Wherever the Water Flows... The war on the Greek front was gradually entering a fever pitch, and at this time, Austria's advantage of having many vassal states was fully demonstrated.
Hungarian troops were dispatched to Bulgaria to quell a rebellion, while Bulgarian and Serbian armies continued to press hard in Greece.
As for Austria itself, apart from deploying troops to guard coastlines that were almost impossible to attack, the lives of the populace were largely unaffected.
In contrast, the Venetians, a small nation with few people, suffered much more; almost all citizens living in Venetian territory, whether merchants or commoners, were affected by the war.
Merchants at sea had to guard against endless pirate attacks. Although the Mude shipping route was safe, it only provided protection for the most profitable spice, saltpeter, salt, and grain trades. Other merchants who wanted to profit needed to leave the main route and travel to other ports along the Mediterranean coast to acquire local specialties, which they would then transport back to the European continent for sale.
These branch routes were often operated by specific merchants, and the Republic government had no spare capacity to escort them, thus the special routes branching off the Mude route became hotspots for privateering activities.
The Genoese understood Venice's Mude system thoroughly. Although they couldn't achieve the same level of unity as the Venetians, the Genoese's adventurous spirit was their greatest advantage.
Knowing that Venice couldn't protect all its merchant ships, the Genoese naval vessels specifically targeted the weak points of the Venetian trade network, attacking fiercely, and then arranged for their own merchant ships to replace the Venetians in local trade activities.
Naval warfare was directly linked to commercial warfare; if you engaged in this business, you might accidentally lose your life.
Venetian commoners had an even harder life. Their lives in Venice were already difficult enough, and now they faced the pressure brought by the war.
To support the development of domestic manufacturing, Laszlo issued bans on certain specific goods.
For example, the glass products produced on Venice's Murano Island, renowned throughout the Mediterranean world, saw a significant reduction in orders due to the ban.
Currently, the glass factories were experiencing continuous losses, and workers faced various difficulties such as wage arrears and unemployment.
The noble owners operating the factories spared no effort in the Grand Council to advocate for a second trade negotiation with Austria, or even peace talks, requesting the Emperor to further lift the bans, but with little effect.
Not only that, the Venetian government also shifted some of its financial pressure onto the commoners; various taxes were continuously increased, and some adult men facing financial hardship might even be forcibly conscripted and sent to Crete to join the newly formed army.
After sending the first batch of three thousand cannon fodder troops to Athens, the Venetians immediately began organizing a second batch of reserve forces.
This time, the Venetian government was even more indiscriminate, sending invitations to mercenary companies across Europe, especially Italian mercenaries who had close ties with Venice.
Unfortunately, the decline of the Republic of Venice was evident to everyone, and the terms they offered were not attractive enough. Therefore, most mercenaries preferred to continue living like bandits rather than go to Greece to die.
Mercenary groups could still manage to live in Northern Italy, as although the Emperor nominally controlled Northern Italy, he actually relied on the powerful military might of Milan and the Venetian State, coupled with the Emperor's extremely high personal prestige, to force the Northern Italian princes to submit.
Therefore, the Emperor had no intention of wiping out these mercenary groups; doing so would be completely counterproductive.
After the war between Naples and Aragon ended, Italy entered a long period of peace, and mercenaries naturally had to find a way out for themselves.
A considerable number of mercenaries accepted the conscription of Piccinino of Milan, joining Milan's regular army, which was considered serving the Emperor. Like the White Company that served Florence for a long time, becoming a standing army for a Northern Italian state was a good way out, but unfortunately, not many mercenary groups could find long-term employment.
The Venetians, who originally dominated half of the Northern Italian mercenary market, also declined. They could no longer afford the huge expenses of over twenty thousand mercenaries as they once did.
Many of these released mercenaries established strongholds and became warlords in various regions of Northern Italy, and most states were powerless against them.
Of course, there were also brave warriors who were unwilling to sink into oblivion and chose to cross the Alps to France and the Holy Roman Empire to seek new employers.
However, under the deterrence of the Emperor's powerful military, the Holy Roman Empire, which generally maintained peace, had little work. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the Swabian-Swiss mercenaries was widely recognized, and the strength of Italian mercenaries could only be ranked in the second tier.
