Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

Ma Youfu bought a large number of high-quality physical assets at extremely low prices, such as land, manors, castles, workshops, shops, etc.

This is not just simply cutting leeks to make money, but more importantly, you can take this opportunity to use the economy as a driving force to intervene in the politics of various Italian states.Those earls and dukes, as well as the prominent families of various republics, if they owe Ma Youfu a huge debt, are they afraid that they will be disobedient?

Anyway, with a well-trained army in hand, Ma Youfu is not afraid that someone will dare to renege.

After listening to Antoinette's "supreme instructions", Domenic shook off all his frustrations and became full of energy.

"My lord duke is really clever! No matter how well those financial games are played, they are just beautiful bubbles, and they are empty after all. Focusing on real assets is the smartest and safest choice!" Domenique He clenched his fists, "That idiot Giovanni won't listen, I want to see how he goes to death step by step! Hmph, by then, maybe the once-prominent Medici family will be so poor that they can only live on their own every day." Eating black bread. Hehe, but this light diet is good for the gout of the father and son."

……

The bankers meeting was successfully held in Genoa, and various banks also took the poisonous bait one after another, and began to package various jihadist loans into financial products called "victory bonds", which were issued in various places.As expected, this kind of novelty with a high rate of return was immediately sought after by investors, and there was a phenomenon of panic buying everywhere.

After more and more "victory bonds" were issued, a trading market was naturally formed.Various speculators, second-hand dealers, etc. made a fortune by reselling "Victory Bonds", and the price of "Victory Bonds" also rose accordingly.Seeing the huge profits, more people put themselves into this fiery financial game.In order to buy more "victory bonds", nobles began to mortgage land, merchants began to mortgage shops, and workshop owners began to mortgage workshops.

The branches of San Giorgio Bank across Italy ushered in a period of rapid growth in loan business.

Mayouf, who was in the Maghreb, saw the situation in Italy getting more and more outrageous, and began to think about when to burst that beautiful bubble.

In his opinion, the Eastern Crusaders will most likely fail.The monarchs who commanded Mulholland's coalition forces were not easy people. They had done nothing because of internal friction before, but once they fought against the enemy together under a crisis, they would definitely be difficult enemies.It's just that war is full of chance, and he is not a god who can predict the future, so he can be sure that this kind of thing will happen.

So when necessary, you have to push a little bit to ensure that what you expect can actually happen.

After the "Wozreif Victory", the morale of the Eastern Crusaders was high, and they continued to advance northward, successively capturing the two important coastal cities of Sfax and Sousse.Today, the 2-strong crusader vanguard is only a hundred kilometers away from Tunisia.

The current situation in the Mulholland camp is that [-] Aries troops and about [-] remnants of the Tunisian army are defending the city of Tunisia.

According to the information sent back by Valentina, there are [-] Mingmen and [-] Mulholland troops stationed in a fortress in the northwest of Tunis City, and possessing the prism magic cannon, which is also a force not to be underestimated.

Sigismund is trying to muster forces for an attack on Tunisia.I heard that he was going to put the [-] loan crusaders he had just recruited in Italy into the battle.

At any rate, His Majesty the Emperor was not completely dazzled by a series of victories.He knew that if there were not enough troops to attack the city of Tunis, if the siege battle reached a critical moment and the Ottomans and Mamluks in the west came back to help, something big would happen.

For this reason, Sigismund and Alfonso V also wrote a joint letter to Ma Youfu, hoping that he would not lie down in the water and let Ottoman and Mamulu The Croatian army retreated, trying to hold back the two armies.

They promised that if Mayouf could do this, after the capture of Tunisia and the destruction of the last Maghreb Sultanate, they would give Mayouf half of the spoils seized by Tunisia.

This bid is definitely a big deal.But for Ma Youfu, how can he earn as much as those who cut Italian leeks?

However, Ma Youfu didn't play the trick of playing yang and yin, pretending to agree to Sigismund, and then deliberately let the enemy go.

