At the end of 15oo, looking back, it will be revealed that the European 6th this year was not as calm as before. Although the Ottomans' iron hooves on the ground were forced to pause due to the defeat of the Battle of Bucharest, they were on the sea and they were winning step by step.

As the Venetians' last colony in the Mediterranean was occupied by the Ottomans, almost the entire Eastern Mediterranean had been taken into account by the Ottoman Empire, Crete became extremely important.

In November, a small Ottoman navy fleet tentatively launched a small attack on Crete. Although the Ottomans immediately withdrew due to a slight setback in this attack, this was enough to put the entire Crete in panic.

When Alexander first arrived in Karibo, the panic caused by misunderstandings became a reality after almost four years. This time, Europeans clearly realized that the Ottomans were really going to invade Crete.

The Ottoman's actions caused a panic in the Aegean and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and this anxiety spread to the dining tables of every European household.

As Europe's largest sugar cane plantation, Crete is responsible for nearly half of the sugar supply in Europe. When people may have a very shortage of sugar supply due to the arrival of the Ottomans, it may even become as in short supply as pepper, sucrose has suddenly become one of the most popular luxury goods.

Whether it is the palace of the nobles or the luxury houses of wealthy merchants, people have begun to buy a large number of things that have begun to rise in prices that can taste sweet taste, such as sugar, beets, honey, and even some pollen grind into sweet slurry. People try their best to store some of these things in their homes, while some nobles have ordered the strengthening of their own territory. After all, a piece of good honey or a honeycomb that is picked directly can be sold at a good price.

At the same time, the route to Crete became the most eye-catching route on the Mediterranean. Every merchant ship from Crete has become a priceless treasure to attract attention. Whenever Crete merchant ships dock, a large number of brokers guarding the dock will immediately flock to the ferry. Those barrels of chock-ups transported from the bottom warehouse will not wait to be released on the shore and people will come up to ask about the price. As there are more and more unfavorable rumors about the situation at sea, the price of sugar also rises like crazy. Later, there are simply signs of using sugar directly as currency in some places.

This crazy price increase made many people see the opportunity for wealth. Some nobles began to send sea boats to Crete to take the opportunity to make a fortune, but soon after, they realized that things were not as simple as they thought. It was obvious that no one could buy and sell sugar. Whether it was the elusive pirates in the Mediterranean or the fearful Ottoman Navy, they had undoubtedly become the most terrifying risk on their journey to take risks.

Only a very small number of lucky chambers of commerce can successfully obtain a stable source of goods from Crete, and the Chamber of commerce of the Free Trade Union has undoubtedly become the biggest winner of this "sweet cause".

A group of landless farmers who had been homeless in Europe due to the war and cold weather in recent years were sent on board. Their destination was Crete, because there was a huge reduction in population with war and escape. Large areas of plantations were abandoned. The lack of manpower made the landless farmers the best place for these landless farmers, just as those who kept ringing their own copper bells at the intersections of towns and ports to solicit and shouting at refugees wandering on the streets: "You have nothing, will it be worse?"

This sentence has indeed touched many people who have nothing to do because they left their hometown.

Yes, will it be worse?

Why not try your luck in Crete? Although it sounds dangerous, some people decided to take a risk and give it a try when they saw the thrilling promises of the thrilling of the thrilling of the thrilling of the thrilling of the thrilling of the thrilling of the thrilling of the men who solicited workers and the merchants who kept waving posters they didn't know.

But not everyone can do the best. Healthy and heavy laborers who can do heavy labor are given priority treatment. After these selected laborers are selected, they are sent to places called trade alliance offices in various places for temporary settlement. Then these people are sent from all over the country to ship and transported to Crete to plant sugarcane.

In this process, an Ottoman named Ashulk played an important role. The merchant ships he cared for did not have to worry about being harassed by pirates and attacked by the Ottoman Navy. As a reward, it is enough to pay a fee, which is expensive but absolutely worthwhile, to the trade alliance every time they ship sugar.

