Chapter 1263 Thunder Arrives at Lisbon Port!

"Praise the Lord! After a holy war, millions of Moors on the peninsula have accumulated wealth for four hundred years. The Moors themselves have become the spoils of the holy war, and they have been continuously sent to the Apennine states! The whole of Italy The peninsula was unprecedentedly prosperous, and the workshops in various states had expanded several times. The Roman Church also made a fortune and began to sponsor "artists" to build a brand new Vatican palace, even using paintings from "ancient Rome and ancient Greece". Sculpture. The great aristocrats of various states are also following suit. They want to be 'protectors of ancient art' and leave their names in the history books... Tsk, tsk, it's really a waste of money..."

"Burn... Oh, that's right! Isaac, don't go to Castile recently, especially the newly conquered Moorish land in the south of the peninsula. Last year, the Kingdom of Castile officially issued a ban on the Moors and Jews. The "Alhambra Decree", a large-scale 'expulsion' of Moors and Jews, and 'legal' deprivation of all property of each other, is actually a fanatical religious inquisition... Only half a year has passed, and the Kingdom of Castile has returned to the After paying a debt of 200,000 gold ducats, I really don’t know how many heretics and heretics were burned on the rack in the east of the peninsula..."

Speaking of this, the old knight Lorenzo paused and opened his eyes wide. He looked meaningfully at Eleazar, the Jewish merchant, with an obvious knock in his tone.

"Isaac, in God's world, there are not many places like city-state republics that are tolerant and accept your ethnic group! You must know how to be grateful..."

"Yes, yes! Knight Lorenzo, I have also heard that the Castilians are very violent... As long as they see Moore or Jewish origin, they will arrest people and send them to the stake, and take away all their property... They It’s like crazy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s pious to the Lord or whether it’s meritorious to the church…”

Mentioning the heresy in the east of the peninsula, the Jewish businessman Eleazar sweated on his forehead and trembled with fear in his heart. Those red-eyed poor knights and those black-robed referee priests really burn people like firewood! As a Jewish businessman with obvious characteristics, he did not dare to step into the territory of the Kingdom of Castile at this time and deal with those knights and priests with fanatical beliefs...

This is why even though he knew that jihad was a good opportunity to make a fortune, he stayed in Portugal and never went to the peninsula to lend money. As for the news about Columbus in Castile, he has known about it for two or three years, and he also has no idea of ​​going to the other party to collect debts...

The painful experience of his ethnic group told him that in the world of God, every holy war with religious fanaticism will eventually turn into a barbecue party for heretics and pagans, and will turn into venting anger, writing off accounts, plundering and killing their ethnic group! …every time, never exception!

"Yahweh... God witnesses! My loyalty to the city-state republic is more real than real gold! Only the city-state republic will accept and protect us who are honest businessmen, allowing us to survive from those greedy and fanatical poor ghosts. Come down..."

"Dear Knight Lorenzo! The City-State Republic is my master! The orders and instructions given to me by the Congress are my life! I will do my best to learn about the Portuguese gold mines in the southern continent for the Congress... Yes! I am very confident , let the Portuguese naval officer come and meet with you in person. He comes from a low background, has little savings, and wants to live a noble life, so he is very greedy, and his loyalty to the Portuguese royal family is just that. He has no devout beliefs... Every time he returns, he smuggles a lot of goods, the most among all Portuguese captains..."

Having said this, the Jewish businessman Eleazar paused, looked at the port outside the window, and said hesitantly.

"Strange! The Portuguese southern fleet returned from the southern continent just last month, bringing back a large amount of spices, ivory, gems, gold and slaves... I also made an appointment with the naval officer to meet quietly in the past few days. Once, he traded the private goods he brought back on the ship..."

"I just don't know why... A week ago, the Portuguese naval fleet anchored in the port suddenly lost a dozen caravels... The young naval officer also disappeared, and there was no one in the house... I sent someone to inquire, quietly I asked some familiar naval officers... It is said that there was a royal order from the king before, asking a part of the navy to be dispatched to contain some 'pirates from the north'..."

"Huh? The Portuguese navy is dispatched to contain some pirates?...Northern pirates? Are they barbarians from Northern Europe?..."

Hearing this, the old knight Lorenzo was startled, with confusion on his face. However, he didn't understand things at sea, so he could only be confused for a while.

"Lord! When will he come back?"

"This... I can't tell you what happened at sea... I guess it only lasts ten days and a half? It is said that the dispatch was so urgent that the ship only had about twenty days of supplies..."

"Hmm... Do you want to wait another half month? That's okay..."

"O Lord! One, two, three...ten...all are Portuguese ocean-going sailing ships! So big, so majestic!..."

