Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1123, the temptation is great
In the ancient and luxurious palace of Cairo, Redding, who was dressed in luxurious clothes, respectfully came to Sultan Kansu II of the Mamluk Kingdom of Egypt.

Kansu II was a young sultan who had just come to power not long ago. He was young and ambitious. The war between the Mamluk Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire has never stopped.

The two countries have been competing for land in North Africa, the Middle East, and the leadership of the Arab world, but the Mamluk Kingdom has been at a disadvantage until the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire went to war, which severely damaged the Ottoman Empire and greatly damaged the strength of the Ottoman Empire.

The Mamluk Kingdom finally recovered some of its decline, gained some advantages in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and recovered many lands previously occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

The young Kansu II looked at the merchant Redding in front of him. He knew that Redding was just an ordinary one among many merchants.

Later, relying on the slave trade business with the Ming people, he quickly became rich, which is famous in Egypt and even the entire Middle East.

"Great Sultan~"

Redding saluted Kansu II very respectfully.

"Redding, why did you come to see me?"

Kansu II nodded in satisfaction, thought for a while and asked.

"Great Sultan, in the past two days, Prime Minister Zuo of Ningguo returned to Tianzhu from the Mediterranean and passed by our Egypt. He and I are old friends, so I warmly entertained my friends who came from afar."

"During the chat with him, he proposed a grand plan to me. This is a great plan that is extremely important to us Egypt, to the great Sudan, and to our Egypt and Ming Dynasty."

Reading actively described the grandeur and greatness of this plan in words.

His words also made Kansu II look curious, and immediately asked with a smile: "What great plan?"

"I'm very curious about what kind of plan it is that can be called grand."

"Great Sultan!"

"Prime Minister Liu proposed to build a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea here in Egypt."

Redding pondered for a while, and said slowly.

"A canal?"

"Through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea?"

When Kansu II heard this, his eyes widened slightly.

"Yes, great sultan~"

"From the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, if you take the sea route, you need to go around the whole of Africa, and the journey will take tens of thousands of miles, and the wind and waves along the way are extremely prone to accidents. Shipwrecks occur every year."

"For the Ming people, this has seriously hindered their business routes to Europe. If a canal can be built through the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, it will not only shorten the distance and time, but also reduce the risk of traveling to and from Europe."

"This is very helpful to Daming people."

"Of course, this is also of great significance to our great Sudan and Egypt."

"After the canal is completed, our great Sudan and Egypt can lie down and collect money. I have calculated that even if a ship charges one hundred taels of silver for a single pass, it can pass tens of thousands of times in a year. You don’t have to do anything for a year, and you can collect several million taels of silver just by collecting tolls.”

"This is definitely a lucrative business. As long as there is such a huge income every year, our great Sudan and great Egypt can become even richer, and then we can arm more powerful troops. The entire Arab world will be united by you, the great Sultan."

Redding persuaded Kansu II with very seductive words.

"This is indeed a very grand plan!"

Kansu II listened carefully, and couldn't help but nodded after listening to the contemplation.

If such a canal can really be built, it will indeed be beneficial to the Ming people, but it will also be very beneficial to their Egyptians.

The tolls for this canal can be received softly.

A few million taels of silver a year is also a great temptation for Kansu II.

The political situation of the Mamluk Kingdom has not been very stable. There have been many short-lived sultans, and they have changed too frequently. The military nobles within the dynasty are extremely corrupt and depraved. They used to be slaves of the Caliph, and then gradually became military groups, and then became The rulers of Egypt have been corrupted for a long time.

These military aristocrats only care about their own interests, but have no regard for the interests of the country. Therefore, as long as the policies issued by the sultan do not conform to their interests, they will immediately find a way to overthrow the sultan and replace them with others.

At the same time, externally, uprisings broke out frequently in areas such as Syria, and the Ottoman Empire was eyeing it. Portugal and Spain in Europe also coveted this place.

It can be said that although the Mamluk Kingdom is quite prosperous now, it has already suffered from internal and external troubles. Historically, the Mamluk Kingdom was wiped out by the Ottoman Empire more than ten years later.

Knowing his own situation well, Kansu II is also trying to solve these problems, the most important of which involves the issue of money. Just like the previous Emperor Hongzhi, nothing can be done without money.

