1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 388 United Textile Cartel

When the first heavy snow fell over Constantinople, the Romans, immersed in the Olympic Games, finally realized that another winter was quietly approaching.

The cold wind from the north blew away the crowds in the big cities. The highly successful Olympic Games came to an end. The delegations returned home in an orderly manner. The tourists gathered in the cities relied on the well-connected transportation routes to return home and nestled in their warm bedrooms.

As expected, the coal smoke over major northern cities grew thicker every year, coal prices dropped, coke usage increased, indoor fires burned brighter than in previous years, and the people of the Eastern Roman Empire spent another warm winter.

As for the extremely unpleasant smell, the dark sky, and the polluted ditches... in this era, these are symbols of civilization.

Of course, this situation is only limited to the northern major cities along the North Aegean and Black Sea coasts. The demand for coal in the North African territory of the Eastern Roman Empire is quite small. It is located in the subtropics, and the vast majority of the population is concentrated in the Mediterranean climate zone along the northern coast. For the residents here, winter is actually the mildest and most comfortable season.

If a place does not have cold winters, there will be no huge demand for energy. Without huge demand for energy, heating materials will not be innovated from charcoal to coal, and the steam engine created to facilitate coal mining will be almost impossible to appear. The cold winter destroys lives, but it also forces progress.

In the Köppen climate classification, Constantinople belongs to the transition zone from dry warm climate in summer to wet cold and warm climate. It is one of the coldest cities on the Mediterranean coast. Coupled with the impact of the Little Ice Age, Constantinople, with a population of more than 300,000, undoubtedly has a huge demand for coal. If handled properly, the cold "curse" will turn into a warm "blessing".

England is not the only place with coal and iron resources. Many places in tropical Africa also have these conditions. But even if they had the same level of civilization as Britain in the 18th century, they probably could not ignite the spark of the Industrial Revolution. Without demand, there would be no production or creation.

Of course, God is fair, and tropical and subtropical regions also have their own unique advantages.

In the eastern Atlantic Ocean, a three-masted sailing ship was heading southeast. In the luxurious lounge on the top floor, two passengers were chatting casually, maintaining the most basic respect for each other, but obviously not particularly close.

Sitting on the reclining chair was a businessman, about fifty years old, with graying temples, tanned skin, wrinkled face, and a gleam of light occasionally flashing in his cloudy black eyes.

The middle-aged man sitting by the window was dressed as an official, wearing a silver double-headed eagle badge on his carefully tailored black uniform, and under the double-headed eagle's claws was a blooming imperial flower.

Seeing that the officials around him stopped talking after a few pleasantries and instead focused on observing the sea view outside the window and the port they were about to arrive at, the old businessman felt a little helpless and took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket.

"Sir Pavlos, do you smoke?"

"That's not necessary, Baron Yanna."

Pavlos waved his hand in refusal.

"You are a noble with a title, and I am just a civil servant. Logically, you don't need to use honorifics to me."

"Haha, you are joking. I didn't get this title through military merit. My fiefdom is just a small island off the coast of Guinea. It is of no value."

Baron Janner smiled, put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it with the tinderbox.

"Compared to you, the powerful governor, my little achievements over the years are really nothing."

"The Tiger of Platinum Harbor, the Wolf of Golden Horn Street, the founder of Platinum Company, the originator of the "Yanna" model of colonial plantations, a baron conferred by the Emperor, a fifth-level elder in the Senate, and the largest cotton capitalist in the entire empire and even the world."

Pavlos turned his head and looked at Yanna who was smiling.

"If these achievements of yours are only considered small achievements, I'm afraid few people in this world would dare to call themselves successful."

"No, no, this is all thanks to your Majesty's support. We just drank a sip of soup..."

In the face of Pavlos' flattery, Yanna remained humble and seemed not to take these honors seriously, but he was still very happy in his heart.

Twenty years ago, Yanna was just a small businessman engaged in agricultural product trading in Constantinople. Although his income was not high, he had an ambition to achieve a leap in life. He always liked to walk the streets of Constantinople, looking for opportunities to make a fortune.

