"You don't want to be completely honest with them." Quijano said: "You can make the situation more optimistic, and you can even tell some lies appropriately. After all, England is located in the northwest of Europe. In addition to caring about the British Isles and France, the nobles do not care about the British Isles and France.
Even if other places don’t care and don’t understand, the truth may not spread.”
"That's all we can do." Churchill sighed again, and then gritted his teeth and said, "I must ask the nobles to send troops, even if there are only two or three thousand people, they must send troops."
"Yes, you have to have this kind of energy," Quijano said again.
The two said a few more words and then dispersed.
The next day, Quijano found Claviyo and asked him to say goodbye. At that time, Claviyo was writing about his experiences in India. When he heard this, he said: "Why don't you stay a few more days?"
"The Ottomans also want to seize Egypt. The Ming Dynasty is powerful and occupies a lot of fertile land. Don't worry about it. Our Kingdom of Castile cares about it very much. In order to get ahead of the Ottomans, I can only do my best.
." Quijano said.
"Okay." Claviyo actually wanted to stay with his old friend Quijano for a few more days and relieve his homesickness. But since he said so, he couldn't stop him from going back, he could only agree.
.
He picked up a few books on the table and handed them to him: "If you take these books back, it may be more beneficial to what you want to do."
"Records about the wealth of India and the Ming Dynasty?" Quijano glanced at the cover a few times and asked.
Clavijo nodded.
"It may indeed be useful, so I won't be polite." Quijano said, taking the books. He said a few more words to Clavijo, then turned and left the room.
The next day, he and Churchill took a boat and left India.
Quijano and Churchill arrived in Egypt as quickly as possible by boat. They followed the caravan ashore and crossed the most prosperous and densely populated areas of Egypt to Alexandria. In Alexandria, they boarded a ship from Sicily to Egypt.
The businessmen's ships came to Sicily. When they arrived in Sicily, Quijano was like returning to his homeland. He found the local governor appointed by Ferdinand I, who arranged for a ship to send him back to Castile.
After arriving in Castile, Quijano naturally had to meet the regent Queen Catherine, while Churchill also had to return to England to tell the country's great leaders what he had seen and heard in India and what the Ming Dynasty had told him.
Nobles. Before parting, Quijano said to Churchill: "James, you must remember my words, don't be afraid of lying, let alone be exposed. This is not only because it is difficult for the English to get information about the Eastern Mediterranean."
The exact news, although this is true; more importantly, even if you don't lie, if you can't make the English nobles willing to send troops to Egypt, you will lose your political future. For your own future, you must lie when you should lie."
"I know. I will definitely make them agree to send troops!" Churchill said solemnly again. Quijano patted him on the shoulder and said goodbye to him.
After bidding farewell to Churchill, Quijano rushed to the capital Valladolid as quickly as possible, and wrote a letter on the ship in advance and gave it to the nobles near the port to ask him to send the best equestrian knights to the capital. This
The noble was just a viscount. He wanted the opportunity to curry favor with the nobles and even the king in the capital, so he agreed wholeheartedly and called a knight over the night.
This knight's equestrian skills are indeed very powerful. Even though Quijano had used the fastest speed, he still arrived in Valladolid half a day late, five hours later than the knight. However, because of this, Queen Catherine arrived in Valladolid after he arrived.
At that time, he already knew what happened, and arranged knights to guard the city gate. When he arrived, he immediately took him into the palace. Outside the meeting hall of the palace, Quijano straightened his coat again, patted the dust, and walked in
Inside the palace.
"Your Majesty the Queen, your loyal knight Alonso de Quijano greets you." Quijano bowed and said. As he spoke, he glanced around and saw that in addition to Queen Catherine, there were two other
A nobleman was also in the palace.
Even though Queen Catherine was anxious, she still had to perform the damn etiquette. After the ceremony, she immediately asked eagerly: "Why would the Ottomans want to go south to attack Egypt? Didn't he already send his most trusted minister there at the end of last year?"
Have you built a fortress on the north bank of the Danube and inspected it in person?"
