Crossing the Continent in the Eighteenth Century

() In Constantinople, a place where every inch of land is very expensive, the neighborhoods near Dione are residential areas for non-rich nobles and wealthy merchants who cannot afford the extremely high cost of palace maintenance. There are also modern classical style buildings. The other house is distinguished from the ancient Roman stone palace in the old city by its characteristics.

Wendir's house is located in it.I'm a little curious why Wendir didn't move to the old town.You know, commoners dream of moving in from outside the walls of Constantine, and the rich people who live in Arcadius Square and Bull Square want to live here in Dione, and The nobles who originally lived here had the greatest wish in their life to own a palace near Constantine Square.Few people continued to stay in Dione after owning the capital.

Funding problem?

It is unlikely, Wendir's wealth is already comparable to that of a wealthy family in the Constantinople Empire, and it is not a problem at all to support a palace-level mansion.

That's just some other reason.

Driving into this area, the groom let me arrive at the destination through the sign of the intersection.

This is the first time I saw her home, and the reason why I know the address here is because she said it casually.

An old stone wall covered with vines and roses stands on the side of the street. Behind the iron fence is a huge green lawn. Behind it is a classical style three-story building featuring three protruding main buildings decades ago. layer mansion.

Very nice place, the price will not be cheap.Judging from my eyes, this place is enough for a civilian earl noble who has served as the governor of the place for ten years to spend half of his savings.

The attendant jumped off the horse and walked to the iron railing to start negotiating with the Leonidas servant at the door.

After a while, the gate opened, and more than a dozen servants of the Leonidas family who got the news hurriedly appeared from all directions and gathered in the passageway under the door of the mansion.

Wendell was wearing a home-lined gown, the kind that women often wear on TV under silky skirts and corsets. Under the crystal chandelier, the slightly fluffy long hair is simply pulled up. Compared with the deliberate and careful dressing in the past, today's lazy wife has a different style.

"I must be ugly now. I'm so sorry."

"I should be the one to say sorry. I'm glad you didn't keep me out of the house."

It is very rude to come here rashly like me today. According to the rules, if a nobleman wants to visit another nobleman, he must send a message to the other party in advance, agreeing on the time and place. To visit other people's homes on that day.It's a bit hypocritical, but it's more out of consideration for both parties. After all, there are so many people who want to save face, and it's important to show your best side all the time.

...Just like now, I discovered Wendir's little secret. Although the big beauty who lacks a corset today also has a lot of weight, it is still a little less than before, but there is a loss There must be something, such beauty is the real natural beauty.

"Look at what you said, it will only be my loss to keep you out. You must know that you are the clover that brings me luck... I don't think there will be enough treasures like this, how can I keep you out It's outside. Can you please come up with me? My room for receiving guests is on the second floor." The big beauty with beautiful eyes hooked her mouth, blinked her big talking eyes, and whispered with her eyes that only A little secret that only the two of us know...

In fact, it was the sale of saltpeter and the clothing business of the Legion.And I bet she has said similar things to people...

Wendir walked up the stairs first, and I followed behind.The living room on the second floor came quickly, and after a while, her maid also arrived, and put the trays of coffee, sugar cubes, and milk on the table.

"Would you like some coffee?" Wendell picked up the small white porcelain spoon and asked.

I shook my head: "It's getting late now, drink coffee again, I'm afraid I won't be able to fall asleep at night."

"Oh.. so what do you need?"

"wine."

Wendir gestured to the maid, who stepped back immediately.

She brewed a cup of fragrant coffee for herself, put in a few cubes of sugar, took a sip, and closed her eyes to savor the bitter taste of the coffee for a while.When she opened her eyes again, her eyes regained a lot of energy. She glanced at the simple clothes on her body, and then exclaimed in a low voice, "Ah", she put down the glass and said, "It seems that I did something wrong again. I think I It will take some time to make up for my mistake. Because these clothes are not suitable for receiving the son of a Caesar. Can you wait here for a while? Of course, if you prefer my current appearance, I think I can forgive my little one. madness."

Make things difficult?tease?

I couldn't grasp the meaning of the wife, so I replied with a smile: "Although I am Caesar's son, you are the master here, and I am a guest."

