The Sun and the Lion

Although the Vice-King's fleet would not reach the East African coast until summer at the earliest, the Venetians were still anxious. Until recently, some people were optimistic that the high cost of long-distance sailing would make the Portuguese efforts unsustainable, but this idea has been slapped in the face by reality.

In order to collect information about the Portuguese spice trade, the Calicut Commission sent spies disguised as merchants in Lisbon to convey to the mainland the actual situation of Portugal's trade in the Indian Ocean.

The spy was very well-informed. He included the ships that set sail and returned every year into his statistics. He knew exactly who the commander was, the number of crew members, and the amount of cargo.

The secret report sent back from Lisbon shattered the remaining illusions and plunged all the senators present to listen to the report into pessimism: I think it is wrong to say that the Portuguese were forced to abandon this business because they could not overcome the difficulties of long voyages. How wrong. Now the spice trade from Lisbon to India has become a long-term stable business, because they have dominated the sea, and the Indian monarchs whose interests have been violated are obviously unable to resist the sailing ships and artillery of the Portuguese monarchs. In the future, these interests will always be in the hands of the Portuguese court...

The reaction of the Mamluks disappointed them. After learning that the Portuguese fortress in Cochin had miraculously survived, Cansu Gauri's first plan was to use the Holy Land to threaten the entire Christian world. This directly caused Venice to use the monks as envoys to Egypt. Seeing it as a hot potato, they did not dare to publicly support this idea. They also wrote publicly to ask Kansu Gauri to abandon this approach, but expressed sympathy in private.

After dumping the monks to the Holy See, the council was disillusioned with the current progress, and the Mamluks still did not focus on fighting the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean.

It was only then that the committee noticed the report from the ambassador to Persia. Through careful reading and understanding, they basically clarified the relevant information about this new player in the Indian Ocean War.

The governor and commissioners were surprised that they had inadvertently made a pagan friend comparable to the Mamluks, and the Safavids also had vassals in India, which meant that Persia had more motivation and ability to interfere in India. With a try mentality, the committee authorized Francesco, who was about to step down soon, to negotiate with Ibrahim, hoping to get the King of Kings to actively intervene in the chaotic situation in the Indian Ocean.

So Francesco appeared in front of Ibrahim again and explained to Ibrahim the current situation in the Indian Ocean that Venice knew.

After Ibrahim understood the information known to the Venetian side, in order to prevent wasting time, he first teased: Your Excellency, Ambassador, you came to see you this time with the instructions of your country's consul instead of acting on your own, right? .

Yes, the foreign minister has been authorized by the governor and the committee. If you still have doubts, please take a look at these authorization documents signed by the governor. Francesco took out the documents, and Ibrahim naturally looked at them. The one who didn't understand Italian just waved his hand and said: In that case, there is no need to waste time, let's talk about business.

Speaking of the situation in India, Ibrahim was a little annoyed. He was not surprised that the Portuguese could defeat Zamorin. What troubled him was that the Sultan of Bijapur refused the request to build a fort in Goa.

Originally, he thought of using the Goa fortress as a fulcrum to continue infiltrating southward, but if the city defense force was not strengthened, the Portuguese would be able to capture it with a single surprise attack, and the fleet would have to travel thousands of miles from Hormuz.

Putting aside these unpleasantnesses, he first said: I already knew that these nasty Franks have found a foothold in India and are stubbornly resisting the pressure from local forces. Some merchants from Calicut have fled north to my country. It caused a lot of turmoil in the vassal territory.”

Yes, it seems that your news channels are smoother and more convenient. Francesco praised Ibrahim and planned to record all these words in order to convince the native Persia that it was more suitable than Egypt to intervene in the Indian Ocean and restore the Indian Ocean. normal trade order.

The purpose of the Venetian ambassador's visit was clear to both parties. Ibrahim had already made up his mind to intervene in the Portuguese invasion, but he had not acted rashly before due to doubts about the strength of the fleet. Now he no longer intends to hesitate, and he can take advantage of the opportunity. This is an opportunity to see how real the navy he spent a lot of money to build is.

It's just that in front of the Venetians, he doesn't plan to be so straightforward. Now that he's here, Ibrahim still wants to try to make these Venetian businessmen burst into gold coins. After all, maintaining order at sea is not a free service.

Your Excellency, Ambassador, I personally strongly oppose and condemn these wanton Frank pirates, but at present I really have no power to stop them... Ibrahim pretended to be sorry. He wanted to try to see if he could deceive Frank. Chesko, look for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com The ambassador has been staying in Azerbaijan for the past few years. Not to mention Hormuz, he has never even been to Basra. In addition, the Indian Ocean has always been peaceful in the past, and the coastal regimes do not have a strong need for an armed navy. and consciousness - diametrically opposed to the Mediterranean - although he recruited shipbuilders through Venice, the Venetian ambassador should not know the details of the Safavid navy.

As soon as Ibrahim opened his mouth, Francesco knew that he should provide assistance. Fortunately, the Safavids were better than the Mamluks. They could forge their own cannons and did not completely rely on imported wood for shipbuilding. He thought this way I wanted to go, but suddenly I found that I didn't seem to have any conditions that could actually help the Persians.

Dear King of Kings, can the foreign minister ask if your country has any difficulties in naval construction? Our country needs to know what your country needs before we can decide how to help you. The Venetian ambassador asked slowly.

What he was waiting for was this sentence: To be honest with you, Ambassador, our country needs time to expand its fleet, but ships alone are not enough. If possible, I hope your country can introduce navigators who know enough about Frankish pirates to help guide our army in combat. .

Ibrahim also expressed the hope that Venice could provide financial assistance to help build the navy, but this condition made the ambassador call it outrageous. Even for the Mamluks, who were the most bound, the consul did not directly give money. Moreover, Venice is still involved in international affairs on the Italian land and cannot escape for the time being. In addition, Venice has to pay compensation to the Ottomans. At this time, the finances are not as rich as outsiders imagined.

Ibrahim, who failed to make Venice explode with gold coins, felt regretful, but this was not a fatal problem. The profits Safavid earned from international trade were enough to cover expenses.

As for hiring a naval consultant who understands Portugal, Francesco can only express his best efforts. After all, such conditions are still somewhat harsh.