He still attaches great importance to such things as political reputation.

He replied a letter to Emperor Shinra, saying that in order to maintain his rule in the conquered land, he took up a large part of his troops. At this time, the total number of Faber Crusaders Only 5000 people.In the case of a disadvantage in numbers, they are suffering from crazy attacks from the enemy and are in danger.

It is really impossible to restrain the enemy from returning to defend Tunisia.

Sigismund had better figure it out on his own.

After receiving the reply, Sigismund was incompetent and furious at first, angrily denouncing the Western Crusaders for their failure to live up to expectations, and they had nothing to do with the "little" Ottomans and Mamluks.

But it's okay to be rejected clearly, His Majesty the Emperor no longer has to worry about whether the Ottomans and Mamluks will return to Tunisia.The battle plan should be formulated according to the opponent's return to aid.

The invincible Eastern Crusaders will definitely be able to defeat the Mulholland coalition forces and win the final victory!

Chapter 460 Six New Routes

Ma Youfu described the situation on the front line so loudly that blood flowed like rivers.

But in fact Mustaganem and Mohammedia, the two strongholds against the westward advance of the Mamluk and Ottoman armies, are now impregnable except for occasional harassment.

The Ottoman prince Mehmed made an agreement with the Mamluk general Mustain that one side would attack a city.

The Mamluks attacked Mustaganem, a small seaside town.And the Ottomans attacked Muhammadia.

It's just that the war has been going on until now, and there has never been a real qualified battle.After the supply line was established and camps were set up under the city, the two sides started a "sit-in war" by coincidence.

They didn't even intend to completely surround the two small cities, so that Ma Youfu was able to communicate with the two front-line small cities through a messenger on horseback.

The French Crusaders currently under the direct command of Ma Youfu - including the Brittany army who obeyed France's orders - have a total of 5000 people, plus the [-] Crusaders from Castile. Thirty thousand troops.

As for Philip III's [-] Burgundian army, there is no hope for the time being.

Because after the Duke got Tlemsen, he got carried away and made a mistake.

In order to reward the forces in the country that supported his Crusade, Philip III confiscated a large amount of Tlemcen's land.

This move completely offended the original owners of those lands.The emirs, Sheikhs, Wali, Malik, and Faris who were deprived of their land immediately united and launched a rebellion.

Philip III thought that he would be able to control the land by surrendering the Sultan of Tlemcen. Who knew that Ahmed I's control over the country might not be as good as that of the Ukrainian actor commander in later generations.

Taking advantage of the complex terrain in the Atlas Mountains, the rebels fought a guerrilla attack with the Burgundian army. When they had an advantage, they went to attack the city and harass the supply line.When the Crusaders attacked and suppressed them, they scattered and evacuated, hiding in the mountains or even the Sahara Desert.

Philip III was devastated by this and suffered a lot.The [-] Burgundian Crusaders are now also scattered in the vast mountainous area south of Tlemcen to carry out activities of suppression and suppression.

However, although Ma Youfu's available troops were less than those of the Ottoman and Mamluk coalition forces, the battle situation was very stable.This is because with the help of Rashid, the city defenses of Mustaganem and Mohammedia have been re-fortified.

After Mayouf helped Rashid get revenge, the warlock swore his allegiance to him.There is only one premise, that is, Rashid will not use his spells to help Ma Youfu deal with his brothers who believe in Mulholland.

Ma Youfu readily agreed.

In his opinion, although Rashid is a good military general, his real value lies in his special extraordinary profession of "Core Warlock".

Well, this special professional name was given to Rashid by Ma Youfu.The so-called "rock core" means that Rashid once received the blessing of the legendary earth element, and when the opponent was dying, he fused his heart into his body.

Therefore, Rashid has a strong talent and advantage when casting rock and soil spells.

This is a natural civil engineering ashes!

