Europe during the Northern Song Dynasty was still the era of the Holy Roman Empire, which was actually composed of a large number of kingdoms, such as the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of England, etc., and there were a lot of larger principalities under the kingdom, which was actually a typical feudal era, and there were at least five hundred years before the Age of Discovery.

But at this time, Europe was still very obsessed with silk and porcelain from the East, but they could not go to the far East, and the Arabs acted as second-hand dealers.

As the overland trade routes were cut off, sea routes began to flourish.

This is why the new port has become the most prosperous seaport in the South Seas not many years after its establishment.

Fanning is interested in how this group of Europeans came over, and there is actually a European girl, you know, the Cape of Good Hope was discovered by the Europeans almost four hundred years later, and began to establish new routes.

An Arab businessman acted as their interpreter.

As Fanning thought, this group of European merchants was still from Genoa, but they were not Genoese, but from the Holy Roman Empire.

Through translation, Fanning learned that after the Pirovin and Pirod brothers traveled to the Song Dynasty, the two returned to Genoa to write a book "Travels in the East", which caused a sensation throughout Europe, and countless European merchants wanted to go directly to the East, unwilling to be exploited by the Arabs.

Many merchants followed the path of the Pi brothers to the East, the ships of the Red Sea were unloaded at the port of Aizab, transshipped by land to Khus in the Nile Valley, and along the river to Alexandria, which has always been the traditional trade route of Genoese and Venetian merchants to the East, with special Karimi merchants operating, mainly relatively safe, this group of European merchants came over in this way, and walked for four months on the way.

This trade route Fanning has long heard that the port of Aizab is today's Gusel Port, and Khus is today's Gus on the Nile, more than 400 miles away, which is an ancient trade route.

Dozens of European businessmen heard that Fanning actually knew Cologne, and suddenly there was an excitement of meeting someone else, especially the middle-aged man at the head, he was from Cologne, but Fanning knew Cologne Cathedral, but he had no impression that there were many churches in Cologne, and the cathedral that Fanning was referring to would not start to be built until two hundred years later.

But this does not affect everyone's good opinion of him.

"How much time did you spend on a camel ride?" Fanning asked.

The middle-aged man at the head is called Banse, and his full name is Ludwig. Feng. Bansai, the maiden was his daughter, and her name was Asabel. Bansai, only 12 years old, father and daughter from the Holy Roman Empire Rüdesheim, Bansai is a big merchant dealing in goods from the East, there are more than 60 of them, all merchants from the central and northern part of the Roman Holy Empire, this time, everyone came to the East to look for business opportunities.

"The land journey is not long, only three days, and unfortunately we can't transport too many goods, so we came to the East this time to buy some high-value goods, such as silk, more precious spices, and fine porcelain," Bansai said. ”

Fanning pondered: "Actually, you can buy a large warehouse in Port Aizab, and store the goods in the warehouse, so that you can buy a lot of goods at once, and then send someone to transport the goods from the seaport to Alexandria, isn't it good?" “

Fanning's suggestion stunned the European merchants for a moment, and they began to discuss in whispers, this was their first time on the Eastern trade route, and many things they had not thought of.

At this time, the chief officials of the major yamen of Xingang rushed to the dock to meet Fanning, which surprised a group of European merchants.

Fanning asked Zhang Yandao, the envoy of the city: "Is this the first group of Europeans?" ”

"They weren't, the merchants of Genoa and Venice came the most, they seemed to be Western merchants from another country."

Just as Fanning was inquiring about the group of European businessmen, the little girl next to her, Asabel, was tilting her head to look at Fanning, she was full of curiosity about Fanning.

"Sir, are you a senior official of the Eastern Empire?" Asabel asked, looking up at Fanning.

When Fanning was chatting with a group of people in Bambell just now, he had already vaguely understood what they were saying, Fanning knew a lot of German in his previous life, and the German of the Middle Ages was New Highland German, and then it was slowly integrated into today's German, but after all, it is in the same vein.

Fanning thought for a moment, then replied to her in German with a smile: "I used to be the prime minister of the Eastern Empire. ”

"And now?" Asabel asked again.

"I'm a king now."

When the girl heard that Fanning was actually the prime minister of the Eastern Empire and a king, her sea-blue eyes suddenly lit up.

There was an uproar among the crowd, and dozens of European businessmen were amazed, this young man from the East could actually speak the language of their homeland, and it was easy to find a translator just now when they spoke Italian.

Ban Sai was surprised and asked, "How can Mr. Fan speak our language?" ”

"I learned from two Italian merchants."

Ban Sai sincerely saluted Fan Ning, "Can Mr. Fan give us a good advice?" ”

"Bansai, why don't you tell us what you think first?"

"We are grateful to Mr. Fan for his reminder, and we decided to charter a few Song sea-bound ships to buy silk, porcelain, and spices, and then rent a warehouse at the port of Aizab to establish a long-term trade route."

Fanning smiled, "It's a wise decision, but you can cultivate business opportunities and reap greater benefits." ”

"Please Mr. Fan speak clearly!"

"For example, tea, tea is an elegant drink of the Orientals, drinking tea with porcelain, is a symbol of civilization and status, you can bring tea to the West, for example, you can let Miss Asabel learn how to sencha, how to distinguish tea, after a few years of learning, she brought the Oriental tea culture back to the West, performed in the court, I believe that drinking tea will soon become popular in the West, and Mr. Banse has established the business route of tea in advance, which is one step ahead of the Italians to seize the business opportunity."

Ban Sai was really moved, he thought for a long time and asked, "Mr. Fan, can I trust you?" ”

Fanning shook his head, "Miss Asabel doesn't have to follow me, I can introduce her to the school of the Song Dynasty to learn tea art, and I can cover all her expenses." ”

"I understand what Mr. Fan means, but the little girl doesn't know Italian, I'm afraid that the only thing the Eastern Empire can communicate with her is Mr., so I hope Mr. can teach the little girl."

Fan Ning suddenly felt a little cocooned, he smiled bitterly for a while: "I am the king of Chu, my kingdom is far away from here, it will take about thirty days to sail, if Mr. Bansai is willing, you can also go to my kingdom as a guest, my kingdom is rich in platinum, and I will not let Mr. Bambell go in vain." ”

Bansai really didn't feel comfortable letting his twelve-year-old daughter leave with a stranger alone, so he went back to discuss.

At this time, Akihito stepped forward and whispered, "Do you want to promote tea to the West as a business opportunity?" ”

Fanning nodded, "It's not just tea, it's also tobacco!" ”

Akihito secretly gave a thumbs up, this is the person who does big business, cultivating business opportunities.

Soon Bansai came back and smiled: "There are seven or eight other merchants who are very interested in platinum, and since we only have a month, we are very willing to visit your country." ”

Dozens of European merchants and soldiers divided into two routes, all the way to the North Island trading house in Quanzhou with the letter of introduction issued by Fanning and Mingren respectively, to buy porcelain and silk, they were also responsible for renting a warehouse in the port of Zab on the return trip, Fanning helped them coordinate, rented five 10,000 stone sea ships in the city, with the Song Dynasty sea ships, they did not have to worry about the storm in the Indian Ocean.

Bansey took nine merchants with him and sailed to the North Island on Fanning's big ship.

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[The pawn has also been updated, after reading the old book, let's go and see the new book! ] 】