1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 216 Liquor Franchise
Time flies, and 1463 is coming to an end. The first half of the year was full of gunfire, while the second half was gentle and peaceful.

During this year, the Eastern Roman Empire completely defeated its century-old enemy, the Republic of Venice, and used various means to drive the power of Venetian merchants out of the eastern Mediterranean. It set up a huge net to encircle them from three directions: Italy, the Balkans, and the Adriatic Sea, and was determined to seal them off inside the Adriatic Sea.

Thanks to Isaac's advance planning, the Eastern Roman Empire formed many entangled interest communities in economy, politics and diplomacy with many other states through the Free City of La Spezia and the Duchy of Parma, which dissolved the opposition alliance that the Venetians might form into nothingness.

The timing of Venice's fall was too delicate. Among the two strongest forces in northern Italy, the new king of the Kingdom of France, which was originally keen on expansion, succeeded to the throne and directly changed its diplomatic policy; Sforza of the Duchy of Milan was old and his enterprising spirit was greatly reduced. He only wanted to pass on the seized territory to his descendants safely.

Whenever the Venetian Doge Maripiero tried to find reinforcements to deal with the threat from the Eastern Roman Empire, he always looked through the communication list and could not find any ally he could fully rely on.

During the two hundred years of Venice's prosperity, almost all Italian states were bullied by them, including Genoa, Milan, Ferrara... These states were extremely distrustful of the always arrogant Venice and were unwilling to have any dealings with them.

Due to Venice’s unique nationalism and republican ideas, they have always claimed to be the best successors of the classical republican spirit, always believed that they represent advancement, and are inherently disdainful of other "corrupt forces."

Ravenna in the Papal States? Take it!

Brescia of the Holy Roman Empire? Take it!

Habsburg Istria? Mine!

Dalmatia in the United Kingdom of Hungary? Grab it!

Of course, in their view, this kind of robbery is the most just thing.

Forced buying and selling is also a business behavior.

In addition to territory, the Republic of Venice also used various means to obtain a large number of trade privileges in major commercial ports in the Mediterranean, seriously damaging the interests of local merchants.

As a result, Venice provoked almost all the surrounding powers. When the Republic was strong, they dared not speak out. When the Republic declined, they gloated over its misfortune and were always ready to divide up the heritage left over from Venice's hundreds of years of accumulation.

King Louis XI of France directly abolished the trading privileges of Venetian merchants in southern cities, without paying any attention to the treaty signed by the previous king, and protected his own merchants.

The calls for the recovery of the Ravenna region in the Vatican were growing louder and louder. Pope Pius II was dying and did not want to make unnecessary moves, but he still sent envoys to Venice on the advice of several cardinals, implicitly expressing his attitude.

King Matthias I of Hungary assembled the Black Army, ready to attack the separatist Colleoni at any time, recapture the coastal ports, and open up the Adriatic Sea outlet.

The most brutal approach was taken by King Ferdinand I of Naples, who sent troops to retake several ports that the Venetians had purchased at low prices during their civil war, and mummified those who insisted on resisting.

Frederick III of the Habsburg family did not take any action. As soon as he returned to Vienna, he locked himself in the Hofburg Palace all day long, either studying his own mysticism and astrology, or accompanying his babbling son, giving him 100% care and love.

Western countries had a contradictory attitude towards Venice. They did not want them to be too powerful, but they also did not want them to collapse completely to prevent a massive invasion by Eastern forces.

What they want to see most is a local power with certain strength, rather than a world power.

As a result, Venice's alliance plan did not make any significant progress. Only the Duchy of Savoy and the Republic of Florence responded to Venice's call and signed a ten-year defensive treaty, which was only aimed at the mainland, not the colonies.

In the second half of 1463, the local war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice was still going on. The fleets of both sides often clashed in the Adriatic Sea, causing heavy losses to both sides.

After the Eastern Roman Empire captured the city of Dyrrachium, the Venetians' home advantage in the Adriatic Sea was no longer so obvious, and the casualty ratio between the two sides was very close.

There was no way. On the Adriatic Sea, the Venetians' oared sail cluster tactics still had an advantage, and the large sailing ships of the Eastern Roman Empire could not exert their full strength.

On November 1463, 11, the Eastern Roman Empire Marines landed on the island of Naxos. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the Duke of Naxos announced his surrender and left this sad place in disgrace with his belongings.

At this point, the only colony of the Republic of Venice in the eastern Mediterranean was the still-defending island of Crete. Although the island was strong, it lacked external reinforcements, and its fall was only a matter of time.