If the canal is repaired, he can obtain a huge wealth of one million taels of silver every year, which will be extremely helpful for him to solve internal and external troubles.

"Great Sultan~"

"As long as you agree, you can discuss this matter with the prime minister of Ningguo in detail now. The Ming people are willing to bear the funds, technology and construction. We only need to allow them to dig the canal and provide some trivial help."

"When the canal is completed, we can sit down with the people of Daming and share the proceeds equally."

Leiding moved Kansu II's heart, and said quickly.

"Equal share with Daming people?"

When Kansu II heard this, he frowned slightly, thought for a while and said, "Why can't we open this canal by ourselves?"

"Great Sultan, you are the greatest existence in the world~"

"There's nothing you can't do if you want to."

When Lei Ding heard this, he quickly flattered him, and then changed the subject and said, "To build the canal, at least tens of millions of taels of silver are needed, which is an extremely huge sum."

"In addition, building the canal requires hundreds of thousands of huge slaves and extremely high canal construction technology. In these respects, we are still a little behind the Ming people."

He used extremely euphemistic words to tell the young Sudan in front of him that he could eat alone if he wanted to, but the key was to see if he had the ability.

Do you have wealth of tens of millions of taels of silver?

Can you use hundreds of thousands of slaves to build canals?
Do you have the experience and skills to build canals?

The construction of the canal is not just by opening the mouth, it needs huge manpower, material resources, financial resources and advanced technology to build it.

In the entire world, only the Ming Empire can provide such funds, possess such technology, and have such huge financial and material resources.

"Need tens of millions of taels of silver?"

When Kansu II heard it, he fell silent immediately.

He really couldn't get out such a huge amount of money, not to mention him, even the whole of Egypt would have a hard time getting it out.

Not to mention the technology. Over such a long period of time, the Egyptians tried to build the canal several times, but ended in failure every time. This is enough to show that their technology is not good enough.

But the Ming people were different. They built the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the Tang Dynasty, running through the north and south of Huaxia Shenzhou. They even built the Lingqu Canal in the Qin Dynasty to facilitate the Qin army to transport grain, grass and luggage to South Vietnam. go.

A mere [-]-mile canal is really nothing to the people of Ming Dynasty.

"Well, I can cooperate with the people of Daming to dig the canal, and we can also share the benefits brought by the canal."

After a while of silence, Kansu II also agreed.

There is no way, if you are interested in this piece of meat, and you have no way to get it yourself, then it is a wise choice to partner with others, otherwise it will be useless to guard a desert somewhere.

"Great Sultan, you are the embodiment of wisdom."

"I will introduce you to Prime Minister Liu of Ningguo. He has also written to Daming's Minister of Officials, Liu Jin. Liu Jin has an unparalleled influence in the entire Daming. I believe that this matter will definitely be successful."

"When the canal is completed, the great sultan can get huge wealth every year. May you, the great sultan, become the richest person in the world."

When Lei Ding heard this, he immediately became happy, and quickly slapped Kansu II.

Soon, under Leiding's recommendation, Liu Yangzheng, Zhou Jingming and others came to the palace and were received by King Kansu II.

In fact, in the identities of Liu Yangzheng and Zhou Jingming, it is very easy to ask to see the Egyptian Sultan, but if there is nothing to do, if they are just passing by, naturally it is better not to bother them.

Liu Yangzheng and Zhou Jingming also explained their plans in detail to Kansu II and the important ministers and nobles of the Mamluk Kingdom.

Some agreements were roughly reached, the main thing is that everyone will work together to dig the canal. After the canal is dug, both parties will share the proceeds, half of which is on the Egyptian side and half on the Daming side.

The funds needed for excavating the canal will be raised by the Ming people. For the manpower needed, the Ming people will need to find a way to get [-] people, and the Egyptian side will also provide [-] people. The canal will be dug in five years.

The required technology is in charge of the Daming people. For other materials that can be solved by the Egyptian side, the Egyptian side will solve them, and the Daming people will be responsible for the unsolvable ones.

It can be said that the negotiation between the two parties is still very good, because of the relationship between the Ottoman Empire, the relationship between Daming and the Mamluk Kingdom is still very good, and the Mamluk Kingdom even sent envoys to Daming.

　[-] people, five years should be about the same. The Suez Canal in history has been dug for ten years, but there are no [-] people~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)