There are only ten people sitting in the huge parliament hall of Venice on the Mediterranean. These ten people are now the ten-person committee with the highest power in the Republic of Venice. The ten people represent the hundreds of aristocratic rights and interests in the Republic of Venice that have "gold-thin" rights.
"Gentlemen, news has just arrived from the Ottoman Empire."
"The Ming Empire army from the far east once again defeated the Ottoman Empire army in the city of Erzinjan. It not only captured the city of Erzinjan, but also wiped out the Ottoman Empire's 200,000 troops again."
Dill looked at the other nine people and said in a loud voice.
As the Governor of the Republic of Venice, he felt that the opportunity that the Venetians had been waiting for had arrived.
Since the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the contradiction between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice has become more and more serious, the most important of which are two points.
One is the competition between the two parties for the dominance of the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea. As a country that developed on trade, the Republic of Venice is self-evident in the importance of the Aegean Sea and the Adriatic Sea to the Republic of Venice. If it loses
Without the right to rule here, the Republic of Venice lost its commercial foundation.
The second one is the commercial conflict.
The Republic of Venice is mainly engaged in intermediary trade, mainly transporting spices, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cane sugar, gems, and silk fabrics from the East to Western European countries, earning high profits from them.
At its peak, the Republic of Venice could obtain more than 100,000 ducats every year (gold ducats, with a gold content of about 97% and each weighing about 3.6 grams).
But with the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman Empire began to block the trade of the Republic of Venice, because spices, silk fabrics, etc. from the East had to pass through the Ottoman Empire, which seriously affected the trade of the Republic of Venice.
This is also the source of the conflict between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, so the two sides have been engaged in a war that lasted for about half a century.
However, the Republic of Venice is obviously good at doing business, but when it comes to war, it is far from being a match for the Ottoman Empire. In the naval battle of Zonzio a few years ago, the Republic of Venice was defeated, which has always made Venetian merchants very upset.
"Your Majesty the Governor, are you saying that our chance has come?"
Paul, the speaker of the Great Council, thought for a while and asked.
"Yes, Your Excellency Speaker~"
"This is a great opportunity, a great opportunity to take back what belongs to our republic."
Dill nodded very solemnly and said.
"But your Excellency the Governor, although the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Ming Dynasty on land one after another, their maritime power was not affected at all."
"The Ming Dynasty's fleet is still on vacation in Italy."
Paul expressed his objection.
"Your Majesty the Speaker, and gentlemen~"
"Times have changed. Now Western European countries no longer need to go through our Republic of Venice to obtain spices, silk, sugar, tea, etc. from the East."
"They can directly trade with the Ming people from the Americas, or they can contact the Ming people from Africa. The Spanish replaced us, and they enjoyed exclusive trading rights, so they can earn tens of millions from it every year.
Millions of Ming Dynasty silver dollars."
"Compared to the huge trade on the ocean, our Republic of Venice has always been limited to the small harbors of the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea."
"If we don't seize the opportunity and work hard, believe me, in a few years, even the business in the Mediterranean will not be our share."
Dill said worriedly.
The Republic of Venice's trade volume has plummeted in recent years. Although it can still obtain some business by relying on its good geographical location, its profits have dropped sharply.
The Ming people in the East now trade directly with Western European countries. The prices of spices, silk, porcelain, cane sugar, cloth and many other commodities from the East have dropped dramatically.
This made life for the Venetians who used to make a lot of money through transit trade suddenly become extremely difficult.
The goods they sold at high prices from the Ottoman Empire could not be sold in Western Europe at all. The only hot business now is the slave trade.
The great empires in the East have a huge demand for slaves. They love white European slaves. A slave sold to the Ming Dynasty can be sold for twenty taels of silver. However, in Eastern Europe, due to war, turmoil, poverty and many other factors,
The price of a slave was often less than three taels of silver, and the profit was huge.
An extremely large slave market has even been formed in Venice, specializing in the sale of slaves. A large number of slave traders from Eastern Europe bought slaves to the Venetians, who then resold the slaves to Egypt, and the Egyptians sold them to
The Ming Dynasty of the East.
Traditional trade is no longer profitable, but the slave trade carries great risks. The pirates of the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean will not let go of any opportunity to plunder them.
