Chapter 1119, the largest business in the Mediterranean
In a port in the Danube River Basin, large ships with crescent flags were moored at the simple dock. Groups of Ottoman Sipahi cavalry arrived here with a large number of slaves.
"Get on the boat quickly, get on the boat quickly~"
Arriving at the dock, the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire were still urging, and the sound of horse whips could be heard endlessly. For those who were disobedient, they did not mind using horse whips to make them docile, and some even executed them directly, leaving their bodies aside.
The Bled family followed the large team to the side of a large ship. At the embarkation point, Ottoman soldiers were distributing horse bread, a kind of bread made from a small amount of flour with a large amount of bran and beans used to feed horses. The finished bread is also the main thing that Brad's family eats these days.
They can receive a piece of such black bread every day, which is very hard and unpalatable, but this is the only food they can get now.
After receiving the food, Brad's family boarded the boat. The cabin was already crowded with people, but there were still more people squeezed in, so much so that they were almost pressed against each other.
But the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire seemed not to be satisfied with this, and continued to stuff people into the cabin. Brad hunched over desperately to prevent his child from being squeezed.
The smell in the cabin was extremely unpleasant, and all kinds of stench mixed together to make people sick, but the Ottomans didn't care about it at all.
As soon as the ship was filled with people, it immediately set sail and sailed along the Danube River toward the Black Sea.
"Uh~"
Brad resisted the urge to vomit in his stomach, because he knew that if he vomited, he would probably have to endure the stench of vomit.
Moreover, there is no water for you to wash yourself on the boat. Everyone stinks to death. All kinds of stench are filled together. In addition, the boat is constantly shaking. Soon, the entire cabin is filled with odors. There were bursts of vomiting sounds.
Brad hugged his child tightly and looked outside. He was lucky. The whole family was by the window, so they could breathe some fresh air and see everything outside. .
Although the smell in the cabin was very unpleasant, fortunately, a large number of people were crowded into the small cabin, and everyone finally did not feel the cold.
"Where are they taking us?"
My younger sister, Koala, looked outside the cabin. The strange world is always full of fear.
"I don't know, it might be the Ottoman Empire, it might be the Middle East, or it might be sold to the Ming Dynasty."
Brad shook his head slightly. The future was bleak. The unknown fate filled people with confusion and worry. His wife, sister, and two children were beside him.
…
The West Aegean Island, originally called Paros, is one of the largest islands among the island groups in the southern Aegean Sea. It is also one of several islands ceded by the Ottoman Empire to the Ming Empire.
Its geographical location is very important. Not only does it guard the exit from the Aegean Sea to the Mediterranean, but it is also very close to Greece and the Asia Minor Peninsula. The natural environment on the island is also extremely good.
Therefore, Xihai Island also became the seat of the Ming Dynasty's Governor's Office in the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea, and it was also the seat of the Ming Dynasty's Mediterranean Fleet.
As Xihai Island and surrounding islands were ceded to the Ming Dynasty, Ming merchants who came to do business in the Mediterranean finally had their own place to stay in the Mediterranean.
Coupled with its geographical location, it quickly attracted a large number of Ming merchants and Ming firms to come here to do business.
With the arrival of Ming merchants and Ming trading houses, merchants from the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, Persia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Venice, Italy, France, Spain and other places also flocked here.
In less than half a year, Xihai Island has become the most famous commercial island in the entire Mediterranean.
In the harbor of Xihai Island, there is a port area that was just completed not long ago. Ships from all over the world are moored here. The flags of various countries and regions are fluttering in the wind, highlighting the business atmosphere here.
In the urban area near the port, brand-new buildings stand on both sides of the spacious roads built with cement. Under the sunlight, the glass windows shine dazzlingly.
Almost every building here is a business house or an office of a big businessman. Only truly powerful business houses and businessmen can have their own offices here.
Among the many buildings, there is one that is the tallest and most dazzlingly decorated. The words "Ningguo Royal Trading Company" are hung on the building. People in the circle can tell at a glance that this is the building built by King Ning of the Ming Dynasty.
The largest trading firm in Ningguo, a trading firm affiliated with the royal family of Ningguo.
In the Ningguo Royal Commercial House, Liu Yangzheng, the most important counselor of King Ning and also the left prime minister of Ningguo, was standing on the top floor overlooking the harbor of Xihai Island.
“What a beautiful place!”
Liu Yangzheng couldn't help but admire softly.
