A very ordinary murder case, which did not attract much attention from Alexander, was the merchant exchange in Seville.

No one would have thought that in just a few decades, this inconspicuous exchange would become Spain's largest colonial commodity exchange.

For a long time, the quality of the trader exchange in Seville has become an important barometer for the Spanish and even European markets.

It was not until nearly two centuries later that the Spanish colonial empire gradually lost its glory.

Alexander has long heard of this exchange and has been paying close attention to it.

In his memory, this is where the first colonial stock was sold, which was obviously an innovation in this era.

Compared with the Spanish who had a strong interest in colonies from the beginning and had also nailed their goals firmly to those new worlds far away from their homeland, the Portuguese seemed much slower.

Although there are indeed outstanding figures with extraordinary vision like Prince Enrique and later HNA chief Eliodo Don Antonio, after all, there are too few such people, and even these people have so far only to open up new routes that can bring wealth.

In other words, the Portuguese were not so interested in the new colony itself. They just wanted to transport enough gold, gems and ivory from there. As for establishing a long colony, at least not many people have thought about this.

This is true in history. It was not until more than 50 years later that the Portuguese began to slowly establish the first large grain processing factory in the place they named the Holy Cross. It was from that time that they began to seriously consider doing something in the vast vast world they occupied by them, instead of simply plundering various resources from the local area and doing nothing.

This is not the case with Spain. They are also plundering and are equally greedy, but they obviously know what they are doing. While plundering, they squeeze every drop of oil and water that the colonies can squeeze out. In order to make this kind of squeeze more efficient, they have invested their due capital in those places.

The Portuguese flourished quickly, but their over-reliance on new routes made them ignore the vigilance they should have on land. When the French challenged them, the Portuguese colonists, who were busy cutting redwood all day long and did not even have a decent city, were quickly driven out of those colonies easily.

Then, the Portuguese encountered threats from the Netherlands. Although they barely defended their territory after decades of colonial wars, the next thing was the arrival of the British era.

Alexander was very aware of these problems of the Portuguese, and it was precisely because he knew their fatal weaknesses that Alexander understood what he should do next.

"James, you should be a respectable naval general. It would be a pirate too bad," Alexander smiled at the two-story building of the Merchant Exchange. "Imagine what it would be like to lead a powerful navy to gallop across the Atlantic Ocean. I believe this will make your parents proud of you."

"They are already proud of Crestorov."

James Columbus said calmly, which made Alexander smile.

In the Columbus diary that James sold to Alexander, in addition to detailed records about the navigation log, there are also some records of Columbus in his personal life. Although these records from him are inevitably suspected of being self-boasted, the relationship between the Columbus family can also be seen from some trivial matters.

Among them, there was something that Alexander had a deep impression on him that made him very interested.

As the eldest son of the family, Columbus has two younger brothers. In addition to James, who is not very good with him, the other is Giovanni Columbus, who is quite harmonious with him.

Columbus's father was a typical person with a low eye. He dreamed of getting rich all his life, but he lost a lot of money every time.

When Columbus was 16 years old, his father was once again in debt trouble due to business failure, and it was a huge sum of money that could make their whole family lose everything.

It was this time that the debt completely changed Christopher Columbus's fate. He had to drop out of the school he was studying and went home to help his father solve the debt problems. He even came out alone to discuss and explain to the creditors, hoping that they could give up their time or allow a slight change in the way of repaying their debts in order to overcome the difficulties.

It is hard to imagine how a 16-year-old boy bargained and negotiated hard with those creditors. Surprisingly, he really achieved his goal. Not only did the creditors agree to his request, but some of them also enthusiastically invited Christopher to their homes and said that if he did business in the future, he would be willing to provide him with funds.

Obviously, this 16-year-old boy has gained their trust.

Christopher Columbus's performance made his father suddenly have endless hope for the eldest son. He simply announced that his son would inherit his family business, and at the same time, he told his son to become an amazing businessman in the future and to let those who had satirized and ridiculed him see that there are also people in the Columbus family who can do big business.

Christopher Columbus remembered his father's advice. Although he had survived the debt crisis, he did not return to school, but left his hometown of Genoa.

Many years later, he fulfilled his father's wish as he wished and had a big business with a couple in Iberia, which sold a new world.

Now listening to James' vague complaints, Alexander could feel James' deep resentment towards Columbus. As the second son of the family, James was not valued, and his tension with his brother made him unwilling to live under the favor and shadow of Columbus like his other brother Giovanni.

"I will let Diego come here," Alexander said to James. "What he brings is money. With money, you can open every door here. James, you need to use your cannon to let these merchants know that only by working with us can they have the opportunity to make money, otherwise what they can get is continuous failure and final bankruptcy. Believe me, any wish can be achieved within the range of the cannon. If it cannot be achieved, it only means that the cannon is not far enough or the caliber is not large enough."

Alexander looked at the house and looked upwards, falling to the window on the second floor, and then saw the snow-white cross on the roof, followed by the blue sky above his head.

This building will undergo countless changes in the times over many years in the future. It will also be a proof that the Spanish colonial empire will gradually decline and decline. Even many years later, the vast amount of precious colonial documents preserved in this building will become precious materials for later generations' research today, full of romantic passion, and the collision of madness and rationality.

