Chapter 915 0910 [The fishes of the Ming Dynasty all grew up on milk]
Italy's four major maritime republics, ranked in order of national strength, are: Pisa, Amalfi, Genoa, and Venice.
When the Ming fleet arrived at the Red Sea, the boss and the second brother were fighting.
Each side dispatched hundreds of ships, fighting in and out for two or three months in many waters of the Mediterranean.
In the end, the Amalfi Republic was defeated. The Republic of Pisa won a great victory and once again consolidated its Mediterranean hegemony.
The Republic of Pisa is particularly powerful now. In addition to its own local territory, it also occupies Sicily, Corsica, Tunisia, and Carthage. It actively participated in the Crusades, helping the Crusaders transport logistics, troops, and populations, and gained
Control of part of a city in a crusader state.
The actual territory controlled by the Republic of Pisa already spans three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa!
Fulk returned to the royal city of Jerusalem with mirrors, silks and porcelain, and immediately summoned the merchants of the four major republics.
"This is a sacred mirror!"
Fulk held up the glass mirror and said: "The King of Kings in Seris in the East, upon learning that I ruled Jerusalem, specially gave me this sacred mirror."
"Look at the top of the mirror frame. It is a natural sun-shaped flower pearl. It is a masterpiece of God, condensed from the glory of God in the world. This mirror is so clear and translucent, it can reflect all the evil in the world."
"I named it the Sun Mirror. I, Fulk, King of Jerusalem, will be called the Sun King from now on!"
The merchants slowly approached, looked at the pearl carefully, and then looked at the mirror.
As expected, it is as clear as lake water, and can even clearly illuminate every pore on people's faces.
"Your majesty, the great Sun King, may the Lord bless you."
The businessmen began to flatter him.
A merchant from the Republic of Pisa asked: "How many gold coins can I buy for this sunglasses?"
Fulk said: "It is a gift from God, it is a priceless treasure. It is not for sale!"
The merchants from the four countries were so greedy that if Fulk was willing to raise a price, they would buy the iron regardless of the price.
If it were sold in Europe, the price would definitely be several castles, as well as the land and people around the castle.
Fulk took out silk, porcelain, lacquerware, candles... all samples. Fulk didn't bring much money, so he could only buy a little of each.
"Look at this kind of silk. Not only is it more exquisite than the silk of the Egyptians, Persians, and Arabs, but it is also cheaper than them. Because those pagan silks were also trafficked from Seris."
"Look at this kind of porcelain again. Have you ever seen such a huge and perfect porcelain?"
"This kind of lacquerware is countless times more expensive than the lacquerware you can buy in the Mediterranean. It is the royal gift of the King of Kings in Seris."
"Even candles are far superior to Mediterranean candles. When these candles burn, they produce very little smoke and are fragrant, unlike the pungent smell of Mediterranean candles. This kind of candle will become the focus of banquets of nobles from various countries...
…”
"And tea. Do you know what tea is? It is a creation of Siris, the king of kings. It is made from leaves picked from the sacred tree and baked. The Siris people say that tea can be brewed with boiling water or
After soaking, add sugar and milk. Seris, the King of Kings, drinks tea every day to delay aging!"
"This is paper from Seris, so white and flawless, it can stay for hundreds of years without turning yellow..."
Merchants from the four countries already know that the Chinese fleet has arrived, because the Egyptians are also reselling these goods, but the news has not yet been officially sold!
The merchants carefully inspected all the goods, looked at them, touched them again and again.
Finally someone asked: "Egypt is also going to sell goods and invite us to come there in the fall."
Fulk said: "The price of buying goods from me will always be 10% lower than that of the Egyptians! However, you need to lend me money to purchase goods. Whoever borrows the most money and has the lowest interest rate will give him the most goods.
Share. And the money I borrowed can be used to offset the payment for the goods."
"When can we get the goods?" the merchants asked.
Fulk said: "When you lend me the money, you can see the goods in twenty days. If everything goes well, the goods can be delivered in fifteen days."
The merchants asked again: "How many oriental goods are there in Port Helim?"
"There are five big ships, and the cabins are all full of cargo," Fulk laughed. "They are real big ships, bigger than all your merchant ships."
The merchants asked: "Can we go directly to Port Helim to trade? As long as the transaction is successful, we will pay taxes to His Majesty."
Fulk shook his head: "No."
The merchants dispersed, and some of them had already returned home, notifying the dukes and earls of the Republic to organize more merchants and gold and silver to come and eat the goods.
You can’t finish them all by yourself!
They also need to agree with each other to unify the price when shipping to Europe and negotiate the monthly shipment volume.
There are so many luxury goods that they can stock up and sell for several years!
Some people also went to Egypt to inquire about the prices and quantities of goods there. Soon they learned that Egypt had bought more Chinese goods, and the nobles and rich people in Cairo were already snapping up the goods.
As for Fulk, he was summoning the nobles of the country.
