Gonzalo de Cordoba came to East Frisia this time, not just to learn the "Marin phalanx" with Marin. At the same time, he also asked Marin to prepare for Columbus to lead the fleet south. Because the Spaniards have prepared ships and manpower, and are ready to open up the Indian route under the leadership of Columbus.
This time the Spaniards had a big battle. In order to prevent the Portuguese from finding fault, Spain directly arranged a luxurious lineup of 10 warships over 200 tons.
Moreover, the person leading the team turned out to be the famous native Spanish navigator Alonso de Ovida. Alonso de Ovida once participated in the voyage to explore the Americas as Columbus' deputy, and was the most outstanding navigator in Spain.
When hearing the news, Marin frowned—history really changed...
Originally, in May 1499, Alonzo de Ovida should have taken Amerigo and Fonseca to explore the American continent and discovered Venezuela in South America. The name of Venezuela was named by Alonso de Ovida himself.
In fact, this is the problem that Marin himself created. Through the emperor and the pope, Marin let all Europe know that the "India" discovered by Columbus was actually a wild area. Therefore, the Spaniards quickly lost interest in America. Therefore, Alonso de Ovida's American exploration plan in 1499 did not exist.
It just so happened that Marin gave Spain the benefits of the Indian route, and Spain directly appointed Alonso de Ovida as the commander of the fleet, led by Columbus, and went to India to buy spices.
Not long after Gonzalo de Cordoba left, Columbus was forced to leave his wife and children and come to Emden to make preparations and embark on the voyage again.
For a navigator, the life of "wife and children hot on the kang" at home is very luxurious. As long as the employer gives an order, they need to board the ship, say goodbye to their families, and chop the waves on the ocean...
In order to let Columbus go on the road with peace of mind, Marin announced that Columbus's eldest son, Diego, would be appointed as his personal guard before Columbus left. Moreover, Marin also told Columbus that Diego will be trained as a fleet commander when he arrives in the new fleet city in East Frisia.
Not only that, but Marin also gave Columbus the two 250-class warships that he took to the Canary Islands before. These two ships are currently ahead of the times, with faster speeds and stronger firepower than current ships.
Moreover, before Columbus set off, Marin prepared more than a dozen sacks of lemon leaf powder for Columbus and his men to make tea.
Before that, Marin asked Kohler to buy several lemon estates in the Genoa region of Italy to provide lemon leaves for the Grand Voyage. Years ago, a batch of powdered lemon tree leaves was sent over. It just so happened that Columbus used it when sailing, so he shipped it directly.
Columbus was also very concerned about this, because he personally confirmed that drinking water soaked in this unknown plant powder every day can indeed prevent scurvy.
However, before Columbus set off, Malinte repeatedly told Columbus to keep it secret and not to tell the Spaniards this secret. For those sailors, Columbus only needs to force them to drink water soaked in lemon leaf powder every day, and there is no need to explain anything to them. Besides, even Columbus himself only knew that it was a kind of plant powder, but he didn't know anything about it...
In order to train more sailors for great voyages, Marin carried out a large-scale rotation of the sailors under Columbus. Many young Frisian sailors who had not participated in the last voyage to India were placed in Columbus' fleet.
This time, because of the protection of the Spanish fleet, Columbus did not need to bring any soldiers, but directly brought all sailors, plus translators and Draka who was in charge of trade.
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In fact, Marin was very unwilling to give up the huge profits from the spice trade. However, he did not have the strength to fight against the Portuguese at sea. Therefore, he can only choose to give up the benefits to the Spaniards.
However, giving up the benefits does not mean that Marin will give up. Before Columbus set off, Marin suddenly thought of a good solution...
It is true that Marin gave up the right to go to India to buy spices to the Spaniards, but this does not mean that Marin can only accept the reality of buying 50,000 pounds each time.
Because Marin can't buy more spices, but he can grow them by himself...
Marin thought of Grenada, that famous Caribbean country. The first time Marin knew Grenada was because the country was invaded by the US military in the 1980s.
