Chapter 376: Venice into the pit (below)

After waiting for a while, seeing that the time was almost up, Malin cleared his throat and said:

"Actually, there is no way ..."

Sure enough, more than a dozen big brothers all looked up immediately and said one after another:

"Hurry up and say, if it works, Venice will take care of you ..." Alani said excitedly and grabbed Marin's hand.

Marin quietly shook off Alani's hand and took out a map from his arms, spread it out, and motioned everyone to come and see:

"Look at you, this is India, this is the Arabian Sea ..."

These gangsters in Venice are basically surprised to see such an accurate map for the first time ...

Marin did not have time to popularize geographic knowledge, but continued to say:

"Please see, this is the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. The narrowest part of the western region here, the Mediterranean Sea is only 39.36 Lige (190 kilometers) from the Red Sea connecting the Indian Ocean ..."

"What if the Venetians were here to dig a canal so that more than 3,000 ships in Venice could sail freely between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea?"

"You mean, dig a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea?" Leonardo Lore asked.

"Of course, once this canal is dug, the Venetian ships will freely travel between India and Europe. What if Spain and Portugal form a joint fleet? The Spanish and Portuguese can send warships to India There are only dozens of them. As long as this canal is dug, Venice can send hundreds of warships casually, and they are afraid of Spain and Portugal? As for them, they will challenge Venice on the Mediterranean Sea and grab the canal It ’s possible. The ships of Spain and Portugal are pure sailing ships, without oars. On the weaker Mediterranean, they ca n’t compete with the oars of Venice ... ”

Speaking of which, the Venetian gangsters present nodded their heads in agreement with Marin. Moreover, this is also true.

In this era, pure sailing is unable to control the Mediterranean hegemony. In the early 19th century, when Britain and France competed for Mediterranean hegemony, they encountered an embarrassment when the wind stopped. At that time, the warships of Britain and France were driven by pure sails. When the wind stopped, the warships of Britain and France were forced to suspend for 10 minutes, and the battle continued only after the wind revived.

In the mid-to-late 19th century, when the Suez Canal was actually excavated, the British warships basically used steam-powered and sail-powered ships, that is, the legendary sailing ships. When there is no wind on the Mediterranean Sea, it is driven by a steam engine. In the ocean, if the wind is strong, the steam engine is shut down to save coal and sail power is used.

Moreover, there is also a very important problem, that is, when the ship passes through the canal, the sailboat cannot perform "z" type movement, and can use the wind force in the headwind or other directions. Because it needs a wide river support. But digging a canal is so difficult that it is impossible to dig a canal that is too wide. Therefore, sailing warships want to cross the canal, either take advantage of the opportunity of the wind, or find a tracker to help pull on the shore, just like the dragon boat of Emperor Sui Yang.

Of course, Venice ’s paddle sailing does not have this concern. When crossing the canal, lower the sail and just paddle, to ensure that the route is straight and does not require a wide river surface.

Later, the steam engine-driven ship or sailing boat was also no problem. The 190-kilometer canal was driven by steam engine ...

...

"It's just that this site belongs to the Egyptians. We dig the canal there. Can the Egyptians agree?" Leonardo Lore asked suspiciously.

"Of course they won't agree now, but soon, the joint fleet of the Spanish and the Portuguese will intercept all the merchant ships of the Egyptians. The Egyptians will definitely not be reconciled and will send ships to fight the Venetians."

"However, the backward navy of the Egyptians, what happened to the adversaries under the Spanish and Portuguese joint forces? When the Egyptians were defeated, their interests would be greatly damaged. Then, they wanted to defeat the Spanish and Portugal. People, only rely on Venice. "

"By that time, they will definitely agree that the Venetians dig a canal on the Sinai Peninsula ..." Marin said confidently.

"This is also true, but it takes many years to dig the canal ... during the canal digging ..." Leonardo Lore said anxiously.

Marin knew what he was worried about, but worrying was useless, so he said:

"Admiral, I know what you are worried about. But worry is useless. With the Spanish and Portuguese joining forces, even the Venetian navy is a bit difficult. Those Indians and Egyptians cannot win. Therefore, in the years before the canal was opened, Venice may no longer receive spices. Only when the canal is opened can the Venetians recapture all the lost benefits and drive away the Spanish and Portuguese ... "

Everyone looked at the map and nodded, agreeing with Marin's words. After all, the Venetians have long dominated the Mediterranean. Moreover, Crete and Cyprus are very close to Egypt. As long as the canal was opened, the Venetians could dispatch hundreds of thousands of warships to drive the ships of Spain and Portugal. Spain and Portugal sent ships to India to bypass the entire Africa, which was very troublesome, and there were not many ships that could be sent. Under the quantitative advantage of the Venetians, it will be unstoppable.

...

