The Rise of the European Emperor

The Crimean Khanate fought the war against the Ryazan Principality, a subject of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, very smoothly, because the Moscow army was fighting in Finland, and the Ryazan Principality had no reinforcements to help resist the attack of the Crimean army. So, the city of Ryazan was breached.

After the city of Ryazan was breached, the whole city was bloody looted. Not only property and food were robbed clean, many residents were also killed. As long as the Crimean soldiers don't cooperate when they loot, the Crimean soldiers' scimitars will fall...

Fortunately, the city of Ryazan was once attacked by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In order to escape for his life, Ivan Ivanovich, Duke of Ryazan, took his family and some of the great nobles into a secret passage in the backyard of the palace, hid, and escaped the catastrophe. In fact, that secret passage was a special passage used by the last Ryazan Duke to have an affair with a Ryazan lady. Unexpectedly, at a critical moment, the lives of the Duke of Ryazan's family and some noble nobles in Ryazan were saved.

Those who are estranged from the Duke of Ryazan have no chance to fall into that secret passage. Then, the whole family was slaughtered. Fortunately, I was kidnapped by the Crimeans, and I can redeem it with money. Bad luck, when the city was broken, it was cut down by the Crimean Tatar soldiers...

The city of Ryazan is the center of the Ryazan Principality, and the Ryazan Principality is a relatively wealthy agricultural country in the Rus countries. Therefore, the Crimean Khanate made a lot of money this time, and seized a lot of food and property.

After more than two months of sweeping, the Crimean Khanate seized 500,000 sacks of rye (about 100 pounds each), thousands of cattle and horses, and more than 200 vehicles of various types in the Ryazan region. property. This time, Mungojirehan led the army to expedition personally. After seeing so many captures, Mongojirehan couldn't stop laughing proudly...

Not only that, but the Crimeans also plundered 40,000 people in the Ryazan principality. Among them, young women accounted for half. In addition, 8,000 were children and 12,000 were males.

Most of the men who were captured were physically strong, but did not have the courage to resist. As for those who resisted, they were already chopped into meat sauce by the machetes of the Tartar cavalry...

The Grand Duchy of Moscow brought back the 20,000 elites who had invaded Finland, but did not dare to rescue Ryazan. Because, the Crimean Khanate has 40,000 main cavalry troops this time, which can be regarded as the best. If relying on the strong city, the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow would dare to fight. But in the wilderness, these 20,000 elites are not enough for the Crimean Tatar cavalry to cut.

Therefore, Prince Vasily, the regent of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, could only endure it, and did not dare to send troops to fight the Crimean Khanate.

However, what the Maozi of the Grand Duchy of Moscow did not expect is that the steppe nation has always admired only those brave people. For the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Crimean Khanate, which has always been domineering, will not only not appreciate it, but will also inspire their robber ambitions to "come next time"...

However, after all the goods, grain, livestock and captives were transported back to the Crimean Khanate, Mongogiri Khan was in a bad mood.

Because, although Marin has reached a trade agreement with it, there are not enough ships to go to the port of Kaffa to transport slaves. As for the road on land, it has been made clear in advance that only cattle and horses can travel, not people. Because the slave trade is too shameful, and the Holy See does not allow it. Therefore, the ships that sell slaves can only go along the Mediterranean Sea.

However, Marin currently does not have enough galleys suitable for the Mediterranean to transport people to the port of Kaffa. After all, because of the small winds and waves in the Mediterranean Sea, the wind is often stopped, so ordinary sailboats are not suitable for sailing in it, and only galleys can be used.

However, Marin now only has two 500-ton converted galleys to run the Egyptian trade route. Egypt is also a very important trade route. It is not wise to stop this route and go to the port of Kaffa in the Crimean Khanate to transport slaves.

The 40,000 slaves captured by Ryazan consume an astonishing amount of food every day. Although the Crimeans already abused these slaves,

But still have to give a lot of food every day.

