I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 885 Black Sea Storm
Shen Wanxiang said calmly: "Just wait and see!
We will continue to grant each other the most-favored-nation status in trade with Portugal. If the Ottomans want it, we can also give it. Anyway, they are the only two agents for our Ming goods in Duzhou (Europe).”

Zhao Shizhen asked: "What if Venice wants it?"

"Venice wants it? Then wait until their ships can reach the port controlled by the Ming Dynasty, send an envoy to pay tribute, meet the emperor, and obtain the imperial edict.

Before we left Beijing this time, the cabinet organized a special meeting. The meaning of the Shaofujian was that in a few years, after the navy drove the Spanish forces out of Genxunzhou and developed a settlement on the east coast, we would gradually increase the trade window with Duizhou.

We can then adjust our countermeasures based on the actual situation.”

"it is good."

Everyone nodded.

Wang Yongji stroked his beard and said, "Okay, let's make it like this. Queen Mother Nurbanu and the Venetian forces are on the side of the Ottoman court, and we will just pretend to be friendly with them.

There is no point in offending them, and there is no point in cooperating with them.”

Zhao Shizhen suddenly asked: "What if they know that we have an agreement with Portugal and become jealous and try to make trouble for us?"

Everyone looked at him, then turned to look at the chief envoy of the diplomatic corps, Shen Wanxiang.

"Making trouble?" Shen Wanxiang laughed, "Then they don't want to be friends of the Ming Dynasty, they want to be enemies of the Ming Dynasty."

He didn't continue talking, and no one else asked any further questions.

Most of the graves of the Ming Dynasty’s enemies were covered with grass several feet high.

Shen Wanxiang glanced at everyone and said, "Okay, now let's discuss the interests of other forces in the Ottoman court."

“The other forces are nothing more than the central power group headed by the Great Viasokulu, and the local power groups headed by Vizialala Pasha, Kafir Pasha, Osman Pasha, and Ferhad Pasha.

They controlled the Ottoman guards (Yaniseri) and local cavalry (Sipahi) and hoped to achieve great success and plunder more wealth. "

"Since the defeat in the Battle of Lepanto, although the Ottoman navy recovered quickly and regained control of the eastern Mediterranean, they became very cautious in attacking the Christian world westward by land and sea.

Therefore, these central and local powerful people had only two directions to achieve success and plunder wealth. One was to go eastward and attack from the Caucasus and Albania to continue attacking Persia.

The second is to go north and compete with the Principality of Moscow for the fertile and vast land on the northern coast of the Black Sea."

Shen Wanxiang stopped and looked at everyone, waiting to speak.

Wang Yongji said: "The north is solid and the east is empty."

"Ming Shou, tell everyone in detail."

“In the north, our Ming army is encroaching eastward from the old territory of the Siberian Khanate, and is in fierce conflict with the army of the Moscow Principality.

Then the countries south of Moscow that are suzerained by the Ottoman Empire are our allies. We need to communicate well with them, attack from multiple directions, and disperse the military forces of Moscow.

In the east, our Ming Dynasty needs to join forces with Persia to suppress the situation in Khorasan and Afghanistan."

"In this case, we in the Ming Dynasty have the opportunity to cooperate with the Ottoman Empire and Persia."

"That's right. The Ottomans and Persians fight their own battles, and we, the Ming Dynasty, remain neutral. We will not interfere in their affairs, and we will each discuss our own affairs."

Zhao Shizhen asked curiously: "Osman, and Persia, to which we will be visiting soon, will they accept our position?"

"Diplomacy is not black and white. For the old enemies of the Ottoman Empire and Persia, as long as the Ming Dynasty does not stand on the side of the opponent, it will be a victory."

"We are a clam and a crane fighting, but the fisherman is the winner. They should be able to see that."

"Yes, the fact is that they know we want to take advantage of others, and we also know that they know we want to take advantage of others, but everyone knows it tacitly."

