Chapter 247

Mircea looked at the diplomatic report sent back by Peter, and he became more and more contemptuous of the so-called West. At the same time, he secretly cursed the emperor of the Angelos Dynasty. He thought that Western Europeans were too bad, but he didn't expect that the Roman emperor was worse than Western Europe. It was not surprising that Constantinople was conquered.

As for what some people said about Western Europe far surpassing Rome, in fact, it was those Italian countries that surpassed them in economic and trade technology. Other places are still the same, and culture is even more out of their reach.

Since the Roman economy is not good, let them see what a trade center is. It is the emperor's duty to revitalize the Roman economy.

Due to the recovery of three cities such as Nicaea, Constantinople was temporarily away from danger. Industry and commerce developed more prosperously. Whether it was old industrial and commercial cities such as Thessaloniki and Smyrna, or emerging cities such as Bucuriesti, Constanta, and Iasi, trade was booming. The expansion of Hungary and Ukraine brought land, population and market, and the trade system was re-established.

"Your Majesty, the Governor of Anatolia hopes that the Empire will send troops to guard against the Ottomans."

"Okay, Anatolia must be recovered. This place has lost too much time."

Mircea sat on it. It was his duty to recover lost territory and spread the gospel. He would never compromise in the face of pagans. But he encountered a problem that all rulers encountered: how to get more money.

Taxes will not increase a lot at once, and Mircea will not increase taxes, which will threaten his throne. And an incident in Constantinople not long ago opened his mind.

Three merchant ships from the East brought spices and luxury goods to Constantinople for sale. The small amount of goods earned nearly 80,000 gold coins, which made many people jealous. Since there is a lack of money, then I will explore the most profitable trade route.

Mircea directly found the owners of those merchant ships. When he heard that the great Basilius wanted to summon him, he dared not disobey. He quickly told about his trade in East Africa and explained the affairs of the colonies.

"Bypass Egypt and go to the East." Mircea thought carefully, and combined with a huge fleet in Constantinople a few days ago, he instantly understood who did it. To maintain such a large fleet requires a lot of money and countless connections. Apart from him, the emperor, only Peter has these two conditions.

"This kid is really not simple." Mircea said with a smile.

Surprised at Peter's courage, he also provided new ideas for government finances. Spice trade, he did it in Venice, why can't Rome do it?

Mircea needs to have a good talk with Peter, because they are expanding and exploring and they don't have enough manpower. Egypt and Arabs controlled the trade routes to the East for most of the time. Alexandria, Aleppo and Damascus were called the "Iron Curtain" at the time. Only in the second half of the 13th century to the 14th century, when the Mongolian Empire of Genghis Khan's family was at its peak, did Europeans represented by Marco Polo get in touch with the "Khitan". The existing trade routes could transport precious spices, but they had to suffer from the layers of exploitation along the way, and the trade was seriously affected; this was not to mention the changing political situation and the harassment of bandits. There was an urgent need to find a new trade route to the East.

Marco Polo's "Travels in the East" unveiled the mysterious veil of the East in front of Western Europeans for the first time, and also initially revealed to the world the possibility of opening up new routes. After him, many Westerners came here at the cost of crossing thousands of mountains and rivers. Among these people, in addition to adventurers, there were also missionaries who were inspired by religion to preach the gospel in the East. Among them, the famous one was the Italian missionary Montegovino. He traveled to Iran, India, and northern China for about 40 years from the end of the 13th century to the 1430s. In the 14th century, another Italian missionary, Odoric, traveled to Iran, India, Southeast Asia, China, Tibet and other places in the 1430s. He wrote the book "Sketches of the East", which was very popular because it expressed the oriental landscape more intuitively. It was the second most popular book about the oriental world after "The Records of the East", and many manuscripts were circulated in the world. In addition, there was the French missionary Marinaurni, who traveled to Central Asia in the 1350s. In addition to priests, merchants, envoys, etc. came to the East to do business and serve.

The adventurous spirit of merchants is natural, which is why the Polo family came to China. After them, some foreign merchants tried to make a fortune by following Marco's footsteps. From then on, exploring those golden areas that produce delicious spices and emit warm light became the biggest dream of Europeans. Therefore, the starting point of the enthusiasm for exploring the East was the coveted heart, and all of this contributed to the magnificent Age of Exploration in the future.

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Peter originally planned to stay in Paris for a month, but he left after only two weeks. In addition to the residents' curiosity and disrespect for them, the city's sanitation problems were also one of the reasons. The stench was so bad that some guards became sick after drinking the local well water. For his own safety, Peter had to bid farewell to the French regency, leave Paris, and go to England, his last stop.

Now the one who ruled England was Henry IV, the leader of the Lancaster family, a branch of the Plantagenet dynasty. He was recognized as king after resolving Richard II through a coup last year. Because he signed a 20-year armistice agreement with France, he now focused on domestic affairs. Welcome the visit from Rome.

They came to Calais and crossed the channel to London, the capital of England. It must be another boring journey. Just like in France, there was no substantial progress except for the friendship. They had better not interfere in the affairs of Eastern Europe.

Of course, in France, he also felt the impact of the Great Schism of the Catholic Church. The Pope of Avignon criticized the unorthodoxy of Rome, and the people in the audience were incited. It can be seen how the Catholic world was divided. In such a situation, if the people did not change, they would be fools.

Fortunately, the Orthodox Church was not in this situation. They could also take this opportunity to expand their power. Bohemia and Italy, the hardest hit areas of Catholic corruption, developed rapidly, and the two sides were pulling like this.

Although the Orthodox Church did not have as much political power as the Catholic Church and did not have as much real estate as them, they could enjoy the protection of the emperor and did not have to compete for power with many secular rulers. When necessary, they could expand, and the emperor would also support the church, which was simply too cool.

Moreover, Caesar also promised to establish a religious state in West Asia, which made the church fully support the Knights and the Order, and they still had to spread the gospel.