"So that's what you meant." Tuohuan thought about it: "Then when they go south to Africa, do they pose any other threats to us?"
"Didn't I say that Africa can be surrounded?" Guo Kang reminded him again: "If they go all the way south, bypass Africa, and obtain local resources along the way, they can take advantage of the situation and go eastward to sell these things to India and Java.”
"The distance of the ocean trade route is longer, but if managed properly, the transport capacity will be much greater. If this trade route matures, we will lose more than half of our trade lines. This is enough for us, the Italians and the Egyptians, to Stay alert."
Nor is he an alarmist. In the history of his world, after the Portuguese established trade routes, they aroused strong dissatisfaction from several previous trading powers. Finally, seemingly unrelated countries such as Venice, Mamluks, and the Indian state of Gujarat formed a coalition to fight Portugal. The defeat of the coalition forces in Diu also marked the decline of traditional Mediterranean powers.
As for this world, I’m not sure how it will develop in the future.
Javanese dollars are very interested in shipping routes near India, especially the saltpeter and metal minerals near Bangladesh. Because other products are only a matter of profit, but these two determine the life and death of their regime. The gunpowder output of the Ming Dynasty was so terrifying that it would definitely not be able to sustain it without relying on a large producing area like Bangladesh or just relying on the Southeast Asian islands.
Their maritime power is much stronger than that of the Indian states, and they are now engaged in a maritime competition with the Ming Dynasty. How it will develop in the future is really hard to say.
According to Sun Shiwan, due to the strong army of the Ming Dynasty, they often occupied Manlajia City and cut off the Strait waterways. Moreover, when it was at its strongest, the Ming army even captured Jinzhou, the northeastern part of Sumatra Island, occupied the old port area, and basically controlled all areas around the Manchuria-Canada route. Although Javanese successfully counterattacked and took back the port with its large number of people, this route was already very unsafe.
Maritime merchants were helpless and could only explore new routes, trying to cross the Sunda Strait southward, bypassing the southern part of Sumatra, and go directly to India.
The main problem with this idea is that Sumatra's population is very unevenly distributed. Unlike fertile Java, Sumatra's population is basically concentrated in the north. The infrastructure in the south is much worse. It lacks reliable large ports and cannot obtain stable supplies.
Leaving the port and sailing long distances on the open sea is much more difficult than walking along the coast. But this also forces them to upgrade their technology, which may be a good thing in the long run.
But even so, Iberian countries cannot be allowed to operate this route. The Javanese Yuan and Ming dynasties would not refuse traders with lower prices and larger shipping volumes just because they had several Central Plains surnames. If you are not prepared, you may not be able to compete with them in the future.
These things may be too far away, but if we don’t prepare now, it will probably be too late when the time comes “not that far away”.
Guo Kang was thinking and watching other people's reactions.
As a result, he found that others were unresponsive. Tuo Huan, the Queen Mother, the Grand Lama Wang, and even the nuns around were all staring at him. It seems that Theodora is still planning something.
"Old Sea Urchin" was a little uncomfortable with this environment. Sometimes he looked around at everyone, and sometimes he stared at him with everyone.
Guo Kang had no choice but to continue on his own.
"What we need to pay attention to is that these three coastal countries have all had the idea of trying to seize control of the sea. This is very dangerous for us, because doing so will inevitably lead to competition with us. In particular, they also It is possible to cooperate and make the enemy more powerful." He once again emphasized the threat of the other party.
"You keep saying that you want to prevent them from competing for the sea. Does that mean our current sea power is not enough?" Theodora asked.
"It's not a question of whether it's enough. If we allow the enemy to develop, then our strength may never be enough. Therefore, we need a strategy to limit them as low-cost as possible." Guo Kang said.
"If you can't understand these complicated geographical and trade route issues, then I can put it more simply." He changed the way he said it: "Our place is called 'New Rome,' everyone knows, right?"
Everyone nodded.
This is relatively basic local knowledge. The earliest place where the capital was located was the Greek city-state called Byzantium. Later, Emperor Constantine moved the capital and Senate here and renamed it "New Rome", which means that this is the place that replaced the previous Roman city. Even the seven hills in the city correspond exactly to each other.
Theoretically, the city was also Roman. Therefore, this title is often used directly in official documents.
"I have to remind everyone that in addition to New Rome, there was also a New Carthage." Guo Kang said, "Do you know where it is?"
"In Spain," said Theodora.
"Yes, that place is now called Cartagena, which is the changed pronunciation of Carthage. To this day, it is still the naval camp of the Kingdom of Castile." Guo Kang said: "They used this name to build this army. Isn’t it obvious what you want to do?”
"That's it!" Tuo Huan and others looked like they suddenly realized: "No wonder they are always said to be a big threat. It will be easier to understand after saying this."
"Is this reason too far-fetched?" Theodora asked doubtfully.
"It's not far-fetched and it's very simple. As long as the Spanish countries give up their maritime power, stop expanding to coastal areas such as Granada, and return the ports and islands to the true owners of the Mediterranean, we can confirm that they do not threaten us. thoughts." Guo Kang replied: "If they can do it, we can also determine that they are not Carthage."
"It certainly can't be done." The Queen Mother commented.
"That shows that they still have the ambition to revive New Carthage." Guo Kang said.
"New Carthage is not in North Africa, and the Romans probably didn't pay much attention to that place at the beginning. But Hannibal set out from Spain and entered Italy all the way. He stayed there for more than ten years and posed a huge threat to Rome."
"How can we judge that these people will not repeat the story of the past?" He stood up and reminded everyone: "The biggest enemy of New Rome is New Carthage?"
"We can cite many examples of positive and negative directions and put forward various ideas. Some arguments and arguments will of course be more pleasant to listen to than what I say. It seems that listening better can bring us more peace and prosperity, and it seems that it can bring us more peace and prosperity. Let the senators of Hulilutai and the citizens of Rome gain greater benefits. It seems that the small bathtub of the Mediterranean Sea can really accommodate two ambitious powers."
"But I hope everyone will remember that in addition to these fancy arguments, there is also a simple and ancient advice given to us by our ancestors in the classical era that has been passed down to this day." He read out the famous saying in classical Latin: "I want everyone to remember, 'Carthage must be destroyed'!"
(End of chapter)
