The Second Hussite War

In late April 1457, Stefan led one thousand Wallachian cavalry and two thousand German mercenaries from Bulgaria north to Moldavia.

The return of the exiled prince was immediately met with a warm welcome from the Moldavian nobles.

Nobles and commoners who supported Stefan joined his army one after another, and soon Stefan had nearly ten thousand men under his command.

Stefan's army met no strong resistance; castles and towns surrendered at his approach, as Peter's humiliating rule had completely lost him the support of the people, who longed for a stronger monarch.

Soon, Stefan led his army to the city of Roman, having conquered all regions in southern Moldavia.

Peter's forces finally assembled, and he led fewer than five thousand troops to camp on the west bank of the Siret River outside the city, confronting Stefan across the river.

At the same time, Peter's messenger was rushing day and night to Kraków, requesting aid from King of Poland Władysław III.

However, he would not live to see the King of Poland receive his plea for help and come to his rescue.

Stefan stationed his large army, recruited along the way, on the riverbank, keeping them still to deceive Peter.

He personally led the elite troops obtained from Wallachia and Bulgaria on a forced march under the cover of night, crossing the Siret River at a shallow ford.

After crossing the river, this force rested only briefly before following Stefan to launch a surprise attack on Peter's camp at dawn the next day.

The unprepared Moldavian army was utterly routed by this lightning-fast assault, and Peter himself, with only a few trusted retainers, fled to Poland amidst the chaos.

The Moldavians, who had little will to resist in the first place, immediately welcomed their new king, and Stefan regained control of the entire Moldavia in less than a month.

Upon returning to Suceava (the capital of Moldavia), Stefan immediately demonstrated his excellent abilities and began to reorganize the dilapidated country.

First, Stefan issued a pardon, absolving all followers of Peter of their crimes and recalling nobles who had fled abroad due to the change in government.

Subsequently, Stefan rebuilt the Moldavian government, establishing a Moldavian Privy Council modeled after the Austrian system to govern the principality, while also announcing the restoration of the East Roman law used during his grandfather Old Alexandru's time, establishing legal discipline and ruling by law, rapidly and effectively rebuilding public order.

Finally, and most importantly, Stefan summoned every soldier within Moldavia, incorporated captives, executed unruly soldiers who violated military discipline and harassed civilians, and, after weeding out the old, weak, sick, and unqualified from the army, retained an elite force of about five thousand men.

The remaining soldiers were forcibly discharged, some returning home to farm, while foreigners were politely escorted out of the country, and those soldiers who had not accepted Stefan's conscription but were wandering within the principality were all regarded as bandits. Stefan dispatched his Wallachian cavalry to patrol the principality, clearing all bandits near every town and every village.

These swift and decisive measures brought stability to the entire Moldavia in a very short time, and the domestic order was even more stable than during Peter's rule.

Frederick repeatedly sent letters urging Stefan to reclaim the castles and fortresses on the western border of Moldavia that had been encroached upon by the Poles.

Many nobles within Moldavia also hoped that Stefan would be tougher on the Poles.

After much consideration, Stefan, having just settled down, once again led his army to war and easily recaptured Hotin Fortress and several other border castles and fortresses that had been encroached upon by the Poles.

Subsequently, Stefan led his army across the border into Poland and began to attack and plunder Polish border towns.

In Kraków, at the court of the King of Poland, Władysław III looked at the report in his hand and the Peter kneeling and weeping in his court, and immediately felt a splitting headache.

To the west, the Teutonic Order's army and the Kingdom of Poland's army were confronting each other across the Vistula River, currently in a delicate truce.

To the east, Polish rule in Moldavia had been completely destroyed, and Stefan was leading a strong army to sweep through eastern Poland, causing Władysław III immense frustration.

He was somewhat worried, but at this stage, the situation was not too bad; even if the Teutonic Order and Moldavia allied, they could not defeat Poland.

The problem was that he could not quickly defeat the powerful and heavily fortified Teutonic Order, and the hidden hand behind Moldavia also deeply concerned him.

