Chapter 237 Diplomacy and Exploration
After becoming Caesar, Peter also felt Mircea's different attitude towards him, which was something every emperor would experience. In order to eliminate his father's suspicion and to give himself a break, Peter took the initiative to ask to visit his sister and another future in-law.
Mircea agreed and prepared a lot of gifts. And also sent diplomatic notes to Naples and Milan.
Sofia traveled with Peter. She had not been to the Western world yet, and this time he took her to see the world.
In addition to Naples and Milan, Mircea also decided to expand to other countries, just like the Roman emperor went to the West before, but this time it was not a request for help, but a normal visit.
Mircea also sent a diplomatic note to France. Maybe he could attack the Holy Roman Empire together with France. It would always be a good thing to go and see.
Speaking of diplomacy, the fleet sponsored by Peter has come south to the port near Cairo. Mason met with the current Sultan Nasser Faraj, not only submitted the credentials, but also asked the Sultan to expand trade and trade privileges.
The Sultan was very happy because he needed Romania's entry to boost Egypt's economy and tax revenue. Especially the cotton, linen and silk produced locally, which are the textile raw materials needed by Egypt.
The textile industry in Alexandria flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries. Because of its reputation as "the most beautiful textiles in the world are in Alexandria", Alexandria's textiles were highly praised by consumers, but now, the dynasty's textiles have lost their advantages.
The advantages of the textile industry in Alexandria have gradually been lost, and the plague is partly responsible. Secondly, the insufficient supply of raw materials is also an important factor. Flax, cotton, silk, wool, etc. are the main raw materials for the textile industry in Alexandria, but the raw materials needed due to war are not in sufficient supply. At the end of the 14th century, Timur's army marched westward and captured the important city of Aleppo in 1400; in 1401, it captured Damascus. Because Timur's army controlled Persia and Syria, high-quality raw materials and dyes could not be supplied to Egypt, so the textile industry gradually declined.
Now that Romania has proposed to expand trade, it is also good news. According to their merchants, Romania not only has silk and wool, but also cotton, and the textile industry is saved.
For Mason's request to transit, the Sultan was happy and approved it. Then they went to the Suez Isthmus without stopping. The canal channel dug in ancient Egypt and Persia was still in front of them. It seemed that it was not difficult to go there.
But in fact, since the canal had been abandoned for 600 years, the land was hard enough to be used as stone. It was not a trivial matter to transport all the ships there, but they soon found a way from previous war cases: first spend money to bribe several nearby tribes, apply grease and lay wooden boards on the bottom of the boat, and then use manpower to pull it. It only took dozens of days to pull it.
Of course, this is only limited to large merchant ships. Small and medium-sized ships are disassembled before construction, and they can pay some freight to transport them there and then assemble them.
There are many Berber tribes in southern Egypt, and the fleet exchanged their labor with some novel items. Some ships quickly traveled more than half of the distance, and some Romanian merchants heard that they were going to the East, so they sponsored some funds and materials, and some people followed them.
The local scene in Egypt still opened Mason's eyes. The spices and oriental goods that Europe wanted could be seen everywhere here. The goods handled here every year were very valuable. Now Romania was also going to the mysterious East.
In order to sponsor the fleet in the East, Peter suspended the exploration of the interior of Africa, because it was not only time-consuming and laborious, but also faced the two major enemies of climate and pagans. The cost was very high.
For the Suez Canal plan, the company had already begun preparations. Because the land in Suez and the nearby Sinai Peninsula was barren and the climate was hot, the local lords also sold the land in the Suez Canal at a lower price, and then hired some people to try to dig, hoping to get a good start.
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Back in the north, Vytautas finally reversed the situation. After solving the disobedient nobles in the country, he went south to join the Cossacks in Kiev. Both sides paid a heavy price but there was no result. At this point, Vytautas decided to withdraw from the war and sign a peace treaty with the Cossacks. Both sides recognized the existing border, Kiev also belonged to the Cossacks, and the truce lasted for 20 years. After that, both sides stopped fighting and the situation in the north stabilized.
After the signing of the peace treaty, the alliance between the Cossack Emirate and Romania became closer. Not only did the local church obey Constantinople, but even the local trade was very dependent on Romanian merchants. The Russian trade route from Moscow to Kiev and then to Constantinople became more active, and a large amount of goods flowed along the Dnieper River and the Don River and were traded in various towns.
The city in the middle reaches of the Dnieper River was also named Mircea Castle in memory of Emperor Mircea. Due to its geographical location, it attracted people and merchants from all over the world and was the most important city after Kiev. At the same time, it was also the gathering place of the Orthodox in Lithuania after Kiev was taken away. I don’t know if they will continue to fight next time.
The impact of this war was also great. It changed the pattern of Eastern Europe from the first alliance of Poland and Lithuania to the coexistence of Poland, Moscow and Romania. Lithuania's strength was severely damaged and it could only rely more on Poland. After dealing with other small Russian states, Moscow set its sights on Novgorod. Romania also gained a lot of land in the expedition to the Golden Horde. Eastern Europe is about to become lively again.
In Anatolia, Suleiman finally surrendered. He sent people to ask for peace with the emperor and voluntarily gave up cities such as Nicaea and Prusa, because he knew that this would not work. He had to deal with other brothers as soon as possible before he could turn around and take revenge in the west. To this end, he paid a tribute of 150,000 silver coins to Constantinople and called Mircea his father in a letter. This was very useful to the emperor, and he finally decided to maintain the existing border line, but the assistance he mentioned was not at all. You must know that hundreds of years ago, Manuel I listened to Arsalan's words and sent him a lot of supplies. As a result, he turned his face and refused to recognize him after the supplies were in hand. Such a lesson will not happen again.
After Nicaea and Prusa were obtained, the western part of Anatolia was completely annexed. This was a big step for Romania and the first step of revival. Local Christians still accounted for the majority, so there was no need to worry about assimilation for the time being, but the further inland you go, the greater the paganization. For this reason, a long-term plan is needed to ensure that Romania can control the inland areas for a long time, rather than just robbing and running.