Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

However, although there are various unreasonable things in the "story" Jacob told, the ins and outs of the entire battle are very clear and logical, and there are some exclusive information that only a few well-informed people know.

For example, the sentence "Mulholland attacked from the east and the west".

It was naturally the defenders of Tunis that attacked the Crusaders from the east.So where did Mulholland's army, attacking from the west, come from?

People who don't know may think that Jacob is talking nonsense, but Sergian and Cacciola know that the army may have been defeated by Ma Youfu before, and disappeared without a trace for a while. Ottoman prince, commanded the combined Ottoman-Mamluk forces.

Although the two of them are not qualified to obtain the most timely first-hand battle report from Ma Youfu, Joan of Arc can.And after Joan of Arc revealed this news to the Queen of Naples intentionally or unintentionally, Sergian and Cacciola were able to get this information from their lovers.

"The news that the unbelievers said is not only nonsense at first hearing, but also has detailed details and top-secret information that only a few people know. It is really difficult to judge whether it is true or not..." Kaziola frowned and thought hard.

Just when they were struggling, it was finally the turn of the two of them.

Cacciola and Sergian arrive at the Medici Bank's offices dedicated to the sale of "Victory Bonds."Sitting behind the desk, the potbellied manager glanced at the two of them, and said casually, "Mr. Sergian, and Mr. Cacciola, right?"

The attitude of the other party is very uncomfortable.

Cacciola and Sergian belonged to the aristocratic class after all, while the fat man on the opposite side was just a citizen class with a relatively high salary.Such negligent behavior is really unbearable.

Chapter 490 Six Bubble Burst ([-])

If the bank manager's attitude was bad and tolerable, then what the other party said next completely ignited the anger of the two Naples nobles.

"Now there are a total of 21 'Victory Bonds' that can be purchased by two people." The fat manager said.

"What? 21 bonds? We have ordered a total of [-] bonds, and now they have shrunk by one-tenth!"

Not only has the number shrunk dramatically, but the singular number 21 is also very confusing.Sergian and Cacciola, who should buy an extra copy, this is a question worth arguing for a long time.

Taking out such a share makes people wonder whether the Medici Bank deliberately provoked the relationship between Sergian and Cacciola-although the relationship between the two is not very good.

Although Sergian and Cacciola only had the title of knight, they climbed to the top with the help of the queen's relationship, and they held no less real power than ordinary earls.

But in the face of the anger of the two Naples nobles, the fat manager Luca Terene didn't care.

He married a distant cousin of Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici, also a member of the Medici family.Although he is only a wealthy citizen class, in Florence, in this bank, which is equivalent to the Medici stronghold, no one dares to use violence against him.

Since the sale of the "Victory Bond", Luca, who is in charge of this business, has grown in power and status all the way.In order to buy the "victory bonds", countless big figures who he needed to look up to all took the initiative to curry favor, which made Luca feel the sweet taste of power for the first time.

With the power to allocate "victory bond" purchases on hand, Luca made a lot of money.This time, it was also because of the request of a baron from the Principality of Ferrara that he withheld a large part of the two hundred 'victory bonds' originally given to Sergian and Cacciola.

For this reason, Luca not only earned two hundred gold florins as a favor, but also spent the spring night with that coquettish baroness.

Luca, who had tasted the taste of a lady, felt that he had already stepped into the noble class, and he was acting more and more unscrupulously.

In his opinion, the two landowners and old hats from the countryside of southern Italy in front of him are not worthy of being called real nobles at all.

"Mr. Sergian, and Mr. Cacciola, when you made an appointment, there were indeed two hundred 'victory bonds'. But things will always change, you know." Luca spread his hands, impatient at all Explain your mind to the other party, "Here is a subscription contract for the 'Victory Bond'. If you are willing to buy it, then sign the contract and leave the gold coins. If you are not willing, please leave as soon as possible without delay. Customers behind."

"You fat mouse, don't you worry, let's go to your competitors?" Cacciola scolded.

"Your wording doesn't sound like a noble knight." Luca sneered, "But it's normal. After all, you're a country bumpkin from Naples. I can forgive your rude words."

The fat manager looks out the window.Across the river, there is a building that is far inferior to the Medici Bank in terms of scale and appearance. It is the location of the Florence branch of the San Giorgio Bank.

Luca glanced contemptuously and said, "You mean St. George's Bank? Hahaha, what qualifications do they have to be compared with the great Medici Bank? If it weren't for the generosity and generosity of the Medici family, those who smell like fish The smelly Genoese have no way to gain a foothold in Florence. They are not our opponents."

"In this case, we have nothing to talk about." Sergian dropped this sentence with a cold face, and pulled Cacciola out of the office.

Walking outside the gate of the bank, Cacciola asked: "Mr. Royal Steward, you usually look calm and calm. Why are you so impulsive this time? Isn't there still 21 victory bonds? We should buy them before leaving." .”