"Your Majesty the Queen, I don't know the reason for this." Quijano said. You can tell the truth when facing 2, but you can't tell the truth when facing the Queen. That is tantamount to taking the responsibility on yourself, even if he did not leak the information.
He believed that the other nobles would not tell the truth.
Queen Catherine did not dwell on this issue and asked: "What does the Ming Dynasty mean? They promised not to control Tunisia as a dowry before seizing Egypt. This is of course a good thing, but are they willing to launch a war to attack Egypt as soon as possible?"
"Your Majesty the Queen, of course the Ming Dynasty is willing. Their negotiating envoy said that as long as the Kingdom of Castile is ready, the Ming Dynasty can send troops at any time." Quijano said.
"Since the Ming Dynasty has such an attitude." Queen Catherine lowered her head and thought for a while, as if she had made a great determination. She raised her head and said to him: "You should return to the Ming Dynasty immediately and tell the emperor of the Ming Dynasty that today next year will be
The days of the attack on Egypt.”
"Today next year?" Quijano stared at Queen Catherine in surprise. He left India in November of the 16th year of Jianye and spent more than two months rushing back to Valladolid. Now he is in Jianye
February of the seventeenth year was March 17, 1415 AD. Today next year will be March 17, 1416 AD. Of course, there was nothing special about this date. The reason why he was surprised was that Queen Catherine actually
It was scheduled to attack Egypt a year later.
Nowadays, we are on the eve of a major change. Under the traditional feudal aristocratic system, because "my lord's lord is not my lord, and my vassal's vassal is not my vassal", even if you are a king, it is very difficult for you to be king.
It is difficult to completely restrain the army composed of local nobles and knights, resulting in the army's combat effectiveness being very low. It is difficult to defeat the Muslin army on the east coast of the Mediterranean. Therefore, mercenaries are on the rise in Fu. Countless mountains and forests live in poverty but are physically strong.
People began to form mercenary teams to accept hire from private individuals, nobles and even countries to fight for them. Because the Kingdom of Castile has been on the front line against Muslin for a long time, the discipline and combat effectiveness of the knight army are barely acceptable, but
Mercenaries are also often used to fight wars.
Since they are mercenaries, letting them fight for you will of course cost money, and they cannot be paid on credit. Once the credit is paid and there is no possibility of paying the bill in a short time, the mercenaries will immediately stop fighting or even withdraw without permission. For such a major event as the attack on Egypt,
Regardless of whether it was Queen Catherine or anyone else, Quijano believed that they would never trust the country's knight army. At most, they would send a small number to participate in the war, and the main force must be mercenaries.
This leads to a big problem, that is, where does the money to hire them come from. The Kingdom of Castile is still a feudal country. The territory directly belonging to the royal family is not much, and the taxes that can be collected are not much.
However, the royal family has a lot of expenses, and it is very difficult to come up with enough money to hire soldiers.
"Your Majesty the Queen, I have to remind you that because the Mamluk Kingdom that occupied Egypt controls the arteries connecting the East and the West, it can collect a large amount of commercial taxes, which makes the Mamluk Kingdom very wealthy and can hire a large number of soldiers to fight for them in times of crisis. According to
The Ming Dynasty calculated that both warring parties would need to send 50,000 soldiers to occupy Egypt and Suez, of which the Ming Dynasty promised to send 20,000 troops, and the Kingdom of Castile needed to send 30,000 troops."
"Thirty thousand soldiers!" After hearing what Quijano said, a noble who had been listening to their conversation just now exclaimed: "This is too many! Even if they are only hired for three months, all at the lowest price
If you hire someone, the kingdom will not be able to get this money out for at least ten years." He is the finance minister of the kingdom and knows the country's financial situation.
"Your Majesty the Queen, I have to remind you that even counting the countries ruled by His Majesty Ferdinand I, we will not be able to come up with such a large sum of money for at least five years." Another noble said.
"If you can't get the money, then borrow it!" Queen Catherine gritted her teeth and said, "Don't the Venetians, Genoese and Florentines want to extend their banking business to the Far East? It can be seen that they have enough money to lend. Don't be afraid of high interest rates, as long as you can
We can afford to conquer Egypt no matter how much money we spend!"
