People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 383 New Route

Limassol.

As Lothar's territory in Cyprus, the government affairs, military affairs, and public security here have been returned to the agent of Turiados of the Wheel Family. Most of the Black Eagle Banner Team and Order Knights stationed here have also returned to the Holy Land.

Only one castle and one monastery were assigned to the Teutonic Knights who had merged with the Order of St. Lazarus.

The Knights established a branch here, and the person in charge was the former Grand Master Hiberlander.

The city of Limassol is also a node on the pilgrimage road. There are not only Orthodox Greeks here, but also many Catholics who stop on the pilgrimage road or stay on the way back. Therefore, the Knights' branch is also developing well. Many new apprentices were recruited.

The devastation that the war brought to Limassol is gone.

This place has become the once prosperous harbor city again, with endless streams of caravans and pilgrims, all transiting here, docking, and replenishing supplies. Even when the sky is getting late and the curfew is approaching, the tavern is still very lively. .

Especially the most popular game of Gwent, which is more complicated than simple dice, is the most popular game among Greeks. Many Greek sailors often play cards all night long in taverns until they lose everything, or the game is huge. Earn a fortune, squander it on whores and wine, and set sail the next day to fight waves and pirates.

The Greeks dislike the Franks, or the Latins in their mouths, and think that the Franks are a group of barbarians and robbers. The shortcomings of the Gwent cards are relatively complicated and difficult to get started quickly, but it has become the advantage of the Greeks to show their superiority.

They often watched the stupid and vulgar Frankish sailors play ugly and ridiculous games, shook their heads and laughed and said, "Look, Franks with full brains can't understand this high-end game at all."

Or when the Frankish sailor was passionately playing the game of dice, he mocked at the side: "What age is it, and you still play this kind of game that children can understand?"

It can be called a medieval game despise chain.

A set of exquisite empire cards inlaid with gold borders and complete illustrations can be sold for a sky-high price of hundreds of gold coins in the city of Limassol-you know, this is already equivalent to the price of a thoroughbred war horse .

In future generations, it is equivalent to a set of cards, changing a whole car!

Although this refers to a whole set of cards that can be used together, rather than a single card pack, the profits in it are still enough to make many nobles feel jealous.

The reason why there are no pirated copies is that the cards are purely made by pirated copies. Not only are the papers rotten, but there is no printing technology to help them, so the output is very limited. At the same time, using pirated cards will be despised.

The superimposition of many aspects makes piracy really get twice the result with half the effort and the profit is meager.

"Gwent has a new deck?"

"What are Tartars? A bunch of impoverished nomadic bandits?"

The sailor who spoke had disdain in his eyes.

The nomadic cavalry of this era is indeed very mediocre in combat effectiveness, with backward iron smelting technology and no discipline at all in combat. Some poor nomads even still use bone arrowheads, which can't even break the defense against heavily armed knights.

"How is it possible? Look at these exquisite pictures. Each of their warriors is wearing excellent armor and scale armor. It is said that they captured the golden country in the east, and they are better than the poor Kumans and Turks. too much."

As these sailors said, a new set of cards has been produced and released by the printing workshop in Jerusalem under the supervision of Coors. This time, the theme, after weighing, is set to Song and Tartar.

After thinking about it, Lozath decided to keep the dark faction deck that had already been made. Although he was not afraid of offending the Catholic Church, it was really not worth the trouble for such a trivial matter.

Coupled with this era, people's fantasies about the richness of the Eastern dynasty made them naturally add a layer of filters to all commodities from the East. This theme is definitely more touching than Great Germania vs. Gaul interest.

Lothar also hopes to take this opportunity to hype up the Tatar threat theory.

The threat of the Tatars is unquestionable, although according to the original historical trajectory, their footsteps not only stopped in Syria, but also formed a temporary alliance with the local Crusaders to deal with the Mamluk dynasty (the collapse of the Ayub dynasty in Saladin Later, the Mamluk military group came to power).

But the history of this world has long since changed.

Maybe it was him, or maybe it was from the time when Emperor Henry built the first wizard tower, extraordinary power has participated in the secular world like never before, which is completely different from the two before.

Even the Turkic people who migrated have many shamans who envelop the longevity sky, and Lothar once dealt with a Turkic "prince", so it is naturally impossible for the Tatars to not have it.

If there is no extraordinary power, the Tatars may not be able to defeat the Kingdom of Jin.

In his vision, the Tatars are the big bosses following Saladin, allowing them to enter the Europeans' field of vision ahead of time. He also hopes that when the Tatars really arrive, the Christian world will pay more attention to this.

Lothar sits in the mansion of the Aglastros (Wheel) family in the city of Limassol.

Turiados respectfully handed over a report: "My lord, the development of the territory has been good this month. The manors, iron mines, quarries and forest farms in the territory have all resumed normal operation. Limassol City The restoration work has also been successfully completed, and the expenditure was much less than expected due to the use of stone from our own quarry."

"Excluding the expenses of maintaining the city guard, mansion servants, attendants, etc., as well as the monastery and real estate leased to the Knights, only taxes are counted. It is estimated that by the end of this year, you will get 1 Suledes. "

"Twelve thousand Suledes, this number is not small."

Lothar froze for a moment.

If it were changed to the time when he first traveled through time, he received more than 1 Suledes gold coins every year. I am afraid that he would wake up laughing in his dreams. The tax collected by Earl Werner for a year, even if all the grains are replaced with gold coins at a premium, At most, it is only half of Limassol.

