"Their ships do not have long oars, and they do not have corners. It seems that the Mediterranean is not their battlefield. Although they have cannons, our Galese ships can still defeat them by their numerical advantage. Of course, it is in the Mediterranean..."

The young Venetian ambassador observed very carefully. In fact, he was not only an ambassador and businessman, but also an excellent naval officer!

He is a Venetian soldier!

Later Venetian merchants were famous, but in the 13th century, the reputation of the Venetian navy was particularly above their business. Venetian business and prosperity were actually based on the hegemony of the Western Mediterranean.

Without a strong navy, there would be no wealthy Republic of Venice. Therefore, Venice, a merchant country, had a compulsory military service system and a complete military mobilization system that was similar to Prussia in later generations.

Of course, Venice has a small population, and there are only about 100,000 male citizens within the mobilization range. He cannot pull out a million troops, so Venice cannot become Prussia and cannot play the continental army. He can only maintain a large navy. By the way, the navy of Venice in this era can expand rapidly because Venice is not short of seamen. Moreover, the main force of the Venetian Navy is the Gales galleon, and the civilians recruited without much military training can act as paddlers.

During peacetime, the Venetian Navy only retained a small number of naval sailors and elite crossbowmen (Venice's crossbowmen are as famous as Genoa's crossbowmen). These soldiers retained during peacetime were professional soldiers who were uniformly trained and equipped by the state and paid military salaries. The combat effectiveness was more than the militia and mercenaries of other countries in Europa.

Ambassador Pieto Gerdenico, who was a noble businessman, was also an excellent Venetian naval officer.

Ambassador Pieto Gdenigor put down his telescope and whispered to his entourage, "There are two Venetian citizens on the Sailing Boat of that Cyris?"

"Only one," replied the entourage, "and another stayed in Macau, a colony of the Cyris, to run a language school."

“Language school?”

"The Cyris hired 12,000 Swiss and Black Forest mercenaries. But they encountered the problem of language disability and opened the school."

"They hired 12,000 mercenaries!" Gedennie was stunned for a moment, frowning even tighter. "This is not cheap!"

This is indeed not a small number. It seems that no one in Europe can hire more than 10,000 mercenaries for a long time, right?

"This seems nothing to the Cialis," replied the entourage. "According to reliable information, there is a Mingzhou continent rich in gold and silver between Cialis and Europe. This continent has been conquered by the Cialis, who transported at least 500,000 marks of silver from the Mingzhou last month alone."

"Mark" is the currency of medieval Europe, a silver cake weighing 8 ounces (about 8 taels). 500,000 marks is 4 million taels of silver! This money was allocated to the Atlantic Governor's Office to build a colony, hire Europatro soldiers, issue Atlantic silver coins and open the Atlantic Bank. When the silver was shipped to Macau, Liang Chongru asked someone to pile them at the West City Pier in Macau for people to visit for a whole day.

"500,000 mark..." Ambassador Gedenigor licked his lips, "This Mingzhou Continent is really a fucking treasure land!"

He paused and said, "Is there any way to arrange for me to meet with that Venetian citizen?"

"I'll do my best to make arrangements."

Ambassador Gerdenigor nodded and suddenly asked again: "Have Clement Doria arrived in Rome?"

The follower was stunned, "Sir, are you talking about Clement Doria, the ambassador of Genoa?"

At this time, Genoa was a maritime republic comparable to Venice, and also had a huge merchant ship and fleet. They were the overlords of the Western Mediterranean. For the hegemony of the entire Mediterranean, Genoa and Venice had been fighting openly and secretly for many years. Unlike Venice, which restricted the monopoly of the great nobles, the power of the Genoa Republic had fallen into the hands of the Doria family. Genoa's consul was either from the Doria family or a puppet of the Doria family. Now Genoa's consul is Obetto of the Doria family. Clement Doria is Obetto's most trusted nephew.

"It's this Doria." Ambassador Gedenic said lightly, "I think he must want to meet me now, right? Now it's time to resolve the feud between Genoa and Venice... Because, now a giant has come to this small pool in the Mediterranean! It's so huge, so rich, so powerful. Perhaps they are the masters of the ocean. As long as you take a wrong step, Genoa and Venice will face a catastrophe! So it's time to join hands."

This giant is obviously the Ming Empire! Unlike the Iberian Peninsula, France and Shenluo's knights. The commercial city-states Venice and Genoa's hostility towards the Ming Dynasty was almost innate.

Because the Ming Dynasty had opened up a new waterway that could bypass the territory of the Golden Horde and the Mamruks, it meant that merchants of the Ming Empire did not have to pay a dinar trade tax to the insatiable Sultans and Khans, nor did they have to pay high land freight.

