At that time, the Hanseatic Alliance was the real king of northern Europe. Even the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire had to expect to treat the messengers sent by the alliance with politeness to exchange for the favorable impression of the Hanseatic Alliance.

But as power gradually increased, those monarchs gradually stopped taking these guys who had just been scrambling to live by fishing and selling groceries.

Especially in recent years, as the power of the Hanseatic League has gradually been weakened, the nobles have become more and more bold and arrogant. In some places, lords have even openly ordered the alliance to send local representatives to accept the various harsh conditions and outrageously high taxes they stipulate.

This made the entire alliance full of uneasiness. The merchants felt that their position was in danger, but they were helpless because of the decline that had occurred over the years.

The appearance of Groghenning gave people hope. After he made quite beautiful decisions several times with his talent and extraordinary observation skills as a businessman and saved many situations, some people in the alliance have even begun to say that another great legend like Van Laconde was born.

But Groghenning himself keenly felt that the little change he brought not only did not lift the Hanseatic League from the decline in recent years, but instead attracted the attention of local lords.

These lords obviously did not want to see the merchants become tough again, so just a few years ago, led by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximian, a group of German monarchs from the north suddenly issued a similar order to the Hanseatic League, which was to force the chambers of commerce dispatched by the alliance to swear allegiance to the monarchs where they were located, otherwise they would be driven out of these territories.

This order has a huge blow to the Hanseatic League.

The Hanseatic League has always been able to gradually become stronger because of its own independent rights and cohesion. Even in these increasingly sad days, the alliance is still united and unified.

They will not become suspicious of each other because the monarchs in their place are fighting, nor will they have to oppose each other or even become enemies because they need to fulfill their obligations to the lords.

The interests of the alliance are everything, and it is precisely because of the always following this supreme law that the Hanseatic League has been able to remain undefeated in the confrontation with the powerful Mediterranean merchant groups for centuries.

But now the actions of the lords are undoubtedly trying to disintegrate the entire Hanseatic League. This not only caused great uneasiness in the alliance, but also made Groghenin realize some changes that cannot be ignored.

Obviously, the monarchs who have gradually become authoritative do not want to see a commercial alliance that is superior to them, or at least a commercial alliance that they cannot control, continue to exist, especially this commercial alliance has a huge and coveted wealth, which makes the Hanseatic League completely become a fat meat in the eyes of those lords.

Groghenning hoped to change all this. He admired the legendary great businessman Van Laconde, and hoped to become his legendary hero who brought the alliance to glory and could compete with those kings for a time.

For this reason, Groghenin began his journey with a large sum of money that could be enough to buy the most greedy people in the world.

With his long-lasting and good dancing, he became a frequent visitor in the palace of many kings and a legend that many merchants love and hate. His business came from the sea, from the river, and from the land. He tried to open the door that could be smashed by the gold coins of the Hanseatic League. Then the powerful people he made friends with opened the door of convenience for him again and again under the temptation of huge wealth.

Everything seemed to be going well. The members of the alliance, far away in their lowlands, even believed that Groggenin's actions were just like Caesar's conquest of Gaul, which gave the alliance a great hope.

But only Groghenning himself felt a vague feeling of indescribable uneasiness.

The Mediterranean coast is still undoubtedly the richest place in Europe. Every ship on the sea seems to contain endless wealth. Countless people still rush to the Mediterranean with dreams, hoping to find the opportunity to lead to wealth from it.

But Grognin felt a shadow that he couldn't let go of in the seemingly prosperous situation. Especially when he looked at the information in his hand, the shadow became bigger and deeper, and even a little lingering uneasy.

These documents were bought by Florin from port officials. He has done this many times. Often, a few gold coins can get a lot of important news from port officials or others. Sometimes, some people around the powerful will take the initiative to sell them, without thinking that there is anything wrong with this.

In 1493, Karipo imported 120 ptons from Alexandria in Egypt. This number does not seem to be big. After all, compared with the demand for pepper in the whole of Europe, 120 ptons is nothing.

And just this year, the pepper imported from Alexandria was less than 100 ptons.

Is it because of the threat of war?

Groghenning looked through the previous data and soon found that even though Constantinople fell in the early years, the entire Europe believed that the Ottomans would continue to march into the era of Mohammed II on the European continent, and the number of pepper imports that had dropped sharply due to the threat of war was not less than 100 ptons.

