Serbian troops played cat and mouse with the might of the Byzantine Empire, raiding all along the Greek border for all the gold it was worth. The urgency was amplified by the knowledge that part of the grand Serbian plan was to convert to Catholicism as soon as possible, the raids for gold would not last long. Once Serbia became Catholic it would be completely safe from Orthodox/Iconoclast Holy Wars (though being completely in danger of de jure wars is only a marginal improvement) whilst allowing Serbia to more safely align itself with the powerbase of Catholicism. Most importantly, it would allow Serbia to draw on Papal support to remove infidel, and in the long term Serbia would be able to remove kebab in great crusades.
Duke Vojislav Miroslav was very popular amongst his vassals up until he started warming up to Catholic bishops from Lombardy and Rome.
Duke Vojislav never went into hiding, determined to save Serbia from the threat of Byzantine annihilation through the grace of blessed Mary. It was actually quite surprising just how quickly Duke Vojislav's raiders were capable of conjuring funds in the short time they had to plunder Serbia's neighbours.
Admittedly, it did mean that in terms of moral highground Serbia was the one who struck first. But to paraphrase what Machiavelli said, hesitating to go to war when war would not be in your favour is merely guaranteeing war will reach you when your enemy has the advantage. Every time the Byzantines had to deal with a rebellion, every time they fought with the various Sultanates in the East - the Serbs would attack.
My expectations of the Christians was somewhat shattered by the conduct of their Bishops. It is regrettable that there is no option to banish of them. Nevertheless, the choice was obvious; the Papacy was irrelevant and at any rate the Pope hated Duke Vojislav, having only sent the bishop to civilize the "barbaric" slavs. Bishop Lothar stayed, representing Lombardy, cementing friendly Serb-Lombard relations.
A great deal of luck went into keeping the momentum of Serbia going. Rebellions were lethal to the fledgling Serbian Kingdom, often starting with 1,600-2,200 troops when the Serbian army only stood at 1,200. It was then with absolute pleasure when a rebel encampment was attacked by a Byzantine army trying to cross through the mountains, leaving the rebel survivors weak enough to directly engage in combat and rout. Failing the lucky times where enemy fought rival, the Serbian Kingdom learned the value of defensive warfare. Normally I'd never fight an equal enemy (and even then, never fight a greater enemy without a flexible army) but the lack of expansion meant such occasions were guaranteed. It was then with particular interest that I watched my own (then 1,600 strong) army staring down a 2,200 strong slavic revolt. It was interesting because after every siege the revolt was losing men; men were stationed to garrison the captured Forts, men were lost capturing the Forts. Before long the army was 1,600 to 1,600, Duke Vojislav led his men to battle and emerged victorious with righteous zeal, slaughtering the pagans.
The lesson was more painfully learned when subjugating the Western slavs.
In a 3 year war the Serbians lost 2 times their annual maximum levy in the siege of one pagan castle.
And King Vojislav's marriage with the Duchess of Kiev was not a bad thing either; she rather faithfully marched her armies through a whole sleuth of pagans in order to support King Vojislav's troops when her auxiliaries were needed and she has also split the slavic pagan world in half, with the Catholic stronghold of Kiev right in the middle.
The developments around the Serbia were not particularly eventful, but with patience the seeds of Miroslav future were planted and time will tell whether those seeds survive Winter. Irminsul was destroyed and the Germanic sacred tree burnt down. King Vojislav sought Papal gold to accelerate the construction of Serbian infrastructure. The Abbasid blobbed, the Byzantine expanded, West Francia and Middle Francia united. The Vikings began their ranging and little else happened.
Occasional violations of Serbian sovereignty by the conspicuous arrival of Byzantine Cataphracts also prompted their removal with lethal force; one wonders if the Basilius noticed 250 of his elite retinue going missing when he sent them to the capital of Serbia. When Serbia sent 57 men to Constantinople and those 57 were in turn killed to the last, it seems the Basilius did notice.
Long into the reign of King Vojislav the inevitable happened. The Byzantine Empire attacked.
The bastard Byzantine Basilius barraged blisteringly his soldiers all over Serbia. King Vojislav had plenty of gold reserves to hire mercenaries as he had been saving up to build a new castle and had also finished building castle towns and walls in Rashka to the best of his ability. Defensive warfare was the key to survival; the Serbs never allowed the Byzantines to engage the Serbs in open battle - let them wear out their supplies. The Kievan auxiliaries did not follow the patient example of the Serbian forces and were quickly annihilated. The Serbs waited... And waited... Winters came by and ended, the Byzantines almost securing victory. The Serb objective was to prolong the war for as long as possible. Victory was unlikely, even if a great battle was won the Byzantine reinforcements would overpower Serbia. But to keep the war going on for as long as possible would mean to keep the Byzantine costs high for as long as possible too, their armies costed more and the Basilius was not as good at procuring funds as King Vojislav was. By damaging the Byzantine army the Muslims and faction members would be more capable of hurting the Byzantine Empire and keeping Serbia safer than being in the presence of a healthy Empire.
Sure enough, eventually the Muslims in the East attacked the Byzantine Empire - during a peasant's revolt no less. With an enemy on the East and an internal threat, the Byzantines pulled most of their forces away from Serbia to fight the rebels and infidels.
When Serbia's spy in Constantinople saw the last Byzantine army leave for the East for good, the counterattack began.
The Serbians took back everything in one fell swoop, regaining every castle, city and bishopric with a vengeance. With one last combined Jewish+Papal+Inheritence fund a vast host of mercenaries 13,000 strong was readied and aimed at a Byzantine army of 9,000 - victory was within grasp!
Machiavelli says: Mercenaries are worthless at best, dangers to your Kingdom at worse. The battle of Ohrid sealed the fate of the war, the fall of Ohrid signaled the end of Serbian Ohrid. Luckily it wasn't de jure Serbian Kingdom territory, but it was still a worrying showing of Byzantine might. Though it had cost the Byzantine Empire dearly (sure owe the Jews there a lot of gold Mr. Basilius) after King Vojislav died and King Radoslav ascended to take the Serbian throne, King Radoslav unknowingly solved all of the Serbian Kingdom's woes by waging war on the heathen slavs. Whenever King Radoslav waged war on the heathens the Pope would get incredibly sentimental and begin throwing copious amounts of gold at him. The message was clear: Spread catholicism, get money. King Radoslav was building that extra castle in no time.
Very quickly the last of Croatia was subjugated, though there were still Pagans within the Serbian Kingdom who refused to convert. Rather than pissing off the Kingdom by revoking their titles or imprisoning them, King Radoslav merely gave them independence and promptly declared holy war on them. One wonders why this is less tyrannical than merely imprisoning them and making them convert, I do not know. The evicted pagan Lord was promptly assassinated afterwards to ensure he didn't become a problem - and with that, all of Serbia was catholic. The preachers still needed to win the commoners over though.
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Topic: Crusader Kings 2 is released. (Read 2010865 times)