When mentioning the Ottomans, the merchant's face always looked very ugly, and he leaned slightly: "The Venetians were originally on the Aegean islands, but they were defeated by the Ottoman fleet a few years ago, and now they have retreated to the land. He"
"The Huns are in the north of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans are greedy. They not only occupied our land, but also actively provoked the Huns in the north."
After Handu asked the businessman carefully, he was immediately surprised by the arrogance of the Ottomans.
They attacked the Venetians on the sea, and occupied the Byzantine Empire's land in the west. Before the foundation was firmly established, they fought against the Huns in the north.
If Tianfang is added to the equation, the Ottomans are fighting on four fronts at the same time.
Fighting on two fronts is a taboo for military strategists, but the Ottomans dared to bloom on all sides! Such an approach is either extremely confident or extremely confused.
"Are the Ottomans so powerful? Can they defeat you all at the same time?" Han Du didn't believe it.
Judging from the current situation in Tianfang, although the Ottomans can also use muskets and cannons, their power is far from that of the Ming Dynasty. They relied entirely on a large number of slave legions to fight against the Ming Dynasty, and now with the addition of the slave legions sent by Faraij, Tianfang can be regarded as completely resisting defeated the Ottoman troops.
Is this the strength? Being able to defeat Byzantium, Venice, and the Hungarians, Han Du glanced at the man in front of him, somewhat doubting the strength of Byzantium.
The businessman sighed sadly and said: "It wasn't at the same time that the Ottomans defeated us first, then drove away the Venetians, and then went to war with the Hungarians."
Handu was even more confused and asked strangely: "When the Ottomans attacked you, didn't the Venetians help you?" "Those despicable Venetians, they only do business. When we were attacked, Not only did they not help us, but they went to provide food and weapons to the Ottomans. If it were not for the help of the Venetians, we would not have failed at all!" The merchant yelled angrily.
Han Du was speechless. This Venetian really wanted money more than his life. He couldn't even see the situation clearly. When the Ottoman Empire had the upper hand, it did not want to join forces with Byzantium to resist, but instead focused on making war profits. How could there be such short-sighted people in the world?
Handu thought for a moment and said: "Now that the Ottomans are attacking us with all their strength, the empire must be empty. Now is the best time for you to attack the Ottoman Empire. Do you dare?"
The businessman fell silent upon hearing this. How could he forget the pain of his country being destroyed and his family destroyed? Who doesn’t want to regain their homeland?
However, this matter was not something he could decide on. He hesitated and said, "I can't decide on this matter. I can only report it to His Majesty the King after I go back."
Sure enough, the businessmen who can come to Hurumos now must have official backgrounds.
Han Du didn't mind and nodded: "Okay, if possible, I would like to send someone to visit your Majesty the King."
The businessman hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay."
Han Du clapped his hands happily, "Okay, now let's talk business first. How much do you want to buy?"
Both parties had the idea of continuing to cooperate, and the price was quickly negotiated in a pleasant atmosphere.
After the Byzantine merchants left happily, Han Du saw Yu Qian still standing beside him with his hands down. He couldn't help but smile and asked: "What? Do you not understand why I sold them things at the original price?"
"A bit." Yu Qian nodded slightly and admitted.
Han Du smiled and sighed, "Silk, porcelain, and tea were originally bought by the Byzantines and the Ottomans. Now it is impossible for us to sell things to the Ottomans, so the only buyers of these things are the Byzantines. .”
"But even so, we can also raise the price a little. After all, the trade routes have been closed for several years, and the prices of these things must have increased a lot now. They will buy them even if the price is raised." Yu Qian had his own thoughts.
"That's true, but you have to understand that the wealth they bring is limited. When the price is high, even if they are willing to buy, the goods they can buy will be reduced. And there will be no second goods left. Buyer, should we keep it until next year and then sell it?”
There will be merchants shipping new goods to Khrumos next year, and it is obviously impossible to keep them and sell them next year.
Yu Qian also understood that there was no other way.
"Who does the teacher want to send to Byzantium?" Yu Qian asked instead.
Han Du glanced at him with a smile and asked, "What? Do you want to go?"
Yu Qian said: "If the teacher needs students to go, it is naturally obligatory."
Han Du reached out and patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, this trip may be dangerous, and I'm reluctant to let you go. I already have someone in mind, go find Hader."
Yu Qian's heart moved slightly, and he immediately smiled and nodded, "Yes."
Harder is willing to do whatever he can, especially if it's something that might be dangerous.
Who makes him want to go to Ming Dynasty and become a Ming Dynasty person?
Harder came quickly, smiled and bowed, "Master, are you looking for me?"
Han Du smiled and gestured, "Sit down."
