Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 647: Yiprahin Sends Out Troops
"You mean, there was a big turmoil in the Spanish America, and Philip had to send a major force to America to suppress it?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, this is confirmed by both the official notification from Spain that our ambassador to Madrid received and the news from our spies in various industries."
"Ha~" After confirming the authenticity of the news, Yiprahin grinned happily: "This self-righteous egomaniac should suffer a little more."
"My son, I must remind you. Although Spain's attention is distracted by America, the current European Union is still not something we can fight alone."
"I know, Dad." Frowning and looking at his father, Yiplash missed Richelieu a little: Alas, this old bureaucrat only knows how to handle the country's civil affairs with traditional methods, which is far worse than Richelieu.
However, although he was dissatisfied with his father's ability, he had no choice: with absolute loyalty and decent ability, his father was the best choice for the country at present.
"Dad, are the financial statements for the last fiscal year out? How are our income and expenditure?"
"Very good. The annual income is worth 2 million ducats. After deducting expenses from income, the country had a surplus of 400,000 ducats in the last fiscal year. Yiprahin, this is the fifth consecutive year that the country has had a fiscal surplus."
Looking at his smiling father and the civil affairs officials below with expressions that said “we did a great job, come and praise us”, Yiprahin’s mouth began to twitch again.
The Ottoman Empire originated from a small tribe under the Seljuk Empire. When the Seljuk Empire was falling apart, there were many tribes that had ambitions to replace it. But why did the Ottomans succeed? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that the leader of this tribe, Osman, was very economically conscious. When they first started, they minted exquisite, stable silver coins (Akche, transliterated as Ai Ke or Akche) to pay soldiers or bribe enemies.
As the saying goes, antiques are valuable in prosperous times, and gold is valuable in troubled times. In the turbulent times when the Seljuk Empire was falling apart and the entire Near East was in chaos, nothing could move people more than real gold and silver.
In short, relying on the tactic of throwing money around, the Ottomans quickly stood out from many competitions and eventually became the successors of the Seljuks.
After the establishment of the empire, the ik naturally became the common currency of the empire. In the early days of the empire, the Ottomans were in a period of rapid expansion and were fighting every day, so the money was naturally not enough. So the sultans learned to infiltrate copper and tin into the ik silver coins , and the reputation of the ik suffered a heavy blow.
Seeing that the national credit was about to go bankrupt, at this time (15th century), European countries led by Spain began to "exclude Jews". The Ottomans opened their arms and warmly embraced the large number of Jews who were expelled from Europe. The arrival of these Jews brought advanced science, technology, culture and education to the empire, as well as a large amount of "foreign capital". The Sultan, whose wallet was bulging, finally did not have to add impurities to the ik. The ik, whose value was stabilized again, became the common currency in the Near East and the Middle East. The Ottoman national power was once again thriving.
However, this good situation came to an abrupt end during the Age of Exploration: the trade route shifted from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ottoman treasury, which had previously been well-fed by commercial taxes, quickly shrank. The sultans, who were short of money, began to add money to the ek - but at this time, Spain obtained a large amount of silver from the Americas and minted silver coins such as the double column and the real, which had a very high silver content. Under the impact of both, the credit of the ek was completely bankrupt. From the early 17th century, the part of the Ottoman Empire adjacent to Europe gradually used the Spanish double column as a common currency.
It is needless to say how dangerous it is for a big country to use the currency of another country as its general equivalent. So after Ibrahim came to power, as a science student, he had to bite the bullet and rebuild the credit of his country's currency.
Because Ike's reputation was so bad, when Ibrahim first took over as Grand Vizier, he had to issue an economic decree: the national currency was linked to the Ducat gold coin issued by the Bank of Venice - this gold coin was famous in Europe and the Mediterranean coast for its exquisite casting, extremely high purity and stable currency value, and Venice was still an independent republic at that time. Therefore, although the national currency was linked to the Ducat, it was a last resort, but it was much better than the widespread use of double columns in the country.
The result of the first large-scale foreign war of the European Union from 1624 to 1626 was that the Ottomans survived, but the Republic of Venice ceased to exist. However, in this process, the Ottomans took over many talents and technologies of the Bank of Venice outside their homeland. The minting of the Ducat gold coin was transferred from Venice to Istanbul.
After the constant high-value currency casting technology was established, along with Ibrahim's plastic products and the bonus of Lucun Star, the Ottoman economy began to recover rapidly: when Ibrahim first promulgated the link between ek and ducat, 200 ek was worth one ducat. But now, 85 ek is equivalent to one ducat: the silver content of ek has risen again, which fully demonstrates that a large amount of wealth is flowing into the Ottomans.
