The Crescent of the Sultan

The sun is rising outside the window. Looking out from Topkapi Palace, a red sun is slowly jumping out of the water from the end of the Golden Horn.

Selim breathed in the fresh sea breeze and slowly got up from the bed.

"Paul, my breakfast is here." The valet pushed the door open and said, "Your Majesty, according to your instructions, the main dishes prepared by the royal chef today are beef noodles and meat pies, the dessert is baklava, and the cold drink is sorbet."

Although the financial situation of the empire has improved a lot under Selim's suggestions and Hamid's execution, the consumption of a war is still huge, so Selim slightly reduced the palace expenses.

Of course, we cannot cut too much, otherwise the wise and mighty Sultan will feel dizzy and find it difficult to work.

Selim comforted himself while enjoying his breakfast.

However, all joking aside, fiscal revenue still needs to be increased by finding ways.

It is definitely impossible to learn from the great ancestor Muhammad II the Conqueror. Currency devaluation is a trick played every day. The people are not fools. They will rebel if they are provoked.

As for the church, guess who paid for Selim’s war.

Selim stretched and muttered: "So, we still have to learn from the Guards and do some small business without capital."

While Selim was dazed, an old man pushed in the door. The person who came was none other than Abraham, the leader of the Jewish Milites, one of the four major Milites in the Ottoman Empire.

While Selim was complaining in his mind that the other person's name had always been among the top 10 Jewish names, he pulled the other person to sit next to him and asked with a smile.

"My dear Abraham, how have you considered the proposal that the Jewish nation and the empire jointly establish the Royal Bank of the Ottoman Empire?"

Abraham naturally understood that the Sultan in front of him was not a good person, and there were probably fifty axemen ambushing him in any corner. As long as Abraham dared to refuse, he would go to heaven immediately.

However, Abraham had no intention of rejecting the Sultan.

Marx once commented that capitalists can sell the ropes used to hang themselves to the proletariat for profit. This sentence is also wonderful when used to describe Jews.

Selim snickered in his heart while listening to Abraham's arguments for the distribution of bank equity and positions.

"Your Majesty, the empire's annual fiscal revenue is only 22 million taels of silver, and the Imperial Bank reserves you require are as high as 40 million taels of silver.

Then we have to spend 20 million taels of silver. Do you think we should adjust our shares from 20% to 30%? "

Looking at the sincere face of Abraham in front of him, Selim thought of Prime Minister Bismarck who later gave in in front of Rothschild, President Garfield who died at the hands of the Seligman family, Germany with a piece of bread worth 500,000 marks, and the consortium. The bald man kneeling in front of him.

Selim stood up, brought Abraham to the window, and said with a smile: "Abraham, the entire Jewish community has been having a hard time in recent years. Compared with you, Britain and France are more willing to allow Christian merchants to trade with them. "

Abraham suddenly became excited, thinking: "The Sultan must be willing to agree to our request, oh, praise God."

However, Selim shattered his illusions the next moment.

"Dear Abraham, look at the Golden Horn in front of you. Countless schooners pass by here every day, and porters and merchants transport countless silver to the empire in exchange for imperial commodities.

But they will be troubled by the inconsistency of currency and regretted by not having enough money.

Just imagine, my friend, if there is a bank that can exchange currency and provide loans for them, how much profit there would be. Don’t these still satisfy my Jewish friends? "

Selim's eyes turned cold and he turned to look at Abraham and said.

"Or, my dear Jewish friends, do you even want to get your hands on the Sultan's share?"

Abraham felt himself break out in cold sweat, fell to his knees and hurriedly defended.

"Your Majesty, we have absolutely no intention of doing this. You know that the Jews have been loyal to the empire and to the Sultan since your ancestor, the Conqueror Mehmed II, without any second thoughts, Your Majesty.

Selim smiled and helped Abraham up and said.

"Relax, Abraham, I have always seen your loyalty. How about this, except for the 50% that belongs to the government, the remaining shares will be divided equally between us?"

Abraham nodded hastily, as if he was afraid that the Sultan would regret it.

"As for the president of the bank, let me serve as the president, and Abraham, you will be the vice president. I will leave all the specific business to you.

I have only one request, that the first tranche of national debt be ready for sale at the end of April to raise funds for the empire's war effort. "

Selim then issued instructions to Abraham and then asked Paul to escort the future vice-president of the Reichsbank out of the palace.

He turned around and lay on the soft big bed, thinking about the follow-up arrangements. Being a sultan is too tiring for him to give people face-to-face instructions all day long.

He has to manage all aspects of politics, military, and economy, as well as his pen pal diplomacy.

Selim couldn't help but start to have wonderful fantasies about the future after the reforms were completed. For example, like Suleiman the Magnificent, if he wrote a letter, the Pope would have to let the Jews go.