"Your Majesty, we should convene the Privy Council to discuss countermeasures."

In the court, someone offered this suggestion.

Władysław III's face was grim. These great nobles, through the damned Sejm, controlled the government and undermined royal authority; even now, he could not bypass the Privy Council to levy any additional taxes.

With these fellows holding him back, Poland would sooner or later be ruined.

"I must write to my dear brother. Now is the time for brothers to unite. The Privy Council... let's convene it later."

"Your Majesty, besides the Moldavia issue, the Holy Roman Emperor has also been assembling troops recently, and their target is very likely Bohemia or our country. We should make plans early."

Another person spoke up to remind him.

Władysław III broke out in a cold sweat. If the one from Austria really led an army to attack Poland, then things would be dire.

No, Władysław III thought of the treaties with the French and Venetians, and his heart immediately settled: "The Emperor cannot be foolish enough to go to war with us. His target is probably the Hussites in Bohemia. Although I very much want to help these brave warriors who resist tyranny, current conditions simply do not allow me to provide them with any help beyond moral support."

After the court session, Władysław III immediately wrote a letter to his brother Kazimierz, hoping that the Lithuanian Grand Duke would join him in dealing with the Emperor's second mad dog, Stefan, and that after their success, the two brothers would divide Moldavia.

This Stefan seemed to be stronger than, or at least as strong as, the first mad dog, Vlad, making him particularly troublesome.

As for Bohemia, Władysław III expressed his inability to help; Poland was currently unable to attend to both ends, so how could it concern itself with the affairs of other countries?

Intelligence from the Kingdom of Poland was collected by a large number of spies and transmitted back to Vienna. Laszlo immediately issued an edict, declaring that any government agencies and councils involving Hussites were illegal, and that he would purge the Hussites within Bohemia.

This edict declared the outbreak of the Second Hussite Wars.

Subsequently, Laszlo and Adolf led the Imperial Army northward, arriving at Indřich Castle on the border between Austria and Bohemia within three days, where they joined forces with the armies of Rosenberg and Laszlo Hunyadi.

After a day of rest, the army marched north, its spearhead pointed directly at Prague.

Since South Bohemia was completely controlled by Rosenberg, there was no resistance encountered on the journey from Vienna to Prague, and the people everywhere welcomed the royal army with food and drink.

The entire process was so smooth that one might wonder if it was even a war.

The intensity of this Hussite Wars was vastly different from the last one; after many years of effort, the Catholic forces in Bohemia had been greatly strengthened.

The Cup faction's shameful betrayal in the First Hussite Wars made the people of Bohemia recognize their ugly true colors, so Cup faction missionaries were scorned everywhere in Bohemia after leaving Prague.

Some people who despised Iri broke away from the Cup faction and cooperated with the remnants of the Tábor faction to form a new grassroots organization that propagated Hussite doctrine—the Bohemian Brotherhood. They were widely popular among the common people of Bohemia but were ruthlessly suppressed by Iri.

These people are now mainly distributed in the Moravia region, and they are Laszlo's second target.

After all, what they preached was not ordinary doctrine.

The Brotherhood emphasized the Bible as the sole rule of faith and conduct, not papal decrees, valued the individual believer's spiritual relationship with Christ, and advocated for brotherly love, mutual assistance, and equality among all people.

They maintained that clergy should only comfort the people and not participate in government affairs, and they also demanded the abolition of hierarchical privileges.

The Brotherhood placed great importance on education and evangelism, especially evangelizing in remote and impoverished areas.

No secular ruler could accept such doctrines, as they completely undermined the foundation of feudal rule.

Historically, this denomination wandered for centuries, suffering encirclement and suppression by various governments, struggling to survive, and finally found a home in the free and tolerant America.

Although Laszlo sympathized with them, his position dictated his actions; he also had to expel these Hussite believers whose ideas were extremely dangerous.

After this war, there would be no more ground for Hussites to exist in Bohemia.