"Thank you, sir." Harder nodded immediately and sat down carefully.
"I want you to do something." Han Du reached out and handed a cup of tea to Hader.
Hader quickly took it with both hands happily, lowered his head and took a sip. Tea is a rare drink here, and ordinary businessmen cannot afford it. Of course Hade could afford it, but the tea he usually drank was far from the tea he drank from Handu.
Therefore, Hader has few opportunities to drink this kind of good tea, and he will not be polite.
"Please give me your instructions, sir."
This was what Han Du was waiting for, and he immediately said: "I want you to represent the Ming Dynasty and go to the Byzantine Empire."
After hearing this, Harder was so surprised that he didn't even drink his favorite tea. He asked with confusion: "Go, what are you doing in Byzantium?"
Although Harder had heard of Byzantium, it didn't mean he wanted to go.
"You are a native here, and you are most familiar with Byzantium." Han Du first opened his mouth to block Hader's way of refusing, and then explained to him: "You go to Byzantium to persuade the king to send troops to attack Osman. We will attack together, and Osman Defeated!"
As Hard listened, he suddenly felt that the tea cup in his hand was very hot, and he couldn't help but put it on the table.
He hesitated and said: "My lord, do you think too highly of me? How can I, a businessman, persuade the King of Byzantium?"
"From now on, you are no longer a businessman." Han Du said seriously, extending his hand towards Yu Qian.
Yu Qian quickly handed an official letter of appointment to the teacher.
Han Du took it and put it in Hader's hand, and pressed it heavily, "From now on, you will be the head of the Governor's Palace of Horumos, an upright envoy of the Ming Dynasty." That's right, the reason why Yu Qian delayed just now After a while, he went to He Rong to ask for this appointment.
The appointment of all officials in the Governor's Mansion is in the hands of the Governor alone, and the appointment of a governor does not require anyone's authorization at all.
Moreover, if you want to say that the officials of the Governor's Mansion are not officials, that would be wrong. After all, the official positions of the Governor's Mansion are also recognized by the court. But if you want to say that it is an official of the Ming Dynasty, that seems almost meaningless.
But Harder didn't know this. He only had great authority in the Governor's Mansion. In the past, he was extremely greedy for the official position in the Governor's Mansion, but he knew that if he was not from the Ming Dynasty, he would not be able to serve as an official in the Governor's Mansion.
Now this appointment is very close to his heart.
Hader immediately held the official letter tightly and assured Han Du with a duty-bound expression, "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely not let you down!"
As soon as the appointment letter was received, Harder immediately adapted to the role without any feeling of disobedience.
It can be seen that this scene has appeared in his mind many times before, and he has rehearsed it many times on his own.
"Okay." Han Du nodded.
Then he carefully explained to Hader, the main purpose was how to deal with the different reactions of the Byzantine king, and finally achieved the purpose of persuading him to send troops.
"Remember?"
"Don't worry, sir, I'll remember it." Harder thought about it carefully to make sure he didn't miss anything.
Han Du nodded with satisfaction and added: "In addition to Byzantium, if you have the chance, you can also contact the Venetians."
Hard frowned when he heard this and sighed: "Master, I know the virtues of the Venetians very well. They are a group of businessmen who consider themselves rich. They were defeated by the Ottomans. I am afraid they were not thinking about finding opportunities to fight back, but how to fight back." The Ottomans did business..."
The meaning is obvious, that is, Haddo thinks the Venetians are unreliable. If you want to unite with them to attack the Ottomans, you might be betrayed by them!
"It doesn't matter! It's all up to you. It doesn't matter if you can't get in touch." Han Du said casually, "Your most important task is to convince the Byzantine King."
"yes."
...
Since Hader left with the Byzantine merchants, Handu also left Hurumos and came to Tianfang.
"My lord, it's been a hard journey." Cao Tai was all dressed up and didn't even wear any armor.
In fact, wearing armor here is a chore, even wearing leather armor will be very stuffy. If you move around casually, you will be sweating profusely.
"How is the situation?" The two armies were fighting. Han Du didn't care about the polite greetings and asked directly.
Cao Tai lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "The Ottomans have many troops, and although their muskets and artillery are far inferior to ours, our ammunition is almost exhausted, and there is no way to suppress their artillery now."
"How is the front line?" Han Du raised his eyes slightly and looked north.
Cao Tai sighed, "Fortunately, now with the support of the Mamluk Dynasty, there is no problem in stabilizing the front."
"That's good." Han Du's eyes narrowed slightly.
"But our losses are quite big." Cao Tai said helplessly.
There is no way around this. Firearms are limited by ammunition and cannot exert their full power. Most of the time, the Ming army could only use cold weapons to fight the Ottomans, and losses were inevitable.
