My Daming New Empire

However, the ostentation has already been laid out, and countless people have seen Daming's style, so the dragon chariot has played its role.

Osman III was ashamed because he felt his city was too small for cars to enter.

Everyone could only change to a horse. Zhu Zhanji rode a white horse without a trace of hair. On his left and right sides, there were equally strong servants and guards.

The servants are in the innermost layer, in the middle is a square formation composed of 36 Wudang Taoist priests, there are Jinyiwei, and the outermost is Habayashiwei.

Their clothes were very different, but they advanced and retreated well, and their actions were uniform, which made Osman III, who was following behind on horseback, jealous.

His guards were lazy and lazy. Although their personal force was trustworthy, they didn't move in an orderly manner, which couldn't set off his majesty as a king at all.

When he saw Osman III's prison-like castle, the narrow window made Zhu Zhanji wonder if he had to light up the lights after entering.

He tilted his head and ordered: "Let the Ministry of Industry choose a suitable location and build a temporary palace as my residence."

Li Liang immediately gave orders after hearing this, and Zheng He also discussed this matter with Osman III.

Osman III was very surprised and asked, "Dear guests, how long are you going to stay in my country?"

Zheng He glanced at Zhu Zhanji and answered him: "It will take about ten days to half a month. We will trade with your country, replenish clean water, and are willing to cooperate with your country in other aspects."

Osman III breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that the opponent would not leave. The opponent was powerful and had [-] to [-] soldiers. He had no confidence that he could drive the opponent away. "Then, isn't it that the house has not been built yet, and you are leaving? In this case, why build a house?"

Zheng He smiled and said, "No, that's your speed. My Ming craftsmen can build a palace in a day."

The other party only thought Zheng He was joking, agreed to Zheng He's conditions, and invited Zhu Zhanji and his party into his palace.

In order to welcome Zhu Zhanji's arrival, Osman III also prepared a sumptuous lunch, mainly roasted whole lamb and camel meat.

Zhu Zhanji also asked someone to bring some spices, all of which were used on the barbecue.The spices that these Marin people usually regard as luxury goods are sprinkled on the meat at this time as if they don't want money.

Their nobles were full of greasy mouths, and before they finished their meal, they couldn't help but find those generals and wanted to conduct trade negotiations.

These generals recruited from Hulumos were originally merchants, and they knew the prices of spices in Europe very well.

Although the price of spices today is nominally more expensive than gold, in fact there is still a gap. The most critical point here is the lack of precious metals in Europe.

In Western Europe in the Middle Ages, the silver standard system was initially implemented, and after the fifteenth century, it gradually transitioned to the gold standard system. Gold, silver and copper were the means of payment for defense trade.

However, most of the silver in Europe is in Germany, and the annual silver production in Germany continues to increase, which still cannot meet the demand.

European merchants brought in expensive silk and spices in the trade with the East, and caused a large outflow of precious metals.In order to alleviate the shortage of precious metals, some countries have repeatedly banned the export of gold and silver, but the problem still cannot be solved.

More importantly, the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire was stalemate, and the Timurid Kingdom made the Ottoman Empire dare not develop further to the east, and also caused the Ottoman Empire to lose its source of spices.

Europeans cannot live without spices. Europeans in this era live on meat, but killing a sheep or a pig cannot be eaten in one meal, so they have to eat stinky meat every day.

Except for a few big nobles, even the small nobles have to eat stinky meat.Spices were a necessity for the lesser nobles, as well as for the great nobles.

While the business routes between the East and the West were blocked, Europeans had to turn their attention to the sea in order to find spices and precious metals.

At this time, I have to mention one person, that is Marco Polo.

In the [-]th century, the Venetian Marco Polo came to China with his father and uncle, and was welcomed with a feast by Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty.

He lived and served as an official in China for 17 years, and published "Marco Polo's Travel Notes" after returning to China at the end of the [-]th century.The book describes that the palace walls, walls and ceilings in Peking are covered with gold and silver, and that there is so much gold in Japan that countless people even use it to build houses, and the claims are absolutely credible.

This book was widely circulated in Europe, making Europeans salivate and determined to cross the ocean and go to the rich East.

