"Your Majesty, is centralization the trend of the times? What should I do to suppress the reactionary princes at home? ”

Louis has always been known for his cunning and changeability, and this time he came to Constantine, naturally he did not intend to come in vain, he was obviously very interested in what Constantine did, and was willing to seek experience from Constantine.

"Of course, Louie, a strong government is what every freeman wants to see, and you are doing the right thing, but I want you to understand where this strong government of yours should be? Just France? If there is more than one place in the same situation as France, why should you stick to one place? ”

Now the situation in France is also comparable to that of the Holy Roman Empire, several big princes such as the Duke of Tours, the Duke of Armagnac, the Duke of Champagne, etc., have shown strong opposition to the centralized actions of France, and often collude against the Paris court, palace coups and even armed uprisings are not uncommon, in this period, being the king of France can be much more dangerous than being the Holy Roman Emperor, after all, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire everyone knows, no one will go against their elected emperor, Unless the emperor has changed a lot from before.

"How high and how far I can see, if I can unify France, I will already be very satisfied, and Your Majesty will not have to test me."

Although it is said in words, it is clear that in the face of a higher position of power, no monarch can refuse, which is in their bones.

Constantine smiled slightly, did not continue the topic, now is just throwing bricks, if you really want to complete the next plan, it is not yet time, during this period, Louis must see a more powerful position than his father Charles VII, in order to make Louis tempted, this is one of Constantine's layouts.

"Now that you're here, Louie, would you like to accompany us to meet the infidels?"

"By His Majesty's orders, Louis is willing to follow."

Although he didn't get the answer he wanted from Constantine, it was good to meet the infidels, not to mention that following Constantine was not dangerous.

Centralization is such a thing, no monarch can put it down after enjoying power, "if the power of fate has given a man the burden of domination, then he must strive to appear worthy of the supreme power", Constantine the Great said can be said to be justified.

But it is impossible for Constantine to prevent Louis from centralizing power, because this is the general trend, and in the process of centralization, it is easy to produce a sense of national identity and pride, which lays a hidden danger for future unification, especially when the monarch and the people think that they have nothing to do with the Roman Empire, if France is allowed to centralize power independently of the Roman Empire, then the war with France in the future will be a war between two cultures, like the war between the Romans and the Persians,

Centralization under the leadership of the Roman Empire and centralization independent of the Roman Empire These are two completely different concepts, the ancients said that "only the name and the instrument can not be dummy", no matter how France changes, how to centralize power, as long as Constantine occupies a name, then the army will be the return of the king, otherwise it will be foreign invasion,

The key thing now is that Louis is not a fool, even if he doesn't know the little ninety-nine in Constantine's heart, out of the intuition of a monarch's heart, Louis can't let Constantine ride on his head, after all, how happy he was to be free and easy before, even the Holy See can't make the French king submit, who would want to have more than one person on his head.

"That's... Your Majesty, I will go first and wait in Bursa. ”

Pedro, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, said respectfully, and Constantine pondered for a moment,

"Okay, László and Skanderbeg are also about to arrive, you can meet the two of them outside Bursa."

After the fall of Ankara, Laszlo had already set out from Adana with his troops, Giovanni stayed in Cilicia, Michal stayed in Ankara, and Skanderbeg integrated the nobles and soldiers in the city, and after clearing the instability, he prepared to come to Bursa with a team that had expanded by an unknown number,

Unlike the traditional difficulty of recruiting soldiers caused by population loss during the war, recruitment is very easy, and the war has brought a large number of unemployed people, who are very good and in urgent need of a job to support their families, and in the face of an existential crisis, death is not very terrible.

In Trajan's time, a qualified Roman soldier had to supply a kilogram of wheat a day, in addition to meat, cheese, beans, wine, olive oil, salt and fruit, etc., the cost of food alone was so large, not to mention that after the reform of Marius, the weapons and equipment of the Roman legions were rationed by the state, which was a huge expenditure, and a pension was paid after the death of the war, and it was even more difficult to maintain an army than to establish him, This is the status quo in the age of agriculture.

