Vol 3 Chapter 2: "Luosha Declaration"

While Jonini was walking in the streets and visiting "family and friends", Grogening was busy with some things in the residence near the dock.
The table in front of him was full of various documents, some of which were scattered on the ground.
From time to time, there was a messy noise in the house. Sailors passed by the door. The sound of busy work on the pier farther away was faintly heard. For a time, Grogening had an illusion of seeming to be at home.
Grogening ’s hometown is on the far north coast of the North. As a lowlander, he has lived in a rich business atmosphere since childhood. Whether it is his father or other men in the family, Grogening has not seen a few words. They have done other things, including almost everyone he knows, as if there is no second thing to do in this world except doing business.
Grogening, who grew up in such an environment, also regarded doing business as the purpose of his life. However, compared with other people who only focus on money, Hubert Van Grogening also cares about other things.
Why can't the Lowlanders establish a seemingly powerful trade union, but they cannot become a country?
Why do people in his hometown and many other places have to obey the rule of kings and lords who may not have seen them in a lifetime?
Most importantly, why did he feel the faintness of the Hanseatic League from the beginning of being sensible?
Grogening could clearly discern the difference, and he didn't even need the cumbersome cardinal bodyguards to feel the worrisome changes.
Although it can be known from many documents and various files, the decline of the Hanseatic League did not start now. As early as half a century before the birth of Groningen, the situation of the Hanseatic League began to become Difficult.
The shrinking market and strong competition from the Eastern Mediterranean Trade Road made the Hanseatic League life more and more difficult, and made him feel that the most obvious thing is that after taking over the family business in these years, it seems to be heard every day It's not funny news.
Grogening did not think he lacked the talent to do business more than anyone else. On the contrary, he was considered to be very capable and hopeful not only of his family and his chamber of commerce, but also in the council of the entire league.
For this reason, he was recommended as a director of the local chamber of commerce in the Confederation Council very early, and Grogening did not disappoint everyone. He did do well, and even once seemed to be slipping away towards the unbearable The market has driven a bit of sensuality.
But even so, it seems that the whole situation is still irreparable. Grogening's personal efforts have not only failed to work, but it seems to have become an introduction to a worse series of bad things.
When the Hanseatic League was at its strongest, this business alliance, composed entirely of a group of businessmen, once relied on huge wealth to play the role of determining the fate of a country, and even several kings and more lords!
Many kings are proud to be able to make good relations with the Hanseatic League and maintain good relations, and they ca n’t do that, otherwise the Hanseatic League can use the wealth in their hands to make those pretentious kings understand the entire North Sea coast and lowlands. , Who is the final one!
At that time, the Hanseatic League was the true king of northern Europe, and even the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had to expect to treat the messengers sent by the alliance politely in exchange for the favor of the Hanseatic League.
But as the power gradually increased, those monarchs gradually stopped paying attention to these guys who had just lived on fishing and groceries.
Especially in recent years, as the strength of the Hanseatic League has gradually weakened, those nobles have become more and more arrogant, and even some local lords have openly ordered the League ’s representatives to be stationed in the localities, and they must accept the various provisions they Harsh conditions and ridiculously high taxes.
This made the entire league full of uneasiness, and the merchants felt that their status was in jeopardy, but they were helpless because of the sluggishness that had emerged for many years.
The appearance of Grogning gave people hope. When he relied on his talent as a businessman and unusual observation to make quite a few decisions to save many situations, some people in the league have even begun to say, and A great legend like Van Lakonde was born.
But Grogening himself was keenly aware that the little changes he brought not only did not free the Hanseatic League from the decline in recent years, but on the contrary, it attracted the attention of local lords.
These lords were obviously reluctant to see the merchants become tough again, so just a few years ago, led by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximian, a group of northern German monarchs suddenly assigned one to the Hanseatic League. The order with the same content is to force the chamber of commerce of the alliance to swear allegiance to the local monarch, otherwise they will be expelled from these territories.
This order was a huge blow to the Hanseatic League.
The Hanseatic League has always become stronger because of its own independent rights and cohesion. Even in today's increasingly sad days, the alliance is still united and unified.
They will not become suspicious of each other because the monarchs in their place are fighting, not to mention having to confront each other or even become enemies because they need to do their duty to the lords.
The interests of the alliance are everything. It is precisely because of this highest rule that the Hanseatic League has been able to remain undefeated in the confrontation with the powerful Mediterranean merchant groups for centuries.
But now the actions of the lords are undoubtedly trying to disintegrate the entire Hanseatic League, which not only caused great unrest in the league, but also made Grogening aware of certain changes that cannot be ignored.
Obviously, the monarchs who have gradually become authoritative do not want to see a business alliance that surpasses them, or at least they cannot master, continue to exist, especially this business alliance has a huge order. The huge wealth coveted by people makes the Hanseatic League completely fat in the eyes of those lords.
Grogening wanted to change all this. He admired the legendary and great businessman Van Laconde, and he hoped to become his legendary hero who brought the alliance to glory and even once resisted the kings.
To this end Grogening took a large sum of money enough to buy the wealth of the world's most greedy man and began his journey.
With long sleeves and good dancing, he became a frequent visitor to many kings' courts, and a legend that many businessmen love and hate. His business came from the sea, from the river, from the land, as long as the gold coins of the Hanseatic League He had to try to open the broken door, and then the dignitaries he had made had also opened doors of convenience for him under the temptation of great wealth.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. The League members in the lowland hometown even thought that Grogening's actions were the same as Caesar's conquest of Gaul, which gave the League great hope.
But only Grogning himself felt some unspeakable uneasiness.
