Limassol.

As Lothar's territory in Cyprus, the administrative, military, and security affairs here have been returned to the Turiados agents of the Wheel Family, and most of the Black Eagle Banner Corps and Religious Knights stationed here have also returned to the Holy Land.

Only one castle and one monastery were assigned to the Teutonic Knights, who had merged with the Order of St. Lazarus.

The Order established a branch here, headed by the former Grand Master Heberland.

The city of Limassol is also a node on the pilgrimage road, where there are not only Orthodox Greeks, but also many Catholics who stop on the pilgrimage road or return to the road, so the branch of the Order is also developing well, and many new apprentices are recruited.

The devastation that the war brought to Limassol is gone.

It has once been transformed into the thriving seaport city it once was, with a constant stream of caravans and pilgrims transiting, docking, and replenishing, even when it is getting late and the curfew is approaching, the taverns are still bustling with activity.

In particular, the most popular Gwent card, a game more complex than simple dice, was most popular among the Greeks, and many Greek sailors would often play cards all night in taverns until they lost all their money, or squandered their money on prostitutes and wine before setting sail the next day to fight the waves and pirates.

The Greeks were disgusted with the Franks, or the Latins as they called them, and considered the Franks to be a bunch of barbarians, robbers, and the shortcomings of the Gwent cards being more complex and difficult to get started quickly became the advantage of the Greeks to show their superiority.

They often watched the stupid and vulgar Frankish sailors, playing ugly and ridiculous games, shaking their heads and laughing: "Look, the muscular Franks don't understand this high-end game." ”

Or when the Frankish sailors were passionately playing a game of dice, they taunted: "What age are you still playing this kind of game that a child can understand?" ”

It's a medieval game that despises the chain.

A beautiful set of gold-trimmed, fully illustrated Imperial decks can sell for hundreds of gold coins in Limassol - you know, that's the equivalent of a good horse.

In the future, it is equivalent to a set of card decks, for a whole car!

Although this refers to a complete set of cards that can be used together, rather than a single card pack, the profit in it is still enough to make many nobles feel red.

The reason why there is no piracy is that the cards are purely pirated and produced, not only the paper is sparse, there is no printing technology to help, the production is very limited, and at the same time, the use of pirated cards will be despised.

The multi-faceted superposition makes piracy work, which is really half the effort and the profit is meager.

"GWENT's got a new deck?"

"What is Tatar? A group of impoverished nomadic robbers? ”

There was disdain in the eyes of the sailor who spoke.

The nomadic cavalry of this era was indeed very average in combat effectiveness, backward in iron-smelting technology, and undisciplined in battle, and some poor nomads were even still using bone arrows to deal with heavily armed knights, and could not even break the defense.

"How is it possible, look at these beautiful pictures, each of their warriors is well-dressed in armor and scales, and it is said that they have conquered the golden kingdom of the East, and they are much better than the destitute Cumans and Turks."

As the sailors had said, the new deck had been made and released at the Jerusalem Printing Workshop, which was supervised by Curles, and this time the theme was set to Song and Tatar.

The Dark Faction deck that had already been made, after thinking about it, Lotharth decided to keep it in the middle, although he was not afraid of offending the Catholic Church, but it was really not worth it to cause trouble to himself because of such a trivial matter.

In addition, in this era, people's fantasies about the richness of the Eastern dynasty naturally added a layer of filter to all goods from the East, and this theme was definitely more interesting than Greater Germania against Gaul.

Lothar also hopes to take this opportunity to hype up the Tatar threat theory.

The Tatar threat was undeniable, although according to their historical trajectory, they not only stopped in Syria, but also formed a temporary alliance with the local crusaders against the Mamluks (the Mamluk military group came to power after the collapse of Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty).

But the history of this world has long since changed.

Maybe it was him, or maybe it was since Emperor Henry built the first wizarding tower, and the supernatural power was involved in the world like never before, which was very different from the two before.

Even the Migrated Turks still had many shamans who enveloped the Immortal Heaven, and Lothar had dealt with a Turkic "prince", and the Tatars naturally could not have been without.

If there is no extraordinary strength, the Tatars may not be able to defeat the Jin State.

In his vision, the Tatars are the big bosses after Saladin, allowing them to enter the Europeans' field of vision in advance, and he also hopes that when the Tatars really arrive, Christchurch will pay more attention to this.

Lothar sits in the city of Limassol, in the mansion of the Agrastos (wheel) family.

Turiados respectfully handed over a report: "My lord, the development of the territory has been good this month, the estates, iron mines, quarries and forest farms in the territory have been restored to normal operation, and the repair of the city of Limassol has been successfully completed, and the expenditure is much less than expected due to the use of stones from his own quarry. ”

"After deducting the expenses for maintaining the city guards, mansion servants, squires, etc., as well as the monasteries and estates leased to the Order, and counting the taxes, it is estimated that by the end of this year, you will receive twelve thousand Soulades."

"Twelve thousand Souledes, that's a lot of money."

Lothar was stunned.

If it were when he first crossed over, he obtained more than 10,000 gold coins of Souledes every year, and he would have woken up with a smile even if he dreamed that the taxes collected by the Earl of Werner in a year, even if he exchanged all those grains for gold coins, would be at most half of Limassol.

