Looking at historical maps from the 1530s, you will be surprised to find that the territory of the Ottoman Empire was terrifyingly large.
Only a few seconds away, the Black Sea became the Ottoman inland sea. At the same time, its tentacles also extended to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and Egypt had already been annexed by the Ottomans.
In Europe, Greece is almost gone, and its territory is divided between the Ottomans and Venice. Further north, the Ottomans have already reached Vienna, and there are constant frictions with the "Poland-Lithuania" next door.
Venice and the Ottoman Empire have an interesting relationship.
At the beginning, Venice controlled the Mediterranean waterways. Ottoman used the pirates who converted to the Green Religion to form a navy to fight against Venice.
As the Ottomans continued to block the supply of goods, Venice's commerce was in decline, and a naval war finally broke out between the two countries.
The Venetian fleet was a temporary piece of merchant fleet. Venetian merchants wanted to preserve their strength, so the captains unanimously chose to watch the show. When the submachine guns rang out, most of the ships stayed still.
Even so, Venice quickly gained the upper hand because the difference in naval strength between the two sides was so great.
Almost all the soldiers on the deck of the Ottoman warship were killed, and then they were caught by hooks and hooks. The Venetian merchants planned to seize the ship and make a fortune. The Ottoman commander was a ruthless character and even took the initiative to detonate the flagship ammunition depot, causing violent sacrifices in the center of the battlefield.
burst.
Venice's three battleships, all with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, were Europe's well-deserved maritime hegemons at that time.
However, the Venetian merchants were too greedy for money, and the three battleships all rushed to join forces, trying to snatch the Ottoman flagship. The Venetian's own hooks tied the three battleships to the Ottoman flagship tightly.
.The Ottoman flagship exploded and caught fire, igniting all three Venetian battleships. The main battleships of both sides perished together.
Then, the opportunity came for Portugal to dominate the Mediterranean and then gain control of the Arabian Sea.
The enemies of Ottoman and Venice had no choice but to take a step back when facing the common maritime enemy Portugal. Venice admitted defeat and in disguise regarded Osman as its elder brother and joined forces to compete with Portugal.
Even during the rapid expansion of the Ottomans, Venice could still follow behind and drink soup. They bought several ports from the Ottomans by spending money, and this merchant country actually continued to expand its territory.
Except for the Two Sicilies controlled by the Habsburgs, Venice is actually the largest country in the entire Italian region!
The first stop for the Ming Dynasty fleet heading to the Mediterranean was the Port of Ceuta in the Strait of Gibraltar. This was a Portuguese colony. Controlling this port would mean cutting off the connection between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, gold and ivory produced in West Africa also
Transshipment trade at the port of Ceuta.
For such an important colonial stronghold, Portugal naturally had to heavily guard it. There were more than 3,000 soldiers in the castle.
There are more than 3,000 soldiers, so I’m asking you if that’s a lot!
There are really a lot of them. Generally speaking, Portugal only sends 100 regular troops to each colonial stronghold. A castle that can be garrisoned by thousands of people must be a strategic colonial stronghold, such as the one attacked by the Ming Dynasty Navy.
Malacca.
Portugal is too small a country and is still engaged in global colonization. Its population is simply not enough.
This is also due to the Black Death. The population of the entire Europe has dropped sharply. Take London, England, for example. Two hundred years ago, there were about 50,000 people. After the Black Death, there were only 30,000 people left. It was not until the Zhengde period that the number returned to 50,000.
, may now grow to nearly 100,000 people.
That was the capital of England, with only 100,000 people, which was only the same as the state capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Chong still stayed in Lisbon, and the fleet was commanded by Man Zheng and Ning Botao.
Although Portugal is unwilling to contribute military expenses, the basic drinking water and food supplies still have to be contributed by the Portuguese colonies. Otherwise, the Ming fleet and soldiers would simply give up.
After replenishing supplies at the port of Ceuta, Ning Botao led the main force of the fleet and continued to the Mediterranean to clear out pirates.
Manzheng, on the other hand, landed with his infantry, and together with the Portuguese colonial soldiers, went to clear out the Moors in North Africa.
These Moors, whose weapons were secretly funded by the Ottomans, basically relied on bows and crossbows for sneak attacks. They fought in northern Morocco for a month and only captured 16 Moors. He himself did not lose a single soldier because the enemy ran too fast.
.
In desperation, Manzheng took the soldiers again and took a boat to Melilla, hoping to change the map and fight again.
