Chapter 966： Intent to help Venice

Without the profitable spice trade, the economy of the Mamluk dynasty will become difficult in the future. Although it is said that the Mamluk dynasty has now joined forces with India and plans to form a joint fleet against Spain and Portugal. But Marin knew that this battle must have failed for the joint fleet of the Mamluk dynasty and India. After all, the gap between the technological levels of the two is too great.

Historically, Portugal alone could defeat the joint fleet of Egypt and India, not to mention the more powerful joint fleet of West Portugal. Therefore, the economic recession of the Mamluk dynasty is inevitable.

However, Marin has left an important backer very early-encouraging Venice to dig the Suez Canal ...

At present, the Venice side is concentrating all manpower and material resources, dug the Suez Canal silently, and the Mamluk dynasty is also very cooperative.

It is foreseeable that once the Suez Canal is successfully excavated, Venice, which has not yet declined, will surely put a strong Mediterranean fleet into the Arabian Sea and West Portugal. At that time, it was also the only chance for the Mamluk dynasty to make a comeback. If Venice also lost, the Mamluk dynasty had no hope of turning over.

Of course, Marin does not care whether the Mamluk dynasty can turn over, he only cares that the Mamluk dynasty can block the invasion of Ottoman Turkey. As long as the Mamluk dynasty is unbreakable, the caliphate is still in Cairo and will not become another title for the Turkish sultan. As long as Turkey does not command the status of God to teach the world, it will be difficult to create the historical momentum.

Before instigating Venice to dig the Suez Canal, it was actually for the safety of the Mamluk dynasty. Venice has dug the Suez Canal. Can you protect this canal? And this canal will also become the biggest obstacle for the Turkish cavalry to attack Egypt.

At that time, Venice, which has significant interests on the Suez Canal, will be forced into the war and will have to stand on the side of the Mamluk dynasty. Not only can the Suez Canal block the pace of the Turkish cavalry, the Venetian navy is not vegetarian. At least, it is stronger than Turkey. Even if Turkey wants to invade Egypt by landing on the sea, you have to ask the Venetians if they agree or not ...

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However, Marin is actually a bit worried now, worrying that the Venetians will not beat the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal in the future. If there is only one Portuguese family, Marin must have confidence in Venice. But if you add Spain, it's hard to say.

Spain is very powerful, and the Spaniards currently occupy the Kingdom of Naples, threatening the Adriatic exports of Venice. Once a sea battle breaks out, the Spaniards are very likely to use geographical advantage to deploy a large number of warships in the Kingdom of Naples to block the Adriatic Sea.

Moreover, fighting in the Indian Ocean is also different from that in the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean, due to the low wind, the paddle sailboat is more maneuverable. But in the Indian Ocean, the wind is strong, but the pure sailing ships of Spain and Portugal are more dominant.

That is to say, once Venice has dug through the Suez Canal and sent its main fleet to the Indian waters, it is possible that the ships will not be as good as the West-Portuguese Allied Forces, leading to a naval battle. Therefore, Marin must also remind Venice of this, to avoid the defeat of Venice by the Portuguese League and the Fleet. Once Venice is beaten by both Spain and Portugal, Venice will decline. By that time, Ottoman Turkey's opportunities will be even greater. Therefore, Marin did not want Venice to fail after a decisive battle in the Indian Ocean.

Venetian warships are different from those of Spain and Portugal. In order to adapt to sailing on the Mediterranean Sea, most of the ships in Venice are basically paddle sailboats. Moreover, all the Latin spinnakers are hung to make full use of wind power.

However, the oar sailboats hang oars on the side, and it is not possible to place side artillery, which will result in insufficient firepower during naval battles. Therefore, Marin intends to instruct the Venetians to modify the ship at that time-for example, after entering the windy Indian Ocean, remove the oars on the side. At the same time, a blasthole was fired on the side. Once the oars are removed, the gun door can be opened and the artillery can be extended for naval warfare ... In this way, after the Venetian fleet enters the Indian Ocean, it will not be able to beat the West Portuguese League and the fleet. You know, on the number of ships alone, Venice is now enough to crush Spain and Portugal ...

Moreover, Venice is not stupid. It is estimated that once there is a conflict between Venice and West Portugal, Venice will definitely draw France to help Spain. At that time, another European melee ...

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Of course, it's still too early to say. For now, we have to wait for Venice to cut the Suez Canal. By the time Venice digs the Suez Canal, God knows when. By that time, perhaps Marin was already involved in the German religious war.

Even if he is not involved in religious wars, Marin will not interfere in the maritime hegemony between Venice and Portugal. Because this has nothing to do with him. Although Marin and Spain ’s Juan III have a good relationship, this does not mean that Marin wants to see Spain become stronger. Because Spain's strength is not good for Marin, and even threatens Marin's colonization of the Americas.

Therefore, Marin actually wants the Venetian to be better. In this way, Spain's power at sea is frustrated, and there is no extra power to expand to the Americas.

In short, Marin ’s expectation is that by then, the three countries of Venice, Spain, and Portugal would be better off playing their brains at sea, and they will all suffer three defeats. In this way, Marin is at ease, and can even make a big fortune ...

In order to achieve this goal, Marin decided to buy a batch of paddle sailboats first. Then, let the craftsmen of the shipyard study how to convert the paddle sailboat into a vessel that can adapt to the Shanghai Battle of the Ocean.

Specifically, continue to hang oars and use Latin spinnakers on the Mediterranean. However, in the ocean, it was replaced with sails suitable for sailing in the ocean, and the oars were removed, and the artillery was extended out of the gun door for artillery battle at sea.

Once this conversion is successful, Marin will give the plan to Venice. After Venice successfully digs the Suez Canal in the future ~ www.novelhall.com ~, it will be possible to properly modify the active paddle sailing warship on a large scale to make it more suitable for combat in the Indian Ocean. By that time, it will be difficult for Western Portugal and Portugal to have a leading advantage in naval warfare weapons and tactics. The Venetian warships, which are also equipped with a lot of artillery, will be no less powerful than the warships of Western Portugal and Portugal. Even though it is not as good as the battleships of Western Portugal and Portugal, Venice can offset this disadvantage by quantity. After all, when it comes to the number of merchant ships, no one can compare with Venice before the rise of the "sea coachman" Holland.

In addition, when the time comes, Marin intends to get cheap copper from the East and secretly sell it to Venice, so that he can cast artillery for the Venetians. Now the price of copper is too expensive, and all the warships are equipped with artillery. The cost of copper alone is unbearable for ordinary countries.

In addition, the shortage of saltpeter is also a big problem. At that time, Marin intends to sell some saltpetre to the Venetians in private, so that they can be more confident and fight a fierce battle with the two countries. After all, Marin must have opened the Daming trade route by that time, and will also mine Chile saltpeter. There is no pressure to provide Venice with some saltpetre ...

In short, Marin did not want to lose in the future maritime hegemony in Venice. After all, even if Venice wins, it will only dominate the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, not the Atlantic Ocean. Because, the Spaniards and Portuguese will definitely block the Strait of Gibraltar, will not allow the Venetians to enter the Atlantic.

In other words, victory in Venice is more beneficial to Marin than defeat in Venice. If Spain and Portugal defeated Venice, it would be a disaster. By that time, not only will the defeated Venice be able to help the Mamluk dynasty to defend Egypt, but Spain and Portugal, whose prestige due to the victory, may also breed greater ambition. For example, touching America or something ... and this is by no means what Marin wants to see ...