I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 733 Sophia who escaped death

There is actually a reason why Sophia drifted all the way from the Mediterranean to China.

Just as Li Tiancai thought, there is only one city left in the Byzantine Empire, and the population is less than 20.

Basically, even the land for farming is gone.

The entire country is now basically relying on trade with neighboring countries to barely survive.

Even for a long time, Byzantium basically relied on loans to live!

Fortunately, the geographical location of Constantinople is quite excellent, not only relying on the Mediterranean Sea, a unique maritime trade zone, but also guarding the Mediterranean Sea as it enters and exits the Black Sea throat.

They only need to set up checkpoints on the narrow sea to tax ships traveling between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

However, as the Byzantine Empire continued to decline, the surrounding countries rose one by one, far surpassing them in both military and economic strength.

Gone are the days when they depended on trade, collected taxes, borrowed money.

Almost to the point of life and death.

But the Byzantine Empire, after all, is also the orthodox successor of Rome, and the surrounding countries were once split by them, so everyone still has a little bit of love.

They didn't kill Byzantium completely, and even when they were in distress, they helped them as much as they could, and they didn't rush to ask for loans after decades of borrowing.

However, it is impossible to rely on loans in this way for a long time. If Byzantium wants to continue to exist, it must find a solution and create more ways to make money.

But now that Manuel II is old, let alone come up with any countermeasures, even whether he can survive next year is a question.

(In real history, Manuel II died in [-], that is, next year!)
Sophia, like his elder brother, John VIII, was also a reformer.

His brother's goal is much more ambitious than hers. He wholeheartedly wants to promote the unification of Catholicism and Orthodox Church.

If he can achieve this goal, he can become the most prominent figure in Christianity. With the help of the Eastern and Western sects, let alone restore the glory of the Byzantine Empire, it is not impossible to achieve the glory of the Roman Empire. of.

So he has been spared no effort in contacting this matter, and he has ignored any other methods.

But Sophia is different. She has traded with fleets in various countries and regions along the Mediterranean Sea since she was a child.

The ideas of other countries that I have learned are naturally much more accurate than my brother.

She simply did not believe that his brother's whimsical idea could succeed.

She has always believed that the Byzantine Empire can only rise again by relying on non-stop trade.

But after years of hard work, she still hasn't seen any improvement. On the contrary, under the suppression of the neighboring countries, their trade has become more and more difficult.

About two years ago, she overheard the legend about the mysterious kingdom in the east.

It wasn't a big deal that she could hear this legend.

Marco Polo returned to his hometown after traveling in the Yuan Dynasty for many years, and wrote a book "Marco Polo's Travels" based on his travel experience.

This travel note can be said to be a best-seller for a while, not only making Marco Polo the most famous figure on the entire Mediterranean coast for a while, but also describing the mysterious country in the east full of gold, which is very fascinating.

Marco Polo's hometown is in Italy. Italy and the Byzantine Empire face each other across the sea, and it only takes three or four days to reach it. It is a place frequented by the Sovia fleet.

So she easily got a copy of Marco Polo's Travels.

For those who lack the spirit of adventure, this travel note may be just a pleasure, just read it.

But for Sophia, who is determined to revitalize the empire, is brave and strong, and is proficient in maritime trade, the mysterious Eastern Empire is simply the paradise she dreams of.

So two years ago, she heard that there was a fleet from the mysterious East visiting the coast of Africa.

Regardless of the opposition of her father and more than a dozen older brothers, she used the last family property of the Byzantine Empire to form a long-distance fleet of only three merchant ships, planning to follow Zheng He and others to the east.

There are not a few people who think like her.

But more of them are fleets from countries in the Pacific Ocean such as India and Arabia.

She set out from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, which is already a desperate voyage.

Not to mention going all the way from the Cape of Good Hope to Daming, which is thousands of miles away.

After a narrow escape, she managed to catch up with the tail of Zheng He's fleet.

It was a fluke not to miss this last chance.

After more than a year of sailing, she finally reached the vicinity of Siam by luck.

But what people never expected is that the sea in the east is not calm.

On the sea near the South Seas, there are not only Ming's fleet, but also many merchant ships from Champa, Siam, Sumatra, Adam, and even Arabia and India.

They were very unlucky to encounter an Arabian fleet that was half merchant and half pirate.

They only had three ships, and after sailing for more than a year, not only were the crew exhausted, but the hull was almost unable to hold on.

After a little resistance, she and her crew were all captured by the Arabs.

Fortunately, those Arab businessmen were very greedy for money. Seeing that she was young and beautiful and seemed to be of noble origin, they repackaged her and sold her to the businessmen of Ming Dynasty.

He wandered around the south of the Ming Dynasty for more than half a year.

She was taken by Mr. Liu and others.

She thought it would be another endless wandering, but unexpectedly, she was lucky enough to meet the emperor of Ming Dynasty in the capital.

It was the first time she spoke up.

I don't know if she is lucky enough, or Li Tian should have this fate with her.

This is how they had this conversation in the palace.

After entering Sophia's explanation, Li Tian finally understood the reason why Sophia was here and the current situation of the Byzantine Empire.

After listening to Sophia's words, Li Tian couldn't help being moved and shocked by the spirit of this girl who was only in her early twenties.

He never imagined that before the age of great voyages came, there would be a girl who took the lead in completing this almost impossible great voyage.

You must know that Columbus back then just set off to find India and got lost in the vast sea, so he came to the American continent by mistake.

A great navigator like Columbus can get lost, let alone a little-known girl like Sophia.

(End of this chapter)