Alberto Morosini had just finished his trip to Zakynthos and was about to leave for Venice when a sudden ship disrupted his itinerary.

The ship was coming from the direction of the Ottoman Empire, and because it was flying the flag of the Republic of China on the east coast of China, several Venetian galleys stationed in the harbor went up to inspect and confirm it, and then put it into the harbor. After more than ten years of in-depth cooperation with the East Coast Republic of China, the interests of the Republic of Venesia have largely depended on being agents of goods on the East Coast and their many investments on the New China Island, so they are very cooperative with various policies of the East Coast in Europe, such as mixing with the feudal lords of the Crimean Khanate on the northern shore of the Black Sea, etc., and at the same time giving dignified treatment to many East Coast nationals who went to Venice for business and business, which can be regarded as friendly countries on the East Coast. Therefore, as soon as it was confirmed that the brig named "Venetian" was a diplomatic ship of the Republic of the East Coast, it was introduced into the harbor and berthed at a dedicated berth.

As a commercial commissioner sent to nearby by the Council of the Nobles of the Republic of Venesia, Alberto Morosini was supposed to oversee the transportation of goods on several state farms on the island. These farms, which are part of the Instituto Affluence of Venice, produce Zakynthos' famous olive oil and seedless raisins, which are very popular commodities in Venice and can be resold at a profit. From this point of view, you can understand why the Venetians are so obsessed with some islands off the coast of the Ottoman Empire: I can't beat you on land, so take advantage of your navy scum to colonize some corners or small islands to obtain some benefits, it will not be too much of a problem, right?

Of course, the Ottoman Empire did not want the islands on its doorstep to be occupied by the Venetians, so it tried to recapture them for many years, but the naval strength was not good, and it ended in failure. Moreover, the terrible Cretan War, which had been fought for more than two decades and in which the Ottoman Empire lost some 400,000 people, including the coastal population, had just ended less than a generation and many people were still fresh in their minds and shuddered. Both the Sultans and the Grand Vizi at the top of the empire and the Agas at the grassroots level were very cautious about the islands occupied by the Venetians, and did not try to send a large army to retake them as Crete did, apparently fearing the outbreak of another Cretan war. The family is as powerful as the Ottomans, and they cannot afford the 24-year-long tragic tug-of-war of the Cretan War.

So, in such a situation, these small islands of the Venetians have been stubbornly preserved, and it seems that they will remain so for a long time, and the Ottoman Empire is in considerable trouble!

This time, it was not the planned head of the Merchant Station in Thessaloniki that came to Zakynthos on the Venetian sailing ship, but the special envoy of the East Coast to Europe, Gao Wengang himself. Realizing that he would not be able to see either the Sultan or the Grand Vizi in Thessaloniki, Gao changed his mind and left the important Greek port city to travel south to Zakynthos in a small ship belonging to the Merchant Station of Thessaloniki to see if he could meet the powerful men of Venice. His luck was apparently not bad, as he met Alberto Morosini, who had dealt with the people of the East Coast many times and was now in a high position in Venice, a famous family whose ancestors had been consuls of the Republic of Venecia.

Morosini came out to receive Gao Wengang as soon as possible. In a private estate on the island—not only the farms of the Affluent Office on Zakynthos, but in fact the estates of the Venetian dignitaries belonged to the majority—Alberto Morosini first smiled and said that Gawain had just met him, otherwise he didn't know what to do.

Gao Wengang was not in much of a mood to talk and laugh, he directly said that if he couldn't meet Morosini, he would always meet someone else in charge, anyway, as long as he could send a message. Then he changed his mind and said directly to Morosini: "This is a diplomatic letter I have addressed to Your Excellency the Consul, please help me to bring it back and hand it over." Of course, you can read this letter now, and I would like you to make some comments, and if it is reasonable, I will revise it on the spot and transcribe it again. ”

Alberto Morosini restrained his smile when he heard this, took the letter from Gao Wengang's hand suspiciously, and after reading it roughly, his face immediately turned extremely pale. I saw him stand up and walk around the room several times anxiously before he said to Gao Wengang in an excited tone: "Mr. Special Envoy, what you handed over to me is really a big trouble." As a partner who has been working together for many years, I will not hide from you, yes, yes, our government has the intention of attacking the Ottoman coastal areas on the flank, echoing the Kingdom of Austria, and it has been officially implemented. Our actions are forgivable, because the Ottomans are also unleashing malice against us all the time, and we must fight for our own living space. This is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so we plan to send troops, both land and sea, to attack the southern coast of the Ottoman Empire, and wait for an opportunity to restore some of the land that was seized by the Ottomans. ”

"Your government is sure that the Ottomans will fail?" Gao Wengang was still relatively keen, and immediately grabbed the other party's words and asked.

"Yes, we're not afraid to admit it." Alberto Morosini nodded generously, acknowledged Gao Wengang's statement, and continued: "Compared to Mr. Special Envoy, you also know the situation in Vienna, it seems that the Ottoman army is besieging the city, but in fact? Is the situation really as critical as the siege of Vienna? First of all, it's winter, and the Ottoman Empire besieged Vienna in winter more than a hundred years ago, which ended in a miserable failure, and it won't change much now; Secondly, the Pope had already announced the Holy Alliance before, calling on the princes of the Catholic world such as Germany, Italy, and Poland to send reinforcements, and those who did not have soldiers also donated money and materials to hire mercenaries with rich war experience, and then went to Austria. Again, there were too many Ottoman enemies, they offended Poland, Austria, Russia and even Persia, it can be said that they were attacked on all sides, and at the favorable time when they poured out the country, I don't believe that these people would not make any moves, even Russia, which had already signed a truce peace treaty with the Ottomans for 20 years, I am afraid that it will also secretly make some small moves, which is quite fatal; Finally, the current Ottomans are still the former Ottomans, and are the Guards still the former Guards? ”

Morosini's last sentence really grasped the key point in the point, the Guards (that is, the Ganishari Legion) have degenerated, and the combat effectiveness is not good, which is the key to the Ottoman siege of Vienna that has not been able to be captured for a long time! Once upon a time, the Ghani-Shari Legion was synonymous with bravery and loyalty, except for its total annihilation against the Mongol Timur Legion (Bayezid Sultan was captured, its Serbian empress was forced to dance nude in front of the Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire was divided into four ...... The rest of the time it has been the army of tigers and wolves that terrified the Christian world in Central Europe.

