1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 69 Pirate Act
Pirate, an ancient and long-standing profession.

Some say that pirates have existed since the day ships were invented.

Ancient Greece was undoubtedly a maritime civilization. The Balkan Peninsula is crisscrossed with mountains, which is not suitable for agricultural development and cannot support a large population.

As the saying goes, when God closes a door, he often opens a window.

Greece is surrounded by the sea on three sides, with a long and narrow coastline and many excellent harbors.

This led the people of ancient Greece to explore the sea very early on, colonize various habitable places, establish city-states, open up waterways, and engage in trade.

Trade comes from profit, and profit-seeking pirates are born from this.

"We are pirates, fierce pirates, oh oh..."

"Holding the bottle in the left hand and the treasure in the right hand, woo woo ..."

On the vast Mediterranean Sea, a tattered paddle boat was moving crookedly with its patched sails bulging.

"We are not afraid of the Venetian fleet, la la..."

"Not to mention the idiots of the Knights Hospitaller, haha..."

A drunken old sailor was steering the boat with one hand and holding a dirty bottle of wine with the other.

"Billy! Shut your pig mouth!"

In the captain's room, a head popped out and roared angrily.

"Stupid Jetner, either you fire me or just stay out of it!"

Drunk Billy turned around and yelled at Captain Jetner, unwilling to be outdone.

After a while, the sound stopped.

Jetna breathed a sigh of relief and focused on his own business.

"belch--"

"We are the kings of the Aegean Sea, huhu..."

The hoarse and mocking voice began to float again.

"What a damn bad luck!"

In the narrow and cramped captain's room, Jetna hit the navigation table with a heavy hammer, almost knocking it over.

A letter fell to the ground.

Jetna picked it up carefully, mustered up his courage, and opened it again.

There were some kind of runes scrawled on the letter, like a child's play.

Jetna took out the code book, took a deep breath, calmed himself, and read it again.

"Dear Jetna, my eternal friend, I believe you will be very surprised to see the letter written in secret language again..."

"The prison in Genoa is dark, but I got to know a lot of tough guys in there..."

"Almighty God! Didn't you bestow your grace upon me just so that I can spread your gospel?"

"Under the guidance of God, I came to Bilinchi, a new country founded by the Jihadist Isaac..."

"King Isaac treated me very well. He did not look down on my pirate identity, nor did he discriminate against my Genoese ancestry. This is somewhat different from our stereotypes..."

"Of course, this may have something to do with King Isaac's half-Genoese bloodline."

The writer talked on and on for a long time, which made Jetna very annoyed.

"My dear brother, I believe that you will be angry and angry when you see this, and scold me for being long-winded, but this is not a good habit. God will not--"

Jetna resisted the urge to tear the letter to pieces, swallowed his saliva, and his Adam's apple trembled up and down.

Jump to the following lines.

"Oh, God……"

Jump again.

"Lord Almighty, I..."

Just start from the last paragraph!
"In short, I have been entrusted with an important task, serving as the captain of the Grand Archon and the captain of the Marine Corps. But I am not afraid to tell you that there are only 30 people in the entire Marine Corps, and they are all my friends in prison..."

"Speaking of the prison in Genoa..."

"We are about to wage a holy war on the sea, wield the sword in the name of God, and fight against the infidels in the name of God."

"King Isaac is courteous enough to lead us in the holy war. What are we waiting for? See you in Bilinchi!"

"Your friend forever,"

"Giovanni Giustitiani."

call--

Finally, under the double torture of the drunkard Billy and the fanatic Giovanni, Jetner finished reading the letter, took a long breath, and began to think.

Although Giovanni liked to write long letters and talk about religion in a long-winded way, he was a very reliable person and never told lies.

There are only thirteen sailors on his own shabby ship, and usually he can only follow behind the large pirate ship to eat and drink, and even then it depends on other people's moods.

Without money, there would be no big ships and sailors.

Without big ships and sailors, there would be no money.

Jetna's eyes turned.

He had no interest in the so-called holy war, but he was deeply impressed by King Isaac and his famous Mediterranean fleet.

