The Rise of the European Emperor

After deciding to name this concrete line of defense "Mano's Line of Defense", Marin became very uneasy. Because, he always thought of the French "Maginot Line" being bypassed by the German army. Maybe, this "Mano Line of Defense" will also be bypassed by the Turks.

In order not to make such a major mistake, Marin spread out the map and studied the local terrain...

After repeated scrutiny, Marin believes that it is unlikely that the Turkish army will bypass the narrow coastal plain. Because the coastal plain of Lebanon is too narrow for tens of thousands of troops to pass through. And if there are fewer troops passing through, the defense line can also be broken.

However, Marin suddenly noticed a problem - it seems that the threat at sea is not small...

Lebanon's coastal plain is not suitable for large troops to pass through, but the Turks can occupy Haifa by sea, and then attack behind the defense line through Haifa port...

Although the defense line is made of concrete, it is difficult to break through, but as long as the Turks cut off the food supply of the defense line and besiege it, it will change the battle situation.

"It seems that the safety of Haifa Port is very important..." Marin tapped his finger on his desk and began to think about countermeasures.

It is impossible to send troops to garrison Haifa by yourself. After all, the garrison in Haifa Port is useless if it is too small, and if it is too many, it will cost a lot...

As for allowing Egypt to garrison its own troops, it is also feasible. However, because of this disastrous defeat and the loss of the rich Syrian region, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt had financial difficulties, and it is estimated that they would not be able to spend much money to support too many troops. Therefore, even if Haifa Port is rebuilt, Egypt will not station too many troops. No way, since the spice trade was cut off by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty was poor and could not afford much military expenditure.

"The problem of money... eh? It seems that the Venetians are very rich..." Marin's eyes lit up.

Although Venice was decimated by the robbing of the spice trade business, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and the family had a solid foundation. Marin remembers that in the late 16th century, Venice's annual financial revenue was as high as 18 million ducats...

Of course, that was the income after the large-scale flow of gold and silver from America into Europe, and the value of gold and silver had already been greatly depreciated. In addition, the Venetian can rise again, which has a lot to do with the appearance of glass mirrors.

The Venetians also paid attention to the confidentiality of technology, and moved all craftsmen to Murano Island, ensuring that the glass mirror technology has not been leaked for more than 150 years.

But there is also a loophole in Venice's protection measures, that is-Venice only moved the artisans who made glass mirrors to Murano Island, but did not move the artisans' families there...

so,

More than 150 years later, around 1666, the French took advantage of the opportunity for craftsmen to leave Murano to go home and reunite with their families during major festivals, recruited a group of craftsmen at high prices, and stole the secrets of glass mirrors.

Then, bad luck happened to Venice...

Originally, a glass mirror can be sold for tens of thousands of francs. The side that was given to the Queen of France was worth 150,000 francs...

After the French stole the technology, they began to mass-produce glass mirrors, and the price plummeted to 100 francs for a glass mirror...

After losing this technology, the Republic of Venice will be considered in complete decline. Then, there will be no more bright days, until death...

...

Right now, although Venice is starting to go downhill. However, the strong family background is still there. In addition, it hopes to turn over with the help of the Suez Canal, so it is quite strong.

"No! According to the original history, glass mirrors should have appeared in this time period, right?" Marin remembered that the Venetian mirrors appeared in the early 16th century. It perfectly solved the problem of the Republic of Venice losing the spice trade, and allowed the Republic of Venice to maintain its commercial advantage for a long time. It was not until the French stole the manufacturing technology of glass mirrors that the commercial building of the Republic of Venice collapsed. After all, 10,000 livres a mirror, don't sell too much. Although the livre depreciated severely at that time, it was almost 12 livres to 1 British pound or 1 gold louis.

In other words, a Venetian mirror can be sold for 833.3 pounds, which is equivalent to 1666.6 gold coins...

It is said that the French later sold a glass mirror for 100 livres, and there was still a lot of money to be made. And 100 livres are almost like 16.66 gold coins...

But in fact, the cost of a glass mirror coated with mercury and tin foil is definitely not more than 1 gold coin. In other words, even if it is sold for 100 livres, the French will have more than ten times the huge profits. And before, Venice, which monopolized technology, that profit... Nima! Thousands and hundreds of times!

Marin was stunned—what kind of huge profit is this? No wonder the Venetians want to trap artisans on the island of Murano! No wonder the French tried their best to obtain the production technology of glass mirrors...

"Should I get a glass mirror to make money now?" Marin began to think...

After much deliberation, Marin still didn't dare...

why? He hasn't defeated the French yet. At this time, avoid high-profile. If the French are desperate and mobilize an army of more than 100,000 to 200,000 troops, Marin may have to flee to America with his family...

After all, the French were jealous of Venice's red eyes in history. If Marin made a glass mirror prematurely, he would be the one who was jealous. Stimulated by huge profits, the French may go berserk and do whatever it takes...

After much deliberation, Marin still decided—after defeating the French and establishing his prestige, he would take the opportunity to push out the glass mirror, and then wantonly collect money, counting gold coins until his hands cramp...

...

However, the world is impermanent, and when Marin was still dreaming of the dream of monopolizing the glass and mirror business exclusively, shocking news came from Venice—the Venetians withdrew from the glass mirror...

"What? The Venetians have made a glass shock?" Marin opened his mouth in surprise, and the one in his hand fell to the ground and shattered...

This broken wine glass is like Marin's heart - it is also broken...

Thousands and hundreds of times the huge profits! just gone...

Marin was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood...

But Marin didn't know that in the original history, the Venetian glass mirror was actually invented by the Da Carlo brothers in 1507, and it quickly became the most powerful weapon for the resurgence of Venice.

However, Marin's crossing changed history. Among them, Marin's biggest change to history is that he once hired a large number of glass craftsmen in Venice to Beihai.

That was when Marin had just won East Frisia. In order to produce glass products for foreign trade, Marin sent people to Venice many times to recruit glass craftsmen, recruiting hundreds of people in total.

It was this action that changed history. Because many artisans were recruited from the factory where the Dale Carlo brothers worked, its managers put a burden on the Da Carlo brothers and kept them busier. After all, there is not enough manpower, so the remaining craftsmen can only be used as two people...

As a result, the work intensity of the two brothers has increased. In 1507, because he was too busy with work, he didn't have time to research the glass mirror as in the original history.

But with the passage of time, a new batch of apprentices from the glass factory in Venice was brought out, and the veteran glass craftsmen such as the Dal Carlo brothers had more free time to do something else.

Then, just this spring, the Dale Carlo brothers finally inadvertently worked out mercury tinfoil glass mirrors...

After that, the two brothers were immediately regarded as national treasure-level craftsmen by the Venetian authorities, and their salaries were greatly increased, but they also lost their freedom - they were confined to the island of Murano.

After several months of preparation, the Venetian finally decided to release the news after producing a batch of glass mirrors. At the same time, some wealthy nobles and rich men were invited to Venice to participate in the auction. And Marin, as the top diamond king in Europe, naturally received the invitation letter...