Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 541 Midsummer in the Eastern Mediterranean ([-])

Mediterranean islands, luxurious sea view villas, warm sunshine, soft sandy beaches, blonde beauties, what do you think of?What?A leisurely and comfortable vacation?A beautiful and romantic encounter?No, you are in the 21st century. In the midsummer of the 17th year in the first half of the 46th century, most of the things here are just killing and destruction!

As the first city on Crete to be breached by the Ottomans, the port of Chania was counterattacked by the Venetians last year.Although the 1 Ottoman soldiers staying at the port were in a hurry, they relied on the east bank muskets and cannons transported from Egypt to easily defeat the doomed counterattack of the Venetians and firmly defended them. This stronghold on Te Island.

However, when most of the [-] troops were withdrawn to Anatolia for the winter, the life of the Ottoman troops remaining on the island was quite difficult.They were still on the offensive before winter, but after winter came, they could only be passively beaten. Many small Venetian towns that had previously captured were also recovered by the counterattacking Venetians, and some ships transporting supplies to the island were even worse. It was repeatedly ravaged by the Venetian fleet, and they even lost a fast cruiser imported from the east coast. It seems that the situation is quite bad.

By the beginning of this year (46), the Venetian army had already attacked the outskirts of Chania Port, but at this time they were also at the end of their battle.After a few days of fighting the panicked Ottomans, they gradually retreated, and then the two sides began a long confrontation and siege.

After the beginning of spring, before the Ottomans regrouped, major changes occurred in their front-line army: many front-line commanders who participated in the previous battle were suddenly dismissed and then executed on the spot.They were publicly accused of ineffective combat, but private rumors circulated that Ibrahim Sultan was so angry that the front-line generals did not get enough spoils for him, so he took the opportunity to execute some generals to express his displeasure.Of course, some people mysteriously said that these people were killed because of factional strife-this involved the political struggle between the empress dowager Kosem Sultan and Ibrahim Sultan’s teacher Xinsi Hauka, perhaps It is also mixed with disputes between different factions of the Ganishari Guards Corps. In short, it is a mess and foggy. Perhaps no one can figure out the truth about the murder of these military generals.

Mo San also didn't know why these generals were executed, and he was not interested—never dared to be interested—to find out why these people died.They are basically middle and senior generals, and some of them have drank coffee with Mo San and received gifts from Mo San, so they can be regarded as casual acquaintances.But now Mo San just wants to get rid of them completely. Nima's political struggle is too terrible. The majestic general of the forbidden army will kill him as soon as he says it. This Ottoman's style is really bold and unrestrained.It is said that every change of imperial power of the Ottomans is accompanied by bloody storms, and the current reigning Sultan Ibrahim is the only surviving male direct blood relative of his brother, Murad IV Sultan, to inherit the throne. It can be seen that Ottoman The brutality of imperial political struggle.

At this time, Mo San was nestling in a manor villa near the port of Chania.He was urgently invited by the former grand vizier Semin Mehmet Pasha, who had recently served as the supreme commander of the Ottoman army. This incompetent commander who was known for flattering in Istanbul gave Mo San a big gift as soon as he arrived.He clearly told Mo San that he planned to demote all the Greeks on Crete who secretly helped the Venetians last winter into slaves.Hearing that the people on the east bank urgently need all kinds of labor or women of childbearing age in the land development operations of the New World, then he can decide to sell all these people to the east bank—and at a very favorable price, provided that the east bank You need to make all payments within six months.

After knowing what Saimin Muhammad Pasha meant, Mo San was suddenly surprised and delighted.In order to facilitate the deal, the other party also gave Mo San and his entourage a confiscated Venetian aristocratic manor on the island to live temporarily, and also gave him some beautiful Greek maids. It seems that if Mo San agrees to his conditions If so, there will be more benefits for him below.

Mo San has heard of Saimin Muhammad a few times. He used to be the Grand Vizier of the Empire and was the puppet of the "Emperor Master" Xinxi Hauka.This time he was brought to the island of Crete to be the commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army. I don't know how many fierce confrontations and political exchanges have gone through behind it.Because after the Ottoman Empire restarted its offensive against the Venetians on Crete, most people could predict that as long as the Ottomans were not stupid, the defeat of the Venetians would only happen sooner or later, and the Ottoman officers at all levels on the front line Think so too.

In such a situation, the Ottomans have been rather disorganized and disorganized since the first half of the year.Convinced that the Venetians on the island once again retreated to their capital, Gandia, in the face of tens of thousands of Ottoman troops, the Ottomans slowly "recaptured" the remaining towns on the island abandoned by the Venetians. Searching for loot wantonly, the Greek residents on the island suddenly fell into an extremely miserable situation.

