Chapter 358 That’s a Slave Ship
Duan Bo was piloting the Deep Sea Warrior to explore several small boats alongside the Zoman, standard smuggling vessels. Hua Chong was operating the Deep Sea Warrior's miniature ROV to investigate the massive Zoman. Xiao Peng, looking at the surveillance screens on either side, spoke to the camera, "Hua Chong insisted on searching for the Zoman just now. This small screen shows the search progress, but it's not convenient to show you the current scene. There are bones everywhere, and they're surprisingly well preserved in this environment. Let's skip this part for now."
"We all say the Ottoman Empire was incredibly powerful, but in fact, I think its decline began in 1571. That was because they lost the Battle of Lepanto and lost control of the sea. And what would it mean if the Ottoman Empire had such a long coastline without control of the sea? Even a powerful army wouldn't matter. Countless vulnerabilities could be found along the coastline to attack them. The Battle of Lepanto was a significant naval battle, demonstrating the importance of technology."
"The Ottoman Empire was indeed powerful—in modern parlance, it boasted a vast army and commanding generals. However, they placed little emphasis on their navy. While on paper the Ottoman navy appeared formidable, with numerous warships, they were all leftover zomans from the Byzantine era, the very ship we're investigating. This type of ship evolved from the ancient trireme, and its characteristic feature was its slenderness. It was a high-speed warship, with large zomans powered by over 200 oarsmen, while smaller ones were rowed by over 50 slaves. They had masts mounted at the fore and aft of the hull, and a curved beak to hook enemy ships for boarding. Compared to triremes, they lacked ramming and prioritized boarding. There were platforms at the bow and stern of the hull. Archers would stand on these platforms to draw their bows and shoot arrows, while trebuchets would hurl rocks at the enemy ships, ultimately hooking and boarding them. Sounds exciting, right? But in reality—they were utterly out of touch!"
"By that time, Europe had already begun using 'galais,' large warships built by Tunisians that combined sails and oars. Besides their advantages in speed and tonnage, they also had an advantage in weapons: while the Ottomans were still using bows and arrows, the Europeans were already using muskets and cannons."
"Everyone knows that the world's first rifle capable of firing bullets was the 'Tuhuoqiang' invented by China in 1259 during the Southern Song Dynasty. However, in the development of muskets, we still lag behind Europe. During the Battle of Lepanto, the European coalition forces made extensive use of matchlocks and artillery. Therefore, although the Ottoman Empire had far more warships and soldiers than the combined forces of European countries during the Battle of Lepanto, after only four hours, the Ottoman navy fleet of approximately 300 oared warships was sunk, with approximately 230 ships and more than 25,000 Ottoman soldiers, including the highest commander of the Ottoman navy, Ali Pasha, perished at sea. The battle ended in disaster, while the Allied forces lost thirteen ships. This battle also marked the end of the era of oared ships and the beginning of the era of sailing warships and naval guns. It was also because of this battle that the West began to emphasize the use of firearms, influencing the development of naval warfare worldwide. However, the Ottoman Empire still prioritized food over battle. Despite the crushing defeat at the Battle of Lepanto, they were wealthy enough to build an even more powerful navy a year later. However, this "strength" was only on paper, and over a hundred years later, this "Zoman" still existed. Ignoring the ocean is not a good thing! The fate of the Ottoman Empire and ancient China provides the best answer.
"Boss, please forgive me for spoiling your fun, but now is really not the time for you to be so long-winded." Duan Bo then said, "Look what I found?"
Xiao Peng was delighted: "What did you find?"
Xiao Peng only took one look at the screen and started cursing: "Damn it, Duan Bo, are you trying to kill me?"
He thought Duan Bo had discovered a treasure ship, so he pointed the camera lens at the monitor. What was captured was not the treasure that Xiao Peng wanted, but a ship full of bones!
Duan Bo said, "I just wanted you to see what's going on with this ship. Why are there so many corpses?"
Xiao Peng took the camera aside and said angrily, "Is that even a question? This is a slave ship, a ship that set out from Kaffa to sell white slaves!"
"White slaves?" Duan Bo was stunned. "I only know black slaves."
Xiao Peng shook his head and said, "Anyway, this ship has no salvage value. Let's go search for the next one. Time waits for no one!"
Duan Bo nodded after hearing this and told Hua Chong to stop the work of the micro ROV first and move the "Deep Sea Warrior" to another ship.
Xiao Peng said to the camera, "We just discovered a slave ship. Among the shipwrecks in the Black Sea, a considerable number are slave ships. Duan Bo just said he only knew about black slaves, but in fact, the history of the white slave trade is probably even longer than that of black slaves. We are currently located between Crimea and Turkey, and historically, Crimea belonged to the Crimean Khanate."
"At that time, the Tatars of the Golden Horde defeated the Goths and Genoese and occupied Crimea. They later broke away from the Golden Horde to form the Crimean Khanate. However, the Crimean Khanate was somewhat weaker than the Golden Horde, so they turned to the Ottoman Empire and became its vassal state and its spokesperson in Eastern Europe."
"During the time when Ivan III married the last Byzantine princess Sophia, he carried out reforms that caused instability in Moscow. Lithuania, which had long been at odds with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, took advantage of the situation and formed an alliance with the Golden Horde to deal with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The Grand Duchy of Moscow was allied with the Crimean Khanate at the time. When the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Lithuania confronted each other, the Crimean Khanate invaded Ukraine, which was under the jurisdiction of Lithuania at the time. In the matter of resisting the Tatar invasion, the Lithuanian nobles and the Ukrainian Rus princes intrigued with each other, which led to the Tatars directly attacking. The Crimean Khanate advanced rapidly, plundering all of Ukraine. Kiev suffered the most, burned once by the Mongols and then again by the Tatars. This incident directly prevented the Lithuanian army from joining the Golden Horde, indirectly contributing to the Golden Horde's collapse. From this point on, the Crimean Khanate began plundering Ukraine and Lithuania. Having plundered all the wealth, they turned their attention to the human slave trade. For a long time thereafter, the Crimean Tatars' mainstay industry was the slave trade. They nearly annihilated the entire population of Eastern Europe.
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