At that time, the Eastern Roman Empire had just started its colonial exploration, mainly through direct plunder and deceptive trade. The sailors returning from afar were all wealthy and spent money lavishly. This phenomenon greatly stimulated the still poor Yanna, and planted a seed in his heart - if he wanted to achieve class crossing and become rich overnight, the best way was to embark on a ship to distant places.

Yanna was a very motivated man. He immediately sold all his property, said goodbye to his parents and elder brother, and boarded a ship bound for West Africa.

After arriving in the Gulf of Guinea, Yanna was able to stay in the inland area longer than others because he suffered from thalassemia minor. He traveled around the area, did small business, killed people and robbed them, and saw how Eastern Roman sailors exchanged glass beads for gold jewelry. He gained a deeper understanding of the early colonial thinking of the Eastern Roman Empire.

However, unlike other adventurers who were only interested in temporary wealth, Yanna came to a conclusion during his investigation - gold, silver, gems, spices, and handicrafts are all secondary, temporary, and not long-term. There are only two truly important and long-term things, namely the eternal land and the people who live on the land from generation to generation.

Yanna was once a peddler of agricultural products, and his focus in trade was more on agricultural products. He once tried to buy an estate in the colony and hired local people to grow grain and vegetables, but ultimately failed to achieve the expected success. The land there was not suitable for growing wheat, and the natives there had mediocre talent in agriculture. After a year of wasting time, Yanna made almost no money.

However, just as the disheartened Yanna was preparing to sell his estate and return to Constantinople, ships from the Eastern Roman Empire brought excellent cotton seeds obtained from Egyptians and Indians to West Africa, and successfully grew Indian cotton there.

Seeing the white cotton balls, Yanna fell into ecstasy. He knew how precious the handicraft raw material was. He knew that this kind of thing could only be grown in places with hot weather. He also knew that at that time, there was hardly any planting base in the entire Christian world that could provide a large amount of cotton balls.

So, Yanna planted cotton on his estate, using indigenous slaves as cheap labor. He became one of the earliest cotton plantation owners in Platinum Port and one of the founders of the "cotton hegemony" of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Later, Yanna gradually discovered the natural disadvantages of cotton cultivation in West Africa - the forests were too dense, the coastal land was narrow, and a large amount of fertile land was occupied by inland indigenous people. The land was full of mosquitoes and diseases, making it impossible to penetrate deeper.

After years of thinking and experimenting, Yanna found a solution and submitted it to the imperial center, trying to use the powerful central power to achieve his goal.

His idea was approved by the emperor, who asked colonial officials and plantation owners to implement it, and it quickly achieved initial success.

The new model he conceived was called the "Yanna Model". The main idea of ​​this model was very simple - when faced with difficult-to-access colonies such as tropical Africa, the Eastern Roman colonists would no longer manage the plantations themselves. Instead, they would contract out the planting business through coercion and inducement, allowing the inland indigenous people to plant the crops themselves, and the Eastern Roman Empire would only be responsible for unified purchases at coastal ports.

The benefits of this model are obvious. It can utilize inland land and inland labor in a short period of time and rapidly expand the planting area of ​​cash crops. The Eastern Roman colonists do not need to continue to endure the unbearable high temperatures and scorching heat, nor do they need to face the open and covert attacks of the indigenous people. They will not have too many conflicts with the local indigenous people. It can also form a chain of interests between the colonists and the colonial indigenous people. On the surface, the relationship between the two parties is no longer that of colonists and colonized, but that of raw material buyers and raw material suppliers.

Of course, there are also disadvantages. The agricultural technology of the black indigenous people is too backward. They have no experience in running plantations, and the rough agricultural methods make the unit yield of cash crops very low.

However, as long as the planting area is large enough, the unit yield will be insignificant. The Eastern Roman colonists were unable to go deep into the inland rainforest, so they could only harvest as much as they could.