But no matter how powerful the legion is, it will also fall, in the early years, the Sultan stipulated that the soldiers of the Guards were not allowed to get married, not allowed to grow beards, and honed their war skills as adults, and learned *** religious knowledge and traditional Turkish culture, and had strong combat effectiveness. However, because the Guards could enter the court as officials, their power gradually increased and became a political force, so the later Sultan was forced to agree that the Guards could marry and grow beards, and allow their descendants to join the Guards, so the size of the Guards was repeatedly expanded, creating a new class in the Ottoman Empire, the Ganishari Guards.

By now, the Guards had become a privileged class to be reckoned with. In recent decades, the Sultan and successive Grand Viqi have tried to put this legion in order, but sometimes they have succeeded, sometimes they have failed, and even the number of successes has only provoked internal strife within the Guard, allowing one group to fight another group (many of the losers have gone into exile in New China and the East Coast proper, and the East Coast people are quite aware of these facts...... ), making it obedient for the time being, but the overall class of the Guards has always stood tall, which is a headache.

And now that it has become a politically privileged class, its combat effectiveness will naturally not be maintained, and a gradual decline will become inevitable. Of course, it was not without officers who tried to re-strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Ghanishari regiment, and the people on the east coast also helped a lot in it, such as sending officers to explain the latest war ideas to them, selling a large number of weapons and military funds, etc., but with little success. After all, my Great Ottoman has his own national conditions here, and you people from the East Coast don't even have beards, so why should you give me a lecture?

Alberto Morosini knew everything about the Ottoman Empire very well, and he knew no less than Gao Wengang, so this was very difficult for him to answer, and finally he could only sigh helplessly and said: "What you said is right, the Ottoman Empire is in chaos, Wen Tian is martial, but he still thinks he is strong, immersed in the fog of more than a hundred years ago, and there is no opponent. Now, Alberto, I have no other request, except that you will bring back this diplomatic letter of mine as soon as possible to His Excellency the Consul, I do not want the Republic of Venesia to appear in this war, of course we will give some benefit to it, everything is in this letter. ”

In fact, strictly speaking, Gao Wengang's letter was used to wipe the ass of the Ottoman Empire. He now doesn't have much hope that the empire can win in Vienna, all he hopes for is that Sultan Mehmed IV will not be blind to a few more remote commands, and Mustafa Daviqi will not lose all the chips in his hand and lose too many troops, otherwise how can other places be defended? How can the Christian lords in the country be deterred?

In addition, through the influence of the East Coast, let Venice and Russia, which have already sharpened their knives, emergency brake (of course, the latter may be more difficult), and do not participate in beating the water dogs. Of course, he understood the hatred of countries such as Venice and Russia for the Ottomans, but the latter was really frightened this time: the Ottoman army's 200,000 troops marched along the Danube to attack Vienna, and if they succeeded, then it seemed logical to go north into the German hinterland or south into the Italian peninsula. And once it was time to invade the Italian peninsula, wouldn't the Republic of Venesia, which had a large territory in northern Italy, bear the brunt? This is in danger of destroying the country!

If you want to think that Venice and the Ottomans fought back and forth in the Eastern Mediterranean in the past, it was for some islands or small coastal lands. But if the Ottomans captured Vienna, it would really be a fall of the sky for Venice, so it made sense that they would have to do something: taking advantage of the great opportunity of the Ottoman Empire's emptiness, sending the navy and part of the army to attack the coastal areas of the Ottoman Empire is the best way! Wouldn't it be wonderful that this would not encounter great difficulties, and at the same time capture people and goods!

But what the people on the East Coast are worried about is that the Venetians do it! Because of the strength of their fleet, and the Ottoman navy is too scummy, the Venetians can even blockade Istanbul, which will undoubtedly cause great chaos to the empire, and personnel and materials from Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and other places cannot be transported to the western Rumili region in time, which will affect the strength of the Ottoman Empire, so that they will suffer undue serious losses in a series of battles that may break out in the ensuing series.

In order to persuade the Venetians to do so, Gao Wengang planned to give them some additional benefits: such as giving them more share of commodity agency, such as exporting some sensitive machinery or tools to them, such as allowing them to invest more land in New Huaxia Island, such as persuading the Crimean Khanate to cooperate more deeply with them, and so on.

But Gawain was not sure whether these additional benefits would be enough to convince the Venetians to let the Ottomans go at this time. He was not sure, because in his opinion these benefits were good, but they were still insignificant compared to the survival of the country. However, he still wanted to try as much as he could, trying to convince the Venetian consuls not to weaken the Ottoman Empire too much, on the grounds that the defeat of the Ottoman Empire was assured, its decline was inevitable, and Austria's long-term rise was in full swing! After all, the Ottoman tiger wants to eat people, and it makes no sense that the Austrian tiger doesn't eat people, isn't the best way to let the two tigers bite each other so that both sides lose?

This angle was the only possible reason to convince the Venetian consul, who was not sure if he could do his best. And after that, he will also go to the northern shore of the Black Sea to see if he can contact the Russians, which is also very important.