Chapter 2113 A generation of hero Suleiman the Great
In the palace of Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, the young Emperor Suleiman looked a little sad. Suleiman was thin and slightly pale, but his eyes were bright, his neck was slightly long, he had a hooked nose, and his head was high.
Carrying a surprisingly large bag.
As the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, he is now facing many problems.
Unlike the historical prosperity of the Ottoman Empire, the current Ottoman Empire failed in two consecutive wars with the Ming Empire. Not only was it cut off a large amount of land, but it also faced heavy war indemnities, which greatly weakened the empire.
the strength of the Ottoman Empire.
In the east, the Persian Empire, which was supported by the Ming Empire, became increasingly powerful under the governance of Yinsmayi I. The Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt also became stronger thanks to the considerable profits brought by the Egyptian canal and the prosperous east-west trade.
All these make the current Ottoman Empire far less powerful than it was in history and face many problems.
The internal economic pressure is high, taxes are too heavy, and tribal leaders are ambitious and ready to move. The Hungarians, Austrians, and Tatars in the European border areas in the west have been trying to invade the lands of the Ottoman Empire, even though these lands originally belonged to them.
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Persia and Egypt in the east are also competing with the Ottoman Empire for the fertile Mesopotamia. It can be said that they are under great pressure from internal and external troubles.
But this was not the biggest headache for him. What really gave him a headache was that as Ming merchants entered the Ottoman Empire to do business, they gradually tied the Ottoman Empire to the capitalist chariot of the Ming Empire.
The handicraft industry of the original Ottoman Empire was extremely developed, especially the textile industry. The cloth of the Ottoman Empire could not only meet its own needs, but could even be exported in large quantities to Europe, the Middle East, Persia and other places. The carpets of the Ottoman Empire were world-famous.
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[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
However, over the years, the dumping of cheap cloth from the Ming Empire had a devastating impact on the handicraft industry of the Ottoman Empire, and countless handicraftsmen lost their jobs.
This not only affected employment and taxation in the Ottoman Empire, but also made the economy of the Ottoman Empire more difficult. As a result, a large number of people lost an important source of livelihood and life became more difficult.
In addition, the continuous import of a large number of goods from the Ming Empire also caused a large amount of precious metals to drain out of the Ottoman Empire, causing increasingly serious deflation in the Ottoman Empire. From the Ottoman Sultan to the ordinary people, they were increasingly running out of money.
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There was no way. On the one hand, there was a large amount of war reparations, and a huge amount of wealth had to be compensated to the Ming Empire every year; on the other hand, the products of the Ming Empire were too popular in the Ottoman Empire.
From traditional trading commodities such as silk, porcelain and tea, they have slowly developed into cloth, cane sugar, and now to automobiles, motorcycles, clocks, bicycles and other industrial products.
Various commodities of the Ming Empire were very popular in the Ottoman Empire. However, there were very few commodities that the Ottoman Empire could export to the Ming Empire. Apart from slaves, there seemed to be no other commodities.
Naturally, a huge trade deficit would form, leading to the outflow of a large amount of precious metals, with gold and silver being continuously imported into the Ming Empire.
Taking over such an empire, the young Emperor Suleiman faced many pressures and difficulties.
"It is absolutely not allowed to grow cotton on the fields where food is grown!"
Emperor Suleiman couldn't help but get furious after reading a memorandum written by the local governor.
It clearly states that now more and more lords and nobles are planting cotton and breeding sheep on a large scale, because cotton and wool can be exported to the Ming Empire and can be exchanged for white money from the Ming people.
If you grow food, you can't sell it at all. The Ming Dynasty people don't want it. The Ming Dynasty people have more food than they can eat. There is no need to import food from the Ottoman Empire.
This also means that although these lords have a large amount of land in their hands, they cannot obtain any wealth from it. Food is really worthless now.
This year, the Ottoman Empire suffered from drought and grain production dropped sharply. However, thanks to the continuous import of cheap grain from the Ming Empire, the price of grain not only did not rise sharply, but was even lower than in previous normal years.
This made the nobles and lords of the Ottoman Empire clearly aware of one thing. If they continued to grow food, the benefits from their territories would be minimal, while growing cotton and raising sheep would bring quite good returns.
Naturally, everyone will choose what is more beneficial to themselves, choosing to use a large amount of land to grow cotton and raise sheep, and export cotton and wool to the people of the Ming Dynasty.
But for Suleiman the Great, he naturally knew clearly that once a large number of fields were used to grow cotton and raise sheep, it would mean that the Ottoman Empire would have to rely on food from the Ming Empire from now on.
