Chapter 36 The Sultan’s Will

As a sultan who takes active actions and never procrastinates, Selim found Yusuf Pasha the next day and asked him to organize a Diwan meeting.

The participants were Patriarch Nicholas, the Orthodox millet administrator, the remnants of the Vlach nobles from Romania, the representatives of the Fanar people of Constantinie, and the Sultan and his Grand Vizier and Grand Mufti.

In fact, Selim was quite satisfied with the current situation of the meeting. Unlike the previous sultans, he took the initiative this time.

For Yusuf Pasha and the Grand Mufti, the Muslim migration plan is undoubtedly quite beneficial to the rule of the empire, and these two people will definitely support the Sultan.

As the Orthodox Patriarch, Nicholas is likely to choose to be neutral or support Selim. After all, the father-in-law does not seem to be afraid of being poked in the back.

However, John Paleoleg, the representative of the Vlach nobles, and Simon Ducas, the representative of the Fanar people, no longer have sufficient voice in this meeting as before.

In the last Russo-Turkish war, Selim not only gained prestige, but also directly abolished Romania with the help of the Russian army's superb military discipline, and weakened the power of the Vlach nobles and the Phanauri.

The former was originally a local old noble, powerful, and had long enjoyed a high degree of autonomy.

As for the latter, in the third Russo-Turkish war, the Romanian nobles betrayed the Ottoman Empire and joined the Tsarist Russia.

After the war, the victorious Ottoman government severely punished these Romanian nobles.

The titles of the Grand Duke of Wallachia and the Grand Duke of Moldavia, which had been selected from the Vlach nobles, were transferred to the Phanauri of Constantinia by the Ottoman government.

In their early years, these mutant Greeks served as diplomats for the Ottoman Empire as a bridge for the empire to communicate with other European countries. In their later years, they were selected as princes, collecting taxes for the Ottoman Empire and making money for themselves. It can be said that they have both career and money.

The question is, why didn't the Ottoman government choose to annex the two principalities? In fact, the imperial government had such an idea, but unfortunately it not only failed, but the result was quite embarrassing.

Let's look back to the end of the 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire was not stable.

After finally killing Selim II, a drunkard who liked spiced grape juice, Sokollup Pasha once again met the strange Sultan Murad III.

As a direct descendant of Mehmed II, Murad III was quite like his ancestors. As soon as he was welcomed as Sultan by Sokollup, he immediately killed his five younger brothers. Ottoman inheritance law, everyone knows it.

The second thing this Sultan did was to limit Sokollup Pasha's power and secretly acquiesced to the assassination of the Grand Vizier's political enemies.

The third thing was that Murad III was a Sultan who liked to appreciate the aesthetics of the human body. He often fought one against three, stayed in the harem all year round, and ignored the government.

As the saying goes, a new official takes three actions when he takes office. Murad III was as fierce as a tiger and turned the Ottoman Empire, the European hegemon, into a stupid country. Rebellions broke out one after another in the country.

Murad III didn't care about this. Considering that it would cost a lot of money to send troops to quell the rebellion, the Sultan specially built seven towers and stored a large amount of gold coins in them to show his attitude.

After the death of Murad III, the successor Mehmed III looked at the situation and decided to solve it properly.

He chose Sardar Pasha as his Grand Vizier and arranged for the latter to quell the rebellion.

As a man with great ambitions, Sardar Pasha decided to do something big.

In April 1595, the Ottoman government planned to completely annex Moldavia and Wallachia, and this person was the manipulator behind the scenes.

But just a few months before, the death of Murad III had caused an earthquake in the Ottoman officialdom, resulting in an unstable internal power structure of the imperial government at this time.

The central power changed hands several times within a year, and the fierce internal struggle caused the annexation plan to be delayed again and again. Even the candidate for the governor of Moldavia after the annexation was repeatedly changed.

In the end, in order to gain the support of the Crimean Tatars, the Ottoman government appointed Ahmed, the nephew of Crimean Khan Gazi II, as the governor of Moldavia.

Unfortunately, not everyone supported the annexation plan.

It is not difficult to explain the reason.

Because maintaining the autonomy of Wallachia and Moldavia may not be of great benefit to the Ottoman Empire itself, but it can deliver a lot of benefits to the "ruling elite individuals" in the Ottoman court.

Therefore, some of the ruling elites took active actions based on the principle of "don't look at what I can do for the country, but look at what the country can do for me".

They volunteered to pass the intelligence to the then Grand Duke of Trasylvania Sigismund Batory, the Grand Duke of Wallachia "Brave Michael", and the Grand Duke of Moldavia "Tyrant Aaron".

By the way, the central government finally made a decision in April 1595, and the three families received intelligence in November 1594, so they directly formed a secret alliance and made sufficient preparations for the war. They were eager to try and looked forward to the upcoming Ottoman army.

The performance of the Ottoman government was also as expected. After crossing the Danube, the Ottoman army was defeated twice by "Brave Michael" in Wallachia.

At the same time, the southern Polish politician, Crown Hetman, Jan Zamoyski, who had been married to this group of Romanian nobles for many years, led his private army to intervene in Moldavia.

The Crimean Khan and Zamoyski's private soldiers fought for two days on the Prut River, and the two sides were evenly matched.

So the two reached an agreement that Movila ceded nine villages in southeastern Moldavia to Crimea, and Poland increased its annual tribute to Crimea in exchange for the Tatars' support for the Ottoman government's annexation plan.

Since then, the annexation plan of the high gates has completely failed. However, since the Ottoman-Polish relations during this period were still relatively friendly, the high gates temporarily acquiesced to the Movila family's rights over Moldavia and the influence of Polish nobles on the region.

But this is already a thing of the past. Since Jan Sobieski, Poland has been declining. Selim calculated that the country can only survive for six years at most, if the Sultan's math is not at the level of a moron.

In the situation of external isolation and internal weakness, the two principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia today, Selim wants to make her what the other side is like.

"I am glad to see you all at today's meeting. Regarding the post-war reconstruction in Romania and the resettlement of Muslims that has been a hot topic before.

I mean to relocate some landless people in Greece to Romania, and at the same time relocate some Muslims."

Looking at John and Simon's gloomy faces, Selim smiled happily and said, "This is the tone of this meeting, and everything will revolve around it. I have finished my words. Who agrees? Who opposes?"

Please read and collect, my family. Don't support books.

Also, Gaomen refers to the government of the Ottoman Empire