40,000 mouths, the food consumed every day makes Mungojirehan very painful. As a result, Mongogiri Khan hurriedly sent an envoy to Lithuania, claiming that if the "North Sea Chamber of Commerce" represented by Marin stopped transporting slaves, he would turn his face and tear up the previous peace treaty and re-align with the Grand Duchy of Moscow...

The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Alexander, also panicked, and immediately sent someone to East Friesland to urge Marin to hurry up and receive those slaves. Otherwise, if the Crimean Khanate really joins forces with Maozi again, the Lithuanians will be out of luck.

After Marin heard about the threat from Mungojirehan, he was at a loss. He didn't want the Crimean Khanate to join forces with Maozi again, otherwise, Maozi really couldn't hold back.

In the long run, Marin decided to buy half of the slaves at the request of the Crimeans.

However, it was easy to pay, but very difficult to transport the 20,000 slaves back to East Friesland. Because, that's 20,000 people, not 20,000 pieces of goods...

Marin now has only two galleys that are suitable for sailing in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Although each of them is relatively large, it is used to transport slaves. One ship can transport three or four hundred people to the sky at a time. For 20,000 slaves, Marin couldn't think of a good way.

It's too late to count on the shipyard to copy a few more improved versions of the 500-ton galley. Because the Crimeans are eager to get rid of these food-wasting slaves, they are very urgent. And it takes months to build a ship, how can the irascible Tatars wait?

Hiring a Venetian for ship consignment is a solution to the problem. However, this approach is not advisable. Because, if the Venetians preached that Marin was buying slaves with pagans, Marin's reputation would be ruined.

After thinking about it, Marin finally decided - to buy a boat...

Marin had no shortage of sailors, and he now had tens of thousands of Friesian fishermen under his control, and it was easy to pick them out. Although the galley is not the same as the Kirk sailboat, the operating principle is generally similar, only the rowing oars is a bit difficult. After all, when there is no wind in the Mediterranean, galleys rely on sailors to solve the problem of power.

After Kohler heard Marin's call, he came immediately:

"Master, do you have anything to do with me?"

"Well, I made an agreement with the Crimean Khanate to buy the Slav slaves they captured. Unfortunately, I don't have enough ships to go to the Crimean Khanate to transport people. So, I want you to send People go to Italy to buy galleys..."

"Understood, I'll send someone to do it right away!"

"Hey—" Marin sighed deeply. He knew that it was easy to buy a boat, after all, there were a lot of boats in Venice. It is also easy for sailors to control the sails, and the Frisian fishermen under him are very good at sailing and fishing. However, he is very short of professional paddlers...

Don't underestimate paddling, paddling is also a skill. Those skilled boatmen can spend the least amount of effort when rowing to maximize the speed of the boat. And for those who don't know how to paddle, it's hard not to mention the difficulty of paddling, the efficiency is still low, and the sustainability is also very low.

"Master, why are you sighing?" Kohler was a little puzzled by Marin's long and short sighs - isn't everything resolved?

"The boat is fine, and the sailors are fine. But we lack skilled paddlers. After all, sailing in the Mediterranean requires a lot of paddlers." Marin sighed.

"That's it?" Kohler asked in surprise.

"Do you know how to solve it?" Marin was also taken aback. You know, the number of rowers, at least a few months can barely cultivate one out.

"Of course, I've said it quite a bit, in Italy, it's very popular to buy slaves for oars on galleys. Then, when you buy a boat, you can spend a little more money and buy some from the Italian slave market. A slave dedicated to paddling..."

"Paddle... slave?" Marin was a little stunned.

"Yes, the paddle slaves. It is said that only a few of these paddle slaves were local Italian sailors, and most of the rest were bought by the Venetians from Eastern Europe. Many paddle slaves were simply bought from the Venetians at low prices. Purchased by the Khanate of Rimia."

"So that's the case..." Marin suddenly realized.

So Marin told Kohler to go to Italy to buy a batch of galleys. Also, buy a fleet of paddle slaves who are proficient in paddling. Coupled with Frisian sailors who are good at manipulating sailboats, in that case, Marin can organize a fleet of galleys in a short period of time, which can be used to transport slaves in large quantities to the port of Kaffa in the Crimean Khanate. ...