On the walls of Budapest Castle, Grand Marshal Szilágyi Mihály and Báthory István, the Royal Governor who remained in Budapest, stood side by side, watching the Emperor's grand army march south.
"That Csák fellow still couldn't hold back. Now it's over; once the Emperor's army arrives, no matter how many rabble he gathers, it won't change the outcome of his defeat."
Szilágyi said with a touch of emotion.
For years, he had been under the Emperor's surveillance, holding the nominal position of military commander of the Kingdom of Hungary, living a life of leisure in Budapest, but all military arrangements concerning Hungary were made in Vienna.
Last year, the Emperor, concerned he might be too bored, arranged for him to move to Visegrád Castle, north of Budapest, and put him in charge of its defense.
Every Hungarian knew that was where the Kingdom used to house political prisoners, and Szilágyi's power in the Kingdom of Hungary had plummeted to rock bottom as a result.
However, with time, he had come to terms with many things.
When he incited his nephew, Hunyadi Laszlo, to rebel, his original intention was to stir up trouble in Hungary so he could seize the reins of power in the country.
However, the Austrian army's grand invasion of Hungary to suppress the rebellion directly extinguished the rebellious thoughts of those restless Hungarian.
At that time, the old golden bull still existed, and the harsh tax reforms had not been implemented. The Emperor was even forced to abolish the turkey tax under pressure from the Hungarian Parliament.
But who could have imagined that a moment of hesitation would lead to irreversible consequences?
"Count Csák made a fortune by setting up checkpoints and collecting taxes along the Danube River and the Transylvania border. The Emperor's first economic reform cut right into his lifeline.
This new decree has pushed him past his breaking point; if he continues to endure, he's probably going to be in the red."
Bátori joked, but his expression was very serious.
"The Emperor is always like this. Even when he has the advantage, he won't push someone into a corner all at once. Instead, he bleeds his opponents dry, one cut at a time, and then delivers the final, fatal blow.
I believe Emperor will achieve another great victory this time.
Think about it, Károlyi and Csák, once they fall, plus the large tracts of land that damned Count of Cilli left to the Emperor, half of Slavonia will fall into the Emperor's hands.
In this way, the decrees of this increasingly weak regency cabinet in Budapest will no longer be able to reach anywhere outside of Hungary."
Szilágyi now buried his ambition deep in his heart, and looking at the Emperor's actions, he only felt a sense of dread.
"Isn't this a good thing?"
Bátori asked back, somewhat puzzled.
In his opinion, the decentralized governance of various regions was, in fact, an elevation of status.
In the past two years, opposition Hungarian had been secretly trying to contact him, hoping he would rejoin their ranks and continue to protect the political interests of the great Hungarian.
But this time, neither Szilágyi nor Bátori had any intention of resisting the Emperor. The most fundamental reason was that Hungary's new decree had not crossed the mountains of Transylvania and had not directly harmed their interests.
The Szilágyi Family and the Bátori Family could be considered the two most powerful Hungarian in Hungary today, but their power base was in Transylvania, and they were firmly suppressed by the Emperor.
Even if this new decree were to extend to Transylvania in the future, they probably wouldn't have any chance to resist the Emperor.
Not to mention the Southeast Border Guard stationed in Timisoara, ready to enter Transylvania to suppress rebellions at any time, the Saxon cities in Transylvania itself were also loyal supporters of the Emperor.
If it came to a fight, they would die even faster than the Hungarian currently in rebellion.
As soon as the Emperor arrived in Budapest, he found an excuse to maintain public order and disbanded the Buda Legion under Bátori, which clearly contained a sense of caution.
Under these numerous constraints, only one path to survival—loyalty to the Emperor—could ensure the preservation of themselves and their families.
Thinking of this, Bátori suddenly understood the meaning behind Szilágyi's words.
"If the Kingdom of Hungary were a single entity, it would be quite troublesome for the Emperor to act, but by dividing and controlling each region, he can achieve complete suppression with the power of Austria and Bohemia."
Szilágyi sighed softly. The Emperor's power was now firmly established. Once this rebellion was quelled, Hungary would likely no longer experience any major disturbances.
"This is good. Only the Emperor's enemies should fear him, while more people enjoy the peace and stability the Emperor brings."
Bátori was not overly concerned about Szilágyi's worries. He had already decided his future path: to offer his loyalty to the Emperor.
In the past, great Hungarian, in their bid to control the Kingdom's power, often tried to directly confront the King.
When the King was in distress, such as being soundly defeated by the Ottomans or deeply mired in the Hussite Wars, they could achieve one victory after another against royal authority.
