In the palace of Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Bayezid II looked at the dilapidated city outside. Even his own palace had been destroyed in many places. Looking up, he saw that everything was devastated and looked very desolate.
"Damnable Ming Empire, sooner or later I will make you pay with blood!"
Bayezid II clenched his fists and swore secretly.
The Ming Empire was so ruthless. An army of 200,000 marched westward and slaughtered hundreds of cities. The combined fleets of the Ming Empire and Spain sailed directly to the Sea of Marmara and bombarded their own capital, destroying this originally prosperous city.
The huge city was devastated by the bombardment.
This hatred is really too deep.
Because of this war, the Ottoman Empire's troops destroyed by the Ming Empire alone exceeded 550,000. As for the number of ordinary people who were slaughtered and captured, I don't know how many. The price of the slave market has plummeted recently, which is very important.
The reason is because millions of slaves were captured from the Ottoman Empire.
If it were just this, Bayezid II would not be able to remember it forever. The land in the South Caucasus and the war reparations that had to be repaid every year were like a heavy mountain pressing on the Ottoman Empire, making him feel a little breathless.
Can't help but feel angry.
His treasury has been emptied, and the gold paper that was previously attached to the Qiang was removed and melted into gold nuggets to compensate for Ming's war reparations.
The pashas (nobles) and businessmen of the Ottoman Empire almost emptied their own wealth, and all the jewelry on the women was plundered, and only then could they complete the first batch of 40 million taels of war compensation.
This is where Bayezid II gnashed his teeth with hatred. The Ottoman Empire had never suffered such a loss.
He hated it, but he also clearly knew the power gap between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Empire, so he could only swallow it in his stomach even if his teeth were knocked out.
"Great Sultan, today's Ming Dynasty newspaper has arrived~"
At this time, a minister hurriedly came to Bayezid II with a stack of newspapers in his hand and said respectfully.
"Well, let someone translate it and listen~"
Bayezid II nodded slightly.
Because they were beaten up by the Ming Empire, the Ottoman Empire also began to pay all-round attention to all aspects of the Ming Empire.
Naturally, it is inevitable to learn about the Ming Dynasty through its newspapers. Although it is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, the Ottoman Empire still spent a lot of money to purchase Ming Dynasty newspapers from the South Caucasus, and then sent people to deliver them quickly.
The capital of the Ottoman Empire comes here.
Soon, Abdullah, a minister who was proficient in the Ming language, came to Bayezid II and began to carefully study the recently delivered Ming newspapers.
"Great Sultan, this newspaper was published on July 16, the 16th year of Hongzhi's reign in the Ming Dynasty, which was about two months ago."
Abdullah is an Arab. He had contact with the Ming Dynasty people a few years ago and learned the language and writing of the Ming Dynasty. He is now considered a master of the Ming Dynasty.
"Hmm~"
Bayezid II nodded and began to drink morning tea while listening.
"First of all, the most important thing reported here on the front page is that the Holy See sent a mission to the Ming Empire. The people from the Holy See used weapons against the Ming Prince in the capital of the Ming Empire. They threatened and cursed the Ming Prince, which made the Ming Emperor furious and ordered
Executed more than a hundred people from the Holy See."
"The Ming Empire expressed serious dissatisfaction to the Holy See and strictly prohibited foreign missionaries from preaching in the Ming Empire."
Abdullah translated the most important message on the front page to Bayezid II.
"The Ming Empire executed more than a hundred people from the Holy See?"
When Bayezid II heard this, he immediately became energetic.
"This is going to be a great show, and the Holy See will definitely not let it go."
Then he said very confidently.
His contact with the Christian world in Europe took more than a day or two. He was very aware of the European people's urinal nature, and he was also aware of the influence and appeal of the Holy See.
Historically, under the call of the Holy See, European Christendom organized several Crusades. For the sake of their faith and honor, they would do anything. How could they tolerate this?
"Great Sultan, shall we seize the opportunity and severely retaliate against the Ming people?"
Next to Bayezid II, Grand Vizier Ali Pasha thought for a while and said.
"No, Europe is too far away from the Ming Empire. Even if the Holy See wants to deal with the Ming Empire, it will just attack the Ming Empire's colonies in Europe, or organize a large army to cross the Black Sea and attack the Caucasus region."
"But it doesn't matter to the Ming Empire, and it may not be possible to defeat the Ming Empire. We should not provoke the Ming Empire again."
"Their 200,000-strong army has been stationed in the South Caucasus and can attack us at any time. Their Black Sea Fleet is rampant on the Black Sea and can attack Istanbul at any time."
Bayezid II shook his head and said.