Before we knew it, winter had arrived in the northern hemisphere, and the North African territories and southern Balkans of the Eastern Roman Empire entered the best season of the year, starting a new round of sowing and harvesting.

From the Morea Peninsula to the north, the influence of the Mediterranean climate gradually weakens. The higher the latitude and the farther from the sea, the colder the temperature.

The winter of 1463 was quite cold. The temperature in inland areas such as North Macedonia dropped below zero, rivers and lakes began to freeze, and Constantinople also welcomed its first snow.

Constantinople is located in the transition zone between the Mediterranean climate and the temperate continental climate. The winters are cold and humid, which is suitable for the production of winter wheat, winter rye and winter barley. Winter is also a busy farming season.

But for humans, the cold and humid climate is very uncomfortable. Walking on the street, the cold wind blowing from the sea is blowing past, and no matter how many clothes you put on, you can't resist the pervasive cold.

At such times, the citizens of Constantinople would always stay at home, light a warm fire, close the doors and windows tightly, snuggle on thick plush cushions, chat and laugh with family and friends, and drink fine wine.

During this season, many nobles and merchants in Constantinople would leave the city with their families and go to the warm south. Mystras, Carthage, Birinci, and Cyprus were all ideal choices for wintering.

It was dusk, the sky was gloomy, and heavy snow was falling outside the window, but the lounge of the Grand Palace was as warm as spring. The fireplace with exquisite relief carvings was burning, and the warm heat hit my face.

Constantine XI and his family gathered around the fire, drinking wine or coffee.

Constantine XI grew old and became somewhat sentimental. He cared very much about being surrounded by his family. Gatherings every night were indispensable to him, and everyone followed his wishes. No matter how busy they were, they would take some time out to accompany the aging emperor.

Not long ago, Constantine XI's most naughty brother, Demetrios, died of illness in the monastery without leaving any offspring.

Although Demetrios had caused Constantine XI a great deal of trouble during his lifetime, he was still deeply saddened by the death of his younger brother and visited the tombs of his parents and brother.

Due to his busy military affairs, Grand Duke Thomas did not attend Demetrios' funeral and only sent his second son Theodosius as a representative to Constantinople.

This action made Constantine XI furious. He did not blame his only remaining brother, but kept complaining about Isaac, thinking that he should not have sent Grand Duke Thomas to distant Constantina.

By the fireplace, Lady Mara was lying in a rocking chair with her eyes slightly closed, Constantine XI was asking Theodosius questions, and Isaac was sitting by the window holding a book.

"Brother, what book are you reading?"

Manuel, with his mouth full of honey biscuits, walked to Isaac with slurred speech and stood on tiptoe to read the contents of the book.

Isaac touched his head and showed him the words on the cover of the book.

"The Secret History of the Mongols. Justinian brought a copy in Turkish. I asked the printer to print some Greek versions. Would you like to take a look?"

"What's it about?"

Manuel flipped through the book and looked up and asked.

"Speaking of the Mongols."

"Is it the group on the prairie?"

"Not completely. This book talks about Mongolian history before the 13th century, mainly about the East, up to the reign of Ogedei Khan."

"If you are also interested in the distant East, you might as well take some time to read it. It should be quite interesting to read it together with The Travels of Marco Polo."

Manuel seemed interested and took the book.

"I heard from Basilius that you always rank first in school. If there are any books you want to read in the future, just come to me. Even books banned by the church are fine."

Manuel was obviously startled and waved his hands repeatedly.

"The books you sent me last time were discovered by my father, and he threw them all away."

Isaac smiled and shook his head, not continuing to dwell on this topic.

"What are you studying recently?"

"Each teacher teaches different things, including literature, poetry, architecture, art, and the history of various countries. There is a lot of homework."

"Professor Basilius has been teaching classical history lately, talking about Hannibal and the Punic Wars, and it's become a lot more interesting."

"When he talked about politics before, students didn't like to listen. Now he changed his method and mixed politics with historical stories, and everyone's interest increased."

When talking about reading, Manuel was not as irritable as Justinian and Alexius, and he spoke very clearly.

Isaac nodded and patted the chair next to him, and Manuel sat down obediently.

"How are you doing with your studies, Alexius?"

"It's... pretty good."

Manuel replied awkwardly.

"Oh, never mind, let him be."

Isaac waved his hands and sighed.

