The other party's reaction was completely within Mo Ming's expectations.

Although they are scientific researchers, they are not three-year-olds, and they will not follow you just because of your words, even if you have something that they are extremely interested in. Of course, there may be other reasons, such as reluctance to leave home, reluctance to give up career, and so on.

Mo Ming didn't force it, anyway, he didn't expect a success in this matter. Before leaving, he signed an agreement with Galileo, in which Galileo sold the publishing rights of all his books in the Eastern Republic to the Academy of Natural Sciences, which entrusted Mo Ming. Mo Ming left Galileo 10 golden French gold coins (worth 66 francs) as an honorarium, which was definitely a large amount of royalty income at this time. You must know that Galileo's books are clearly recognized as banned by the Holy See, and the price of 66 francs is absolutely sky-high, and it can only be said that this money has the factor of the East Coast's friendship with Galileo.

Galileo did not refuse the money. Now under house arrest, he has lost almost any income and needs a certain amount of money to make ends meet, conduct scientific research, and even publish his books in Italy. He had been relying on gifts and patronage from his students, friends, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, but now with this money, much of his research could continue.

Mo Ming and Frank return to their residence, which was Frank's mother's property before she married, and was later transferred to Frank as compensation for his lack of family inheritance.

The next two days were a boring wait. After instructing their attaché to stay quietly at their quarters, Mo Ming and Frank began to wander around the small town of Achetri.

Truth be told, the town is really lackluster. Florence and the Duchy of Tuscany at this time. There is only one street in the town. There are very few local goods sold on the streets. Just some books, crafts, fine arts, and the like. Textiles that were once glorious are gone, replaced by woolen and cotton products from the Netherlands.

In addition to these things, there was a large influx of oriental goods from the Republic of Venice. Although the Venetians had been at war with the Ottoman Empire for many years, war for war and business for business, and most of the trade between them had persisted intermittently.

The Venetians were extremely profitable by importing mainly local products such as wool, cotton, and raisins from the Ottomans, as well as oriental goods such as silk, porcelain, precious stones, spices, and other entrepot trade. Even if the countries of the Atlantic coast opened African routes to the East, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope. But at the moment, Oriental goods that entered Europe through the Red Sea via the Ottoman transit were still several times as many times as many as those of Western European countries by sea through African routes.

Naturally, the merchants of the Republic of Venice were more at ease in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, thanks to the power of Italy.

As a qualified intelligence officer, Mo Ming actually pays attention to collecting economic intelligence, so he is idle and bored anyway, so he and Frank go to the Venetian store together. Not surprisingly, the shops are filled with Ottoman style, Anatolian leather goods, Kashmiri gems, livante raisins, and more.

"Yo-heh." Mo Ming whistled happily, and he saw a good thing.

"Honorable sir, this is a very sharp saber. From the Far East, it costs only 5 ducats. It doesn't matter if it's a battlefield or a dueling arena. It's all worth it. A chubby, middle-aged businessman walked over in Italian with a strange accent.

Mo Ming's saber was pulled out of the scabbard, and a row of inscriptions on the body of the sword were displayed: "32-year-style non-commissioned officer knife", "produced by the Dayuhe Arsenal", and "March 1634".

"Ha Lu Ha, an authentic Big Fish River Arsenal machine knife, produced in 1634, with a total length of 102 cm. However, your scabbard has been redone, and the original simple handle has been redecorated again, which makes it look less like a killing weapon, and the smell of the craft is stronger, and it looks like the Arabs love to do it the most. Mo Ming played with the saber, then looked at the fat merchant in front of him with playful eyes, and said, "You said this is a commodity from the East?" The price is 5 ducat, tsk, its factory price is only 1 ducat. ”

Frank translated Mo Ming's original words in Italian.

