After sending Zheng Yong away, it took Mo San more than a full month to rush back to the Ottoman Empire, and it was already mid-to-late January 1649. In the year since Mo San left the Ottoman Empire, a series of earth-shattering events have taken place in the country. Not only the people of the East Coast, but also the French, English, Dutch, and even Venetians, who also had great commercial interests in the Ottomans, were closely watching the developments.

First of all, the Venetians sent their fleet to block the Dardanelles in the middle of the year, causing great panic in Istanbul and threatening the logistical supply of tens of thousands of Ottoman troops who were fighting on the island of Crete. Although the Pasha quickly dispatched a battle fleet led by the battleship Bayezid to relieve the siege, so that the Venetians did not besiege this crucial strait for a full month, as in history, it still caused the prestige of Sultan Ibrahim, who had reigned for only eight years, to be ruined, and the throne was unstable, and many blamed him for the war he initiated rashly, which put the empire in such a difficult situation.

This hot-tempered, opinionated monarch never really possessed full power, and his intelligence did not seem to be very high, so he was eventually deposed in the face of the combined opposition of the Praetorian Guard, the religious leaders, and the foreign ministers, who demanded too much money from the generals and the ulema (religious officials) to guide them. He and his henchmen, including the Grand Vidzi Ahmed Pasha, were confined in the palace and eventually hanged by the Grand Imam.

New to power is his 6-year-old son, Mohammed IV, and his mother Turhan? Khadiq Sultan, a Russian slave-turned-queen mother, shares power with the Janissary Agas. And the Agas are not united. For example, the battle between the Legion of Ghanishari and the Legion of Sipahi. And there is Kara within the Ganishari legion? Factional twentle between Murad and Bektash. It was simply chaos, and Yan zhòng affected the operations of the Ottoman army at the front.

However, this was not the end of the story, and the Janissaries soon clashed with the remaining palace forces, and brought the Great Vizisov? Muhammad Pasha, former Sultan teacher Simsi? Hauka and others deposed. Cincy? Hauka was executed, his property was divided among the military, Kara? Murad Aga became the new Grand Viqi, and the Ottomans entered the military government, known as the "Aga Sultan" period.

However, there are obviously many local forces that do not buy it. Dissatisfied with the Janissaries' domineering behavior, they began to disobey orders from Istanbul and actively colluded with them in an attempt to free the Sultan and put the country back on track. However, the Ottoman country as a whole was inevitably greatly affected, which was not necessarily good news for the eastern coast, where there were great commercial interests.

"So what kind of negative impact has this had on us, be direct, don't beat around the bush." Mo San, who had returned to the East Coast Merchant House in Kaffa City, asked Ma De with a frown. He had just made the decision of a possible all-out hostile affair with the government of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. Now, I heard Mader talk about the turmoil of the past year in the Ottoman country, and it was almost impossible for people to be idle for a moment. He decided to take care of the business once he was done. He went to Crete to give himself a vacation, to enjoy the sun and sand and the gentleness of the Greek maid in his private villa, and his nerves had been too tense for a while and he needed to relax.

"The Ottoman government ran out of money, the road project from Edirne to Plovdiv was suspended, and a large number of materials and tools that we had brought in were left idle in warehouses; Carla? Murad Aga has cancelled the expansion of the ports of Burgas and Suez, and the horse-drawn rail train from the Kaffa iron mine to the dock has also asked us to reduce the price by more than a third, otherwise the project will probably not be saved. Mader smoked his pipe and said with a sad face: "It's not that I don't operate effectively, it's just that the Ottoman Empire is too chaotic now, the army is autocratic, the localities do their own thing, and the government's financial revenue has plummeted, and many projects are naturally unsustainable." This time, the navy brought 10 flute transports delivered to the Ottoman government, and it took me a lot of effort to get them to pay in full, otherwise most of them would have paid on credit. ”

"This country is a fool's errand, no wonder even the little Venetians can't clean it up. However, when the army came to power, the arms trade we talked about earlier should not be a big problem, right? Mo San asked.

