Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 176 Carthage Must Be Destroyed
Regarding Muhammad's suggestion, the queen mother thought for a while, and then turned to Guo Kang: "Son, what do you think?"

Guo Kang didn't expect her to give up thinking so soon, so he had to think for a while, and then asked: "Does the Queen Mother remember the first Khan Basil's march into Naples?"

The Queen Mother thought for a while and nodded.

"Do you still remember his intention to send troops at that time?" Guo Kang asked, looking around at the crowd again.

"There is a problem with the succession of the Anjou family in the Kingdom of Sicily, and several branches are constantly fighting. The Kingdom of Aragon wants to take the opportunity to intervene and expand its territory to southern Italy." Theodora and her grandmother looked at each other, and then said : "Basil believes that the Greek region is already an important territory for us, and a powerful enemy cannot be allowed to appear so close to the sea. Therefore, at the invitation of France, he sent troops to help the Anjou family and expelled the Aragonese army."

Guo Kang nodded.

Originally, Sicily and southern Italy belonged to the same kingdom, but after the Sicilian Vespers War, the king of the French Anjou family was expelled from the island by the Aragonese army, leaving only the territory of Italy.

Because the capital is in Naples, this period is also commonly known as the Kingdom of Naples, but their own official name is still the Kingdom of Sicily to show their orthodoxy.This leads to the existence of two Sicilian kingdoms at the same time, which is quite easy to confuse people.

"Everyone has not forgotten their ambitions." Guo Kang reminded: "Before, the Kingdom of Aragon pretended to appoint a member of the royal family as the sole king of Sicily. But just a few years ago, even this formal performance No. Their army has been operating near Sicily, and I estimate that in a few years, they will attack Naples again and annex it."

"And the Anjou family, as you have seen, will definitely not be able to stop them. Although France supports them, they cannot achieve substantial results."

"Last year, the battle for the throne of Aragon ended, and the new king Fernando just came to the throne." Guo Kang paused and asked, "Do you still remember his title? I always can't remember these things that are too long..."

Theodora nodded: "King of Aragon, King of Valencia, King of Mallorca, King of Sardinia, King of Sicily, King of Corsica, Duke of Athens..."

"Okay, just get here." Guo Kang hurriedly interrupted her: "How can you recite it..."

"Isn't this something you have to learn in diplomacy courses?" Theodora murmured, "You want to be a think tank and still be lazy?"

"I didn't say I wanted to be." Guo Kang scratched his head. "Anyway, let's see, people have been claiming the entire Kingdom of Sicily, as well as the territory of the former so-called Principality of Athens."

"A few decades ago, we might not have paid much attention to these places, but as Basil said, the Greek region is already an important core territory for us. Can we tolerate him coveting Athens?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"The Greek region is our core territory, so Naples is an important border that cannot allow the enemy to exist for a long time. The Adriatic Sea is not wide, and pirates and invading troops can come from Naples at any time, making the Greek region unsafe. Our fence , do you want to give it to someone else?"

"It's really not working," Tuo Huan said.

"This new king has just defeated all competitors, and it is very likely that he will take new actions, especially when we have too many enemies and may not be able to take care of them for the time being." Guo Kang said: "Don't forget, the country It was expanded step by step from the Spanish peninsula, and what they always wanted was the hegemony of the Mediterranean."

"But the Mediterranean Sea is too small to accommodate two masters." Guo Kang shook his head and tapped on the armrest of the chair: "Who do you think is the right master?"

"Whether in theological or secular sense, Rome should be the master of the Mediterranean Sea." Lama Wang nodded and said.

"Everyone remembers that we are Rome." Guo Kang said: "Then don't forget that these countries in Iberia have been merging with each other, and now there are only three left."

"This Portugal is not an honest person. He is now going to seize this port not only for the benefit of the Mediterranean." He reminded everyone: "Don't forget, starting from Morocco, there is another direction of expansion."

"The place where the Murabbit dynasty started was not Morocco itself, but the Senegal River in the south. While they were attacking north, they also attacked the Kingdom of Ghana in the south. Because it is also very rich and an important source of gold."

"After the collapse of the Murabbit Dynasty and the Kingdom of Ghana, the more powerful Kingdom of Mali emerged locally. Their most famous deed is that King Musa passed through Egypt in 1324 and went on a pilgrimage. Along the way, the gold spent and donated , causing the price of gold in Egypt to drop by a fifth, and it took more than a decade to recover.”

"How are they so rich?" asked the Queen Mother in surprise.

"That kind of thing is produced over there." Guo Kang replied: "Moreover, the transportation from West Africa to the Mediterranean is very convenient. At present, there are six main roads alone, and each road has more than 6 camel caravans. Musa's pilgrimage It is said that there are as many as [-] people in the team, and it has not been seen that the supply along the way cannot keep up."

"Sea transportation is also very convenient. Western European fleets can't pass through Morocco, and they feel that the outside world is a wild land, but in fact it's just that their own navigation skills are not good enough. In the era of the Pharaohs, the Egyptians circled the whole of Africa."

"Of course, this case is just an example. It may be that their king did it on purpose." Guo Kang analyzed: "The local culture was originally relatively backward, but after this series of demonstrations, the Egyptians know their reputation. Mu As a result, Sa was able to bring a large number of scholars, architects, and businessmen back to Timbuktu, and bought real estate in Cairo and Mecca as transit points for travelers. In this way, the trade route will be smoother.”

"And the scholars who went to West Africa from Egypt and Andalusia helped him build a new city and opened a college to promote education. At one time, there were thousands of people studying in Timbuktu's university, many of whom came from Spain. In this way, the local civilization has successfully risen to a higher level."

"Anyway, spending money is also a skillful thing." He concluded: "Gold is not particularly valuable in their hometown, but when it is spent in this way, it immediately turns into more financial channels and national power, even including the military. Power upgrade."

"After that, the Kingdom of Mali organized more than 1 cavalry, defeated the Tuareg nomads who often came to plunder, and conquered a part of Sudan eastward, controlled the gold mines there, and established opened a trade route through the whole of Africa, from the coast of West Africa to the Red Sea region."

"These people seem to be taken advantage of, but they are actually very shrewd. It seems that they spend a lot, but a lot of what they earn back is priceless. You can't compare them with the upstarts in Spain."

"And if we allow Portugal to successfully gain a foothold, then they will also intervene in these valuable assets." Guo Kang finally reminded.

(End of this chapter)