The Long Journey Home

The war in Wallachia was still ongoing.

Before the rebels could completely besiege Târgoviște, Vlad promptly recalled the main border army from Giurgiu to defend the capital together.

As for Giurgiu, this sturdy fortress only needed five hundred men to defend it against the rebel attack.

Thus, the garrison within Târgoviște reached a size of nearly three thousand.

Such a force already exceeded half of the rebel army.

Let alone attacking the city, just seeing the dense defenders standing on the tall, sturdy city walls would give the rebel commander Dan a headache.

The situation he had expected, where he would raise the banner of rebellion and discontented nobles throughout the principality would rise in response, did not occur as he had anticipated.

The Emperor's clear support for Vlad's rule caused many originally wavering nobles to cease their activities.

Laszlo, for various reasons, did not easily dispatch Hungarian and Bulgaria troops into Wallachia to assist in suppressing the rebellion.

However, he still symbolically provided Vlad with some financial and moral assistance to show his stance.

As for the envoy Dan sent to curry favor with the Emperor, after being severely beaten by the Imperial Guard, he fled back in a panic to report the Emperor's resolute attitude to Dan.

Laszlo would never support any rebellion against a vassal ruler he recognized.

Of course, if that vassal ruler was not so satisfactory to him, that would be a different matter.

As things stood, Vlad was the Wallachian ruler Laszlo favored most.

Allowing him to continue ruling would mean Wallachia would neither achieve absolute stability nor maintain a strong military force for Laszlo to command.

Moreover, Vlad was not without external aid.

Prince Stefan of Moldavia had already defeated the Ottoman who had come to plunder and was now regrouping his forces, planning to march south to assist his cousin.

The greatest achievement of the rebels since the war began was severely wounding Vlad.

After Vlad was injured, he was unable to lead his army out, so he could only temporarily adopt a strategy of defensive contraction.

It was truly frustrating; the situation of having soldiers but no generals was common for Vlad, and this state actually had both pros and cons.

The advantage was that Vlad almost single-handedly controlled Wallachia's strongest army, which was his personal guard.

He commanded this army as if it were an extension of his own arm; as long as he was present, these swift Wallachian light cavalry could unleash astonishing combat power.

He himself was a brave and fierce general full of ingenious ideas, often personally risking danger, leading from the front, and showing great care for his soldiers—this was in stark contrast to how he treated others.

Therefore, his prestige within the Wallachian army was unparalleled; the soldiers revered Vlad and were willing to follow him.

In the original timeline, Vlad had personally led a small contingent disguised as Ottoman, infiltrating the Ottoman camp of 150,000 soldiers late at night to assassinate Sultan Mehmed II.

Unfortunately, during reconnaissance, he mistook the Sultan's tent for the Grand Vizier's, which allowed Mehmed II to escape.

Even so, in the subsequent night battle, Vlad commanded 24,000 Wallachian troops and still heavily defeated the Ottoman army of over a hundred thousand.

In this battle, the Wallachian army beheaded 15,000 Ottoman soldiers and subjected over 20,000 prisoners of war to impalement.

When Mehmed II personally witnessed Vlad's masterpiece, the Sultan, who prided himself on being accustomed to grand spectacles, was terrified and muttered, "I cannot conquer a country ruled by such cruel methods."

Subsequently, he led his army in a frantic retreat, holding a "victory celebration" in Edirne to try and cover up such a humiliating defeat.

From this perspective, Laszlo's decision to abandon his visit to Giurgiu's "Forest of Spikes" due to an unexpected event was undoubtedly wise.

Because as long as a person still possesses a shred of conscience and knows fear, they cannot remain indifferent to such a brutal and horrifying scene.

The disadvantages of this organizational structure for the Wallachian army were equally obvious.

Once Vlad lost the ability to command troops in battle, this force could not unleash its full combat power.

This was also why Vlad hesitated and dared not entrust generals to lead the army out—there were simply no generals in all of Wallachia whom he could fully trust and be satisfied with.

The rebels took advantage of Vlad's severe injury, which prevented him from leading the army out, to rampage throughout Wallachia.

However, the rebels failed to directly kill Vlad, which made the future of this rebellion bleak.

At this moment, Prince Vlad in the city was recovering from his injuries with the help of doctors, awaiting the opportune moment to personally lead a large army to annihilate the rebels.

Not long ago, an envoy sent by the Emperor had also given him a letter, which contained the Emperor's reminder to him—that the rebels might be supported by ambitious individuals.

Moreover, Laszlo directly named Hunyadi in the letter, suspecting him of orchestrating everything behind the scenes.

Laszlo hoped Vlad could investigate all of this.

Although even if he didn't demand it, Vlad, who always sought revenge, would definitely find out who was conspiring against him and retaliate against these schemers.

The chaos in Wallachia will be set aside for now; on the other side, the Emperor's touring party was heading towards Belgrade at the fastest possible speed.

Laszlo, finding the large entourage slow, personally led a detachment of light cavalry ahead.

He was eager to go to Belgrade to mourn his cousin and then be crowned King of Serbia. A large number of imperial bailiffs had already gone to various territories, representing him, the Emperor, to receive and inventory the vast inheritance of the Cilli Family in various regions.

On the wide road, Laszlo rode his warhorse, advancing with light steps.

The Imperial Guard cavalry, personally commanded by Ester, followed closely behind the Emperor, vigilant for any potential dangers.

Along the way, they passed through Serbian territory at an extremely fast pace, and wherever they went, nobles and cities alike extended a warm welcome to the Emperor.

Now, the Serbia people already knew that this great monarch, who ruled almost the entire Balkans, had been designated and recognized as the new King of Serbia.

In the future, this country would be ruled by him, just like Serbia's other neighboring countries.

The jolting on horseback could not at all affect Laszlo's wonderful mood, especially when the walls of Belgrade appeared in his sight.

He was now surprisingly addicted to this feeling of unearned gain.

Compared to launching attacks on all sides, fighting battles in the south and north, and painstakingly seizing land, Laszlo still preferred to expand his territory through such peaceful means.

Simply through some tenuous blood relations, he could easily inherit so much land and property; this taste was truly captivating.

He now began to imagine being able to acquire more land in the future using this method without expending a single soldier.

Almost in the next moment, he thought of an important person,

"Hmm, it seems the marriage alliance with brother-in-law Charles needs to be put on the agenda, while he still hasn't realized he can't have a son...

Laszlo's whispered self-talk attracted the attention of Leonor, who was riding alongside him, but she did not hear what Laszlo said clearly.

The Empress then tilted her head and asked, "My dear, did you just say something?"

"Something big, I'll find another opportunity to tell you later."

"Alright." Leonor looked at Laszlo with some suspicion, growing more curious.

Laszlo had not yet made up his mind, so he did not reveal his thoughts to Leonor, and besides, now was not the time to discuss such matters.

Currently, Philip the Good is still alive, and thinking about taking advantage of an ally's lack of heirs at this point would be somewhat unethical.

However, this idea had already taken root in Laszlo's mind.

In the future, Austria and Burgundy would become even closer, the alliance would be more stable, and dealing with France would be much easier.

With such thoughts in his mind, Laszlo led his entourage through the tall gates of Belgrade, and the entire city cheered for the arrival of its new king.