On the muddy road in the country, Constantine and Louis did not sit in the carriage, but walked slowly on horseback, followed by a large number of guards, silently following behind them, either on horseback or on foot,

In fact, Constantine doesn't like to make such a big show, after all, he is not a person who likes to show off, but he has touched too many people's interests over the years, and there are many enemies.

"Your Majesty, we are here... For what? ”

Louis wondered why Constantine had brought him here when he was about to fight against Mehmed II.

"One of our soldiers... Having died in battle with the Ottomans, his will says that he would bring his ashes to his homeland and bury him there. ”

Roman soldiers will make a will before going out to fight, which is not mandatory, but it is generally done, because no one can be sure that they will be safe on the battlefield, and some Romans also pay attention to the return of fallen leaves, an important power in Roman law, called "the right of restoration", the captured Roman soldier, because of his loss of freedom, he also lost all power, but if he himself fled back to the territory, then he can restore his power, this is called "the right of restoration",

This is why it is said that the Roman emperor is the lord of the freed, and the rest of the lords are the lords of the slaves, and Roman law only protects the freedmen, not the slaves, which is why as soon as he got rid of the threat of annihilation, Constantine would issue an edict declaring all the people in his territory to be freemen, in fact, to prevent people from rioting.

Louis didn't speak, he had some doubts in his heart, is such an act really meaningful? Especially at such a critical juncture, Constantine actually changed the direction of the team without authorization for the sake of a small soldier, which is simply a joke about the fate of the country,

Constantine saw the doubt in Louis's eyes, but he didn't intend to solve Louis's doubts, unlike Laszlo, Laszlo was still very young and needed to be taught, but Louis was already old, he had his own judgment on things, and Constantine didn't want to interfere with his judgment,

"Louie, what have you seen along the way?"

Constantine asked, and Louis thought for a moment,

"The land is barren, but there are many footprints on the road, which means that the farmers have already left partially, and the rural economy may collapse."

Louis was satisfied with Constantine's answer, and nodded, and he asked again,

"So what do you think is the reason for this?"

"There are two reasons for this: first, Mehmed II expropriated the country at home, and the country's economy was on the verge of collapse, so it had to increase the burden on the peasants; Second: the local people were afraid of our arrival, and decided to move after thinking about it.

However, given the predominance of Christians in the local population, the second option is much less likely, and it may be the first. ”

Louis's analysis is well-founded, and Constantine could not say anything more, the two men are now located in Asia Minor, not very far from Seyut, the birthplace of the Ottomans, but it is clear that the assimilation of the Ottomans did not play a big role in such a short time, and it may have been the result of the deliberate indulgence of the Ottomans, and in short, the number of Christians did not decrease much.

Is this the only case under the Ottomans? Where on the land of Europe is this not the case? The peasants are bankrupt, a large amount of land is abandoned, the rural economy is in danger, the plague of the past few years has killed the urban economy, you as a monarch of the territory, the economic situation is the cornerstone of the country, you must understand this truth,"

Constantine dismounted with Louis and said as he went,

"It's good that you have ambitions, but a good monarch has too many things to have than a good knight, and when the people of the entire territory depend on you for their survival, then you need to be careful, the most valuable quality of a monarch is calm, you have to remember that."

"Therefore, all the problems of nations and territories are ultimately problems of people, and if you can attract enough people, then you can have a higher position of power and wealth, which is God's reward for you."

Louis obviously listened to these words, nodded solemnly, and cast a complicated look at Constantine,

For Louis, Constantine's words are a good confirmation of what Louis has done in the prince's domain over the years, and Constantine's advice is a novel experience for people like Louis, who have developed a cunning and changeable personality in his early years trapped in a castle, but it is certain that Louis does not reject this feeling.