Moreover, due to the bad road conditions, the surplus food in the Earl of Allgau is often brewed into beer, digested by itself, and cannot be sold at all. Otherwise, Earl Werner would not be holding a pile of silver tableware as treasure. .

This is also the status quo of many Western European lords. Because of the lack of silver and currency, the quality of the currency is getting lower and lower, and the value is getting lower and lower. It is obvious that when the money is getting more and more valuable, they just walked out of a path against deflation.

But Lothar, who had just returned from Constantinople, felt that a mere 1 gold coins was nothing.

General Nikephoros was worth [-] solodes for a single ruby.

Seemingly seeing Lothar's insincerity, Turiados quickly added: "This does not include the income of the merchant fleet we formed. Not long ago, the fleet completed the first round of voyage, selling wine and grain in the Jerusalem, at the same time approached His Excellency Cours, loaded a ship full of fabrics, porcelain, glassware and spices, and if all goes well, they will be in Provence, along the Rhone-Saône channel, to Lyon, where they will sell For all the goods, we will purchase a batch of Burgundy red wine and ship them back to Jerusalem."

Lothar nodded slightly: "Coors has already told me about this, I hope they all go well."

Limassol's merchant fleet previously operated the Jerusalem-Cyprus-Rhode Island route. Without such ocean-going experience, they had to go ocean-going if they wanted to get the richest fat in Mediterranean commerce.

After an ocean-going trade trip, excluding the salaries of sailors, captains, and caravan escorts, the net profit is conservatively estimated to be as much as ten times, but the risks are also greatly increased, especially when passing through Sicily.

It’s okay to go through the Strait of Palermo. Although the Normans are pirates, they won’t be too embarrassing for merchant ships flying the Crusader flag-this is different from the first Crusade.

But the Moors in North Africa are different. They also have a long-standing tradition of pirates, and they are still subordinates of Saladin. They often plunder the white people along the western Mediterranean coast and sell them to the courts of various chiefs.

They rode offshore galleys with jibs, and could easily catch up with single merchant ships in headwinds. With their superior numbers, they would tear up and swallow the bloated and clumsy Kirk ships like spotted hyenas in Africa.

"May Heavenly Father bless them."

Turiados did not have much confidence in this voyage. Although he hired a few experienced crew members, running a business in this era is like being a mercenary, with his head pinned to his belt on the job.

If you want to earn more, you have to take risks.

The comfortable business road, the newcomers can't compete with the old businessmen who have been in business here for a long time, and the water inside is very deep, otherwise there will not be so many people who would rather be mercenaries than run a business.

"Anyway, well done, Turiados."

Lothar patted Turiados on the shoulder. As a member of the Imperial Knights, Lothar didn't have to worry about Turiados' loyalty, but Turiados had his own family and subordinates behind him.

therefore
"In the future, you can keep one-third of the income of Limassol City for your own use every year. When the caravan comes back this time, no matter how much income it earns, you must continue to increase investment. If you lack funds, you can contact me at any time."

Lothar handed out a double-headed eagle coat of arms: "This is Ms. Anna's coat of arms. You can contact Anna through it, and then she will serve as a relay to transfer the communication to me, saving the delay of sending letters back and forth. time."

"Miss Anna's coat of arms? Give it to me?"

Turiados swallowed.

"Why? Don't you dare bother Anna?"

Lothar laughed.

Turiados nodded embarrassingly: "After all, she is the most honorable princess in purple in the empire, the head of all princesses, and the honorable person second only to Her Majesty the Queen."

"Okay, keep your heart in your stomach, as long as it's business, just ask Anna to help transfer it, we are very close friends-of course, if the situation is not so urgent, try not to bother in the middle of the night She, you might get a scolding meal."

Turiados took the coat of arms and nodded heavily: "I have written it down, my lord."

"The opening of the new sea route is of great significance to me. It is a joint effort to realize the potential of the Port of Ella and the Port of Limassol. If a stable and profitable sea route can be established, I will continue to do so for many years to come." You don't have to worry about money anymore."

Spices and other valuables, the reason why they are valuables lies in the tax cards. Countless hands along the route will grab benefits on the route. In order to pass on the cost, merchants have to greatly increase the price.

And when these valuables arrived at the port of Ella, there were not many joints in their hands. After Lothar ate them, they were transported to the port of the Holy Land. Along the way, except for his territory, the rest of the Crusader nobles saw that it was his flag. Save face.

Therefore, after shipment at the Jaffa Port, the cost is still kept at a very low level.

If the route is opened, it will be a hen that can lay golden eggs, and the benefits it brings will further expand the fledgling fleet under Lothar's hands, allowing him to have a naval force of his own in the Mediterranean Sea.

The two complement each other.

With the navy, there is a deterrent effect on pirates, and the safety of the merchant fleet will also be greatly increased.

"I understand, my lord, I must take this matter seriously. During this period of time, I will continue to urge the shipyard to manufacture new ships and recruit experienced sailors. Even if it doesn't work this time, I will start a second attempt as soon as possible."

Lothar nodded: "If it doesn't work this time, I have to consider letting professionals intervene."

"professional?"

"I have an experienced captain who is now responsible for cleaning up the pirates entrenched in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden."

Although asking Captain Hogg to escort the merchant ship always feels a little overkill, the benefits are worth it.

(End of this chapter)