As far as Marin knows, as the successor of Julius II, Leo X, the pope from the Medici family, had no problems with personal morality. He just valued the interests of the family too much and allowed Florence, which was acquired by the Pope, to return to the Medici family.
Unlike Alexander VI and Julius II, he seemed to be not very interested in women. Therefore, he did not have any illegitimate children. His younger brother seemed to be in charge of Florence, and even if he had children at home, he would not be a priest.
In this way, no one will snatch Leo X's resources in the Holy See in the future. Although Leo X had a younger brother who was three years younger, the future Pope Clement VII was not a junior in the Holy See, but was already at the age of being able to stand alone. He was even qualified to be Leo X's helper and was no longer the heir to resources. Therefore, Robert Jr. can be said to be the heir to Leo X's church resources in the Holy See in the future, and his identity was extremely unique.
Even if Leo X accepts other disciples in the future, Robert can still become a great disciple. It is like Jesus had 12 disciples, and the eldest disciple St. Peter was the chief heir and the first pope. In this European system where the eldest son inherits, the advantage of the eldest disciple is unparalleled. Compared with the eldest disciple, there are probably only the biological sons. However, Leo X seemed to have no illegitimate children...
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After talking about his son's apprenticeship, Marin plans to talk about another thing...
This time Marin is going to talk to Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici about a business, spice business...
Everyone knows that the spice business is currently one of the most profitable businesses in Europe, and it is higher than the profits of later generations. With a profit of dozens of times, the arms dealers and later generations will be jealous of them.
However, the spice business is currently monopolized by Spain and Portugal. If you want to buy spices, you must ask them to buy them.
Then, the Venetians who originally monopolized the spice trade, as well as the original spice trade channels of the Italian states, were all abandoned, and they could only watch the Spaniards and the Portuguese make huge profits but are powerless.
According to the agreement between Spain and Portugal, Spain occupies the spice market in the Mediterranean region. Portugal has spice markets in the Atlantic and North Sea regions of northern Europe, such as northern France. Portugal's spice wholesale center is located in Antwerp, the Netherlands...
As for Spain's spice trade wholesale center, it is temporarily established in Barcelona, ​​the most important port city on the Mediterranean West Coast.
However, Barcelona's geographical location is actually not very good. Because it is too far from the west. A reasonable location should be Geneva, the ports of Naples, and other places, including ports near the city of Rome.
Moreover, the port near Rome City is actually a very important spice trading port. Why? Because Rome City is the city with the largest spice consumption in Europe!
The people in the church all have money, especially the cardinals in Rome. These cardinals relied on the collection of tithes taxes in European countries, and they had to spend it after they got the benefits. Therefore, in Rome, many cardinals' money was used to buy spices and squandered them.
So, although Rome is not an important commercial city, the consumption of spices is second to none in Europe!
As for Marin, every time he goes to India (once every two years), he only has 50,000 pounds of spices to buy. Other spices are all wrapped up by Spain and Portugal.
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Of course, this is just a superficial phenomenon. In fact, Marin has long had a secret spice production place - Grenada!
Grenada is the second largest producer of nutmeg in later generations, with an annual output of two to three thousand tons of nutmeg (before the hurricane destroyed the nutmeg forest in 2005). The nutmeg yield per mu in the whole world is only about 12,000 tons... Moreover, it is said that the nutmeg produced in later generations in Grenada is a top-notch...
Marin started growing nutmeg in Grenada ten years ago. Now, after so long, 10,000 acres of local forests have been planted, and the annual nutmeg yield has reached the level of one million pounds of dried nutmeg.
At this moment in Europe, nutmeg is one of the most popular spices, which is more popular than pepper. Why? Because nutmeg has a hallucinogenic effect when eaten. People eat nutmeg, which can cause hallucinogenic and dream well. In the superstitious Middle Ages, nutmeg, a spice that can cause hallucinogenic and dream well, is definitely the king of spices.
But the problem is, unlike pepper, nutmeg yields are too small...
Nutmeg is native to the Maluku Islands, which is the Spice Islands. How much can nutmeg produce in a little bit of P?
Moreover, the nutmeg from the Spice Islands is not sold to India, only a part of it is sold to India. The rest are sold to Southeast Asia, and even China.
Pepper is widely grown in India, so the supply is naturally sufficient. The two are spices, but the degree of rarity is completely different. Pepper is a big product, while nutmeg is a rare product among spices...
Of course, the Spaniards now occupy the Spice Islands under the guidance of Marin. In the future, more nutmeg will flow to the European market. Of course, compared with the Indian pepper supply, the amount of nutmeg is still very insufficient...
Marin had an annual output of 1 million pounds, which was already scary. Because the price of nutmeg is 10 shillings per pound. That is to say, a pound of nutmeg is worth 2 gold coins! If 1 million pounds, it is worth 2 million gold coins!
In the European market, the total value of spices flowing in every year is only a few million gold coins. Marin took 1 million pounds at once, which seemed a bit scary!
After thinking about it, Marin finally planned to send most of the nutmeg to the Ming Dynasty for goods such as silk and porcelain. A small number of them were sold to Europe...
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! The reason for this decision is that Marin does not want to turn against Spain at the moment. If he sells all 1 million pounds of nutmeg to Europe at once, it will definitely seriously impact the market. Then, Marin and Spain will also turn against each other. Once they turn against each other, Marin cannot guarantee whether Spain will get involved in the Americas.
Of course, if Marin joins forces with the French, he will definitely be able to destroy Spain. However, Marin is even more afraid of the French. Moreover, if Spain needs to restrain the French, he will naturally not easily turn against Spain.
However, if you keep nutmeg in your hands and don’t sell it, it would be too wasteful. Even in the Ming Dynasty, where prices are very low, spices were not cheap. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, a liter of pepper was as high as 6 cents of silver, which is 0.6 taels of silver. Before Zheng He went to the West in the early Ming Dynasty, spices were so expensive, reaching twenty or thirty taels of silver per pound. Later, as Zheng He went to the West and opened the Southeast Asia trade route, pepper was reduced to a few cents of silver per pound. Because nutmeg is relatively sparse, the price is even higher.
The most important thing is that the Ming Dynasty had a large market and strong digestive ability! No matter how many millions of pounds you were, it was not enough to sell in the Ming Dynasty...
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However, although the Ming Dynasty had strong consumption capacity, the price could not be sold due to the generally low prices. If it were sold all of them in the Ming Dynasty, it would be a bit of a loss.
Therefore, Marin planned to secretly sell some nutmeg in Europe. But because of Spain, it cannot be sold publicly. Then, smuggling became the only choice...
But if you smuggle, you can't just transport the freight secretly. You have to have a next company. Otherwise, you won't get the money if you have the goods alone!
As for the target market for spice smuggling, Marin chose the Pope Kingdom in Italy. Originally, Marin wanted to cooperate with his Pope's father-in-law. However, his father-in-law was not very proficient in business. The Rovere family, because of the previous pursuit of Alexander VI's Borgia family, is now in a small population and cannot support the business empire. Moreover, his Pope's father-in-law seems to be about to ascend to heaven and is not a good partner.
In this way, the Medici family of the future pope will become a very good partner...
The Medici family is an old business family, with great experience in doing business and has a complete business channel. Cooperating with them will not have to worry about sales. Moreover, with Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici becoming a big celebrity in the Holy See, the Medici family's power has also expanded from the Florence region to the entire Pope. At least, there are a large number of business talents under their command, which is much better than the Rovere family, which is so weak.
Chapter completed!