Seeing Cacciola's pained face, Sergian smiled and said, "Isn't it you who reacted the most and most impulsively in the bank just now? I'm afraid you can't help stabbing that damn fat man with a sword." died, and decided to leave."

"I was just pretending to be angry. Wouldn't it be a good thing to let that greedy fat man make concessions and sell us more victory bonds with a simple show?" Cacciola spread his hands, He said helplessly, "It's a pity that now, our chance to make a small fortune has been thrown away by you."

Traditional aristocrats like them rely on the little output in the land for their annual income.Apart from fighting, there is not much opportunity to earn extra money.

Although the arrogance of the Medici family is very irritating, it is nothing compared to the real money in hand.

But now, nothing seems to matter anymore.

Cacciola glanced at Sergian, and found that this guy who had been his rival in love for decades did not show the same frustrated look as himself.

His heart moved, and he asked: "Sergian, did you know something, so you decided not to buy the victory bonds of the Medici Bank?"

Sergian nodded: "Let's go to the carriage and talk while walking."

He kept thinking about the conflicting news that Jacob had revealed earlier.In the end, the thoughtful head of the Naples royal family came to a bold conclusion.

The news of the defeat of the Eastern Crusade that Jacob revealed should be true, and it is very likely that the Duke of Barr released the news in advance after he knew about it.

Under such circumstances, the Eastern Crusaders could not have time to set up a communication circle, and then send detailed information about the defeat back to Italy.So far, information lag exists in Florence and other places.Not many people know exactly what happened on the Maghreb front.

Moreover, Ma Youfu has a lot of false exaggerated descriptions in the battle report, which also has its purpose.

Those blind optimists who firmly believe that the Eastern Crusaders will win all the way will seize the many loopholes in this news and make strong criticisms to strengthen their confidence.They will still continue to invest in the bond market with high leverage, immersed in the dream of getting rich.Unbeknownst to him, Ma Youfu's sickle was getting closer and closer to his neck.

And some other people who keep a clear head can draw real valuable information from this news: the Eastern Crusaders have been defeated.All those jihadi bonds are going to be worthless in no time, so now for some quick cash go buy St. George Bank's Hermosa Blessing financial product!

Simply doing some tricks on the news can achieve the effect of killing two birds with one stone.Although Sergian claimed to be the most intelligent man in the Naples court, he could not help but praise the Duke of Bar's hand.

"I admit, you know the Duke of Barr better. But if it's what you said, shouldn't we go to St. George's Bank as soon as possible?" Cacciola asked.

"Of course, get in the carriage!"

……

On the other side, in the bond office of the Medici Bank, Luca, the fat manager who just got angry with two Neapolitans, slowly wrote down his wife's name on the "Victory Bond" subscription book.

Since those two southern Italian country bumpkins are so stupid that they don't want to pick up money on the ground, then of course I can't let this cheapness go.

Although due to the regulations of the Medici Bank, Luca cannot subscribe for the "Victory Bond" by himself, but his wife does not have this restriction.

After buying these bonds, you can make a lot of money by reselling them on the black market of bonds.Such a business is simply easier than picking up money.

A "victory bond" was worth fifty florins.For Luca, who used to be just a petty bourgeoisie, but now suddenly became rich, it is still difficult to get more than 1000 gold coins in cash.All the money he earned before was used to buy houses and land.

Today, he has become a landlord who owns a mansion and a thousand acres of fertile land in the suburbs of Florence. Wherever he goes, he is respectfully called "Master".

He was worrying about how to collect more than 1000 gold coins when he suddenly saw through the window that two carriages were parked in front of the gate of St. George's Bank on the other side of the river.

Shi Shiran, the two Neapolitans who had been run away by him before, got out of the carriage.

"By the way, since I can't afford more than 1000 florins, I should go to the bank to borrow it. Those idiot Genoese are willing to do low-profit loan business, why don't I patronize it?"

Thinking of this, Luca rushed out of the office with an expression of excitement, and his fat body "rolled" all the way onto the newly bought carriage on the street.

Soon he was at St. George's Bank.

At this time, Sergian and Cacciola, who had just replaced all the [-] ducats accumulated over the years with the financial product "Hermosa Blessing", walked out side by side.

The two sides passed by, looked at each other with weird eyes, and probably a civilized and elegant Italian curse came out of their hearts at the same time.

Satisfied, the two Naples nobles rode away in a carriage.Luca, on the other hand, mortgaged all his manor and fields worth more than 2000 ducats to the St. George Bank at the fastest speed, and then exchanged them for [-] ducats of gold coins.

After he returned to the Medici Bank and bought the 21 "Victory Bonds", he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, it's time to get off work.Luca returned home contentedly, ready to brag about his "divine operation" to his wife today.

