Chapter 503 Peace Negotiation
Florence and Siena have a strong republican atmosphere. John used various methods to barely dilute it. It will take a long time to change this place.
Besides working, John is most interested in looking at his family's property. Dozens of textile factories, fleets traveling between the East and the West, all of Sara Island, and colonial investments on the southern route. These industries are centered on banks, with a large amount of capital flowing every day. Over time, they have become the most important merchant family.
As an in-law of the Mason family, the Taqiu family also grew up with the help of the east wind. He basically purchased and resold cotton from the East. He also invested in sugar cane plantations and sugar workshops in Ceylon and made a lot of money. This family alliance began to be keen on exploration and colonization, because it was exploration that allowed their family to have the current wealth.
The Roman southern expedition came to Zanzibar and headed south along the coastline. After 24 days of progress, they saw a river, named it the Salvador River, and erected a monument to indicate that they had explored this place.
After crossing the river, they continued southward and encountered some tribes on the way. They were all dark and spoke a language they did not understand. They looked the same as the people of Abyssinia, but they were also somewhat different. The iron tools used by these people looked not as good as those produced in Constantinople, so they were probably barbarians.
The expedition traded some of the wine for food and fresh water, and marked the place on a map. Because the country's colonial investment tends to India and the East, the colonies in the south are mainly commercial investments.
"Sir, there's a letter from Thessaloniki."
"Let me see"
John took the envelope, which was written by his old relatives. The two families jointly formed the Colonial Bank and invested heavily in southern Africa. They also actively invested in the Southern Company. Currently, the two families own 26% of the shares, becoming the second largest shareholder after the imperial government.
Laresh became a director of Southern Company and gathered a group of small shareholders around him. Upon seeing this, the government planned to continue reducing its shares and let private individuals be responsible for colonizing Africa. The person in charge of the company told Laresh privately that the government planned to sell 12% of the shares at a price of 100,000 lei. If they were willing, they would sell them all to him. If not, they would sell it publicly.
Laresh was quite willing. He invested in buying 5% of the shares and wrote to John, hoping that he would also buy. The two have become partners, so he naturally agrees to such a good thing.
I am not a philanthropist. If I can invest here, I have seen the potential of Africa. There will definitely be rewards in the future. He got news that a gold mine had been discovered in the interior of Zanzibar, which was a cash cow. Although I don’t know how much it will produce, at least I won’t lose money.
----Dividing line----
William spread the news about Peter back to the camp, and John was startled by the lion's open mouth.
"The victor is really unscrupulous. Does your Majesty know that?"
"Your Majesty already knows and is getting angry right now."
John was speechless, just accept that the battle was lost. If the Roman army caught up and fought again, I'm afraid the opponent would want more. And there is some instability within Burgundy. They need wool from England and Castile, and Burgundy relies on them for taxes.
"I will go and speak to His Majesty personally." John could only go to Sigismund and persuade him to agree to the conditions.
At this time, Sigismund was going crazy. He was in trouble internally, his diplomacy failed, and his military was in ruins. As the king of Germany, he would never allow such big peace terms.
"I will not agree. The empire is mine, Hungary is mine, and all places are mine!!!"
John looked at the other party's madness, shook his head and walked over. "His Majesty"
"My dear John, are you here to tell me how to fight against Rome?" Sigismund asked expectantly, but the other party was going to disappoint him.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I sincerely hope that you can consider Romania's conditions. Our army is not enough to fight them, and the army is not unified. Countries such as Castile suddenly stopped sending troops. After Munich, soldiers have not been able to get In addition, there are only 40,000 soldiers who can fight now, and the monthly salary and food needed by these people is an astronomical figure, please negotiate for peace!"
John was on the verge of tears, hoping that Sigismund would change his mind. This alliance was a mistake from the beginning. There was no plan, no meeting, and no unified command. It was only supported by the ambitions of various princes. Now that it has reached such a situation, how can we not regret it.
Sigismund slumped in a chair and asked sadly: "Really, is there no chance at all?"
John shook his head, "No more. We can only negotiate a peace to protect the remaining places. If we resist, I'm afraid there will be nothing left."
"Okay, okay" Sigismund nodded, "Then let's negotiate peace and save the army."
Sigismund decided to negotiate for peace under persuasion. He wanted to keep his title and other things. In order to avoid others talking about him, he also said that it was all because the Iberian coalition did not come, otherwise he would have won long ago.
The news that the German King wanted to negotiate for peace did not cause any ripples within the coalition forces. They all breathed a sigh of relief. It has finally come to this time after a year since the war began. With Rome quickly cleaning up Egypt, some of them knew that the defeat of the coalition forces would be a matter of time. They were all waiting for Sigismund to order peace talks. Rome was too fierce, like a combination of Hannibal and Caesar. No one could defeat them.
If you can't even save Florence, why talk about dividing Rome?
It was Austria that suffered. They were still confronting Hungary in the east, so the news of the coalition had not yet reached Vienna. They were still holding on.
Sigismund ordered the Count of the Netherlands to be a special envoy to discuss peace with the Roman emperor, and sent someone to the north to discuss peace with Vlad. As for other countries, they had to rely on themselves.
Vlad had already captured Holstein and Schleswig, and was discussing peace with Eric in Ribe, because the Kalmar Union was already unstable, the nobles wanted to make trouble, and Eric had to go back to stabilize the situation. As for these two places, let Brandenburg keep them first.
The Berlin Union and the Kalmar Union signed a peace agreement, Schleswig and Holstein belonged to Brandenburg, and the two sides maintained peace for ten years. The alliance opened trade, and the two sides exchanged what they had.
This was the first peace treaty between the Bartland family and other countries. Peace was restored in the north, trade in the Baltic Sea was reopened, and the Hanseatic League could continue to trade through the Øresund Strait. The dawn of peace began to descend on the European land.