The Eagle of Eastern Europe

The settled population of Iasi grew rapidly. Before the merger of the two countries, there were less than a thousand people here. After Peter came to power, the population of Iasi rapidly increased to 2,000 people and was still rising.

The completion of public buildings such as bazaars promoted commercial prosperity, and more business travelers came to Moldova. Handicraft industry began to grow, and various parts of Moldova were connected by roads.

The economy and military are being reformed, so the next step is political.

As early as in Dobroga, Peter formulated a scaled-down version of the official rank list based on that of Peter the Great of Russia. Some official positions are divided into levels one to six, with level one being the smallest and level six being the largest. And for the first time, selection and appointment will be based on examination, but even if you pass, you will have to start from the bottom.

The same goes for the army, where Peter sets ten levels of military rank. Including general, colonel, lieutenant colonel, major; captain, lieutenant, second lieutenant, sergeant, sergeant, and corporal. Everyone was confused when they first came out, but the military welcomes the military rank system, so that they can be appointed according to merit, and their status will rise accordingly.

Foreigners can also take exams or the military, but they must take a local language test and their promotion speed is slower than that of natives.

Don’t think that this is a direct step into bureaucratic rule. You must know that such an exam is only held once every three years, and those who take the exam have to pay their own travel expenses. Not everyone can afford this fee, so although a social mobility space has been opened, it is very small.

The news of Binjeli's fight against the Tatars also spread to the Crimea region, and some Slavs, Ruthenians, etc. came here. They will continue to work hard and sweat for this country.

During this period, Hungary finally took action. Sigismund led 20,000 troops south to help Bulgaria, and Mircea also went with 5,000 troops.

Not so much a help, though. It is better to say that it is tourism. Mircea is only responsible for the transportation of materials. People are afraid that his prestige is higher than that of the Hungarian king.

This also frees Mircea to do other things, such as trying to control Vidin.

The ruler of Vidin is the son of the former Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander and the brother of the current Tsar. This year is the 36th year of his rule.

But Vidin under his rule was in dire straits, first occupied by Hungary, then Serbia, and then the Ottomans. No one could stand it.

What's more, Hungary is Catholic, Ottoman is Catholic, and although Serbia is also Orthodox, it is already a vassal of Ottoman. In this case, death is inevitable sooner or later.

Vidin is divided into several factions. The first is to convert to Catholicism and ask for Hungarian protection; the second is to follow Serbia and defect to the Ottomans; the third is to continue to maintain the Orthodox teachings while fighting against the Ottomans and Hungary.

Originally the third faction was the least powerful, but the rise of Wallachia gave them hope. Especially after the annexation of Moldova, some people decided to invite Grand Duke Mircea to Vidin.

They formed a political alliance in Lom, a place not far from Vidin. Its main members were small nobles and burghers. They believed that only by joining Wallachia could they preserve their faith and property.

When Mircea's army entered Vidin, the Romu Alliance also sent people to contact it.

"Are you saying that the citizens of Vidin are willing to put the city under Wallachian rule?"

"Yes, Grand Duke, we unanimously request that you become the ruler of this land. Your wisdom is enough to rule, and your kindness is the medicine that can help the people of Vidin get rid of their pain."

The envoy of the Lom Alliance persuaded Mircea to take this opportunity to take over Vidin, but he felt that it was not the time yet, and at least he had to wait until Hungary left.

"For Vidin, I am willing to stand up, but now I need more power."

Mircea gave the other party 1,000 gold coins as support for the Lomu Alliance. And he also felt that Vidin's forces were competing with each other, and began to rely on the alliance to win over internal forces.

At the front, Sigismund led the Hungarian and Bulgarian troops to attack. The Ottomans retreated steadily, even retreating to Sofia. But when the Crusaders saw this, they relaxed.

The Serbian dictator Lazarevich saw this opportunity and led the Serbian cavalry to attack the Hungarian army. The battle lines on both sides have returned to their original starting point.

Sigismund thought that there were still Wallachian troops, so he sent people to Vidin to ask Mircea to fight.

"Got it" was Mircea's reply to the other party. He wished that Sigismund would die in the Balkans, but reason stopped him.

He took his army and headed for Sophia. On the way, they encountered a coalition of Serbian and Ottoman forces.

"It seems that we have encountered a tough situation." Mircea looked at the army in front and said.

Mircea ordered the army to form a formation and rely on the hillside to respond to the enemy from a high position.

The other party obviously saw the Wallachian army and planned to fight quickly. Ordering the Sipaxi cavalry and the Serbian cavalry to charge quickly, the Wallachian shooters fired their first muskets.

Some cavalry fell down, followed by dense arrows. The Wallachian army abandoned bows and arrows and instead used crossbows for attack. The power is obvious.

The opponent's cavalry suffered heavy losses before they even touched it. Taking this opportunity, Mircea ordered the cavalry to attack.

The Ottoman infantry was not a vegetarian, and they resisted for two hours with the Wallachian army. Neither side gave way to the other. Among them, Wallachia's long-range troops gave it great damage.

In the end, the Ottoman army, which consisted mostly of cavalry and infantry, retreated first. And Mircea also knew how to stop when he was ready, so he asked the troops to withdraw.

This victory was mainly due to the powerful firepower output of the long-range troops. The muskets and crossbows were very powerful. Secondly, this was an encounter and both sides were not prepared. Otherwise, the fate of Mircea's troops would be unknown.

However, it is precisely because of this. Mircea had reason to withdraw his troops into the country and wrote to Sigismund, saying that he had suffered heavy losses from the Serbian and Ottoman armies and was forced to retreat.

Sigismund hated iron but could not make steel. How could Wallachia annex Moldova? He should have intervened at that time.