The Rise of the European Emperor

Without the lucrative spice trade, the economy of the Mamluk dynasty in the future will surely become difficult. Although it is said that the Mamluk dynasty has now united with India and intends to form a joint fleet to attack the joint fleet of Spain and Portugal. But Marin knew that this battle must have been the failure of the combined fleet of the Mamluk dynasty and India. After all, the technological level gap between the two is too great.

Historically, Portugal alone was able to defeat the combined fleets of Egypt and India, not to mention the stronger Spanish-Portuguese combined fleets now? Therefore, the economic decline of the Mamluk dynasty is inevitable.

However, Marin left an important follower early on - encouraging Venice to dig the Suez Canal...

At present, Venice is concentrating all its human and material resources to dig the Suez Canal quietly, and the Mamluk Dynasty is also very cooperative.

It is foreseeable that once the Suez Canal is successfully dug, Venice, which has not yet declined, will surely devote its powerful Mediterranean fleet to the Arabian Sea to fight to the death with Spain and Portugal. At that time, it was also the only chance for the Mamluk dynasty to come back. If Venice also loses, the Mamluk dynasty will have no hope of turning around.

Of course, Marin didn't care about whether the Mamluk dynasty could stand up, he only cared about the Mamluk dynasty being able to stop the invasion of Ottoman Turkey. As long as the Mamluk dynasty survives, the Caliph will remain in Cairo and will not become another title of Turkish Sultan. As long as Turkey does not command Allah's position in the world, it will be difficult to create the original historical momentum.

The previous agitation for Venice to dig the Suez Canal was actually for the safety of the Mamluk dynasty. Venice has already dug the Suez Canal. Can you protect this canal with all your might? And this canal will also become the biggest obstacle for the Turkish cavalry to attack Egypt.

At that time, Venice, which has major interests in the Suez Canal, will be forced to be involved in the war and will have to stand on the side of the Mamluk dynasty. Not only can the Suez Canal stop the Turkish cavalry, but the Venetian navy is not vegetarian. At least, stronger than Turkey. Even if Turkey wants to invade Egypt by landing by sea, it has to ask the Venetians whether they agree...

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It's just that Marin is actually a little worried now, worried that the Venetians will not be able to beat the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal in the future. If there is only Portugal, Marin must have confidence in Venice. But if you add Spain, it's hard to say.

Spain is very powerful, and the Spaniards currently occupy the Kingdom of Naples, threatening the export of Venice's Adriatic Sea. Once a sea battle breaks out, the Spaniards are very likely to take advantage of their geographical advantages and deploy a large number of warships in the Kingdom of Naples to block the Adriatic Sea.

Moreover, fighting in the Indian Ocean is different from fighting in the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean, galleys are more maneuverable because of the low wind. But in the Indian Ocean, the wind is strong, but the pure sailing ships of Spain and Portugal are more dominant.

In other words, once Venice cuts through the Suez Canal and sends its main fleet to the Indian waters, it may lose the naval battle because the ships are not as good as the Spanish-Portuguese allied forces. Therefore, Marin must also remind Venice of this to prevent Venice from being defeated by the Spanish Portuguese League and the fleet. Once Venice is defeated by Spain and Portugal, Venice will also decline. At that time, Ottoman Turkey will have more opportunities. Therefore, Marin did not hope that Venice would fail after the decisive battle in the Indian Ocean broke out.

Venetian warships are different from those of Spain and Portugal. In order to adapt to sailing in the Mediterranean, most of Venice's ships are galleys. Moreover, all Latin jib sails are hung to make full use of the wind.

However, the galleys hang oars on the side and cannot install side artillery, which will lead to insufficient firepower during naval battles. Therefore, Marin plans to guide the Venetians to modify the ship at that time-for example, remove the oars on the side after entering the windy Indian Ocean. At the same time, blastholes were opened on the side. Once the oars are removed, the gun ports can be opened,

Extend the cannons for naval battles... In this way, after the Venetian fleet enters the Indian Ocean, it will not be unable to defeat the Spanish Portuguese Union and the fleet. You know, in terms of the number of ships alone, Venice is currently enough to crush Spain and Portugal...

Also, Venice is not stupid. It is estimated that once the conflict between Venice and Spain and Portugal breaks out, Venice will definitely ask France to help deal with Spain. At that time, there will be another big melee in Europe...

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Of course, it's still early to say that. For now, we have to wait for Venice to dig through the Suez Canal. And when Venice finishes digging the Suez Canal, God knows when it will be. By then, Marin may have been involved in the German War of Religion.

Even if he is not involved in religious wars, Marin will not intervene in the maritime hegemony between Venice and Spain and Portugal. Because it had nothing to do with him. Although Marin has a good relationship with Juan III of Spain, this does not mean that Marin wants to see Spain become stronger. Because Spain becomes stronger, which is not good for Marin, and may even threaten Marin's colonization of America.

Therefore, Marin actually hopes that the Venetians will be better. In this way, Spain's power at sea was frustrated, and there was no extra power to expand to America.

In short, Marin's expectation is that by then, the three countries of Venice, Spain, and Portugal are best to play dog ​​brains at sea, and all three losers will suffer. In this way, Marin will be at ease, and he can make a fortune in silence...

In order to achieve this goal, Marin decided to buy a batch of galleys first. Then, let the craftsmen in the shipyard study how to convert the galley into a ship that can adapt to sea battles in the ocean.

Specifically, continue to hang oars and use Latin jib sails in the Mediterranean. But when it comes to the ocean, it is replaced with sails suitable for sailing on the ocean, and the oars are removed, and the artillery is extended out of the gun port for sea artillery battles.

Once this modification is successful, Marin will send the plan to Venice. After Venice successfully excavates the Suez Canal in the future, the galley warships in active service can be properly refitted on a large scale to make them more suitable for fighting in the Indian Ocean. At that time, it will be difficult for Spain and Portugal to have a leading edge in naval warfare weapons and tactics. The Venetian battleships also equipped with a lot of artillery will have a combat effectiveness no less than that of Spanish and Portuguese warships. Even if it is not as good as the warships of Spain and Portugal, Venice can offset this disadvantage by numbers. After all, in terms of the number of merchant ships, no one could compare with Venice before the rise of the "sea coachman" Netherlands.

In addition, when the time comes, Marin plans to get some cheap copper from the East and secretly sell it to Venice so that the Venetians can cast artillery. The current price of copper is too expensive. To equip warships with artillery, the cost of copper alone is unbearable for most countries.

Also, the shortage of saltpeter was a big problem. At that time, Marin plans to also sell some saltpetre to the Venetians in private, so that they will have more confidence to fight a sea battle with Spain and Portugal. After all, Marin must have opened up the Ming trade route by then, and will also mine Chilean saltpeter. There is no pressure to provide some saltpeter to Venice...

All in all, Marin just doesn't want Venice to lose in the future maritime hegemony. After all, even if Venice wins, it will only dominate the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and will not get involved in the Atlantic Ocean. Because the Spaniards and Portuguese will definitely block the Strait of Gibraltar and prevent the Venetians from entering the Atlantic Ocean.

In other words, the victory of Venice is more beneficial to Marin than the defeat of Venice. It would be a disaster if Spain and Portugal defeated Venice. At that time, not only may it be difficult for the defeated Venice to help the Mamluk dynasty defend Egypt, but Spain and Portugal, whose reputation has risen because of the victory, may also breed greater ambitions. For example, getting involved in the Americas... and this is definitely not what Marin wants to see...