At the southern tip of Transylvania, in Timisoara, a strategically important Hungarian border town, Paul Kinizsi, the Hungarian Border Guard's Southeast Border Commander, Tames County Governor, and Royal Military Governor, slowly patrolled the country roads on horseback.
On both sides of the road, farmers were performing the final harvesting work, and with this year's harvest, their lives finally had a secure foundation.
Some people who saw Paul immediately greeted him warmly, and he responded gently to each of them.
If one observed carefully, they would immediately notice that the farmers toiling in the fields looked incredibly diverse, including Hungarians, Serbians, and even Germans.
Some of them were displaced people from the Transylvania rebellion, some were farmers who had fled from Serbia, and others were German immigrants who had traveled all the way from Austria.
These people were all attracted by Paul through various means, and most of them were satisfied with their current lives.
After recapturing Timisoara, the capital of Tames County, Paul was appointed as the garrison commander of the area, holding both military and administrative power, and was also responsible for managing the entire Hungarian Southeast Border.
The last person to bear such a heavy responsibility was Janos Hunyadi, nicknamed the "White Knight."
And because Paul often wore black armor, some border residents who missed Janos began to call Paul by the name "Black Knight."
This precisely represented their recognition of Paul; this battle-hardened veteran of the Hungarian Border Guard also displayed astonishing talent in managing his territory.
When he first took over Timisoara, this important Hungarian border town had only a little over a thousand inhabitants remaining, and its commerce and handicrafts had suffered devastating blows.
To quickly restore the local population's strength, Paul applied to the Emperor for many preferential policies to encourage immigration, such as granting land to immigrants, long-term tax exemptions, and conferring free citizen status.
In addition, he also spearheaded the reconstruction of Timisoara's chamber of commerce and guilds, allowing the city to regain its status as a commercial hub.
Only a few years after the Hunyadi rebellion, Timisoara's population recovered to its prosperous period's scale and is expected to increase further, possibly breaking the ten-thousand mark.
In the vast and fertile plains outside Timisoara, large tracts of abandoned farmland were re-cultivated, and large numbers of cattle and sheep were grazed on the wasteland.
A portion of the grain harvested from these farmlands was submitted to the Timisoara Legion of the Border Guard stationed in the city, and another portion, along with livestock products such as wool and beef, was sold to merchants on the Danube River trade route for currency to pay legally mandated taxes, with the remainder kept by the hardworking farmers.
The price for enjoying high tax exemptions was that they had to regularly assemble at designated locations to receive basic military training from instructors appointed by Paul.
At the same time, Paul also required all males aged 15 to 40 to find a way to acquire a set of equipment, which should at least include cloth armor, a helmet, and a long spear.
These pieces of equipment were not difficult to obtain, as for how much use they would be on the battlefield, that was hard to say.
For Paul, training a large number of militiamen was a last resort.
He had once proposed to the Emperor to build a large cluster of fortresses along the Danube River and station a considerable number of garrison troops there to completely cut off threats from the Danube River.
However, this proposal was, as expected, rejected by Laszlo on the grounds of financial strain.
Paul later applied for an increase in military funds, but Laszlo only raised the military funds allocated to him by five thousand florin, from ninety thousand to ninety-five thousand.
He had to use these military funds to maintain the three-thousand-strong Timisoara Legion, the Hungarian garrison in the Severin Fortress in Wallachia, and the Danube Flotilla, which had over a hundred warships.
Normally, his work included, but was not limited to, reinforcing border defenses, combating smuggling, assisting in customs collection, and sometimes even quelling disturbances and riots in Transylvania.
Fortunately, Serbia across the Danube River was also a vassal state under the Emperor's rule; if it were the Ottoman, Paul would not know how he would maintain this precarious border defense line.
Since building a cluster of fortresses was not feasible, he could only continue to learn from his old superior and military mentor, the "White Knight," and began to extensively drill militiamen in the southeast border, primarily in Tames County.
If it was impossible to build city walls with hard stone, then the flesh and blood of the border residents would form a solid wall to protect the Hungarian border.