"Then please sit here for a while and allow me to go back to my room for a while."

The wife left such a sentence and left, asking me to stare at the maid by the door, I smiled subconsciously, the next second, the latter immediately looked at his nose, and his eyes shifted down to the floor On, my two hands are constantly stirring the robe, I rely on...

After sitting for a while, I can't sit still on my butt. I can't help it. I sat for a long time today!Standing up, I wantonly looked at the living room of Leonidas's house. It is a very well-behaved mansion headed by a noblewoman. The glass cabinets are full of expensive porcelain, collections, champagne warm tablecloths, and the whole is even more beautiful. Bright paper walls are used together with exquisite porcelain and gorgeous landscape oil paintings to render the delicate and warm atmosphere of the hall.

After walking around, I found the inner hall, which is a completely different world from the outer hall, with a heavy atmosphere.

The dark wallpaper was used, and there were bookshelves full of books underneath. The four corners of the wooden wall were carved with gold, and there was a scarlet gold-edged carpet on the floor.

A huge wooden table carved with an imperial double-headed eagle is leaning against a copper globe, the closed window faces the sea, and the dark red window screen is tied with a golden rope... This room looks like a man The room, and it's still the kind of domineering man... Could it be that this is a place where married wives and dead husbands handle official business?

At this time, the red wine I wanted came, and after taking a sip, my mouth was filled with a familiar taste, as if the fine wine in my hand was exactly the same as the red wine from Crete Manor in the palace!

Uh, did it to flatter me?

Walking into the inner hall, I looked up at the books on the bookshelves. The titles of the books confirmed my conjecture just now. This is really a man's room. In this era, it is impossible for a woman to read "On Kings" and " Books such as "Empire Nobility", "Strategy", and "Code of Nations" will be very boring and intriguing books for them.

However, these books are the things I have been reading since I was a child. I haven’t touched them for a long time, and I can’t help feeling a little nostalgic in my heart. When Wendell changed his clothes and came out, I was flipping through a book called “The Nations” that I hadn’t read for a long time.

The number of married women wearing an inverted triangle satin embroidered corset increased greatly. She held a porcelain cup by the door and asked with a smile, "Very good?"

"Very nice collection." I praised complimentingly.

"And how does that compare with Caesar's library?"

The wife's question was a bit naive. I closed the book and put it back on the bookshelf and said, "The two cannot be compared. Some books in your collection will never appear in my house."

"For example?" The wife frowned, her expression a little serious.

"For example, Augustine's On the Trinity and The City of God."

Calling the maids out of the room, I asked straight to the point: "Madam should be aware that there have been some disputes between France and the Empire recently..."

"Yes, that guy named Colbert raised the import tax again. Alas, he is the most troublesome person doing business in France. He increases the tax amount there every few days. He doesn't understand us at all. The hard work of middlemen." Wendier gritted his teeth when he mentioned the name of the French Minister of Finance.

I went further and asked: "Did I earn a lot less this year?"

"Of course, the original profit of one franc has been reduced to half a franc, and in the end, this amount of money has to be used for repairing ships and hiring personnel. They have dozens of ships!" The big beauty finally looks like a wife.

"You want to hear some good news?" I lowered my voice and approached.

Wendir narrowed her eyes with a smile. She stretched out her snow-white little finger and asked, "Don't tell me, let me guess. What good news are you going to tell me? Are you telling me to intervene in this matter?" The foreign minister of the empire successfully negotiated with France? Can the tariff be restored to the previous level? Is this it?”

Shaking his head: "No."

"So Caesar has a new business to sell to France?"

He continued to shake his head: "No."

"Okay, don't tell me that you have an idea that will make me a lot of money."

"Yes." I dare say that this woman definitely guessed my purpose, so she put the correct answer at the end.

"Then tell me, how should I repay you?"

Wendir asked a very suggestive question with a smile, what happened to this woman today?

"Let me finish first. Because of my method, it's not difficult to say, and it's not easy to say." I put down my glass and knocked on the table, uttering a word, "Smuggling."

"Smuggling?" Wendir was stunned.

"Well, it's smuggling!" Smuggling is a very strange but familiar word.In different languages, there are different long-winded interpretations of this word, but in the end, smuggling means no tax, no import tax, no export tax, no trade tax, in other words, It is to steal money from the state.

