bookandnovel Chapter 906: Merchants Conspire
Chapter 906: Merchants Conspire
Chapter 906: Merchants Conspire
The grief-stricken Latin merchants, their attendants and servants were driven out of the palace gate by the Varangian Guards, who were holding their fasces high.
They staggered and their faces were pale, and the tyrant's cold voice seemed to still echo in their ears - from today on, all privileges of the Latin city-state in Jerusalem, such as "concessions", "autonomous judicial rights", "tariff rights", and "tax-free franchises", will be abolished.
"We are his own people. Does he really regard those pagans who have not yet been brought under his rule as his subjects?"
The representative of Venice looked back at the towering palace with dazed eyes.
He found it a little hard to understand. In his eyes, these Latin merchants were equivalent to the spokespersons of the Crusader nobles. Weren't they more trustworthy than continuing to employ those pagan tyrants as tax farmers?
"The donations we give to the Jerusalem royal family, port lease fees, and storage fees every year are almost half of the kingdom's total income. What on earth is he dissatisfied with?"
The Genoese representative sneered: "Your Majesty the Emperor has a deep misunderstanding of us. This is all caused by you Venetians."
"If you hadn't deceived the Crusaders and caused the scandal of the siege of Constantinople, why would His Majesty Lothar be so wary of us?"
The Genoese's main base was in Tyre. Although they were also deeply involved in the economy of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, they were far inferior to the Venetians. Their business focus was not in the Levant, but in the Eastern Empire and the Black Sea.
The "Latin Massacre" that occurred in Constantinople caused the relationship between Venice and the Eastern Empire to plummet to a freezing point. The Genoese took the opportunity to rise and replace the Venetians.
It was also from then on that the Venetians began to shift their business focus to the Levant region.
For example, in Acre alone, the Venetians exported 60 percent of all spices such as pepper and cinnamon to Europe. In addition, they not only had many privileges in coastal cities, but also enjoyed tax-free concessions and free business rights in Hebron under Lothar and Montreal under Reynald.
Watching the Genoese and Venetians arguing endlessly, representatives from small states such as Pisa sneered in their hearts.
The power of the Pisans has declined a lot over the years, and they can only be ranked last among the three major Latin city-states. Because they have been competing with the Genoese for Corsica for many years, their interests in the Levant region are the smallest.
They came here with the idea of trying their best to get something for nothing. Although some of their privileges were abolished, compared with the Venetians, this loss was nothing.
For a long time, the Venetians and Genoese, like two giants riding on their heads, were simply bullies in the Mediterranean. They were happy to see them suffer even if they would suffer as well.
What's more, after the privileges of the Venetians and Genoese were abolished, merchants from small states like them could compete with them in the newly opened territory of the Kingdom of Damascus, instead of having to watch the Venetians use a series of privileges to ship goods at the lowest cost, squeeze them to death, and then raise prices at will after gaining a monopoly position.
The merchants from the small states soon dispersed leisurely, leaving only the two powerful states still lingering at the palace gate, accusing and cursing each other, and unwilling to leave for a long time.
Duke Leopold happened to pass by with a group of Crusader nobles at this time. Seeing the two groups of Latin merchants arguing, he asked about the situation and couldn't help laughing: "These damn Simon lackeys, they deserve it!"
Simon refers to "Simon Magus" in the Bible, who was famous for trying to buy "spiritual authority" with money and is often used to mock those who buy and sell priesthood.
A group of Crusader nobles also laughed at and cursed at these people.
What was the attitude of the Crusaders toward Latin merchants?
Greedy men who exchanged the blood of Christians for spices with pagans!
They arbitrarily raised the price of boat tickets for the pilgrimage, forcing many poor pilgrims to choose to travel by land, where they were robbed and massacred by bandits and Turks; or simply forced into indentured slavery by Latin merchants, sold to plantations, or even to work under pagan slave owners.
A group of Crusaders who were going to the Holy Land to protect Jerusalem could not afford the ship fare, so they had to stay there for several months or even a year, doing odd jobs and guarding the homes of wealthy businessmen to make a living, and finally turned against their Christian brothers in Constantinople.
During the peak pilgrimage season around Easter every year, Latin merchants would raise the cost of the ship's ticket from just one or two gold coins to a sky-high price of nearly ten.
The famous Children's Crusade in history, thousands of teenagers, were sold directly to pagans by two Latin merchants after going to sea.
