"It seems that this gift has not been given for nothing. His Majesty the Pope no longer allows idle people to go to Rome casually. Now who can make a fuss in the Holy See?" Tim pinched his pen and pointed at the city of Rome and smiled.

"Your Majesty, the merchants have arrived. Do you want to see them?" Nathan reported loudly at the door.

Tim looked up and responded: "Let them wait in the hall. By the way, let them go to the treasury to get some pepper out."

The entourage quickly took a small bowl of pepper and handed it to Tim, who took the bowl and entered the hall.

"Your Majesty." When the merchants saw Tim coming in, they all quickly stood up and saluted, and then stood on both sides and did not dare to sit down again.

Tim put the bowl on the table next to him, and then turned around to greet the merchants to come and take a look: "You all come and see what this is?"

The merchants came forward one by one and took a peppercorn, then started to put it next to their noses and savor it gently in their mouths.

"Your Majesty, this taste..." Several merchants exclaimed as they tasted this taste: "Is this a spice?"

"I know you have seen spices in the hands of Venetian merchants, and it may be a bit hard to believe that this thing is also a spice." Tim waved his hand and signaled everyone to sit down: "But this thing also has the flavor of spices, and is the same as oriental spices."

"I will give each of you some spices later for you to sell. With this thing, I think you should know what to do to transfer the trade center from the eastern Mediterranean to us again?"

The merchants were excited after hearing Tim's words: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, since we have this thing, it will be much easier for us to seize the status of the Mediterranean Trade Center."

"Yes, the status of the Eastern Mediterranean Trade Center was also developed mainly by the spice business. Now that we have spices in our hands, we have all the strength to regain the status of the trade center."

"Even if you can't get it back, you can still make a share of the trade profit with the eastern Mediterranean."

"You just say that the source of this spice was exchanged from North African merchants who were active in Ceuta. Do you understand?" Tim told everyone carefully: "After you get the spices, you will go to Ceuta to gather for sale. All Portuguese merchants can only sell in Ceuta. If you dare to violate my order, then your right to sell will be immediately cancelled."

The merchants nodded quickly and agreed: "We must follow His Majesty's instructions and sell it only in the Ceuta area."

Spices are extremely precious in the European continent. At this moment, so many spices suddenly appear in the Portuguese Kingdom will inevitably arouse people's suspicion. Therefore, we must find an excuse for the source of these spices, otherwise the whole of Europe will be looking at the Iberian Peninsula, and then the pressure will be too great.

If Ceuta is proposed, it is not difficult to explain why there are spices in the Kingdom of Portugal. After all, spice trading is common in Africa. This is not only easier to convince people, but also the economic belt of Ceuta can be regarded as a killing of two birds with one stone.

Ceuta was originally a very prosperous trading port, where trade goods and merchants from North Africa, Europe and Asia were concentrated. It was precisely for this reason that Portugal planned the war to attack Ceuta.

However, since the Kingdom of Portugal obtained the Ceuta region of the Kingdom of Morocco, Ceuta's trade has declined rapidly. Under the leadership of King Mohammed II of Morocco, commodities and merchants from North Africa never went to Ceuta again, but instead went to Tagil, the port next to Ceuta. Tagil quickly flourished and developed, and Ceuta finally declined without the support of North African merchants and commodities.

After that, Ceuta finally became a piece of bad land. Not only did it not receive taxes every year, but the finances of the Kingdom of Portugal had to pay a lot of money to the Ceuta area. This was really a loss-making deal.

So taking this opportunity, Tim wanted to bring the economy of Ceuta. After all, Ceuta's geographical location is important and guards the Strait of Gibraltar, so Tim will never watch the Ceuta continue to decline.

Under the leadership of Tim and under the hype and promotion of Portuguese merchants, news of spice trading in the Kingdom of Portugal quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean. This time, the North African port city of Ceuta undoubtedly became the focus of everyone's discussion.

"There are also spice trading in the Kingdom of Portugal. I heard that the trading location is only set in the Ceuta area for the time being, and it will slowly expand to Lisbon, Sevilla, Porto and Naples."

"Portuguese businessmen said that the spices in their hands were traded with North African merchants in Ceuta. They said that the North African merchants really had spices in their hands."

"Tunisian merchants are also North African merchants, aren't they? But they said that they didn't have spices in their hands. Now, with the spices in the eastern Mediterranean being monopolized by the Venetians and Ottoman Turks, it's hard for them to get spices. I heard that after the Portuguese Kingdom suddenly had spice transactions, they all went to Ceuta."

"Let's go and have a look, maybe there's really a spice deal, and Portuguese merchants shouldn't be joking with their credibility."

"Yeah, go and have a look."

In just one week, merchants from all over Europe came to the Ceuta area. After almost all the merchants came, Tim ordered the Portuguese merchants concentrated in the Ceuta area to start selling.

The port of Ceuta, which has been neglected for decades, is full of ships today, and the dock is crowded with people, making it very lively.

In order to do this spice transaction, a group of Portuguese merchants had already transported all their goods to Ceuta. So when they walked into the streets of Ceuta, they saw that the shops on both sides of the street were gathered in the shops.

There are textiles from the Flanders region; aquatic products from the Nordic region; fruits and vegetables in the Naples region... This is not the end. Almost every shop has spices for sale, and spices are placed in the most conspicuous position. It is obvious that spice trading is the highlight, and other goods are just foils.

Looking at the brown and red seeds, the merchants were shocked and suspicious.

"Boss, are you really spices? Why doesn't you look like something in the hands of a Venetian businessman?" A Tunisian businessman in North Africa, wearing a white dress and a shiny scarf, looked at the Portuguese businessman with confusion.

"You will know after you try it. This is definitely a spice, it's just a different variety from the one in the hands of the Venetian merchant." As he said that, he took out a seed and handed it to the Tunisian merchant.
Chapter completed!