Chapter III. Alexandru I cel Bun's (part 3) and Alexander II's (part 1) reigns
Hello and welcome to a new episode of Moldavia's quest for glory, riches, and what ever life has to offer.
Last time you were passing by it was 1432 and Moldavia had just incorporated the province of Stetin at the Baltic Sea.
Well, our recent success did not get overlooked, it was in fact very well noticed by our neighbors in north, Hungary, who decided that it was a good time for them to become our friends, so they offered us an alliance, which, of course I rejected.
Our new wannabe friends. It's like they knew what we have in store for them
The others of our neighbors in the north, Poland and Lithuania were engaged in a war against the Golden Horde and they were doing very well.
Lithuania in the process of removing the crazy tatars out of the very (in)sane Europe
But let's just get back to the newest pearl of our crown, Stetin, shall we? This province is sooo faaaar away, it's almost like we have a colony on a distant continent. It does have a sea port, but my bunch of vessels can barely be named a fleet. I mean, they are very useful in blocking the Dardaneles and keep the turks from crossing into Europe when they have no fleet to speak of, but it will take about a century for my one cog to transport enough troops to Stetin to protect the province. However, as a result of a series of fortunate events, I border the poles and they border me, both in Bessarabia and in Stetin. Furthermore, Moldavia + Poland = love, understanding, very best friends and so on; we trust each other so much that we can freely move troops from one country to the other; and this is how I can have access to my own piece of far, far away.
There is though, a small unsettling issue that has been brought to my attention: our spies (they are many, competent and elusive) tell us that the emperor of the romans is getting ready to claim that Stetin is part of his empire.
One of our spy has blended in and is keeping an eye on the roman emperor
Claims on Stetin from the roman emperor!? Now that's ridiculous!!! First, in order to have an emperor of the romans, it should be a Roman Empire filled with a roman, latin speaking people. And there is none of that for a thousand years now.
Second, that old and true Roman Empire that doesn't exist anymore, never reached the Baltic. Even I know that much history!! How is it than, the today's "romans" have a claim on it?
Third, we are romanians but still don't call ourselves "The Roman Empire"! So, who the hack he thinks he is!!? And who is that "emperor of the romans" anyway? Aaaa, is Bavaria!! They are pretty little for such a big claim. Since they are so little, I can do what ever I want, for there will be no "empire strikes back" in this part of the galaxy. Hmm, I should tell them that Stetin is no longer a part of their so called "empire". But we are too friendly towards each other for that. Of course we are!! There claim of being the true romans was such a good joke that we kept laughing for a week. Even the New Year's Eve can't be that entertaining. No wonder that we like them so much!! They are all a bunch of clowns. But I had enough with all their buffooneries. I should send them a nice, fat, juicy insult then. Done. All I need now is a magistrate, wich I already have. Off he goes!! And that was it! So much with Stetin being part of "The Empire"!! And since I'm at it, I'll send a missionary too.
Some time after I incorporated Silistria, I changed my National Focus on it, and enacted settlement policy there. At the end of 1432 the culture in Silistria changed to romanian, so I started the settlement policy in Bulgaria too.
I also started to build some improvements in my new provinces and allied with Byzantium.
In 1435 I saw the Ottomans were at war with Venice again; the venetians sent the turkish newly build fleet the same place where the old one was: on the bottom of the see. That's an opportunity that should not be lost. So, I prepared my troops (I had about 10 k soldiers then) and declare war on them. My allies joined me and those of the turks joined them. It was just Hungary that stayed out of the war, even though I gave them a CB on me by declaring war. Immediately after the DOW was send, I scorched the provinces of Bulgaria, Nis and Burgas, then regrouped my troops in Serbia, and marched them to Nis, which was besieged by the Ottomans. The two armies were about the same size, but theirs had no leader so I won the battle in Bulgaria, then followed and annihilated them in Macedonia.
Setting the trap and killing the game.
After that it was just the usual war against the Ottoman Empire: starting sieges in their European provinces while blocking the straits so they could not bring more troops from Asia minor.
By 1439 I conquered Macedonia, Kozani and Larisa, while my allies, the serbs had conquered Zeta. I didn't conquered Edirne, their capital, though: Portugal was allied with Venice and conquered Edirne before me, destroyed the Turkish troops in Asia Minor and starded a siege in Bursa. Without Edirne in my hands I didn't have enough warscore to make peace; so I invaded Asia Minor. By the time I crossed the Bosphorus, my allies, the Byzantines were already there and were besieging Anatolia and Bythinia. I sent my troops to Yazgod and passed the national decision of "Liberum Veto", which instantly gave me 15 new regiments. Seeing their desperate situation, the turks were ready to accept peace, giving me Macedonia and Kozani and a small amount of money.
While I was busy acquiring some new land in the Balkans, the rest of the european countries were also busy doing what ever suited them. The hungarians, for instance, were busy getting their behind kicked by Bohemia and its allies.
Bohemia acting towards making my job easier and the result of their action
I decided that it will be a good idea to make Croatia my vassal. So, I offered them a royal marriage – they accepted, I offered them an alliance – they accepted, I offered them gifts to further improve our relations – they accepted, finally, I offered them to become my vassals – they did NOT accepted. And they said "No" for three more times, so I gave it up. What can I say, this south-slavic people are really stubborn and proud.
In 1442, our counterfeiters people working in the Chancellery "discovered" some documents, that show very clear that some provinces belonging to our neighbors, are, in fact, a part of our inalienable patrimony: Ruthenia is part of Poland, so I'll probably give it up; Brandenburg, belonging to Bohemia, is also bordering Stetin so I want it; and there is the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Edirne, but with the turks having provinces in Asia Minor, provinces that I'm not very interested in, I'm not sure I'll ever take it.
I continued with my province's improvement program (constables, workshops, armory and upgrading my ports) and expanded my army up to 16 regiments (5 cavalry and 11 infantry).
In 1445 Byzantyum started a war against the Ottoman Empire and its allies, and asked for my helped. I entered the war and quickly conquered Larisa, but that was it. The rest of the European provinces were already under siege by Serbia (Zeta) and Byzantium (Edirne) so I needed to cross the straits for more warpoints. But at the end of the year, in December, after 41 years as Voievod of Moldavia, Alexandru cel Bun died and his inept son (I hope you do remember my 3-3-3 heir) came to the throne.
How is it that plague, hunting accidents, assassination attempts and all the other hazards of life, always spare the idiots?
As you can see, the heir is not that bad though. And you can also observe my two very, very, very great men. This two advisors make me think that I'll survive even with such an incompetent ruler.
Back to my war with the turks now. I made a military leader out of my monarch, secretly hoping that I'll get rid of him sooner. He is not the new Alexander (well, he is an Alexander, but not the "Great" one), but he is not very bad either (2 shock, 2 fire, 1 maneuver). I put him in charge of my army and sent him in Asia Minor to conquer more provinces. All I was able to do though, was to defeat the fresh regiments that the ottomans were recruiting. My 16 regiments dropped to just 12k men from the constant fighting and the atrition, my manpower was gone and my bulgarian and greek provinces started revolting. So I decided to get out of the war without adding more land to my realm.
Money, removing some of their cores and a little prestige, that's all. Our diplomatic corps are getting lazy
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