However, in this era, the Emperor's might had fundamentally reversed the balance of power between the two sides, and these most prominent magnates of the Kingdom should also adapt to the times.
Showing sufficient deference in front of the Emperor was the correct way to survive.
Anyway, the Emperor had so many things to be busy with: dealing with France, dealing with the Imperial princes, and various other troubles.
If the Emperor didn't visit Hungary for a year, the Hungarian would hope he would come once to hear their grievances; if the Emperor didn't visit Hungary for ten years, no one would genuinely welcome him.
But the problem was that although the Emperor preferred to stay in Vienna, he would always show up in Hungary from time to time, kill a group of people, promote a group of people, making the Hungarian constantly on edge, fearing that one day they would commit a crime and be used as an excuse by the Emperor for direct liquidation.
Bátori's strategy was also very simple: to be the first great Hungarian to completely side with the Emperor, to cling to his coattails and work diligently, and he would always receive some reward.
His method indeed worked.
Due to Bátori's inherent value in united front work, Laszlo had already listed him as a candidate for the next Governor of Transylvania.
After stripping away those miscellaneous privileges, the only difference between these great Hungarian and the lower Hungarian was the size of their land.
And under the authority of the Royal Court, they could no longer arbitrarily bully lower Hungarian, while also needing to pledge loyalty to the Emperor.
Upper Hungarian, thus rendered harmless, were also among Laszlo's targets for winning over, and Bátori could serve as a benchmark to weaken the resistance of Hungarian magnates.
As for whether he would follow in the footsteps of the Hunyadi Family, Bátori was not too worried about that.
The Hunyadi's downfall was ultimately due to unchecked ambition, and while he, Bátori, also desired power, he was not so bold as to covet positions that did not belong to him.
Szilágyi looked at the enlightened Bátori with some surprise, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
The two watched the Emperor's army gradually disappear into the distant dust, and then each returned to their respective posts.
In early January 1466, Laszlo led his army south through Székesfehérvár to suppress the rebellious Hungarian who were entrenched in the southwestern regions of the Kingdom.
Ten years ago, he was crowned King of Hungary in this city; ten years later, he was still striving to quell the Kingdom's rebellions.
Due to the urgency of the military situation, he did not have much time to stay in Székesfehérvár, so he only revisited the church where he was crowned King and paid homage to Louis I, the "Great Emperor" of immense renown, in the church's cemetery.
This monarch, who once created three maritime kingdoms, was undoubtedly the most successful King of Hungary before Laszlo.
The sphere of influence of Hungary under his rule was even greater than Laszlo's, with Hungary as the core, possessing Naples, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Moldavia as vassals, and he himself also held the title of King of Poland.
The vastness of his dominion astonished Europe; people called him "the King whose territories reached three seas"—these three seas being the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Baltic Sea.
It could be said that his dominion at its peak was even more exaggerated than Laszlo's today, and a hundred years ago, he had also forcefully repelled the Ottomans attempting to invade the Balkans.
Even such a militarily distinguished monarch, Laszlo simply couldn't bring himself to like him.
It was the series of policies he implemented during his reign, which expanded Hungarian privileges, that led to a completely distorted and inflated number and proportion of Hungarian in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Due to the continuous expansionist wars during Louis's forty-year reign, he directly used such means to gain the support of Hungarian, which was convenient, but left the trouble for the next generation.
And his successor was Sigismund, a strange character, ambitious but incompetent, who was manipulated by Hungarian at will.
This further worsened Hungary's political ecosystem, causing Hungarian power to swell even more, until it slightly improved during Albrecht II's reign.
And the series of reforms Laszlo was now implementing to limit Hungarian power were all to clean up the mess left by Louis I, who wanted to "have a good time" back then.
Moreover, Louis's rule in Poland and the Balkan states could not be called successful.
Polish Hungarian, considering Louis an outsider, demanded the expansion of their own privileges to suppress the power of the foreign monarch. To maintain the stability of his rule, Louis could only choose to compromise, and from then on, Polish aristocratic politics became uncontrollable, with extreme systems like the Sejm still poisoning the Kingdom of Poland to this day.
In the Balkans, he also faced endless rebellions from vassal states, and some of his subjects even colluded with the Ottomans to attack the European continent, causing him endless headaches.
Even a monarch as powerful as Louis the Great faced so many difficulties, which balanced Laszlo's mind considerably.
As for those fools who believed that ruling vast territories and numerous countries could easily sweep away everything, Laszlo didn't even bother to argue with them.
Just as Laszlo was still lingering before Louis's tomb, Vitéz brought the latest intelligence.