And due to the poor road conditions, the surplus grain of the entire county of Allgäu was often brewed into beer, digested by itself, and could not be sold at all, otherwise the Count of Werner would not have clutched a pile of silver cutlery as a treasure.

This is also the status quo of many Western European lords, because of the lack of silver and currency, the currency is getting lower and lower, and it is depreciating more and more.

But Lothar, who had just returned from Constantinople, felt that more than 10,000 gold coins were nothing.

General Nikephorus, one ruby was worth 20,000 Souleds.

As if to see Lothar's insincerity, Turiados hurriedly added: "This does not include the proceeds of the merchant fleet we have formed, which not long ago completed its first voyage, selling wine and grain to Jerusalem, and at the same time approaching His Excellency Curles, loading a ship full of fabrics, porcelain, glassware and spices, and if the journey goes well, they will arrive in Lyon in Provence, along the Rhône-Saône channel, where they will sell all their goods and buy a batch of Burgundy wine, Loaded and transported back to Jerusalem. ”

Lothar bowed slightly: "Kurs has already told me about this, I hope they are all the best." ”

Limassol's merchant fleet, which had previously operated the Jerusalem-Cyprus-Rhodes route, had no experience in the oceans, but had to go to the sea if they wanted to eat the most abundant fat in the Mediterranean trade.

A trip to the ocean trade, excluding the salaries of sailors, captains, and caravan guards, is conservatively estimated to be ten times more profitable, but the risks are also greatly increased, especially when passing through Sicily.

Fortunately, the Normans were pirates and would not have had too much trouble with the Crusader-flagged merchant ships – unlike the First Crusade.

The Moors of North Africa, however, also had a long tradition of piracy and were a vassal of Saladin, who often plundered the white men of the western Mediterranean coast and sold them to the courts of chieftains.

They rode in offshore fast galleys with spinnakers and could easily catch up with lone merchant ships when the wind was blowing, and with their numerical superiority, they tore apart and swallowed the bloated and clumsy Kirk like the spotted hyenas of Africa.

"May Heavenly Father bless them."

Turiados didn't have much confidence in the voyage either, and although he hired a few experienced crews, the runners were like mercenaries in those days, with their heads pinned to their belts.

If you want to earn more, you have to take risks.

The comfortable trade route, the newcomers can't compete with those veteran merchants who have been operating here for a long time and have worked up and down, and the water in it is very deep, otherwise there would not be so many people who would rather be mercenaries than run business.

"All in all, good job, Turiados."

Lothar patted Turiados on the shoulder, as a member of the Imperial Knights, Lothar didn't have to worry about Turriados's loyalty, but Turiados still had his own family and subordinates behind him.

therefore

"In the future, you can keep one-third of the income of Limassol City for your own use every year, and the caravan will come back this time, no matter how much the income is, you must continue to increase investment, and if you lack funds, you can contact me at any time."

Lothar handed out a double-headed eagle crest: "This is the coat of arms of Lady Anna, you can contact Anna through it, and then she will relay the communication to me as a relay, saving the time of sending letters back and forth." ”

"Lady Anna's coat of arms? Give it to me? ”

Turiados swallowed.

"What? Don't dare to bother Anna? ”

Lothar laughed.

Turiados nodded awkwardly: "After all, that is the most noble purple-clothed princess in the empire, the first of all the princes and daughters, second only to Her Majesty the Empress."

"Okay, put your heart in your stomach, as long as it's a business, even if you ask Anna to help you transfer it, we're very close friends - of course, if the situation is not so urgent, try not to trouble her in the middle of the night, you may get a bad name."

Turiados took the coat of arms and nodded emphatically, "I made a note of it, my lord. ”

"The opening of the new route is of great significance to me, it is a linkage between the ports of Ayla and Limassol, and if I can establish a stable and sustainable shipping route, I will not have to worry about money for many years to come."

Spices and other valuables are valuable because of this tax card, and countless hands along the way will grab profits in the route, and merchants have to raise their prices significantly in order to pass on the cost.

And these valuables, when they arrived at the port of Ella, did not handle many joints, after Lothar ate them, they were transported to the port of the Holy Land, and along the way, except for his territory, the rest of the crusader nobles saw that it was his banner, and they would also sell face to some extent.

Therefore, after the ship was loaded and shipped away at the port of Jaffa, the cost was still kept very low.

If the route is opened, it will be a hen that lays golden eggs, and the income will further expand the nascent fleet under Lothar, so that he will also have a naval force of his own in the Mediterranean.

The two complement each other.

With a navy, there would be a deterrent against pirates, and the security of the merchant fleet would be greatly increased.

"I understand, my lord, I must be concerned about this matter, and during this time, I will continue to urge the shipyard to build new ships and recruit experienced sailors, and even if it doesn't work this time, I will start a second attempt as soon as possible."

Lothar nodded: "If it doesn't work this time, I'll have to consider letting the professionals intervene." ”

"Professionals?"

"I have an experienced captain who is now responsible for clearing the pirates in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden."

Although it always felt a bit overkill to have Captain Hogg escort the merchant ships, the benefits were worth it.

(End of chapter)