In Rome, at the magnificent Venice Palace, Pope Paul II convened an emergency meeting of the College of Cardinals.
Despite riding at top speed, the second messenger dispatched by Laszlo still didn't deliver the news of the Emperor's change of mind to the Holy See until June.
Fortunately, Paul II had not acted rashly during this period, so the situation had not undergone any major changes.
Previously, Laszlo had written to inquire about the organization of the Hungarian Crusaders and also requested Paul II to revoke the Papal Bull, which somewhat embarrassed Paul II.
He had originally intended to strengthen the Crusaders by sending people to Hungary to organize them, but he hadn't expected that Laszlo would view this as a challenge to his control over Hungary.
The members of the College of Cardinals generally believed that the Emperor's reaction was overly sensitive, and thus urged Paul II to maintain the Papal Bull.
Paul II was also indecisive, so he planned to drag out the matter for now and prepared to write an ambiguous reply to Laszlo.
However, before this letter could be sent, the Emperor's second letter arrived in Rome. In it, Laszlo stated that after careful consideration, he had decided to accept the Crusaders organized by the Papal Envoy, allowing them to also contribute to the Holy War.
"The Emperor has changed his mind again. He has decided to accept the volunteers rallied and assembled by Cardinal Francesco," Paul II announced to the College of Cardinals, his fingers caressing the letter.
"So, did he propose any conditions?" Cardinal Rodrigo, whose physique had gradually become robust due to prolonged indulgence and increasing age, noticed the Pope's troubled expression and inquired.
"He claims he now needs additional funding to ensure these hastily assembled troops can successfully reach the East."
Paul II sighed helplessly. He had already provided the Emperor with one sum of funding, and now the Emperor wanted another.
Where would he get so much money to support the Crusaders? The Holy See's funds had many uses: repairing his Venice Palace, building the Vatican Library, distributing money to the Cardinals of the College of Cardinals in exchange for their support, and satisfying Paul II's own collecting Hobbies.
With so many expenses, it was already difficult for him to squeeze out money to fund the Crusaders, and now the Emperor was asking him for more money.
"Is the Holy See not going to respond to the Emperor's request?"
"Of course not," Paul II immediately denied, "This is indeed a reasonable request, but at present, the Holy See's treasury is almost depleted. Cardinals, now is the time to test your faith…"
The Pope's gaze swept over the face of every member of the College of Cardinals, but no one picked up the conversation as he had expected.
Even he, the Pope who actively launched the Crusades, was unwilling to spend money, let alone those Cardinals who preferred pleasure over piety.
"Holy See, you still have so many precious collections. If you mortgage a few pieces to the Pazzi Bank or the Genoese, wouldn't that money be raised?" a Cardinal supported by the Orsini Family quipped at this moment.
He and several other colleagues in the College of Cardinals represented the interests of the Kingdom of France and the Orsini Family.
After Paul II and the Emperor colluded, the relationship between these pro-French Cardinals and the Pope was not far from a complete breakdown.
As expected, Paul II's face darkened at these words.
His greatest hobby in life was collecting precious antiques and artworks, and incidentally, enjoying good food, clothing, and housing; in short, he would never shortchange himself on material comforts.
To ask him to take out the collections he had painstakingly gathered and exchange them for money was more painful than killing him.
"Gentlemen, we should still respond to the call of the Holy See. I am willing to provide one hundred florins in funding for the Hungarian Crusaders." Rodrigo spoke up again at this point, hoping to spare the Pope some embarrassment.
However, Paul II did not appreciate it, as the one hundred florins Rodrigo offered sounded like a joke.
As the new leader of the Borgia Family, who controlled numerous church properties, Rodrigo's personal wealth likely amounted to tens of thousands of florins.
Even without considering the vast wealth Rodrigo deliberately concealed, every member of the College of Cardinals received an annual annuity of four thousand florins in the three years after he took office. This was an enormous fortune; many imperial nobles might not even have such high incomes.
Yet, these parasites, who bled the Holy See's treasury annually, were still unwilling to contribute a single cent at this critical moment of supporting the Crusaders, which infuriated Paul II.
Well, from his perspective, he probably couldn't see the principle of "what the superior does, the inferior will imitate" in this.
"I also agree to provide one hundred florins in funding for the Crusaders." At this moment, Rodrigo's brother, Giuliano, another Cardinal promoted by Pope Callixtus III, immediately expressed his support for his brother.
Other Cardinals also followed suit, expressing their willingness to provide some meager assistance. The College of Cardinals, with fewer than twenty people, could not even raise two thousand florins, which was still a significant gap from the four thousand florins the Emperor requested.
This huge shortfall, Paul II either had to ignore it or pay for it himself.
Ultimately, Paul II still couldn't bear to sell his collections. He withdrew some more money from the treasury, gathered two thousand florins, and handed it to the Emperor's messenger to take to the Emperor.
In his reply to Laszlo, Paul II strenuously explained the financial difficulties currently facing the Holy See, hoping the other party could understand.
In fact, in the past, the Holy See's funding for the Crusaders completely depended on the Pope's mood. However, Paul II now needed to maintain a harmonious and friendly relationship with Laszlo, so he had to symbolically provide some money, but generally, he would save wherever possible.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, Laszlo had basically completed the integration of the Crusader volunteers gathered at Szeged.
Apart from the more than ten thousand Crusader warriors who were selected and organized, all remaining volunteers who wished to go to the East were assigned to perform labor duties.
They needed to complete numerous chores for the army, such as setting up camps, transporting supplies, and even urgently repairing uneven roads to ensure the smooth passage of subsequent troops.
This was undoubtedly difficult work, but Laszlo, through a series of clever propaganda, convinced these volunteers that this was a mission they must complete to achieve salvation and go directly to heaven.