Just as they were leaving Ceuta, the Portuguese caravan was attacked on the back. At that time, the gold brought from the interior of Africa was escorted by soldiers to the port of Ceuta for transit. Thousands of Moors suddenly rushed out on the way. Many Moors, even in the
Use primitive weapons to kill in overwhelming numbers and catch them off guard.
Although Portugal kept its gold, dozens of soldiers were killed.
There were only dozens of soldiers, which didn't matter to the Ming Dynasty. Gold was obviously more precious. But Portugal couldn't afford to be injured. Being cut like this with a dull knife and bleeding all year round would definitely cause shock. It would be a matter of time before they gave up on North Africa.
Manzheng was heading to Melilla, and the situation was similar to that of Ceuta. He sent out troops to raid several times, and the number of wild animals he hunted during the journey was far more than the number of Moors he killed. It was almost equivalent to a large-scale armed outing.
If you can't even see the enemy, how about giving him a hammer?
Manzheng simply took the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and stayed in the port of Melilla for vacation, and left only when the three-month period was up.
As for Ning Botao, they achieved a little bit, sinking a Moorish pirate ship and capturing two Moorish pirate ships. These pirates were actually non-staff members of the Ottoman Navy, most of them white people who had converted to the Green Religion and were specialized in
Set in the Mediterranean to rob Portuguese merchant ships.
After replenishing supplies at Portugal's North African ports, the Ming fleet arrived in Palermo, which was under the jurisdiction of the Habsburgs - extremely poor.
Probably finding Palermo uninteresting, Ningbotao headed north again to the Papal States.
"Dear Chinese General, I am very happy to meet you." Lu Qi warmly welcomed him and invited Ning Botao to go to Rome to meet the Pope.
Lucci, who controls the army of the Papal State, is also the son of the Pope and his mistress.
The contemporary pope is Paul III. When he was young, he was not even a priest and was imprisoned due to family disputes. He restored his freedom by giving his sister to a cardinal as his mistress. Unexpectedly, the cardinal became the pope (Alexander VI
World), this guy rose to prominence because of this. He was directly in charge of the finances of the Papal State without any priesthood.
What's even more amazing is that Paul III officially accepted the priesthood only after he was promoted to cardinal, and was ridiculed as a "nepotistic cardinal".
What’s even more outrageous is that Paul III became pope and directly appointed his two grandsons as cardinals. Not only were the two grandsons born to him and his mistress, but they were both still in their teens at the time.
Copernicus gave lectures in Rome two years ago, and he vaguely promoted the heliocentric theory. The pope he met was Paul III. If it had been any other pope, Copernicus would have been burned at that time. How could he have waited to publish "The Movement of the Celestial Bodies" later?
Argument".
This Paul III, who kept a mistress, was self-serving, and illogical, greatly promoted the Renaissance. In fact, he himself was a humanist and even secretly provided money to support the Renaissance movement.
The current Pope can be said to be the biggest Renaissance leader in Europe!
Lu Qi took Ning Botao to Rome, causing a sensation along the way, and finally met Paul III at the Pope's residence.
Well, the life of a contemporary pope is the same as that of other nobles in Europe. He is too lazy to read the Bible. He likes to entertain scholars and artists and hang out with a bunch of mistresses. He has only been the pope for a few years.
At the reception banquet, a large number of nobles, scholars, and artists were present, the most famous of whom was undoubtedly Michelangelo, who was invited by the Pope to create the altar mural of the Sistine Chapel ("The Last Judgment").
Ning Botao was obviously the most handsome boy at the banquet. He was already in his forties. He was dressed in silk uniforms and imitated Wang Yuan in using gold crowns and jade hairpins to tie his hair.
In the eyes of all the invitees, Ning Botao's dress was elegant and full of oriental mystery. Even the pope's mistresses were secretly ogling Ning Botao - the pope would not stop him, because
These mistresses were of noble birth, and they were all wives of certain nobles on the surface, but secretly they were the mistresses of many people.
"General Ning, what is your official position in China?" asked a noble.
Ning Botao replied: "The right commander of the Ming Dynasty Navy."
The translator said: "General Ning is the deputy marshal of the Chinese Navy, and the marshal of the Chinese navy is currently in Lisbon."
Another noble asked: "How many warships does the Chinese Navy have?"
Ning Botao boasted: "There are thousands of large and small warships, and the Ming Sea extends from Persia in the west to Yinzhou in the east."
Another noble scholar inquired: "Is Mr. Wang Zhu Houzhao, the great Chinese philosopher, really dead?"
