The two golden florins spun around on the table, and the pockmarked man's eyes kept rolling with the rotation of the florin.

Finally, the gold coin swirled and came to a halt on the table, and looking at the two opposite patterns on the gold coin, the man slowly raised his head to look at Alexander across the table.

"You need money, don't you?" Alexander asked.

Although this man is well-dressed, if you look closely, you can still see some contradictions between his demeanor and his clothes, such as he will carefully lift the corners of his robe, and at the same time will touch the flat gold ornament on his chest from time to time, as if he is always wondering if there is something wrong with his outfit.

"Everybody needs money," the 'Columbus' shook his head casually, as if to deny or disguise something, but then, as if afraid that Alexander would just throw him out, he hurriedly continued, "I'm just a little tighter than the others, just a little." As he spoke, he stretched out two fingers and pinched them.

"You have a horse?" Alexander continued to ask.

At the mention of horses, the 'Columbus' suddenly became refreshed, and he leaned closer, and then said in an exaggerated tone: "You will not believe it, I dare say that you have never seen a horse like that, and even the Bohemian horses outside you are not as good as mine, and I am by no means boasting, and if you see it, I will tell the truth." ”

Alexander was a little surprised, he didn't expect that the Columbus family was actually in the horse business part-time, although he didn't know how his horses were, but looking at this person's scene, it seemed that life was not so satisfactory.

"Columbus?" Alexander finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Can you tell me what your relationship is with a man named Christopher?" ”

Mazi's face suddenly froze, he looked at Alexander, and after a while muttered, "Do you know Christopher?" Then he snorted self-deprecatingly, "Of course, whoever doesn't know him, as long as he knows his last name, always asks me 'where is that Christopher and why haven't you seen him?'" Mazi said and pouted, then a little dejected, "Everyone is asking where Christopher is, they don't know that there are other people in the Columbus family." ”

Looking at the pockmarks on the man's face, Uliu hid to the side with some disgust, he really didn't understand why the master was so hospitable to this guy, even if he really had a few good horses, but the master seemed to be too polite to him.

Not only did he put the disgusting-looking creature in a Bohemian camp, but he also made an exception to give him a room of his own.

And to Ulliu's surprise, Alexander was summoned by Modillo's men shortly after his return, and then did not return until very late.

Although it was not clear what Alexander was doing, it can be guessed from the fact that the Count sent a few armed guards to escort him back, and although Alexander's position in Naples was prominent, his situation suddenly became somewhat dangerous.

But even so, immediately upon his return, Alexander went to see the fellow named James Columbus, and then listened to him talk endlessly about his horse.

"I bought those horses from the Ottomans," said James Columbus, who was still in a bad mood just now, and looked at Alexander with hopeful eyes, "I bought those horses for a large sum of money, and then I mated them with the best horses I had with the Ottoman stallions, and believe me it was definitely worth it, and I believe that the new breed is better than anything you have ever seen." ”

Alexander listened noncommittally, he wasn't really trying to hear this seemingly overly persistent man talk about his horse scriptures, he was really concerned about Christopher Columbus.

Europe in 1496, four years after Columbus first discovered the New World.

Although even today, four years later, there are people who have begun to bring back spices and various treasures worth gold from the distant continent after Columbus's voyage, but in this era, people's impression of that place is too far away is still vague, and even where that place belongs is still uncertain.

The first is Columbus himself, who was the discoverer of that new world, even though it has been 4 years, he still insists that he is in India, and if there are no accidents, he will go to the grave with this stubborn thought.

And while many more people are interested in the riches of that land, even for those who have endless dreams of the sea and the end of heaven and earth, that continent is too far away.

Today, the focus was still on how to escape the threat from the Ottomans and find a new shipping route from the Atlantic to the East, and with the threat of the Ottomans to maritime communications, more and more merchants became dissatisfied with the failure of the various countries to protect their interests.

Large quantities of goods from the icy North Sea and the farther lands of the Hanseatic League could not reach the East, nor could the precious artefacts and fine fabrics and valuable jewels from the East reach the continent.

This dilemma led the merchants to turn their anger on their own lords, kings, and even emperors.

The current Holy Roman Emperor Maximian was confronted with a large group of merchants who were openly clamoring for no more money to be paid to him because of dissatisfaction, and although he eventually tried his best to stabilize the greedy merchants, the emperor was also deeply aware that if the Ottomans were allowed to cut off the communication between the east and the west, the merchants' anger would likely turn into a conspiracy against him.

For this reason, the emperor had to write to the monarchs of all the countries he knew of that had powerful navies, consulting with them about how they could break the Ottoman blockade and thus open the shipping route to the East.

Pope Alexander VI, who was far away in Rome, was not idle at this time, although the intrigues in the country were enough for him to work hard, but the thirst for luxury goods from the East and the greed for more wealth and power led the pope to even issue the strange papal edict of the papal meridian.

But both Maximian's desire to open up communication between East and West, and Alexander VI's division of the papal meridian, which was ambitious but of little practical value to himself, still had in their minds the aim of being able to get in touch with the East.

For these European magnates around the Mediterranean, the vast land located in the western depths of the Atlantic Ocean is too far away, so far away that it is worth the risk to consider, as for the shipwright wealth that the man named Columbus brought back from that land, although it does make the Europeans who heard the news excited, but after all, it is far away in the Iberian Peninsula, and many people still really feel what kind of shock that that land can bring them.