The Mediterranean coast is undoubtedly the richest place in the whole of Europe. Every ship on the sea seems to contain endless wealth, and countless people are still dreaming to go to the Mediterranean, hoping to find the opportunity to the road to wealth from it.
But Grogning felt a shadow that could not be put down in this seemingly thriving, especially when he looked at the information in his hand, the shadow became bigger and deeper, and even some Lingering.
These documents were bought by several Florin from port officials. He has done this many times. Often, a few gold coins can get a lot of important news from those port officials or others, even Sometimes some people around him will take the initiative to ask him to sell them, but don't think it's wrong.
In 1493, Kalibo imported 120 pounds of pepper from Alexandria, Egypt. This number does not seem to be large. After all, compared with the demand for pepper in Europe as a bottomless hole, 120 pounds is really nothing.
And just this year, pepper imported from Alexandria was less than 100 pounds.
Is it because of the threat of war?
Grogening glanced at the previous data and quickly found that even in the early years of Constantinople's fall, the entire Europe believed that the Ottomans would continue to march into the era of Mohammed II in continental Europe because of the threat of war The number of pepper imports that have fallen sharply has not fallen below 100 pounds.
What does this mean?
This shows that Kalibo's pepper imports are shrinking.
As with pepper, the import volume of some other spices and dyed fabrics also decreased slightly.
Is this just Kalibo?
Grogening shook his head secretly. As far as he knew, this situation also appeared in other places. Although the change seemed inconspicuous and had different reasons, the trade in the Mediterranean area was in an imperceptible decline. It is already an indisputable fact.
Despite being so strong that the kings had to bow their heads to obedientness, the Hanseatic League was very sensible from top to bottom and never thought of challenging the merchants of the Mediterranean.
As the center of European civilization and economy, the cities along the Mediterranean have an irrefutable status.
No one has ever been able to challenge this status in the past, so what about in the future?
Grogening did not think that the Hanseatic League could be a challenger, and he did not think that the decline in Mediterranean business must be an opportunity for the League.
On the contrary, he had a hunch that whether it was because of war or other reasons, the Mediterranean people became poor, it seems not a good thing.
"I used to not sympathize with others with such sentimental sentiment," Grogening laughed at himself. Of course he didn't really worry about these Venice or Genoa merchants' bags, but he smelled a strange breath. Now. "
Grogening has heard rumors about the new world. In many legends, the new world is a mysterious place, and it is also a dream place for people to pursue wealth.
Almost can be covered with gold and countless rare treasures, as well as precious fruits that people have never seen before. The New World is as fascinating as it was described centuries ago as the East with milk and honey.
But even so, many people still do not think that the New World will have too much influence on Europeans.
In particular, the oldest traditional markets and the long commercial roads that have continued for more than ten centuries. There have been countless miracle cities on these roads, and have created countless wealth that is unimaginable.
Although the new world is fascinating, it is too far away. The ocean full of crises makes the road to the new world unpredictable.
So despite the unimaginable temptation, the charm of the new world is still a dream rather than reality in the eyes of many people.
Grogening was interested in the distant place. He tried to understand and discover the secrets of the place. At the same time, he felt that the land on the other side of the ocean might bring unimaginable changes to the world.
He picked up another document and looked closely. Grogening tried to find more noticeable things from those figures. He soon discovered that, as the Ottomans had said before, in recent times, Sicily did happen. Something that makes people think together.
The number of ships from Venice has obviously increased, and from the increase in the number of ships, but there has not been much change in cargo, Grogening has already guessed what those ships are.
"The Venetian is already vigilant." Grogening smashed his leg hard. Compared with the cold cold north, the warm Mediterranean climate did not make him feel too comfortable, and the injured leg also appeared to be too wet in the air. Sore and uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Grogening stopped by turning over the pile of documents, and then quickly took a careful look out of it.
The contents of the document are not too new. An entry tax bill for a business order issued by a Naples Chamber of Commerce does not seem to be a very profitable business for purchasing wool and other groceries.
What makes Grogening notice that this order is different is the difference in the entry tax.
Unlike other ships that estimate the ship tax based on the depth of the entire ship's waterline, this tax bill counts other goods except wool ~ EbookFREE.me ~ and then collects only a small amount of money that can be ignored.
As a businessman, Grogening was too aware of the importance of shipping tax in a business with a moderate profit at best.
Grogening also knows what kind of profits such a slight tax will bring.
This is not as simple as saving a sum of money, but it allows a businessman to have more opportunities than others at the same time and route because of the extra cost in his hand.
What was noticed by Grogening was that the tax bill clearly recorded all taxation entries, which means that this is by no means a private transaction, but completely legal.
how is this possible?
Grogening looked at this document repeatedly and doubtfully. He told himself that this should be wrong, but his instinct reminded him that there might be something surprising behind this simple tax bill.
Grogening remembered that the Hansa League had implemented the trade-in-tax system in the early years in order to stabilize the interior of the Hanseatic League. However, because the value of various commodities differed greatly in different places, the tax-exempt system had to end in utter sadness.
Is the tax credit system?
Grogening looked at the tax bill with some doubt, but found that except for certain commodities, other goods were still levied a high tax.
At the same time, a strange-looking mark on the tax bill caught his attention.
An extreme ring that floods each side of an equilateral triangle.
Such a simple pattern doesn't seem to explain anything, but the time-honored handwritten message surrounding the triangle outside the triangle attracted Grogening's attention.
"With the power that God has given us for the pursuit of wealth and happiness, we will do our utmost to make everyone who walks in have everything that should belong to him-Kosa of Kosenza.