The young knight Giovanni drank a lot of wine and lay by the window with his eyes wide open, greedily counting the ships and flags in the port. Regarding the huge loans and profits made by the Republic of Venice in the Holy War, although he was happy to make a fortune while lying down, he would feel guilty from time to time. He always feels that this kind of greedy holy war lending violates the code of knights and is unworthy of the Lord...

The past knight education has left too many deep marks on him. Even though these romantic and naive marks are being gradually smoothed by reality, he still cannot be like a pure Venetian nobleman, who regards the pursuit of power and wealth as the ultimate goal of life. And what is the ultimate goal of life? The goal of a knight...honor, courage and piety...

"Ah! Sail to the mysterious southern continent, along the hot land cursed by the devil, open up a new route to the East...find an ally of the Catholic world to attack the Ottomans, find King John who believes in the Lord in the East...Ah! This is the symbol of honor, courage and piety, not to mention that it can also be rewarded with the wealth of the East!...This is the right way approved by God!...Alas! The Portuguese seafaring nobles are the real sea knights!..."

Wine does not intoxicate people, but dreams intoxicate people. The young knight Giovanni imagined the brave sea exploration and the opening of the glorious new route, and his young face was full of yearning wine red. He had participated in the real and cruel holy war. The so-called magnificent and glorious wars he imagined when he was a teenager had already been completely shattered in his heart. But he had not participated in sailing. The mysterious and brave sailing in his imagination still shrouded his young heart, making him full of desire from the bottom of his heart.

"If... I can command a large sailing ship of my own and go south with devout crew members... I will definitely be guided by the Lord, destroy the city-states of the natives one by one, burn the altars and temples of the devil, and find the rich and devout Eastern Christians!... Ah! After going through the test of "The Odyssey", I will finally engrave my name in the immortal biography of saints!..."

"Boom!..."

The faint sound of thunder came from outside the window, like the cannon of a warship, roaring to destroy the barbaric natives, and also awakened the fantasy of the young knight. Giovanni blinked in confusion, looking at the direction where the thunder came from, but he didn't see any dark clouds...

"Huh? What is this? Is it thundering? Why are there no clouds?..."

"Boom!..."

After a while, two more thunders sounded, which seemed far away in the sky, but also seemed to be a little closer. The originally orderly port also began to have some movement. Many captains of merchant ships sent sailors to the observation deck to observe the northwest where the thunder came from, which was the northern entrance of Tagus Bay.

"Huh! What's going on?... This movement seems to be? Cannon sound?!..."

"Boom!..."

The amplified thunder is getting closer and closer, as if it is floating from the sky where the sea of ​​clouds meets, and it makes people dream back to the battlefield of the holy war siege. The old knight Lorenzo shuddered suddenly, and the hazy drunkenness instantly dissipated. He walked quickly to the window and looked at the open and prosperous Tagus Bay, and his expression became solemn.

"Giovanni, you have good eyesight... Is there a ship on the western horizon heading towards the port?!..."

"Ah! Yes! There is a ship! A big ship!... Ah! It is getting closer and closer, as if it is rushing straight towards this side, with full sails, without slowing down at all!... Ah! Behind it, there are several Portuguese sailing ships, which seem to be chasing it, but they almost collided with other merchant ships!..."

Giovanni narrowed his eyes and tried to look at the sea outside the port. The big ship that was rushing around was like a mad Iberian bull, rushing desperately to the place with the most ships. The merchant ships inside and outside the port hurriedly turned their bows and hurriedly avoided the "mad bull ship". The several Portuguese warships following behind it were also blocked by the messy merchant ships in the port. Some of them were timid and could not intercept at full speed, and they were always just a little short.

"Hmm? The sound of the cannon, the smoke from the ship? It seems that... the ship has been firing cannons?! But there is no splash, is it a blank cannon?... Where did these stupid pirates come from? They are really desperate! They dared to rush straight to the port of Lisbon and the lair of the Portuguese navy?!..."

"No! That's not right! The ship raised a flag, they are not pirates!... They are... They are?... They are!..."

At this moment, the old knight Lorenzo and the young knight Giovanni looked at each other, and they saw the astonishment and disbelief in each other's eyes.

In front of the busy port of Lisbon, surrounded by countless merchant ships from various states, the tattered "crazy ship", the sailing ship chased by the Portuguese navy, actually raised a shabby flag in a dignified manner, the castle and lion flag of the Castile royal family!

"Holy Mother! It's the navy of the Castilian royal family! How could this happen?!..."

"Lord! Could it be that the Kingdom of Castile, which had just conquered the Moors, suddenly went to war with the Kingdom of Portugal, which was exploring the southern continent?..."