Vol 6 Chapter 2: Predators

Only through the bronze gate, and then through the front yard surrounded by a semi-circular double cloister, can you enter the famous golden hall of the Doge's Palace in Venice.
Of course, the Golden Hall was not really constructed from pure gold, but this uniquely shaped swing hall is not only in the Doge ’s Palace, but also has an extraordinary status in the entire Venetian Republic.
In the early years, the Venetians selected some of the most decent and most prominent Venetian families. These families all have huge wealth and prominent family backgrounds. Although these families have declined and some have even died out with the long years, but as long as It is these surnames that have natural privileges in Venice.
These surnames were written into a large book and passed down, and only those family members who can write into this book have the right to enter the golden hall representing the privileges of Venice through the gorgeous staircase covered with gold leaf in.
The Golden Hall is actually not very large, and even the door is not wide, so it is obviously not realistic to gather 200 families at a time here, but because this room is located just right from the windows on the southeast side Being able to get enough sunlight, the Golden Hall became the warmest room in the entire governor ’s palace in winter.
However, in this early summer season, this room is not so popular, because although it can also be blown from the window to the cool breeze on the river, but the sun is really enough.
A middle-aged man stood in front of a window looking at the ships passing by on the river. Light and slender "gondolas" shuttled across the river. There were faint sounds of barking from the direction of the front hall of the Governor's Mansion You can also hear people bargaining when buying spring water.
The middle-aged man looked at the river fascinatingly. A complicated fold of lace collar around his neck lightly hit his cheek from time to time as it was blown into the lake, but this did not affect him, even when he was an official He didn't even notice when he was close to him.
"Sir Secretary, the Earl of Montina has arrived." The official reminded in a whisper, seeing the middle-aged man seemed to awaken from contemplation, and the official whispered again, "The grandpa did not come."
"Oh, this is good."
The middle-aged man's unexplained words made the officials next to him slightly silent. They did feel a headache for the female grand-daughter. Some unusual behaviors of the young woman used to make them feel embarrassed more than once, worse It ’s because the Earl of Montina is obviously very spoiled for her. Even if she does something very extraordinary, she will never stop or persuade her, so just 2 days ago, the Grand Duke of Wallachia even Made a horrible move that just blatantly withdrew at the party.
This behavior is obviously a great insult to the Republic of Venice. At that time, all the nobles who attended the party were stunned by her behavior that totally ignored Venice's dignity. Some generals were already preparing to issue war threats to this brutal woman because of their anger.
But what is surprising is that the Earl of Montina apparently did not care about such a big disaster she broke down. He even accompanied the female grandfather to withdraw, although he also expressed a little apology, but from his then Looked, more just cared about whether the woman who seemed to drink too much wanted to vomit.
In the end, the matter was only revealed by the governor ’s appeasement, but even then, the Venetian nobles had apparently seen the strange attitude of the female prince who did not understand the simple diplomatic etiquette, so when the next two days she seemed When the physical discomfort did not appear for the time being, many Venetians could not help but secretly relieved.
But the middle-aged people did not think it was a good thing that she did not appear because of the arrogance or rudeness of the Grand Duke. He was more because the meeting was too important, and he did n’t want to make it apparently completely and diplomacy. Not interested, only knowing that the Grand Duchess who had beset the count all day bothered the next meeting.
When Alexander walked into the Golden Hall, State Secretary Fation was already waiting not far from the door. When he saw Alexander, the State Secretary bowed slightly in two steps forward to pay tribute.
"Please don't pay so much courtesy to the Secretary of State, we all know that there is not much time."
Alexander waved his hand slightly, not because he was arrogant but he did feel the urgency of time.
Regarding the Frenchman's actions, he has received a lot of news from all aspects, especially with the information sent by the Chamber of Commerce that has been arranged to the gradually formed intelligence networks everywhere, whether it is timeliness or trueness is far more important. More rigorous than any country in this era.
The Carolingian Palace in the Vatican has now become the whole of Europe, and may even be the largest intelligence distribution center in the world. Countless people enter and leave the palace every day. The vast majority of them certainly do not know that they just say A small piece of news may become important and crucial information, not to know that those who are chatting with them, will always carefully record some of their anecdotes and jokes, and then These things will be sent to the hands of people who also don't know what they are doing. As the news is grouped together, some really shocking insiders are exposed to the world inadvertently.
Of course, almost all the information gathered in this way is mostly meaningless, but even if there is only a little possibility, it may lead to some really noteworthy clues, especially when you pay attention to a certain When it comes to sources in these areas, many secrets are revealed precisely from the casual chatter.
So although the days spent in Venice seemed to be leisurely, even in the eyes of many Venetians, Alexander only accompanied Sophia to forget to return, but in fact in these days, Alexander has been almost tired and almost breathless, because he is waiting for a pair Many people are extremely critical news!