Because of this business, the sultan envoy from Constantinople has become the most popular pagan in the city of Rome. Even Pope Alexander VI once said in public that this person was simply "King Solomon's favorite servant."

The sugar that Europeans have regarded as a luxury goods, and the various goods on the Big 6 needed by workers and Crete were transported. For a time, this not-so-long route became the hottest financial route in the Mediterranean.

At the same time, Ruosha received a letter from Iberia.

Seeing the queen calmly waiting for the messenger who sent the message to leave, she immediately turned around and entered the living room and closed the door. Ruosha's maid could only helplessly walk into the corridor and guard the door. She knew that for a while, unless it was an important matter, the queen obviously did not want to be disturbed.

Alexander wrote a lot in his letter, after all, there is really a lot to say to express his heart that has not been seen for a while.

What Ruosha noticed was that Alexander paid much attention to the situation in Crete than she thought.

"Dear sister, although everything I have lived now is as I had previously guessed, I don't think we have done enough now. If we look at the scale before leaving, we can call up very few workers, and the work that can be carried out in Crete is not big. I can understand that you may be worried that the Ottomans may eventually occupy Crete and lead to our loss of money. But as far as I know, this worry is still redundant at least for a long time. Please do not ignore everything I did under the city of Bucharest. Even if they have enough victories at sea, it is enough to prevent the Ottomans from continuing westward for a long time. So I believe Crete is safe for a long time. Also, please do not forget that I have other plans that may even fundamentally relieve Crete's future crisis if successful."

"So we need to continue to recruit workers, and as many as possible, these strong laborers are by no means simple as plantation workers. They can play a lot of roles. The most important thing is that I hope these people can prepare for a huge and unprecedented expedition in the future."

Seeing this, Ruosha was a little confused and confused. She had heard Alexander mention the vast land that had never been seen on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean more than once. However, although she inevitably had various imaginations about such a place, she still couldn't imagine what Alexander said about an unprecedented expedition would be like.

However, she still deeply felt Alexander's eagerness to make this happen as soon as possible from the letter, which made her feel aroused strong curiosity about the new world.

She lay on the bed like a queen and looked at Alexander's letter. Then sometimes she suddenly got up and ran to the huge table, looking at the map covered on it and the description in the letter. Sometimes she immediately fell to the bed and rolled around between the soft pillow and the blanket. Until later she finally calmed down and looked at the last paragraph carefully.

"I miss you very much. Sometimes I even want to put down everything around me and run to the beach and jump on a boat to get to you. But often at the end I resisted this impulse. Before leaving, I promised to give you my own crown. This crown will be the most unique and unparalleled, so I can't leave for this. All you have to do is prepare for being able to wear such a crown in the future."

Looking at the letter, Ruosha smiled slightly. She held the letter in one hand and gently tapped the finger of the other hand on the letter paper: "Alexander Juliant Gombre, this is what you promised me. If you can't do it, I will let the whole world know what you did. By then, even the Pope will not be able to protect a bad guy who tries to have a baby for him."

In early December, a visitor visited Montina Castle.

The Duchess of Romantesia, Barenti, was a little cold and even a little hostile to the arrival of this guest, not because the guest was a Jew, but because he was leaning against other women of Alexander behind him.

Joseph Buccini stood carefully in front of Barenti. He had heard of the duchess for a long time, but this was the first time he had seen it.

"So, do you serve the Duke?" Barenti asked indifferently as he looked at the Jews. Seeing the Jews bowing respectfully, she thought about it and waved her hand to back the servant standing at the door. "Okay, now tell who sent you here, was the Queen of Naples or the Queen of Wallachia?"