The Ottomans' obsession with spoils is understandable, because if the executed officers a few months ago had offered enough spoils to Sultan Ibrahim, they might not have been executed.Of course, the latecomers took them as a warning, so under such circumstances, countless Greek residents of Crete were detained on the charge of "collaborating with the enemy", and then all their property was confiscated, becoming a The spoils of the Ottoman officers.

In this way, countless gold and silver belongings fell into the pockets of the Ottoman officers and soldiers, and countless Greek residents who originally welcomed the Ottomans to "liberate" them from the Venetian colonists were suddenly reduced to slaves, and originally wanted to attack the Venetians. However, the actions of the entrenched capital, Gandia City, were delayed indefinitely.Only a few hapless troops were sent to keep an eye on the Venetians, who seemed to be struggling to build forts and emplacements, while everyone else happily plundered the rest of the island.

It is now mid-to-late August, and the main force of the Ottoman army still has not been able to advance to the city of Gandia, which is guarded by the Venetians.Many military officers who made a lot of money were transferred after serving their superiors and the sultan, and then another group of people continued to make a fortune. As for their commander-in-chief, Saimin Muhammad Pasha, he stayed firmly in Chania The port did not move. Not only did it fail to gather troops and formulate a plan to attack the city of Gandia, but it also discussed business with Mo San, the special envoy to the Ottoman Empire on the east coast. This is really weird.

Sometimes Mo San would like to ask these Ottoman officers, how long are they going to continue this war?You must know that your coastline in the Adriatic Sea is being mercilessly attacked by the Venetian fleet, many villages have been reduced to ruins, and many people have been reduced to slaves.Venice's economy has recovered greatly from the Great Depression in the past few years, and they have also received funding from the Papal State and other Christian countries in terms of materials and even personnel, so their naval strength has recovered quickly.After destroying an Ottoman supply fleet near Naxos last year, this year wiped out an Ottoman naval squadron in the Adriatic Sea. How can you ignore such a rapid rise? Woolen cloth?

But Mo San didn't bother to care so much. He had been in the Ottoman Empire for two years, and he had seen many strange things in the past two years.Although the country looks like it is in its heyday like flowers blooming and fire cooking oil, it is actually dead and chaotic, and it has gone a long way downhill.

He didn't care about what happened to the Ottoman Empire next, he only cared about how to complete his mission.He now acts as a diplomatic plenipotentiary envoy of the Ottoman Empire on the surface, but in fact, he mostly plays the role of an arms broker, slave trader, and import and export businessman on weekdays, dealing with all kinds of people in the political arena of the Ottoman Empire: court eunuchs, There are officers of the Imperial Army, ministers from all walks of life, empress dowagers, patriarchs, Jewish businessmen, and local warlords.For these people, he usually only has one big move that is always invincible - that is to give gifts.This trick is really difficult to "defend", so he is very easy to eat in Osman.

In the first half of this year in June, a merchant ship from the mainland brought him the expected news that the local executive committee had approved the export of the battleship "Bayezid" to the Ottoman Empire. , asked him to implement the originally promised opening of commercial ports, infrastructure construction and other projects with the Ottomans as soon as possible, and form a treaty document as soon as possible.In addition, he should also pay attention to collecting more materials and people. After completing the formalities, he can temporarily withdraw the money for goods sold domestically to Ottomans to buy Ottomans surplus copper, lead, tin, mercury and other minerals; Schek horses and other livestock; Tatar herdsmen and Egyptian Mamluks hired to fight in the Far East.

In addition, there is the most important task, which is to find ways to collect more people.The executive committee has already made it clear to him that the relationship with Spain is very tense now, and a war may break out, so let him take advantage of the time when the sea is still open to collect more people and return to the mainland.These populations are preferably dominated by women and children, and there should not be too many adult men.

Now that the superior has given him the right to act cheaply, Mo San no longer hesitates.He planned to eat all the more than 500 women and children in the hands of Saimin Muhammad Pasha, and the total price was only more than 11 yuan, which is really a big profit.As for the remaining more than 600 adult men, Mo San plans to wait and see how much money he has left after purchasing the urgently needed copper, lead, tin and other minerals in the country before making a decision. At that time, the Ottomans may have lowered the price again.

After leaving a few entourages to squat in the port of Chania to handle affairs, Mo San hurriedly arrived in Istanbul on a ship from the Ottoman Empire, ready to start his business negotiation journey.

(End of this chapter)