Just as the Turks said, Venice is now in a desperate situation! As a small country, Venice has fought several wars with Türkiye in the past two hundred years.

The wars again and again may not have caused Venice to perish, but for a small country, the ongoing war has seriously overdrawn the war potential of this country.

In fact, the Fifth War of Viagra was also the beginning of the full recession of Venice. After the war ended in history, even if Venice seized a large area of ​​Turkey's land in Dalmatia, the loss of Venice's most prosperous overseas territory, Crete, meant that it had lost control of the Eastern Mediterranean for 500 years.

Moreover, the decline of Venice was a historical necessity. From the end of the 15th century, with the opening of a new route, European commercial centers shifted from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic coast. Venice, which relied on Mediterranean trade to sell Oriental goods to Europe for a living, suffered a heavy blow. At the beginning of the 16th century, Venice was defeated by an alliance formed by Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope, and its territory was shrinking. After the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople in 1453, it fought a naval battle with Venice that lasted for more than 200 years, and Venice's colonies in the Balkans and the Mediterranean were completely lost.

The recession of Venice...it is almost inevitable!

Every Venetian is conscious about this, after all, the center of world trade has shifted from the Mediterranean to the new route.

Without the support of Mediterranean re-export trade, there are no profitable products from the East. Venice has experienced many economic crises.

And the current protracted war is simply a nightmare in a nightmare. Even the Venetians occupied the Turkish land in the past twenty years, and even the victory of the two Dardanelles naval battles in 1649 and 1656 even caused the Turks to have the idea of ​​having peace talks.

But as the largest country in Europe, what is Turkey's biggest reliance? It is the continuous potential for war. When the Venetians were about to exhaust their potential for war, the Turks mobilized their army again. Even when the fleet was wiped out, Turkey rebuilt a navy in less than two or three months, even larger than it was in the past.

This is also the reason why the Venetians would fail in the third Battle of Dardanelles. The failure of that battle made them lose their control over the sea and a large number of warships. The failure of that battle made Venice's morale plummet to freezing point.

From that day on, all Venetians understood one truth. Venice had no ability to challenge the Turks at all. Facing Turkey's continuous potential for war, failure is destined and inevitable!

Under such circumstances, in Crete, the fleet commander Morosini was still holding on, but the Venetian Navy, as the only hope, was in a slump and could not help them at all. Moreover, the domestic economy was getting depressed, and for a time, there was a constant call for peace talks in the parliament of the Republic of Venice.

Peace talks.

Of course peace talks can be made, of course Venice is willing, and they are even willing to return the large swaths of land occupied by the Turks in Dalmatia, but the question is whether the Turks are willing?

Like the wars in the past, in order to survive, the Venetians once again took the initiative to negotiate for peace. However, the Turkish lion spoke up, which made these merchants sweat a lot.

"Retract troops from Dalmatia, pay Durant's compensation of 1 million yuan, ceding Crete and other islands in the Aegean Sea..."

When Domenico II Contarini, the Governor of the Republic of Venice, learned of the conditions offered by the Turks, he did not speak for a long time. No matter which of these conditions were, they were fatal to Venice, especially Crete, which is the lifeline of Venice and was ceded to the Turks. Once Crete is lost, it means that Venice will lose the entire Mediterranean. Will Venice have a future after exiting from the Mediterranean?

Faced with the extremely harsh conditions offered by the Turks, former Governor Giovanni Pesaro immediately shouted.

"They are crazy, 1 million Durant! That's 1 million Durant!"

Durant is a Venetian gold coin, and the annual fiscal revenue of Venice is only one or two million Ducate gold coins. This kind of gold coin is almost enough, weighing 3.56 grams, and one million Durant is definitely a huge sum in this era. When the last war failed, they only paid 300,000 yuan in compensation.

"I cannot submit such a piece to the Grand Parliament for consideration, and it is impossible for the Grand Parliament to agree."

Faced with the conditions offered by the Turks, Nickro Zagledo shouted angrily.

The Republic of Venice, called a republic, is actually aristocratic oligarchy. Nearly 100 governors in the past thousand years have all come from dozens of great noble families in Venice. The election of the governor and government officials is fully responsible for the Grand Parliament. The biggest feature of the Grand Parliament is that all members come from the Venetian aristocratic families. This qualification can be hereditary, and whether it is the governor or other senior officials, they are elected from these members of the Grand Parliament.

The role of the Grand Parliament is not only to elect a governor, but more importantly, the security cornerstone of the Venetian republic system. Entering the Grand Parliament is not only close to power, but also a supreme honor. The illegitimate children of aristocrats or children born to untouchables are not qualified. In order to prevent cheating, Venice also formulated a system of "golden plots". From marriage to children of aristocrats, they must be strictly registered and recorded, which is the so-called "golden plot". When aristocrats reach adulthood, only those on the list of golden plots are qualified to enter the Grand Parliament. They are definitely hereditary "official families".

Or many Menico II Contarini were governors and officials, but in the end, whether to accept the peace agreement or not is determined by the Grand Parliament, and the Grand Parliament would definitely not agree on such conditions. Whether it is a million in compensation or a cede to Crete, it is Venice's richest overseas territory and the foundation of Venice's maritime hegemony.

Those people in the Great Parliament certainly would not tolerate Venice going to Crete. After all, everyone knew very well what Crete meant to Venice.