Zhao Shizhen shook his head. "You diplomats are all playing tricks. You can't beat them! Let's just continue to do our duties as a scientific expedition team."

Two days later, Sokol Davia sent someone to invite Shen Wanxiang and his party.

Everyone walked into a palace, where several groups of people were sitting.

Osman Vizialala Pasha stood up, greeted Shen Wanxiang and his party, and began to introduce them.

"This is Kafir Pasha, the governor of Ottoman Kaffa."

Kafir Pasha!
The Ming envoys glanced at each other secretly.

This mighty man with a high turban and a full beard was the highest commander of the Ottomans in the Black Sea region. The city of Kaffa (now Feodosia, Crimean Peninsula) where he was stationed was said to have been the trade center of the Black Sea region since Roman times.

Since the rise of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman occupation of the city of Kaffa, it has become the largest slave trading center in the Black Sea.

The cavalry of the Crimean Khanate attacked villages in the East European steppes in groups, captured young men, women and children, transported them to the city of Kaffa, and then shipped them to Istanbul by sea.

Young men were sold as slaves, while young women entered the Sultan's harem and the nobles' palaces as female slaves. Boys were castrated and trained to become eunuchs in the Sultan's harem or officers in the royal guard.

After reading this information, Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji understood why the whole of Europe responded enthusiastically to the call of the Vatican, especially the Mediterranean coastal areas of Eastern and Southern Europe, which were eager to perish together with the Ottoman Empire.

There is no love for no reason, and no hate for no reason.

Eastern Europe was plundered by the Crimean Khanate, and Southern Europe was harassed by the Barbary Pirates. The big boss behind these two forces was the Ottoman Empire.

Think about how the southeastern coastal areas of our Ming Dynasty were tormented by Japanese pirates for decades, and everyone hated the Japanese pirates to the core!
By the same token, Eastern and Southern Europe had a deep blood feud with the Ottoman Empire and its running dogs, the Crimean Khanate and the Barbary Pirates!
Blood feud is good!

The deep conflicts between you make it convenient for me, the Ming Dynasty, to act with ease.

Lala Pasha continued to introduce: "This is Adilgili, the Khan of the Crimean Khanate, this is Jidiyamsai, the prince of the Astrakhan Khanate, this is Ilme Khan of the Nogai Khanate, and this is Dervi Khan of the Kazan Khanate."

The Principality of Moscow has risen in recent decades. The Khanate of Astrakhan and the Khanate of Kazan were successively conquered and incorporated into the Principality of Moscow, and the royal family and nobles were exiled to the Crimean Khanate and the Caucasus region.

The Nogai Khanate was torn apart by internal strife more than 20 years ago. The eastern part was annexed by the Kazakh Khanate and is now incorporated into the Kipchak Steppe region of the Ming Dynasty.

The west became a vassal of the Crimean Khanate and was Osman's adopted grandson.

In order to save face this time, Osman even gathered them together, with good intentions.

Lala Pasha and Sokollu Pasha exchanged glances and continued, "We are sitting together today to deal with our common enemy, the Principality of Moscow."

Before Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji went to Europe, they obtained a large amount of intelligence collected by the Military Intelligence Agency on the Western Front.

Over the past few decades, since Ivan IV proclaimed himself Tsar, the Principality of Moscow has launched military operations against the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Astrakhan, seizing large tracts of land.

The Ottoman Empire was very anxious as its vassal states were defeated one after another, which led to the gradual loss of its hegemony in the Black Sea region.

In particular, after the Principality of Moscow destroyed the Khanate of Kazan and occupied part of the land of the Nogai Khanate, it gradually advanced into the Caucasus region.

It is located on a high ground, overlooking the Ottoman heartland.

In order to seize that strategic high ground, the Ottomans had fought with the Persians on that barren land for decades. Now, a big bear has come. They can’t handle it!