"My horse is the best," James Columbus still boasted about his horse, not noticing that his master was contemplating "Christopher always looked down on me, saying that I was wasting my life by tinkering with horses, but what did he get in exchange for throwing his whole life at sea?" The money he brought to his family was not enough to pay off his debts, and he himself had some troubles to solve, which he brought on himself. ”

"What, your brother is in trouble?" Hearing that Columbus was mentioned, Alexander woke up from his contemplation, he shook his head slightly and put aside some of the cranky thoughts in his heart, just as the Europeans now think that the mysterious continent is too far away, and Alexander also feels that he does not need to think about those things that are not boundary, after all, he is facing a lot of trouble now.

But when he heard about Columbus, he couldn't help but be a little curious.

"Christopher is too greedy, he wants to be governor of all the lands he finds," James shook his head disapprovingly, "how could those kings agree to such conditions, and now he himself is in trouble, although he did bring back a great deal of wealth from the sea, but he quickly spent all that money." And now he began to try to convince the kings and queens to pay for him to go to sea again, but this time he was not so lucky, although the queen of Castile trusted him, but it is said that the king of Aragon hated him, and even intended to withdraw his appointment, if that he would be bad, knowing that he had thrown all his money into the Atlantic for his so-called cause, and that he had borrowed too much money before, if no one was willing to continue to finance him, Soon he won't even have the money to buy a ship. ”

Listening to James's words, Alexander was quite surprised, although he knew that Columbus's success was inseparable from the appreciation of Queen Isabella of Castile, but he did not expect that the relationship between Columbus and Isabella's husband Ferdinand seemed to be a little bad.

"Christopher is so arrogant and greedy that it doesn't even need to be seen in person, but in his diaries." James, who seemed to have an unspeakable grudge against his brother, kept babbling, "I swear he doesn't want anyone to see the diaries he left at home, and the tone in them doesn't make a good impression of him, especially since his attitude towards the crew has made him countless enemies, some of whom are now by the side of the King of Aragon, and that's enough for him." ”

"Diary?" Alexander lowered his voice and asked, "You mean you have a copy of Christopher Columbus's diary?" ”

"There was a copy that he had with him, and he had brought it to his house in Genoa, but when he heard that the Aragonese seemed to be preparing to send another man to find a new passage and not to let him go again, he was so angry that he threw things around, and then hurried away to return to Castile, and when he had left we found that he had forgotten to take the diary."

Speaking of this, James looked at Alexander slyly and said, "I can show you the diary, there are some things in it that are still very interesting, at least it will make you realize that he is very different from the legend of the people." ”

Looking at James Smith's sly eyes, Alexander knew that the other party had discovered his purpose.

Yes, when he heard about a diary about Columbus, Alexander was really tempted.

In this day and age, no one really knows what exactly the New World means.

Aside from gold, jewelry, and precious spices, in the minds of Europeans, all that remained of that land was savagery and danger.

But the newly veiled land made Alexander's heart flutter, and although he knew that the place was still so far away, he still couldn't suppress the longing in his heart for that pristine land with endless charm.

And the people of the Columbus family are indeed not simple, and this James has obviously understood Alexander's thoughts.

"What price do you want?" Alexander looked at James, "Okay, I don't have much money, but I think it won't be easy if you want to sell horses to solve your immediate problems." ”

"I'm not in great trouble," James denied stiffly, and when he saw Alexander standing up and gesturing to leave, he held back and said to stop, "Okay, okay, I'll admit, I'm in trouble." ”

Alexander stopped and looked back at the horse dealer in front of him, his eyes narrowed slightly, as if he were a cat looking at its prey.

James seemed to give up, and he stroked the two florins on the table with his hand, and shook his head helplessly.

"Christopher has brought back a great deal of wealth, which is enough for him to live a good life in luxury," said James, with undisguised jealousy in his tone, "speaking of you, he is not stingy with us, he borrowed a lot of money from his family when he left Genoa, and when he came back, he not only paid off all these debts, but also left us a large sum of money. ”

At this, James looked annoyed, and slapped it on the table, "But there was only so much to his generosity, and he was so bent on continuing his voyage that he threw all his money back into the sea, and I was so foolish as not only to buy the horses with all the money he gave me, but also to mortgage the family's property to the loan sharks." ”

"And then ......"

"And then the French came," James waved his hand and grabbed his hair in chagrin, "can you imagine what it is like for a man to go from having everything overnight to having nothing?" The day before, everyone was still envious of me, but the next day I became the biggest laughing stock in Genoa, and the horses I bought were intercepted by the French, and some of them I didn't even have time to name. ”

Alexander wanted to pat James on the shoulder sympathetically, but looking at his pockmarked face, he retracted his hand after a little hesitation: "Well, your story is indeed wonderful enough, now tell me how much I have to pay you for this story." ”

"You know that ......"

"Your price," Alexander tapped his finger on the table, "you know that thing is worthless in the eyes of others, so if you want to blackmail me, you can leave now, and I'm more interested in your stallions than in that diary, so I'll spend money on my curiosity, but not in vain." ”

"I know, it's just a diary," James closed his mouth again, he looked at Alexander, then looked at the door, and after thinking for a while, he finally spoke: "Maybe ......"

"Maybe I can give you a reasonable price." Suddenly, a voice came from the doorway.

Alexander turned around when he heard the sound, and happened to see Count Mordillo slowly walking through the door, and behind the count was George Anne, who was looking at him with a fiery gaze that made Alexander a little uncomfortable.