The Rise of the European Emperor

While Marin continued to stay in Rome, the captains and sailors who Marin had arranged to go to Venice to take over the galleys and rowing slaves had already arrived in Venice from Route 6 and set out to sea by boat.

The leader of the team is Art, who has run the Venice route, has transported beautiful women to the Kingdom of Naples, and has also been to Egypt, and is very familiar with the situation on the Mediterranean Sea. This time to open the Crimean Khanate route, Marin gave him the task.

There were no such terrifying things as Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean Sea during this period. Right now, Turkey is still a landlubber with little naval power. Therefore, it is Venice that dominates the Mediterranean. Of course, the Mediterranean Sea to the west of the Italian peninsula is dominated by the fleets of Spain and Genoa. From Sicily to the east, the Mediterranean Sea there is completely dominated by the Republic of Venice.

The Republic of Venice has 33oo large galleys roaming the Mediterranean Sea. Many of these galleys can be converted into warships during the war. After all, in the Mediterranean in this era, it was still the era of jumping ship and ganging against each other, and merchant ships could also be used as warships.

At this time, the Turks were only on the ground and at sea, and they couldn't afford to provoke Venice. However, Venice also did not dare to provoke Turkey. Why? The reason is similar to the relationship between Spain and Portugal. Venice is like Portugal, strong in the sea and weak in 6 places. And Turkey is like Spain, weak at sea and tigers in six places. Therefore, despite being able to hang Turkey at sea, Venice is not willing to provoke Turkey, so as to prevent the Turks from going crazy and attacking Venice from the 6th ground.

In fact, there is a reason why Venice and Turkey can live in peace at this time. Because, at this time, the 6 major transportation routes in Europe and the East, Egypt, was still under the rule of the Mamluk Dynasty in Egypt. The Mamluk dynasty had a good relationship with Venice, and Arab merchants transported spices from India to ports on the Red Sea by sea, and then to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt via Route 6. Then the Venetian merchants came back to buy spices from the Egyptians.

Before the Indian route was discovered, European spices were thus monopolized by Venetian merchants. Later, the Venetian merchants panicked after the Portuguese found their way to India. In order to attack the Portuguese, the Venetian merchants dismantled their galleys and sent them to the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt. Then, the Egyptians transported the dismantled Venetian ships to the Red Sea through the No. 6 route in the Sinai Peninsula area, where they were reassembled and opened. To India, combined with the Indian fleet, and the Portuguese launched the famous "Battle of Diu".

It's a pity that the Venetian's guiding ideology of naval warfare has fallen behind.

The Portuguese already made extensive use of artillery. And the Venetians are still immersed in the backward thought of "jumping the boat and ganging up on the chop". So the battle of Diu was won by the Portuguese...

Of course, that still didn't happen. For now, Venice is the absolute hegemon of the Mediterranean Sea, especially the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek island of Crete, and the nearby Turkish island of Cyprus, were also colonies under Venetian control. And, most importantly, Turkey has not yet conquered Egypt, and the trade routes between Venice and India have not been cut off. Therefore, Venice is still relatively strong.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, as long as the flag of Venice is hoisted, you can basically walk sideways. At least, no famous force dares to move you. As for the kind of little pirates who are not afraid of death, I will not mention them. However, the kind of scumbag pirates who only dare to attack single merchant ships, and also dare not provoke when they encounter a group of merchant ships. After all, there is no one who dares to go out on a big voyage these days, and they are all masters who dare to gamble their lives.

In order to avoid trouble, Marin was just Art and established a chamber of commerce in Venice - the Sherlock Chamber of Commerce...

In this way, Marin's galley team can reasonably fly the flag of Venice. Even if there is an interrogation by the Venetian battleship, there are legal procedures. If there is no legal certificate, and the flag of Venice is casually hung, if you are caught, the ship will be confiscated...

Speaking of this Sherlock Chamber of Commerce, there is also a history. The name Sherlock, Marin borrowed the name of the Venetian profiteer in Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice".

After obtaining the legal procedures, Art took his subordinates and drove 20 galleys out of Venice, passing through the Adriatic Sea, through the Crete Sea, and into the Aegean Sea...

In the Aegean Sea, Art's fleet was indeed interrogated by the Venetian fleet. However, Art's fleet is complete and it is also affiliated with the "Sherlock Chamber of Commerce" in Venice. Naturally, the Venetian fleet will not be embarrassed, so they will continue to go north. Just, warn Art, don't mess with the Turks...

On the way, Art's fleet also encountered the battleship of the "Hospital Knights" still stationed in Rhodes Island. At this time, Rhodes Island was still under the control of the Knights Hospitaller and had not yet fallen into the hands of the Turks.

The warships of the Knights Hospitaller saw that the fleet was flying the flag of Venice, and naturally they were reluctant to do too much, so they passed by. After all, the hospital knights that stick to Rhodes Island also need to transport various supplies through the merchant ships in Venice. Offending Venice, the end is terrifying. They just want to catch a few Turks' warships and grab some supplies by the way, but they don't want to provoke the people of Venice.

After arriving in the Turkish Straits, the situation changed dramatically...

Because this place is already under the control of the Turks...

The Turks' current naval strength is indeed not strong, but the Turkish Strait is the lifeblood of the Turks. Even if they don't want the Mediterranean Sea, they can't want the Turkish Strait. Because, in the Turkish Strait, there is the capital of the Turks - Istanbul (Constantinople).

If the Turks do not control the Turkish Strait and let the enemy warships in, then the enemy ships can directly drive to the city of Istanbul and attack Turkey.

Therefore, just after leaving the Aegean Sea and entering the western part of the Turkish Strait - the Dardanelles Strait, the fleet was surrounded by a group of small and medium-sized Turkish ships...

However, Art was not in a hurry. He sent down the flag of Venice and raised the flag of the Crimean Khanate...

"What's going on? How did the opposing fleet hoist the flag of Crimea?" Uluman, the commander of the Turkish Squadron, was very surprised.

"Could it be to deceive us? However, it would be too stupid to change the flag under our noses..." Uluman's adjutant didn't understand either.

"What about him, send a small boat over to ask what's going on!" Uluman waved his hand and sent someone over to ask.

After a while, the messenger sent back with a parchment document, written in Arabic. Uluman took a look - oh my god, it was actually a document signed by the Khan of the Crimean Khanate...

Uluman didn't dare to call the shots, so he sent someone to use a fast boat to report the matter to the commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Turkish Strait.

However, the fleet headquarters is in Istanbul, and it takes a few days to come and go. In desperation, Art had to stop with the fleet first, accept the supervision of the Turks, and wait for the echo from Istanbul...

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