Joseph Buccini listened carefully to Barenti's words, and then he quickly noticed from her tone that he was slightly different when calling the two queens. He bowed to Barenti again, and then said: "It's Your Majesty, Your Highness, you know that the whole of Europe is now crazy about sugar. Even some nobles, if there is an extra dessert on the table, you will feel very good. Your Majesty thinks this is a great opportunity for us, so she sent me to make suggestions to you, hoping to strengthen cooperation with you in this matter."

"oh."

Hearing that Barenti responded and said nothing, Joseph Buccini couldn't help but look at her inquiring eyes helplessly.

Barenti looked at Bucini without blinking. She knew that this Jew was one of Rusha's reliances, and the other was the Diego, who was now beside Alexander. This made Barenti suddenly feel that she seemed a little lonely. At this moment, she couldn't help thinking in her heart that maybe she shouldn't be too harsh on Longstantine, or that she could have a helper when necessary.

"So how do you think we should cooperate?" Barenti finally asked.

Buccini breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually prepared for the Duchess' indifference. After all, when he decided to invest in Queen Wallachia and her children, Buccini had already thought about the powerful relationship clearly.

Although he knew that doing so might anger the duchess, under that circumstances, Bucini firmly believed that investing in the Queen Wallachia, who was still in a state of unstable status, would be more rewarding than investing in the duchess. And even though Barenti is now the Duchess of Romantesia, he still thinks so.

But Buccini was somewhat uneasy about this visit. He was worried that the duchess would not listen to his advice because of his jealousy. Now seeing that although Barenti had a bad face, he could still face it calmly, Buccini couldn't help but think in his heart that perhaps this was the reason why the Duke of Romanescia got married to Barenti of Genoa, not the Queen of Wallachia.

"Madam, we need a bigger business," Buccini stepped forward and stared at the expression on Barenti's face with caution "I mean the Duke holds almost half of the sugar in Europe, not just wealth but power. Since you and your husband have the right to enjoy a higher status and respect today, and as long as you can support us, you can do it."

"You?" Barenti's eyes flashed with caution.

"Yes, before that I must admit that it was Queen Alisandra who proposed to support Wallachia, and even now I don't think this choice is wrong, but it doesn't prevent us from being able to work with you."

"Do you think this cooperation is sugar?"

"No, it's not sugar, it's wealth and power." Buccini said excitedly. "You can make the dining tables in every court in Europe full of food, or make their banquets boring. This is power, which is enough to make too many people have to bow their heads to you."

Barendi listened carefully to Buccini's excited speech. She could not help but admit that this Jewish speech did have some kind of power that could seduce people. Just thinking about her husband who was more good at bewitching people, Barendi couldn't help but shake her head secretly.

"Then how are you going to start the big business you mentioned? I know you may be ambitious, but you are Jews," Barenti finally smiled. She leaned her body against the comfortable backrest behind her, looking leisurely at the young Jew in front of her who seemed emotional. "You can't enter any palace, and you don't have the chance to make terms with any nobleman, or even if you can get a contract, you can't guarantee that you can be protected by the above terms. So what are you going to do?"

Barenti's words slowly made Buccini's face, which was originally excited, slowly cooled down. He lowered his head and looked down at his feet. After a while, he looked up at Barenti's gaze and said, "This is exactly why I ask to cooperate with you. Since this is an opportunity to bring us such wealth, we must not give up. This does require your help."

Looking at Bucini's faintly excited expression, Barenti thought for a while and then nodded: "Tell me, what do you think you should do?"

"Madam," Buccini said slowly, suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, "we need someone to occupy more markets for us in Europe, as you said, these people can enter the courts of those nobles, deal with them, and at least get a guaranteed contract, so that our business can be further away, and even the territory of the German princes."

Looking at Bucini, Barenti thought about it and suddenly nodded: "I think I already understand what you mean. It happened that there are people like you said, and they can fully meet your conditions."

Speaking of this, Barendi's hand involuntarily placed it on a secret enclosure under the table in front of her that had just been opened.

"Believe me, the Fugers in Augsburg are the best agents of this deal."
Chapter completed!