"Emperor, John Tuz, the Governor of Slavonia, was defeated and executed by the rebels. Now the entire Slavonia is in a state of chaos."
Vitéz's words made Laszlo's eyes widen, somewhat disbelieving his own ears.
The rebellious Hungarian were mainly concentrated in the southwestern part of the Kingdom, and among them, the Csák and Károlyi families owned considerable land in the Slavonia governorship.
Therefore, Laszlo had also sent messengers to the Governor of Slavonia, telling him to hold out for reinforcements, but he didn't expect him to give in so quickly.
In this way, the large tracts of Slavonia royal land left to him by his uncle Ulrich would probably also suffer.
"What about the Split Army? Haven't they already arrived at Varaždin? Varaždin is only half a day's journey north into Slavonia. What is Hervoye doing?"
Laszlo asked, somewhat displeased.
"Currently, no news has been received from that legion. Perhaps they haven't had time to provide aid..."
Laszlo shook his head at Vitéz's guess.
It was likely that the Royal Governor of Croatia had also played the role of a friendly army in distress, remaining as still as a mountain.
As he was feeling annoyed, a sudden thought flashed through Laszlo's mind, giving him a new idea.
"Ah, Vitéz, I have an idea. How about appointing you as the Governor of the Kingdom of Croatia?"
"Emperor, your meaning is..."
"Slavonia and Croatia were originally two parts of the Kingdom of Croatia, only separated into two governorships for ease of rule.
Now that the governorships of both districts are vacant, why not combine them?"
As long as the rebellious Hungarian's territories were recovered, Laszlo's royal lands in Croatia would also gain an advantage compared to local forces.
If this could be used as an opportunity to weaken the connection between Hungary and Croatia, and establish a new subordinate relationship between Austria and Croatia, it seemed like a good method.
"The country's reunification is a good thing for the people of Croatia."
Vitéz immediately agreed with Laszlo's idea, as the merger of the two governorships effectively increased his power.
As for the Emperor's other subtle intentions, Vitéz would not object even if he knew about them.
He was a Hungarian from Croatia, and also a subject of the Emperor.
As long as the union of Austria and Hungary could continue stably, Croatia aligning with Austria was not an unacceptable matter.
Soon, Laszlo and Vitéz led their army away from Székesfehérvár and continued south.
The main force of the rebels numbered about four thousand, including over a hundred knights, several hundred mercenaries, and a large number of serf soldiers.
Under the command of Károlyi, a former Hungarian Border Guard general, they continuously plundered royal territories until Laszlo personally led his grand army to conquer several castles belonging to the rebellious Hungarian.
Upon hearing that the Emperor's grand army had arrived at their doorstep, the rebels almost immediately lost the courage to resist the Imperial Army in the field.
They holed up in a series of fortresses in the Slavonia hilly region, attempting to delay Laszlo's progress in suppressing the rebellion.
However, the Split Army and the Independent Army, which quickly arrived to rendezvous with Laszlo, directly extinguished the rebels' last hope.
The Emperor, leading an army of over ten thousand, swept through the territories of the rebellious Hungarian like a whirlwind within a month.
Károlyi and Csák led the rebels to retreat to their last stronghold, Osijek, which was the administrative seat of the Slavonia governorship and had previously been captured by the rebels.
After a fierce siege, the city was breached, and some of the rebellious Hungarian died in the chaos, while the rest were captured.
Laszlo confiscated all their territories, most of which went to the royal family, and a portion was granted as rewards to Imperial Army soldiers who had fought bravely and achieved military merits.
As for the Split Army, this Croatian army, due to its ineffective rescue efforts which led to the death of the Governor of Slavonia, was severely reprimanded by Laszlo and did not receive any special rewards.
Subsequently, Laszlo issued a decree in Osijek, merging Slavonia and Croatia into the Governorship of the Kingdom of Croatia, and appointed Vitéz as the first Governor of the Kingdom of Croatia.
Previously, the position of Governor of Croatia had been monopolized by the Frankopan Family. Their rule relied on the family's power, so Laszlo could not achieve complete control.
With Vitéz's ascension, his rule in Croatia would be entirely dependent on the Croatian royal lands under Laszlo's name, thus inevitably subject to control from Vienna, which was exactly what Laszlo desired.
After all this was settled, the various armies returned to their respective garrisons. Their military expenses during the suppression of the rebellion were borne by the treasury of the Kingdom of Hungary. After two years of tax reform, the Hungarian treasury now had a surplus of over two hundred thousand florin, sufficient to cover this cost.
Subsequently, Laszlo returned to the capital with the Guards and his captives, preparing to attend the Hungarian Parliament which was about to convene in Budapest.