Wendir wondered: "Smuggling can indeed exempt a lot of taxes. I didn't think about it some time ago, but I finally gave up this idea because it was difficult to operate."

Operation is difficult, I do not deny this, but from time to time: "France's current tariffs have reached an astonishingly high level, and smuggling can make huge profits. I think that His Excellency Colbert knows very well In this regard, if you want to smuggle, you must have a large enough network! A network that is large enough to hide from the eyes of the Minister of Finance! If you can’t do it in the past few months, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it now.”

"how come."

"Why not." I asked Wendir back, "I think Madam knows better than me who are the people who serve the Sun King in France. There are many nobles, but His Majesty the King of France seems to prefer to use those Wealthy middle class. Here comes the key, may I ask, beautiful lady, how did the French middle class become officials serving the kingdom, even nobles?"

"Won the king's appreciation... Of course, those are only a small number of lucky people, and more people buy it with money."

I asked again: "Then why would they spend money to become officials?"

"Naturally, the official functions they look up to bring them greater benefits."

"Dare to ask, what is the difference between those officials and businessmen?"

Wendy was at a loss for words, and I slowly said: "The reason why people are loyal is that the price of betrayal is not enough. What's more, smuggling just makes those officials open one eye and close the other eye. This is far from the truth. Betrayal. Most importantly, smuggling is also of great benefit to them. You must know that in France, especially in the southern region, there are many families who earn their living by running transportation between Constantinople and Marseilles. There are also many aristocrats here relying on this trade route to live a decent life, especially some big aristocrats, who have a lot of expenses for banquets, attendants, and clothing. Colbert hit them with a heavy hand suddenly, almost strangling them to death, you Are they going to just sit around and die?"

"But how do we do it? Where can we find so many important friends?"

"Allies? They have already appeared, and they will come to you without us looking for them." Who in this world is willing to use their heads to be smugglers?Naturally, they are desperadoes who are tempted by huge profits. Those businessmen who are about to sell a large amount of goods but don't want to lose money and drive them crazy are not desperadoes!Therefore, the French merchant ships locked up by the Italian states have become the most reliable and powerful allies in the smuggling network. Thanks to Colbert, he sent us so many allies!When they have tasted the benefits of smuggling once, will they be willing to continue to pay high tariffs?Abandon the trade route of Constantinople?

"If you sell French wheat to Constantinople at the cost of smuggling, even if it's half the price, that's still a huge fortune! And that's not counting the goods shipped back to France from Constantinople!" After Wendir's eyes fluttered, she looked a little hesitant, and she asked uneasily, "It's just, Your Highness, what did you get in this game? You can't lose money?"

"Losing money? No."

Smuggling will become the empire's most effective weapon to counter a series of French policies!Colbert can no longer get a penny from the smuggled trade, not only will he not get any money, but the French market will continue to be impacted by imperial goods!Didn't he want to hit our Roman finances, and then drive Roman goods out of France, and increase France's revenue by encouraging exports and resisting imports!Open a hole for our financial revenue, then we will also bloodlet their revenue!

Colbert wants to ban smuggling?

I'm looking forward to how many enemies he will raise himself!

Increase the supervision of checkpoints?How many people in the south of France rely on the Mediterranean Sea to survive, wouldn't increasing the intensity of checks at the checkpoints be equivalent to letting them die!

Smuggling requires an intricate network of relationships to operate successfully. What if such a network of relationships becomes an incentive to stir up internal turmoil in France?

Therefore, even if the smuggling is unsuccessful, it is enough to cause discord among the monarchs and ministers in France!Think about it, if you encounter such a group of fighting Frenchmen on the battlefield against the French army in the future, it is just a lack of cooperation, which is enough to kill hundreds of thousands of Frenchmen!

The above is the reason why I came to Wendier's house in a hurry!You know, this is France's inadvertent weakness!Of course I'm going to take a knife and stick it in, it's no wonder it doesn't break his heart! ! !

Turning my head to look over, I saw the wife's eyes just staring at me so quietly, and after touching my eyes for a few seconds, she blushed and immediately drifted to other places.

Could it be that my expression just now was very coquettish?  …