Court Meeting
Vlad sat in his seat of power towering over all of the noble lords that he had summoned to discuss Wallachia's current state of affairs.
The situation within Wallachia was far from perfect, unlike Germany and Hungary with its black army the nation under Vlad's rule had no centralized army.
Adding salt into this wound the small army of Wallachia was sparsely spread across its borders with Hungary and only a few noble-owned militias remain to protect the inner workings of the nation.
The army of Wallachia only persisted of five thousand troops with only a couple thousand worth of war veterans. Though it was still better trained than the Hungarian black army a large company of mercenaries that had decreased drastically with time.
The Black army used to have, twenty thousand mercenaries and four thousand Hungarian soldiers, but after the Austro-Catholic war, that number was depleted to a mere one thousand five hundred Hungarian Veterans and two thousand mercenaries.
Despite having more skillful troops Wallachia was not as equipped or modern as Hungary so they were left with a border stalemate.
Vlad though knew that the Hungarian's somehow obtained SMG's and in five years they would be able to supply their army with just enough of them to turn that stalemate into a grand victory.
So Vlad devised the only plan that he could think of that would end up with the best odds of victory.
"I have called you all here for one prominent reason," Vlad said addressing all of the nobles within the grand hall.
"I grow dreary watching the Hungarian scum stand on our borders as if they are our equals!
They mock us behind their trenches while their makeshift army stands crumbled and barely able to defend their pathetic borders.
We will no longer give them any quarter but take care of this grieve offense to our pride through the true old method of all-out warfare!"
The various noblemen in the throne room revealed shocked expressions at the Voivodes announcement.
"But my liege how are we supposed to assault the enemy with our current forces!" Andes a nobleman of great military prowess asked uncertainly how they would succeed.
"Simple." Vlad responded with a small smile "The easiest way to win a war is by throwing in a variable and using that advantage to harm your foe."
"Variable milord?" Andes asked
"Yes, we will gather a quarter of the militia of the nation, and use them to assault Hungary while our main forces push into their borders.
Andes was about to give a complaint to Vlad's plan but the Voivode raised his hand to silence him.
"This alone won't be enough to win the war with Hungary, but tell me what's better than one variable?" Vlad asked Andes.
"Two your liege?" Florian the head diplomat asked his sovereign back.
"Indeed, other than us I know another group that would like to see Hungary fall. The German Border state or as the Hungarians call them the Hungarian Rebel State." Vlad said to his subordinates.
"Sire how are we supposed to ally with a puppet state?" Lord Thedo the head diplomat asked distraughtly.
"Simple. While they are called the "German Border State" they are automanas and not considered a part of the empire.
Thus we can seek an agreement to eliminate a mutual enemy with them." Vlad informed the court.
A few of the nobles nodded their heads in understanding before the room went quiet.
"Florian send someone to the German Border State to give them this offer" Vlad ordered the noble while one of his guards handed him a letter.
"Andes you'll marshal the army and push them towards the southern borders.
Lord Luca, you'll gather the militia from the north and east then match through the northern borders.
If everything goes as planned you'll meet with the Hungarian forces from the German Border State." Vlad said turning towards a blonde half-Austrian nobleman.
"Yes, milord!" all three of the nobles echoed and left to do their tasks.
"Lord Adrian gather the Militia from the southwest and recruit any man willing and able to wield arms we will need them for reserve and protecting our borders."
Vlad said redirecting his attention to an older man with the only hair on him being a moderate grey beard.
"As you wish milord." Lord Adrian said courtly bowing and setting off to his task.
Vlad rubbed the temple of his head in frustration, he didn't like stretching his forces so thin but he had no choice in the matter.
Securing a swift victory was the only way he could win in this war, and even then he had to rely on a smaller state to reinforce his army if they even accept at all.
Though military matters were not all that he had to discuss after all the man came from the future and was a historian, but also related to one of the best German Engineers of all time.
"Now that the military affairs are sorted for now... we need to cover more mundane matters such as the growth of crops," Vlad said with visible agitation painted on his face.
"We have fallen behind even the Baltic kingdoms in crop production, so I devised a plan to try to get our crops to yield more for ourselves."
Vlad said as he twirled his left-hand signaling a servant to bring a small leather-bound book with "Austrian Farming" engraved into it for the title.
"This was found by one of the groups in the militia in a landed Byzantine ship's ruins," Vlad informed what was left of his court where the head of agriculture bowed and took it from the Voivode.
'Actually, I just wrote that while waiting for the court members to gather.." The young Voivode thought to himself amused but not showing it on his face which remained stern.
"I want that system implemented as fast as possible, it's a much better-proven method than our outdated waste of field one." The Dracula said with a sneer.
"Then there are taxes, we will need more food than coin at the moment if we're going to fuel the army for this war.
Offer coin to farmers that sell off more food to us, increase tax in the wealthy areas and seek to purchase food, ammo, and weapons we will need all of this soon enough."
Vlad then stood up from his throne after dismissing the court as the many noblemen set off to follow his orders where Dracula left to his chambers.
'Not much else I can do now...' Vlad thought to himself, despite being a proud German loyalist in his past life he had no such option as to move to Germany now.
He was the Voivode of Wallachia as it was commonly called why the hell would he move to a foreign nation and live in it? It was simply illogical and a fast track to a second death.
Falken or Vlad now simply couldn't go back to his last life's homeland and neither was he willing to test his if he'd get a third life either.
Hell, that third life could be far worse than his previous and this life the first time around he was a Grand Duke almost a king and now he was the Romanian equivalent of King at least that was his view of it.
Vlad snapped himself out of his mind and time-wasting thoughts before he sat down at his desk with German paper and ink at hand before getting to work.
He was an engineer at heart just like his ancestors it's what he took pride in and now he can take inventions from the past and use them to improve his future.
While Vlad had no loyalty to this backwater nation in the middle of powerhouses he did see its value in securing him a place in history with his dynasty and legacy he would become the Wallachian Berengar all be it with far more bloodshed.
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Rise of Wallachia is back! sorry for the break I got far busier this Christmas than I thought as I announced yesterday in the RoW discord server.
Anyway, if nothing else comes up I should be able to get 2-3 chapters of RoW out a weak.
RN, it's a bit too early to decide the release schedule for RoW but I'd say it won't be that long until it gets to that point.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chap, and if you want to know more join the Discord ^∆^!
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/Ag9jS7GSDh