Now, the news is finally here.
"Adult, are you sure?" Although it feels a little rude to ask this question, the Secretary of State still could not help but ask. This matter is too important after all. If it fails, it may cause great trouble in any way. Even Venice can't bear the huge losses that it may cause.
"To be sure, the Fugur family has bought all the copper ore they can buy Hungary." Alexander wanted to relax his tone, but when he said this, he realized that he was far from imagining. So calm.
After all, it was really too much this time. As long as you think about the wealth of the wealthiest families in Europe, and this involves the Holy Roman Empire, Alexander has to be secretly worried because of excitement and tension. .
The Secretary of State who had heard him said had turned a little pale. He moved the corner of his mouth slightly, and then accompanied Alexander through the Golden Hall, while lowering his voice and inquiring about the process of the matter. It ’s not without worries: "Adult, you know, although we have a great disagreement with the emperor and even had more than one war, we never fundamentally harmed and violated the dignity and interests of the emperor, so this Once the incident is leaked, it is serious. "
"Of course I know, so in the past few days I even gave up temporarily to go back to the territory to see my fiancee and my children." Alexander said lightly, he knew that the Venetians actually suffered a lot at this time, after all, what they did this time It has completely exceeded the previous hostile actions with Emperor Maximian, but it is to completely offend the supreme of the Holy Roman Empire.
So the Venetian showed the attitude of wanting no guilt at a critical moment, but Alexander did not want to let them go so easily.
"The agreement I signed with the Jews has come into effect, and they will provide us with loans in the next four months enough to allow an earthquake to occur throughout the copper price market in Europe," Alexander smiled to the secretary of state. "Then How much guarantee risk can Venice take on this loan? "
The Secretary of State licked his lips lightly. He knew that the critical time had finally arrived. Just a few months ago, when the Montina army passed Venice, Alexander made a proposal that was completely unrealistic for the Venetians at that time. Monopoly copper mine in Hungary!
But the seemingly whimsical idea has now become a reality, and what happened next makes the Venetians both excited and worried, because they found that the Earl of Montina actually hit the idea to the Fugger and Mark. Emperor Simian.
As we all know, the Fugger family is the emperor's money bag. They generously contributed to each war of the emperor, and the rewards they received were also impressive.
Following the battle in the Balkans, the Fugur family frantically bought copper ore from a person called Prato, while at the same time, another group of people were spared no effort to buy the same high price. Do not hesitate to borrow a loan from the Jews in order to control the copper market as soon as possible!
How big this money is, even though many people guess it, it is unknown. People only know that in order to raise this loan, the Jewish merchants in Venice went crazy to raise money everywhere, and they built them in large numbers for many years. If the gold shop is mortgaged, they will sell the goods to others in advance without waiting for their merchant ship to return.
Even some well-known loan sharks did not hesitate to retreat as soon as possible as long as the debtor paid a small amount of interest and agreed to write off.
In short, the Jews in Venice were completely mad to make this nearly astronomical loan.
But even in fact, the Jews can't make such a large sum of money, or even a country can't make so much money at once, because this is a huge sum of up to 7 digits!
It was actually the Venetian government that provided the money to the Jews, or the Venetian government provided them with guarantees so that those Jews could raise money from many large and small chambers of commerce.
The Venetians are willing to take such a large risk to participate, because there is a reason big enough to impress them.
Alexander mortgaged the trade rights of the free trade zone to them!
When the proposal was made, even the Venetians were not moved.
Crete, Naples, Sicily, Taranto, Pisa, Genoa, Florence, and even Rotterdam and the inland cities that have just become ports in the lowlands. The huge trade circle formed by these places covers almost the most affluent regions of Europe. .
This temptation is so great that the Venetian can no longer look at it all calmly.
Similarly, relying on the huge amount of funds provided by these cities, Alexander dared to carry out such a bold and even crazy plan.
The Venetians were so tempted by Alexander ’s suggestion because for them, regardless of the outcome of this plan, they are undoubtedly the profitable party, either to obtain the right to operate the free trade zone, or to swallow the wealth together with others This mouth-watering and delicious prey.
Countless pairs of eyes were fixed on the Fugger's house. In the eyes of those hunters with greedy eyes, the Fugger's house had revealed a soft belly, and only had to wait for the fatal blow. The next step was a crazy feast.
Now, Alexander has brought the exact news to the Venetians, and the Fugger family has fallen into the trap of cloth.
The Secretary of State ’s breath was slightly quick, although there have been many experiences of ups and downs and even ups and downs in the past, but this time it was quite different.
Because this time they are not only dealing with the Fugger family, the whole plan is not simply to plunder wealth, their real goal is the Emperor Maximian of the Holy Roman Empire.
For the Venetians, the emperor ’s aggressiveness has made the Venetians unbearable, especially in the matter of public support for the Sforza family that is their enemy. Maximian ’s move undoubtedly made the Venetians in the Lombardy area. Has been seriously violated.
