Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 854

Calais.

This port, located in northern France, and its surrounding area were essential for France to reclaim.

Since being captured by England in the early stages of the Hundred Years’ War, Calais had remained English territory.

Calais was also an important region for England.

It was England’s only gateway to the European mainland and the export port for the famous English wool.

By order of Edward III, those intending to import or export English wool could only trade in Calais.

Therefore, France needed to seize Calais not only to recover its territory but also to tighten the economic noose around England.

Conversely, England had to defend Calais for the opposite reason.

And the Medici did not want either England or France to gain an advantage.

* * *

Cosimo looked at Lorenzo and Giovanni and continued.

“As Giovanni said, if France wages war to seize Calais, we will have to spend a lot of money, more than we can afford. And we won’t even receive the principal properly, let alone the interest. This is definitely not what we want.”

Giovanni and Lorenzo nodded at Cosimo’s words.

“That’s right.”

When the Medici Bank lent funds to kings and nobles, the repayment period was at least ten years. And they assumed there was almost no chance of getting the principal back within that repayment period.

What the Medici wanted was the right as a creditor and the interest.

Of course, that interest was not visible gold and silver coins but invisible benefits.

The best examples of this were the Volterra alum mines and the loan to Edward IV.

* * *

Alum [a mineral salt used in dyeing and other industrial processes] was essential for the glassmaking, leather processing, and textile industries, which were core industries in Italy at the time.

At that time, this alum was imported from the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottomans were controlling exports, and Genoa was exercising its monopoly.

But the situation changed when alum mines were discovered in Volterra. The Papal States first pursued the business, followed by the Medici Bank’s decision to invest.

It was a natural decision for the Medici.

Volterra’s location was important from the start. Located about 50 km southeast of Florence, Volterra was a subordinate city under Florence’s control. Therefore, they had to prevent the Pope’s influence from reaching it.

Secondly, they could undermine Genoa, which was exercising its monopoly.

In the process of seizing Suez, Cosimo joined hands with Mehmed II. By joining hands with the Ottomans, Cosimo asked them to abolish Genoa’s monopoly. However, Mehmed II expressed his reluctance.

“It is a policy passed down from my predecessors, so I cannot change it easily.”

However, both Cosimo and Mehmed II knew that this was an excuse. Nevertheless, Cosimo had no choice but to step back. The Ottoman Empire was too strong an opponent to handle with Cosimo’s power alone, and Suez was at stake.

To properly confront the Ottomans, he would have had to organize a crusade, and if that happened, Cosimo would have had to give up his interests in Suez.

However, with the discovery of alum mines in Volterra, he was able to give Genoa a big ‘screw you’ and the Ottomans a smaller one.

To get the Volterra mines, the Medici Bank bribed the Pope and the Papal States and made additional loans.

Finally, the Pope, who accepted the condition of charging a fee for the alum produced from the Volterra mines, banned the import of alum from the Ottoman Empire into the Papal States.

* * *

Cosimo continued to speak to Lorenzo and Giovanni.

“It may sound like an old man’s nagging, but I have to keep talking. It’s for the sake of our family’s survival and glory.”

Based on his accumulated experience, Cosimo gave teachings to Giovanni and Lorenzo.

-Never lend money to only one side. If you do, that money may return as a blade aimed at our hearts.

To prevent that, you must also lend money to the borrower’s competitors. Even if you can’t lend them the same amount, you should lend them enough to maintain a good relationship.

That way, they will become a shield to protect us.

-Do not prevent borrowers from being extravagant. The more extravagant they are, the more we can take.

Cosimo continued to give various pieces of advice, then took a sip of the wine he had placed beside him and began to wrap things up.

“…Speaking of borrowers’ extravagance, this is why we should lend not only to kings but also to nobles. The example of Edward III of England shows this well.”

To build up England’s woolen industry, Edward III took several measures, one of which was to ban the import of woolen goods produced on the European mainland into England.

However, there was discrimination in this policy.

Woolen goods aimed at commoners were completely banned, but high-quality woolen goods used by nobles were allowed to be imported to some extent.

This was an inevitable decision by Edward III, who was concerned about the backlash from the nobles. If the nobles rose up immediately, his power would become unstable.

The same was true for Edward IV and Louis XI, who were actively strengthening royal authority. Even those who are regarded as having overwhelmingly stronger royal authority than their predecessors sometimes made concessions to the nobles in certain areas.

“Lorenzo.”

“Yes.”

When he was named, Lorenzo immediately straightened his posture and looked at Cosimo.

