As early as last year, Marin arranged for his subordinates to be responsible for the construction of Egyptian trade routes. To this end, Marin also ordered shipbuilders from Venice to build two 500-ton galleys suitable for Mediterranean navigation.

Of course, the galleys required by Marin were different from those built by these craftsmen. The difference is that the galleys required by Marin were equipped with artillery. Therefore, these sophisticated Venetian shipbuilders needed to improve the galleys and increase the gun positions.

However, after all, they had built many galleys, and the specific data of the ships were still very clear. So they directly built the two ships together, and after the main body was completed, they made improvements and added some artillery positions.

At the same time, they also absorbed the experience of the "Hoffman-class" 500-ton warship that was built before (Italian craftsmen participated in the warship manufacturing before), reduced the hull of the galley, increased the mast, and added gun doors on the lower deck.

After more than half a year of hard work, hundreds of Italian shipbuilders and local shipbuilders finally built two 500-ton sailboats, which can not only hang larger spinnades, but also use paddles to row man-made, which is very suitable for sailing in the Mediterranean region where winds are weak and winds are often stopped.

However, because there are many rows of oars on both sides of the sailboat, they need to swing and move in naval battles. Therefore, this affects the placement of artillery positions. In the end, the craftsmen tried their best to free up 22 gun positions, 10 on both sides and one on both sides, and one on both sides. In naval battles, at most 12 guns participated in the battle.

Moreover, the sailboat requires a lot of manpower. The same 500-ton ship and the Hoffman-class warship only require 60 sailors to control the sails. Two 500-ton sailboats not only require 60 sailors to control the sails, but also 120 paddle boats to row the paddle. Rowing the paddle is a cool job. It is said that many paddle boats in the Mediterranean Sea buy a lot of slaves to row. Among them, many ships buy tall and strong Russian male slaves from Kafa, Crimea, lock them in shackles, and arrange them to be responsible for paddles on the boat.

Marin had no slaves at the moment, so he had to recruit a group of strong men to row paddles and some sailors to control the spinnakers. In addition to the 120 paddle boats each need to be 60 sailors (including the captain), each equipped with 50 gunners and 70 musketeers for self-defense.

In this way, the crew of these two sailboats reached a total of as many as 600. However, because of the large number of people, they are no longer afraid of pirates at sea.

It is only 1501 now, and the Barbarian pirates who dominate the Mediterranean have not yet emerged. They will have to wait for decades to appear. In this era, the overlord of the Mediterranean is still Venice.

However, Spain is also quite powerful. Nowadays, Spain occupies Sardinia and Sicily, and has even recently divided the Kingdom of Naples with the French and gained control of the southern part of the Kingdom of Naples.

It can be said that Spain has become the overlord of the western Mediterranean, while Venice dominates the Eastern Mediterranean east of Italy, and also occupies Crete in Greece and Cyprus in close proximity to the main island of Asia as its colonies.

However, Marin heard from Jewish merchants traveling in the Mediterranean that although the Venetians occupied the Eastern Mediterranean, they still wanted to give Spain some face. If one or two merchant ships flying Spanish flags went to Egypt and other places to trade, the Venetians would not stop them. After all, Spain now occupies the southern part of the Kingdom of Naples, which is the exit of the Adriatic Sea. If it is not necessary, the Venetians would not be willing to break up with Spain.

Just so happened that Marin had the title of Spanish Count. So Marin decided to let the two galleys fly Spanish flags and go to Egypt to trade on the Mediterranean African coast.

As for those indigenous African pirates, there are some, but they are not strong in this era. 600 people on the two ships can definitely drive away those indigenous pirates.

Of course, the Strait of Gibraltar, the western sub-district of the Mediterranean, still needs to say hello to the Spanish authorities. Moreover, Marin also plans to use Ceuta, a colony of Spain in Morocco, south of the Strait of Gibraltar, as an important stop to replenish freshwater and food. After all, he is also known as the Spanish Wild Earl, and this is still possible.

For this reason, Marin specially sent Kohler to Spain with his own handwritten letter to negotiate related matters with the Spanish court. Marin specially reminded him to deal with this matter with Prince Juan, and not to deal with the cunning Spanish Kings. Because, whether it is Ferdinand II or Isabella I, they are all old foxes. If they ask them to deal with it, they may cause trouble.