What does this mean?

This shows that the import volume of pepper in Karibo is shrinking.

The same as pepper is that some other spices and dyed fabrics are imported slightly.

Is this just Karibo?

Groghenin shook his head secretly. As far as he knew, this situation also occurred in other places. Although this change seemed inconspicuous and had different reasons, it was an indisputable fact that trade in the Mediterranean region was in a difficult-to-see decline.

Although it was so strong that the kings had to bow their heads and obedient, the Hanseatic League was very rational and did not think about challenging the merchants of the Mediterranean.

As the center of European civilization and economy, the cities along the Mediterranean coast have an irrefutable position.

No one has ever been able to challenge this position in the past, so what about the future?

Groghening did not think the Hanseatic League could become a challenger, and he did not think that the decline in Mediterranean commerce would be an opportunity for the alliance.

On the contrary, he had a premonition that it did not seem like a good thing for the Mediterranean people to become poor due to war or other reasons.

"I didn't have so much sentimental sympathy for others in the past," Grogenin smiled mockingly. Of course, he was not really worried about the money bags of these Venetian or Genoa merchants, but smelled a strange smell. "It seems that some changes are going to happen."

Groghenning has heard of rumors about the New World. In many legends, the New World is a mysterious place and a dreamy place for people to pursue wealth.

The new world is as fascinating as the East described as a flowing East with milk and honey that has been almost covered with gold and countless treasures, as well as precious fruits that people have never seen before.

But even so, many people still don’t think that the New World will have too much influence on Europeans.

Especially those oldest traditional markets and long trade routes that have lasted for more than ten centuries, on which countless miracle cities have appeared and created countless wealth that are unimaginable.

Although the new world is fascinating, it is too far away. The ocean full of crises makes the road to the new world unpredictable.

So despite the unimaginable temptation, the charm of the new world is still just a dream in the eyes of many people rather than reality.

But Groghenning was interested in that distant place. He tried to understand and discover the secrets of that place, and at the same time he vaguely felt that the land on the other side of the ocean might bring unimaginable changes to the world.

He picked up another document and looked at it carefully. Grogenin tried to find more things from the numbers that could attract attention. Soon he discovered that, as the Ottomans said before, in recent times, something that has indeed happened on Sicily.

There have been obvious more ships from Venice, and the number of ships has increased, but there have not been much changes in the cargo coming and going, Groggenin has probably guessed what kind of ships they are.

"The Venetians are already alert." Grogenin smashed his legs hard. Compared to the cold cold in the north, the warm climate of the Mediterranean did not make him feel too comfortable, and his injured legs seemed sore and uncomfortable because of the excessive moisture in the air.

Suddenly, Groghenning stopped with his hand flipping through the pile of documents, and quickly pulled out a carefully looked out of it.

There is not much fresh content on the document. A tax bill for entry to a business order issued by a Naples Chamber of Commerce, which seems to be profitable. The business of purchasing wool and other groceries is not very profitable.

One of the unique aspects of this order that Groggenin noticed was the difference in entry taxes.

Unlike other ships who estimate ship tax based on the depth of the entire ship's waterline, this tax bill separates other goods except wool, and then collects only a small amount of money that is almost negligible.

As a businessman, Groghenning knew too well the importance of ship tax in a business where profits were at most moderate.

Groggenin also knew exactly what kind of profit such a slight tax would bring.

This is by no means as simple as saving a sum of money, but it allows a businessman to have more opportunities than others in the same time and route because he has extra extra costs.

What Groggenin noticed was that this tax bill clearly recorded all tax entries, which means that this was by no means a private transaction, but was completely legal.

How is that possible?

Groghenning looked at the document repeatedly in confusion. He told himself that this should be a mistake, but his intuition reminded him that there might be something surprising behind this simple tax bill.

Groghenning remembered the Hansa Alliance in the early years in order to stabilize the internal tax deduction in the alliance, but because the value gap between various commodities in different places was too large, the tax deduction had to end in disgrace.

Tax deduction?

Groghenin looked at the tax bill with some confusion, but found that other goods were still subject to high taxes except for certain specific commodities.

At the same time, a rather strange mark on the tax bill caught his attention.

An ultimate ring filled with each edge in an equilateral triangle.

Such a simple pattern seems to be nothing, but the timeless handwritten message around the outside of the triangle attracted Groggenin's attention.
Chapter completed!