Therefore, the Ottoman court urgently needed someone to contain the Principality of Moscow in the northern Black Sea region.

Now that other vassal khanates have either been destroyed or divided, the Crimean Khanate is attacked from all sides and it is difficult for it to do anything.

When Sokulu learned that the Ming Dynasty, the giant dragon from the East, was rushing straight from Siberia and the Kipchak steppe, he wanted to pull him into the game after a little consideration.

After two days of talks, the parties reached a preliminary consensus that the Ming Dynasty and the Ottoman Empire would work together. The Ottoman Empire would support the Crimean Khanate and the Astrakhan Khanate, while the Ming Dynasty would support the Nogai Khanate and the Kazan Khanate. They would attack the Principality of Moscow from the east, south, and west.

Sokollu Pasha and Lala Pasha entered Topkapi Palace to report the preliminary results of the multi-party talks to Murad III and Nurbanu Sultan.

Lala Pasha asked softly on the way into the palace.

"The Grand Vizia, Crimea, Astrakhan, Nogai and Kazan Khanates are all dependent on the Ming. If they see the powerful military strength of the Ming, they will quickly turn to the Ming and become its vassal."

Sokulu shook his head. "I know this. The Khanates in the Black Sea are all wolves that cannot be tamed. When Abdul was on a diplomatic mission to the Ming Dynasty, he collected a lot of intelligence.

The Ming Dynasty had nearly one million soldiers, all of whom were armed with firearms and were very powerful. On the western front, they had occupied the area east of the Syr Darya River and the vast Kipchak steppe, and their troops had reached the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea and the banks of the Ural River.

The pause for several years without any further advances is the result of the land that has been occupied.”

"Such a vast land, it must be difficult to digest in a short time?"

"Not necessarily." Sokulu waved his hand. "Abdul said that the Ming Dynasty subjugated hundreds of thousands of Mongols."

"Mongol?"

"It's the Mongols on the Mongolian Plateau who really made the whole world tremble. They are not comparable to those bastards who call themselves Mongols.

I don't know what means the Ming Dynasty used, but the Mongols remained loyal. Then they were equipped with muskets and artillery and marched westward.

Abdul talked with Kodaban, the Persian envoy to the Ming Dynasty.

Persia accepted some Uzbeks and Kyrgyz who escaped from the Uzbek steppes. They described the battles with the Ming army and said that the current Ming Mongolian cavalry was more fierce and powerful than the Mongolian cavalry in the past.

Lala Pasha understood, "Grand Vizier, you mean that the Ming Dynasty will distribute these vast and fertile lands to the Mongols. Wouldn't that be a replica of the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate, and the Ilkhanate?"

"Lara Pasha, it's not that simple. The Ming people have a history of thousands of years, and what they are best at is integrating many tribes. The intelligence collected by Abdul shows that the Ming's strategy on the western front is to drive out Muslims and support the Mongols, Uzbeks, and Turks who believe in Buddhism and shamanism. This is a very clever method."

As they were talking, they looked up and arrived at the gate of Topkapi Palace.

Sokollu made it short: “Our primary concern now is the Caucasus.

It is too important for us. Whether it falls into the hands of the Persians or the Moscow Slavs, it will be a knife to our necks.

We the Ottomans are fully capable of dealing with the Persians alone, but if Moscow or the Ming intervene, we will have difficulty coping.

At present, the Principality of Moscow is closer to the Caucasus. These Eastern Slavs have always wanted to turn the Black Sea into their own inner lake. In comparison, the Principality of Moscow is more interested in the Black Sea and the Caucasus, and the threat to our Ottoman Empire is also greater.

As for whether those ungrateful people will surrender to the Ming Dynasty? Haha, it is not easy to be a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. "

As he spoke, Sokollu held his head high and walked into the gate of Topkapi Palace first.

Lala Pasha looked at his back with flickering eyes, and followed him in.

(End of this chapter)