most involved in economic activities? The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.