This is a catastrophe for Venice and Genoa, two countries that do business in this small pool of the Mediterranean!

In addition, the Ming Empire seemed to have controlled the supply of goods for silk, porcelain and spices, the three major trade goods. It also used lightning speed to build a colony at the entrance of the Mediterranean as a commodity distribution center.

In the future, if the European countries want to buy silk, spices, porcelain or other oriental goods, they can just go to Macau directly. There is no matter between Venice and Genoa.

So, Venice and Genoa, the two Mediterranean bullies, now it is necessary to join forces to keep warm and struggle together to find a way out.

...

"Governor-General, Ambassador of the Venetian State, Pieto Gerdeniger invited me to the Venetian Embassy in Rome."

"Oh? I only ask you one?"

Nicollo informed Liang Chongru the envoy of the invitation from the Ambassador of Venice that the ambassador of the Ming Dynasty and the Atlantic governor had boarded the luxurious carriage prepared by Archbishop Pontalion.

In front of the carriage, there were twenty Portuguese attendants leading the way, and there was a battalion of Swiss spearmen behind the convoy, all wearing glittering simple steel armor and holding two spears, showing off their aura.

"Only one official was hired."

Nicollo also boarded the carriage, and the convoy then drove towards Rome with countless curious eyes.

"Governor, Xiaguan is from Venetian. It is estimated that Ambassador Gedenigro wants to learn some of the inside story of the Ming Dynasty from Xiaguan."

"Oh." Liang Chongru listened to Nicollo's analysis and said nothing. His mouth was on Nicollo's head. No matter what he wanted to say, others could not control it unless they were killed to silence him! But there was no need at the moment. The Atlantic Fleet had obvious advantages. No matter how hard the Europa natives worked, they could not build a sailing warship of the "New World" class without ten or eight years.

By then, the Ming Navy will definitely have more and more powerful warships. Moreover, the control of the east coast of Mingzhou will be further strengthened. According to the latest news sent from Mingzhou, the number of "New World"-class sailing ships that have been invested in the Ming Dynasty's local routes has reached 25. Not only is the sailing squadron of the Ming Beiyang Fleet engaged in transportation across the ocean, but now there is a Pacific sailing ship public transport, and it has also been engaged in the big deal of trans-Pacific shipping.

Now, at least six "New World" class ships docked in Jinshan City or Yinshan Port every month. The number of immigrants and military households brought more than 1,500 people, and a large number of supplies were brought. At the same time, three of the seven "New World" class ships of the Atlantic Fleet ran the Atlantic route. They transported local military supplies from the Ming Dynasty, silver produced in Mingzhou, and more Aztec soldiers, and transported the good horses produced in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa and grain produced in France to the settlements on the east coast of Mingzhou and the north coast of the Maya Sea to accelerate the colonization of Mingzhou.

Besides, it is hard to say whether these indigenous European countries can survive under the attack of Kublai Khan. Although Liang Chongru and Chen Chongguan have been working hard to carry out the mission of "supporting Europe and fighting against Mongolia" these days, the results achieved are very limited. The visible effect is simply to organize a Ming-style infantry mainly engaged in Switzerland and Black Forest mercenaries.

Maybe ten years later, Kublai Khan is already a Roman Khan, Venice, etc., and then he will be a fourth-class European or fifth-class European. If you don’t want to be a fourth-class European or fifth-class European, you have to concentrate your efforts to fight Mongolia!

Seeing that Liang Chongru had no objection, Nicollo pondered the words and said: "Governor, Venice is established by commerce, maritime trade, and Eastern trade is the lifeline of Venice..."

"So that's it," Liang Chongru nodded and smiled, "They can trade in Macau... Oh, Nicollo, go and tell the Venetian ambassador. My Ming Dynasty has now opened the Ming European route, and I plan to open a route to bypass Africa. In addition, my Ming Dynasty's Nanyang fleet may have entered the Tianzhu Ocean now, and there is no force on the Tianzhu Ocean to confront my Ming Navy. It won't take long to get around Africa's trade line. Macau will be the intersection of Ming and European trade. I welcome Venetian merchants to come to trade."

Welcome the Venetians to trade in Macau? Nicollo and the Archbishop Ponthalewen, who also sat in the carriage, smiled bitterly at the same time.

This is cutting off the way for people and money! No, it is cutting off the way for people and money, it is simply cutting off the way for people to live! It not only cuts off the way for Venice, but also cuts off the way for two maritime trading countries, Genoa and Pisa.
Chapter completed!