"On the contrary, we should seize the opportunity and continue to attack Persia and Eastern Europe. We compensated the Ming Empire tens of millions of taels of silver, and naturally we have to make up for it from these places."
"A slave can be sold for dozens of taels of silver in the Ming Dynasty. If you capture 10,000 slaves, you will get hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. As long as you can capture one million slaves, you can basically make up for the loss this time."
"People from the Ming Dynasty are not easy to mess with, but Persians and Europeans are easier to bully."
This is the truth of Bayezid II.
Although he gnashed his teeth with hatred for the Ming people and wished he could lead his army to attack the capital of the Ming Empire, all this must be based on strong strength.
The mighty strength of the Ming Empire made him feel desperate, and he did not dare to provoke the Ming Empire anymore.
"Continue to strengthen the attack on Hungary and the Habsburg family, and capture as many slaves as possible."
"Yes~"
The ministers around him nodded quickly.
"Great Sultan, the second thing mentioned in this newspaper is that the Ming Empire will strictly clean up the affairs of foreign missionaries and strictly prohibit the introduction of foreign religions into the Ming Dynasty."
Seeing that Bayezid II's discussion was over, Abdullah continued to translate the contents of the newspaper.
"Hmph ~ lost and ignorant lamb."
"They will all go to hell after death."
When Bayezid II heard this, he couldn't help but said that he himself was a very devout believer and had been committed to spreading yslj. When he heard about the entry of strict Jinshi foreign missionaries from the Ming Dynasty, he immediately shook his head.
"The third thing is that the Ming Empire has developed a method to prevent smallpox virus, and it is now being fully promoted in the Ming Empire."
"Send people to the Ming Empire immediately. They must learn this method."
"The Ming Empire has announced that it will build a cement road from the capital of the Ming Empire directly to the South Caucasus. At present, this road has been built to the Western Region of the Ming Empire. It will continue to be built from the Western Region, passing through the river, and then reaching the South Caucasus.
area."
"Cement is a good thing. When we send people to the Ming Empire, we must obtain the method of making cement. With cement, we can build a strong city wall. Then we won't have to be afraid of the Ming Empire's cannons and
Firearms."
Abdullah slowly translated the contents of the newspaper, and Bayezid II listened carefully. After listening to each piece, he would express his own opinions or issue new orders.
"Your Majesty, this newspaper is the next day's newspaper. The front page of it is about the Ming Emperor requesting Australian Duke Yang Yun stationed in the South Caucasus to rescue the Ming people who were in trouble in our Ottoman Empire."
After reading one newspaper, I quickly started reading a second one.
Because it was too far away from the Ming Dynasty, these newspapers were far from available every day. Sometimes newspapers were sent for several days at a time.
"Yang Yun?"
Hearing Yang Yun's name, he immediately cheered up.
Although he had never met Yang Yun, the Ottoman Empire was severely defeated by the army led by Yang Yun, so he had already heard this name like thunder.
At the same time, the Ottoman Empire was mentioned, which cheered him up even more.
"Tell me in detail."
"Yes, the great Sultan~"
Abdullah nodded solemnly, read the whole article very carefully, and said: "Because our empire attacked the Hezhong area and sold some Ming people to various places."
"Although the great Sultan has repeatedly ordered that the trafficked Ming people be sent back safely, there are still many people in our Ottoman Empire who secretly hide the Ming people as slaves."
"Some people even deliberately killed or maimed the Ming people in their hands because of their hatred of the Ming people. The news reached the Ming Emperor and made the Ming Emperor very angry, so he issued such an order."
Hearing Abdullah's words, Bayezid II, Ali Pasha and others could not help but frown. Regarding the recall of the trafficked Ming people, this was written into the armistice agreement.
Bayezid II also issued such an order to various parts of the Ottoman Empire. He didn't care about it at first, but he didn't expect it to be mentioned again, and it made the Ming Emperor furious.
This is going to be troublesome. If the Ming Empire uses this matter to make a fuss and uses troops against the Ottoman Empire again, then the Ottoman Empire will be in misery.
Bayezid II doesn't want to start a war with the Ming Empire again now. Most of his troops have been mobilized to the European battlefield. There is a lot of emptiness in the Caucasus. The Ming Empire's army can march straight in and directly hit the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Come here.
"Report~"
"Great Sultan, I just received news that Yang Yun, the Duke of Australia of the Ming Empire, led his army to invade our Ottoman Empire~"
"They claim that they want to go to various parts of our Ottoman Empire to save the Ming people~"
At this moment, a messenger came hurriedly to report.
"What a speed!"
When Bayezid heard this, he couldn't help but exclaimed.