The fat merchant was a little embarrassed when he heard this. However, he was also thick-skinned, and after seeing that Mo Ming seemed to be very expert, he tentatively asked in French, "Are you a guest from the east coast of the New World?" ”

Mo Ming glanced at him and said, "You are a well-informed businessman." Yes, I am from the East Coast Republic of China, and I have to say, Venetian, your eyes are very vicious. ”

"You may have misunderstood, honored guest." The fat merchant smiled and said, "To be correct, I'm not from the Venetian. I am from Izmir and am Armenian. ”

"Ottomans!" Frank exclaimed. Although the large-scale wars between Europe and Turkey have stopped in recent years, local conflicts are still continuing. After all, the Battle of Lepanto has only been a few decades ago, and the hatred between the two sides has not subsided (and cannot be extinguished). At this time, Muslims were generally not allowed to enter the major European ports unless they were allowed to do so, such as when the Ottoman fleet was stationed in the French port of Toulon. But in general, based on centuries of enmity between the two sides, such a concession is difficult to obtain.

Of course, there are exceptions. In view of the Western world's thirst for goods from the East, the Christian states allowed Christians in the Ottoman Empire to trade in Western Europe, acting as intermediaries and agents between the Muslim world and the Western world. For example, the Armenian in front of him is an example of this, although he is a Gregorian sect of the Orthodox Church, which is a heresy among heretics, but he is also a subject of the Lord, so he is free to go and go to the ports and cities of the Western world.

In fact, it was for this reason that the Ottoman Empire's commerce was completely dominated by the Greeks, Jews and Armenians hundreds of years later, which indirectly led to the collapse and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.

Mo Ming was not an extreme religious person, so he didn't have any unusual views of people from the Ottoman Empire, but felt that the merchant in front of him might be of great use.

Mo Ming is not a central decision-maker, but as a senior intelligence officer, he still has a thorough understanding of the central government's policy direction. Ottoman Turkey had a population of more than 30 million at this time, and it was relatively wealthy, and there was no direct conflict of interest or historical enmity with the East Coast Republic of China, which was an excellent dumping ground for its products.

The British can sell their woolen products to Turkey, which already produces a lot of wool, why can't the East Coast Republic? Rub, you can also take the opportunity to fight the British, why not?

Therefore, this chubby Armenian businessman suddenly became a sweet spot in Mo Ming's eyes. Of course, Mo Ming is not fragrant in the eyes of others? Obviously, people also fancy the potential value of the goods of the East Coast Republic of China.

"Meet John. Petrovich. Khornisian, from Izmir. The Armenian businessman introduced himself, then held out his right hand.

"Mo Ming, assistant to the commercial representative of the East Coast Republic of China, from Dongfang Port." Mo Ming also stretched out his hand to shake hands with him, and then introduced himself.

"Business Representative's Assistant, maybe we'll have a lot of common language. Come, come and sit down in my shop. Hornisian looked at Mo Ming with a meaningful smile and invited.

"Very happily." Mo Ming nodded, and then the three of them entered the backyard of the store together.

"I want to represent the right to sell goods from the East Coast in the Ottoman Empire." Hornisian said straight to the point, he looked at Mo Ming with eager eyes, and made no secret of his eagerness.

"First of all, I am just an assistant and have no authority to make any decisions. If you want to come to a formal agreement, I think you'd better go to Bordeaux in person and our commercial representative will give you a clear answer. Mo Ming waved his hand and said, "Well, let me take the liberty of asking, do you have enough strength to deal with a complicated situation?" I don't mean to take you lightly, I just want to make sure you have the money, connections and political resources to take on the role of an agent, you know, it's not easy. As far as I know, if you don't have a high-ranking official at the level of Pasha in your country, business will not be very good. ”

"I understand your concerns, and that's not a problem." Khornisian smiled mysteriously, "My family has a wide range of connections, whether in Izmir or Aleppo. Pasha in Aleppo, in particular, has been working happily with my family for many years. Through his connections, you are even able to extend your tentacles into Persia. Don't look at me like that, although the Persians are our enemies, but war is war, and business is business. ”

"Hmm......" Mo Ming pretended to be silent for a while, and then said slowly: "It doesn't sound like there's anything to lose for us." Well, Armenians, you convinced me. I will also be staying in Florence for a few days before returning to Bordeaux, where you can travel with me if you are interested. There, our commercial representative will discuss the details with you. ”

"That couldn't be better." "Then it's decided," said Hornisian, "and I'll go to Bordeaux with you then." (To be continued......)