The Sun and the Lion

"Are the Knights Hospitallers going to launch a military adventure to fish in troubled waters?" Ibrahim looked back at history. After Timur defeated the Ottomans, he defeated Smyrna, which was guarded by the Knights Hospitallers. Now he wants to take advantage of the chaos. Recover the old place?

As for how to punish this transgression, it was a difficult question for him. He only knew that the power of the Knights Hospitaller was in Rhodes Island, and the Holy See that controlled the Knights was in Rome. He could just pull out a place at will like Tamerlane. It seems impossible to become an important stronghold for Christians.

So, the King of Kings had an idea and decided: "Let's just pretend that this didn't happen."

After thinking about his rights and interests, he immediately had to plan how to eliminate this threat in the future. The most intuitive one was the fleet issue. Even if he didn't know the Knights Hospitaller at all, he could tell by looking at the map that a reliable ship was needed to attack Rhode Island. Team.

Asia Minor has a long coastline, numerous ports and rich resources, which can undoubtedly meet the various needs of building a fleet. Moreover, there are many Muslim pirate activities in the Mediterranean. The Smyrna Crusade was caused by the rampant Turkic pirates. In short, building a fleet along the coast of Asia Minor will not be more difficult than in the Persian Gulf.

What he is most worried about is financial issues. Military expenditures must first maintain a strong army, then a fleet in the Indian Ocean, and finally in the direction of the Mediterranean.

When the King of Kings thought about the last choice, he would definitely spend money. If the military expenditure was not enough, he could only rely on his private fleet to make up for it.

The secretary immediately drafted an edict, asking the Konya court to pay attention to controlling shipwrights in various ports, appoint a reliable red-headed bey to build warships in Izmir, recruit sailors, and conduct united front work against Muslim pirates who could be won over.

At the same time, a secret order was sent to the current naval commander. Although the former sea pirate did not understand the situation in the Mediterranean, out of trust, the King of Kings still planned to consult his opinion.

The next step is to find out information about the Knights Hospitallers. To eradicate this Christian pirate group, we cannot rely on fragmentary knowledge of the previous life.

How to understand the current situation of a region? The first thing Ibrahim thought of was trade. Although the regime of the Religious Knights was special compared to other monarchies, the towns and villages under the rule of the Grand Master of the Knights were no different from normal countries. The society under the rule of the Knights remained the same. To function normally, the normal demand of commerce cannot be exempted.

It happened that the previous decree of the Iberian monarch to expel the Jews brought a large number of Sephardic Jewish immigrants to the Ottomans. Bayezid II resettled them everywhere under the rule of Gaomen, and Salonika became the largest in Europe and even the world. It is a Jewish city and the only city where Jews account for more than half of the population.

Correspondingly, cities in Anatolia also accepted Sephardic Jewish immigrants. Izmir, like Salonika, was resettled with several groups of refugees. The red-headed militiamen who took over the city did not swing their butcher knives at them. Now these Sephardic Jewish communities with deep connections in European Christendom became the property of Ibrahim, whether or not any of them still thought of Uthman.

“If the Ottomans could use Jewish spies, why couldn’t I?”

With a plan in mind, he sent two edicts to Isfahan through his secretary. One is to ask the Imperial Property Department to absorb the trading families of these Jewish communities as royal merchants like the Armenians to help the Safavid royal family. Operate trade with Europe.

With Christians and Jews as the starting point, the second order given to the spymaster can be implemented - using the connections of the Sephardic Jewish community to plant spies in Rhode Island, collect various information about the Knights Hospitallers and report regularly , it is best to serve as an internal agent in future sieges to assist in sabotage activities.

"Your Majesty, the Venetian ambassador you summoned is waiting outside the door."

After making good military and intelligence arrangements, diplomatic activities will follow. He does not plan to send envoys directly to Rhodes Island. It should be more effective to negotiate with the Holy See through Venice.

Now that the Italian war has entered a new stage, Venice is no longer under siege by the Pope, France and the HRE. Just a few weeks after the second battle of Ankara, the Pope united Venice, the HRE, Switzerland, Spain and England to form a resistance Holy Alliance of France.

The King of Kings was very concerned about the international situation, so Franco became his "non-staff consultant", vigorously collecting military and political information obtained from his home country and submitting it to Diwan. Facing the mainland, the ambassador explained that it was Ibrahim's request. Doing so would enhance his favor with Venice and was a diplomatic means.

Due to time constraints, only the Venetian ambassador was summoned this time, and other royal businessmen and advisors who knew Europe were not present. Find the bookstore www.zhaoｓhuyuan.com

"I heard that there is a group of extremely vicious Christian pirates in the Mediterranean who do all kinds of evil. They disrupt the normal shipping of Muslims in the name of religion. Is there such a thing?" Ibrahim asked, pretending to know nothing.

Seeing that the King of Kings came to him for consultation, Franco carefully responded: "Dear King of Kings, the Foreign Minister believes that the force that fits the description you mentioned is the Knights Hospitaller on Rhodes Island..."

After the ambassador gave a brief introduction to the Knights, he was immediately informed of the conflict between the red-headed militia and the Knights' fleet in the port of Izmir and the King of Kings' concerns about the security of Muslim shipping in the Mediterranean. Ibrahim then became very He said solemnly: "I have no intention of being an enemy of all Christians. I am very eager to be a peacemaker. The great and precious peace is also what Huda likes. But this provocation has violated me. I want to know Is this an instruction from the Holy See or is this pirate group doing its own thing? If the Pope wants peace with me and all Muslims, then restrain their behavior and show sincerity."

When both of them knew that Venice was at peace with the Holy See, it was not beyond Franco's expectation that Ibrahim would use Venice as a channel to conduct diplomacy with the Pope.

"Dear Your Majesty, if you want to negotiate with the Pope, you can send an envoy to Rome. The foreign minister believes that the Republic is willing to act as an intermediary to mediate for friendly countries to resolve this misunderstanding. Your feat of defeating the Turkish Sultan will also spread throughout the West. This will be of great benefit to your image and reputation in the Christian world." After hearing Ibrahim's request, Franco respectfully replied.

"I am very happy that your country can stand on the side of peace and help our country." After saying that, Ibrahim dismissed the ambassador and asked the secretary to continue delivering the documents to Isfahan.