The translator said: "This person hailed the late emperor as a holy king and was asking whether the late emperor had died."
Ning Botao said: "The late emperor has been dead for several years."
The noble scholar sighed: "It's a pity that I can't see the wise face of the Philosopher King with my own eyes."
These Europeans seemed to be curious babies, asking all kinds of questions, and Ning Botao was also talking nonsense.
"How big is China?"
"Much larger than the Ottoman state, equivalent to all the countries in Europe combined."
"Really? It's unbelievable!"
"That's how it is in China."
"When the Mongols and China fought, who won the final victory?"
"It was the Song Dynasty, another dynasty, and the Chinese people were destroyed by the Mongols. However, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty raised troops to expel the Mongolian barbarians and restored the Chinese rivers and mountains again!"
"Is that Emperor Taizu the ancestor of the philosopher king Mr. Zhu Houzhao?"
"Yes, Taizu was born into a humble family. He was originally the son of a farmer. Due to plague and famine, his father and brother died of illness one after another. Forced to make a living, Taizu first became a monk, then a beggar, and finally raised an army to drive away the Mongols.
!”
"Farmer, Buddhist monk and beggar? This is a legendary hero!"
"Marco Polo said that China is full of gold. Is this true?"
"The Ming Dynasty did not have gold everywhere, but it was indeed very prosperous because the people of the Ming Dynasty were very hardworking. As long as they worked hard, even ordinary farmers could afford meat."
"Do all Chinese wear silk?"
"Of course not. Silk was also very expensive in the Ming Dynasty, but most Chinese people have porcelain at home."
"Oh, God!"
After talking nonsense, Ning Botao took out two books and gave them to the Pope and said: "These are the Analects of Confucius and Mencius translated by Mr. Ke, Tianjian of the Ming Dynasty. Let me bring them to His Excellency the Pope."
Paul III was a little embarrassed. Although he supported the Renaissance, he funded it secretly. On the surface, he had to maintain the dignity of the church.
Through Ke Yudao's writings over the years, many European clergy regard Confucianism as an oriental religion, and Confucius and Mencius are the saints and prophets of Confucianism. The Analects and Mencius are equivalent to the Old Testament and the Confucian "
New Testament.
Paul III curiously opened "The Analects of Confucius" and immediately laughed. It turns out that the opening chapter does not mean the creation of the world by gods, and it has nothing to do with gods.
"Isn't it a happy thing to learn knowledge and review it frequently? Isn't it a joyful thing to have like-minded friends coming from afar? I don't resent or feel annoyed when others don't understand me. Isn't that what a virtuous person is?
Philosopher?"
That night, Paul III, who was getting stronger and stronger, did not get on the boat with his mistress. Instead, he read "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" in his hands.
This pope has little study of the Bible, but prefers literature and art.
A few days later, two Confucian classics were copied and given to publishers in Rome for printing.
Translator Ke Yu said that the Pope paid a royalties, and of course the rest of the money was earned by the Pope and the publisher.
For a thousand readers, there are a thousand Hamlets, a thousand "The Analects" and "Mencius".
Moreover, "Mencius" is more popular among Europeans than "The Analects of Confucius".
For example, the Christian ascetic sect draws nourishment from "Mencius": "When God sends a great mission to this person, he must first temper his mind with difficulties, temper his muscles and bones with labor, and test his body with hunger...and then
Know that sorrow brings growth and pleasure brings destruction.”
Another example is the Republicans, who talk about "the people are more important than the monarch" all day long, clamoring to overthrow the Medici family's rule of Florence - they succeeded once thirty years ago, the Medici family was driven away and the establishment of the
One of the participants in the Florentine Republic was the author of The Prince.
As for Ning Botao, he promotes high-end luxury goods in Rome.
They are all top-quality porcelain from official kilns, as well as divine items such as double-sided embroidery, as well as top-quality tea produced in the Ming Dynasty.
The quantity is limited, so hurry up if you want to buy!
Before the mission set off, Wang Yuan came up with the idea to ask Ning Botao to take these high-end luxury goods to Florence for auction. It is estimated that these boxes of luxury goods are worth several ships of ordinary porcelain, and the Europeans' money is not worth it.
Nothing is earned.
Ning Botao boasted about it in Rome and produced two more samples. The news spread all over Europe, and French nobles were rushing here carrying gold coins in carriages.
Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty only accepted cash and looked down on European castles. Nobles who wanted to exchange items were doomed to be disappointed.