Although these militiamen were, in the end, just a rabble, under proper command, they could still play a certain role on the battlefield.
To increase the number of militiamen, Paul vigorously promoted preferential policies, hoping to "trick" more people into settling in the border areas.
Even Paul himself did not expect that the allure of these policies would be so great as to attract tens of thousands of immigrants to settle here.
This, in turn, gave rise to new problems.
"General, several villages around here have reported a shortage of land for distribution, and the number of immigrants has far exceeded our expectations."
The adjutant accompanying Paul explained.
It has been more than two years since Timisoara was recaptured from the Hunyadi rebels, and displaced people are still continuously pouring into Tames County, so much so that Paul has to consider canceling the preferential policies for subsequent immigrants.
"Alas, see where else in the county we can allocate land to them, and try to settle them properly."
Paul sighed softly, giving the order helplessly.
"Yes, General," the adjutant nodded, saying with some emotion, "You were once worried about not being able to attract enough immigrants to fill the population gap in Tames County, who would have thought that today we would face a situation where there are too many immigrants to settle?
During King Sigismund's reign, the Kingdom's tax revenue was no more than three hundred thousand florin. During King Albrecht II's reign, by collecting turkey tax multiple times a year, it could barely reach six hundred thousand florin.
Now, during Emperor Laszlo's reign, without relying on tax increases, over six hundred thousand florin in tax revenue can be collected annually.
I think this is why those people would rather risk death to immigrate and settle in our borderland.
Of course, it's also possible that our propaganda worked, and those people truly believe that Bulgaria and Serbia can withstand the Ottomans counterattack."
Paul frowned and glared at the adjutant, saying in a deep voice, "Say less of such things in the future, if you don't want to lose your head.
Everything the Emperor does is for the protection and development of Hungary; you must firmly remember this!
Although His Majesty did not agree to my plan to build fortresses on the Danube River, a considerable cluster of fortresses has already been built on the Bulgarian border.
With the resistance of the Bulgarian army and the Order of Saint George, the Ottomans cannot break through.
And even if Bulgaria falls, we still have the strong cities of Severin and Belgrade; the Ottomans could not take them ten years ago, and it is even less likely they will succeed now."
Despite his words, Paul's actual actions revealed his true thoughts.
He was eager to strengthen Hungary's border defenses, not only out of concern for the Ottomans but also out of caution towards the Balkan vassal states.
The situation in Bulgaria and Serbia was not very peaceful.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was treated by Laszlo as a military border, with large amounts of money and manpower invested in building a defense system, and several cities and castles were granted to the growing Teutonic Order.
The Order of Saint George, which originated from the Teutonic Order, on one hand, undertook the military task of defending against the Ottomans, and on the other hand, assisted Regent Frederick of Bulgaria in forcibly promoting Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria.
Because the law stipulated that non-Catholic believers had to pay additional taxes, small-scale uprisings frequently occurred in various places.
Once the local Crusade lords could not deal with the rebels, the Teutonic Order would use iron hooves and long swords to make them "accept" the true faith.
In addition to building border defenses, Bulgaria also had to pay a certain percentage of its annual financial income to the Vienna government, nominally as Laszlo's private treasury income as King.
This amount was usually around thirty thousand florin, almost 15% of Bulgaria's annual income.
Immigration and Eastern trade did bring a certain degree of prosperity to Bulgaria, but excessive exploitation and endless conflicts made this country increasingly resemble a powder keg about to explode.
In Serbia, the situation was slightly better, but quite limited.
Firstly, the gold mines, one of Serbia's main sources of financial income, were seized by the Emperor.
He arbitrarily distributed the output of the gold mines: a portion went to Burgundy, a portion to Austria, a portion to himself, and only the remainder went to Serbia.
In addition, part of Serbia's tax revenue also had to be submitted to Austria to alleviate the financial and military pressure faced by the Emperor. Money was not the main issue; the local Serbian noble forces and Orthodox faith were the real big trouble.
After the Serbian Empire was shattered by the Ottomans, it split into over five hundred large and small noble territories.
