Venice, Italy.
Twenty-six-year-old Jacob looked at the sea, and heard the sound of seagulls in his ears. There was a bustling crowd behind him, but no one paid attention to him.
"I'm going to risk everything I have and go to distant Seris!"
Jacob shouted.
Jerome, who was sitting on the beach, turned to look at his brother Jacob and asked, "Do you have a boat?"
Jacob looked at the ships in the harbor, pointed at them, and said, "There is always a ship here that will take us to Selis."
"Oh, maybe you will send us to hell. Brother, you are not a businessman. Just be more sober. Let's go back to the countryside and become a bookmaker. I heard that a guy named Boccaccio wrote a book called "Ten Days". "Japanese Talk", as long as it is transported to other places, you can definitely earn some gold coins."
Jerome persuaded.
Jacob walked to Jerome, sat down, took out a crumpled book from his arms, handed it to Jerome, and said: "You can earn a few gold coins from selling books, we are going to do a big deal." .”
Jerome took the book, read a few pages, and couldn't help but frown and asked: "Does the Eastern country described by Marco Polo really exist? If it does exist, why has no one been there after so many years?"
Jacob smiled and took away "Marco Polo's Travels", flipped through one page, and read seriously: "Suzhou City is amazingly beautiful, with a radius of thirty-two kilometers. The residents produce a large amount of raw silk, which is made into silk and satin, which not only supplies Use your own consumption to make everyone wear silk and satin, and also sell it to other markets."
"Jerome, did you hear that in this place in Suzhou City, everyone has silk. We are going here and bringing back countless silks. By then we will become the most successful businessmen in Venice."
Jacob said firmly.
Jerome swallowed and said: "Silk, is there really a city of silk in this world? I don't believe it, you lied to me."
Jacob showed the book to Jerome and said: "This is written by Marco Polo. You also know that Julius Caesar once appeared in the Roman theater wearing silk clothes. As a result, the Roman Senate believed that the country of Seris produced The silk is too gorgeous, can make a woman's figure more graceful, and can easily lead to crime, so Roman citizens are prohibited from buying silk."
"and after?"
Jerome asked, blinking.
Jacob smiled and said: "Having tasted candies, will you refuse to eat candies for the second time? Silk has naturally become a noble thing. To this day, silk is more expensive than gold. Listen to my brother, let's sail to a distant place of the East.”
There was no silk in the ancient West, only clothes made of linen, which were not comfortable to wear. Silk is not only comfortable to wear, but also comes in gorgeous colors and is extremely exquisite, so it is naturally highly sought after.
But because silk is produced in Eastern China, if Europe wants silk, it is really "difficult to reach the sky."
Jacob took Jerome to visit many merchants who went to sea, and asked many old people, and finally figured out the route.
"Are we going to go overland?"
Jerome looked at Jacob a little uneasy.
Jacob shook his head and said: "To take the land route, we have to pass through too many countries, climb over plateaus, and cross deserts. I'm afraid that we will be exhausted on the road before we arrive, so we can only take the sea route."
Jerome pointed to the rough chart and said: "If we had been born a hundred years earlier, it might have been possible. But now the Ottoman Empire occupies Asia Minor and the Balkans. Didn't those merchants also say that the Ottoman Empire imposes heavy taxes, even if we I'm afraid I'll lose more than half of the silk I shipped."
Jacob thought for a while and said: "Just go here, as long as they let go
Okay, we can go to Seris. As for the loss when we come back, we will raise the price to make up for it. "
Jerome looked at Jacob helplessly, spread his hands, and said, "Okay, but we have no ship, no sailors, and no cargo. How can we go to sea?"
Going out to sea to the far east is impossible without a boat, and even with just two people.
Jacob was thinking, and suddenly thought of the noble David, and said to Jerome: "We don't have a boat, and other people have boats, wouldn't it be great?"
In a luxurious manor, David, a rising aristocrat, was reading Dante's "Divine Comedy" when he suddenly heard that two young people were visiting from outside.
If it had been the past, David would have ordered people to drive him away, but he had just seen the eighteen levels of hell and felt uncomfortable, so he planned to ask the visitor what he did.
Let my soul stay away from hell.
David looked at Jacob and Jerome, whose clothes were a little shabby, and suddenly felt that it would be better to go back to hell. Talking to these two people was a waste of his life.
"Kick them out and don't pollute my manor."
David waved and left.
Jacob pushed David's servant away and shouted: "If your manor is covered with silk and filled with ceramics, no one will defile it."
David stopped, turned around, looked at Jacob in surprise, and asked, "What did you just say?"
Jacob stepped forward confidently and said to David: "I can make your manor covered with silk and filled with ceramics, and make you the richest nobleman in Venice. Everyone will look at you with envy."
"Treading on the Stars"
David became interested and arranged for servants to bring chairs and entertain them.
“Where are the silks and ceramics?”
David asked longingly.
