After Columbus's fleet returned to East Friesland, Marin soon signed an exchange agreement for a fertile baronial fief from Columbus to the island of Cuba. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Moreover, the title of this baron was directly sealed on the head of Columbus's second son, Fernando.

After learning that his own son Fernando had been given the title of hereditary baron, Columbus's current wife, Beatrice, was so excited that she gave Columbus a full set of great health care that night, which was extremely gentle.

You must know that Columbus's title must be inherited by Diego, the eldest son born to his ex-wife. Therefore, under normal circumstances, Fernando, the youngest son born to Beatrice, has no future guaranteed. Now, the husband has brought the younger son a baronial title and fief, no worse than the eldest son's future inheritance, which makes Beatrice very excited.

You know, Columbus is 16 years older than his second wife and Beatrice, and there is a very high probability that he will die in front of Beatrice. Moreover, Beatrice has a mediocre relationship with her eldest son Diego, who is afraid that after Columbus's death, Diego will treat her and her son Fernando badly. Therefore, she kept urging Columbus to make more meritorious deeds so that she could get a knighthood for her own son Fernando. Originally, she thought it would be nice to get a hereditary knight. Unexpectedly, her husband overfulfilled the task and directly got a baron back.

Now, Beatrice is obedient to Columbus. Even, at the instigation of his friends, Columbus wanted to go to Las Vegas to find Mao Mei for a full set of health care, but Beatrice did not object.

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On Marin's side, after signing the exchange instrument, the title and territory of Columbus's second son will be immediately confirmed. However, the title of Baron Marin of Cuba still needs to be reported to Toledo, the capital of Spain, and signed by Queen Isabella I before it can take effect.

Marin wasn't worried about this, though. Because, now the American continent has been upgraded from a "wild continent" to a "syphilis continent". According to Columbus, the Spanish government and the opposition are now in a panic. At this time, he asked to be a Cuban baron, and it is estimated that no one objected. Therefore, there is no hurry to go to Spain to report this matter.

Marin is now worried about something else.

This matter is how to get Spain and Portugal to completely give up their peep into the Americas and focus on the Eastern Hemisphere.

Marin hesitated at the world map he had drawn by himself......

An Indian trade that of course made Spain and Portugal eager to do so. But the problem is that Indian trade alone will not capture the full attention of both countries.

However, because of the competition for Indian trade interests, the Portuguese did not send a fleet to occupy Brazil in 1500 because of the butterfly effect. However, that was because the Portuguese were understaffed and penetrated a large area into the west coast of Africa, which consumed a lot of manpower and material resources. And, they also need to deal with the challenge of the Spaniards.

The Spaniards, however, were now mainly involved in the spice trade in India, and the only colony left in the Americas was Hispaniola.

It can be said that the Spaniards still have a lot of energy, manpower and material resources left to do other things.

Seeing that after the New Year, Spain and Portugal will certainly ask the new Pope Julius II to revise the Treaty of Todesillas, and Marin must find a way to expend Spain's energy elsewhere in the shortest possible time. In this way, they will not have time to toss around in the Americas.

Even, Marin's plan was to let Spain cede the Americas and lead them to the East when the new treaty was revised. At the same time, Portugal was not allowed to be brought to the Americas.

Therefore, Marin needed a point of interest that would be enough to attract the attention of the Spaniards and make them invest all their human and material resources in the past. In this way, they will not be able to come to the Americas.

Originally, Marin was planning to throw out the trade of the Ming Dynasty and attract the two teeth. However, after thinking about it again, Marin gave up. Because, the trade profit with the Ming Dynasty was too great, and I was reluctant to give two teeth.

Similarly, there are so many gold and silver mines in Japan, and Marin is reluctant to throw them to attract two teeth.

So, what else can be taken out to attract Spain and Portugal?

The Spice Islands? Seems to be a very good choice. But the problem is that the Spice Islands have crossed the Strait of Malacca. As long as you get here, you can already be regarded as entering the sphere of influence of the Ming Empire. With the sense of smell of the Spanish and Portuguese colonists, they will definitely not let go of the opportunity to go north to trade with the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Marin still gave up this method.

The best option, then, is to attract Spain and Portugal to the African continent......

But what is it about the African continent that attracts Spain and Portugal?

Gold in South Africa? Marin directly vetoed it. It is meat in your own bowl, and you must not give it to anyone else. South Africa's gold reserves are too terrifying, if it weren't for Marin's lack of strength now, worried that the whole of Europe would have been beaten and robbed, he would have sent people to mine it.