"Sir, what will we be in the future?" James asked suddenly. Seeing Alexander look over, he thought for a while and said, "I mean, what will people say about us in the future?"

"What will we say," Alexander nodded. "They will say that we are pioneers of the adventure unknown, heroes, colonists, robbers, or greedy usurpers."

Seeing James' cheeks tremble when he heard the last words, Alexander laughed, knowing that it was time for James to know something.

"But we are creating history now. Maybe you don't think so yet, but soon you will know that what I said is right. Believe that my new colony is far more incredible than any one of you imagined. It is not just a new land that is beyond anyone's expectations, or even a piece of land, it is a whole new world, so it is worth it no matter what the price is paid, because we are destined to be the ones who make history."

James looked at Alexander blankly. At this time, he still didn't completely believe Alexander's words. Although his experience in the new colony over the past two years made him vaguely realize that Christopher seemed to have made a big mistake. The place he regarded as the Indian coastal islands should have a more exciting secret, but he didn't know whether he should be sure of such a conjecture that made him so excited that he couldn't sleep whenever he thought of it.

Now Alexander's words made the random thoughts in James' heart that made him unable to calm him again. Looking at Alexander, James suddenly asked in a low voice: "So sir, what would you do if everything is really as you said?"

"What would you do if you had a chance to make you your father's favorite son?" Alexander's rebellious question stunned James. Looking at him as if he was in deep thought, Alexander raised his hand and patted James on the shoulder. "Believe me, when that day comes, we all know what we should do."

As he said that, Alexander looked towards the slightly higher palace in the distance: "Fernando Caroli is waiting for me there, and I think he must be having a headache now."

Caroli was indeed having a headache. The inexplicable disappearance of Duke Don Bavie made him feel a crisis. Although he didn't know what Don Bavie was going to do, he realized what this nobleman, who had always regarded as a major concern by Isabella, should be planning.

But the man he sent to Buhalanthus found nothing, and even the nun who was said to have received God's revelation had nowhere to go. Although he knew that the nun should be in a convent deep in a swamp, when his men arrived there, they were told that the nun named Alphth was "dead".

This news was enough to almost drive Carolina crazy. What was bad was that another news brought to him by the sent people made him even more worried. The appearance of the Duke of Romanesian from the Vatican made Carolina realize that there might be more troublesome things waiting for him.

The Queen's subtle relationship with the Vatican made Caroli worry about the troubles that the arrival of the Romanesian Duke would bring, and if it had to do with Don Bavi again, things might have been complicated.

In this case, he had to report what happened in Andalusia to the Queen. Although doing so would make Isabella feel that he is incompetent, it was nothing compared to the Queen's commission.

Caroli is a very dedicated person. He does not want to delay the tasks arranged by the queen because of his own face. His vigilance towards Don Bavi made him know that he should never be taken lightly against this person.

It just takes a long time to wait for Valladot's reply, and what will Don Bavi do during this period?

Caroli had to gather his generals. Although Isabella had never told anyone about her thoughts, as the queen's confidant, Caroli knew the queen's thoughts very well.

The powerful aristocrats became a stumbling block to the reunification of the future kingdom. Whether it was Castilla or Aragon, these people were openly and secretly opposed the merger of the two countries due to their respective reasons. As the two kings grew older, this resistance became greater and greater.

Caroli knew that the Queen obviously hoped to solve this problem in her lifetime, because if she could not overcome this difficulty, whether she or Ferdinand passed away, the future kingdom was likely to face collapse or even a civil war.

Caroli, like many queen confidants like him, came from old nobles, but they were new nobles in emerging future powerful kingdoms, which made them destined to follow Isabella all the way.

Everything is for the Queen, this is the goal of these emerging nobles and their only direction in the future.

So anyone could betray Isabella, Cocaroli and his followers of the Queen would not.

A follower walked into the room and saw Carolina's eyes immediately. The follower first shook his head instinctively, and saw the consul's disappointment, and nodded inexplicably.

"Have you found Don Bavi?" Caroli walked around the table with agility that was completely inconsistent with his slightly obese body shape, while staring at the minion with bright eyes.

"There is a Romanesian Duke asking for a visit," the entourage said, and saw Carolai's mouth suddenly open, with an unexpected look on his face. The entourage nodded vigorously and emphasized his tone, "Yes, it's the Romanesian Duke."

Carolai paused a little. He calmed himself down first, and then said to the entourage: "Okay, I'll go see the duke now, but I want you to pay attention to his entourage. I mean, pay attention to whether there might be Don Bavi's people inside."

"Sir, do you think Don Bavi's people might get into Seville?" asked the follower worriedly.

"I don't know, but this duke was the last person to meet Don Bavi, so we must be careful, wait a moment," Carolai said, walking back and forth, and then he ordered "order the defenders of Philip Castle to be on guard, God knows what will happen, don't forget that Don Bavi."

With a series of orders, the Andalusian ruling residence immediately became lively, and Caroli finally felt a little relieved.

He had someone put on a gorgeous outer cover and a golden ornament representing the identity of the consul. After clenching a scepter that was about the same height as his, the consul Andalusian walked out the door.

However, despite all the preparations, he was still surprised by Alexander's first sentence after meeting.
Chapter completed!