Chapter 2 Buying a Boat
The first ray of sunshine in the morning woke up the whole city. The bells of several churches marked the city’s awakening. The streets were gradually filled with citizens going to the early market and farmers from affiliated villages. Blacksmith shops The first plume of black smoke came out of the chimney, and the clanging sound of iron could be heard far away. Vendors and customers were bargaining and arguing, and sometimes loud curses could be heard.
The fishermen, who had worked hard all night, had no time to rest and quickly dragged the fresh fish they had just caught to the market to sell in order to get the best price - businessmen in Venice and Pisa often paid more money in exchange for more delicious enjoyment. .
The citizens of Constantinople had a mixed love-hate relationship with the Latin merchants. On the one hand, the Latins were the initiators of their increasingly bad life. On the other hand, everyone knew that the safety of the city had been compromised to some extent. It all depended on the Western Latin world's support for Constantinople. The night before, the citizens and the Latins had toasted to the victory of the Crusaders.
In the square outside the church, you can see pairs of citizens arguing fiercely. They debate theological issues that have nothing to do with daily life, commonly known as "debating the Bible." This is a characteristic of Laojunbao people. Regardless of men, women, old or young, everyone is full of interest in religion and is always looking forward to a wonderful debate with strangers. Objectively speaking, this is conducive to the development of logical speculation and the internal stability and unity of religion. When the empire was strong, this phenomenon was a beautiful sight. But now that the empire is in turmoil, this kind of behavior can only be Attracting ridicule from the Latins.
"Stupid Greeks, they care more about verbal victory than gold." said the Latin businessman.
For example, now, many citizens are very dissatisfied with the "ecclesiastical unity" initiative reached by the emperor and the Roman Church at the Ecumenical Council of Florence in 1439. The religious atmosphere in the entire city is very scary, like a powder keg that has been opened. A spark will explode.
This has nothing to do with Isaac, who has just finished breakfast. Now he is carrying out the necessary military training for royal children under the guidance of Mikhail, the captain of the guard.
Isaac's small guard only has 20 people. The captain Mikhail also serves as a military teacher. The empire's treasury cannot make ends meet. The ability to have a guard consisting of 20 cavalry is due to the preference of his uncle Ioannis.
Captain Mikhail is a kind-hearted middle-aged man who comes from a minor noble family. It is said that he is a distant relative of the Valleolo family. He was an experienced cavalry officer who had participated in the defense of Constantinople in 1422. He had also participated in the siege of the Latin remnants in Achaia under the command of Isaac's father and was deeply trusted.
"Isaac, why are you working so hard today?" Mikhail was obviously very happy with the student's progress. "Usually you would rather stay with the old man who teaches you Latin and French and recite scriptures than with us. Train for one more second.”
Isaac had just finished his archery training. He rubbed his sore shoulder blades and picked up the lance beside him.
"Uncle Mikhail, I am beginning to feel that learning grammar cannot save the empire. The future of the empire rests on the guns of soldiers."
Isaac wiped the burning sweat from his eyes, climbed onto the horse's saddle, gritted his teeth, and waved the lance in his hand.
nonsense! If you don’t learn some martial arts, you won’t even be able to escape by then!
Mikhail looked at the weak but proud knight in the sun and was stunned for a second.
Isaac obviously didn't focus on practicing martial arts, and his physical fitness was extremely average. At this time, the arm holding the lance was sore, and the three-meter-long lance was crumbling in the young man's hand.
"Uncle Mikhail..."
"Kid, that's not how a lance is used..." Mikhail put his hand on his forehead.
"Then you didn't tell me earlier!"
Isaac spent the whole morning in the pain of training, receiving the same training as the soldiers of the guard, without slacking off at all.
During lunch time, Isaac declined the invitations of several noble friends and prayed with the soldiers, enjoyed the food given by God together, and chatted together with nonsense words unique to soldiers.
At first, the soldiers were a little cautious. They might never have the opportunity to dine with a noble in purple, and their previous relationship with Isaac was limited to salutes.
After discovering that His Highness the Prince was not difficult to get along with today, everyone slowly opened their hearts. Isaac patiently listened to the soldiers sharing their joys and worries, and also kindly put forward his own opinions on the issues.
His Highness is a little different today, the soldiers and captains of the guard all thought.
Isaac knew that it was of course wishful thinking to hope to conquer the hearts of the soldiers with such subtle tricks, but through this method, Isaac could gradually understand the lives of the soldiers at the bottom, what they lacked, what they wanted, and what their ideals were.
Everyone has an interest, and if I can represent a person's interests, he will fully support me.
With his understanding of historical trends, Isaac could only figure out the general direction. Historians did not bother to record these details, but their importance is self-evident.
Going deep into the grassroots and understanding people's hearts is nothing more than the emperor's art.
In the afternoon, the guards were assigned to participate in patrols in the city - there was no way, finances were tight, and a penny had to be broken in half.
Isaac took advantage of this opportunity to inventory his belongings.
As a prince, Isaac of course had an annuity - most of it was used to pay the salary of the guards, and there was not much left.
Sometimes when his father was happy, he would give Isaac some change, and he would save it and put it in a small box.
There are also some bits and pieces of jewelry and works of art of average value.
The most precious things are the dowry left by his late mother to Isaac, 2,000 ducats in cash and many quaint books.
He is worthy of being a business aristocrat, so rich.
