The initial mobilization, although less effective, was substantial.

After the rise of Epirus, the iron industry has been a highly respected industry by the authorities. With the exception of the Phoenix Legion, half of the Empire's soldiers relied on imports to Venice and Hungary for their weapons and equipment. It invisibly created a large tax burden on the empire. Since you have the ability to manufacture yourself, saving a sum of money is a lot of money.

After the relative prosperity of the iron industry, Jeffrey began to slowly pull back taxes that had been pressing on the bottom line. After all, the trend of population growth has flattened, and Epirus urgently needs more income to meet the needs of a large number of soldiers, coupled with the inevitable shortage of labor after conscription, it is extremely difficult to fill this vacancy, relying on a gold mine alone, and high inflation will quickly destroy the new economic system that has just been established.

"Don't worry, Jeffrey, no problem. We helped the Venetians drive out the Genoese from the Aegean Sea, and they won't say anything about the less trade, besides, the failure of the negotiations is the business of the Venetian governor, what does it have to do with us. ”

"Originally, Venetian merchant ships came to the port of Avelle to trade, and iron was one of the important commodities, but now the demand for Epirus iron tools has doubled, and I am afraid that it will affect the enthusiasm of Genoese merchants."

"That's their business, if they can't sell ironware, they can sell other things, and it's not difficult to establish a tripartite route, anyway, the Mamluks in the south have nothing to do now, and we can have something exotic. Eat grapes all day, and it's time for a change of taste once in a while......"

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid the income from the food trade is not so ......"

"I didn't say I wanted a paltry income, I just hadn't tasted the sweet and delicious taste of dates in a long time." John stretched, "Let the Venetians solve their own affairs, the empire can allow the Venetians to reduce customs duties and trade, can they make money, and the empire needs to worry about them?" ”

Sophia chuckled as she looked at the writings of the scholars of Constantinople.

Let the two major commercial republics lose face at the same time, and have to break their teeth and swallow it in their stomachs, I'm afraid that only my brother can do this kind of thing.

"Then according to your wishes, if the caravan sets sail from the port of Yaweir in three days, within a month, Your Majesty should be able to receive a lot of exotic goods." Jeffrey bowed slightly, and then left the hall of Fort Gombrigne.

Jeffrey had just walked on the front foot, and before John had cleared up for a moment, Giovanni rushed over again.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

John was slightly stunned, and raised his head to look Giovanni up and down. A handguard sword, a polished armor, the iconic cane pinned to the waist, and the heraldic robe with the Phoenix Legion's crest of the Phoenix Legion are no different from the usual.

"What's wrong with you? Is there anything particularly to be happy about? ”

"The Battle of Penetius, do you remember?" Giovanni could barely suppress the excited expression on his face, "His Majesty Constantine has sent us a great gift!" There were some unexpected trophies in the captured battleships of Genoa! I thought that these things would be used to strengthen the armament of the Holy Guard, but I didn't expect His Majesty Constantine to give them to us! Guess what? ”

"Muskets?"

Giovanni's expression suddenly froze on his face.

"It's no surprise, Francisco had already mentioned this when he just came back from Constantinople, Epirus' defense tension was a problem for the empire on the surface, and you also studied the theory of firearms when you were in Genoa, not to mention how skilled you are, at least you should be able to use it. There is nothing strange about sending it to Epirus. John stood on tiptoe and patted Giovanni on the shoulder, "But it's good news, how many muskets are there." ”

"Three hundred...... Twenty of them were purchased from the Venetians to round them up. Several muskets were soaked in water and were no longer usable. Giovanni said with a little regret, "We can choose some of the recruits with good eyes and form a musket squad that may be used in the future." At this time, the musket appeared on the battlefield, and it was still very shocking. ”

"It's not that the Ottomans haven't seen the world, and the musketeers are the live targets of the cavalry when fighting head-on, so they must be cautious in the selection of personnel, and choose some clever ones. When the time comes, standing in line and waiting to die is a waste of our precious human resources. ”

It's not that John is reluctant to invest in the musket regiment, it's just that at this time, he knows better than anyone how reliable the so-called "muskets" produced by the commercial republic are.

Every time you finish shooting, no matter how skilled you are, it will take tens of seconds to carry out the next attack, and the fragile body of the gun can self-detonate in minutes. And during this time, enough for a well-trained archer to make at least four shots, the efficiency of which can be seen. Don't think how powerful the musket is, the kinetic energy of the musket is not much stronger than that of a single crossbow at that time, if you have to choose, John would rather ask Constantine XI directly for dozens of boxes of arrows to be more practical.

"Your Majesty, didn't you say that cold weapons must be eliminated by firearms? But now you don't seem to be that optimistic about these new weapons......"

"In this case, let's go to the camp of the Phoenix Legion."

John glanced out the window, it was just noon, and he had spent the whole day in Fort Combrigna, so it was better to go out for a stroll, and let this general, who had been fascinated by firearms, see the true face of muskets in this era.

The Legion of the Phoenix was established on an abandoned farmland in Combrigne, and although it was not as luxurious, the site was large enough. It can meet the cavalry's riding training and archers' shooting practice at the same time.

The target for the musket had not yet been made, but according to John, there was no need for it. If I had to describe the accuracy of the musket, aiming at a forest and hitting a tree trunk would be a great success. The emergence of precision ballistics has been hopeless in the past two years, and unless firearms scientists such as Urban suddenly become enlightened, muskets will still be relatively weak weapons in the short term.

Giovanni had his attendants carry two boxes to the grass at the rear of the camp, where the Phoenix Legion usually conducts drills.

"Her Royal Highness the princess should also have a pocket musket, but this batch of Genoese weapons is much more powerful."

Giovanni still had great trust in the musket, and carefully selected one from the wooden box and expertly loaded it with gunpowder and projectiles.

"Although it is slow to reload, it is powerful enough that even the infidels will be pierced in an instant."

"Alright, General Giovanni, let's test fire at that tree."