While Jonini was walking the streets to visit his "relatives and friends", Grogenin was busy with some business in his residence near the docks.

The table in front of him was filled with all kinds of papers, some of which were scattered on the floor.

There was a tumult in the room from time to time, as sailors passed by the door, and the sound of busy work on the docks could be heard farther away, and for a moment Grogenin had the illusion that he was at home.

Groganin's hometown was on the far north coast of the north, and as a lowlander, he had lived in a very commercial environment since he was a child, neither his father nor the other men in the family, nor had Groganin seen them do anything else, including almost everyone he knew, as if there was no second thing to do in this world except to do business.

Growing up in such an environment, Grogenen also regarded business as his life's purpose, but Hubert van Grogenen cared about something else compared to others who only focused on money.

Why were the Lowlanders, despite building a seemingly powerful trade alliance, unable to become a nation?

Why did the people of his homeland and many other places have to obey the rule of kings and lords who may have never been seen in a lifetime in distant places?

Most importantly, why could he faintly feel that the days of the Hanseatic League were getting more and more difficult from the beginning of his sensibility?

Grogenin could clearly perceive the difference, and he could clearly feel the worrying changes without even the cumbersome cardinal bodyguards.

Although it is clear from many documents and various archives that the decline of the Hanseatic League did not begin now, it was already in a difficult situation half a century before Grogenin was born.

The cowering of the market and the fierce competition from the Mediterranean trade routes of the East made life of the Hanseatic League more and more difficult, and he felt that it was most obvious that in the years since he took over the family business, it seemed that every day he had heard nothing funny.

Gragenin did not consider himself to be less gifted in business than the others, on the contrary, he was considered capable and promising, not only in his family and in the Chamber of Commerce, but also in the councils of the entire Alliance.

For this reason, he was recommended early on to serve on the board of directors of the local chamber of commerce, and Groganin did not disappoint everyone, he did a good job, and even gave a little noise to the market that seemed to be sliding all the way to its decadence.

But even so, it seems that the whole situation is irreparable, and Groganin's personal efforts not only did not work, but later seemed to be the pretext for an even worse series of bad things.

At the height of the Hanseatic League, this mercantile alliance of merchants relied on great wealth to determine the fate of a nation, even several kings and many more lords!

Many kings were proud to have good relations with the Hanseatic League, and they had to do otherwise, otherwise the Hanseatic League would have used their wealth to show the posturing kings who was in charge of the entire North Sea coast and the Low Countries!

At that time, the Hanseatic League was the true king of the European North, and even the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had to expect to exchange the favor of the Hanseatic League with polite treatment of the envoys sent by the League.

But as their power grew, the monarchs gradually stopped paying attention to these people who had just fished and sold groceries to make a living.

Especially in recent years, as the power of the Hanseatic League has been weakened, the nobles have become more and more arrogant, and in some places the lords have openly ordered the League's representatives to accept the harsh conditions and ridiculously high taxes they imposed.

This caused the whole alliance to be uneasy, and the merchants felt that their position was in jeopardy, but they were helpless because of the decline that had occurred for many years.

Grognen's presence gave hope to the people, and when he relied on his talent as a businessman and his unusual powers of observation to make a few beautiful decisions to save the day, some in the league even began to say that another great legend like Van Lakunde had been born.

But Gragenin himself was keenly aware that the small changes he had brought about had not only not helped the Hanseatic League to emerge from its decline in recent years, but had instead attracted the attention of the local lords.

These lords obviously did not want to see the merchants harden again, so just a few years ago, a group of northern German monarchs, led by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximian, suddenly issued a similar order to the Hanseatic League, that is, to force the League's chambers of commerce to swear allegiance to the local monarch, otherwise they would be driven out of these territories.

The blow to the Hanseatic League was enormous.

The Hanseatic League has always been able to become stronger because of its own independent rights and cohesion, so that even in today's increasingly difficult days, the alliance is still united and unified.

They don't become suspicious of each other just because their local monarchs are at war, and they don't have to be antagonistic or even enemies because they need to do their duty to their lords.

The interests of the League were everything, and it was by following this supreme rule that the Hanseatic League had been able to remain undefeated in the confrontation with the powerful Mediterranean merchant groups for centuries.

But now the lords' actions were undoubtedly an attempt to break up the entire Hanseatic League, which not only caused great unease in the alliance, but also made Grogenin aware of certain changes that could not be ignored.

Obviously, the monarchs, who had gradually become more and more authoritative, did not want to see the continuation of a commercial alliance that was superior to them, or at least beyond their grasp, especially since this commercial alliance had coveted wealth, which made the Hanseatic League completely fat in the eyes of the lords.

Grogenen wanted to change all that, and he admired the legendary great merchant Van Lacomde, and wanted to be the legendary hero of his kind who brought his alliance to glory so much that he could once rival the kings.

To this end, Grogenen set out on his journey with a large sum of money rich enough to buy the most greedy man in the world.

With his long sleeves and good dancing, he became a frequent visitor to many kings' courts, and also became a legend that many merchants loved and hated, his business came from the sea, from the river, from the land, as long as he could smash the door of the Hanseatic League's gold coins open, and then the powerful people he befriended were also tempted by great wealth again and again, and opened the door for him to be very convenient.

Everything seemed to be going well, and the Confederacy's directors in their Far Lower Countries even thought that Grogenen's actions were the same as Caesar's conquest of Gaul, which gave the League great hope.

But only Grognin himself faintly felt some kind of unspeakable unease.

