Chapter 20 Early 1392
After the establishment of the lending institution in Constanta, the business was not very good. Because the domestic merchant lending market was a bit small, the institution's main work in the early days was currency exchange.
A variety of currencies were exchanged in Constanta, and currency exchangers were needed to exchange them for the required currencies, and they would charge a certain fee.
Unlike banks in Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, the lending institutions in Wallachia were joined by rulers. And lending required the other party to provide collateral. The most difficult problem faced by family-run banks in Italian cities was the lack of laws in the currency market or the lack of guarantees for credit. Kings, princes, and governments are all independent actors outside of market rules. They are not bound by the market, and the market cannot constrain them. The size of their economic strength and the quality of their financial situation determine whether they have the power to repay their debts to the bank. If they don't repay their debts, the bank will have no way to deal with them. The reason why the bank lent them money was either because of their pressure or greed for their promises, including granting privileges. Promises are unreliable. Once their financial situation deteriorated and they were defeated in the war, the debts they owed to the bank would inevitably put the bank in trouble. In other words, these family-run banks did not collapse in the normal development of industrial and commercial credit, but were involved in the political vortex that was inseparable from the king, princes, and the government.
Peter also innovated it, although the capital was only 10,000 ducats. But the Chamber of Commerce had trading stations in various towns in Wallachia, and some merchants would deposit money here, but they were afraid of being robbed when they went to other places to do business. So when you want to go to other places to withdraw money, the department in Constanta will issue a parchment voucher with the withdrawal amount and location marked on it. With this, you can go to the location to withdraw money.
This approach is not an innovation, but it provides a safe passage for those merchants. More and more people come here to deposit money, and the capital of the institution is increasing.
In addition to the bank, there is another piece of news that surprised Peter. That is, a silver mine was discovered in the north of Dobruja, near Tulcea, and now coins can be minted.
The coinage rights that Mircea gave to Peter have never been used. It's not that he was reluctant to give it up, but there was no raw material. There was too little gold and silver to be melted.
Now that there is a silver mine, Peter can mint silver coins. Just like Athens with the Laurion silver mine and Rome with the Spanish silver mine, this silver mine is the starting point for Peter's coinage.
However, the development of Constanta was not only seen by Peter, but also made another group of people jealous of the interests of the port, that is, Genoa.
When Anjou and the Kingdom of Aragon competed for control of Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers in 1283, the merchants of Genoa were lucky to choose the winning side and devoted all their energy to leading the Sicilian economy, providing loans to the ruling class, and organizing and controlling the production of sugar and silk. In addition, because Genoa had no local grain production, Genoa had to rely on Sicilian grain to support its population. Therefore, merchants also monopolized the export of grain in Sicily, but the Maghreb also needed Sicilian grain, so Genoa exchanged grain with the Maghreb and got gold from Africa.
Although Genoa is still a major trading country, after the 128-year Venetian-Genoese War and the crucial Chioggia War with Venice, the country's national strength was greatly reduced and declined.
In order to revive Genoa, the noble Francesco visited Constanta as a Genoese noble. Francesco wanted to revive Genoa very much, but most of the interests in the Eastern Mediterranean were occupied by Venice, and Dobruja became the last place that was not touched.
He tried to persuade Peter to sell a piece of land as a cargo center for Genoa. But Peter refused and said something very clever.
"Walachia is not Rome, and Constanta is not Constantinople. There is no Galata here for you."
Even so, Dobruja and Genoa signed a trade agreement. He placed an order for a batch of caravels with Francesco, and at the same time offered a high price for them to recruit a group of craftsmen.
This is recruiting craftsmen in a nice way, and human trafficking in a bad way. After all, Peter did not say where these craftsmen came from, only that the more the better.
In this case, let them be rude. After all, there are many of these principalities in the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Italy, and they can be recruited if possible.
After the signing of the treaty, Constanta's route can be extended to Genoese colonies such as Kaffa. The crops it produces, such as grain, honey, and salt, can also be exported in large quantities, and another channel for importing goods has been opened. This also increased Peter's income.
————Dividing line————
Osman's Bayezid was not idle. At this time, he set his sights on Constantinople and Anatolia.
Several Turkic Bey states united in the face of the huge Ottoman Empire, among which Karaman was the most active, which was Bayezid's main target.
The Karaman people are said to belong to the Afsar tribe of Turkic nomads. They have long believed in Islam and live in central Anatolia. They were originally a vassal state of the Seljuk Sultanate of Konya and were once vassals of the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt and Syria. Later, they established an independent country and controlled central and southern Anatolia. For quite a long time, the Karamans were the strongest opponent of the Ottomans.
Facing the Balkans, Bayezid sent the veteran Suleiman Pasha to continue attacking Bulgaria.
Mircea felt that the opportunity had come, and in order to increase his chances of winning, he also recruited a mercenary.
The history of mercenaries can be traced back to the ancient Greek era. At that time, the ancient Greeks once hired Macedonians to defend their capital; and the Romans used Germanic tribes to fight against enemies from the East to defend their empire; during the Middle Ages, the army was composed of a militia composed of noble lords, knights and subjects, and the free mercenary group composed of professional soldiers became an important auxiliary force, but during peacetime, mercenaries became bandit groups due to unemployment, causing many social problems.
Although in film and television dramas, the protagonist often finds a few people at random to form an excellent mercenary team, and it happens that these people all have their own specialties. But in history, the real recruitment of mercenaries is a formal and complicated matter, and it is by no means just to find some idle people in society. In the Middle Ages, Europe was a feudal society. The king was the biggest lord, and then the fiefdoms were divided layer by layer, from the noble duke to the ordinary knight. At that time, there was no standing army system as it is now. If you want to fight, you can only rely on temporarily recruited vassals or mercenaries. According to feudal obligations, the vassal's service area and term are often limited, so for many warlike kings in the Middle Ages, mercenaries became the best choice.
In this case, the king or the nobles would issue a conscription contract to certain specific targets at home and abroad, which generally specified the number of people, commissions, and service terms. These people are generally low-level nobles or knights with many combat experiences. They are able to recruit enough people, and the latter are generally their former military comrades. These knights will then sign contracts with the mercenaries separately.
In the Balkans, mercenaries generally include Germans, Hungarians, Cossacks, Italians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, etc. Mircea decided to recruit some, after all, they are experienced.