Chapter 133: The Great Death of the British (Part II)
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John Capote received a commitment and support from Father Giovanni Antonio de Cacaris, who also financed his personal £500, or 1,000 ducats, which was no small amount of money for a simple priest, and although the sailing expenses were still insufficient, at least the cost of living was settled, John Capote was now confident and made another trip to the Italian community in London, but then did not receive much support.
However, Mr. John Capote's luck seems to have passed its lowest point and will continue to climb.
At least, it seems so.
Although in the second half of 1495, Italy was at the center of the storm of the conflict between France and the European continent, but at that time, Florence, except for the transit and transportation of the French army, did not suffer much damage, and the battle to defeat the Medici did not harm the lives and property of the citizens, on the contrary, with the enthusiastic support of the Florentine citizens who were dissatisfied with the Medici family, Savonarola took power, but it was not destined to last long.
Anyway, the Buddy family in Florence managed to impress John Capote, and the bank they run decided to provide £1,500, or 3,000 ducats.
Of course, this was not enough to cover the cost of the voyage, but it was already 30 times the amount of the loan he had raised from an Italian bank in London, and John Capote's career was getting more and more promising.
John Capote counted more and more pounds as he continued to look for a financier, and the nobles of London looked like a good target!
After all, there is only one monarch, and there are more nobles, and there will always be a few of them who are wise, and when Columbus asked for help in Castile, wasn't he introduced to Queen Isabella by a great nobleman? The duke had a beautiful idea of providing sailing ships and sharing in the profits from "India", but Queen Isabella decisively refused, and the royal family monopolized all the principal of the voyage and subsequently took most of the proceeds.
In England, Henry VII did not have such a dead guard, at least, because the road to His Majesty was not smooth enough, and John Capote had to be financed by the nobility. Of the dozens of nobles visited, only five were willing to fund a little – but this has added £1,613 to John Capote's stake!
Sure enough, a little gold leaked from the cracks between the fingers of the local tyrant, which was enough to make the impoverished navigator turn around.
However, to support the voyage, the money is still not enough!
After four or five months in London, John Capote decided to go to the port of Bristol, where he had originally intended, to lobby a wave of wealthy merchants, to scrape together enough money for the voyage, and by the way, to find sailors willing to take risks with him—and among the large number of sailors, he was sure to find enough brave men who were willing to take risks.
At this time, London seemed to give him one last surprise.
Another banker in London, Giovanni Antonio de Cacariva, who was also an Italian banker, was apparently quite different from the miserly bank that had sent John Capote away for fifty pounds, and was very eager to inquire about his sailing plans and ideas, and John Capote mentioned that he was to follow Columbus's "law of contour at equal latitudes".
"Most navigators and sailors, myself included, believed that the Earth was a sphere! …… England was further north, the route would be shorter than Columbus's, and it would be easier to reach the land of the East, and the Northwest Passage would not conflict with the Spaniards and Portuguese," John Capote, always with great interest in his seafaring ideals, explained for a moment with a rambling tongue.
"In this way, His Majesty the King of England will not have to worry too much about diplomatic pressure." John Capote said he was also a "politically sensitive" navigator (◦ ̇▽ ̇◦)......
"Your Excellency is indeed thoughtful, and the Spaniards and Portuguese do not have the energy to meddle in the north-west direction."
Giovanni Antonio de Cacariva nodded yes, as a banker who had also crossed paths with John Capote in his original history, he was also optimistic about Capote's plans, at least four years ago, if John Capote had negotiated with him about it at that time.
Today, however, most of Giovanni Antonio de Cacariva has a large part of his estate in Sicily......
"I don't know if Portugal has the leisure to do so, but if Spain doesn't have the energy to take care of this mess, how can I come here to talk to you?"
Of course, this is a slander in his heart, which the wise banker will certainly not say, and his face is always full of enthusiasm, and of course there is a little doubt that needs to be explained, which is normal. John Capote had no doubts and laid out his current plans.
52 degrees north latitude, indeed, exactly the same as the information in the center of Niedhogg! The banker, who had been with Niderhogg for half a year, admired the power of this secret intelligence organization, and half a year ago, John Capote was hovering between Lisbon and Seville.
The bankers' greater reverence for Nidhogg comes from the intelligence organization's financial and deterrent power. Judging from the expenses of the English branch and the funds that were supported by his own bank, Giovanni Antonio de Cacariva came to the incredible conclusion that Niedhogg probably had no less ducats in his hands than Henry VII.
In fact, he miscalculated, and Sisneros had a little more budget than the British king. Of course, it is not only the need for intelligence work, but also surveillance and control - the establishment of a tight surveillance system for the entire population of Sardinia, the maintenance and monitoring of Corsica, and the intelligence collection and monitoring system established in the Iberian Peninsula through hotels, inns and inns, require a large amount of ducat.
The news that King Ferdinand of Aragon was rich and prosperous was by no means the news made by the current Ferdinand, to which the original owner had made a great contribution, but now some rumors believe that the shamelessness of the King of Aragon in his struggle against nobles and merchants has been underestimated, and that his lower limit has been overestimated, and that by all kinds of dishonorable means, the current royal family is no less old than Charles VIII.
This is true, through the exploitation of the Jews, and the mercantilist policies announced in Valencia, the heavy Jewish taxes and export duties on agricultural products allowed hundreds of thousands of ducats to pour into Ferdinand's pockets, but the big heads were well hidden, and the real treasury of Sardinia, as well as the salt industry in the Canary Islands and the Dakhla Peninsula, were still hidden behind the scenes.
Giovanni Antonio de Cacario didn't have enough brains to speculate about Ferdinand's unusual wealth, but he didn't want to and didn't dare to speculate, after all, once he considered that his parents, wife, and children who had moved to Sicily were treated favorably by the Sixth Office of the Governing Council of the Conscience and Order, the self-aware banker of civilian origin would silently praise in his heart:
"Don't forget the original intention, strengthen the country and enrich the people, God is glorified, and the gospel of all peoples!"
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