Once dependence was formed, how could the Ottoman Empire compete with the Ming Empire in the future?
The Ming Empire does not need to do anything else, it only needs to cut off your food supply, and your entire country will fall into famine and chaos.
Emperor Suleiman saw this clearly.
"Agriculture is the foundation of the country, and food is the cornerstone of social stability. How can we leave important food security in the hands of the people of Ming Dynasty?"
"Peasants are the creators of social wealth and the economic foundation that ensures the strength of the empire. Farmers' farmland and interests must be protected. Only in this way can farmers grow food with peace of mind, and only then can the empire be stable and strong!"
Emperor Suleiman said angrily while thinking.
The Ottoman Empire's family fortune is still very rich. Thanks to the expansion of territory by his grandfather and father, he not only owns large tracts of land in Asia.
On the European side, the Ottoman Empire also occupied the vast and fertile areas of the Balkan Peninsula and the middle and lower reaches of the Danube River, and owned an extremely large amount of arable land.
"But even if the grain of the Ming Dynasty reaches the hands of consumers, its price is cheaper than what we grow ourselves, and the quality of the grain of the Ming Dynasty is much better than ours."
Ibrahim thought for a while and said.
He was Suleiman's important playmate and friend when he was a child. After Suleiman the Magnificent ascended the level, Ibrahim was also reused and became an important minister of Suleiman the Magnificent.
"How did the Ming people do it?"
"Why is their food so much cheaper than ours?"
Su Laiman thought for a while and asked.
"The reason why the price of food in the Ming Empire is very cheap is because the people of the Ming Dynasty adopted a large number of mechanized farming methods. One of their farmers can cultivate thousands or even tens of thousands of acres of land, and the total food output is very high."
"And in the processing of grains, a lot of machinery is also used. Shelling, grinding, etc. can be mechanized. The efficiency is very high and the cost is very low."
"And our food production in the Ottoman Empire still relies heavily on traditional farming methods, using cattle, and the processing environment still relies on manual methods."
"The output and quality are not as good as those of the Ming Empire, and the cost is even more incomparable."
"If these lords and nobles are not allowed to grow cotton, they will not be able to grow as much grain as the people of the Ming Dynasty. This grain is not valuable at all, and cannot be exported to the people of the Ming Dynasty in exchange for goods from the Ming Dynasty."
Ibrahim explained to Suleiman the Magnificent in detail.
"I have also heard for a long time that the Ming people's agriculture was extremely developed and they used a lot of machinery."
Su Laiman fell silent immediately after hearing this.
His father had always lived in the huge shadow of the Ming Empire, so Suleiman had learned the Chinese language and Chinese characters of the Ming Dynasty since he was a child, and had a relatively in-depth understanding of the Ming Empire.
"The Ming Empire not only used a lot of machinery in agriculture, but their industry was more developed, and almost all commodities could be produced mechanized."
Ibrahim nodded solemnly and said.
"Can we ban Ming food and goods from entering our Ottoman Empire?"
Su Laiman thought for a moment and asked, "It seems like you can't beat the Ming Dynasty in a price war. The other party's grain and cloth are cheaper for your consumers than your own. How can you still fight this?"
After thinking about it, it seems that the only way to protect the country's products and agriculture is to ban the inflow of Ming products.
"No, according to the agreement we signed with the Ming Empire, Ming merchants have free trade rights in our Ottoman Empire. We can't even tax Ming merchants, let alone restrict the entry of Ming products."
Ibrahim shook his head slightly and said.
"They have the power of free trade, but they can't tax Ming merchants?"
When Su Laiman heard this, he was immediately shocked.
"Yes, the Erzinjan City Agreement stated this in detail. For this reason, a second war with the Ming Empire broke out. In the end, we were still defeated."
Ibrahim carefully reminded that this was obviously not a glorious thing. The key was that it was Suleiman's grandfather and father who did it. Both generations were placed in the hands of the people of the Ming Dynasty.
"Since Ming people can use machines, why can't we use machines?"
"This time, the new emperor of the Ming Empire will hold a coronation ceremony. When the time comes, you will go to the Ming Empire and carefully examine all aspects of the Ming Empire. When you come back, we will learn from the people of the Ming Dynasty."
"They use machines, and we also use machines. I don't believe that we are any worse than the Ming people. Whatever they can do, we can do the same. One day we will take revenge!"
After Suleiman heard this, he immediately fell silent. This disgraceful incident caused the Ottoman Empire to bear a heavy burden and pressure. After thinking about it carefully, he said with a smile, determined to imitate the Ming Dynasty.