He was originally the Zuo Prime Minister of Ning State, and it was logical that he should assist King Ning in governing Ning State. However, this time the matter was too important, so he traveled thousands of miles to come to the Aegean Sea in person.
When he came here, Liu Yangzheng had only one purpose, and that was to obtain more slaves for Ningguo.
The reason why King Ning was able to quickly make a fortune overseas and establish the Ning Kingdom was through the slave trade.
The Guli Kingdom, which originally occupied Tianzhu, was rapidly expanding with Guli Kingdom as the center. In the process of expansion, slaves from Tianzhu were constantly sold, relying on the huge profits from the slave trade.
King Ning not only repaid the large amount of funds he had borrowed from major trading houses and merchants, but also quickly established and developed the country of Ning.
Later, King Ning came into contact with merchants from Persia and the Mamluk Kingdom, and began to sell white slaves. The white slave men were strong and strong, and were good at work, so they were very popular in the market.
Needless to say, women, in places like Tianzhu, East Africa, and Nanyang, if you don’t have a few white slaves and concubines, then you are considered a Ming Dynasty man who has failed in life.
Relying on the huge profits from the slave trade, Ningguo developed very rapidly, and now it has become the largest overseas vassal state, not only occupying a vast land on the Tianzhu continent.
Moreover, it also occupied a large piece of land in East Africa, which far exceeded other vassal states in terms of land area and economic strength.
However, any profitable business will soon attract a large number of people to join. There were many trading houses in the Ming Dynasty, and many of them were extremely powerful.
Such as Daming Ocean Trading Company, Western United Trading Company, Sihai Trading Company, Sangong Trading Company, Zhang Brothers Trading Company, etc. These firms are almost omnipresent, and they will get involved in any profitable business.
On the Tianzhu side, many trading houses, vassal states, and colonies have all joined in the slave trade, and competition is fierce, so much so that the price of slaves in Tianzhu is constantly falling.
Naturally, they would not let go of the highly profitable white slave trade, and soon became associated with Persian merchants, Middle Eastern merchants, Ottoman Empire merchants, and even Spanish and Portuguese merchants.
All of these had a huge impact on Ning State, directly affecting King Ning's financial income. At the same time, because the Ming Dynasty expanded to the South Caucasus, Nanyun Province became an extremely important slave trading point, which also further impacted King Ning's slave trade.
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All these made it impossible for Ning Wang and Ning Guo to make huge profits as easily as before.
Therefore, both King Ning and Ning Guo were looking for a new way out, and they also set their sights on the Mediterranean and sent Liu Yangzheng to Xihai Island.
Not only did they build the largest commercial building on Xihai Island, but they also established long-term and stable trade relationships with the surrounding merchants.
This was the main reason why Liu Yangzheng came to Xihai Island. In the final analysis, it was for the slave trading business between Ning Guo and King Ning.
"Prime Minister, the slave trade in the entire Mediterranean has now been transferred from Sicily to the West Island. There are at least tens of thousands of slaves handled here every day."
"The slave trade has become the largest business in the entire Mediterranean. Whether it is the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italians, Ottomans, or Arabs in the Middle East, almost all merchants are engaged in slave trade.
Business."
Next to Liu Yangzheng, Zhou Jingming, the Minister of Household Affairs of Ning State, also looked at the scenery of the port area and said that he, like Liu Yangzheng, was sent here by King Ning to trade slaves.
"We must win as much share as possible. We in Ningguo now need a large number of slaves to build the country. We also need to rely on the slave trade to earn funds to develop Ningguo."
Liu Yangzheng nodded slightly. The slave trade in the Mediterranean was already very popular. In the past, the chiefs and nobles of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East had a very strong demand for slaves, which stimulated the slave trade here.
But the scale is not too big, a slave trade of several hundred or several hundred is considered a big deal.
But with the arrival of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's demand for slaves suddenly stimulated merchants throughout the Mediterranean. A large number of slaves were sold here, ranging from hundreds to thousands. The slave trade is very common, tens of thousands, or even
A slave trade worth tens of thousands or tens of thousands is considered a big deal.
Slave traders from all over the world continuously sold slaves here, and then sold them to slave traders and trading houses in the Ming Dynasty. They were then transported back to the Indian Ocean and sold to colonies, plantations of vassal states, or to Southeast Asia.
The daily trade of tens of thousands of slaves, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, has become the hottest and largest business in the entire Mediterranean.