Let Rashid go to command the army to fight, it is really reckless.Let him be an infrastructure madman to make the best use of everything.

In the city of Tlemcen, after Rashid brutally executed the enemy's family, just after washing the blood from his hands, he knelt down on one knee, swore allegiance to Mayouf, and promised in the name of the true god Ankabal that he would never betray .

And Ma Youfu immediately appointed him as the general manager of Vitruvius Construction Company, responsible for the infrastructure construction tasks in the Maghreb region.After training a capable and efficient team, the company will be able to undertake renovation projects in Rome and Paris.

Vitruvius was a famous architectural engineer in the ancient Roman era, naming the new company after him also shows that Ma Youfu has high expectations for him.

And for Europe, where the average per capita was fine during the Renaissance, taking this name can also make it easier to become famous.

This company was jointly funded and established by two French trading companies, the South and the North, and Ma Youfu once again unceremoniously served as the chairman of the company.The first task he gave to Rashid was to strengthen the defenses of Mustaganem and Mohammedia.

Because Mulholland's army was not equipped with a large number of artillery, Mayouf did not ask Rashid to modify it according to the bastion style, but adopted a mixed design.

The original straight square city wall has many pointed platforms protruding outwards to provide shooting angles for the artillery on the city wall.However, the walls themselves did not add slopes to defend against cannons, they just continued to grow taller and thicker, and set up more towers.

Compared with the few backward and small-caliber stone-shooting guns of the Mulhollan, the threat of the enemy's attack by ant-attachment tactics is greater.

Because of the intrigue within the Mulhollan camp and the delay caused by the fall of Jazhail, Ma Youfu had enough time to strengthen the defense of the two small front-line cities.

After the Ottoman prince and the Mamluk general arrived at the front line after a long delay, they found that the situation was completely different from what the locals had said.

Mustaganem and Mohammedia are small towns whose defenses have been in disrepair for a long time, and they can be broken if they are attacked?

It is obviously a fortress with a large number of artillery, strong and tough, like an iron hedgehog!

Facing such two fortified cities, neither Muhammad nor Mustain was interested in taking the lives of their soldiers.Both sides played a sit-in war with tacit understanding.

Ma Youfu, who was in Oran City, even had time to chat about literature with the newly arrived beauty.

"How is it, Valentina, how is my "War of Rhodes Island"?" Ma Youfu asked.

"Very good. Although it is also an adventure novel, it is very different from the current popular knight legends. I think it will definitely be welcomed by the non-noble class." Valentina smiled, "It's just that I prefer "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" ". I like the story of Lu Bu, the strongest legendary centaur berserker in Seris, beheading his adoptive father, gluttonous warlord Dong Zhuo. Especially Diao Chan, who played a key role in it. The design is very brilliant. There has never been a similar character in European legends. Hehe, it seems that you understand how powerful a woman's charm is."

"It's an accident that you like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" the most." Ma Youfu raised his eyebrows.

The two chatted for a while, and began to talk about the topic.

Since Strozzi, son of the salt mist, failed one after another and finally ran to Aragon, Valentina also ended her cooperation with the other party and began to play for Ma Youfu.

Her main task is to use her special identity as an unbelievers to operate in Tunisia, provide Ma Youfu with information, and contact the Ming Fleet.

Valentina's mission was accomplished very well. She basically found out the situation in Tunisia and successfully persuaded the leader of the Ming Fleet to cooperate with Ma Youfu.

She even brought a letter from Princess Yongfu herself.

Ma Youfu unfolded the letter from the princess and saw the beautiful Chinese characters written with a brush on the paper. For some reason, an inexplicable emotion surged in his heart.

It seems that nostalgia is engraved in everyone's bones.

In the letter, Princess Yongfu first introduced how her fleet came to the Mediterranean, and then talked about the culture and customs of Ming Dynasty.At the end of the letter, Princess Yongfu vaguely pointed out that because she realized that the Mulholland coalition forces were likely to fail in this jihad, she was willing to "choose a tree for a good bird" and cooperate with Ma Youfu.It's just that this means that the Ming Fleet has to give up the known way to return to Ming.