"Otherwise, we attack Spain directly on the Mediterranean Sea. In this way, we can coerce the Spaniards from attacking our Spice Ship!" General Marino said suddenly.

"In what name is Spain attacked? For those Arabs and Egyptians? They are pagans. If you attack Christians for pagans, are you not afraid of being besieged by all of Europe?" Marin retorted.

Everyone here was speechless ...

Yes, Spain and Portugal are intercepting pagan merchant ships, but not Venice merchant ships. How can Venice have a reason to declare war on Spain? Therefore, this dumb can only eat it ...

"Or, can we take the ship apart and ship it to the Red Sea to support the Egyptian fleet and fight against Spain and Portugal?" Nicolo Pieruno suggested. This suggestion made everyone shine.

"This method is too stupid. How many ships can you dismantle? A dozen of them are skyrocketing. However, it took a few months to get the Red Sea to reassemble and assemble one. The Spanish and Portuguese There are so many ships, it is simply too late. "

"So, the most fundamental way is to dig this canal so that the merchant ships of Venice can freely travel between India and Europe. By then, the whole of India can be Venice ..." Marin tempted Said.

The people present were short of breath. They all knew the wealth of India. If the canal was opened, defeating Spain and Portugal, and monopolizing the interests of India, how much wealth ...

"But before that ..." Leonardo Lore said calmly.

"No way, before the canal opens, Venice can only endure ..."

"You mean, Venice needs a strategic contraction?"

"Yes, during the excavation of the canal, Venice is better not to provoke a strong enemy, but to immerse itself in development. When the canal is opened, Venice will take back all the lost ..."

"You mean, let's bow our heads to the Holy See this time and let out the Rimini region?" General Marino asked, dissatisfied with the geology. As a military representative, he hated yielding and surrendering the most.

"Venice can also choose not to give in, and then wait to be beaten by several powerful countries, and then the wealth of everyone here is robbed and reduced to beggars ..."

"If we stick to the city, we may not lose!" Nicolo said dissatisfied.

"Yes, maybe Venice will not lose. However, you will be trapped in the land hegemony with several major powers. At the same time, the Spanish and Portuguese fleets will quietly area the Indian waters and break The sources of spices have hit the Venetian economy hard. The joint attacks of several major powers and the termination of the maritime spices trade, how long can Venice last? "

Marin's words, like a sledgehammer, hit the hearts of the Venetian gangsters. If for Rimini's death in the spot and the Holy See, it really attracted several major powers to siege, Venice is likely to die.

Even if it is not defeated, the decline of Venice is inevitable without the ability to prevent Spain and Portugal from cutting off the source of Indian spices. After all, the spice trade accounts for the bulk of Venetian commerce. Without the spice trade, the Venetian economy will be hit hard, and it will lose its present glory ...

"And, if you succumb to the Pope, you can also take the opportunity to form an alliance with the Holy See to deal with the Spanish ..."

"To deal with the Spaniard?" Leonardo Lore was puzzled.

"Yes, the pope has a lot of ideas about the Kingdom of Naples. Unfortunately, the power of the pope is limited and it is not enough to compete with the Spanish or the French."

"But, this is an opportunity in Venice ... you can use your alliance with the Pope to find a suitable excuse to retaliate against Spain who robbed you of the spice trade. For example, the United Holy See robbed the Kingdom of Naples ... Blocked at the estuary of the Adriatic Sea ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ has a great influence on Venice ... "

Marin's proposal was endorsed by Leonardo Loredan and others. If Spain is robbing Venice's interests, Venice is not troublesome. It may not beat Spain on land, but on the sea, especially in the Mediterranean, you can beat Spain ...

...

The Venetians did not immediately give an answer. Next, they summoned more gangsters and started a heated discussion. After three consecutive days and three nights of meetings, the exhausted Venetian gangster finally decided to succumb to the Papal State ...

At the same time, the Venetian Parliament decided to immediately send people to Egypt to discuss the excavation of the "Suez Canal" (the name proposed by Marin, which is regarded as a restoration of history), and sent experts to start exploring the route of the canal to prepare early.

After all, for Venice, the sooner the Suez Canal is cut and the spice channels controlled, the better it will take the initiative. As for the past few years, Venice intends to be a low-key person and avoid conflict with people. Of course, for Spain, if it is really confirmed that they participated in the spice ship interception in the Indian waters, the Venetians will join the Holy See to find the Spanish stubble. Not to mention the ability to capture the Kingdom of Naples or Sicily under Spanish control, but on the ocean, intercepting Spanish ships and causing major losses to Spain is still no problem ...

In this way, the extremely powerful Republic of Venice jumped into the pit that Marin had dug for them. Moreover, it is still willing.

After all, if the Suez Canal is actually dug, it is possible for Venice to successfully defeat Spain and Portugal and monopolize India's interests. It's just that, after digging the canal for so long, can the Venetian really dig the canal safely ...