Chapter 745 Hidden Location

Venice is a business empire. People from different countries and different beliefs came here for the same purpose and the same creed—to make money and become trading partners.

Cultural differences don't matter as long as everyone is earning money.

Armenians, Persians, Greeks, Germans became neighbors on the Grand Canal, and trade provided a common bond that filled the city with golden mosaics and rustling spices.

However, under the superficial peace, some intrigues are still inevitable. After the Crusaders looted, Constantinople was still trading with the Venetians; even though they robbed each other's merchant ships, the Genoese still joined hands with Venice.

At the same time the Genoese were colluding with Constantinople against Venice.

The Venetians were good at weaving lace, and the ruling class of the republic in red velvet coats made intrigues as if they were weaving lace.

No one knows who first came up with the idea of ​​using lace as a woman's underwear, but there are very few adults these days who don't know about it.

Venice is a place where luxury goods are produced. Masks, handmade glass and lace will be sold in popular attractions now, but there is one rule that is absolutely true-cheap goods are not good.

The most authentic place for Venetian lace is behind the main island of St. Mark’s Church, a market called Kerer, not Burano Island. Nine out of ten of the products sold there are machine-processed batch products imported from Yiwu, China.

Buying a cheap item at the price of a luxury item is of course not in a good mood, but profiteers in Venice are like this. Good things are hidden, and the craftsmanship and formula of handmade glass are still blocked.

The technique of making transparent glass from samphire was a top secret in the middle ages. Now everyone can make transparent glass. This secret recipe is only made public. Sand turns into gold. This kind of business cannot be more profitable. Europeans attach great importance to intellectual property rights. The orientals are so good at being teachers, but also ignore the tea craftsmen who have mastered the core technology, so that the pillar industry of the whole country collapsed.

Even if there is only one trachoma, the water in a kettle will leak out. People have the desire to buy high-priced goods at low prices to be greedy for cheap, but the probability of encountering such a thing is extremely small.

Women lose their minds when they see beautiful lace, and men lose their minds when they see women wearing lace underwear. This is the temptation.

Del Bò is the meaning of Tao Niu. This palace rented by the Venetian Club belongs to the favorite concubine of Sultan Selim II, Cecilia Venere, who is the illegitimate daughter of the Venetian nobleman Sebastiano Venere. , She likes the luxury goods in Venice very much, from pet dogs to gold silk pillows, everything is made in Venice, and of course the lace she used to conquer the Sultan.

In the 15th century, a Venetian aristocrat named Luigi Cornaro was very famous in gerontology, because he was determined to change his past and live in a healthy way after going through a dissolute youth, and To strive to live to at least 100 years old.

He was so successful that in an era when most people were considered lucky to live to be 35, Cornaro lived to be 103 and remained active and clear-headed to the end.

He achieved this by not drinking, eating less, and, in fact, dieting since he was 37, following the ancient Greek and Roman belief that dieting was the secret to longevity.

This way of life and concept is called Cornaroism, and many monks of the Priory live according to this way.

But is it good to live a life like this clear soup and little water?

The meaning of extravagance is squandering, without blinking an eye, without considering whether the price is worth it or not. The Sultan princess played a key role in the foreign policy of the Ottoman Empire, and even the Genoese had to send assassins to assassinate her .

When she died, she was honored as "Sultana Nurbani" by the ministers of the Ottoman Empire, which means the queen mother of light.

From a weak and helpless female prisoner of war at the mercy of others, she became the young Sultan Selim III who governed behind the scenes, and was a pen pal with Queen Elizabeth I of England and Catherine de Medici, Queen of France. She was fascinated by "drunkard Selim", and all state affairs were handed over to his prime minister, which fully fulfilled the ancient Chinese poem "The spring night is bitter, the day is high, and the king will never go to court from now on".

This palace was built for her. Venice in the 16th century was a dissolute place. Nobles had many lovers, their wives became "white widows", and young handsome servants were no longer just "knights" who served. I went to the bed where nobles and lords lay, and slept with their lonely "White Widow".