He knew very well that ever since Justinian dropped out of school, in the assessment system he had established, Alexios' academic performance could no longer maintain the second-to-last position and had dropped to the last place.

It’s not that Justinian didn’t learn culture, he just always liked to break the rules and often skipped classes to go out and make trouble.

Alexius was the same. He was sharpening his sword with a whetstone during class. No one knew what he was thinking.

Every time Isaac wanted to take care of the two brothers, Leonor would be very protective of him and tearfully recount Isaac's previous "sins", saying that he had abandoned the mother and children and ran around for months and years, which made Isaac feel a little guilty. So he simply chose to respect their personalities and only control them in the general direction.

"But he has always been number one in horsemanship and swordsmanship, and Professor Basilius also praised his good swordsmanship!"

Manuel hurried to comfort.

"Optical swordplay won't work. He'll have to learn military tactics from the generals in the future. The same goes for you."

"By the way, have you made any progress on the things I asked you to investigate a few days ago?"

Isaac sat up straight.

"I have led people to visit eight districts of Constantinople and several towns outside the city, and we have already achieved some results."

Manuel called the servant and gave him a few instructions. After a while, the servant came over with some documents and handed them to Isaac.

"First, about the heating of Constantinople."

"Although many wealthy people would go south to spend the winter, most citizens did not have the ability or the intention to do so." "Before this, the citizens of Constantinople mainly used firewood and charcoal for heating. At this time of year, workers would cut wood from outside the city, burn it into charcoal, and transport it to the city for sale."

"Some wealthy people even buy expensive fruit wood, which has a pleasant aroma when burned."

“The coal you promoted previously had some success, but there were many problems.”

Isaac nodded and looked at the report carefully.

That autumn, in view of the increasingly cold weather, Isaac found several small coal mines in Thrace to use for heating Constantinople.

"Burning coal produces a lot of smoke and a very bad smell. Many people can't stand it, and even families with a little more money won't use it."

"But coal is cheap and sells well in the poorer districts and suburbs of Constantinople."

"So I say it was only partially successful."

Isaac read the report briefly and frowned slightly.

Coal has been known for a long time. England has rich coal reserves, and many people use this black stuff as a fuel.

At this time, the Western world was still far behind the East in the use of coal. Chinese civilization had begun to use coal on a large scale during the Song Dynasty, and every winter there was a special government department responsible for transporting coal from other places to Bianliang.

In addition to heating, the Song Dynasty also tried to use coal to refine metals and find cheap substitutes for charcoal, and made considerable breakthroughs.

In 15th century Europe, coal was not widely used, and charcoal was still the main source of heating and iron smelting.

"Forget it. It's a good thing to be able to reduce the burden of life for some families."

"Constantinople has nearly 200,000 people, there will always be poor people, and the market will still be huge."

"There is also the North Macedonia region, which is even colder and people often freeze to death. I will also send people there to explore for minerals and strive to improve the quality of life of the people."

Isaac closed the report and rubbed his eyes.

The Greek region has no advantages in developing modern industries. There are not many coal mines, and they are all lignite, which is of extremely poor quality. It is not even favored for heating, let alone iron smelting.

Isaac remembered that there was a large coal field in Macedonia and he could try to mine it.

Of course, it is also the worst kind of lignite.

There is a giant coal mine in the Donbas region of Eastern Europe, with abundant bituminous coal and anthracite, but the mining technology is not advanced enough, so it can only be left to future generations.

Regardless, keep a wedge in place to use coal, and maybe one day there will be a technological breakthrough.

"Second, wine."

"According to your instructions, I have classified the alcohol on the market into strong alcohol and light alcohol."

"Light wine includes various wines, beer, fruit wine and mead. The people of the Eastern Empire love wine and everyone drinks it. This is a very big business."

“The brewing techniques of these light wines are very mature, and many families make their own wines, but the best wines still have to be made at the major well-known wineries.”

"Beer is the cheapest, and therefore it is loved by the lower classes. Everyone likes to gather in the pub in the evening and drink a few glasses of home-brewed beer."

Manuel knew that this was a test from Isaac, so he made adequate preparations.

"Spirits include brandy, whiskey, vodka, etc. These liquors are all imported from abroad and require some technology to brew."

"The people of the Eastern Empire had different acceptance of these spirits. Brandy was the most accepted, vodka was very popular among Slavic immigrants, and whiskey was the least accepted."

At this point, Manuel glanced at Isaac.

"No need to look at me, I know Justinian likes to drink Irish whiskey."