"Your Majesty, this is crazy!" Quijano, who was also shocked by her generosity, said at this time: "It is impossible to hire them for only three months. Before the war, Castile and the Ming Dynasty would spend a lot of money.
Time to ensure that the opponent's army is ready and ready to fight at any time when it arrives at the forward base. Including the time to fight the Mamluks and the time to fight the Ottomans, it will not be less than six months. What is needed
There’s just too much money!”
"Moreover, if such a large amount of money is borrowed in the market, the Venetians will immediately judge that our country is going to war. If they carefully inquire about the news, they will know that Castile is going to attack Egypt. The Venetians regard the Eastern Mediterranean as
Our own sphere of influence will not allow other European countries to control Egypt. Not only will they not lend money, but they will also be hostile to Castile and even unite with the Ottomans to fight against our country."
"Then don't borrow money from the Venetians! Delay the time before they know. If they know, then tell them that Venetian merchant ships can be allowed to be tax-free, and part of the shares of the Black Sea-Caspian Sea Trading Company can be transferred to them. Just ask them
No troops will be sent to intervene. No matter what, we must collect this money and attack Egypt today next year."
Queen Catherine was also ruthless and must seize Egypt as soon as possible. She knew clearly that once the Ottomans occupied Egypt, the alliance between the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon would definitely not be possible if the Ming Dynasty did not increase the scale of its troops.
It is possible to seize Egypt. For the future of the Kingdom of Castile, it is necessary to send troops before the Ottomans, no matter what the cost.
Queen Catherine stopped discussing with them and said directly: "You don't have to put forward your opinions anymore. Follow my orders. Alonso, you go to the Far East immediately and tell the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty: Francisco, take stock."
How much money is left in the treasury, and then calculate how much it would cost to hire 30,000 soldiers for five months; Fidel, you are very familiar with Italian bankers. After Francisco calculates the amount, you go to Florence
I borrowed money from a banker in Genoa. I borrowed money in two installments, one to be obtained within six months and the other within nine months. I told Ferdinand about this and asked him to transfer Aragon to
All the money from the national treasury was also taken out, and money was borrowed in the names of the two countries."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Queen." The king of Castile has greater power than other countries, so the three of them could only bow and agree.
"Your Majesty the Queen, even if you don't borrow money from the Venetians, they will definitely know about it. After all, there is such a large flow of funds. Fortunately, although the Genoese failed in the war for the Eastern Mediterranean, their economic strength is still very strong, and the Venetians are aware of it.
It will be very late," said the finance minister named Francisco.
Hearing this, Quijano suddenly thought of something and said: "Your Majesty the Queen, you can win over the Genoese to deal with the Venetians. The Genoese will definitely not be willing to fail, and will be willing to fight with Castile against Venice. As long as Egypt is
Just share a small portion of the profits with them.”
"In my opinion, the best way is to provoke other countries to go to war with Venice. As long as Venice is at war, it will have no time to take care of Egypt," Fidel said.
"You said it well." Queen Catherine praised them. "But there is no rush in how to provoke other countries to go to war with Venice. The most important thing now is to calculate how much money it will cost and how much money it will need to borrow from the bank. You go and execute it first.
My order. In a few days, I will discuss with you how to eliminate the Venetian threat."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Queen." The three of them agreed again.
Afterwards, Queen Catherine discussed with them for a while and asked them to leave the palace. She immediately called the most loyal knight into the palace and asked him to go to the Kingdom of Aragon to ask His Majesty Ferdinand I to come to Valladolid. She had something to do with her.
He discussed. She also specifically warned: "You must tell His Majesty Ferdinand I that the matter I want to discuss with him is very important and cannot be delayed. Please ask him to come as soon as possible."
"Yes, Your Majesty the Queen." The knight agreed, turned and left the palace.
At the same time, Quijano went home first, told his father what he saw and heard in the East, met his wife and son again, changed his clothes, and went there again the next morning.