While Marin continued his stay in Rome, the captains and sailors who had arranged for Marin to go to Venice to take over the galleys and rowing slaves had already arrived in Venice by land and sailed to sea. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Leading the team was Alter, who had traveled the route to Venice, transported beautiful women to the Kingdom of Naples, and also been to Egypt, and was very familiar with the situation in the Mediterranean. This time the route of the Crimean Khanate was opened, and Marin gave him the task.

At this time, there was no such horror as the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. At the moment, Turkey is still a landlubber and has little naval power. Therefore, it is Venice that dominates the Mediterranean. Of course, the Mediterranean, to the west of the Italian peninsula, was dominated by the fleets of Spain and Genoa. From Sicily to the east, the Mediterranean Sea is completely under the control of the Republic of Venice.

The Republic of Venice had 3,300 large galleys roaming the Mediterranean, many of which could be converted into warships in times of war. After all, in the Mediterranean Sea in this era, it was still the era of jumping ships and gangs, and merchant ships could be used as warships.

The Turks were only on land at this time, and at sea, and could not afford to provoke Venice. Venice, too, did not dare to mess with Turkey. Why? The rationale is similar to the relationship between Spain and Portugal. Venice is like Portugal, strong at sea and weak on land. Turkey, on the other hand, is like Spain, weak at sea and fierce on land. Therefore, although it could sling Turkey at sea, Venice was reluctant to provoke Turkey, lest the Turks go mad and attack Venice mainland from land.

In fact, there is a reason why Venice and Turkey were able to live in peace at this time. Because, at this time, Egypt, the main land communication route between Europe and the East, was still under the rule of the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt. The Mamluks had good relations with Venice, with Arab traders transporting spices from India by sea to ports on the Red Sea and then overland to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt. Then, the Venetian merchants came and bought spices from the Egyptians.

This is how European spices were monopolized by Venetian merchants before the discovery of the Indian route. Later, after the Portuguese discovered the Indian route, the Venetian merchants panicked. In order to fight the Portuguese, the Venetian merchants dismantled their galleys and gave them to the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, and then the Egyptians transported the dismantled Venetian ships to the Red Sea by land through the Sinai Peninsula, reassembled them, and sailed to India, united the Indian fleet, and launched the famous "Battle of Diu" with the Portuguese.

It's just a pity that the Venetians have lagged behind in their guiding ideology of naval warfare, and the Portuguese have already made extensive use of artillery. And the Venetians are still immersed in the backward idea of "jumping ship and gang chopping". Therefore, the Battle of Diu was won by the Portuguese......

Of course, that still hasn't happened. For the time being, Venice is the absolute hegemon of the Mediterranean, especially in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

The Greek island of Crete, and the nearby island of Cyprus in Turkey, were also colonies under the control of Venice. And, most importantly, Turkey had not yet conquered Egypt, and the trade routes between Venice and India had not been cut off. As a result, Venice is still quite strong.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, as long as the flag of Venice is hoisted, it is basically possible to walk sideways. At least, no reputable force dares to touch you. As for the kind of stunned little pirate who is not afraid of death, then don't mention it. However, the kind of stunned pirates who only dare to attack lone merchant ships, and when they encounter convoys of merchant ships, they dare not provoke. After all, none of the people who dared to sail out on a big voyage in these years were good stubble, and they were all masters who dared to gamble their lives.

In order to avoid trouble, Marin was only Alter and founded a chamber of commerce in Venice, the Sherlock Chamber of Commerce......

In this way, Marin's galleys could reasonably fly the Venetian flag. Even if it is checked by the Venetian battleship, there are legal procedures. If you don't have a legal certificate, you can fly the Venetian flag casually, and if you are caught, you will have your ship confiscated......

Speaking of this Sherlock Chamber of Commerce, it also has a history. The name Sherlock, Marin borrowed the name of the Venetian profiteer in Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice.

After obtaining the legal formalities, Alter and his men, in 20 galleys, set out from Venice, through the Adriatic Sea, through the waters of Crete, and into the waters of the Aegean Sea......

In the Aegean Sea, Alter's fleet was indeed under scrutiny by the Venetian fleet. However, Alter's fleet was complete and belonged to the "Sherlock Chamber of Commerce" in Venice, so the Venetian fleet would naturally not be embarrassed and let them continue north. It's just that, admonishing Alter, the Turks are not easy to mess with......

On the way, Alter's fleet also encountered the ships of the "Knights Hospitaller" still stationed in Rhode Island. At this time, Rhodes was still under the control of the Knights Hospitaller and had not yet fallen into the hands of the Turks.

When the Knights Hospitaller's ships saw that the fleet was flying the Venetian flag, they naturally didn't want to do much trouble, and passed by. After all, the Knights Hospitaller, who held on to Rhodes, also needed to transport various supplies through Venetian merchant ships. Offending Venice, the end is terrifying. They just wanted to catch a few Turkish warships and smash them, and grab some supplies by the way, but they didn't want to provoke the Venetian people.

After arriving in the Turkish Straits, the situation changed drastically......

Because, this is already under the control of the Turks......

It is true that the current naval strength of the Turks is not strong, but the Turkish Straits are the lifeblood of the Turks, and even if they do not want the Mediterranean, it is impossible for them not to want the Turkish Straits of Turkey. Because, in the Turkish Straits there is Istanbul (Constantinople), the current capital of the Turks.

If the Turks do not control the Turkish Straits and let the enemy's ships in, then the enemy ships can directly sail under the city of Istanbul and attack the Turkish capital.

Thus, as soon as it left the Aegean Sea and entered the western section of the Turkish Straits, the Dardanelles, the flotilla was surrounded by a group of small and medium-sized Turkish vessels......

However, Alter was not in a hurry. He sent someone to lower the flag of Venice and raise the flag of the Crimean Khanate......

"What's going on? How did the opposite flotilla raise the flag of the Crimea? "The commander of the Turkish detachment, Urumman, was very surprised.

"Is it to deceive us? However, it would be too silly to change the flag right under our noses......" Urumman's adjutant didn't understand either.

"Whatever, send a boat over and ask what's going on!" Uruman waved his hand and sent someone over to ask.

After a while, the messenger brought back a parchment paper, written in Arabic. Uruman looked at it - oh my, it was actually a document signed by the Great Khan of the Crimean Khanate......

Uruman suddenly did not dare to make up his mind, so he sent someone to report the matter to the commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Turkish Straits by speedboat.

However, the general command of the fleet is in Istanbul, and it takes several days to come and go. In desperation, Alter had no choice but to stay with the fleet first, accept the supervision of the Turks, and wait for a response from Istanbul......