Over the past twenty years, the "Yanna Model" has become the universal method of the Eastern Roman Empire in its tropical colonies, which indicates that the Eastern Roman Empire's colonial thinking has been different from that of the Portuguese and French from the very beginning, gradually turning from simple and brutal low-level plunder to sophisticated and covert capital exploitation.

Over the past 20 years, more and more indigenous chiefs in the Kingdom of Congo and the Greater Bay Area of ​​Guinea have signed agreements with the Eastern Roman Colonial Company. They burned farmland and used all the best land to grow a series of subtropical and tropical crops such as cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, rubber, cocoa, coffee, kola and Arabic tea, forcing their compatriots to become slaves in the plantation industry.

For the indigenous chiefs, growing these cash crops can make much more money than growing grains. With the money, they can not only buy more Eastern Roman luxury goods, but also hire powerful teams of Eastern Roman mercenaries to continue to encroach on the lands of other chiefs.

As for food? Why not just buy it from the Eastern Roman Company? Wheat flour from Egypt, corn flour from Elysium, which one is not better than the locally produced sorghum flour?

As for the fact that ordinary natives couldn't afford it? That didn't matter. The chieftains prepared cheaper cassava for them. Although it was poisonous and would damage their intelligence, it was still edible and at least they wouldn't starve to death.

As for a considerable number of cash crops that have high requirements for soil fertility and cause great damage to soil fertility, forced planting will make the land increasingly barren, and eventually it will be impossible to grow food crops. What does this have to do with the chieftain? At most, he can spend some African Roman pounds to hire a few mercenary teams from the mercenary house in Carthage to snatch the land and slaves of the chieftain next door.

The chiefs who were willing to grow cash crops gained more benefits, but those who still grew food crops remained poor. For the sake of money and to avoid being swallowed up by others, they had no choice but to join in. The area of ​​the plantations became larger and larger, and the output of cash crops became higher and higher.

The Eastern Roman Empire did not have such a high demand for black slaves. For those indigenous chiefs who did not have gold mines, they really had no export commodities to offer, so they could only join the wave of opening up cash crop plantations.

For twenty years, the colonial companies of the Eastern Roman Empire controlled the economic lifeline of the indigenous peoples of the colonies by establishing trade relations and cultivated a large number of local compradors who relied on the Eastern Roman trade system. The African Roman pound minted by the Palaiologos Royal Bank became the standard currency in the coastal areas.

Some more far-sighted indigenous chiefs would donate a large sum of African Roman pounds and send their children to the empire to receive education. They would either go to the University of Constantinople to study economic agriculture in order to improve agricultural technology, or go to the Constanta Theological Seminary to study theology for what they considered to be civilization and openness. These people had witnessed the prosperity and beauty of the Eastern Roman Empire, and naturally they would become Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians during their studies and have more favorable feelings towards the Eastern Roman Empire. After returning home to inherit the family business, a considerable number of international students would civilize their own chiefdoms, speak the Eastern Roman language, believe in the Eastern Roman state religion, follow the Eastern Roman system, and join the Eastern Roman civilization circle.

Of course, some black chiefs chose to take a different approach, such as the King of Congo, the world's largest slave trader, the world's largest slave catcher and slave owner. This indigenous chief, who voluntarily converted to Orthodox Christianity and designated Greek as the language of nobility, sent his three sons to the University of Billingi to study psychological management and behavioral control, laying a solid foundation for the family business in the future.

As for black international students, the Eastern Roman Empire naturally accepted them all. All they had to do was pay money or make donations. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy and engineering were not open to them, but for the rest it was up to you. If you wanted to study theology and Greek language and literature, the tuition fees would be even lower.

For twenty years, in order to implement the "Yanna Model" to the end, several major African colonial trading companies of the Eastern Roman Empire racked their brains and tried every means to control the minds of the indigenous chiefs along the coast. On this basis, a large number of consumer goods specially made for the indigenous chiefs were born, such as iron swords with exquisite appearance but very low practical value, gold and silver armor and gilded firearms, such as gold and silver earrings and jewelry necklaces that meet the aesthetic needs of the indigenous chiefs, and their two favorite commodities: cotton cloth and spirits.