With his own shrewdness and ability, maybe in another month, the assets on hand will be doubled again.

Keep tasting the sweetness of Luca, and hope that this financial feast triggered by the Crusades will never end.

In the evening, when Luca was having dinner, he suddenly received a notice: Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici had something to do with him, and he wanted to rush to the Medici Palace as soon as possible.

For some reason, an ominous premonition suddenly rose in Luca's heart.

Chapter 490 Seven Great Defeat

With trepidation, Luca came to the Medici Palace overnight.

Guided by a servant, he walked into the luxurious bedroom of Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici.

The current ruler of Florence, Giovanni, the second son of Cosimo, the standard-bearer of justice, and the helm of the Medici family's financial industry, does not have the style of being the third person of the Medici family at this time.He was lying on the bed, pale, suffering from swelling and stinging from the knuckle of his right thumb.

Gout is a chronic disease inherited from the Medici family. Even if you are the uncrowned king of Florence, you cannot get rid of the pain.

When Giovanni saw Luca appear, he quickly waved his hand and signaled all the servants who came and went to take care of him in the bedroom to go out, even his wife was no exception.

After everyone left, Luke closed the bedroom door wisely, walked up to Giovanni, and whispered, "Master, do you have anything to do with me?"

Giovanni stood up with difficulty, took out a long letter from under the pillow, handed it to Luca, and said only one word: "Look."

Luka was apprehensive, took the letter paper with trembling hands, and began to read it.

The person who wrote the letter was Raniero, a mercenary captain who had served the Medici family for a long time.

Because Cosimo and his two sons have been suffering from gout for a long time and are not good at walking, the Florentine Crusade, led by Raniero, followed Emperor Shenluo south to conquer the heretics.The Medici family is responsible for paying the money and paying people.

Since the big battle of Pelagje in late October, the Medici family has completely lost contact with Raniero and knows nothing about the changes on the Maghreb front.

No matter how those blindly optimistic speculators claimed that the sea battle of Pelage had little effect on the situation of the war, Giovanni still faintly sensed that something was wrong.

However, although he tried to obtain the real situation in the Maghreb region through various means, on the other hand, the business of jihad loans and victory bonds was still booming, and he had no intention of stopping.

I don't know if greed is better than reason, or if it's just riding a tiger, I can only go one way to the dark.

Fortunately, the jihadi bond market in the entire Italian region has not been affected by the defeat in the naval battle. The prices of jihadi bonds issued by various banks are still rising.

After more than a week under the double torment of anxiety and suspicion, today, he finally got Raniero's letter.

The date of signing this letter is still November 11.

According to the captain of the "Seagull" carrying the messenger, after the Mulhollans gained command of the sea on the east coast of the Maghreb, they divided the large fleet into several small fleets to hunt Crusaders' ships at sea.

I don't know if it's because of the guidance of the so-called "prophet", the combat efficiency of Mulholland's ships is astonishingly high, and they can often catch lone Crusade ships, causing heavy losses to the remaining Eastern Crusade fleet.

On November 11th, the Seagull, carrying more than 5 messengers of the Crusader nobles from all walks of life, set off from the port of Tripoli and sailed for Italy with a major mission.

Only if this ship can reach Europe and bring the latest news, can it be possible to save the fate of the Eastern Crusaders.

This time, the Seagull is not alone.There are ten warships belonging to the Duke of Barr, escorting him.Because of this, the Seagull was finally able to get rid of the pursuit and interception of more than a dozen Arabian galley warships, and finally arrived at the port of Pisa smoothly.

Therefore, Giovanni was able to read Raniero's letter at this time and understand the situation in Tunisia.

According to the head of the mercenary regiment, after the Great Battle of Pelage, Emperor Sigismund, the commander of the Eastern Crusaders, realized that the long-term plan to besiege Tunisia would not work.

He decided to launch a general attack immediately, trying to win the target in a short time.For this reason, after discussing with the nobles such as King Alfonso V of Aragon, His Majesty the Emperor decided to hold a large-scale morale-boosting ceremony on the ruins of Carthage to make full preparations for the war.

Who knew that on the day of the ceremony, the Mulholland defenders of the New Carthage Fort activated a secret weapon and fired a powerful magic ray at the ruins of the amphitheater where many Crusader nobles gathered!

This attack eventually led to the death of a large number of high-level and mid-level Crusaders, and even the emperor himself, as well as Alfonso V, were seriously injured.

If it weren't for the fact that the two of them had high status and high status, and they were always wearing various protective magic props that could be activated automatically, the trouble would have been even worse.

"It's all the damn Duke of Milan's fault! He provided wrong information, making the Crusaders mistakenly think that the defenders of the New Carthage Fortress have no weapons in their hands that can threaten targets two kilometers away! Visconti must die! "

In the letter, Raniero wrote this passage in a tone of resentment.