It is not only the hegemony at sea, but also the future of Venice. Losing Crete means that Venice no longer has a future.

"Nickro, don't be excited. Don't forget that the Grand Parliament asked us to seek peace from the Turks. Since the Turks have sent the conditions for peace talks, it's up to the Grand Parliament to decide whether to accept these conditions."

Marcandonho Justinian said indifferently. Such a result was already expected by him. As a hardliner in the republic, he had always opposed peace talks. More than 20 years later, as soon as he was elected governor, he immediately launched diplomatic activities, forming a "sacred alliance" with Habsburg, Poland and Russia, declared war on Turkey again, and seized the Morian Peninsula and some Aegean islands. During the war, he tried to regain Crete. Although he failed, it was also the only time that Venice won a complete victory in the war against Turkey.

Now, he is just a member of the Governor's Office's advisory group. But this does not prevent him from expressing his views as a hardliner in Venice.

"Marcandogno, though that's what it said. The Turks have put forward the conditions that are too harsh. But what if our merchants don't mind spending one million Durants to redeem their ships, and don't mind spending more money to redeem Chania?"

Chania is Crete. In order to facilitate the rule of Crete, after occupying Crete hundreds of years ago, Venice established the so-called "Kania Kingdom" and sent a governor.

"The Turks simply cannot agree to this condition, even if we are willing to pay 10 million Durant. For the Turks, Chania is the foundation for our control of the Mediterranean. If a person without Chania, Venice cannot pose any threat to Turkey. This is why the Turks offered such harsh conditions. If we lose Chania, it is equivalent to losing the Mediterranean. At that time, Venice will have nothing left! There is nothing!"

Marcandonho said excitedly, waving his fists.

The location of Crete is really important. Without Crete, Venice naturally would not be able to pose a threat to Turkey in the Mediterranean. It is very clear that the Turks certainly could not agree to their conditions, but there are always some people who are unwilling to face such a reality.

"Without Chania, there will be no Venice. At that time, our merchant ships will have no place to be parked in the Mediterranean. We will have to withdraw from the Mediterranean and allow other countries to trade in the Mediterranean. They will drive Venice out of the Mediterranean. Venice without trade will no longer exist. Why did we fight decades of war with the Turks in Chania? Don't we know that the Turks are stronger? No! We all know very well that Turkey is far more powerful than Venice, but the reason why we have persisted until now is precisely because Chania is more important to Venice. Chania is like the lifeblood of Venice. Once he loses it, Venice will no longer exist. By then, in front of the Turks, Venice will be bullied by the Turks like a doll."

After saying this to him, the officials of the advisory group also whispered, and they all knew that Chania was very important.

But they also knew very well that the power of Venice alone could not resist the Turks.

Reality is always reality, and Venetians as businessmen can easily compromise with reality.

After everyone whispered for a while, someone interrupted.

"In fact, ceding Chania is almost our only choice now. After all, this is a prerequisite for the Turks to negotiate peace. Perhaps Chania is very important to us, but we always need to face reality. Last year, Habsburg had already negotiated peace with the Turks. In the whole of Europe, no country can sign the power of the Turks. We ourselves alone can't resist the Turks' attacks at all. Failure is a long time ago."

However, at this moment, someone outside the door retorted casually:

"Who said that we are the only ones! Who said failure is a destined thing? Perhaps our fleet has failed, perhaps the Habsburg has already negotiated peace, and France is unwilling to help us, but there are other people who can help us besides them!"

Everyone looked back and saw a middle-aged man in bright clothes appearing at the door. It was Bertuggio Valero. Governor Contalini, who presided over the meeting, frowned and reminded:

"Bertuggio, you seem to have remembered the meeting wrongly."

The meeting has been held for an entire hour, but this guy has only come here until now.

"I remember the time correctly! When you were thinking about how to kneel down from the Turks and hand over our money and land to the Turks, I was there trying hard to find the opportunity to defeat them!"

While complaining about the "cowardice" of the advisory group, Bertuggio Valero sat down proudly in his seat.

"We are kneeling to the Turks? Are you looking for a chance to defeat them? Bertuggio, just tell me, where are the opportunities you find? Is it Habsburg? Or France?"

Immediately someone asked back in a sour tone.

In fact, in the past, the Venetians have been trying to get help from France, but the French kings have no idea to help them at all.

France is also unwilling to offend the Turks. Helping Venice? At most, it is just a moral help.

"Habsburg? They have already negotiated peace with the Turks. How could they be fighting for us? As for Louis XIV of France, that guy would not be able to offend the Turks for Venice."

Bertuccio Valero's voice was very loud, as if he was afraid that others would not hear his words. When he said all these words, everyone else was silent because these words were simply telling everyone that Venice had no hope now. Because in the whole of Europe, no country could help Venice. This was exactly the reason why they wanted to surrender and negotiate peace.

As a small country, or even a weak country, fighting a strong country like Turkey. What would be waiting for them without allies?

It is not just a failure, but even the demise of the country. After all, the Turks had enough ability to destroy Venice.

Noting that everyone's faces became increasingly ugly and their expressions seemed extremely helpless. Bertuggio Valerro suddenly said loudly.

"But don't forget. In this world, there are not only them, my friends! Don't forget that there are also China and Chinese people who can help us!"
Chapter completed!