 In early 1613, he was involved again on the front against Báthory, asking Matthias to make him commander of the loyalist Transylvanian corps, which had been left leaderless by the death of Lajos Rákóczi.Taking over as Prince of Transylvania in October, Gabriel Bethlen informed his Ottoman allies that Matthias wanted Cercel to take the Moldavian crown.According to Bethlen, this was a conspiracy also involving Radu Șerban and Gáspár Bekes.