As for where the wealth came from, due to Philip's threats, Ibrahim was envious of the European market, but he did not dare to over-dump it there. Therefore, this foreign wealth mainly came from Persia.
In terms of history, the Safavid Persians had been fighting the Ottoman Empire since shortly after their founding. This was a factional struggle between the Shia and Sunni factions, a struggle for the interests of the Middle East trade routes, and a geopolitical struggle. The war between the two great powers lasted for three hundred years, completely bringing down the two most powerful empires in the Star-Moon World.
In this plane, although he is a science student, as a Turk, Ibrahim, who remembers this history, did not choose a brutal war, but chose economic invasion.
Since he ascended to the position of Grand Vizier, Ottoman merchants have entered Safavid Persia with a large number of revolutionary goods. While making huge profits, they have also completely destroyed the Persian people's own handicrafts and even agriculture.
"Sir, our spies in Tabriz have reported that Safi Shah has recently issued several orders concerning our country."
"Hmm? What exactly?"
"To put it simply, it means raising tariffs, cracking down on smuggling, and restricting our merchants from entering the interior of Persia."
"Haha, this idiot, he just realized it now, isn't it too late?"
"Ibrahim, the empire's trade surplus last year reached 6 million ducats, 90% of which came from Persia. If the Persians really do this, it will be a devastating blow to our finances."
"I know, Dad." After gently waving his hand to stop old Sokoli from speaking, Ibrahim turned his eyes to his favorite general, the Russian Boris: "How is our army prepared now?"
"Two hundred thousand national defense troops are ready to go into battle at any time, and one million reserve troops have been built. All reserve personnel have undergone at least three months of training. Once they are called up, they can immediately go to the battlefield to fight after a short period of training."
"Hussein, where are our armaments?"
"Sir, the factories in the three heavy industrial zones of Ankara, Izmir, and the Caucasus are currently operating on a one-shift system. If you need us to, we can quickly switch to a three-shift system. The guns, artillery and ammunition produced are enough to support the consumption of 200,000 national defense forces."
"Dad, where is our food?"
"The Ukrainian plains are now producing large quantities of wheat on a stable basis. The country's current stockpile is sufficient to ensure food supply for the army and the people even if there is no harvest next year."
"Sir Hayreddin, are you satisfied with the new ship I gave you? Can the navy be put into battle now?"
"I am very grateful to His Excellency the Grand Vizier for gifting me the Empire's first ironclad ship as my flagship. Although I am not sure what role our navy can play in attacking Persia before the opening of the Don-Volga Canal. But as long as you need it, the navy will absolutely obey all your orders!"
"Very good." The 36-year-old Ibrahim stood up and said, "Everyone, the real enemy of the empire is the European Union in the west, and China in the east in the future. The goal of our selfless work has always been to defeat these two opponents. As for the Persians who are so close, although they are heretics, they are still brothers of the Star and the Moon. Therefore, over the years, although we have completely taken the advantage in armaments, I have never thought of using military means to deal with the Persians.
But now, since that fool Safi wants to destroy himself, I don't mind helping him. Give the order now!"
"I will follow your instructions, Your Excellency Grand Vizier!"
"First, our diplomats must send a clear note to Safi, asking him to repeal the decree he has just issued that is unfavorable to our merchants. Of course, I believe he will definitely not agree, but it doesn't matter. As long as he dares to refuse, our diplomats will directly read them the declaration of war."
"As you command, sir."
"The second item is still the work of diplomats . Let our ambassador in Madrid go directly to the self-righteous Majesty Philip. Our navy needs to blockade the Persian Gulf through the Suez Canal and ask him for support. Don't worry, His Majesty is eager for our power to move eastward, so he will definitely agree to this request."
"Yes, sir, we will try our best to get the approval from His Majesty Philip within a month."
"Very good. Next is the third item. Prepare to execute the third plan for attacking Persia that we have prepared long ago."
"Your Mightiness?"
"Boris, do you have any questions?"
"If I remember correctly, Plan No. 3 only requires the use of 100,000 regular troops and another 100,000 reserve troops to participate in a medium-sized war. And the goal of the war is only to defeat the Persians and force them to sign a treaty that is beneficial to us, but not to completely occupy Persia."
"...Yes, Boris." After taking a deep breath, Ibrahim patiently explained: "Persia has been ruled by the Shia for many years, and this nation has a long history and culture, and has its own unique tenacity and pride. If we rule such a nation directly, the cost of ruling is too high. Therefore, my goal is to destroy the central government of Safavid Persia and restore the Persians to a fragmented state. In this way, our civilian products can be popular and make profits, and our military products can also find a market there."