The Mediterranean coast is still undoubtedly the richest place in all of Europe, and every ship on the sea seems to contain endless wealth, and countless people still have dreams of going to the Mediterranean, hoping to find the opportunity to find the road to wealth.

But Grogenen felt a shadow that he couldn't let go of in this seemingly still thriving, especially when he looked at the materials in his hand, the shadow became bigger and deeper, and even some lingering apprehension.

It took a few Florin to buy these documents from the port officials, and he had done this many times, often for a few gold coins to get a lot of important information from the port officials or others, and sometimes even some of the powerful people would take the initiative to sell them to him, and they didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

In 1493, Kalibo imported 120 ptons of pepper from Alexandria, Egypt, which may not seem like a huge number, given that 120 ptons was nothing compared to the bottomless pit of pepper demand throughout Europe.

And just this year, less than 100 ptons of pepper were imported from Alexandria.

Is it because of the threat of war?

Gragenin looked at the previous data and soon found that even after the fall of Constantinople in the early years, the whole of Europe believed that the Ottomans would continue to march into the continent, and the number of pepper imports dropped sharply due to the threat of war was not less than 100 ptons.

What does this mean?

This indicates that pepper imports are shrinking in Caribo.

As with pepper, imports of some other spices and dyed fabrics have also decreased slightly.

Is this just a Kalibo place?

Grogenin shook his head secretly, as far as he knew, it was found elsewhere that the change seemed insignificant, and that there were different reasons, but it was already an indisputable fact that trade in the Mediterranean was declining imperceptibly.

Although once so powerful that even the kings had to bow down, the Hanseatic League was sensible and did not think of challenging the merchants of the Mediterranean.

As the center of civilization and economy throughout Europe, the cities along the Mediterranean coast have an irrefutable status.

No one has ever been able to challenge this position in the past, so what about the future?

Gragenin did not see the Hanseatic League as a challenger, nor did he see the decline in Mediterranean commerce as necessarily an opportunity for the League.

On the contrary, he had a hunch that the impoverishment of the Mediterranean people, whether for war or any other reason, did not seem to be a good thing.

"I wouldn't have been so sentimental about others before," Groganin smiled to himself, certainly not really worried about the purse bags of these Venetian or Genoese merchants, but smelled something strange, "as if something was about to change." ”

Groganin had heard rumors about the New World, which in many legends was a mysterious place and a dream place for people to seek wealth.

With almost all the gold and countless treasures that can be covered with the earth, and the precious fruits that no one has ever seen, the New World is as fascinating as the East that was described centuries ago as flowing with milk and honey.

But even so, many people still don't think that the New World will have much influence on Europeans.

In particular, the markets of the oldest traditions and the long trade routes that have lasted for more than a dozen centuries have given rise to countless cities of wonder and unimaginable wealth.

The new world is fascinating, but it is too far away, and the sea full of dangers makes the road to the new world unpredictable.

So despite the unimaginable temptation, the allure of the new world is still a dream in the eyes of many people, not a reality.

Gragenin was interested in that faraway place, and he tried to understand and discover the secrets of that place, and at the same time had a vague sense that the land on the other side of the ocean could bring unimaginable changes to the world.

Picking up another document and looking at it carefully, Grogenen tried to find more to notice in the numbers, and soon he realized, as the Ottomans had said before, that something had happened in Sicily in recent times that would make people think about it.

There were noticeably more ships from Venice, and from the fact that the number of ships had increased, but the cargo had not changed much, Grogenen had probably guessed what they were.

"The Venetians are on their guard." Grogenen slammed his leg hard, the warmth of the Mediterranean didn't make him feel too comfortable compared to the bitter cold of the north, and his injured leg was sore from the excessive humidity of the air.

Suddenly, Gragenin's hand crummaging through the pile of papers stopped, and then quickly pulled a copy from it and looked at it carefully.

There wasn't much new in the paperwork, an inbound tax bill for a business order issued by a certain Neapolitan Chamber of Commerce, and it didn't seem to be a very profitable business for wool and other groceries.

One thing that stood out from the rest of Groganin's attention was the difference in the inbound tax.

Unlike other vessels, which estimate the ship tax according to the depth of the waterline, this tax bill counts all other goods except wool separately, and then collects a negligible small amount of money.

As a businessman, Grogenin knew all too well the importance of ship tax in a business that was at best moderately profitable.

Gragenin was equally well aware of what kind of profit such a light tax would bring.

This is by no means as simple as saving a sum of money, but it can allow a businessman to have more opportunities than others at the same time and route because of the extra cost in his hand.

What caught Groganin's attention was that the tax bill unambiguously recorded all the tax items, which showed that it was not a private transaction, but completely legal.

How can it be?

Groganin looked at the document in confusion, telling himself that it must be a mistake, but his instincts warned him that there might be something surprising behind this simple tax bill.

Grogenin remembered the early years of the Hanseatic League, in order to stabilize the interior, the alliance had implemented a tax system of tax deduction for goods, but because the value of various goods in different places was too different, this tax credit system had to end in the end.

Is there a tax deduction system?

Grogenin looked at the tax bill again with some confusion, but it seemed to realize that except for some certain goods, other goods were still subject to high taxes.

At the same time, a rather strange-looking mark on the tax bill caught his attention.

An extreme ring that fills each side of an equilateral triangle.

Such a simple pattern may seem like little of a word, but the timeless handwritten message around the outer circle of the triangle caught Groganin's attention.

"By the God-given authority to pursue wealth and happiness, we will do everything in our power to ensure that everyone who walks in can have everything that belongs to him – Kosenza Kosenza."