Many children were born as illegitimate children and daughters, and they were sent to orphanages, often masked anonymous donors would pay a handsome sum of money, and then the Venice government would take care of these girls.

Generally speaking, the chance of illegitimate children surviving is very low. The "White Widow" will not let him grow up to compete with his son for inheritance rights. Orphans sing in public to raise money, and everyone who is asked will give it, because whoever I don't know which big man's illegitimate daughter that beautiful little girl is.

Cecilia Venier was once one of these orphans. In the summer of 1569, a large army of elite Turkish new army and cavalry went to besiege Astrakhan and start the canal project. At the same time, a fleet Besieged the Sea of ​​Azov. But the Russian defenders of Astrakhan repelled the besiegers, another 15,000 Russian reinforcements routed the workers building the canal and the Tatar army protecting them, and finally the Ottoman fleet was also destroyed by the storm. In early 1570, Russian Tsar Ivan IV reached a peace treaty with the Ottomans.

After this battle, the Ottoman Empire's expeditions in Hejaz and Yemen were quite successful. In 1573, the Ottomans brought Selim II his favorite wine and 100 women who returned triumphantly, Cecilia among them.

When the Ottomans occupied Cyprus in 1571, the Venetians felt that the sea power of the Ottoman Empire was threatening them, so they joined forces with the Papal States, Genoa, and Spain to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

This huge fleet defeated Turkey in the Saipan Sea in Greece, but lost to Paros. Cecilia and other women who lived in the orphanage on the island were sent on board together, and then sent to the old days. Constantinople, now Istanbul.

Thanks to God for giving her beauty, so that she would not end up with other women, she met Sudan.

Her father, Sebastiano Venier, was the commander of the coalition forces. As revenge for the Turks' looting, he also kidnapped 100 Turkish women to Venice.

"Head up."

She heard a man's deep voice say that in front of her was a huge marble bull that was almost as big as the one on Wall Street.

"Did money drop on the ground? Why keep staring at the ground." Severus asked puzzled, with a Venetian mask still on his face.

It didn't look cheap, but that didn't matter, at least it wasn't a Silk Eater's mask.

"This place used to be used to build a hydrological museum, but later it was used to build a palace for the queen mother, oh, this cow." Gianluca ran to the marble cow, touched its front hooves and said, "It's made of The marble of Paros was carved, and the Venus of Milo from the stone of a mine."

"Is this a modern work?" Monica asked looking at the huge sculpture. It has no seams throughout, as if it was carved from a single stone.

"Probably not, it existed when the Austrians shelled it." Gianluca said, "Everything that could be dismantled in the palace was dismantled, and it was left when we took over it."

"The 16th century was the era of Titian and the heyday of Venice." Pomona said to Alessandro and Severus. "I bet this palace must be very luxurious."

She looked around, it was like an empty box after the war, but it should be very suitable for a dance party, the four-story building surrounded a hollow courtyard, and the entire roof was made of glass. In the 16th century, this glass alone The dome is priceless.

There are two rows of marble steps behind the cow, which can reach the left and right wings of the building respectively. There are many mirrors in the Palace of Mirrors in Versailles, and there are many rooms here. Every room looks the same, but there is no Turkish style.

"Are these flowers real?" Monica asked.

"It was sent by the mayor, all of which were grown in Napoleon's greenhouse." Gianluca said, "He said that the flowers grown in that greenhouse should be used to decorate the Royal Palace in Venice."

"I've never been here," Alessandro said under his breath. "I thought it was a warehouse."

In fact, Pomona almost thinks so, because its exterior is all boards.

"It's probably repairing the outer wall." She walked to Severus's side and helped him wipe off the non-existent ashes on his chest. "Are you still betting with me now?"

"How do you know he's rich?" Severus asked with a smile.

"You admit defeat?"

"Yes, my mistress," he said like a servant.

"Poor boys like you are ambitious, but they want real love," Pomona said. "He's trying to be a common man, and that's as weird as you trying to be an aristocrat."

"What?" Alessandro asked puzzled.