Whether it is to cooperate with the Mamluks and return from the Arabian Peninsula, or to cooperate with the Sultanate of Aries and depart from the Persian Gulf, neither of these plans will work.

Then, Ma Youfu must provide Princess Yongfu with a new way to help the Ming Fleet go home.

Princess Yongfu felt that if Ma Youfu wanted to do this, he would probably have to defeat the Mamluk Sultanate and occupy Egypt.At that time, the method of sailing on dry land will be reproduced, and the three treasure ships will be disassembled and transported to the coast of the Red Sea for assembly.

As for how to pass the magic storm that blocked the Red Sea route, there are two ways.

Or just wait.When the magical storm disappears one day, the sea can sail again, and the way home will be smooth.

Otherwise, you have to rely on the help of special talents.

Princess Yongfu found out in Tunisia that people from the Iberian Peninsula have the blood of the sea elf Naga in their bodies.If the blood concentration is high enough, it will have a special ability that can guide the ship in the right direction even in the turbulent flow of magic power.

After the Umayyad dynasty conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula, there were many such talents working for the Arab Empire.It is also because of their presence that the Middle East-India-Southeast Asia-China trade route can overcome the interference of unpredictable sea magic turbulence and maintain long-term stability.

The commodities and technologies brought back by Mulholland merchants from China and India are also important factors that have allowed Mulholland World to lead Europe for hundreds of years.

But now, the great Umayyad Dynasty has long since collapsed, and the reconquest movement of the Seven Sages has left the Mulhollanists on the Iberian Peninsula with little place to stand.In the entire Mulholland world, there are fewer and fewer sailing talents with Naga blood.

Princess Yongfu thinks that if Ma Youfu wants to help her go home, he must not only conquer Egypt, but also find precious navigating talents. This requirement is a bit high, so she is willing to give him the magic prism cannon as a reward.

Of course, for Ma Youfu, it is not difficult to achieve Princess Yongfu's wish.Because who told him to be a traveler? I knew that there was another route that could connect Europe and Asia.

Chapter 460 The Seventh Gift

Although this route is very long and has to go around the whole of Africa, and no one has discovered it yet, in Ma Youfu's view, it is still the most feasible way.

At least a little more realistic than taking down Egypt.

Moreover, Ming's current navigation technology is still better than that of the Europeans who only circumvented the Cape of Good Hope more than 50 years later.If you really want to explore along the African coastline wholeheartedly, it should take three to five years to open up this new route.

Regarding the request made by Princess Yongfu in the letter, Ma Youfu simply agreed, and in his reply, he cryptically stated that after listening to the African natives' description of the geographical conditions of Africa, he deduced that there might be a route to India that bypassed the African continent. route.If she wants to return to Ming Dynasty, she doesn't necessarily need the help of Mulhollan people.

After receiving Ma Youfu's reply letter and receiving it in the dimensional bag, Valentina nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, Your Excellency, I will return to Tunisia as soon as possible to help you convey the message. When you lead the army to the city of Tunisia, Sai We can continue to plan how Princess Reese cooperates with you internally and externally. By the way, that princess is a beauty with a completely different style from European women, I think you will be very interested."

Ma Youfu spread his hands: "Miss Valentina, what gave you the illusion that the biggest driving force in my life is a woman?"

"Isn't it?" Valentina blinked.

Ma Youfu didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Okay, my lord duke, just pretend that I misunderstood your noble sentiments. You just intersected with many beautiful ladies while saving the world." Valentina pulled up her skirt, He bowed to Ma Youfu as an apology.

But in Ma Youfu's view, this is more like making fun of him.

But since Valentina helped him so much, Ma Youfu didn't mind this little teasing.He even gave each other a gift before parting.