Vampires do exist in nature. Any biologist will tell you this. Bloodsucking, for example, include some species of bats. And everyone knows mosquitoes (more precisely, mosquitoes) ... As for the people, the first who, so to speak, officially ranked as vampires was probably Count Dracula. Or, more precisely, the Wallachian ruler Vlad III Tepes, nicknamed Dracula, is a skilled ruler, a brave warrior who brutally cracked down on conquerors. But this is pure delusion - he never drank the blood of his enemies. He just put them on the count ... Why, then, he was called a vampire? ..
"He was a man of medium height, with a high forehead and a face that sharply tapers toward his chin. This is how Dracula describes the famous medieval humanist, poet and clergyman Enea Piccolomini, who, as a cardinal, traveled a lot across Europe in the 15th century. And our compatriot, the Great Sovereign of Moscow Ivan III, even ordered to write down the history of the reign of "Lord Draculi Tepes" as a warning to posterity. And, as historians believe, this biography was studied with great care by young John IV, later better known by the name of Ivan the Terrible.
What interested Dracula in his contemporaries? Its history is as follows: in the 15th century, a crusader knight from the Order of the Defeated Dragon lived on the territory of modern Romania. Personal courage, devotion to his troops did not help him avoid a sad fate: his lands and his subjects became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, and his twelve-year-old son was held hostage by the Turks.
At that time, there was such a rule: in order to keep the vassals ready to rebel, the Turks took their children hostage. And at the first signs of rebellion, the parents of the hostage children were immediately executed with a fierce death. And even worse was done - the boys were scattered and given to the harem.
And here is Vlad Dracula, that is, the son of the Dragon, - erased the life of a hostage for seven long years. These years taught the boy to hide his thoughts behind the guise of external humility, to restrain his impulses, not to spare anyone and especially himself. When his father died, Vlad received freedom. "You will take the place of the parent," the vizier favorably told him, letting go. "And may your people serve us as they did under your father ..."
But Vlad was of a different opinion. Once in his hometown of Segisovre, he threw off the disgusting mask of slavish submission, expelled all Turks and forbade them to appear in his possessions on pain of death.
The news of the rebellious nineteen-year-old stubborn, of course, reached the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. And they decided to teach the impudent boy a lesson. However, it was not so easy to do this.
When the two hundred thousand army moved to Dracula's possessions, like locusts destroying everything in its path, the rebels, together with their ruler, took refuge in the well-fortified fortress city of Vrashov. Despite the fact that they were twenty times smaller than the advancing, they were not going to give up. Moreover, having thoroughly studied the customs and customs of his opponents during captivity, Lord Vlad was determined to win.
He sent towards the vanguard of the Turks a select detachment of daredevils, ordering them to capture several dozen prisoners. Under the cover of night, a swirling detachment brilliantly completed the task.
And in the morning, axes pounded: the Romanians sharpened the stakes and drove them on both sides of the road, along which the Turkish army was to follow. And the associated janissaries were planted on driven stakes.
When the Turks saw what had become of their comrades, many began to tremble. But Vlad did not calm down. With daring raids, he did not give the Janissaries peace either day or night, brutally cracked down on those who fell under his arm, but did not enter into an open battle.