In other words, these Latin merchants did not have no backing like the Jews, otherwise the "Latin Massacre" in Constantinople might have happened in Jerusalem.
Latin merchants were hateful, but the Crusaders did not dare to quarrel with them. Baldwin once wrote to the Governor of Venice, "Without your merchant ships, our soldiers would have no armor to wear and our people would have no bread to eat."
Indeed, without the help of Latin merchants, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was only a narrow strip of territory, would probably have perished long ago.
Historically, after the fall of Jerusalem, these Latin merchants immediately began to fawn over the Ayyubid monarchs, just as they fawned over the Ottomans after the fall of Constantinople.
"You damned thieves, you have turned the Holy Land's road to salvation into a road to exploit bones and marrow and snatch gold. Now you dare to cause trouble in front of the Emperor's palace. Get out of here right now!"
The crude and barbaric Crusader nobles drew their swords one after another, scaring the merchants into making haste to dodge.
The Venetian representatives were still a little dissatisfied and shouted: "We want to swear allegiance to His Majesty the Emperor. How dare you, a bunch of rude Germanic hooligans, treat us like this?"
Duke Leopold sneered, "The loyalty of Latin merchants is like floating ice on the sea, drifting with the wind of profit - are you worthy of loyalty to His Majesty? Go lick your Saracen master's ass."
In this era when even a bridge or a city gate could be granted to a noble as a "fiefdom", the business environment was frighteningly bad. The situation where the nobles set up checkpoints and collected taxes at will was relatively safe, but incidents of open robbery by bandit knights were also common.
Among the merchants who were able to grow up in such a barbaric environment, no matter whether they were Latin merchants, Saracen merchants, Greek merchants or Jewish merchants, none of them were good people.
Those with kind hearts would have already been lying in the desert feeding the vultures.
The Venetian and Genoese merchants, who were ridiculed and scolded, ran away in disgrace, carrying the gifts they had brought with them.
Seeing that they were far enough away from the group of rude Germanic barbarians, the Venetian representative patted the non-existent dust on his collar and said indignantly: "When Saladin was still alive, he respected us very much. A group of Germanic barbarians from the countryside dared to humiliate me like this."
The Genoese merchant raised his voice and said, "What did you say? You would rather serve Saladin than His Majesty Lothar? What is your intention?"
The Venetian representative was so frightened that he hurriedly covered the mouth of the Genoese representative: "Are you crazy? What good will it do you to kill me?"
The Genoese merchant sneered: "When your forces are driven out of the Levant, I want to see how you, who have offended Queen Lagaia and Emperor Lothar, can fight us."
The Venetian merchant asked back: "'You'? Are you really one family with the nobles in your country? After our privileges are abolished and your interests are damaged, will the other Genoese nobles compensate you when you return to your country?"
He emphasized, "We are now grasshoppers on the same rope, understand?"
The Genoa representative's expression changed slightly. He snorted and said, "Anyway, I'm not the one who should be most anxious. Besides, it has come to this point. His Majesty Lothar has even returned the gifts we sent. What else can you do?"
The Venetian representative said solemnly: "The tyrant emperor Lothar now controls Alexandria, Cairo, and Damascus. The monthly tariffs are more than the wealth we bring in. It is normal for him to look down on it."
The Genoese turned and walked away.
"Hey, wait, do you think that just because he returned the gift, that means there's no turning back on this matter?"
The Genoese merchant raised his head: "What else?"
"It may be that we sent the wrong thing. How about trying some rare objects or secret treasures instead?"
Merchants from Venice and Genoa traveled as far as the Song Dynasty, and Marco Polo's journey to the East was only a few decades later. They had a lot of rare treasures in their hands, and the Apennine Peninsula has always been the most active area for spellcasters.
The Genoa representative hesitated for a moment. These rare treasures were the foundation of a merchant family, but his series of assets in the Kingdom of Jerusalem were also the foundation for supporting a family's long-term prosperity overseas.
"Rare objects and secret treasures are precious. If you want His Majesty Lothar to change his mind, one or two will not be enough."
"Hey, there are more than one or two Latin merchants overseas. Everyone is about to get into trouble. There will always be someone who knows the seriousness of the matter. Then we can gather together a batch of secret treasures."
The merchants on both sides, each with their own ulterior motives, started to have their own ideas.