Jacob smiled and said: "The ancient Romans called Seris, the Yuan Dynasty mentioned by Marco Polo, the distant and mysterious eastern country,"
After David heard this, his face suddenly turned cold. He looked at Jacob and Jerome, shook his head, and said: "You want to go to the East? Haha, don't dream, but it's tens of thousands of miles away, just you guys ,how to go?"
"What if I have a fleet of five ships?"
Jacob looked at David calmly.
David frowned. If five ships went out to sea, they might really be able to reach the distant east.
"What do you need?"
David asked seriously.
Jacob was delighted and said: "Ten thousand gold coins!"
"What?"
David screamed.
Ten thousand gold coins, isn't this costing your own life?
After accumulating property for most of his life and inheriting property from several generations, he only has 30,000 gold coins in total. He actually opened his mouth to take away 10,000 gold coins?
Jacob followed the guidance and said: "These 10,000 gold coins are just your capital. When we return with the goods, you will receive 100,000 gold coins and 200,000 gold coins."
"What if you can't come back?"
David looked at Jacob coldly.
There are wealth and treasures in the depths of the sea, but there are also strong winds and huge waves. Not to mention going to the far east, even if you don't go far from Venice, ships often capsize.
Trading a large sum of money for wealth that may never arrive is tantamount to a risky gamble.
Jacob looked at David firmly and said: "Whether you come back or not is up to Jehovah (God). What we have to do is to sail out to sea. Do you want to hold on to the gold coins for three to five years? Or do you believe in us?" A great opportunity, take your pick."
David hesitated.
Jerome looked at Jacob and scoffed.
He smiled and said, "Brother, let me just say that he doesn't have the courage to believe us. If that's the case, let's go find the noble Joseph. When we return, his reputation will be heard throughout Venice and will be remembered forever by future generations."
When David heard about Joseph, he suddenly became anxious and shouted: "It's okay to give you ten thousand gold coins, but I need you to sign the contract and swear in the name of Jehovah."
Jacob and Jerome suddenly became happy. After everything was done, Jacob and Jerome spent 6,000 gold coins to buy five large ships, gathered a group of experienced sailors, and spent another 1,000 gold coins. Gold coins were used to buy goods, and they also attracted William, a Catholic priest who knew Oriental dialect.
Jerome asked William curiously: "Is what Marco Polo said true?"
William was full of longing for the Eastern countries and said seriously to Jerome: "My child, don't doubt that Marco Polo really went to the East and lived there for seventeen years. When he returned to Venice for the first time, he followed At the request of Kublai Khan, the Pope asked the Pope to send missionaries to the East. At that time, Pope Nicholas IV selected Italian Franciscan Mengovino and other Franciscans to go to China to develop religious affairs."
"Bishop Menggovino is a great man. He was the first person to preach in the East. The reason why I can speak some simple Eastern dialects is because of the influence of Bishop Menggovino. I heard that it was prosperous and beautiful there. But few people have converted to Jehovah. As a priest, I should go there to see and promote Catholic doctrine.”
Jerome didn't care about the bishop, he only cared about whether what Marco Polo said was true and whether there were silks and ceramics there. Seeing William's confirmation, he strengthened his belief.
Overcome all difficulties and go to the far east!
"Set the sails and set sail!"
At the end of November, when the north wind was strong, five ships, led by Jacob and Jerome, left the harbor under the eyes of countless Venetians looking forward to, praising or ridiculing.
Jerome and others would not know that what they did at this time, whether successful or failed, would be recorded in history and be named as the pioneers of the budding era of great navigation.
The mighty Age of Discovery is coming, less than a hundred years ago.
History took this era as a watershed and completed the transfer of the "national destiny" between the East and the West. The decline of the East and the rise of the West were in the same time and space.
Zhu Yunwen looked at the wooden fleet placed on the sand table, calculated the time, and said to Xu Huizu on the side: "Zheng He's fleet should be on the way back."
Xu Huizu nodded slightly and said: "Your Majesty, I heard that Longjiang Shipyard is building a large ship, but is it intended for Nanyang?"
Zhu Yunwen laughed loudly, pointed to the southern countries, and said: "How can Nanyang be worthy of such a large ship? I hope Zheng He will lead a more advanced and larger warship to do something unprecedented."
The average cost of a treasure ship is nearly 7,000 taels of silver. This price is too much for the rich man Zhu Yunwen. If he wants to build 60 treasure ships, the minimum cost is 400,000 taels of silver. This does not include the cost of materials, transportation, and craftsmen’s expenses. , Lin Lin finally calculated the cost of subsequent sea trials, and it was impossible without two to three million taels...
However, the reason for the huge expense this time was not to show off the Ming Dynasty’s national power and make it famous among all nations, but to let Zheng He go to South America to dig potatoes...
As long as he digs out potatoes, let alone three million taels, it will fill a year's budget, and Zhu Yunwen thinks it's worth it.
PS:
Tomorrow is March, so here is the third update, asking for a guaranteed monthly ticket for March.
Brothers who have monthly tickets, please support Jingxue. In addition, it is a little troublesome to recommend tickets and update. Haha, thank you Jingxue.
We will sail again in March, thank you for having me.
