Guo Kang's words made everyone sigh.
The strategic situation of the Crusader countries determined that they could not sustain it for long. If they hadn't been so ostentatious at the beginning, they might have been able to continue on the east coast of the Mediterranean with the other princes of the Crusaders and Tianfang Sects, but the Crusaders came up with great fanfare and offended everyone to death. Even if someone occasionally takes advantage of diplomatic opportunities, it will only allow these territories to survive.
To the Orthodox Church, the Crusaders were basically no different from bandits. They were basically never controllable. Later, they simply robbed them themselves. Naturally, they were not popular people.
But on the other hand, the entire Crusade was organized at the invitation of Eastern Rome. Even if it was a trouble, it was a trouble that was caused by itself. If you can't defeat the Turks yourself, and you want others to send troops, then it's up to you.
Moreover, the early Crusaders also played some role, which is not to say that they did not take advantage of it. Even the Fourth Crusade that later sacked Constantinople was invited by the Greeks themselves to help fight for the throne. This is not to say that the victims are all guilty, but that the senior officials of Eastern Rome are not innocent in these matters. In the final analysis, it was they who wanted to take advantage and lacked the ability to control, which caused these problems.
In fact, let alone the main-level armies of major Western European countries like the Crusaders, even ordinary mercenaries would be problematic for Eastern Rome to use.
One hundred years ago, in the early 14th century, a Catalan mercenary group was hired by the Eastern Romans to attack the Turks in Asia Minor. Although there are only less than 6,000 in number, this mercenary group has participated in the Kingdom of Aragon's war in Sicily and has excellent combat effectiveness, so it has repeatedly made meritorious deeds.
In order to win over them, Emperor Andronikos specially paid double salaries to the entire regiment and married his niece to the mercenary leader Roger Flo. However, because the Catalan mercenaries were treated so well and were always disobedient, conflicts soon arose with other armies and Roman officials.
Later, when the Catalan Army was preparing to go to Asia Minor to attack the Ottomans, rumors spread that Flo was planning to become emperor himself. Out of fear, Andronikos conspired with her son to invite Flo to the palace for a farewell banquet.
The niece thought it was a trap, but Flo ignored it and led more than a thousand men to the banquet. As a result, everyone lost their vigilance while eating and became drunk. The emperor took the opportunity and killed them all.
Now the Catalan mercenary group has lost less than half of its members, and its leader is gone. It is at its weakest time, but the wily emperor did not let his guard down, but still spent a lot of money to organize an army of 50,000 people. , ready to annihilate this remnant in one fell swoop.
Unexpectedly, the Catalan mercenaries who learned the news penetrated the entire Eastern Rome and defeated all the enemies who intercepted along the way. In the end, they actually unified the southern part of the Greek peninsula and established a mercenary country, which was the so-called Principality of Athens.
Of the emperor's 50,000 troops, 20,000 were wiped out by them. The remaining people were unwilling to fight and had to give up. In this way, not only did he spend a lot of money, but he was also robbed along the way.
The only good thing is that it doesn't bother them that Athens and Peloponnese are occupied - the Greek empire has long abandoned its hometown in Greece. Starting from the Fourth Crusade, a group of Latin lords have always been there. Over there, the mountain is king. Rome only had a nominal claim to that side.
It was many decades before the Athenians became "Greeks" again. When the Purple Horde Khanate regained this place, they did not use any strategy or propaganda. They sent troops to eliminate the mercenaries and bandits entrenched around the city. The history of the Principality of Athens ended...
So it's no wonder that in the early days of the Purple Horde Khanate, many people dismissed the title "Rome".
It is said that when the Greeks invited the Purple Horde Khanate to return to the capital, they did not even attend the meeting to express their opposition. He believed that the Greeks had developed well in Asia Minor before, but since they occupied this unlucky city, they have become increasingly unsound. The purple tent was occupied once last time, and it has been in constant trouble since then. It can be seen that this place is of no use. On the contrary, whoever takes it will be unlucky. It is best to leave it far away.
This story was widely circulated, because whenever the Greeks in the city behaved arrogantly, other people could use this story to taunt them, saying that they themselves were useless and that they were all taking advantage of others. Therefore, not to mention the citizens of Zi Zhang, even the foreigners who come and go for business know this joke...
Of course, the actual situation is not so dramatic. According to family members, Taishi Ye Xianfuhua did complain a lot at that time, but mainly he felt it was not worth it.
At that time, the most useful thing about this city was its advantage as a transportation hub. The problem is, her ports are not in Greek hands either.
If you want to control the shipping here, you have to conflict with the Italian businessmen who already have substantial control over the ports and routes. But at that time, the Purple Horde Khanate still needed them very much - although it was located on the Black Sea, the Khanate had always been a purely land-based country and did not care about the ocean at all. The only participation was to rent some Italian merchant ships for travel. Run transportation. They neither understand the management of routes or ports, nor do they have the capital to participate in trade.
In this case, it is better to let the original order continue to be maintained. Anyway, the Greeks can no longer cause any problems. If they want to compete with the Italians, they only need to start from the occupied ports on the Black Sea coast and gradually strengthen management. Businessmen are not too stubborn in the face of profits. In order to continue doing business, they will definitely compromise.
Once the Khan's court has become familiar with these affairs and has trained a group of its own talents, then it will be a matter of course to take back control of Dadu's ports and routes. That's why the Grand Master insisted that there was no need to go back at this time.
Of course, Duanzi is right about one thing - from beginning to end, Taishi Hua did not mention the issue of the Roman title. He really felt that there was no need to consider this...
Guo Kang heard from his family that Guo Gai told him about the history of Rome at that time. But the grand master dismissed it and said that if he had to find a title, it would be better to find a golden account. As we all know, Mongolia is now very big, but Rome is very small. It’s all about clinging anyway, so why should we sacrifice the big for the small?
If you are looking for a reason, it is simpler - the advantage of Rome is that if you have a reason, you can fight everywhere; but even if there is no reason, Mongolia can still fight everywhere. Then why bother with all this trouble...
This question stumped Guo Gai for a while.
However, because it was too...truthful and would embarrass everyone, this story was not widely circulated. Now only the upper echelons of the Khan's court sometimes laugh at themselves.
(End of chapter)
