Chapter 653 The Glory of the Empire

The situation in the country was changing, but Ouyang Shuo had no time to pay attention.

When the inn was built, the Black Snake Guards would sort out the recent important events in the country and report them to Ouyang Shuo for reading. Ouyang Shuo finished reading without giving any instructions.

Even with the ongoing dispute over Yizhou Island, Ouyang Shuo has no intention of intervening in it. Since Shanhai City has decided to recuperate, it will naturally remain silent to the end.

"Let them deal with allies' affairs by themselves!" Ouyang Shuo sighed.

It was Zhang Yi's letter that aroused Ouyang Shuo's interest.

In the matter of alienating the four major city-states, in addition to the usual means of bribery, framing, and sowing dissension, Honglu Temple also cleverly used the good card of the Four Seas Bank.

The Four Seas Bank is on the right track, and its savings have already exceeded the 50 million gold coin mark. Such a huge amount of funds would naturally be loaned out. Except for the internal digestion of the alliance, the bank has officially opened to other lords.

It is even said that if guilds, chambers of commerce and other organizations are temporarily short of money, they can get a sum of money from the Universal Bank if they have a good reputation.

When there are deposits and loans, the Four Seas Bank has already earned huge profits.

The main force of borrowing and lending is still the lord.

As long as there are ambitious lords, the territory funds will never be enough. How could the lords of the four major city-states be any exceptions? They also need to borrow money.

Zhang Yi took advantage of this and swayed in it.

As expected of the spoiled son of Zongheng's family, Zhang Yi's keen eyesight is second to none.

*************

July 10, Somalia, Friendship City.

After more than half a month of construction, the desolate valley has completely changed. Along the foot of the mountain, the outline of the city wall built by mining huge stones on the spot is clearly visible and undulating.

The Port of the Brave in the north has also been refurbished. The piers on the east and west sides have been constructed. Merchant ships no longer need to berth in the harbor in a mess, and everything has become orderly.

Inside the valley, there are tents one by one.

It is already very hot in Somalia in July, and the artisans and coolies don't need to live in special houses. They can cope with it by setting up a simple tent with a few pieces of rags.

In the center of the tent, there are temporary canteens. In order to ensure the construction progress of the project, Ouyang Shuo specifically told the officials in charge of board and lodging that they must do their best in terms of food.

Not only tube full, but also pay attention to nutrition.

"There is meat every day!" is the greatest happiness of the craftsmen.

With such generous treatment, how could the craftsmen not work hard. Compared with Ouyang Shuo's expectation, the overall progress of the project was four or five days ahead of schedule.

The construction of the fief is completely on the right track.

The officials, skilled personnel, and immigrants supported by the territory are sailing on the Indian Ocean at this time, and it is estimated that they will arrive in Friendship City in ten days.

Ouyang Shuo was not prepared to wait any longer.

Seeing that Gaia's three years have already passed half, Ouyang Shuo must hurry up to complete this ocean voyage.

Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo did three things.

The first thing is to form the Friendship City City Guard Brigade. After the barracks were built, Ouyang Shuo selected a group of strong and strong fighters from the coolies who settled in Friendship City, and transferred them to sword and shield soldiers.

Ouyang Shuo then selected a group of officers from the navy's sword and shield soldiers to join the city guard brigade as team and battalion officers. As for the brigade commander of the city guard brigade, a small captain of Shenwuwei will act as the brigade commander.

In this way, the formation of the city defense force of Friendship City has been completed.

Coupled with the successive recruitment of artisans and coolies, including businessmen and skilled personnel who came from other places to seek refuge, the population of Friendship City has not yet broken through the 100,000 mark.

For now, a city guard brigade is enough to deter Xiaoxiao.

The second thing is to finalize the overall plan of Friendship City. Ouyang Shuo compiled his planning ideas for Friendship City into a document and left it to the design team that was coming.

The positioning of Friendship City is very clear, it is a pure commercial capital.

Port of the Brave is not the best port in the Asian-African Channel, or even the best port in the Gulf of Aden. But Friendship City will be the most open business capital in this area, with the most complete facilities and the most favorable policies.

The Friendship City planned by Ouyang Shuo has only two districts, the east and the west, separated by a central street in the middle. Dongcheng District is positioned as a business district, where the wharf, bulk cargo distribution center, logistics center, settlement center, labor market, bank and bulk cargo trading center are all built in the business district.

All in all, all the facilities in the business zone are designed around ocean trade, and its purpose is to make ocean trade in Friendship City more convenient, efficient and safe.

Xicheng District is positioned as a service area. In addition to setting aside part of the land for the construction of residential areas, the rest of the land will be used for the construction of commercial buildings such as taverns, inns, brothels, gambling houses, night markets, restaurants, and auction houses.