Although they later established a kingdom in Serbia, the power of the local military nobles was almost equivalent to that of warlords. These nobles had chosen sides between Hungary and the Ottoman.
Some nobles, perhaps out of faith or hatred, decided to side with Hungary, while most nobles decided to lean towards the heathens because the Ottoman Sultan offered more lenient terms.
Later, Albrecht II seized the opportunity when the Ottomans were fighting in Asia Minor to invade Serbia, eliminate the Serbian royal family, and incorporate northern Serbia into the Kingdom of Hungary's territory as a barrier against Ottomans invasion.
It was not until Ulrich von Cilli and John Capistrano led the peasant Crusade to capture southern Serbia that the Kingdom of Serbia was restored.
However, the deeply entrenched military noble system in this land was not completely eliminated; they mingled with the Crusade lords who came from afar, forming the new ruling class of the Kingdom of Serbia.
Regent Sigismund, who represented the Emperor's rule in Serbia, was a very thoughtful person.
He was not very interested in religious differences; in fact, he himself extremely disliked the Roman Curia.
Therefore, during his tenure, he always adopted a mild attitude towards Serbia's religious issues, which led to slow progress in missionary work in Serbia, but at the same time, it effectively maintained Serbia's stability.
If there was anything negative about him, it was probably his overly strong desire for expansion.
In recent years, he seemed to have been looking for opportunities to move against Albania, which was adjacent to Serbia, but unfortunately, his multiple requests for expansion were rejected by the Emperor.
Overall, the problem in Serbia was that if the Emperor's direct rule could not penetrate deep into the Balkans, then the situation would remain stable.
But once the Emperor wished to make some changes in Serbia, unrest or even war could very likely occur.
And this was the other situation Paul was guarding against, besides the Ottomans counterattack.
"After the autumn harvest, gather the county's militiamen for training as in previous years; do not slack off."
"Yes, General."
Paul's patrol continued. At this moment, a messenger on horseback galloped from the direction of Timisoara and quickly caught up with Paul.
"General, a letter from Vienna!"
The messenger handed the letter to Paul, who, upon seeing the double-headed eagle crest on the wax seal, immediately narrowed his eyes.
A letter from the Emperor—this was what Paul had looked forward to most during his time stationed at the border.
He maintained regular and uninterrupted correspondence with the Emperor, in which he would report on the situation in the border and the Governor of Transylvania's territory, along with a brief report on the situation in the Balkan vassal states.
In addition, there were his suggestions and requests, most of which were ultimately difficult to get the Emperor's approval, but some suggestions would always be adopted by the Emperor, thereby solidifying Hungary's national defense.
Paul eagerly tore open the letter.
The content of the letter was not long; upon reading the first half, Paul was immediately invigorated.
The Emperor had approved his request to train militiamen in all the southeastern border counties and promised to subsequently issue a decree to establish this policy.
After reclaiming the core territories of the Hunyadi Family, the southeastern border, except for the Saxon cities, was basically royal land.
It was not difficult to gather militiamen in these territories, and corresponding tax reduction policies would also be promoted in the border areas, though they should not have too much impact on the Kingdom's tax revenue.
Based on past experience, it would be no problem for him to train twenty thousand militiamen in three years, and by then, the strength of the militiamen would provide tremendous assistance to border defense.
However, as he continued to read, Paul's smile gradually faded, and his expression became extremely serious.
In the latter half of the letter, the Emperor mentioned that he was about to arrive in Budapest to handle the long-overdue state affairs of Hungary.
This should have been good news, but at the end, the Emperor requested Paul to reorganize the army, constantly monitor the situation in the southern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and be ready to lead his troops into battle at any time.
Now the situation was very delicate; every time the Emperor came to Hungary, it meant a major political earthquake in the Kingdom, and it seemed this time was no exception.
Paul put away the letter, letting out an almost imperceptible sigh. Thinking of a certain great noble with whom he was on good terms, and then recalling the Emperor's great regard for him, his heart wrestled for only a moment before he determined his stance.
"Let's go, return to the city and hold an emergency military council."
He turned his horse around and galloped quickly towards Timisoara.