Chapter 237 Cooperation with Troy City

The source of the rise of the Black Sea trade was the transformation of the nomadic peoples along the Black Sea coast into agricultural peoples.

The city-states along the eastern Mediterranean coast, especially the Greeks, seemed to have discovered a new continent and began to flock to the Black Sea trade to buy the food they needed most.

In the immigration era hundreds of years later, the Greeks established a large number of Greek colonial city-states along the Black Sea coast.

The main reason why the Greeks attached importance to the Black Sea trade was that before the rise of the Greek maritime activities, the trade routes in the Mediterranean world had been monopolized by more advanced maritime powers, and only the Black Sea world was still an undeveloped treasure land.

[To be honest, I have been using reading books to keep up with the latest updates, switching sources, and reading aloud in many tones. Android and Apple are both available. ]

Now for Luo Yin, relying on the powerful national strength of the Kingdom of Colchis to monopolize the Black Sea trade routes and then compete with the maritime powers in the Mediterranean for maritime hegemony is indeed a new way to seize hegemony.

However, Luo Yin really no longer has the ambition to compete for hegemony when he comes to this era.

Luo Yin wants to form a huge joint fleet just to protect the trade routes.

After all, in this era, whether the foreigners who came by boat were sea robbers or sea merchants all depended on whether the locals had the strength to protect themselves.

If the locals were not strong enough, the foreigners who came by boat would plunder everything by force and become merchants without capital.

If the locals were strong, the foreigners who came by boat would conduct normal trade.

The port outside Kitea.

On the day when the Argonauts left on the Argo, Luo Yin brought Circe and Medea to the port to say goodbye to their companions.

The heroes shouted slogans and rowed the oars. After the Argonauts sailed along the waters of the Phares River to the Black Sea, Luo Yin quickly retracted his gaze and looked at the local ships in the port.

In the myth of the Golden Fleece Journey, the Argonauts fled with Medea and the Golden Fleece. The angry King Aeetes of Colchis ordered his soldiers to bring Medea back. A large fleet as dense as a flock of birds immediately chased the Argonauts on the sea.

It can be seen from the myth that the Kingdom of Colchis, as a coastal country, is also a powerful maritime power.

Seeing hundreds of ships of all sizes moored at the port of the river bay of the Phares River, Luo Yin frowned and said dissatisfiedly.

"This backward wooden ship may be used to dominate the Black Sea, but to enter the Mediterranean to protect trade routes, it is necessary to build larger and stronger warships."

Medea asked while holding Luo Yin's arm.

"What kind of ship do you want to build, brother?"

"The warships of this era are most afraid of fire attacks or collisions with enemy warships, so I want to build a kind of iron-clad ship wrapped with iron sheets, which is not afraid of fire attacks or collisions with enemy warships."

"You are worthy of being my brother. You have such a wonderful idea that is a thousand years ahead of this era."

Medea looked at Luo Yin with admiration and said.

"But there is no iron ore in the western part of the South Caucasus where the Colchis Kingdom is located. If my brother wants to build iron ships, he must first conquer the eastern part of the South Caucasus, and then look for iron ore and blacksmiths."

It is 3,300 years ago, when humans used bronze weapons.

Only the powerful Hittite Empire became the first country in West Asia to invent iron smelting and use iron tools in order to meet the needs of war.

In other words, if Luo Yin wants to build iron ships, he must get blacksmiths from the Hittite Empire.

Circe said with a worried expression.

"My brother wants to build a large number of iron ships, which may require hundreds of blacksmiths. It is not an easy task to get so many blacksmiths from the Hittite Empire."

"I am not in a hurry to build iron ships."

Luo Yin said with a smile.

"We can get a few blacksmiths from the Hittite Empire and let them teach the Colchis people the blacksmithing skills. While the Colchis people are learning the blacksmithing skills, we can first conquer the eastern part of the South Caucasus region and mine the iron ore there. Moreover, the current wooden warships can also meet the needs of dominating the Black Sea. As long as the route is blocked in the Dardanelles connecting the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the Black Sea can be turned into an inland sea where my joint fleet can sail freely. In order to control the Dardanelles, we must first reach a cooperation with the city of Troy on the east coast of the Dardanelles."

"Then I will go with my brother."

Hearing Medea's words, Luo Yin asked with a hesitant expression.

"As one of the patron saints of the Kingdom of Colchis, can you leave here at will?"

"If the patron saint of the Kingdom of Colchis is only me, of course I can't leave at will. But my sister and I are both patron saints of the Kingdom of Colchis. As long as my sister is here, I can leave for a while."

After hearing Medea's words, Luo Yin immediately realized.

If Medea was the only patron saint of the Kingdom of Colchis, after Medea left, the Kingdom of Colchis would fall into a dangerous state without a patron saint.

But Circe and Medea were both patron saints of the Kingdom of Colchis. Even if Medea left with Loyin, Circe would still be there to protect the Kingdom of Colchis, and the Kingdom of Colchis would not fall into a situation without a patron saint.

Seeing that Circe did not object to Medea leaving with him, Loyin nodded and said.

"Then you will go to Troyen with me to experience the exotic customs there."

Three days later.

Loyin and Medea sailed into the Black Sea from the Phares River with a hundred ships.

These 100 ships include 50 warships and 2,000 soldiers, and the remaining 50 ships are grain ships loaded with food.

If the Trojan King Laomedon is willing to cooperate, Laomedon will help Trojan City develop into a trade center.

If Laomedon is unwilling to cooperate, Laomedon will personally take over Trojan City and control the Dardanelles in his own hands.

The 100 ships sailed in the Black Sea like a dense flock of birds. Occasionally, some pirates appeared in front of Laomedon's fleet, and they were frightened by the size of Laomedon's fleet and fled directly.

Laomedon's fleet did not encounter any battles and finally arrived safely on the coast of Trojan.

Upon learning of the arrival of this large fleet, the Trojan King Laomedon brought a thousand soldiers to the Trojan Plain to test the intentions of the foreigners.

Scamander River.

Laomedon stopped on the east bank with his soldiers and sent an envoy to contact the foreigners.

Luo Yin and Medea came to the shore to meet the messenger. While ordering the soldiers to disembark fully armed, they asked the messenger to tell Laomedon their purpose.

The messenger returned to Laomedon and told him exactly what Luo Yin said.

If Laomedon was willing to cooperate with Luo Yin and help Luo Yin control the Dardanelles, Luo Yin would make Troyin City a center of grain trade, and Troyin City could easily accumulate a lot of wealth.

If Laomedon was unwilling to cooperate, Luo Yin would lead his soldiers to attack Troyin City and personally control Troyin City and the Dardanelles.

Facing Luo Yin's threat, Laomedon would naturally not surrender.

After all, Luo Yin had only 2,000 soldiers, and Troyin City had mobilized to the extreme, with at least tens of thousands of soldiers.

The gap in the strength of the two sides was so huge that Laomedon had no reason to surrender directly to Luo Yin.

So Laomedon sent an envoy to tell Luo Yin that he would never surrender to a bandit-like foreigner.