The Sun and the Lion

The Portuguese planned to launch a campaign on the coast of India, but the deputy king carefully spent the autumn and winter of 1505 on purchasing spices and building forts, suspending all tasks related to blocking the Red Sea and continuing eastward exploration. At present, neither the naval commander in Hormuz nor the King of Kings in Tabriz are aware of the arrival of the deputy king.

The belatedly arrived Mamluk fleet assembled in Suez, equipped with a total of 6 karaks and 6 galleys. This expeditionary force will set off in winter and first arrive at the port of Jeddah to consolidate the protection of the Holy Land and external contacts.

Ibrahim devoted his energy to battle preparations and internal affairs. Work on war preparations was co-chaired by the military vizier and the grand emir. For the time being, he only needs to periodically inquire about progress and results.

Ibrahim, who wanted to continue to expand his financial resources, once again set his sights on the franchise of monopolizing goods. He felt that rather than granting privileges to individual royal merchants, it would be better to organize them all.

For this purpose, Ibrahim specially summoned Waqie, the white eunuch general manager who was responsible for managing the royal merchants, and made his plans clear: I plan to cancel the business franchises given to individuals and integrate all the merchants who serve me into a unified organization. In the trading guilds, the operating franchise for silk or other goods will be granted to the trading guilds...

Regarding this idea, Vacher praised: Only the master can come up with such a genius method. The slaves believe that organizing them one by one into the guild will indeed facilitate management, and as a whole, it will be more conducive to trade.

The royal merchants who were engaged in the silk trade were the first to experience changes. They were originally loosely managed and did their own thing except paying profits. They were required to unify their activities in the trading warehouses set up by the guild. They no longer needed to find caravanserais and warehouses to store goods on their own. There is no need to charter ships at the port to transport raw silk and silk to Western Europe. Instead, they become parts of the chartered trade guilds. Under the coordination of the guilds, they have a clear division of labor and each performs their own duties to operate the trade network.

Trade guilds’ business houses are not only distributed in various cities within the country, but also in foreign cities such as Aleppo and Bursa where Iranian businessmen gather. At the same time, the relationship network between Armenian and Jewish merchants allowed the guild's trading houses to gain a foothold in Western Europe. Italian merchants who had previously cooperated with various Armenian and Jewish silk merchants did not suffer any adverse effects from this change. For the guild, It is undoubtedly safe to maintain business relationships with these people.

In addition to the original commercial relations with Venice and Genoa, with the support of trade guilds, the silk trade network further expanded. Armenian merchants tried to compete with Calabrian silk in Sicily and provided raw materials for the silk weaving industry in Lyon.

Seeing that there was no problem with this approach, Ibrahim expanded this model to other industries monopolized and interfered by the palace. In addition to trade, workshops owned by the royal family and the palace were also managed in this way. By winter, Western European merchants who visited Iranian trading houses found that in addition to raw silk and silk, they could also purchase spices such as saffron, gemstones, and other luxury goods and specialties directly from here.

This change directly angered the Venetians. They did not expect that their trading status could be so threatened. The consul was so anxious that the first task given to the new Venetian ambassador to Persia was to reach a trade beneficial to both parties with the King of Kings. protocol.

The agreement the ambassador gave Ibrahim was that Safavid granted Venetian merchants franchise rights to trade Persian goods among the Frankish countries. This was equivalent to directly excluding other Western European merchants and continuing to maintain Venice's monopoly. . In return, the Venetian ambassador claimed that he could share the profits directly with Ibrahim, and the specific amount would be discussed later.

On the basis of this condition, the Venetian side also proposed that merchant ships transporting goods could be designated to Venice. In order to induce the King of Kings to agree to this clause, the ambassador claimed that Persian merchants could reduce the fee for renting Venetian merchant ships.

It was just that Ibrahim was not interested in the conditions for granting Venice a franchise and rejected it directly. The ambassador then asked the King of Kings to grant Venice some trade privileges, including more preferential tariffs, without directly and roughly excluding merchants from other countries. outer.

Regarding this slightly mild request, Ibrahim continued to reject it: Your request is really unreasonable.

Seeing that the King of Kings was determined to conduct free trade with all the countries of the Christian world, the ambassador had no choice but to admit defeat and convey this sad news back to his country.

In addition to the trade guilds, various moneylenders loyal to the palace were also integrated. The bank created by the Italians was already known to Ibrahim. Find Shuyuan www. zhaｏｓｓ.com It just so happens that commerce plays an important role in Iran, so perhaps we can try to introduce these commercial inventions.

Due to the avoidance of religious doctrine, these banking businesses were also managed by court pagans. The new banks were more powerful than all the moneylenders in the original market. They could not only provide the funds needed for long-distance trade and industry, but also local government construction projects. You can also raise funds from it. Currency exchange is also very convenient and the fees charged are very low.

The emergence of the royal bank has undoubtedly been criticized by the religious community, but in the past few weeks, Ibrahim has received several petitions from the ulema, most of which requested the King of Kings to prohibit and punish any collection of funds regardless of belief. and the blasphemy of paying interest.

The King of Kings ignored this. The largest principal in the royal bank was the royal cash, and he was the one who made the most profits. Ibrahim was not pious. He chose wealth between faith and wealth. After all, you can make more money if you lose it, and you can make more if you lose your conscience.

In addition to the royal bank, there were other moneylenders and money changers who also planned to set up commercial banks to make profits.

Under the pressure brought by the protests of the ulema, the Muslim bankers involved in the business invented Shariah-compliant models in addition to interest—such as cost plus, profit and loss sharing, etc.—to bypass interest and Providing funds for profit, these shariah-compliant loans will not be lent to illegal industries such as the wine industry and pig farming.

In addition to providing funds for civilian economic activities, the King of Kings also plans to introduce banking services into military camps to facilitate soldiers to store and transfer property.

The emergence and development of new commercial organizations was only an episode for Ibrahim in 1505, and its impact was not immediate. For him, infrastructure construction and the storage of gold and silver coins were more intuitive.