Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 320 Trade Route
In ancient times, navigation often relied on passion. Faced with the boundless ocean, most people would feel powerless from the bottom of their hearts and find it difficult to fight against it, let alone conquer the ocean and plow their own marks on the nautical chart.

This is a job for the brave and also an extremely confidential job. Accurate nautical charts are often passed down from generation to generation and engraved in the captains' heads. They are rarely leaked and are the foundation of their livelihood.

The Romans have not yet found a trade route that can guarantee a stable route to India. If Orville can find a way to solve the trade route problem, it is conceivable that the elders in the central empire will have a much different view of the Flavian Dynasty, as this is a matter of vital interest to them.

After all, it is these top-level rulers who purchase the most luxury goods. They use these things as daily necessities, and the accumulated expenses over time are quite huge. If they can find ways to save some costs, they will naturally soften their attitude and show more support for the Flavian royal family.

Of course, Orville is not ready to make this matter public and publicize it for the time being.

Firstly, it was because the stability and smoothness of the route could not be guaranteed for the time being, and secondly, Orville planned to wait a few years, a hundred years after Vespa, before announcing it, so as to boost the support of the local Romans for Tia.

Conquering the ocean is also a great feat, and it is a major event that can be counted among the emperor's achievements. Orville plans to wait a few years until he has a stable Indian caravan before announcing it, so that the local people can also be happy.

Given the current situation, it is quite easy to conceal the news. Ivar certainly knows that one should not show off his wealth, and he will not show off in this unfamiliar place. As long as he claims that these goods were exchanged for the Arabs, no one will be suspicious. After all, this is in line with common sense.

After all, Ivar had just arrived in Egypt a few days before setting sail. Logically, they believed that the Vikings were uncivilized barbarians. It was certainly impossible for barbarians to accomplish things that civilized people could not do in a short period of time. This was common sense.

The Vikings circled the Red Sea for a few times, and finally exchanged some things with the Arabs and returned to the land of Egypt. This process was in line with their imagination, so Orwell just had to continue his story based on this imagination.

It is true everywhere that people are more willing to accept false facts that they have predetermined than to accept unacceptable facts.
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In the Governor's Palace and Royal Palace, Orville and Cleopatra sat side by side, listening to Ivar's stories.

"It was a difficult adventure, and we lost almost a quarter of our sailors. But it was also a rewarding adventure, and we actually succeeded in reaching India, a place that the Greek Alexander had once touched on land.

Because of the language barrier, it was difficult for us to communicate with those people, but the final result was good. We exchanged gold and Roman glass products for spices with the locals, and the cargo ship loaded with spices finally returned to Egypt. "

Ivar's tone was very excited when he spoke, and there seemed to be flames in his eyes. It was obvious that he, like his father, truly enjoyed the excitement and sense of accomplishment that adventure brought.

Orville certainly encouraged him: "This is very good. I will remember this. Can you tell me in detail what you have learned?"

"Following your idea, we bypassed the customs and came to you directly. Lord Trajan found a professional statistician for us, and I roughly calculated the profit of this trip. If you count the ship but not the pensions paid to my crew members, this voyage can bring seventeen times the profit." Ivar's tone was still a little dazed when he spoke, and it was obvious that he could not fully accept the reality. Seventeen times the profit sounded really horrifying. He had never heard of anything like it when he was in the North Sea, except for robbery of course. This was either a profit without any investment or a loss of all the money, and the profit margin was always jumping back and forth.

In fact, this was all because Ivar was not proficient in his business. According to some customs documents of the empire, the profit margin of a merchant ship could be as high as twenty-five times, just like the merchant ships that went to America during the Age of Navigation. It was high risk but high reward.

Orville was very satisfied with Ivar: "I will have someone take over the sales. You are welcome to send someone to supervise. I guarantee fairness. All the profits from this voyage will be rewarded to you and your warriors. This is a reward for your service. Of course, we will still settle the accounts according to our agreement. Do you understand this?"

"No problem. We are not the masters of this ocean. We are just serving the masters of the world. We will get our fair share, but we will not allow greed to cloud our minds."

Orville later spoke a few more words to Ivar, mostly words of encouragement. What needed to be said had already been privately booked before sailing, so there was no need to reiterate it. As for Cleopatra, she showed greater interest and professionalism in the voyage itself than Orville.

After obtaining Orville's permission, she asked first: "I have a general understanding of the sea conditions in the Indian Ocean. At this time, it is obviously against the current to go back to Egypt along the land from India. How did you do this?"

"We circled the sea, first from India to the land of the Aksumites (Ethiopia), and then from there back to Egypt. There was a tailwind along the way, so it was actually very fast."

The almost dead geographical memory began to attack Orville's brain again. This was related to the monsoon climate of the Indian Ocean. In short, it was not easy for Ivar to do this.

The young Egyptian king was not at all reluctant to show off his erudition. She then asked a few more very practical questions before getting to the point: "I know a scholar who studies astronomy and navigation. Can I show you her results?"

There were not many people who studied astronomy and navigation, and the only one who used the feminine word was Hypatia. Although she was currently surveying maps for Auvers, Cleopatra still remembered him. She had some impression of the scholars in the great library and their expertise.

After showing Hypatia's improved astrolabe to Ivar, he quickly realized its importance. After repeatedly studying and trying it out, and roughly understanding the difference between it and the old astrolabe, he confidently replied, "If possible, I would like this thing to appear in the hands of every captain of my ships. It is definitely more useful and more accurate than the previous astrolabe, and it is a valuable achievement."

Although they were classified as barbarians, Ivar and his people did not reject new technologies. On the contrary, they welcomed all truly useful things. Obviously, equipment that could assist in navigation was a useful thing.

(End of this chapter)