Chapter 131: Strategy for External Expansion

The official ranking table promoted by Peter quickly attracted support and opposition, but the opposition was small, and the loudest voices among the supporters were citizens and the army. The upward channel was opened, and their support for the government also increased.

Although the projects of language unification and weights and measures unification were somewhat uncomfortable, other reforms increased public support. The central government's control over the local areas continued to increase.

Unlike the Apennines and the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkans are not blocked by mountains. They are adjacent to the Ukrainian Plain in the north, the Pannonian Plain in the west, and the three narrow waters of the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea in the south and east. In addition, the Asia Minor Peninsula can be said to be very easy to invade.

Such geographical factors are not conducive to the unification of an empire. The mountainous terrain hinders the flow of transportation and personnel. The plains on the border are easy for enemy countries to invade. In order to prevent this from happening, the border must be pushed to Dalmatia.

After inspecting the terrain and humanities of the Balkans, Peter decided to change the provincial system that was originally planned to be carried out after the unification of the Balkans to a county-state parallel system, which may be more suitable for the Balkans. When the East entered bureaucratic governance, the West was still under the operation of the feudal system. And the feudal system also came to the East with the Crusades, destroying the original central management system, which is why it cannot be promoted forcefully. What's more terrible is: you don't have so many officials to govern the local area. The examination system has just come out, and it is impossible to provide a large number of experienced officials immediately. This has to be explored by yourself.

In his spare time, Peter told his brothers and sisters about his experiences in the West and took out a lot of Genoese gadgets, which made them very happy. But Mrs. Maria kept teaching Peter that it was too dangerous to go alone. Obviously, the lady ignored Peter's entourage and guards.

In order to make Peter calmer, Maria asked the Grand Duke to write a letter to his in-laws, asking them to send Peter's fiancée here. She hoped that this wife would make Peter pay attention to the family and bring a grandson to the Bartland family.

Sometimes Peter would go to the construction site of the cathedral to check the progress of the construction. Patriarch Carol would also be there, and Peter would discuss theology with him. He also handed over the indulgences obtained from Bohemia to the Patriarch.

"This is blasphemy against God. They are a group of thieves and robbers."

"Then how much is this piece of paper worth?"

"Not worth a penny"

Peter has a different answer to this question.

"As far as I know, this piece of paper is worth at most 30 silver coins."

After hearing this answer, Patriarch Carol laughed. With rich theological knowledge, he naturally knew what Peter meant. These greedy people, I hope they go to hell.

"Your Highness, please let me introduce you to Cyril, the abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery."

The people introduced by Patriarch Carol are not ordinary people. This abbot Cyril is not only the abbot of the monastery, but also the president of the Andre Society.

Cyril grew up in a monastery. He was not only familiar with theology, but also proficient in Greek, literature, medicine, Latin, etc. He advocated asceticism and opposed luxury and paganism. After the establishment of the Andre Society, he was elected as the first president, responsible for missionary work and armed pilgrimage.

When Cyril saw the Western indulgence, he cursed the Catholic Church and used all the evil words.

"God loves everyone equally and will never divide his people into different levels because of wealth. One's own sins need to be redeemed by oneself, and they will never disappear because of this piece of paper."

Peter listened to the words of Dean Cyril and felt that he was no different from those who reformed the religion. However, as enemies, Catholicism and Orthodoxy are more suitable for quarreling over the issue of whether to use leavened bread or unleavened bread.

At the same time, Peter also knew that the next target of the Andrew Society was Poland, Lithuania and Northern Europe. According to their reasons, Central Europe had long been the territory of Catholicism, and it was impossible to compete with them now. If they could advance northward to the Baltic Sea region of Sweden, Finland, and Russia, they could connect Wallachia and the Principality of Moscow. But the degree of difficulty can be imagined.

Peter immediately provided a large amount of funds for the Andrew Society to encourage them to preach abroad, especially Anatolia, which had been occupied by the Crescent and nomadic peoples, and the culture and religion must be washed back.

After conquering part of Asia Minor, the Turks began to implement a conciliatory policy, which was also an important reason why the Turkic-controlled areas could be successfully Turkified. The Turkic leaders provided land to the people under their rule and reduced taxes in certain years to improve the living standards of the people and attract foreign ethnic groups. At the same time, in order to enhance the influence of the Crescent Church on the people under their rule, the Turkic leaders would suppress and even expel Christian forces. As a result, the Turks played a guiding role in material and spiritual aspects on other ethnic groups in Asia Minor, and subtly realized the Turkification of the region.

According to the records of merchants from various countries, there are more than 300,000 nomadic tents in Anatolia. It is no wonder that they gradually came to rule this place. It is not an easy task to take it back.

For now, in addition to cultural assimilation, violence is the main means. Matchlock and artillery equipment already account for one-fifth of the army. Gunpowder is very powerful, but the disadvantages of matchlock are also obvious, such as it cannot be used on rainy days and is complicated to operate. Peter divided the musketeers into three rows. After the first row finished shooting, the second row shot. When the second row shot, the first and third rows exchanged positions and went to the rear to add gunpowder, etc. After the second row finished shooting, the third row shot again. The second row exchanged positions with the first row at the beginning and replenished ammunition. After the third row finished shooting, the first row shot again. In this way, the interval time was greatly shortened.

The development of artillery also surpassed other countries. Cast iron cannons and cast copper cannons were used in combination, and the use of granular gunpowder increased the power. Such large-scale firepower is hard to find a second one in the world.

Peter invested tens of thousands of dollars in musket factories and artillery factories every year, and now he finally saw the return. With firearms, he had a better chance of winning against the Ottomans. In response to the Ottoman cavalry, Peter vigorously promoted the equipment of long-range weapons. Wallachia also began to train and hire cavalry for combat, and collected military books for the instructor school to improve the status and income of the soldiers in the army, all in order to deal with all enemies.

The infantry was divided into light and heavy types. Different types of soldiers responded to different situations. The battlefield situation changed rapidly. I hope this army can withstand the test of blood and fire.