Thinking of the Jews, Selim's mood became bad again. When European countries were expelling these street rats, if it were not for the help of the Ottoman Empire, the Sephardic Jews would have died long ago.

But Abraham didn't know what he was doing and dared to approach him to discuss the distribution of shares. Be careful, the Sultan will learn from Adolf someday and have Kristallnacht to remove oil powerfully. Selim thought maliciously.

Time passed quickly, and the exam for the Guards officer was about to be held. Selim was still looking forward to it, even though the entire Guards' main business was paddling, doing business, and exchanging sultans.

But there are also people with lofty ideals. For example, Comrade Muhammad Ali, who will become famous in Egypt in the future, was picked up by Selim in advance and sent to the Army Sergeant School in Paris.

The young man also worked hard and successfully graduated after three years. He returned to the Guards and engaged in research while fooling other paddlers to actively apply for the Paris Army Sergeant School, contributing to the division within the Guards.

Yes, you read that right, the Guards can indeed be split. After all, the Guards also need young blood.

As we all know, young people are also the easiest to fool. They increased rewards and promoted patriotism, and the entire Guards eventually became reformers and conservatives.

Although the reformers were weak on their own, the Sultan was able to sidetrack him, and he had good comrades like Aladdin Pasha who actively pursued progress.

Selim can say with certainty: "With the current organizational level of the Guards, let alone rebellion, they can't do business with others.

Even if Ali Pasha is really out of his mind, he is not worried about changing the sultan at all. After all, the new army has an independent regiment stationed in Topkapi Palace.

Although the new army already has a certain strength, Selim does not want to purge the Guards now. First, if the war starts in Istanbul, how much money will Selim have to pay;

Second, this group of people is still somewhat useful. After all, the war is about to begin. Selim's little fortune, which he has finally saved, naturally needs to be protected more. Therefore, the vanguard of the battlefield can only be left to the Guards who are loyal to the Sultan;

Thirdly, the Guards are still very wealthy. If they don't go on an expedition, how will Selim make money? Even if they incite Christians to rebel, they won't get any money. After all, it's quite easy for a hawker who is a part-time soldier to beat up a group of civilians.

After once again confirming that there was nothing to report today and that he could retreat from the court, Selim took Paul and ran to the navy port.

The "Great Selim" he ordered from Louis XVI has been trained by Hassan Pasha for a month. You must know that the Sultan himself has not experienced it yet. What, you said Selim was overly boastful?

No, no, Sudan. This is to commemorate another great sultan in the history of the empire - Selim I (the Ruthless), the master of Mesopotamia, the nightmare of Persia, the conqueror of Egypt, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire. .

Selim hummed a tune proudly and approached the dock. The "Great Selim" was already waiting for him. Selim took a quick step and walked directly to the side of the ship, then stepped onto the deck.

The "Great Selim" uses the famous "Ocean" class keel, with a total length of 17.6m and a displacement of nearly 4,000 tons.

As for armament, the bottom artillery deck is equipped with 34 32-pound cannons, the middle deck is equipped with 2 50-pound guns and 32 32-pound cannons, the upper deck is equipped with 34 24-pound naval guns, and the bow and stern decks have a total of 26 42-pound carronets. Cannon, the entire ship has a rated crew of 1,280 people.

According to French warship designers, this ship may be the largest sailing warship in the world.

Selim was naturally very happy about this, after all, caliber is justice. The only drawback is that this warship is too expensive to build. One and a half million taels of silver makes Selim heartbroken every time he thinks about it.

While Selim was secretly feeling sad, Hassan Pasha had already walked over.

Although the old pasha is 84 years old, he still looks energetic.

"Your Majesty, are you ready? Accompanying you this time are the Empire's First Naval Fleet, the flagship "Great Selim", the double-deck battleship "Ibrahim Pasha", and the "Koprulu" The number, the "Mustafa" and several warships totaled twenty-seven."

Following Hassan Pasha's order, the warships set sail one after another.

The "Great Selim" took the lead. Above the blue waves, the stars guarded the flagship. Hassan waved the flag, and the fleet immediately converted from cruising formation to combat formation. Then, each ship launched a salvo, 50-pound and 32-pound. The cannonballs set off huge waves on the ocean.

This situation reminded Selim of his previous experience in Assassin's Creed - Black Flag. His hands suddenly became itchy and he hurriedly called to Hassan.

"Hassan Pasha, I want to try how to fire a cannon." Selim said, "No problem, Your Majesty." Hassan immediately made a place for Selim, and our Sultan aimed at the ocean in front of him and immediately Came a shot.

Not long after, there was a scream from the "Kopruru" beside him, and the cannonball fired by Selim passed by the side of the ship. Seeing this, Selim couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Well, it seems that my shooting is not accurate."

Because the financial information of the Ottoman Empire is really difficult to check, I use silver here to compare it with the fiscal revenue of the belt, because the fiscal revenue of the Ottoman Empire remains at half of the belt all year round.