My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 800 The Reputation of the Merchant of Venice

"You said that the Ottomans have no intention of forming a long-term alliance with us. What evidence do you have?"

Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but asked curiously when he heard Basa's words.

"Yes, when I was collecting intelligence in the Ottomans, I found that the Ottomans only said that Governor Mufas led his troops to conquer Egypt, but did not mention anything about cooperating with the Han Dynasty to send troops. Even many Ottomans did not know. Egypt was jointly run by the Han and Ottomans.”

Barsa took a breath when he said this, and then continued.

"Even before I came to Egypt, I only knew that the Han Dynasty occupied some places in Egypt, but I didn't know that the Han Dynasty and the Ottomans occupied half of Egypt's territory respectively. Imagine that the Ottomans were not even willing to tell the people in the country the facts. How could you be willing to let the Han occupy half of Egypt?"

"Is there such a thing?"

Although Zhu Zhanhe had long known that the Ottomans had evil intentions, he did not expect that they would be so stingy and even unwilling to let the country know about the alliance.

"Your Highness, before I come to Dahan, the Ottomans are gathering forces and preparing to attack our island of Cyprus. This island is blocking the way between the Ottomans and Egypt. If they want to get in touch with Egypt, they must break through our Venetian sea. The line of defense, either in a big circle along the coast.”

Barcelona suddenly said again at this time.

"Before they sent troops, they bypassed the island of Cyprus, but if they were allowed to occupy the island of Cyprus, then there would be no obstacles between the Ottomans and Egypt, and their army could enter Egypt at any time. This is definitely not a good thing for the big man. information!"

Now the Ottomans are not as powerful as later generations. Their land is mainly concentrated in the Asia Peninsula and is not connected to Egypt on land. Therefore, the Ottomans and Egypt can only be connected by sea.

However, the island of Cyprus blocked the sea route between the Ottomans and Egypt, and the island of Cyprus was an important territory for the Venetians. It was precisely because of the important position of this island that Venice could control the commerce in the Mediterranean. Therefore, the two countries fought for this island. War breaks out constantly.

Zhu Zhanhe looked thoughtful after hearing these words from Basa. After a while, he looked up at him and said, "Mr. Basa, you are really an excellent lobbyist. I have to say, you These words moved me!”

"Your Highness, it's not my words that moved you, but the greed of Osman, which prevents you and the big man from trusting them. Instead of cooperating with these wolves, Your Highness should consider our Venice. As a commercial city-state, we Our credibility has always been well-known!”

When Barcelona mentioned Venice's credibility, they couldn't help but puff up their chests with pride.

The Venetian merchants are indeed very reputable, otherwise they would not be able to monopolize the commercial trade of the entire Mediterranean. However, these merchants are also very cunning. When signing agreements with others, they often leave some clauses that outsiders cannot pay attention to. If they are not careful, they will Maybe they took advantage of him, so later generations had the famous "The Merchant of Venice".

But in general, although the Venetian merchants are cunning, at least they still cooperate within a framework that can communicate. As long as both parties reach an agreement and there is no conflict of interest, this kind of cooperation can last for a long time, otherwise others will not Willing to do business with them.

In contrast, the thinking of the Ottomans is closer to that of bandits. What is mine is mine, and what is yours is also mine. They have no idea of ​​win-win cooperation at all. Even if they can cooperate briefly for common interests at the beginning, as long as they If given the chance, they would turn against them without hesitation. This was the main reason why Zhu Zhanhe was on guard against the Ottomans from the beginning.

"Very good, your Venice is indeed a good partner, but can you represent the opinions of Venice's top management?"

Zhu Zhanhe nodded slightly, and then asked Barcelona again. "I am confident that I can convince the Governor. Not to mention anything else, the relationship between Miss Helen and His Royal Highness is enough to make the Governor willing to cooperate with the big man. What's more, this matter is also beneficial to our Venice!"

Barcelona nodded with certainty.

"Don't talk to me like this. Your Venetian political system is different from ours. Although the governor has great power, as far as I know, you also have a ten-person parliament. They can even refute the governor's order. In addition, there are A so-called Great Council seems to have a lot of power."

Zhu Zhanhe reminded him with a smile.

Venice is a city-state. The highest official is the Governor, who is elected by the Grand Council. Although he serves for life, his power is limited by the Congress. However, there are hundreds of people in the Grand Council, and their opinions are often not unified. So later, a The Council of Ten had greater power and could even sometimes sideline the Governor.

Therefore, for major matters such as cooperating with the Han Dynasty or even forming an alliance, just the governor's nod is not enough. You must at least convince the ten-person council.

"Your Highness, there is no need to worry about this. Our governor is from the Foscari family of Venice. The entire family has great influence in Venice. Half of the ten-member Parliament are directly or indirectly related to the Foscari family of Venice. , the remaining five also maintain friendly relations with the Governor.”

Barcelona paused for a moment before continuing.

"So as long as the governor agrees, the ten-member parliament will definitely not stop it. What's more, we have been under tremendous pressure from the Ottomans in recent years. Years of war have not only caused heavy casualties to our ships and personnel, but even our business has been affected. Therefore, if we can form an alliance with a country as powerful as the Han Dynasty, all Venetians will definitely cheer!"

"Okay! Since you are so sure, then I will agree to cooperate with you, but this requires a precondition!"

Zhu Zhanhe slapped the table at this time, then stared at Barcelona with burning eyes and said.

"What are the prerequisites?"

Basa frowned and immediately asked Zhu Zhanhe.

He thought he had convinced the Crown Prince, but he didn't expect that the other party would actually put forward another condition.

"This condition is actually very simple. Before we dig the canal, you must ensure that the island of Cyprus does not fall into the hands of the Ottomans, otherwise it will be very detrimental to us in the future!"

Zhu Zhanhe said again in a solemn voice.

The island of Cyprus is between the Ottomans and Egypt. If it is captured by the Ottomans before the canal is dug, the Ottomans will be able to deploy heavy troops in Egypt unimpeded, and the logistics can be replenished in time. When Zhu Zhanhe wants to send troops to It would probably take a lot of effort to drive the Ottomans out of Egypt.

(End of this chapter)