latter, under the pretext that Cantemir had fled his camp. According to legend the bribe Baltagy Mehmed Pasha received was effective in the fact that the treaty was lighter than the victory (amount of almost 2 wheelbarrows). Consequences Alexander Mikaberidze argues that Baltacı Mehmet Pasha made an important strategic mistake by signing the treaty with relatively easy terms for the Russians. Since Peter himself was commanding the Russian army, and had Baltacı Mehmet Pasha not accepted Peter's peace proposal and pursued to capture him as a prisoner instead, the course of history could have changed. Without Peter, Russia would have hardly become an imperial power, and the future arch-enemy of the Ottoman State in the Balkans, the Black Sea basin and the Caucasus. Although the news of the victory was first received well in Constantinople, the dissatisfied pro-war party turned general opinion against Baltacı Mehmet Pasha, who was accused of accepting a bribe from Peter the Great. Baltacı Mehmet Pasha was then relieved from his office. An immediate consequence of the war was the change in Ottoman policies towards the Christian vassals states of Moldavia and Wallachia. In order to consolidate the control over the two Danubian Principalities, the Ottomans would introduce (in the same year in Moldavia, and in 1716 in Wallachia) direct rule through appointed Christian rulers (the so-called Phanariotes). The ruler Cantemir of Moldavia fled to Russia accompanied by a large retinue, and the Ottomans took charge of the succession to the throne of Moldavia by appointing Nicholas Mavrocordatos as ruler. The ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu of Wallachia was accused by the Sultan of colluding with the enemy. While the Russo-Moldavian army was on the move, Brâncoveanu had gathered Wallachian troops in Urlați, near the Moldavian border, awaiting the entry of the Christian troops to storm into Wallachia and offer his services to Peter, while also readying to join the Ottoman counter-offensive in the event of a change in fortunes. When Toma Cantacuzino switched to the Russian camp, the ruler was forced to decide in favor of the Ottomans or risk becoming an enemy of his Ottoman suzerain, and he swiftly returned the gifts he had received from the Russians. After three years, the Sultan's suspicion and hostility finally prevailed, and Brâncoveanu, his four sons, and his counselor Ianache Văcărescu, were arrested and executed in Constantinople. Charles XII and his political pro-war ally, the Crimean khan Devlet II