In France, however, they were warmly welcomed. Both the Spider King Louis XI and Charles the Bold were actively recruiting mercenaries from various countries to expand their military forces.
Now, Burgundy's army had swelled to over twelve thousand men, and France's military might was even greater. Any discerning person could see that a major war was about to erupt.
Yet, Vienna, at the heart of all conflicts, remained as calm as it had been for decades.
"From the Mediterranean to Constantinople, to Western Greece, Crete, and Cyprus, the banner of Saint Mark of Venice flies everywhere. Wherever water flows, that is the territory of Venice."
These cunning merchants are quite good at boasting, aren't they?
Laszlo closed the report on the Republic of Venice in his hand, a smile on his face, pondering the widely circulated "famous quote" he had just read.
If you turn back time more than thirty years, the Eastern Roman Empire was in decline, the Ottoman Empire had just emerged from the shadow of civil war, and Milan was suffering successive defeats from the Northern Italian encirclement. Venice's territory, economy, population, and military strength all reached their historical peak.
At that time, Venice controlled a huge merchant fleet of three thousand three hundred ships of various types, and economically it once surpassed France, Aragon, and the Ottoman Empire, becoming the wealthiest maritime trading nation.
However, its fragile maritime empire continuously faced challenges from continental powers in the following decades.
First, the Ottoman Empire, having recovered from civil war, launched a fierce attack on Venetian-occupied lands in the Balkans, massacring the entire city of Thessaloniki, which led to decades of subsequent conflict between Venice and the Ottoman Empire.
Then came the new threat brought by the rapidly rising Habsburg Family. The Emperor personally led an expedition to Northern Italy, directly conquering all of Venice's mainland territories. Now, he intended to follow the Ottomanss' example and target Venice's Balkan territories, vowing to end the glory of this maritime empire.
Venice's dreamlike maritime empire went from prosperity to decline in just a few decades, and the reasons for this were not solely due to powerful enemies.
"Your Majesty, ever since the Venetians established the Golden Book system two hundred years ago, allowing senators to inherit their seats, and began to nationalize private trade, everything changed."
The most profitable spice trade became the exclusive domain of the nobles, and the trade taxes levied annually gradually increased, while the profits gained by the common people became increasingly meager.
After years of development, their noble class formed a closed loop. Those powerful and wealthy noble families strenuously suppressed the emergence of new nobles and abolished a series of open policies that encouraged maritime trade.
Now, it's becoming increasingly difficult to start from scratch in Venice, and changing one's fate through personal struggle has gone from a story to a 'myth'.
A small number of Venetian commoners fled Venetian territory. Recently, the number of displaced people in the Venetian State has significantly increased, having smuggled themselves from the island.
Some Venetian merchants also moved with their assets to serve other countries.
The Republic of Venice has long been in decline. It is currently barely holding on by monopolizing Eastern trade. Their failure is only a matter of time," said Fugger, who had been summoned by Laszlo for a private audience.
He was certain that if his family had not been in Augsburg but in Venice, there would have been virtually no possibility of their rise.
He recalled that his grandfather had only been a weaver. Because of his diligence and shrewdness, he was appreciated by the local guild master and married the master's daughter. From then on, the Fugger Family began to accumulate wealth.
By his generation, the family's wealth could rival that of the wealthiest Elector, and it was no exaggeration to say they were rich enough to rival a nation, even if the comparison was with the states of the Holy Roman Empire.
This was the Holy Roman Empire, a divided yet prosperous nation, full of opportunities and challenges.
In contrast, Venice, with its rigid class structure, had lost the vibrant spirit it had during the Fourth Crusade, when it claimed to be "three-eighths of Rome." The wealth disparity between social classes had reached astonishing levels, and the common people harbored deep resentment towards the noble oligarchs.
"I have learned about the displaced people issue from the Court Chancellery. Venetia has ample food and employment opportunities for those displaced people.
I have instructed local officials to properly resettle them.
As for the Venetian merchants who have defected, fewer and fewer maritime merchants have sought refuge in Austria recently, and the coastal shipbuilding industry has also become depressed. Do you have any ideas?"