Among them, strong liquor with addictive substances added is the favorite of the natives. Basically, they can't stop drinking it once. In the capital of the Kingdom of Kongo, whenever Eastern Roman goods arrived, there would always be a large number of natives who drank themselves to death on the streets. Even the local church couldn't stand it and protested to the king, but was met with strong opposition from the king who was also an alcoholic.

The Eastern Roman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church have already banned the spread and sale of addictive liquors in the empire, but this rule is obviously not applicable in West Africa. A number of secondary processing workshops for spirits have been built in the Port of St. William. They will purchase poppy fruits and Arabic tea from the natives of West Africa, perform some simple extractions, add them to the spirits shipped from the empire, and then sell them to West Africa at a high price, entering thousands of households and making huge profits from it.

At that time, there was no method of smoking opium, and the method of smoking coca leaves invented by the Inca natives had not yet spread. For the West African natives, the strong liquor provided by the Eastern Roman capitalists was the best anesthetic. Brewing strong liquor was a real technology. The natives had no way to produce and sell it by themselves. The deeper they got involved, the more dependent they became on the Eastern Roman trade system.

During these twenty years, Yanna himself quickly became rich and became the largest cotton buyer in Platinum Port. He established the "Platinum Company" specializing in the cotton textile industry in Carthage, and invested it in the stock exchange on the Golden Horn Street in Constantinople, attracting a lot of investment and expanding his business. He was very proud of his achievements and changed his family name to "Vamvaki", which means cotton.

During this period, the cotton industry of the Eastern Roman Empire underwent two innovations. American cotton from the New World replaced Indian cotton from the Old World, and new textile tools from the East made large-scale workshop production possible. After experiencing several losses, Yanna gradually understood the importance of new things and new technologies. He also began to learn from other capitalists to invest in universities, technology, and talent. He spent 10,000 solidus to open the first textile college in Carthage. While training senior craftsmen for his own workshop, he also vigorously studied textile technology.

In fact, the so-called "research" of the textile industry in the Eastern Roman Empire was mainly to learn and innovate the textile technology of India and China. Every year, the East India Company would commission pirates to collect a large number of oriental books, and the translators of the Institute of Humanities would translate these books into Greek and Latin. The materials mainly came from the Yuan Dynasty, such as "Nongsang Ji Yao" and "Wang Zhen's Agricultural Book". Oriental agricultural books are extremely detailed and equipped with a large number of illustrations, which are very suitable for study and research.

The description of cotton planting methods in "Nongsang Jiyao" greatly inspired the plantation owners, and the detailed analysis of the Yuan Dynasty's water-powered spinning wheel in "Wang Zhen's Book of Agriculture" truly promoted the industrialization of the Eastern Roman textile industry. This water-powered spinning wheel can be driven by water, animal or human power. It is a great technological treasure of Eastern civilization. It has basically met the Marxist definition of the three characteristics of developed machinery: "drive machine, transmission mechanism and machine tool". Its efficiency is dozens of times higher than that of ordinary textile tools. It no longer belongs to the category of "simple tools" and is a truly modern machine. It is hundreds of years earlier than the water-powered textile machines of the British Empire in the original time and space.

During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the sprouts of capitalism in the textile industry had already appeared in the Eastern dynasties, and some workshops began to adopt the "employment system" of production and distribution. However, perhaps because the ruling class was afraid that the proliferation of private workshops would disrupt order and increase management costs, or perhaps because the mindset of "promoting agriculture and suppressing commerce" made them unwilling to allocate agricultural water, they still adopted the model of government-run workshops and folk primitive handicrafts. Large private workshops were suppressed, and the sprouts of capitalism were ultimately just sprouts.

Under the feudal system, government-run workshops found it difficult to achieve technological innovation and promotion, and were even unable to combat monopolies - they did suppress the monopolies of private businessmen, but they themselves became new monopolists.

Even in the 17th century, most of the production technology in the East was not behind that of the West. It was not a technological problem at all. The real backwardness was the deep-rooted feudal system.

