Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 383 Canal
Among the many predictions made by Gellis, there are actually three that are specific to historical events.

First, the fall and rebirth of Jerusalem, then the fall of Constantinople, and finally the changes in the Far East will have an impact on the world.

The first two predictions have been verified, but as for the third one, it is actually difficult for everyone to understand what is going on.

Gailis never clearly stated the specific situation. After all, he was not very sure whether the Mongols would inevitably rise.

If the fall of Jerusalem was a high-probability event, and the Fourth Crusade could be driven by itself, then the movements of the Mongols would be like a lottery.

However, although Garys would be ambiguous when discussing this topic with others, there was nothing to hide when facing his wife.

Gellis took Isabella back to his study and took out a hand-drawn world map from the bookshelf.

On this world map, the Kingdom of Jerusalem is indeed almost in the middle of the world, but it is as small as a seed.

In contrast to the tiny country of Jerusalem are those vast great countries.

Southern Song, Jin, Khwarezm...

The Khitan mentioned by Gellis is pronounced as Liao on this map.

Just by looking at the comparison of land area, one can feel the huge difference in national strength between the two sides.

If it weren't for the tyranny of distance that isolated many risks, and the extremely low mobilization capabilities of most countries in this era, Jerusalem would not have been on the table.

In fact, this is true. As time goes by, the voice of medium-sized countries like Jerusalem becomes smaller and smaller.

"Although I don't value the power of a single country, and would rather unite many nation-states in the form of an alliance, if there is no major power in the alliance that can withstand the pressure, then when faced with danger, it will easily become a pile of sand."

"Jerusalem's strength is not enough, and the Syrian region is also very limited. The Nile Delta in Egypt will be the core of the alliance."

When she said this, Isabella pointed out a problem.

"But considering our national strength, it would still be a bit difficult to directly declare a full-scale war on Egypt."

Garys naturally agrees with this.

"So, we also need allies, and this ally will be a win-win with us. This is another point I want to talk about - a canal, a canal that allows galleys to sail from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea."

For the Middle East, where the land is not suitable for accumulating a large population, trade is a necessary prerequisite for survival.

It is not only necessary to trade within the Middle East, but also to expand the scale of trade between the East and the West, so that capital sufficient to promote large-scale production can be accumulated here.

"Digging a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea is not a particularly difficult task. We have collected a lot of relevant information."

Gellis pointed on the map to the left of the Sinai Peninsula, near the Nile River.

Unlike the Panama Canal, the difficulty of digging the Panama Canal is impossible for this era.

During the process of digging the Panama Canal by the British, at least 40,000 workers died due to the tropical climate. In addition, there is a high and low sea level difference between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Direct excavation would inevitably lead to seawater backflow.

Charles V had the idea in 1534, but the Americans succeeded in excavating it in 1913.

But the Suez Canal, compared to the river that directly connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea in later generations, has a relatively simple alternative. That is to connect several lakes in the Isthmus of Suez, and then dig two rivers separately, one leading to the Red Sea and the other to the Nile River.

(The red line is the Pharaoh Canal)
This river channel was planned as early as the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and was completed during the reign of Senusret III of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, around 1800 BC.

In 1470 BC, there was a record that the Egyptian expeditionary force returned to Cairo directly by boat from the Red Sea, which also indirectly proved the authenticity of the canal.

In addition to these relatively superficial memories in Gellis' mind, Jerusalem's research on Islamic history over the past few years has also provided a lot of information.

For example, the Abbasid Caliph Mansur ordered the canal closed in 767 to prevent supplies from flowing to dissidents in the Arabian Peninsula.

Then there is a lot of evidence that the Fatimid Caliph Hakim repaired the canal from Cairo to the Red Sea.

But due to poor maintenance, the canal was quickly clogged with sand two hundred years ago.

After that, the Fatimid dynasty began to decline, and coupled with the confrontation between Saladin and the Crusaders, naturally no one cared about this ancient canal anymore.

But Gérice will pay attention to it. It can even be said that not only Gérice, but even the Venetians will be very interested in this plan.

"Sooner or later, Western Europe will find a route to the East, and maritime trade will connect every country in the world."

“Therefore, the rise of maritime trade is inevitable.”

"But by then, the Venetians would be in trouble because the Mediterranean is a big bathtub. All the goods loaded by the Venetians on the galleys would need to be transported over long distances by land."

"The timeliness and volume of goods transported by camel caravans cannot compare with those transported by sea."

"Without the canal, if they wanted to participate in this trade, it would mean going out of Gibraltar and venturing into an ocean they were not familiar with. This would be difficult for the Venetians and they would not be able to compete with the countries along the Atlantic coast."

In 1488, Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope, opening a sea trade route to India and the Spice Islands and forever changing the balance of Mediterranean trade.

The Venetians became the biggest losers in this process.

In this situation, Venice tried to negotiate with the Mamluks to dig a canal to facilitate their ships to travel directly to India.

But in the end, both the Venetians and the Mamluks were defeated by the Ottomans.

Naturally, no one mentioned Venice's canal plan.

"Tell the Venetians to provide us with cheap loans, buy our national debt, and support our liberation of Egypt."

"In return, we will provide them with a direct route to India, without the need for Arabs to act as middlemen in the process."

"I think the Venetians will be interested in this plan."

Although the Atlantic trade had not yet threatened Venice at this time, the Venetians would not ignore the temptation of going directly to India.

Watching Garys talking, Isabella smiled. She was enjoying this moment.

(End of this chapter)