The main reason why Europeans are not afraid of life and death and break into the unpredictable sea is poverty.

Therefore, saying that spices are more expensive than gold is just to describe the expensiveness of spices, not to say that the two are of equal value.

The Ottomans did business with the Europeans. The spices they bought from India were transported to Europe, and the profit was between [-] and [-] times.

But for Daming, an iron pot can be exchanged for more than 100 catties of spices from Maluku, and these spices can be sold for more than 1000 ounces of silver in Europe, and the profit can reach hundreds of times.

This is still a relatively high cost of the iron pot. If you calculate the meager cost that Daming spent in this process, the profit can reach two thousand times.

According to the current market wholesale price in Venice, 120 catties of spices, not counting varieties, can be exchanged for 200 taels of silver.

Twelve taels of silver can be exchanged for a catty of spices. Calculated according to the price of gold, one tael of gold can be exchanged for a catty of spices.

Most of the gold coins in Europe are about five grams, and most of the silver coins are about three grams. That is to say, only one hundred silver coins can buy a catty of spices, and six gold coins can buy a catty of spices. From this point, we can clearly understand the cost of spices.

Of course, Zhu Zhanji never thought of selling spices so expensive, not because he didn't want to make higher profits, but mainly because the market was limited and the gold and silver coins in the hands of Europeans were limited.

The fleet brought dozens of shipments of spices. These spices are too large. If they are sold out at the current market price, they will almost absorb all the currency in circulation in Europe.

That's not how business works!

According to Zhu Zhanji's idea, Daming plans to reduce the price of spices to one-half of the current market price, and take advantage of the idea of ​​Europeans wanting to take advantage of it to make quick money.

Earn gold and silver from Europe, and then suppress their sea power, shattering their desire to develop at sea.

But how to operate it will have to wait until the fleet arrives in Venice before making a decision.

After the meal, Zhu Zhanji held formal talks with Osman III, and the two countries held all-round talks on trade, alliance and other aspects.

Although Marin is a country with relatively scarce resources, their agriculture is relatively developed.

The production of barley and wheat is relatively large, and the breeding of cattle, sheep, chickens, and camels is very developed.

Zheng He and Osman III quickly reached a consensus on the exchange of live meat, poultry and wool, and easily earned the gold and silver in their hands into his own hands.

The two sides negotiated that Daming would provide all kinds of porcelain, silk, tea, and spices, and they would exchange them with live poultry and wool in addition to gold and silver.

But Daming will not ask for the goods from them now, and will wait until the return trip before loading, and it will also give them a period of time to raise funds.

There is a smoky smell in the hall, everyone's body odor, bad breath, and the lack of airflow in the room, not to mention how smoky it is.

When the topic talked about alliances, there was finally a topic that Zhu Zhanji was interested in.And when he heard that Ceuta in the north of their country was occupied by Portugal two years ago, Zhu Zhanji felt that the opportunity had come.

Ceuta remained a Spanish overseas territory until the 21st century.Although it is located in Africa and belongs to the territory of Morocco, its sovereignty belongs to Spain.

The funny thing is that Spain snatched Ceuta in Morocco, but Gibraltar in its own country was snatched by the British, and it has never been recovered.

Ceuta and Gibraltar, one south and one north, guard the Strait of Gibraltar, which can be said to be a very important military location.

Through Tongshi’s translation, Zhu Zhanji learned that three years ago, that is, in 1415, Joao I and Prince Henry personally led an army consisting of [-] troops, [-] navies, and [-] warships. The huge army formed by the army captured Ceuta, an important city in the northwest corner of Marin.

Hearing the news, Zhu Zhanji interrupted the conversation between Zheng He and Osman III, and asked, "Your Excellency, are you so willing to see your country being occupied?"

Tong Shi translated his words, and Osman III said: "Although Portugal is only a small country, they have strong troops and horses, and I cannot snatch this fortress back!"

Zhu Zhanji asked again: "So, is Gibraltar now in the hands of Seville or Granada?"

Seville is an important part of Spain, while Granada is controlled by the Moors, that is, the Arabs.Spain has been occupied by the Arabs for hundreds of years, that is to say, there is only the last piece of land left that has not been taken back by the Spaniards.