Half a month later, Muhammad Ali's "bandit gang" had crossed the Stara Mountains in southern Serbia and appeared in Craiova, in southwestern Wallachia.
Yes, there were fewer than 500 defenders in the city. They were simply no match for him.
After entering the city, Muhammad Ali immediately ordered it looted. However, only Romanians, especially Catholic converts, were to be robbed; the "Phanariot" nobility was strictly not to be harassed.
Wallachia's political structure was as follows—the Phanariot nobles were of Greek descent, sent by the Ottoman Sultan seventy or eighty years earlier to administer Wallachia. They spoke Greek, followed the Eastern Orthodox Church, and monopolized Wallachia's bureaucracy.
The numerous Romanians, meanwhile, had always resented the Phanariots. Their nobles were known as Boyars.
After Austria took control of Wallachia, some Boyars converted to Catholicism and became Austria's agents.
At present, the Phanariots were barely holding on through political inertia, while the Catholic Romanians steadily nibbled away at their power.
The Eastern Orthodox Romanians were exploited by both sides. Whenever trouble arose, they revolted, only to be jointly suppressed by both sides.
Two days later, Muhammad Ali continued north with countless treasures of gold and silver, leaving twenty percent of the plunder behind for the Phanariot nobles, "servants of the Sultan."
When the news spread, Phanariot nobles in the towns along the route threw open their gates to welcome the Agha's army. More than a thousand people even joined Muhammad Ali's ranks with their own weapons, hoping to follow along and skim some fat from the pot.
By the time the "looting army" reached Valcea, a major town in central-western Wallachia, the Austrian officials in Bucharest finally responded, dispatching 3,000 soldiers westward to intercept these "Albanian Bandits."
Bucharest had only a little over 4,000 defenders in total and could not possibly send more.