The total was about 5,000 ducats.
For ordinary people, this is already a huge sum of money. These days, the purchasing power of ducats is quite high. The annual income of a soldier is about 100 groschens, which is 5 ducats.
Of course, this does not mean that Isaac can now easily raise an army of 1,000 people. The food, equipment, training, etc. are all gold-swallowing beasts.
Isaac gathered his mood, took all his belongings, and his attendants, and headed to the Venetian settlement.
Here, Isaac sold all the trinkets given by his uncle and father and the books cherished by his mother to greedy Venetian merchants.
It turns out that in this era, books are really rare goods, and the price is higher than Isaac expected.
After some fierce bargaining, Isaac resisted the desire to slap the Venetian bookseller severely, picked up 2,640 ducats and walked away.
The Venetian merchant behind him was smiling.
Dozens of hardcover books shipped back to Northern Italy were enough to make a fortune.
Isaac counted his money bag and found a total of 5633 ducats.
One ducat weighs 3.5 grams of gold, and more than ten kilograms of gold are piled on the seats of the carriage.
Then, Isaac found the alderman of the expatriate community and the plenipotentiary representative of the Venetian Republic in the Castello, His Excellency Miloto.
After the announcement, Isaac appeared in the alderman's drawing room not long after.
Miloto was a little confused when he learned that a prince from Valleolo came to visit.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Your Highness?" His tone was polite and stiff, filled with a sense of pride.
The alderman's room was noble and elegant. The porcelain on the table looked like it came from the far east, and the murals on the side walls were obviously made by everyone. On the wall opposite the door, a map of the Aegean Sea is engraved on it, with Venetian colonies marked in gold. Crete, Negroponte, Corfu, and important ports in Achaia and Corinth.
Continuous, like an ugly scar carved on the face of the empire.
Miloto himself is a burly, middle-aged man who appears to be well-kept. Gorgeous clothes and expensive accessories all show the owner's wealthy family background.
In the hand of the alderman was a cane inlaid with gold, the top of which was set with a dazzling ruby, on which was engraved the emblem of St. Mark.
Did the gold come from the statue of Justinian?
Did this gem belong to the Byzantine Emperor?
No!
Isaac stepped forward quickly, putting on a humble look.
"Your Excellency, may God bless you. I have taken the liberty to come here this time, and I have caused a lot of trouble."
"As your most loyal friend and descendant, I bring you a gift."
Isaac took off the sword from his waist and presented it.
"This sword is from my mother's collection. It originally came from a Crusader knight who fought in Jerusalem and drank the blood of pagans,"
"My mother's ancestors bought it and passed it down to me."
Isaac drew out his sword, the blade of the sword rang out, and the rich cold light seemed to make the temperature of the whole room drop a bit.
The blade of the sword was covered with dense scars, and under the afternoon sun, dark red blood showed through.
Miloto took the sword and looked at it carefully.
"This...how can I accept such a valuable treasure?"
Even so, his plush hands kept rubbing the sword blade.
"There is a Turkish proverb that says, 'The bravest warrior has the sharpest scimitar.' Such a sharp weapon can only play its due role in your hands."
Miloto looked at Isaac deeply, as if trying to find the basis for the lie.
Isaac met his scrutinizing gaze calmly.
Pick it up quickly! Pick it up quickly!
Miloto smiled and put down his sword.
"Tell me, what do you want from me?"
"Your Majesty sent me to deliver food. We have no warships that can protect merchant ships. I would like to buy a large galley and matching slaves and sailors from you."
Miloto smiled again,
"Is this what the emperor means, or what you mean?"
"Your Majesty has a lot of things to do..."
Isaac bit the bullet.
"You know that the regulations of the Republic do not allow the private sale of warships to other countries."
Isaac nodded.
"In other words, you want to bypass Venice and Constantinople and personally order a fully equipped warship from me with sailors and slaves on board?"
Isaac nodded again.
The atmosphere suddenly came to a standstill. Miloto stroked the sword and remained silent for a long time.
"Okay." Miloto said slowly.
Isaac breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't be too quick to be happy. I can sell you such a warship, but it's not an official product of Venice, but from Crete, my family's private shipyard."
"Absolutely, I can trust the character of the city official."
Isaac said quickly.
"5,000 gold ducats."
"you……"
Sometime later, Isaac declined Milotto's invitation to dinner and took to the streets of Constantinople.
His clothes were half wet with cold sweat, and Isaac finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, buying warships from private shipyards in Venice is the main purpose, and selling private ships is one of the ways for many business nobles to make money.
Given enough money, they could even sell their latest warships to the Ottomans.
However, this kind of thing cannot be explained directly, so there is a sword used to "make friends".
As for the miraculous sword, it was indeed collected by Isaac's mother, but the stories were all fabricated. Isaac made them up based on his knowledge of the mayor to make him happy.
And for 5,000 ducats, which happened to be the approximate price of a private ship, Miloto still made a lot of money.
Anyway, the first step was successful.
Isaac was sitting in the carriage, facing the sea breeze. On the distant sea, fishermen took advantage of the tide to go fishing. Where they left, the sun slowly set.
Tomorrow morning, they will return home with a full load.
The monetary system at that time was very complex. The Venetian Ducat and Groschen monetary systems with the widest range of liquidity and the most value-preserving were used here
(End of this chapter)