"Do you feel comfortable here? Gianluca seems relaxed, just like you are among the common people."

Alessandro was still confused.

"Idiot." Pomona ignored him, holding Severus's hand and continuing to visit the palace built for the Sultan's favorite concubine.

In 1574, after the Ottomans recaptured Tunisia from Spain, Selim II died in Topkapi Palace shortly after he slipped on the slippery floor of the bathhouse and injured his head, as if by accident.

There is a king of pleasure in Venice, Casanova, who was an orphan. He studied law and became a famous "Love Saint" in Venice. From the countess to the nun, no woman can escape his charm.

One night, when he was "playing games" in the bedroom with the French minister and two nuns, he was caught by the "Council of Ten". He was arrested for "anti-religious crimes", but he was actually a French Spy, and also corresponded with the Freemasons.

Sentenced to the most dreadful attic prison, managed to escape in the end, and after escaping he remained a looser, had affairs with many women, was penniless in Germany, nearly died in a duel in Poland, and was returned by the Americans Take a step into film and end up working as a librarian in a remote castle in Bohemia.

Because he was lonely and bored, he wrote his memoirs, and the end of the memoirs is "I have not lived in vain in this life".

When she reached a corner of the palace where no one else could see, she cornered another lover.

"What do you want?" he said in a mocking manner, like a good woman blocked by a libertine, ready to scream.

"I won, what's my prize?"

"The answer hasn't been revealed yet, my wife, maybe he's just an administrator." He reached out and put the lock of hair that was always disobedient behind her ear.

"Then what do you want if you win?"

"What do you think a poor boy like me likes?" He murmured softly.

"Life of nobility." She tilted her head. "You also want to have a mistress?"

"I have a maid, her name is Abigail, let me think about who else?" He grinned, showing his yellow teeth. "And Christine from France, the Aurors must be looking for her."

"That's a random name I made up," she said, curling her hair.

"Tonight I want French..."

"You don't want to see me in school uniform anymore? Professor~~" she said in a sweet voice on purpose.

He scolded indiscriminately.

"You are not a young man anymore, do you need me to help you find a helper?"

The fiery dragon fell silent for a moment.

"What are you thinking?" he asked angrily.

"It's the same as what you think now." She put away her smirk and said blankly, "If you are not full, you can order more. Don't try to steal it!"

"Do you think that's possible?" he said in disbelief. "Why are you not like a normal, ordinary woman at all?"

"Women are trained to be women, Albus Dumbledore trained me to be a warrior, what do you think!" she growled, giving the double agent a hard push.

"I'm like a nun." She covered her face and cried, "I'm clearly a witch."

That's not what she wanted to say.

But she couldn't tell.

She doesn't want to be a woman. If God gives her a chance, she wants to be a man. Unfortunately, she can't decide what kind of container her soul is in.

"I made you stop being a nun," he said triumphantly. "Isn't it fun to do bad things?"

She punched him.

"You make me very happy, senior, unlike Lily, she always wants to change me." He sighed, "As long as you use it correctly, what's wrong with learning black magic?"

Pomona stopped crying.

"What do you think Cecilia Venier is like?" she asked.

"I don't know." He shook his head and said, "I just know that I can't afford a woman like that, no matter how beautiful she is, I won't think about it."

"You married me because I was easy to support?"

"Do you think there is any other good reason?"

Pomona took out her wand and used "split" on him.

He immediately blocked it with "armor protection".

"I am going to kill you!"

"Come here!" He said provocatively, and then started to run around the palace with big strides.

Cecilia Venier is a real person, and it is true in history. It can be said that Genoa's loss of the Western European market is directly related to her. She whispered in the ear of the sultan, and let the navy of the Ottoman Empire restrict the navigation of the Genoa fleet. Originally, she wanted to name this chapter the Venus of Paros. I had a hard time, and finally chose this name.

As for why there is no cover, isn't the cover of the female channel Phoenix? I'm a simple and kind Slytherin. The Sorting Hat should have sorted me into Hufflepuff. Why don't I look like a good person? beep beep