"There is no problem with this, this time the navy sent the first batch of military supplies, and the Ottomans urged us to send the second batch as much as possible, and they even said that they could also allocate a part of the payment to us first, so that we could organize production as quickly as possible. Now that the situation in Poland has attracted everyone's attention, and the Ottomans are no exception, I suspect that some of the Agas in the military want to fish in troubled waters and reap some territorial benefits. ”

Hearing Ma De say this, Mo San finally relieved himself a little, only to see him pat his forehead and say: "In the future, it is better to take fewer large-scale government infrastructure projects, damn, the risks and uncertainties are too great." Even if we want to do it, let the local agent do it, and we will concentrate on providing equipment, materials and technical support behind the scenes. ”

"That's right." Mader nodded and said, "But now the Ottomans also seem to be looking for ways to increase their revenues. Now the Praetorian Guard General Kara? Murad's relationship with us is not bad, he is really poor this time, and you can see that he has also saved the expansion projects of the ports of Smyrna and Thessaloniki, which are under construction, which is already good. I have heard that some French businessmen have been miserably cheated by them this time, and a large amount of money and sea transportation fees have been owed, and the amount may have reached 200,000 ducats. In the end, the Ottomans demanded payment for the high-grade furs in the Sultan's court, which made the French almost crooked their noses. ”

"It's not a way for the Ottomans to continue in such a mess. The chaos in the government will inevitably lead to a decline in the administrative efficiency of the government, and eventually lead to the deterioration of the economic situation. Me and this Kara? Murad also had contact, he was well educated, he was not the kind of martial artist who could only fight and kill, so he didn't do anything to revive the economy? Hearing the tragic situation of the French who were sympathetic to the same disease, Mo San smiled lightly: "The only decent statecraft in the Ottoman Empire in recent years is that Kara?" Mustafa, alas, was killed by their own people, and now I don't know who can clean up this mess. Truth be told, the Turks were too rough to bring out the true power of this vast empire. ”

"Kara? Murad basically inherited the deposed Grand Vetsisov? Muhammad's economic policy, which was to reduce the previously high cost of the court and continue to dismiss most of the overstaffed young court slaves; The strong state control over tariffs and monopoly goods (such as salt, tobacco, etc.) was abolished, and in any case, with their low administrative efficiency, they could hardly collect a few dollars, and it was better to entrust the collection to the tax collectors (generally Jews and Armenians); In addition, a large number of political opponents were executed and their property confiscated - a part of which was mainly used to support the army. In short, just a few tricks back and forth have improved fiscal revenue, but the effect is not great. The point is that now many local governors do not buy the central account, and a lot of money cannot be collected, I think that the Gani Shari army, which controls the central power, will next shift the target of the purge from Istanbul to the localities, and the Ottomans will still be in chaos. It's a pity that this year's Polish civil war was supposed to be a great opportunity for them to expand their territory, but they themselves let the opportunity slip away because of the chaotic domestic situation, which makes me, an outsider, feel sorry for them, this kind of opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime ah, it seems that it can only be cheaper for the Russians. ”

"Don't worry about other people!" Mo San sat down on the chair and motioned to Ma De to light a pipe for him, and then said comfortably: "Okay, I'll go to Istanbul in two days." I passed by and talked to some old friends when I arrived, and now the situation there has been more or less calm. I'm going to go there for activities, well, I will withdraw 5,000 yuan from the payment for the goods settled this year, and some money will have to be spent. The Ottoman Empire is now our country's largest trading partner, and these things must not be careless. Grandma's, it's a three-day coup d'état and a big purge, and the officials who have just been fed go to prison in a blink of an eye, which is really depressing, and it has to be spent several times. ”

"Also, although the Ottoman Empire has been calm on the surface recently, no one knows what is going on underneath. Try to keep a low profile, and don't get involved in such bad things as factional strife and palace strife. Our country is limited in strength, and we cannot afford to play this game at the moment, otherwise we may face extremely huge diplomatic risks, and the country's years of business efforts in the Ottomans will be ruined. Mo San carefully admonished, "The business of Polish slaves can be done boldly and boldly, and I will carry everything in my pocket." However, male slaves can lower the price, and try to accept those who are young and strong and have no family involvement. But it doesn't matter, most of these Poles will be sent to the New China Colony to develop plantations, and their wives and daughters will be sold to the East Coast, and they may never see each other again in their lifetime. ”

After dealing with official business with Mader, Mo San went to chat with Nasukhpasha, who was also handling business here, and finally accidentally met Borisov, an Astrakhan merchant who had been here last time, outside the trading station, so he chatted happily with him about the Eastern Coast Republic of China going to the port of Arkhangelsk in the Grand Duchy of Moscow to open a trading house and engage in commodity trade.

After all this, he still had to find a way to contact some French shipping companies and prepare to charter some ships to transport Polish slave girls, after all, the East Coast people alone may not be able to transport so many people at once. Thanks to the Ottomans, there are still a lot of French ships that have been idle recently, and the hiring price is not too high, which is quite cost-effective. (To be continued......)