As a result, the enthusiasm of these free laborers was immediately ignited, and they worked even harder.
Even though their lives were very hard, they still felt grateful in their hearts that the Emperor was willing to lead them on the expedition and escape their painful cage.
This truly exceeded Laszlo's expectations, which showed how bleak the lives of these peasants had been before.
However, with these peasants gone, it would be the nobles' turn to face bleak days for some time.
Many noble estates experienced a significant loss of labor, which would inevitably affect the estates' income in the next quarter.
To appease these restless nobles who suffered direct financial losses, Laszlo promised to forge more cooperation with the Genoese, introducing the white slave trade into inner Hungary via the Danube River trade route. He even promised to bring back a portion of the infidel captives and hand them over to the affected nobles to compensate for their losses.
Regarding these matters, Genoese merchants and the Knights Hospitaller were experts, and Laszlo planned to discuss cooperation with them once he reached the East.
Although Laszlo merely painted a grand picture, the nobles, who had originally intended to swallow their losses, were surprised that the Emperor could show them such a gentle side. Therefore, they quickly ceased to express their dissatisfaction to the Emperor.
After absorbing this first wave of rabble, the second wave of Crusaders, organized by the Papal Envoy and gathered in Arad, was also quickly brought under Laszlo's command.
Since they were not Crusaders assembled under the organization of the Kingdom's government, they were currently in urgent need of supplies, and most participants were almost unarmed, at most carrying a pitchfork, basically lacking any combat capability.
If they had anything, it was probably a full heart of religious fervor, mixed with some hatred for the nobility.
This hatred was inadvertently amplified when government officials arrived, because the government officials sent to deal with the matter, influenced by some nobles, began to threaten the families and lives and property of these volunteers, attempting to force them back to the land.
This nearly triggered a serious riot. Fortunately, the leader of these volunteers was a discerning Cardinal, and also Laszlo's old acquaintance, Francesco della Rovere.
He timely prevented the further escalation of the conflict and promised the peasants who had come to participate in the Crusade at his call that he would personally negotiate with the Emperor and lead them to the East.
On the city walls of Arad, Laszlo, revisiting the familiar place, met with Cardinal Francesco who had come to pay his respects.
"So you have changed your mind and intend to take the people gathered outside the city to the East?" Francesco had expected to have to spend some effort persuading, but he hadn't expected the Emperor to directly agree to his request.
"I didn't know you were responsible for assembling this force before. If I had known it was you, things wouldn't have been so troublesome." Laszlo also hadn't expected the person to be Francesco, which made the whole affair quite unpleasant.
"I don't have much ill will towards these devout people, but when I heard someone was assembling an uncontrollable army, I only thought about immediately disbanding this force you organized."
"Your concerns are reasonable, Your Majesty." Francesco immediately expressed understanding for Laszlo's explanation. Over this period, he had also realized how difficult it was to control his motley army.
Just recently, those lower nobles he had entrusted even gathered to discuss attacking Arad, but they ultimately weren't so insane as to believe they could withstand the Emperor's army, so they didn't take immediate action.
"However, why have you changed your mind now?"
Facing Francesco's confusion, Laszlo patted the battlements and said with some emotion: "A few years ago, when I led my army to quell the Hunyadi rebellion, the people of this city of Arad were the first to open their gates and surrender to me, thus avoiding annihilation.
However, Timisoara, which we will pass through later, was much more tragic than here, with shattered cities and widespread suffering.
Rebellions always bring profound suffering to the nation and its people. Unfortunately, Transylvania is the most rebellion-prone area among all the regions under my rule.
It is far from Vienna, and the situation is complex, making it an easy breeding ground for rebellion."
Laszlo gestured with his chin towards the volunteers gathered outside the city. Francesco followed his gaze; there were the camps set up by the people who had come here, looking chaotic.
"They are just people dissatisfied with life. Perhaps dissatisfied with their lords, perhaps with the city, or even simply with a certain law. In any case, it will eventually be transferred to the Kingdom of Hungary and me, the King. When a group of dissatisfied people gather together, I don't need to say what will happen, do I?"
"So, you chose to take them to the East to maintain the stability of the Kingdom?"
"Since this is their wish, I will naturally find a way to satisfy them, otherwise, I'm afraid I would have to order my army to carry out a bloody massacre here."
Laszlo's expression remained calm, but Francesco, standing beside him, shivered and even felt a sense of relief in his heart.
"You are undoubtedly a benevolent Emperor, supported by all your subjects."
Laszlo merely smiled at such flattery.
Whether his rule could be called popular was still questionable. In any case, he first won people's submission with the sword, and then he tried to gain the support and love of the people through some cautious policies.
However, judging by the large number of Crusader volunteers currently, he still had a long way to go before truly achieving his goal.
After absorbing the Arad Crusaders, Laszlo's army reached an astonishingly massive scale. He then rendezvoused with the third wave of Hungarian Crusaders in Timisoara, bringing the total force to ninety thousand people, of whom about sixty thousand were warriors—over twenty thousand main troops, over thirty thousand auxiliary troops, and the rest were laborers.
Such a massive army required an astronomical amount of supplies daily. Fortunately, many people in the army brought some supplies themselves, and the insufficient parts were requisitioned from the areas the army passed through.
On June 20th, the Grand Army arrived at the Iron Gate Gorge, at the border of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Principality of Wallachia, and erected several pontoon bridges there.
After a full two weeks, the entire army crossed the Danube River from there, reaching Vidin, a key town in northwestern Bulgaria.
Around the same time, over ten thousand people assembled from Italy and fifteen thousand from the Empire successively arrived in central Hungary, rapidly catching up with the main army.