On the west coast of the Black Sea, the beautiful Danube River flows quietly, carrying snow water from the Alps into the dark Black Sea.
The land is vast and snow-capped, but as far as the eye can see, it is filled with smoke and thick smoke. On both sides of the Danube, the Ottoman cavalry carries fluttering crescent flags and drives groups of slaves slowly across the cold earth.
progress.
The Ottoman Empire has been fighting fiercely with the coalition of Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, and Poland for almost a whole year.
Since the beginning of the year, when the Ming Empire went to war with the Ottoman Empire, Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, and Poland, realizing that the opportunity was coming, took the initiative to launch attacks on the Ottoman Empire.
When the main force of the Ottoman Empire was deployed to the Asia Minor Peninsula to fight fiercely with the Ming Empire, their attack was very fast and smooth. They marched all the way eastward, just like the Crusades, and once pushed the front line to the Thrace region.
, only a few hundred miles away from Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
But when the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Empire signed an armistice agreement, the army returned to the war on the Western Front. The powerful Ottoman Empire army quickly began to take back many occupied areas, quickly repelled the coalition forces, and continued to invade the West.
They attacked and defeated the proud knights step by step.
By now, the two sides had been fighting bloody battles in the Danube River Basin for several months, and each had suffered heavy losses, but the Ottoman Empire seemed to have no intention of stopping just yet.
Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland have all sent several waves of peace envoys to propose peace talks to the Ottoman Empire, but they were all rejected by the Ottoman Sultan.
It's not that the Ottoman Empire is unwilling to negotiate peace, the Ottoman Empire is actually holding on to it now. You must know that the losses of the Ottoman Empire are much greater than the losses of the Three Kingdoms Alliance.
They were swept away by the Ming Dynasty's 200,000-strong army, and the number of elite troops they lost alone was 500,000-600,000. In addition, there was a fierce battle with the Persian Empire in the east, and they had to cede territory to the Ming Dynasty as compensation.
To be honest, the current Ottoman Empire Sultan even used the gold items in the palace as war reparations to be paid to the Ming Dynasty, and he was extremely poor.
But precisely because of this, the Ottoman Empire must restore its vitality and strength as soon as possible, and naturally the trauma of the war must be transferred abroad.
One of the most important methods was the slave trade.
They used war to capture slaves on a large scale, and then sold these slaves to the Ming Dynasty to quickly recover from the wounds they suffered.
The Ming Dynasty was an extremely large empire, with vast land, a huge population, and a strong demand for slaves.
Those who engaged in slave trading with the Ming Dynasty were not only the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate in the north, but also the current Ottoman Empire, and even Italians and Venetians in the Mediterranean were engaged in slave trading.
As for the Arabs and Persians in the Middle East, they made a lot of money from the slave trading business.
The profits of the slave trading business are simply too high.
A strong slave could be sold to the Ming Dynasty for a high price of thirty taels of silver. If the slave was obtained through war, the cost would be almost negligible.
So the Ottoman Empire set its sights on the population in Eastern Europe, and almost all its troops were mobilized here. While launching a powerful offensive, it began to unscrupulously capture people on this land and sell them into slaves.
The Ottoman Empire was also addicted to the business of capturing and selling slaves.
People in the Ming Dynasty were very concerned about credibility. A slave cost thirty taels of silver. If it was a female slave with a beautiful appearance and a good figure, the price could be even higher.
No matter how many slaves there are, the Ming people can eat them all, and they can pay you silver dollars on the spot, as long as the slaves are transported to the islands in the Aegean Sea that were ceded to the Ming people.
Very simple.
One slave is thirty thousand taels of silver, ten thousand slaves is three hundred thousand taels of silver, and one hundred thousand slaves is three million taels of silver.
Often in one battle, the Ottoman Army could easily capture tens of thousands of war prisoners. If they raided the surrounding areas, they could easily capture tens of thousands of slaves and easily obtain hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
If a city could be breached, it would not be difficult to arrest hundreds of thousands of people, and millions of taels of silver would be gained in one fell swoop.
Is there any business in the world that can make money faster than this?
Obviously, no.
At least for the Ottomans, they found no faster way to make money.
Everyone in the Ottoman Empire, from the sultan to ordinary soldiers, is immersed in such a feast of wealth. The sultan can get the big head, and the lower-level nobles, lords, and soldiers can also allocate their own share step by step.
.