Of course, the decline of the Yuan Dynasty's water-powered spinning wheel was not only due to the backward system, but also had a lot to do with the change of textile raw materials. As a large machine, the water-powered spinning wheel was suitable for long-fiber spinning and was generally used for hemp fiber spinning in the East. However, the Yuan and Ming dynasties happened to be the turning point from hemp to cotton in the Eastern textile industry. Up to now, cotton has almost replaced hemp and become the main raw material for cheap textiles in Eastern dynasties.

There are three kinds of cotton in the world: coarse-staple cotton originating in India, long-staple cotton originating in America, and fine-staple cotton. Unfortunately, the cotton of the Eastern Dynasty was coarse-staple cotton, which had short fibers and poor quality. It could basically only be woven by hand and was not suitable for factory production. The large water-powered spinning wheels were not reused and naturally disappeared gradually.

The Eastern Roman Empire was unable to solve the fiber problem of coarse-staple cotton, nor could it produce a textile machine suitable for short fibers. It was even less likely to give up the promising cotton and switch to linen, which was gradually becoming a sunset industry.

However, since the Eastern Roman Empire was a colonial empire, it introduced long-staple cotton and fine-staple cotton with longer fibers as early as when it discovered America. The coarse-staple cotton from major planting bases became obsolete overnight, and the fiber problem that had plagued textile workshops was solved.

Sometimes, it is not necessary to solve the problem at all, but to change the way of thinking. While studying the textile technology of the East, the Agricultural Research Institute of the Eastern Roman Empire also carried out some localized innovations on these textile machines, striving to achieve industrialized production as soon as possible.

In 1475, with the support of the royal family, Leonardo da Vinci from Italy made some improvements to the water-powered spinning wheel based on the drawings in Wang Zhen's Book of Agriculture. He added spindles and rollers, improved the efficiency of the water drive, and enabled it to be replaced by animal and human power when water power was insufficient.

In addition, he also designed some derivative models based on the existing large spinning wheel. In addition to the basic model with 32 spindles, there are also reduced models with 18 and 9 spindles, which are suitable for silk, wool and cotton respectively. Each factory can choose according to its actual needs.

This highly advanced textile machine was called the "Da Vinci" textile machine. According to tradition, all patents belonged to the sponsor. The Royal Textile Factory immediately started upgrading, and other private textile factories were required to pay a symbolic amount of money as patent fees.

Against this background, Ianna quickly followed suit and moved his original textile workshop in Carthage to the banks of the Majerda River west of the city, using the water of the Majerda River to drive the water wheel.

The textile industry of the Eastern Roman Empire had a relatively comprehensive range of raw materials, including cotton, linen, wool and silk. These four fabrics each had their own advantages and disadvantages. Even linen yarn had the advantages of being dry, sweat-permeable and inexpensive, making it suitable for use in hot areas.

During the development of the textile industry, the Eastern Roman Empire gradually formed three major textile centers, namely cotton and linen textile in Carthage, silk textile on the southern coast of the Aegean Sea, and wool textile on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea. Since Carthage was close to the Atlantic Ocean and the northern foothills of the Atlas Mountains were originally one of the cotton production bases, it temporarily became an important cotton textile center of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Of course, although the city of Carthage has the advantage of water conservancy of the Majerda River, the water volume of the Majerda River is small throughout the year and the flow rate is slow in the dry season. When raw materials become more abundant and the shipping system becomes more developed, the cotton textile industry will also shift to the Thrace region with more rivers and richer water resources.

By then, the city of Carthage might be able to maintain some textile industries, but the entire Africa region would only be reduced to a plantation and a raw material transit base.

The rising output brought spring to the textile market. Yanna's "Platinum Company" became the overlord of Carthage's cotton textile industry, and its annual output even exceeded that of the Royal Textile Group's branch in Carthage.

Now, Yanna has become a 53-year-old man. After working hard all his life, it is time for him to enjoy the fruits of his labor, but he dare not relax. Whenever someone mentions it, he always has something to say about his grievances.

