In order to avoid attracting the attention of the Portuguese, Marin's troop carriers did not take the route close to the Portuguese coast, but deliberately deviated several hundred kilometers to the west. As a result, it was difficult for the Portuguese to spot troop convoys without binoculars.

And when passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, because the Spanish admiral was bribed in advance and chose to pass through the strait at night, the chance of being detected is also very small.

Of course, Marin was not afraid that Spain would know about his troop shipments. After all, there is no conflict between the North Sea and Spain now.

It's just that Marin sent troops to help the Papal States fight this time, and Spain and the Papal States had a very unhappy quarrel because of the ownership of the Kingdom of Naples. Therefore, Marin was worried that the Spaniards would deliberately cause trouble for the Papal States and inform Siena when they learned the news. In that case, the purpose of the sneak attack will not be achieved. Maybe, it will be counter-attacked by the opponent and suffer heavy losses.

Fortunately, the Spanish court was very corrupt. The current commander of the Gibraltar fleet, Culkin, is even more famous for his greed for money. Therefore, Marin planned to bribe Kalkin 10,000 gold coins to make it easier for him. Moreover, the problem should not be too big. After all, 10,000 gold coins is a lot of money.

It's just that in order to transport troops, Marin took out all the merchant ships under his name, which led to a tight shipping situation in the North Sea Country and a serious shortage of ships. For this reason, Kleiman, the general manager of the North Sea Shipping Company, specially went to Marin to protest. This, of course, was the reason why Marin did not tell Kleiman about the purpose of the ship.

Kleiman is the younger brother of Kahn and Kohler, Kleiman was only about 12 years old when he first met the Kahn family in the Black Forest, and now 14 years have passed, and Kleiman is also 26 years old. Relying on the relationship of the two older brothers, Kleiman served as the general manager of the North Sea Shipping Company. It's a pity that Kleiman's talent is average, and his mouth is not strict enough, otherwise, he will definitely be reused by Marin.

Because Kleiman loves to brag and is not strict in his mouth, Marin does not dare to tell him the truth about the troop transport, and only relies on the accusation that he has an important purpose. But Kleiman is not happy, because, after some shipping orders are received, if they cannot be delivered within the specified time, the North Sea Shipping will have to compensate double the cost. In desperation, Marin only asked Kleiman to go to Hamburg to hire Hanseatic merchant ships to help out for a while. After all, he now has 25,000 troops and 7,000 strong men to transport, and he really can't spare extra ships to carry out shipping. So, simply subcontract the shipping business and let the merchant ships of the Hanseatic League earn these freight. On the British side, the transportation business was subcontracted to the British merchant ship to carry it.

After arranging this matter, Kleiman still refused to leave, and looked like he wanted to say something.

Marin was very curious, Kleiman was not afraid of heaven and earth in the North Sea Country by relying on the power of his two elder brothers. Even in front of Marin, he is never restrained. Because, Marin was indeed very good to the Kahns. And Kleiman's two older brothers, Kahn and Kohler, are also die-hard loyalists of Marin. During the New Year's holidays, Marin often took the Karn family to the backyard of the palace for dinner as a sign of favor. At present, I am afraid that only the Schwartz family, the Sauer family and several other old subordinate families of Marin in Beihai Country have it. This is no longer a relationship between superiors and subordinates, but a friendship between families. And Kleiman, who has been more skinny since he was a child, has never been restrained in front of Marin. That's why Marin was curious - this little bastard was embarrassed too? Could it be that you have a crush on the daughter of a noble family? No, it is said that his second brother Kohler has already helped him find the daughter of a baron's family......

"Boy, what else is going on with you?" Marin asked curiously.

Kleiman thought about it, but still spoke:

"That's right, Your Highness, when I was reading the shipping company's business report recently, I found something that was very unfavorable to us......"

"Not good for us? Does anyone still dare to attack the idea of our fleet? Don't want to mix it up? "Marin thought there were bad guys trying to rob the merchant ships of the North Sea Shipping Company.

"No, it's our competitors!" Kleiman said worriedly.

"Competitors? Hanseatic League, you say? Hasn't that always been the leader in the shipping industry? Marin thought Kleiman was talking about the Hanseatic League. After all, in terms of the scale of shipping, the North Sea Kingdom really can't be compared with the Hanseatic League.

Kleiman shook his head and said:

"It's not the Hanseatic League, it's the Dutch!"

"Dutch? Shipping competitors? Marin's originally casual expression suddenly became a little nervous.

Marin suddenly remembered the famous "coachman of the sea" in history, the fear of 15,000 merchant ships dominating the world's seas......

"No, the Dutch voyage seems to have taken off after independence from Spain in 1581, and what the hell is it that has jumped out now?" Marin thought wonderingly.

So, he asked Kleiman:

"Figure out who's competing with us? Handsome King Philip? "Marin's biggest concern is that Philip jumps out to compete with him. Because, Philip was the son of his eldest Maximilian I. Even if this product competes with him, he can't do anything to him. After all, nominally, Prince Philip is his own "young master". However, didn't the Habsburgs focus on Europe, and when did they become interested in sailing?

Kleiman shook his head and said:

"It's not His Royal Highness Philip, it's a bunch of rich Dutch businessmen from Amsterdam!"

Marin breathed a sigh of relief, if only Philip would have been able to do it. In addition to its sensitive identity, the Habsburgs also had a strong appeal. Although the Habsburgs were poor and had no money, as long as the Habsburgs wanted to do business, some consortiums were willing to lend them money. For example, the Fugger family.

"Let's talk about it!" Marin is very wary of the future "sea coachman" of the Netherlands.

"His Royal Highness Philippe was not interested in seafaring, he was in Ghent, only in the Flemish woollen industry. However, because the British are now restricting wool exports, Flanders does not import enough wool, and many wool mills have been suspended, which makes His Royal Highness Philip very troubled......"

"Lack of wool?" Marin suddenly remembered his plans to support Egypt, one of which was to buy Egyptian wool. However, it seems that the wool in Egypt is coarse and of average quality......

"By the way, you send someone to ask His Highness Philip if he wants a Flemish wool mill in Egypt. If they want, we will carry it for a fee only. ”

"Why is that?" Kleiman was a little surprised, such a thankless thing is not Marlin's style......

How did he know that Marin was worried that the decline of the Flemish woolen industry would cause the handsome king Philip to turn his attention to the great voyage. Therefore, it is better to let the woolen industry in Flanders be maintained. Moreover, it can also support the finances of the Egyptians in disguise. Besides, low-grade wool textiles are not highly profitable. Even if Flanders made the low-grade wool spinning very large-scale and did not make much money, it dragged down a lot of labor and energy.

As long as the powerful Habsburgs were dragged down, as for the wealthy Dutch merchants in Amsterdam......

"Why do those wealthy Amsterdam businessmen invest in the shipping industry?" Marin was concerned about this. Because, according to the course of history, the Dutch should have only emerged in the seafaring industry in the second half of the 16th century. At that time, it coincided with the decline of the Hanseatic League. The Dutch, on the other hand, took the opportunity to snatch a lot of the original trade share of the Hanseatic League, especially from the Baltic region, before they began to rise. But now, it's only 1508, and the Dutch are making a great voyage, decades ahead of schedule, what the hell?