Asen III of Bulgaria attempted to capture Andronikos II under the guise of sending him military support. In 1328 Andronikos III entered Constantinople in triumph and Andronikos II was forced to abdicate. Andronikos II died as a monk at Constantinople in 1332, and was buried in the Lips Monastery (now the Fenari Isa Mosque). Fiscal Policy The economic destitution which would plague the reign of Andronikos II caused him to undertake drastic measures to cut state spending. These spending cuts included the native army which was reduced to a near token force being largely superseded by foreign mercenary companies who however too would be further reduced down to a near suicidal minimum and be in large part replaced by cheaper but much less experienced rabble, such that a military response to the turk advance became a difficult and as shown by the failed Campaign of Andronikos’s co-emperor Michael XI a dangerous undertaking. The Byzantine Navy was not left unharmed. In fact it would soon be disbanded completely, leaving the Byzantine State more than ever reliant on Genoese and Venetian assistance — which correspondingly allowed these republics to charge exorbitantly higher prices for their service — the great deal of experienced seamen who were as a result made unemployed also had the disastrous effect of giving the Turkomans — who had just reached the western Anatolian coast and sough to build up their own naval forces —a myriad of destitute but experienced Sailors and Ship-makers who they could draw upon to build up their own fleets which would together with the absence of the Byzantine fleet greatly contribute to the exploding problem of Turkic piracy in the Aegean sea ravaging trade and coastal lands alike. In 1320 as a result of heightened taxation, and a more rigorous collection of these, Andronikos II was able to raise a total of 1 million Hyperpyra for the budgetary year of 1321, this he planned to use to expand his army to some 3000 horsemen, and recreate the Byzantine Navy to contain 20 ships. Andronikos II's impending civil war with his grandson Andronikos III would however prevent him from ever implementing this plan, yet to his credit this plan does show a more militarily ambitious if still insufficient plan for state spending. For the sake of comparison it has to be noted that the Hyperpyron from 1320 was worth 1/2 that of the undebased Nomisma