Laszlo asked, rubbing his temples, thinking of the difficulties reported by the coastal regions recently.
Fugger pondered for a moment, then cautiously replied, "If you truly wish to develop Austrian maritime trade during this war, I suggest you issue an edict granting various privileges to domestic merchants engaged in maritime trade."
"For example, tax reductions, arranging regular naval escorts, and so on. At the same time, take the lead in investing in maritime trade, providing more orders for shipyards, thereby encouraging inland merchants and even wealthy nobles to participate."
"Another point is to sign unequal commercial treaties with numerous vassal states and other trading partners to open up sales channels and expand markets, just as the Venetians did."
"Furthermore, recruiting ships from commercial city-states is also a good method. You have already cooperated deeply with the Genoese, and now you have supported the Republic of Ragusa. They are very important to Austria's maritime trade."
"I understand the logic, but wouldn't investing in shipyards at this time just be feeding the Venetians? The entire Gulf of Venice is blockaded; not a single ship can get out… Okay, I'll think about it some more."
As Laszlo spoke, he himself realized that the predicament faced by Austrian coastal ports could not be changed by merely issuing some new policies.
Only by truly defeating the Venetians could Austria break free from its constraints.
"Damn it, why can't the Venetians be defeated?"
"As long as the nobles still need spice and silk, the Venetian trade fleet will be able to sustain itself," Fugger said with a sense of helplessness, stating a fact.
Even if those private Venetian companies and shipowners chose to relocate for their own interests, the core commodity trades of Venice, held by the nobles, would absolutely not be shaken by setbacks on land.
"spice, always spice," Laszlo liked spice for its ability to mask various odors, but now he found it hard to like it. "Must we wait for the Age of Discovery to truly destroy Venice?"
"New routes?" Fugger was slightly taken aback. "Do you perhaps believe the adventurers' idea that sailing west could also reach India?"
Laszlo shook his head, not answering.
Sailing west could certainly not reach India, because there was a New World there. Sailing south, however, was possible. Laszlo remembered Leonor once telling him about her uncle, Prince Henry, sailing to the Gulf of Guinea to capture and sell Black people as slaves.
If he did nothing, the Portuguese would likely round the Cape of Good Hope in twenty years, bringing back good quality and inexpensive spice from India, which would then deal a fatal blow to the Venetian spice trade.
He remembered that historically, the Venetians, to save themselves, even supported the Mamluk Sultanate in fighting a major naval battle against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean.
Unfortunately, they suffered a complete defeat.
However, it was still too early; he could not pin his hopes on the Portuguese's adventures.
In the Black Sea, the Genoese had not been involved in the spice trade for a long time.
Ever since Uzun Hasan of the White Sheep Dynasty and Jahan Shah of the Black Sheep Dynasty went to war, the prices of Eastern goods in the Caucasus region had remained high, and trade volume had continuously decreased.
Conversely, the importance of the Red Sea-Mediterranean trade route steadily increased. The Venetian spice trade should have been easier than before, but the Genoese's intervention meant that the Venetians now also faced considerable competitive pressure.
After much thought, Laszlo realized that he could only stick to the strategy of using land power to control the sea.
"Forget it, no matter how strong the Venetian navy is, they cannot defend their mainland territories."
"I hear that Modon, Coron, Corfu, and Crete are essential ports of call for the Venetian merchant fleet. If we can capture a few of these important trade nodes, the Venetians will eventually submit."
If these important trade nodes could indeed be captured, it would certainly bring many benefits to Austria's future development of Mediterranean trade.
The only thing that saddened Laszlo was that Mediterranean trade would completely decline in a few decades, and Austria's geographical location meant that it would be difficult for him to compete with Atlantic coastal countries in the future for new trade routes.
Unless he could open up westward trade after defeating the Venetians, tightly clinging to the Portuguese, or rather... taking control of the Netherlands.
Thinking of this, Laszlo suddenly missed his brother-in-law, Charles.
Although his sister had unfortunately passed away, the relationship between the two families, tied by the engagement of Christopher and Marie, seemed very stable.
He just wondered when Louis XI planned to make his move; Laszlo had long been looking forward to the Second League of Public Weal War.