As a capitalist who made his fortune from scratch during the heyday of the Eastern Roman Empire, Jannar suffered a lot when he was young, but he thought he had nothing to regret. He wanted to pass on his assets intact to his descendants and to make his family business flourish.

Due to working hard outside for many years, Yanna's eldest son and youngest son are both playboys who live a life of debauchery and idleness. The only relatively normal second son, although diligent, has no outstanding business acumen and excellent business talent. He is rather dull and can only honestly follow his father's instructions. He has no ability to think independently.

Capitalism in the Eastern Roman Empire had just gotten on track. New things and new technologies continued to emerge, and updates and replacements were rapid. Market competition became increasingly fierce. Janna did not think that his son could defeat his opponents in the cruel competition. He had to seek a more secure "iron rice bowl" for his descendants.

"Baron Yanna, we are about to reach Platinum Port. How are you going to expand your business territory this time?"

The ship was about to dock, and Pavlos looked at Yanna who was in a daze.

"From what I understand, your anemia has become increasingly serious. It seems that you should not continue to travel on the ocean."

"It is as you can see, Lord Pavlos."

Yangna put out the cigarette that was about to burn between his fingers and smiled.

"I'm afraid I won't live long. Before that, I want to leave something for my descendants. This time I came to Platinum Port to test those lower-level suppliers. They think I'm old and have been a little disobedient recently."

Yanna stopped smiling and sighed.

"We are not like you. You entered the government through examinations, made some achievements in the Colonial Ministry, and were appointed Governor of New Thrace."

"Competition in the textile industry is too fierce. There is competition within the cotton textile industry, and there is also competition among capitalists engaged in cotton, linen, wool and silk textiles."

"I wonder if there is a way to ease the internal competition a little bit?"

Yanna looked at Pavlos.

"Colonial Secretary William has ascended to the Kingdom of God. New Thrace is no longer directly under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Department. You are the first Governor of New Thrace appointed by His Majesty. Your future work is expected to help New Thrace become civilized and completely turn it into the second home of the Romans."

"New Thrace is the most mature overseas colony of the Eastern Empire. It has been developed for the longest time and has the largest Greek population. All the major chambers of commerce in the empire have markets here. The laws there are not as sound as those in the mainland. When you arrive in New Thrace, you will immediately realize the cruelty of the competition."

"I am naturally aware of what you mentioned, and this is what I will soon deal with. I will strictly enforce the laws of New Thrace and sow the seeds of civilization first in coastal cities."

Pavlos said.

"But in my opinion, appropriate competition is not a bad thing. It helps the innovation of new technologies and production models. Although Your Majesty has not issued any laws, the economics textbooks he has sent people to compile have clearly stated the harm caused by excessive monopoly."

"Yeah yeah."

Yanna's voice was a little low.

"I know that moderate competition is what His Majesty wants to see. I also know that the Fugger family has been punished by His Majesty for its excessive monopoly in the mining industry."

"However, capitalism in the Eastern Empire has just entered a period of vigorous development, and the markets of various countries are not connected at all. There are many small workshops in the private sector. It is impossible to achieve a true monopoly. This is also the content of economics textbooks."

Yanna said.

"Moderate monopoly helps promote resource integration, helps regulate market order, helps ease internal struggles, jointly develop overseas markets, and squeezes out foreign business groups. These advantages are also recognized by Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty has been promoting the commercial guilds for a long time. In fact, they have also formed local monopolies in essence. You will not deny this, right?"

Pavlos thought for a moment and said nothing. As a civil servant, he had only a very superficial understanding of economics, most of which came from the economic theories of ancient Greece and Rome. The only book on economics he had read seriously was Xenophon's "Economics".

He really doesn't understand these things.

"Our main goal now is to expand the market, while at the same time we must carry out cultural assimilation and religious dissemination, using this method to improve the quality of a certain market. Domestic competition should be eased, and all Roman capitalists should unite."

Yanna said slowly.

