Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 389 Mongolia is Big, Rome is Small

Guo Kang's words made everyone sigh.

The strategic situation of the Crusader countries determined that they would not last long.If you don't be so ostentatious at the beginning, you may be able to continue on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea with other princes of the Christianity and Tianfangism, but the Crusaders came up with great fanfare and offended everyone to death.Even if occasionally someone can take advantage of diplomatic opportunities, it will only allow these territories to survive.

For the Orthodox Church, the Crusaders were no different from bandits on the whole, and they were basically never controllable. Later, they simply robbed them, so they were naturally not popular.

But on the other hand, the entire Crusade was organized at the invitation of Eastern Rome. Even if it was a trouble, it was a trouble of its own making.If you can't beat the Turkic people yourself, if you want others to send troops, then you can't help yourself.

Moreover, the Crusaders in the early years also played some roles, not to say that they did not take advantage of it.Even the Fourth Crusade, which later robbed Constantinople, was invited by the Greeks themselves to help fight for the throne.This is not to say that the victims are all guilty, but that the top leaders of Eastern Rome are not innocent in these matters.In the final analysis, it was they who wanted to take advantage of themselves, but they didn't have the ability to control them, so they created these problems.

In fact, not to mention the crusaders, the main force of the Western European powers, even ordinary mercenaries were very problematic for Eastern Rome.

100 years ago, at the beginning of the 14th century, a Catalan mercenary group was hired by Eastern Rome to attack the Turks in Asia Minor.Although the number is less than [-], this mercenary has participated in the war of the Kingdom of Aragon in Sicily, and its combat effectiveness is very good, so it has repeatedly made meritorious service.

In order to win over them, Emperor Andronika specially paid the whole regiment double salary, and married his niece to Roger Flo, the mercenary leader.However, because the Catalan mercenaries were treated so well and were always disobedient, conflicts with other troops and Roman officials quickly arose.

Later, when the Catalan Legion was preparing to go to Asia Minor to attack the Ottomans, rumors spread that Flo was planning to become emperor himself.Fearful, Andronica conspired with her son to invite Flo to the court for a farewell banquet.

The niece thought it was a trap, but Flo didn't take it seriously, and led more than 1000 men to the banquet.As a result, everyone ate and ate, lost their vigilance, and all passed out drunk.The emperor took the opportunity to kill them all.

Now the Catalan mercenary regiment has lost a small half of its people, and its leader is gone. It is the weakest time, but the wise and calculating emperor is not careless, but still spends a lot of money to organize an army of 5 people , ready to annihilate this remnant in one fell swoop.

Unexpectedly, the Catalan mercenaries who got the news penetrated the entire Eastern Rome all the way, defeating all intercepted enemies along the way.In the end, they actually unified the southern part of the Greek peninsula and established a mercenary country, which is the so-called Principality of Athens.

Of the emperor's 2 troops, [-] were wiped out by them, and the rest were unwilling to fight and had to give up.In this way, not only did he spend a lot of money, but he was also robbed all the way.

The only good thing is that Athens and the Peloponnese were occupied, and they didn't feel bad for them - the Greek empire had long since lost their hometown in Greece, and since the Fourth Crusade, a group of Latin lords have always been there Occupying the mountain over there is king.There is only a nominal claim left by Rome on that side.

The Athenians became "Greeks" again, after many decades.When the Purple Horde regained the place, it did not use any tricks or propaganda. It sent troops to wipe out the mercenaries and bandits entrenched around the city, and the history of the Principality of Athens ended...

So it is no wonder that in the early days of the Purple Horde, many people dismissed the title of "Roman".

It is said that when the Greeks invited the Purple Horde Khanate to return to the capital, they did not ask the grand master to attend the meeting and expressed their opposition.He believes that the Greeks had developed well in Asia Minor before, but since they took over this unlucky city, they have become worse and worse.The purple tent was occupied once last time, and it has been in constant trouble since then.It can be seen that this place is useless, but whoever occupies it is unlucky, it is best to throw it far away.

The story was very popular, because if the Greeks in the city acted arrogantly, other people could use this story to mock them, saying that they themselves were useless and were all taking advantage of others.Therefore, not to mention the citizens of the purple tent, even those foreigners who come and go for business know this joke...

Of course, the actual situation is not so dramatic.According to family members, the grand master did complain a lot at that time, but the main thing was that he didn't think it was worth it.

At that time, the usefulness of the city was its advantage as a transportation hub.The problem is, her port is not in the hands of the Greeks either.

If you want to control the shipping here, you have to conflict with the Italian merchants who already control the ports and routes.But at that time, the Purple Horde still needed them very much—although it was on the Black Sea, the Khanate had always been a purely land-based country, and didn't care about the ocean at all. The only way to participate was to rent some Italian merchant ships to run run transport.For the management of routes and ports, they neither understand nor have the capital to participate in trade.

That being the case, it is better to let the original order continue to be maintained.Anyway, the Greeks have no problems, and if they want to play games with the Italians, they only need to start with the occupied ports along the Black Sea and gradually strengthen their management.Businessmen are not too stubborn in the face of profits. In order to continue doing business, they will definitely compromise.

When the Khan Court has become familiar with these affairs and has trained a group of talents of its own, at that time, it will be a matter of smooth sailing to take back the control of most of the ports and routes.That's why the grand master insisted that there is no need to go back at this time.

Of course, there is one point, the joke is right - from the beginning to the end, it is true that Hua Taishi did not mention the issue of the title of Rome.He really didn't think it was necessary to think about it...

Guo Kang heard from his family that Guo Gai told him about the history of Rome.But the grand master dismissed it, saying that if he had to find a title, it would be better to find a golden account.As we all know, Mongolia is very big now, but Rome is small.Anyway, it's all about clinging, why do you want to sacrifice the big for the small?
It would be easier if you were looking for a reason—the advantage of Rome is that you can fight everywhere if you have a reason; but even if Mongolia has no reason, you can fight everywhere.Then what are you doing with all this trouble...

This question stumped Guo Gai for a while.

However, because telling the truth too much would embarrass everyone, so this story was not widely spread.Now it is the upper echelons of the Khan court, who sometimes make fun of themselves.

(End of this chapter)