Isaac smiled helplessly.

“Brandy originated in France and is obtained through fruit juice fermentation and distillation. In addition to grape brandy, there are also apple brandy and citrus brandy.”

"This kind of wine takes a long time to make and is relatively expensive. It is difficult for the lower classes to drink it. It is mainly aimed at the middle class and the market is also broad."

"Vodka is a specialty of the north. In addition to drinking, it can also be used to extract herbs. It has the widest range of uses. Many people like to use it to keep warm."

“Whiskey originated in Ireland and Scotland, and was mainly produced in monasteries. It had not yet been promoted to wineries and distilleries.”

"In general, light wine is mainly used for drinking, the price can be high or low, and the craftsmanship is mature."

"The role of spirits is wide-ranging, and the technical bottleneck is high. The development of the pharmaceutical industry cannot do without them."

Manuel's mouth was dry as he spoke, so he raised a glass of juice and drank it all in one gulp.

"Yes, very well done."

Isaac was quite satisfied and looked at him with a smile.

"In the future, I plan to give you more opportunities to gain experience, learn more, and observe more, so that you won't feel at a loss when governing the country in the future."

"When you go to Serbia to govern, don't let the nobles below fool you with just a few words."

"Thank you, my brother! I will definitely keep working hard!"

Manuel was also very happy and thanked him repeatedly.

"Father?"

"what happened?"

Constantine XI turned his head unhappily, and Theodosius also looked over here.

"I am going to regulate the production of alcohol. What do you think?"

"How can you make regulations? They produce privately as family units. Can you control them?"

"That was not what I meant."

Isaac shook his head, thinking.

"As for wine, although everyone can make their own wine, there are only so many places that produce good grapes, and there are only a few old manors that produce high-end wines."

"Our two most famous wines now come from North Macedonia and Athens. The origins are very clear and the production is relatively fixed. It is not feasible to make wine secretly."

“We can set up a special department in the tax bureau to uniformly increase taxes on mid- to high-end wines.”

"The increase in the price of mid- to high-end wines has little impact on ordinary people, and they won't have any complaints."

"The middle class and upper class probably wouldn't say anything. They might even think that the more expensive the wine, the more it suits their status."

In fact, Isaac has always been cautious in collecting taxes, as he does not want the people to be burdened with heavy shackles because of taxes.

Isaac's goal was to adopt a policy of light taxes and levies to rapidly increase the population. After filling the Balkans, he would fill Anatolia, and after filling Anatolia, he would fill Egypt and the Levant.

Subsequent colonization would require a large population. Isaac did not want to be like Spain in the original time and space, where all the young and middle-aged laborers wanted to flee to America, causing the local population to remain stagnant.

However, taxes still need to be collected. If you don't want to make money from the poor, you have to take action against the rich.

Taxation is a technical job, especially for commodities like alcohol that have a wide range of implications and a large market.

If it is a highly profitable industry such as spices, slaves, coffee, sugar, gold and diamonds, it is easier to deal with. The profits are high and the production areas are fixed. If they can make five times the profit and now cut it in half, merchants will still rush to do it.

Of course, if you don't keep even half of it, they will really rebel.

"As for spirits, I plan to nationalize them all. If you want to brew spirits, you must obtain permission from the government and obtain the corresponding documents."

Isaac continued.

Liquor is not just a drink, it is also an important strategic material. As time goes by, its strategic position becomes higher.

“I plan to set up a modular brewing district and a supporting trade union in Constantinople, right here in Galata.”

"This wine-making area only produces spirits. You can try to produce brandy, vodka and whiskey, and hand them over to the Commercial Guild for unified sale."

"If there are not enough winemakers, we can invite them from other places, gather them together, and brainstorm through mutual communication, and perhaps there will be new progress."

Unlike wine and beer, spirits are an industrial product. Traditional small family workshops are complacent and value their own recipes more than their lives, which is obviously not suitable for the development and progress of technology.

The development of the brewing industry could also drive the progress of the glass and pharmaceutical industries, which was just right for Constantinople, which was developing into a light industrial center.

The advancement of distillation technology will also cause a series of chain reactions, and many years later, modern chemistry may develop and grow stronger as a result.

"Whatever, that sounds feasible."

Constantine XI looked indifferent.

"In addition, we have to impose heavy taxes on imported wine to protect our own wine industry."

"When our industry matures, we can export to other countries, such as the Russian states. They will definitely like the strongest vodka."

(End of this chapter)