A fleet that dares to rob the Mamluk Sultan's transport ships should be able to accomplish something big if it is determined, right?

Jetna took out the crumpled nautical chart, fished out a compass and a broken pen from under the bed, and calculated his position.

"Billy, old fool!"

Jetner poked his head out.

"We are pirates, proud pirates! Oh oh..."

"Idiot, full left!"

bang——

The bottle hit the deck in front of him, startling Jetna.

"We are the sons of the sea, holding high the flag of freedom, yo ho..."

With a creaking sound, the pirate ship "Smart Billy" sailed towards the southwest.

……

In April 1449, driven by the efforts of some interested parties, a piece of news began to spread across the eastern Mediterranean.

Isaac the Death Teller of the Kingdom of Cyrenaica is preparing for a naval holy war, and will join forces with the Republic of Genoa and many Christian pirates to launch a large-scale sweep of the Islamic coast.

Suddenly, many small and medium-sized pirate forces became active and wanted to join in the holy war.

However, the Venetians, the overlord of the Eastern Mediterranean, were quite disdainful of this news.

These merchants do not care about the Pope's thoughts at all. Not only are they willing to engage in commercial trade with Islamic countries, they also sell large quantities of weapons and armor to Muslims, which are strictly prohibited from export by the Vatican.

They almost monopolized the most valuable spice trade in the eastern Mediterranean and had considerable trade influence in Islamic countries such as the Mamluks.

Anyone who dares to challenge their trade authority in the Eastern Mediterranean will be crushed to pieces by them!
Even the Republic of Genoa in its heyday was defeated by Venice, so what was little Cyrenaica?
Even so, many small and medium-sized pirate forces still flocked to Bilinchi, wanting to join in this feast.

They were not worried about failure. In recent years, Captain Fidel and his ship, the Grand Duke of Morea, had successfully robbed the Mamluk Sultan's transport ships many times, and had established considerable reputation.

The Venetians were unwilling to break off relations with their trading partners, and the Knights Hospitaller did not want to play with them. These sea madmen who valued money over their lives gathered in the port of Birinci like wolves smelling blood.

“Hmm, ohh…” “Ouch!”

Jetner punched drunk Billy on the shoulder, knocking him off balance.

"Captain, I resign!"

"From now on, the Smarty Billy will have no first mate!"

Jetna ignored the old sailor who sometimes went crazy and just watched the people coming and going at the Bilinchi Pier.

In recent days, this place has been filled with pirates and all kinds of people who have come here after hearing the news. The increase in the flow of people has also indirectly promoted the prosperity of business.

"St. Joseph's wine! Sailors' favorite!"

Jetna grabbed Billy, the drunk who was drooling over the crystal wine bottle, and then walked into the crowd.

"Amulet of the sea! It carries the blessing of the sea god Nidump!"

"Only ten ducats!"

' cried a shifty Italian vendor.

"Pagan, caught!"

The crowd laughed, and the vendor cursed and ran away.

"Dates! Dates from Surt!"

"Sir, do you need a bath girl? I will definitely satisfy you..."

"Navigation medicine! It can cure the curse at sea! I am a sailor on the St. Nicholas, and it has been proven to be effective..."

Jetna smiled and didn't believe in such things at all.

He grabbed Billy, pushed away the street vendor, declined the kindness of the scantily clad bath girl, and continued walking towards his destination.

Walking through the bustling dock district, under the watchful eyes of the guards, Jetna entered a tavern.

The tavern was clean and elegantly decorated. The bar was simple and elegant, the waitresses were graceful, and most of the drinkers wore military uniforms and carried swords. Although they were vulgar, they were not rude.

Jetna understood that this was not pirate territory at all.

Just as he was hesitating, a familiar voice called him.

"Jetner! Billy! Here!"

In a small corner, Giovanni was surrounded by a group of people. He smiled and invited his two old friends to take a seat.

Only then did Jetna realize that the people surrounding Giovanni were all old buddies from the same pirate ship, and they were friends for life.