Moreover, the emperor's attempts to support the Ferrara people who are close to Venice more than once have confronted Venice, which has already made the Venetians intolerable.
For the Venetians, they must not allow someone to foster a new force around them, and Alexander made the choice that satisfied the Venetians in this matter.
The Ferrara envoys who had visited Montina at the beginning did not know that when they had just left, Alexander had cleverly revealed the news of their visit to the Venetians, and what he had exchanged for was during his expedition. Security at the northeast border.
Everything is so cleverly arranged, but even then, when the news finally came before, many people still couldn't help being nervous.
The huge wealth accumulated by the Fugger family for many years is already in sight, everyone seems to have heard the sad but helpless groan before the prey dying.
On the first Sunday in June, the bells of St. Mark ’s Basilica rang steadily over the city. On the way to the Basilica, people were dressed neatly and cleanly, as well as nobles traveling by horse and horse.
Because the Archbishop of Venice will hold a blessing ceremony on this day, even the Viceroy of Venice, Barbarigues, who has not often walked out of the mansion because of his seniority, visits St. Mark's Basilica in person.
In order to show the prosperity of Venice and the grandeur of ceremonies, Venice has sent invitations to all foreign envoys and guests in Venice, while the Grand Duchess of Wallachia, Alexandria I and Count of Montina, who visited Venice a few days ago Among the invited.
However, many people noticed that when people searched among those well-dressed giants, they did not see the two most interesting guests during this time.
This apparently quite unexpected situation immediately attracted people's attention, both foreign envoys and Venetians were talking about the move of Alexander and Sophia. Some young and noble Venetian nobles could not bear the anger, and some of them began to loudly Shouting for the Governor to declare that the two were unwelcome guests, and more nobles were secretly wondering what this accident meant.
The shouts of some people outside the cathedral are heard from time to time in the church. People are looking to the governor. They hope to see the governor ’s attitude towards this matter. This will also largely determine that Venice and Montina will also There are relations with Wallachia.
Some people are even thinking at this time that as the Ottomans withdraw, the threat from the Ottoman Empire will inevitably slow down, so that they do n’t even need to pay the Bohemian people a sum of money every year as a protection fee. .
Seemingly aware of the sight cast around him, the governor slowly stood up from his chair.
As an old man who is almost 80 years old, Barbarage has a sharper mind than many young people, so although he does not often go out of the governor's mansion, no one dares to ignore this ruler of Venice.
The governor turned a little hard to face the people in the church. When his eyes swept over the crowd, the originally noisy church calmed down.
"I regret that Her Highness Alexandra cannot participate in our prayers, but we should know that whether it is out of her faith or St. Mark's Basilica, it is actually very difficult for His Highness to accept our invitation," the Governor said It's a little difficult to look up at the dome of the church, and then say in a slightly regretful tone, "I believe that we wouldn't be willing to come here if anyone sees someone else's roof using their own treasures." Decoration is not a very comfortable thing. As for the Earl of Montina, I regret that for the Earl, in front of His Highness, he only needs to know how to read the word "obedience."
The governor's words made the people in the church stunned for a while, and then some people first realized that there was a burst of laughter.
The laughter, as if it could be transmitted, quickly spread from the cathedral to the outside, and immediately caused a wave of laughter on the square.
Everyone now understands the meaning of the naughty words about Baba Regal ~ EbookFREE.me ~ The Governor is suggesting that Sophia was looting from Constantinople because of faith and St. Mark's Cathedral The art treasures that came without attending the prayers at the same time, also simply satiated the trend of the now famous Count of Montina.
Many of the Venetians were relieved by Babarig ’s move. Some artists even started to figure out whether to borrow a few words from the Governor to compose a drama to take advantage of the two noble guests.
The people who were still immersed in laughter did not notice that although the Governor who had just told the joke had a smile on his face as well, his eyes had turned to the sky outside the cathedral.
"How's it going?" The governor whispered in a voice that only a few people around him could reveal, and his tone revealed uneasy anxiety.
While Barbarig used a ridiculous tone to explain to the people why the two guests did not attend the prayer ceremony, Alexander was in Bellini's studio at the time.
Opposite him, a Jew who didn't participate in the ceremony was also standing in front of him cautiously because of his faith.
For the Jews, the only thing that can make them succumb is wealth, and the person in front of them is undoubtedly King Solomon who can bring them endless wealth in their minds.
"The Fugur family has already used that money to buy all the rights to sell copper ore." The Jew said with excitement.
Alexander nodded slightly, he picked up the brush and dipped some bright red dye, and then made a heavy stroke on the white canvas: "Okay, tell Prato and all the people, cooperate with his" New World "company , Everyone will sell all the copper ore in our hands from now on! "
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