All kinds of entertainment venues will also cover high, medium and low grades to meet the consumption needs of different groups of people. There is no doubt that Xicheng District will be a paradise for businessmen and sailors to enjoy themselves.

As long as you have money and are willing to spend it, you are the real God in Xicheng District.

In addition, a large number of shops and warehouses will be built in Xicheng District, which will mainly sell supplies related to fleet supplies, such as fresh water, food, meat, medicine, and so on.

Ouyang Shuo's slogan is that Friendship City can handle all the fleet's supplies in one place.

"Only what you can't think of, nothing you can't buy!"

It can be said that the entire city is built around ocean trade, and if it is really completed, it will be a veritable commercial capital.

For this reason, Ouyang Shuo reserved a full 500,000 gold coins to fill the finances of Friendship City.

A rough calculation shows that Ouyang Shuo's investment in Friendship City has reached a million gold coins. Now we have to wait and see whether Friendship City can create a commercial miracle.

The third thing Ouyang Shuo did was to let the ocean-going fleet spare a hundred artillery pieces for the City of Friendship. These one hundred cannons will all be placed on the north wall, with their muzzles aimed at the port.

Friendship City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only channel to connect with the outside world is Brave Port. There is an established naval battalion sitting in the military port, coupled with the deterrence of a hundred artillery pieces, it is enough to calm down all the young people.

Only in this way, Ouyang Shuo could leave with peace of mind.

*************

On July 11, the ocean-going fleet set off again.

Ouyang Shuo didn't inform anyone when he set off, and left quietly to start a new journey. I don't know what kind of challenges are waiting for this fleet destined to be recorded in history on the future route.

The fleet crossed the Mandeb Strait, directly into the Red Sea.

The Red Sea is located between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is narrow and long. Its northwest is connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, and its south is connected to the Gulf of Aden through the Mandeb Strait.

At the same time, the Red Sea is also the sea with the highest salinity in the world, and it is an important oil transportation channel in the world.

In reality, the Gulf of the Middle East is known as the world's oil depot, with oil reserves accounting for two-thirds of the world's total reserves. This setting is also continued in the game, with rich oil reserves.

At this time, oil was only called Menghuo oil in China, and it only existed as an auxiliary war material.

Even Britain, the cradle of the industrial revolution, was still in the embryonic stage of the first industrial revolution. The iconic invention of the steam engine was just born.

The first industrial revolution spawned the steel industry and the textile industry.

What really made oil shine is the second industrial revolution. With the invention of the internal combustion engine and the electrification of industry, automobiles and airplanes will enter the stage of history.

Until then, countries will have a lot of demand for oil.

Ouyang Shuo doubted whether he could advance to the second industrial revolution based on the game's ten-year cycle. At least five years in the previous life, even the steam engine has not been popularized all over the world.

Therefore, for now, the utilization of petroleum is very low, and the demand is not large. For Middle Eastern countries, this is really not good news.

Of course, the Mediterranean countries have more than just oil. They also have a long history. Among the four ancient civilizations, ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt are located in the area around the Mediterranean Sea.

Not to mention, the historical Roman Empire, Macedonian Empire, Persian Empire, and Arab Empire all had intersections with countries around the Mediterranean Sea.

Cairo in Egypt, Athens in Greece, and Rome in Italy, each of the royal cities has a long history, and there is an unborn ancient emperor living deep in the palace.

Darius I, Alexander the Great, Gavis Octavian Augustus, each emperor is well-known, and they are comparable to Qin Huang Han Wu.

In the game "Earth Online", long history equals deep heritage. In this way, the lords of these countries will try to restore the glory of the empire in history.

They are all active figures on the global stage.

Therefore, for the time being, Ouyang Shuo has no ambitions for the Mediterranean countries. His goal is nothing more than to start ocean trade with these countries, without any other thoughts.

It was also because of this that Ouyang Shuo chose to lay his foundation early in Somalia.

...

The Red Sea is not red, but blue.

The fleet crossed the Red Sea, passed through the Gulf of Suez, and arrived at the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal has existed since ancient times. Of course, it was actually built and opened to navigation in 1869. This is a sea-level waterway that runs through the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and provides the closest route from Europe to lands near the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. In reality, it is one of the most frequently used routes in the world.

At the same time, the Suez Canal is also the border between Asia and Africa, and is the main channel between Asia, Africa and Europe. The canal starts from Port Said in the north and ends in Suez City in the south, with a total length of 190 kilometers. It is dug north of Port Said into the Mediterranean Sea and ends in the south of Suez.

The completion of the Suez Canal turned the African peninsula into the African continent, Egypt straddled Asia and Africa, and the trade in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa and Southern Europe became more busy.