He promised to give each noble a small share and sell it at a lower price, so that all nobles could make a profit. The premise was that the nobles must lend him money to purchase goods.
For a time, Jerusalem became extremely harmonious, and no one was clamoring to overthrow the king's rule.
There were also some nobles who quietly crossed the desert with their money and troops to trade with the Chinese fleet.
As a result, Fulk's army had been guarding the oasis closest to the port, and no one was allowed to continue to Port Halim.
This made the nobles who wanted to do private transactions very unhappy, but they did not dare to start an army. Because their behavior would arouse the resentment and jealousy of more nobles.
…
Cairo.
The monarch of the Fatimid Dynasty of Egypt, his true identity was a caliph.
But except for Fatimid's own country, most Muslims elsewhere do not recognize his legal authority.
Therefore, Fulk jokingly called him the "King of Egypt".
The doctrine has been corrupted here. The Egyptian caliph a hundred years ago even called himself the incarnation of God.
However, the Fatimid Dynasty did not experience large-scale wars, and the science, culture, and art here were much more prosperous than those in Persia.
Chen Wo, the Ming envoy who led a team to Cairo, is standing in the Royal Library, surrounded by densely packed books - more than 200,000 volumes!
Philosophy, mathematics, medicine, logic, astronomy, and navigation are extremely developed here, and there are even systematic optical works.
For example, Ibn Haitham was proficient in mathematics, philosophy and natural science. His "Book of Optics" had a profound impact on European optics and inspired both Kepler and Newton.
"What is this book called?" Chen Wo asked.
The Egyptian scholar next to him answered through the merchant's translator: "Notes on the Introduction to Porphyry's Logic."
In fact, merchants didn't know how to translate it, so they directly transliterated "logic" into "ruoji".
Chen Wo asked again: "Where is this one?"
"Commentary on Aristotle's Ethics."
"Who are Porphyry and Aristotle?"
"The great philosophers of ancient Rome and Greece."
"Which country is Rome? Which country is Greece?"
"..."
Although the Fatimid Dynasty was an Egyptian Islamic regime, it had profound academic and cultural exchanges with Byzantium.
The two countries communicate with each other and study each other's academics.
Even for most of the time, they allowed each other's churches and temples to exist within their borders.
Only the caliph who claimed to be the incarnation of God a hundred years ago madly ordered the destruction of Christian churches, which immediately attracted Byzantine revenge.
After the caliph was assassinated, the two countries quickly reached religious reconciliation. Each side promised to help the other, restore churches and temples in their own countries, and allow each other's believers to live and move freely.
"Dear Ambassador, the Caliph invites you." A palace official came over.
The Caliph of Egypt was called Hafez, who succeeded to the throne at the same time as King Fulk of Jerusalem.
However, Hafez succeeded his cousin, and Fulk succeeded his son-in-law.
Hafez killed his infant cousin and made him disappear completely. Then, he slaughtered his cousin's supporters like crazy and even killed the leader of the sect, earning himself the name of "butcher", and the mainstream sects in the country once again
Split.
The country's nobility and officials have become hereditary.
The caliphate has been in a "protected" state for a long time, and the real people in power are military leaders. The power of the Mamluks is growing rapidly.
"Meet His Majesty the King!" Chen Wozuo bowed.
Merchant is automatically translated as Caliph.
Hafez smiled and said: "I am very satisfied with the gifts presented by your country. I can agree to your request. You can pick out the books in the caliphate library, copy them and take them away. I originally wanted to exempt you from entering Hong Kong.
But the taxes are collected by the officials themselves, and I cannot interfere with domestic taxation. In return, I will give you a large amount of gold and silver."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chen Wo smiled.
After another exchange, Chen Wo resigned and left.
Hafiz took out a glass mirror and looked in it again and again.
This mirror is also inlaid with pearls, but it has a moon-shaped appearance, which just fits the aesthetic.
Behind Hafez, a Mamluk officer was secretly looking into the mirror with his eyes shining.
Coincidentally, Hafez also noticed the eyes of his bodyguard through mirror reflection.
He pretended not to know anything, but in his mind he was thinking about how to kill the guards without triggering a Mamluk rebellion.
Chen Wo walked around Cairo under the protection of soldiers.
Passing by a shop, it was crowded with customers and was selling Chinese goods that had just arrived from the port.
The most popular items are actually candles.
After all, other goods have appeared before.
But this is the first time this special white wax insect candle has appeared in Egypt. It is said that it has no smoke and can emit fragrance. Rich people want to buy one or two to show off.
The guys were so busy that the shopkeeper stood aside and boasted to his customers: "My old friend, he came back with the Ming Dynasty fleet this time. He said that everyone in the Ming Dynasty can wear silk, and even beggars can afford white candles."
There is always endless supply of cow's milk and goat's milk, and the leftovers are poured into the river every day. Therefore, the fish in the river grow up on milk, and their taste is unusually delicious and sweet..."