It is different to find Prince Juan. Marin has saved him his life, so Prince Juan naturally has a good impression of Marin. In addition, as the only son of the two kings, Prince Juan already has the power to participate in politics, so he can do this little thing.

Once the procedures are completed, the two galleys will hang Spanish flags and enter the Strait of Gibral directly. After arriving at the Port of Ceuta, they will continue to follow the African coast and head east to Egypt for trade.

As for the guide, Marin had already found it. Marin spent a lot of money to bribe several Jewish merchants who had been traveling between Europe and Egypt all year round, so they were asked to lead the way, and were responsible for contacting local Egyptian merchants.

Egypt's route is too important for Marin. Whether it is the natural soda needed to make glass or the Glauber's salt needed to cook paper pulp, Egypt is very rich. The alkaline Wadi near Cairo was one of the most important natural soda sources in Europe before the Lybran alkali production method came out. However, Glauber's salt has not yet developed and no one wants it in Egypt, so it is discarded as waste. Only a few alchemists will use Glauber's salt for alchemy research. As long as Marin wants to buy, Egypt's Glauber's salt is more, and it is very cheap...

In addition, Egypt has a lot of cheap wool. Although the wool quality of Arabic breeds is not as good as that of Spanish merino sheep, it may not be able to catch up with the wool of fine wool in the UK. However, that is also wool. The key is that because people in the Arab region tend to graz, sheep are everywhere there, so it is very cheap...

In Egypt, except for the Nile River Basin, it is mainly engaged in agriculture, other regions, including the Jerusalem, the Hanzhi region, Syria and Lebanon region under the control of the Mamluk Dynasty, are all areas dominated by nomadic industries. There should be too much wool in these areas. After importing, it can also be processed into wool textiles...

No matter what, opening up the Egyptian trade route is a very important thing for Marin. Therefore, Marin attached great importance to this and sent two ships with a huge scale of 600 people. You should know that the expedition fleets of Columbus and Americo were only a few dozen people on one ship...

In addition, the reason why Malin opened up Egypt's route was not only for economic interests, but also for political considerations. At present, the Egyptian region is still under the control of the Mamluk dynasty. However, more than a decade later (1517), the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt would be destroyed by the Ottoman Türkiye.

Ottoman Turkey is the mortal enemy of Europeans. If Ottoman Turkey controls Egypt, trade between Egypt and Europe will be abolished. But if trade with Egypt is abolished, then Marin will not be able to obtain Egypt's natural soda and Glauber's salt. In this way, Marin's glass industry and paper industry will stop, which is absolutely unbearable for Marin.

Therefore, Marin planned to strengthen the strength of the Mamluk Dynasty by selling some good-quality steel knives and armor, and even some muskets and cannons to the Mamluk Dynasty.

In fact, the reason why the Mamluk Dynasty was destroyed by Ottoman Türkiye was not that the Mamluk Dynasty was too weak, but that the Ottoman Türkiye was too strong...

Once the Ottoman Turkey occupied Egypt, the consequences would be even more serious. Because the Ottomans would continue to go west and control the coastal areas of Libya and Algeria. After that, the famous Barbary pirates will be born, threatening the safety of European merchant ships.

Moreover, after having the food production areas in the Nile Basin of Egypt and wealthy areas such as Syria under the control of the Mamluk Dynasty, the national strength of Ottoman Turkey will increase greatly. It was after annexing the Mamluk Dynasty that Ottoman Turkey had no worries and officially started the model of full efforts to beat Europe, and siege Vienna several times...

Marin was not concerned about whether Turkey occupied Syria, but Egypt, Marin did not want to be occupied by Ottoman Türkiye. After all, Ottoman Türkiye and Europeans were extremely in opposition, and then Egypt's trade would stop.

The Mamluk army might not be able to defeat the Ottoman Turkey in the wild. However, Marin decided to teach the Mamluks to build a solid fortress and intend to secretly sell artillery to them to offset the Ottoman Turkey's artillery advantage. In this way, even if the main force of the Mamluk dynasty was defeated by the Ottoman Turkey, relying on the strong city, artillery and muskets, they could still hold on, making it impossible for the Turks to defeat them.
Chapter completed!