You must know that the current Ottoman Empire is similar to the Venetian, having lost its advantage as a transit station, and the Ottoman Empire is also in a huge financial crisis.
In the past, spices and silk fabrics from the East would double in price after passing through the hands of the Ottomans, allowing the Ottomans to easily obtain huge wealth to maintain their huge empire.
It's different now. Whether it's the opening of the great navigation route or the route through the Mamluk Kingdom in Egypt, goods can be easily sold to Europeans. This has cut off the Ottoman Empire's financial path, and it has also allowed Egypt to
People began to get rich quickly.
"But Your Majesty the Governor, what should we do?"
Everyone was silent for a while. The Republic of Venice is really having a hard time now, and it really needs to find a way out.
"Of course we are cooperating with people from Ming Dynasty~"
"Look at this huge map of time. The Ming people have occupied most of the world. They have the most extensive territory. It is said that they have a huge population of 150 million."
"That distant eastern country is just like what Marco Polo described. It is extremely rich. It is said that last year's fiscal revenue exceeded 100 million taels of silver."
"With such a huge and rich empire, why shouldn't we cooperate well with them?"
"The main reason why their fleet is still staying in Italy is because they are not familiar with the Aegean Sea and the distribution of pirates in the Ottoman Empire."
"As long as we are willing to cooperate with them, I think the Ming people are very happy. Of course, in exchange, we can make some demands to the Ming people, such as obtaining exclusive trading rights for Ming products in the Mediterranean."
Dill said very confidently.
Ming fever has become popular in Europe now, and everything about the Ming Dynasty seems so novel, making everyone full of curiosity.
The goods and goods from the Ming Dynasty are all expensive, whether they are silk, porcelain, snow-white sugar, exquisite and durable cloth, or spices from the Nanyang region of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, the wealth and power of the Ming Empire also left a profound impact on Europeans.
Just a fleet of the Ming Dynasty arrived in Europe, easily defeated the Portuguese and English, and even forced France to sign a peace treaty. Now is there news that the Ottoman Empire army was defeated by the Ming Empire army?
.
Suddenly, the whole of Europe was discussing the powerful and wealthy Ming Empire.
European businessmen all dreamed of doing business with the Ming Dynasty people.
The Spaniards, who had exclusive trading rights, made a lot of money from this. They only promised some insignificant things and gained huge wealth, which made countless people jealous.
Spain even gained friendship from the distant Eastern Empire, and many Spaniards made good friends with Ming merchants.
The products of the Ming Dynasty are very popular in Europe. No matter what they are, people pay for them. The European nobles and royal families are crazy about the products of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, there is no doubt about the financial resources of Ming merchants.
As long as you have what Ming merchants need, they can easily buy up all the goods in your hands. Among them, the most popular one now is the slave trade.
The Ming Dynasty required a large number of slaves, far exceeding the slave trade in any previous period.
In the past, slaves were bought and sold on a per-person basis, with transactions ranging from hundreds to thousands. However, when encountering merchants from the Ming Dynasty, the transactions were often in the thousands or tens of thousands. Any merchant from the Ming Dynasty could easily make a move.
Buy all your slaves.
This is the Ming Dynasty.
Powerful and wealthy.
The Venetians have not wanted to do business with the Ming Dynasty for a day or two, but they have always been limited to a small place like Venice, limited to the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea. They have never been able to release themselves to the Ming Dynasty.
goodwill, now finally comes the chance.
Hearing Dill's words, everyone else couldn't help but nodded slightly. It was time for Venice to change. If it didn't change, the Republic of Venice would be waiting to collapse due to financial problems.
"I support the Governor's proposal and take this opportunity to teach the Ottoman Empire a lesson and let them know how powerful our Republic of Venice is."
"I also support the proposal of His Excellency the Governor. The people of Ming Dynasty need us, and we also need the people of Ming Dynasty."
"The Ottoman Empire has already sunk. I heard that Hungary, Austria and Poland are organizing a coalition to attack the Ottoman Empire territory on the Balkan Peninsula. The progress is very smooth. The Ottoman Empire, which has mobilized most of its troops, is at its weakest."
The other congressmen stood up one by one and expressed their views and opinions.
"Since everyone agrees, let's go to war with the Ottoman Empire!"