"That's what you mean." Tuhuan pondered: "Then they went south to Africa, did they pose any other threat to us?" ”

"Didn't I say that Africa can be surrounded." Guo Kang reminded him again: "If they go all the way south, bypassing Africa and acquiring local resources along the way, then they can take advantage of the situation and go east and sell these things to India and Java." ”

"The ocean trade route is longer, but if you manage it well, the capacity is much larger. If this trade route matures, we will lose more than half of our trade routes. That's enough to keep us, the Italians and the Egyptians, on our toes. ”

He's not an alarmist either. In the history of his world, the establishment of trade routes by the Portuguese caused strong discontent among the previous trading powers. In the end, seemingly unrelated states such as Venice, the Mamluks, and the Indian princely states of Gujarat formed coalition forces to fight Portugal. And the defeat of the coalition forces in Ukraine also marked the decline of the traditional Mediterranean powers.

As for the world, it is not very clear what the future holds.

The Javanese dollar is very interested in shipping routes near India, especially saltpeter and metal minerals near Bangladesh. Because other products are still only a matter of profit, but these two determine the life and death of their regime. The output of gunpowder in the Ming Dynasty was too terrifying, and it would definitely not be able to hold on to the islands of the South Seas without relying on a large producing area of the level of Bangladesh.

Their sea power is much stronger than that of the Indian princely states, and they are now engaged in a sea race with the Ming Dynasty. It's really hard to say how the future will develop.

According to Sun 100,000, due to the strong army of the Ming Dynasty, it often occupied the city of Manraka and cut off the channel of the strait. Moreover, at its strongest, the Ming army even captured Jinzhou, that is, the northeastern part of Sumatra, occupied the port area of the old port, and basically controlled all the areas around the Manraka route. Although the Javanese Yuan successfully counterattacked, relying on the large number of people, and recaptured the port, this route was already very unsafe.

The maritime merchants had no choice but to explore a new route, trying to cross the Sunda Strait and go south, bypassing the southern part of Sumatra and going directly to India.

The main problem with this idea is that the population of Sumatra is very unevenly distributed. Unlike fertile Java, Sumatra's population is largely concentrated in the north, and the infrastructure in the south is much poorer, lacking a reliable large port that provides a steady supply to it.

Leaving the port and sailing long distances in the open sea is much more difficult than walking along the coast. But it's also forcing them to upgrade their technology, which may be a good thing in the long run.

But even so, the countries of Iberia cannot be left to operate the route. The Javanese Yuan and the Ming Dynasty would not refuse to offer cheaper and larger trades because they had a few Central Plains surnames on their side. If you don't prepare, you probably won't be able to compete with them in the future.

These things may be too far away, but if you don't prepare now, it is estimated that it will be too late when it is "not far away".

Guo Kang thought as he watched the reactions of others.

As a result, he found that the others did not react much. Tuhuan, the Queen Mother, and the Grand Lama Wang, as well as the surrounding nuns, all stared at him directly. Theodora seemed to be thinking about something.

"Old Sea Urchin" is a little uncomfortable with this environment, looking around at everyone for a while, and staring at him with everyone for a while.

Guo Kang had no choice but to continue on his own.

"We need to note that all three coastal countries have the idea of trying to seize control of the sea. This is very dangerous for us, because to do so, we will inevitably have a fight. In particular, they may also cooperate to make the enemy more powerful. He again stressed the other side's threat.

"You keep saying that you want to prevent them from fighting for the sea, do you mean that our current sea power is not enough?" Theodora asked.

"It's not a question of enough. If we allow the enemy to develop, we will never be able to do enough. That's why we need a strategy to limit them as low as possible. Guo Kang said.

"If you can't understand these complex geopolitical and trade issues, then I can say it more simply." He put it another way: "We have a place called 'New Rome', you know, right?" ”

Everyone nodded.

This is a relatively basic knowledge in the local area. In the beginning, most of the places where the capital was located were the Greek city-states called Byzantium. Later, Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital and the Senate here and renamed it "New Rome", which means that this is the place where the previous city of Rome was replaced. Even the seven hills in the city correspond exactly.

Theoretically, the city is also the city of Rome. Therefore, in official documents, this name is often used directly.

"I have to remind everyone that in addition to New Rome, there was once a New Carthage." Guo Kang said: "Do you know where it is? ”

"In Spain." Theodora said.

"Yes, that place is now called Cartagena, which is the diacritic of Carthage. To this day, it is also the camp of the sailors of the Castilian country. Guo Kang said: "Isn't it obvious what they want to do with this name and build this army?" ”

"I see!" Tuhuan and the others had a suddenly realized expression: "No wonder they keep saying that they are a big threat, it's easy to understand when you talk about it like this." ”

"Isn't that a far-fetched reason?" Theodora asked, confused.

"It's easy to think of it as far as it doesn't take it, as long as the Spanish countries give up their maritime power, stop expanding into coastal areas such as Granada, and return their ports and islands to the real masters of the Mediterranean, we can confirm that they really have no intention of threatening us." Guo Kang replied: "If they can do it, we can also assume that they are not Carthage." ”

"Surely it can't be done." The Queen Mother commented.

"That means they still have ambitions to revive New Carthage." Guo Kang said.

"New Carthage is not in North Africa, and the Romans probably didn't pay much attention to that place in the first place. But it was from Spain that Hannibal traveled all the way to Italy, where he remained entrenched for more than a decade, posing a great threat to Rome. ”

"How can we determine that these people will not repeat the story of the past?" He stood up and reminded everyone: "Isn't the greatest enemy of New Rome New Carthage?" ”

"We can give a lot of examples of positive and negative directions and come up with a variety of ideas. Some of the arguments and arguments, of course, will be more pleasant than what I have said, and they seem to bring us more peace and prosperity, and they seem to bring greater benefits to the elders of Kuriltai and the citizens of Rome, as if the little bathtub of the Mediterranean could really hold two ambitious powers. ”

"But I want you to remember that in addition to these bells and whistles, there is also a simple and ancient advice from our ancestors in the classical era, which has been passed down to this day." In classical Latin, he pronounced the famous line: "I want everyone to remember, 'Carthage must be destroyed'!"

(End of chapter)