“What I have said so far applies to Europe. No, broadly speaking, it applies to the Ottoman Empire as well. But you must remember that it does not apply to those Eastern countries, the Empire, Ming [China], and Japan. In particular, the Empire and Ming are countries that can encompass the entire Europe with just one country. If you use any clumsy tricks, our family will be eaten. Keep this in mind.”

“Yes.”

Although he answered, Lorenzo’s expression was not good. Seeing that expression, Cosimo turned to Giovanni.

“Giovanni, you know from experience, right?”

“Yes, they are people you should never let your guard down against. Even the merchants of Japan, who can be said to be the weakest among them, are entities that you can never underestimate.”

Giovanni shook his head slightly as he answered, as if bad memories had surfaced. None of the transactions he had made while traveling between the Empire, Ming, and Japan were easy.

The most difficult opponent among the Empire, Ming, and Japan was by far the Empire. With other countries, you only had to deal with the merchants. If you took care of the officials a little separately, everything went smoothly.

But the Empire was on a different level. The merchants were so cunning that even the Jews would cry. And the Empire’s officials were playing above those merchants. Moreover, bribes did not work.

It was because of that damn ‘Recorder’ [referring to a strict record-keeping system or official].

Cosimo, watching Giovanni’s expression, looked back at Lorenzo.

“I hear you’ve been hanging out with dreamers lately.”

“They are not dreamers but patriots.”

Cosimo scoffed at Lorenzo’s answer.

“Huh! ‘Unification of Italy, Revival of Rome’? If that’s not a delusion, then what is? A person flying in the sky? Ah! This is not a delusion. The Empire has already floated people in the sky.”

Despite Cosimo’s rebuke, Lorenzo asserted his argument.

“Italy must become one. Otherwise, it will only fall prey to other countries! Survival is impossible with the current city-state system!”

At Lorenzo’s protest, Cosimo assumed a serious expression and replied.

“Your situation assessment is not wrong. It is certainly difficult to survive as a city-state when you look at the current situation in Europe.”

“That’s right! Therefore, unification must be achieved!”

“Hoo~.”

When Lorenzo raised his voice, Cosimo sighed and muttered.

“The emperor who founded the Empire clicked his tongue whenever he saw his ministers during his reign; I understand that feeling. Tsk!”

Cosimo, clicking his tongue strongly, began to question Lorenzo aggressively.

“Not long after you were sent to the ‘Land of Flowers’ [a euphemism for a distant or exotic place], there were people shouting the same nonsense as you among the professors at the University of Florence. I asked something then. You answer it too. First, how many Italians now recognize that they are Italian? Everyone says ‘I am a Florentine’, ‘I am a Genoese’ and names the city where they were born first. Do you think unification will be possible in this situation?”

“We can educate them after unification.”

“With education?”

“Yes, first make them recognize that they are Italian. Hometown is next.”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“I think it’s possible if we look at the example of Japan.”

“Hmm….”

Cosimo, having heard Lorenzo’s answer, stroked his chin and fell into thought.

Since the passage to the East opened, a lot of information from the East has come to Europe, to Medici. It was just a fulfillment of curiosity for other rulers in Europe, but for Medici, and Cosimo, it was the most important information.

In particular, the stories and information related to the war between Ming and Joseon [Korea], and the war that broke out again between Ming and the Empire after some time, stimulated the young people of the Medici family and the young intellectuals of Florence.

“A weak country gradually built up its strength and overcame the superpower that was suppressing them?”

“That was possible?”

The young people of the Medici family and the young intellectuals of Florence simultaneously recalled the same topic at the fact that what they thought was impossible was not impossible.

“Then?”

The young people began to apply Florence to the Empire and assess the possibilities. However, the young people were frustrated after a while.

“The situation is too different. Even though the ‘Land of Flowers’ is a small country, it is several times larger than Florence. We can’t ignore this part.”

Even if you add up the population of the areas subordinate to Florence, including Florence and Pisa, it was far less compared to when the Empire proclaimed itself an empire.

Excluding financial power, the intellectuals who dreamed of unification had no choice but to be frustrated at the too insignificant reality.

However, it was Japan that revived these frustrated people.

To be more precise, it was Ouchi’s unification of Japan.

“Did the ruler and his family who unified Japan also start as a single family?”

The people stimulated by Ouchi’s unification of Japan began to examine the Ouchi’s Japan unification process in detail.

“This is the answer!”

The people, investigating and analyzing like crazy, cheered with expressions as if they had met a ray of light in the darkness.

Convinced that the answer they wanted was in the unification process of Japan, they dug deeper and deeper, more and more enthusiastically.

And, having dug so deeply, they put their hands on their foreheads.

“Again, the ‘Land of Flowers’, and its emperors?”