Chaos in Greece

"I thought Thomas had pulled himself together and taken care of Dimitrios himself?" Laszlo said to the envoy with a sarcastic tone.

The envoy's face turned red from his taunting words, but he could only suppress his anger. The situation was already dire, and without Laszlo's support, Morea would truly be lost.

"Please forgive our impoliteness, Your Majesty. Lord Thomas has agreed to all your requests. He agrees to become the most loyal vassal of the esteemed Roman Emperor, only asking for your help in expelling the Ottomans dogs." This time, the envoy prostrated himself, begging Laszlo for help.

Laszlo snorted, about to say something sarcastic, but then, remembering his hobby of collecting crowns, he decided to hold back and said, "Seeing your sincere attitude, I agree to help you quell the rebellion. Tell Thomas to hold on, don't let him be gone by the time I reach Morea."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The envoy was so excited that tears were about to flow. Finally, there was hope. Those Ottomans were simply too strong; they couldn't deal with them at all.

After the envoy left, Adolf, who had been observing from the side, looked at Laszlo, and Laszlo's gaze met his.

Adolf asked, "Is Your Majesty planning to pass through Epirus?"

Laszlo chuckled and said, "Is it passing through, or conquering?"

Adolf frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "I'm afraid passing through would be better."

Now it was Laszlo's turn to frown. He asked, puzzled, "With our grand army approaching, won't the Despot of Epirus, Leonardo, immediately surrender and lay down his arms?"

Adolf helplessly rubbed his forehead, reminding him, "Your Majesty, the Despot of Epirus has already allied with the Venetian. The Venetian control Corfu, Euboea, and Thessaloniki, and they also seized Athens and Thebes during the chaos. They still maintain a considerably strong military presence in the Greece region, constantly guarding against us. If you insist on forcing the Despot of Epirus to submit, we are very likely to be attacked by a three-pronged assault from Albania, Epirus, and Venice. We have just finished a major war; the army is weary and everyone longs to return home. It would be best not to provoke another conflict."

Laszlo clenched his fist and slammed it on the table with a loud bang.

Venice, it's Venice again!

Can't the Venetian just die?

Now Greece is divided among three parties. Morea has already submitted, while Epirus has embraced the Venetian. The Venetian took advantage of the chaos to occupy the richest cities and ports in Greece, greatly expanding their power, at the cost of the hostility of the Catholic nations and the rupture of their alliance with Genoa.

The Venetian are even providing loans to the Ottomans and assisting Mehmed II in recruiting troops to resist the invasion of the Mamluk Sultanate. Such egregious behavior makes Laszlo wish he could hang a Venetian Doge every day.

These Venetian are completely unafraid of him, the Holy Roman Emperor; they show no respect at all.

"Alright, passing through. Since it's passing through, the entire army cannot go. How about letting Gunter's Independent Army go to aid Morea?"

"That's very suitable, Your Majesty. This will not arouse the suspicion and fear of the Despot of Epirus, and it will also reduce our logistical pressure and attrition." Adolf gave a fair assessment.

The Independent Army, which receives the most pay, should do the most work. After all, not everyone is entitled to double pay.

The main force of the Austrian army set off from Sofia to return home. Gunter recruited some German mercenaries remaining in Bulgaria to replenish the Independent Army's losses, and when passing through Macedonia, he received reinforcements from a portion of Burgundian infantry and material aid from Anthony. Then they marched south, passed through Epirus, crossed the Isthmus of Corinth, and entered the territory of Morea.

Laszlo wasn't concerned about what happened next. No matter how formidable Dimitrios was, he only had two or three thousand troops. Thomas's inability to defeat him was purely due to his incompetence. With Gunter leading a large army, he would easily crush the rebels.

It was just a pity that the East Roman survivors couldn't witness the awe-inspiring might of the Holy Roman Emperor.

The army first arrived in Belgrade, which had now become the capital of the re-established Kingdom of Serbia. Under Laszlo's command, the Hungarian reluctantly returned all the northern Serbian territories they had occupied.

However, their primary reason for occupying Belgrade and the surrounding areas was to control strategic locations to curb Ottomans attacks. Now that the Ottomans threat was gone, returning these important strategic locations to Serbia was a reasonable request—especially since both were territories under the Habsburg Dynasty.

Now, the territories of the Habsburg Family had expanded to five parts: the core was the Archduchy of Austria, followed by the Kingdom of Hungary, these two parts having the highest loyalty to Laszlo. Then came the Kingdom of Bohemia, which Laszlo could only barely control. Next were the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Ulrich was undoubtedly a loyalist, and it was yet to be decided who would help rule Bulgaria, but Laszlo already had a preliminary idea.

In addition, there were the garrison state of Wallachia, and the vassal states of Macedonia and Morea.

Almost the entire Balkans had become Laszlo's backyard. The Ottoman, Albania, Epirus, and Venice each occupied the fringes of the Balkans, messing up Laszlo's envisioned perfect map.

One day, the Balkans would completely become Habsburg Family territory, but not now.

Every triumphant army passing through Belgrade was warmly welcomed by the citizens, and the Austrian army was no exception. They were cheered and praised as defenders of Christianity.

In the Serbian royal palace, Laszlo met his Old Uncle Ulrich, who was in high spirits.

As soon as Old Uncle saw Laszlo, he rushed over and gave him a bear hug, scaring the surrounding guards.

If they hadn't known the close relationship between the two, they would have thought an assassin was trying to harm the Emperor.

"My dear Laszlo, you're finally back. I've been waiting for you for so long." Ulrich put his arm around Laszlo and walked into the palace.

Ulrich, usually composed and calm, was now uncharacteristically overflowing with joy and satisfaction, which surprised Laszlo quite a bit.

Thinking about it carefully, seeing a long-held wish come true can indeed make one ecstatic.

However, if Ulrich wanted to establish a Slovenian state in Serbia, it was probably a pipe dream.

And his current demeanor suggested he was quite willing to integrate here and become a Serbian.

It seems the only possibility for a Slovenian nation to arise is the dissolution of the Habsburg Dynasty... which is impossible at this stage.

In any case, as long as Old Uncle was satisfied, Laszlo was also very satisfied. If Ulrich died without an heir, Cilli, Serbia, and some Austrian and Hungarian territories would all be taken over by him. At that time, Serbia would truly be integrated into the framework of the Habsburg Dynasty, which is what Laszlo looked forward to.

After a few days of leisure in Belgrade, Laszlo led his army across the Danube River north into Hungary, heading straight for Budapest.

He was now eager to return home. On his last day in Belgrade, he received news from Vienna that the Empress had given birth to an Imperial Prince in early May, and both mother and child were safe.

Upon hearing this news, Laszlo finally breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't be by Leonor's side due to his military campaigns, and if anything had happened to Leonor, he couldn't imagine how sad he would have been.

Fortunately, everything was developing in a good direction.