Giovanni enthusiastically grabbed Jetner, pressed him against his side, and then skillfully threw Billy a bottle of good wine.

"Brother, we have to keep our voices down. This was originally the territory of the Guards. I managed to seize a piece of this land with great difficulty..."

"The desert honey wine here is unique, you should try it..."

"How have you been these last few years, God willing?"

Giovanni poured the golden wine for Jetna.

"What else can I do? Every penny I earned was drunk by this old drunkard Billy..."

There was a burst of low laughter, and everyone started talking about the past.

Surrounded by his old friends, Jetna let down his guard, drank with everyone, and talked about the past and the future.

When they were half drunk, everyone began to remember the purpose of their visit.

"By the grace of God...hiccup..."

Everyone looked at each other and Jetna nodded.

He lowered his head and placed his mouth next to Giovanni's ear.

"First mate, the captain is dead. You are the boss. Now that you are rich, you must not forget your old brother!"

"Of course! This is all from the Lord..."

"You called us here. Is there any new news?"

"What exactly does King Isaac want? Can you tell me?"

Giovanni sobered up and looked serious as he looked at everyone.

"You are all my confidants, and I will not hide anything from you."

"This time, I'm bringing you here to make a fortune."

Giovanni pulled out a beautiful document from his pocket.

……

"Privateer letters of marque?"

Iseult looked at the document that Isaac handed over.

"Yes."

“What is its function?”

"Those who possess the license can dock at any of our ports for supplies, recruit sailors at the ports, purchase slaves and navigation medicines at low prices, and use the naval repair yard in Aulon City at low prices."

"The most important thing is that after registering with us and obtaining a privateering license, the pirates' identities will be cleansed and their looting behavior will be regarded as part of holy war."

"This is a decree from Pope Nicholas V and Patriarch Gregory III."

Isaac showed the permission documents from two religious leaders.

Isurt's face looked a little ugly.

"Your Majesty, I must remind you that you are a king, the purple nobleman under the apple tree, co-emperor of the Romans, not a pirate!"

"To condone pirates or even support them is something that even the Venetians would not do openly!"

Isaac sighed softly. This top student who graduated from the University of Florence was a bit aloof and unwilling to do these things that he thought were very dirty.

When Isaac vigorously developed the slave trade, Isurter was somewhat unhappy, thinking that this was not something a despotic prince should do.

"Dear Iseult, don't worry too much about reputation. It's useless."

"By supporting piracy, we can keep our enemies on the defensive, we can harass the Ottoman seas while Constantinople is under siege, and we can also recruit enough sailors and even ships in the process."

"These pirates are not recognized by any country and are hiding from each other. If we can gather them together, we can make a lot of money just from the service fees."

"We can build a pirate port specifically for privateers to use, use their power to enrich our own treasury and weaken the enemy's strength!"

Wherever there is a sea route, there will be pirates. This is a very powerful force that will always exist whether you admit it or not.

Several decades later in the original time and space, the Ottoman Empire successfully built its own navy from scratch, relying on pirates who were not favored by anyone at the time. It traversed the entire Mediterranean and even rushed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Kemal Reis, Piri Reis, Barbaros Hayreddin...

Weren't these legendary figures who became famous in later generations small pirates in their early years?
Isurte still had a complicated expression.

"Your Highness, have you ever considered that most of these pirates don't care whether the people they rob are Christians or Muslims? Allowing them to rob will cause you great trouble."

"Let's not even talk about how the monarchs of various countries will view you. Just the obstacle of Venice will be difficult for you to overcome."

This is true. Isaac may not care about the opinions of monarchs of various countries, but he cannot ignore the opinions of the Venetians, the maritime overlord.

"We will shift our main target away from the Venetian trade colonies, bring in the Pope to negotiate with them, and strive for their neutrality."

"The Venetians are not a monolithic people. Many people in the Council of Forty are dissatisfied with Christian, who monopolized the Mamluk trade. We can also take advantage of this."

In short, we can’t give up the huge profits that are about to be obtained just because of the possible anger of the Venetians, right?
It is not Isaac's style to give up eating because of choking.

(End of this chapter)