Chapter 153: Falls at the Touch of a Finger

"Your Highness, we have arrested 26 noble families, and many people have been arrested in Vidin, Varna and other places."

"Yes"

Peter has crossed the Danube and is temporarily staying in Vidin. The vanguard has advanced, and Peter needs to deal with Bulgaria before going to Serbia.

"All the rebels must be taken to Bukuriesti, and the Grand Council will personally judge them."

Peter dealt with Vidin, Trvorno, Varna and other provinces in just a few days. During this period, the two legions established by Peter also joined him. After confirming that there was no problem, Peter and Adrian set out for Nis again.

The number of rebels at this time has risen to 4,000, including their own private soldiers, foreign reinforcements, local bandits, mercenaries, etc. Although the number is large, it is mixed, and orders cannot be uniformly followed. Although Nis has a small number of defenders, the military and civilians are united, so that the rebels have not taken it down for half a month.

The nobles of Kruševac also received the news that Wallachia had sent troops. Some nobles were scared and proposed peace talks with Wallachia. But they were already on the same boat, and it was useless to surrender now. There was no other way except to fight to the death.

They sent messengers to Hungary for help, but Mircea went one step further and sent people to Hungary to talk to Sigismund. At the same time, they bribed Hungarian nobles with a large sum of money to prevent Hungary from going to war.

As for Serbia, which was sandwiched between the two countries, it did not have the courage to send troops to rescue them. Do you think your life is too long? You should continue to recuperate for now.

In this way, Venice became the only option left. This rebellion was also sponsored by Venetian gold coins. In exchange for trade privileges, they planned to obtain 200,000 gold coins from Venice, which could hire 3,000 mercenaries for several months.

But Peter's speed was too fast. In less than five days, he brought his army to Niš. Before that, the vanguard and the garrison cooperated to defeat the rebel forces. The army had withdrawn to Kruševac, and the negotiations with Venice ended before they even began, because the Wallachian army had surrounded them.

The rebels were not stupid, they knew that they had to hold on and wait for help to have hope, so they recruited the residents of the city to strengthen the city defense.

In addition to the siege, Peter also ordered part of the army to go south to eliminate the rebels in Kosovo and Macedonia. Among them, the adult Turkic children who had been adopted by the monastery joined the team to eliminate the rebels.

There were 1,000 children in this group, and they had been brainwashed successfully under the influence of religion. Now they only obey the Wallachian rulers and are willing to go through fire and water.

Next was a slow siege, and Wallachia cut off all traffic outside the city unless they could fly out. And 30 artillery pieces were allocated to bombard the city walls every day, which put great pressure on the defenders.

The Orthodox did not support the rebels, but some Catholics did. After being excommunicated, the nobles converted to Catholicism and donated the Orthodox Church to the Catholic Church.

Although they converted to Catholicism, the lower classes were still devout Orthodox Christians. Such a state of division damaged their unity and reduced their ability to defend the city.

According to the captured prisoners, the food in Kruševac could only last for a month. If they failed to break through or get reinforcements in a month, they would have to surrender.

In order to gain the support of citizens and peasants, Peter issued a decree. As long as they surrendered to them now, their crimes would be pardoned; and the serfs working on the nobles' land would also be freed.

Among the rebels, in addition to Catholics, many peasants chose to surrender. In Pristina, the peasants rioted and drove the nobles out of the city to welcome the entry of the Wallachian army.

Peter watched the artillery bombarding the walls of Kruševac every day from the position. For these Serbs, they still had to change their culture.

"After conquering this place, all nobles and wealthy merchants will be taken to Bukurjesti."

The people who spread culture in the area were taken away, and replaced by people who promoted their own culture, so that the speed of assimilation would be greatly accelerated. As for these people, they were placed in places where they could be easily monitored to prevent them from causing trouble.

The Grand Duke's new order also arrived. He appointed Peter as the governor of the Serbian region, responsible for all affairs in the area. With this order, Peter could mobilize all local resources, and the first thing he did when he took office was to burn the local upper class. It was announced that all nobles, wealthy merchants, etc. would go to the capital. Only a small number of people were left to help.

The areas where the rebellion was quelled began to migrate. Although the wealthy merchants kept their property, they were afraid that it would be robbed on the way. The local Orthodox Church was also disrupted and reorganized, replaced by native Wallachian priests and bishops. The Serbian language was largely banned, and Wallachian language began to be used for prayers and transactions.

The rebellion gradually subsided, because this group of nobles had little experience in fighting, and they had not completed the road to Hungary, and they would soon be besieged and killed.

When the food in Kruševac was almost eaten up, a shell hit the city's warehouse, which contained a large amount of cooking oil. A large amount of oil flowed on the ground, and not far away there were soldiers cooking. A spark jumped out and ignited the oil. The warehouse soon caught fire.

"My lord, look."

Peter saw the thick smoke rising from the city outside the city, and with a month's time coming soon, he decided to take this opportunity to attack the city.

"Attack!"

A large number of troops were marching towards the city like a tidal wave, and artillery and catapults were also suppressing the defenders. In addition, the warehouse was on fire, and there was chaos in the city for a while.

This time, Peter did not use gunpowder to blow up the city gate, but used artillery to blow up the city wall. After these days of bombing, the city wall was already in danger. And this time, all the artillery aimed at one place and concentrated the attack, and soon, the east wall of Krushevac was blown down. The army rushed up, and the defenders were completely no match, so they withdrew to the city to start street fighting.

The nobles in the city also wanted to escape in the chaos, but where could they run in this place where water was so dense that they could not get through. Most of them were caught, but a small number of them still escaped. The noble rebellion that lasted for one and a half months was basically over. (It seems a bit too fast)

This rebellion affected many places, and Mircea ordered a thorough investigation. A large number of nobles were arrested and awaiting trial, and all their property was confiscated, part of which was distributed to their soldiers and part to landless peasants. The eradication of noble power is also conducive to the development of centralization.

In addition to attacking the old nobility, Wallachia also promoted a large number of so-called new nobility. Most of them were military officers, merchants or declining nobles, and were later promoted by the Grand Duke. They were loyal to the Grand Duke and also cooperated with the government's policies in the local area. At the same time, a large number of officials were deployed to enrich the local government, so there was no need to worry about rebellion.