So, where else is there besides gold in South Africa? Marin began to close his eyes and recall the knowledge of world history that he had learned in his previous life......

A few hours later, Marin finally opened his eyes, took out a quill, and drew a circle in West Africa and northern South Africa on the continent......

If you know world history and look at these two circles, two names will immediately come to mind - the West African (Mali/Songhai) Empire, and the South African Great Zimbabwe Empire......

Both countries are famous for their abundance of gold. Among them, the Sultan Mansa of the Mali Empire. When Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324~1325, he brought a large amount of gold, and then squandered it in Cairo and Mecca, which led to a sharp depreciation of the price of gold in Arabia, and it took 20 years to recover. This is also for Mansa. Moussa earned the title of "Golden Sultan".

At that time, Mansa. How much gold did Moses bring? It is said that there were 500 guards who carried a staff (a guard of honor made of gold), each carrying six pounds of gold. These guards carried a total of 3,000 pounds of gold (not counting the gold honor guards in their hands). In addition, there are 100 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold. This part of the gold, the total is as high as 30,000 pounds of gold......

That is, Mansa. The amount of gold that Moussa brought to the Middle East for consumption was as high as 33,000 pounds, or 15 tons...... It is no wonder that the price of gold in Cairo has fallen sharply and will not recover for 20 years. You know, so much gold, you can make 4.276 million ducats......

Therefore, the gold production of the West African Empire is very considerable. Such a golden country is definitely enough to attract Spain and Portugal.

Moreover, this is still a big hole. Because, the West African Empire was located in the hot interior of West Africa, where it was dry and hot, and the climate was extreme. Whether it is the Spaniards or the Portuguese, if they want to conquer the West African Empire, the biggest enemy is not the Mali Empire or the Songhai Empire, but the extreme climate there.

Therefore, if you want to conquer the West African empire, you must spend a lot of manpower and material resources. If you fall into such a pit, you don't have the energy to do anything else.

As for the Great Zimbabwe Empire, although it did not produce as much gold as the West African Empire, it was also very impressive. Zimbabwe's Monomopata dynasty was rich in gold, ivory, copper and tin. Arab merchants from West Asia, on the other hand, built forts and trading posts in the coastal areas of Mozambique to the east, and traded with merchants from Zimbabwe. The Arabs used cheap fabrics, glassware, and other items to extract gold, ivory and other valuables from Zimbabweans, and they simply made a lot of money. Even, for trade, the Arabs also established some regimes along the coast of Mozambique, and occupied the area for a long time, so as to facilitate the gold trade with the Monomopata Kingdom of Zimbabwe.

Wanting to occupy the ancient Zimbabwean Empire is also a big hole. First, you have to conquer the cities and regimes established by Arab traders along the coast of Mozambique, and drive them all out in order to monopolize Zimbabwe's gold.

This alone will cost both Spain and Portugal a huge price.

Then, from Mozambique, deep inland, to the Zimbabwean Empire, also thousands of miles away. Moreover, the local climate is just as hot and unbearable.

Therefore, the capture of the ancient Zimbabwean Empire is also not a simple errand.

Although, both the ancient West African Empire and ancient Zimbabwe were rich in gold, it was also costly to control these two places.

Of course, if you choose to trade rather than capture, the risk is definitely much less. However, Marin knew that with the urine nature of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, they would definitely choose to conquer these two countries and then monopolize the gold interests. Therefore, they will inevitably fall into the pit, and there will be no decades that they will not be able to get out.

Therefore, after thinking twice, Marin decided to throw these two golden countries of Africa as bait, so that Spain and Portugal could devote all their attention to them, deep in the African continent, and have no time to think about anything else for a long time.

Then, he secretly went to conquer the Mexican Aztec Empire and the Inca Empire, and obtained the gold and silver mines there. At the same time, he also went to the East, traded with the Ming Dynasty, and took advantage of the chaotic stage of Japan's Warring States village chief brawl to capture Japan's Iwami Silver Mountain and Kagoshima Gold Mine, and secretly made a fortune......

By the time Spain and Portugal had settled the West African Empire and the Ancient Zimbabwean Empire, they had already firmly controlled the trade interests of the Americas and East Asia. At that time, the full-fledged self will not have to be afraid even in the face of the union of Spain and Portugal......