"As far as I know, the Moria Silk Union has long been quietly monopolizing the market. They did not completely suppress the Anatolian silk industry across the sea, but instead sought to integrate those small workshops, have the union uniformly set prices, allocate production and market share, slow down internal strife, and collectively enter overseas markets."

"They took advantage of the decline of Granada and Florence to seize most of the Italian market, and are now busy expanding the North Sea market."

"From the beginning, the commercial guilds of the Eastern Empire followed the German and Italian models. The Moreans did it even better. They attracted a large number of business talents from Italy. After Araun in Naples went bankrupt, almost half of the middle and senior managers entered the Morea."

"These people not only helped Moria Silk complete standardization and groupization, enhancing their ability to withstand pressure and overseas competitiveness, but also brought a new name to Moria Silk United Company."

Yanna looked at Pavlos and slowly uttered a Latin word.

“The Cartel.”

Cartel, which originally means "card", is an early form of capitalist monopoly organization. It originated from the urban guilds in the Middle Ages and first appeared in Italy during the Renaissance. However, it was not until the 19th century, when the international market matured, that this model truly showed its greatest power.

Pavlos listened and shook his head.

"I don't quite understand these terms, but I roughly understand what you mean. You don't trust your offspring, so you want to give them some insurance in this way, right?"

"What does your majesty think?"

"The royal family has shares in the Moria Silk Union Company, and several workshops in Moria controlled by the royal family have also joined it. What do you think he thinks?"

Yanna shrugged.

"As I said just now, monopoly organizations are the inevitable product of the development of capitalism. They are naturally generated. This is a double-edged sword. How to use it depends on where the current strategic focus is."

"The monopoly guilds have an overwhelming advantage over the independent foreign workshops. We must sell the empire's products to every corner of the known world and make the pie bigger first. As for how to divide it, that will be a matter for the future."

A sharp whistle was heard on the deck, and we had arrived at Platinum Port.

Ianna raised himself up with his cane, put on his hat, and bowed slightly to Pavlos.

"Your Excellency, Governor, I am about to disembark. When you arrive in New Thrace, you will surely see how brutal and bloody the competition there is. A great deal of time, energy, and money are spent on internal consumption instead of expanding production. By then, you may have a different opinion."

Under the escort of two black bodyguards, Yanna left the cabin, while Pavlos sat in the cabin, stunned and speechless.

……

At the end of 1477, the Leonardo da Vinci-style water-powered textile machine, which was improved from the Yuan Dynasty water-powered spinning wheel in the East, was rapidly promoted in various textile centers in the Eastern Roman Empire. Since then, the textile industry in the Eastern Roman Empire has officially entered the factory production stage from the manual workshop stage, becoming the first and only industry that can be factory-produced with the existing technology at the end of the 15th century.

There is really no other way. This is already one of the most powerful technologies in the East and even in the whole of mankind. What happens next can only depend on the imagination and creativity of the Eastern Roman people themselves.

At the same time, the industrialization of the textile industry led to an unprecedented prosperity in the capital market, and monopoly organizations naturally emerged.

On December 1477, 12, after resolving the affairs of Platinum Port, Ianna Vamvaki, a cotton textile giant in the Eastern Roman Empire, sailed back to Carthage to negotiate with the capital forces of the cotton textile industry, including the royal family. In the name of regulating domestic competition, easing internal conflicts, avoiding improper oppression, and expanding overseas markets, he imitated the Morea United Silk Group and formally established the Carthage United Cotton Textile Group, absorbing scattered workshop owners and setting up its headquarters in Ben Arus, the Acropolis of Carthage.

Since then, the textile industry, which was the first to start capital factoryization, has formed two monopoly organizations with cartel characteristics. Due to the scattered distribution of the wool industry and the low profits of the linen spinning industry, they have temporarily failed to embark on the "monopoly" road of silk and cotton spinning.

At the end of 1477, the prosperity of the textile industry brought about great changes, and the spark of the Industrial Revolution began to ignite. Although it was small, no one could deny that the trend of spreading like wildfire was just around the corner.

(End of this chapter)