Whether it was the war reparations needed to compensate the Ming Dynasty, the military expenditures needed to mobilize a large army, or even the finances of the Ottoman Empire, they suddenly became extremely dependent on the slave trade.
"Pah~pah~"
On the cold earth, thousands of people were tied up with ropes and walking on the earth. From time to time, there was the sound of whips being whipped.
"Go quickly, go quickly~"
The soldiers of the Ottoman Empire shouted fiercely, and they wanted to transport these slaves to the mouth of the Danube River, where a large number of ships were waiting. As soon as the slaves arrived, they were loaded and set off immediately.
Transport it eastward to the West Pole Port in the South Caucasus, then go south through the Black Sea Strait to the Aegean Sea, and then sell it to the Ming people on the West Island.
For this matter, the great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire sent specialized ministers and businessmen to take charge of this matter, responsible for the sale of slaves, distribution of funds, etc.
What these soldiers need to do is very simple, that is, defeat the enemy on the battlefield, go deep into the enemy's backyard, capture these unarmed civilians, and transport them to the port.
The person tied with the rope walked very numbly.
They are lucky and unfortunate.
Many of them were soldiers who surrendered on the battlefield.
In the past, except for a few nobles who would have had the chance to be redeemed with huge sums of money, most of the soldiers who surrendered in the war were either killed by the Ottoman Empire or became the lowest slaves.
But it is different now. The Ottoman Empire does not kill the surrendered soldiers, nor does it massacre the city. It even allows them to be fed and clothed, as if they are afraid that they will die.
They became the most important wealth in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Each person was worth thirty taels of silver. Such a high price made the Ottoman Empire reluctant to kill them.
This is their luck.
Unfortunately, they still could not escape the fate of slaves.
They may even be trafficked to extremely distant worlds.
Perhaps it would be a colony of the Ming Dynasty and trading houses in East Africa, where they would reclaim land for the Ming people to grow sugar cane, spices, tea and the like.
Or they may be sold to trading houses in Tianzhu and become slaves in plantations in Tianzhu and Sri Lanka, growing rice, spices or sugar cane.
If you are not lucky enough, you may be trafficked to more distant Southeast Asia and become a slave in a Nanyang plantation, accompanying you with sugar cane all year round.
Things are already spreading here in Eastern Europe.
Not only is this kind of plunder in frontal wars, but there are also all kinds of pervasive slave merchants, slave traders, slave smugglers and the like.
These people use various banners to deceive people in Italy, Venice, Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, Poland and other places. Most of the people who are deceived will eventually be trafficked to the Mediterranean and then to the Ming Dynasty.
, and eventually became a slave.
Human trafficking has been a thing since ancient times, no matter which country it is.
As the price of slaves increased, this trade became extremely active.
The people of the Ming Dynasty regarded white as beauty and liked white slaves but not black slaves. Eastern Europe became the most important source of white slaves, forming an extremely large slave industry chain.
In addition to these surrendered soldiers, there were also a large number of ordinary people who were captured almost with their families and became slaves. In the cold winter, their tears were almost dried up, but they still had to move on.
Facing an unknown fate.
As a slave, you still have a chance to live, but if the value of the slave is lost, these brutal Ottomans will chop them down without hesitation.
Brad carried his five-year-old son on his back and held the infant baby in his arms. Next to him were his wife Linda and his sister Cole, who was nearly fourteen years old.
"Brother, I'm cold~I'm so cold!"
As she walked, Kola couldn't help but cry. She was only wearing tattered coarse clothes and her shoes were rotten. She walked in the ice and snow with a cold expression on her face.
However, what makes people even more desperate is that they don’t know how long they will have to go or where they will go. Not long ago, the Ottomans suddenly broke into their homes, arresting everyone they saw, robbing everything they saw, and houses they saw.
Just burn it out.
Their elderly parents were killed because they were of little value, and the rest of them were all captured and have been walking in the ice and snow for several days.
"Hold on, hold on~"
"The darkness before dawn is the most difficult. As long as you survive it, you will be reborn."
Brad looked at his sister and then at his wife. Both of them had turned red from the cold, and white frost had condensed on their eyebrows and hair.
Then I looked up and looked around. Everyone was almost the same. Many people even had frostbite on their feet and could no longer walk. They were pulled down to the roadside and killed by Ottoman soldiers.
So Brad knew that he couldn't stop. Once he stopped, he would definitely die. These ferocious Ottomans didn't care whether you had frostbite or not.
