eastern european eagle

Chapter 600 Merchants’ Route

"Everyone, today's meeting has confirmed the resolution to march to Mecca. We will have in-depth discussions on this and make some secret preparations." Peter looked around at everyone and said solemnly, "But - in order to ensure the smooth holding of the upcoming sports meeting, it will not be announced to the public for the time being. I hope everyone will abide by the laws of the empire and not leak this matter!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The eastern strategy was determined, and at this time the peace talks between Romania and the Holy Roman Empire were formally held, chaired by Martino, assisted by Lajos, and attended by more than 20 envoys. Even though the framework of the major agreement had been established, the envoys still had heated debates over some minor details.

After three days of debate, the final agreement was reached, the main contents of which are:
1. The Vienna League represented by Austria and Hungary and Romania restored peace.

2. The Vienna Union shall pay 40 lei to Hungary and Romania. At the same time, members of the Vienna Union shall not wage war against each other, and Romania will punish the initiators of the war.

This rule was established for the sake of peace in the southern region, and Albrecht dared not speak out.

Of course, if members of the Vienna League want to launch a war abroad, they must inform Romania in advance. After discussion, Constantinople will provide assistance, but Romania will not guarantee the security of its territory.

After the peace agreement, Romania extended its influence to the southern part of the Holy Roman Empire. Although it did not take Vienna, it basically achieved its goal.

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There is a small town called Alicia in the province of Dalmatia. To its east is the once glorious city of Venice, which is famous for its exquisite textiles.

There are many textile machines in the town, and the sound of weaving can be heard every day, day and night. Outsiders often worry about the residents of the town when they see this situation, but every time the locals tell them calmly: This is a good thing, it means the textile industry is booming!

In fact, this is true. Even though Venice was completely transformed by Romania, the worries of textile merchants did not come true. Not only did the textile industry not decline, but orders were far greater than before.

Early in the morning, Harold set out from the suburbs of Venice with a caravan and rushed to Alicia.

His textile factory was located in a large house near the town gate in the west of the town. As soon as he entered the house, the foreman in charge of the entire factory came to report to him: the last batch of textiles was about to be completed.

He immediately ordered everyone to work quickly and check all the finished products carefully after they were completed. Everyone present was accustomed to this because these things were custom-made by the buyer and the styles were also provided by the buyer, who was a merchant from Constantinople.

If it were more than a decade ago, Harold would not have the courage to settle down and do business in Venice, because he was a small businessman from Norway, which was once regarded as a barbarian land by the Venetians. However, Harold was fortunate to meet a big businessman from Constantinople, and with his support and funding, he moved his family to Venice to engage in the textile industry. Venice is an open city, and various industries are filled with a large number of foreigners, but most of them are of low status. Equal opportunities allow everyone to compete freely. Harold no longer has the desire to return to Norway, and would rather stay in this city full of business atmosphere.

In the evening, Harold held a banquet at home and invited several Nordic businessmen who were doing business here like him. Everyone sat at the banquet, eating delicious food, drinking wine, and talking about the great changes that Romania had brought to them in the past few years.

The atmosphere of the banquet was very lively and everyone drank a little too much. Harold went to bed early because he needed to go to Constantinople tomorrow.

The next day, after breakfast, I led the caravan to the Port of Venice. At this time, Venice was the largest commercial port in the Apennine Peninsula after land reclamation. Thousands of cargo ships entered and left the port every day, making it extremely prosperous.

Harold came to a remote dock. Although it was still early, the dock was already full of cargo ships. The ground was filled with all kinds of goods, and countless dock laborers were busy moving goods onto the ships. Fortunately, at the banquet last night, several businessmen agreed to set off for Constantinople together today. They had already booked a cargo ship and found laborers. Harold hurriedly asked the laborers to move his wooden boxes of textiles to the warehouse at the dock one by one, and then the laborers' foreman took him into the warehouse.

In the center of this huge room which was also filled with goods was the office of the Venetian port officials at the dock. After confirming the type and quantity of goods Harold wanted to ship out, they asked him to register and sign, and then after calculating the value of his entire batch of goods based on the market price, they required him to immediately pay one-tenth of the exported goods as tax.

There was also a complete set of official measuring tools in the office. The clerk carefully tested the coins and only approved his cargo ship to leave the port after confirming that they were correct.

By the time the goods were loaded onto the ship and the cargo ship left the dock, it was almost noon. Harold and his crew were on the largest cargo ship. After the entire fleet left Venice, the wind direction changed, and the fleet, with its sails raised, sped away as if it had wings. Several merchants were delighted, because with the help of the sea breeze, the fleet could reach Constantinople earlier.

But the helmsmen and lookouts of each cargo ship always maintained a high degree of concentration, and it could even be said that they were a little nervous, because since Dalmatia was returned to Roman control, this route to Constantinople has been much busier than before. At such a high speed, they must be especially careful to prevent collisions. Similar accidents occur on this route every year.

Moreover, since Romania took control of the area, it has taken many measures to strengthen trade in the past few years, the most important of which is to ensure the convenience of sea routes. For example, pirates must be severely cracked down on, and each coastal town or city-state must expand and improve its own port, especially the lighthouse...

So Harold and his fleet sailed day and night, passing through the entire Adriatic Sea without stopping at the shore to rest, and it only took two days to reach the Peloponnese.

After a short rest in the Peloponnese, the crew continued to sail eastward and entered the Sea of ​​Marmara. Some people have lived in Dalmatia for several years and have always thought that the bustling Venice Port is the largest port in the world, but when he looked at the coast of Constantinople from the ship, he was stunned because he could not see the coast at all. All he could see from south to north were ships, and those densely packed masts turned this place into a lush forest.

Due to the surge in trade in Constantinople in recent years, ships from all over the Mediterranean have come here to trade, and the once deserted Golden Horn is now crowded with ships. In order to restore order, the Ministry of Commerce classified all imported and exported goods, and each major category of goods corresponds to a port, which greatly improved management efficiency.

Since Harold and several other merchants sold different goods, they said goodbye to each other and headed to the corresponding port with their merchant ships loaded with their goods.

(End of this chapter)