Later, through Wikipedia, Marin learned that Grenada is a very rare tropical island without poisonous snakes and insects. The absence of poisonous snakes and poisonous insects means that the island is relatively safe, and it is not easy for people to be infected by poisonous insects when they go there.
Furthermore, Grenada is the second largest producer of Nutmeg (an important spice) in the world. Of course, that is hereafter. However, this provided Marin with inspiration...
"Since I can't buy spices in large quantities in India, why can't I grow spices and sell them?" Marin suddenly thought of this idea...
The island of Grenada is not big, but it can also grow a lot of spices. You must know that in later generations, Grenada, which is only 344 square kilometers, has a total output of nutmeg that accounts for one-third of the world's total output of nutmeg, second only to Indonesia, reaching more than 30,000 tons.
Of course, that is because later generations used a lot of chemical fertilizers, and the yield of nutmeg per mu was naturally high. But even without chemical fertilizers, the output is only a few thousand tons, which is very scary. You know, a thousand tons is 2.2 million pounds. And now a pound of nutmeg in Europe costs 10 shillings, which is equivalent to 2 gold coins... Thinking about Marin makes me drunk...
Of course, the island of Grenada does not necessarily only grow nutmeg, but can also grow sugar cane, as well as spices such as pepper, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.
So, on the night before Columbus set off, Marin called Draka over and told him to purchase a large amount of seeds of spices such as pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger after arriving in India, and keep them and bring them back...
Cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon are not native to India though. However, it is possible to grow nutmeg and clove seeds whole. As for cinnamon, although the cinnamon bark is purchased, Sri Lanka, the origin of cinnamon, is also very close to Calicut in the south of India, and cinnamon seeds can be bought. If it doesn't work, Columbus's fleet can also be taken to Sri Lanka to buy cinnamon seeds...
In short, Marin intends to make Grenada a base for the production of various spices...
However, considering that under Marin's rule, no one knew how to grow spices. Therefore, he ordered Draka to buy a few untouchable slaves who knew how to grow spices in India while buying spice seeds, and bring them back to be responsible for the planting of spices. Of course, all this must be hidden from the Spaniards...
In this way, Draka took Marin's entrustment, and together with Columbus, boarded the fleet to Spain. In addition to purchasing spice seeds and Indian slaves who know how to grow spices, Draka is also responsible for purchasing 50,000 pounds of spices, as well as materials such as saltpeter and copper ingots...
After Columbus's fleet set off, Marin called Kohler and asked him to go to Genoa or Spain to find the navigator Amerigo.
The reason why he was looking for this person was because Marin knew that he was such a famous navigator. Also, because Spain suspended sailing expeditions to the Americas, Amerigo was not recruited by the Spaniards. According to the news that Columbus knew, Amerigo seemed to be still Captain Adam in Genoa. When Columbus returned to Genoa from Spain in desperation, he met this man...
Now, Marin has the complete voyage information of Columbus's exploration of the West Indies. As long as you find Amerigo, give him a few ships, and give him a copy of Columbus's voyage information, you can explore Grenada Island. Although Columbus did not explore Grenada Island, Marin knew that Grenada Island was the southernmost of the Windward Islands. As long as you arrive at the Windward Islands first according to Columbus's nautical chart, and then sail to the southernmost place close to the South American continent...
Because there are no poisonous snakes and poisonous insects on the island of Grenada, it is very suitable as the first foothold for Marin to colonize the Americas. Colonists in Grenada don't have to worry about dying from malaria and other common "terminal diseases" in the tropics due to poisonous insects like they do in other tropical regions.
After the colonists have adapted to the tropical climate of Grenada, they can march to other tropical regions. Therefore, in Marin's mind, the island of Grenada, which has good natural conditions and is not easy to die, is very suitable as a base camp for training colonists to adapt to the tropical climate.
Then, Marin can use Grenada as a springboard to covet important areas such as Brazil and Panama... At the same time, it is also suitable for the cultivation of various tropical spices and the production of cane sugar-colonizing Grenada can be said to serve multiple purposes...