Ouyang Shuo had no time to pay attention to the changes in the country.
After the relay station was built, the Black Snake Guard organized the recent major events in the country and reported them to Ouyang Shuo. Ouyang Shuo finished reading and didn't give any instructions.
Ouyang Shuo had no intention of getting involved in the ongoing Yizhou Island dispute. Since Shanhai City had decided to rest and recuperate, it was only natural that they would remain silent until the end.
"Let the allies deal with their own matters!" Ouyang Shuo sighed.
Ouyang Shuo was slightly interested in Zhang Yi's letter.
In the matter of driving a wedge between the four major city-states, the Chamberlain of Dependencies, in addition to bribery, framing, and sowing dissension, had cleverly used the good card of the Bank of the Four Seas.
The Bank of the Four Seas was on the right track, and their savings had long broken through the 50 million mark. Such a large sum of money naturally had to be lent out. Apart from the Alliance, the bank was officially open to other Lords.
In fact, if guilds, chambers of commerce, and other organizations were short of funds, they could get a loan from the Bank of the Four Seas if they had a good reputation.
With money coming in and going out, the Bank of the Four Seas had already earned huge profits.
The main lenders were still the lords.
However, any lord with ambition would never have enough funds for his territory. How could the lords of the four major city-states be an exception? They also need to borrow money.
Zhang Yi used this to move freely among them.
As expected of the genius of the School of Vertical and Horizontal. Zhang Yi's vision was unparalleled.
July 10th, Somalia, Friendship City.
After more than half a month of construction, the desolate valley had completely changed. Circling around the foot of the mountain, one could see the outline of the city wall, which was built with boulders mined on the spot.
The Brave Port in the north had also been replaced with new equipment. The docks on the east and west sides had been completed. The merchant ships no longer had to stop at the port in a chaotic manner. Everything was in order.
Inside the valley, there were many tents.
Somalia was already very hot in July. The craftsmen and coolies did not have to live in special houses. They could get by with a simple tent made from a few pieces of rags.
At the center of the tents were temporary canteens. In order to ensure the progress of the construction, Ouyang Shuo specially instructed the officials in charge of food and lodging to ensure that the food was the best.
Not only did he have to ensure that they were full, but he also had to pay attention to their nutrition.
"Meat for every meal!" This was the greatest happiness of the craftsmen.
With such generous treatment, how could the craftsmen not work hard? The overall progress of the project was four to five days ahead of Ouyang Shuo's expectations.
The construction of the fief was completely on the right track.
The government officials, skilled talents, and immigrants from the territory were currently sailing on the Indian Ocean. It was estimated that they would arrive at Friendship City in ten days.
Ouyang Shuo didn't plan to wait any longer.
Seeing that half of Gaia's three years had passed, Ouyang Shuo had to make the best use of his time to complete the voyage.
Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo did three things.
The first thing he did was to establish the Friendship City's City Guard Brigade. After the barracks were built, Ouyang Shuo selected a group of strong and fierce warriors from the coolies who settled down in Friendship City and changed their occupation to saber and shield soldiers.
Ouyang Shuo then chose a group of officers from the Navy's Sword and Shield Troops to join the City Guard Brigade as Platoon Commanders and Battalion Commanders. As for the commander of the City Guard Brigade, it was a squad leader of the Divine Guards.
In this way, the city defense force of Friendship City was finally established.
In addition to the craftsmen and coolies that were recruited, as well as the merchants and skilled talents that came from other places to seek refuge, the population of Friendship City had yet to break the 100,000 mark.
At present, a City Guard Brigade was enough to deter thieves and thieves.
The second thing was to finalize the overall plan of Friendship City. Ouyang Shuo organized his plans for Friendship City into a document and handed it to the design team that was rushing over.
The position of Friendship City was very clear. It was a purely commercial capital.
The Brave Port was not the best port on the Afro-Asian Sea Route, nor was it the best port in the Gulf of Aden. However, Friendship City would be the most open, most complete, and most favorable commercial capital.
Ouyang Shuo's plan for Friendship City only had two districts, east and west, separated by a central street in the middle. The east district was designated as the commercial district. The docks, bulk goods distribution center, logistics center, settlement center, labor market, bank, and bulk goods trading center were all built in the commercial district.
In short, all the facilities in the commercial district were designed around ocean trade. The goal was to make ocean trade in Friendship City more convenient, efficient, and safe.
The west district was designated as the service district. Other than taking out a portion of the land to build residential areas, the rest of the land would be used to build bars, inns, brothels, gambling dens, night markets, restaurants, auction houses, and other commercial buildings.
All kinds of entertainment venues would also cover high, medium, and low levels to meet the consumption needs of different groups of people. There was no doubt that the west district would be a paradise for merchants and sailors to enjoy themselves.
As long as you had money and were willing to spend it, you would be the real god in the west district.
In addition, a large number of shops and warehouses would be built in the west district, mainly to sell supplies related to the fleet, such as fresh water, food, meat, medicine, and so on.
Ouyang Shuo's slogan was that all supplies for the fleet could be taken care of in Friendship City.
"There's nothing you can't think of, but there's nothing you can't buy!"
It could be said that the entire city was built around ocean trade. If everything was completed, it would be a real commercial capital.
For this, Ouyang Shuo set aside 500,000 gold coins to fill the Friendship City's finances.
A rough calculation showed that Ouyang Shuo's investment in Friendship City had reached a huge amount of 1,000,000 gold coins. Now, he had to look forward to whether Friendship City could create a commercial miracle.
The third thing that Ouyang Shuo did was to let the ocean fleet allocate 100 cannons for Friendship City. These 100 cannons would all be placed on the northern city wall, their muzzles aimed at the port.
Friendship City was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the only way to connect to the outside world was through the Brave Port. There was an organized navy in the military port, and with the deterrence of the 100 cannons, it was enough to suppress all thieves.
With this, Ouyang Shuo could leave with peace of mind.
On the 11th of July, the ocean fleet set off again.
Ouyang Shuo did not inform anyone when he set off. He left quietly to start a new journey. He did not know what kind of challenges awaited this fleet that was destined to go down in history.
The fleet passed through the Mandeb Strait and directly entered the Red Sea.
The Red Sea was located in the northeast of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It was long and narrow, and was connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal to the northwest and the Gulf of Aden through the Mandeb Strait to the south.
At the same time, the Red Sea was also the saltiest sea in the world, and it was an important oil transportation channel in the world.
In reality, the Middle East Gulf was known as the world's oil depot, and its oil reserves accounted for two-thirds of the world's total reserves. This setting was also continued in the game, and it was rich in oil reserves.
At this time, oil was only called Fierce Oil in China, and it was only used as a supplementary resource in war.
Even England, 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 also just recently born.
The First Industrial Revolution gave rise to the steel industry and textile industry.
What really made oil shine was the Second Industrial Revolution. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, industry was electrified, and cars and airplanes were put on the stage of history.
At that time, there would be a huge demand for oil.
Ouyang Shuo doubted that the game could advance to the second industrial revolution in ten years. At least in the five years of his previous life, even the steam engine wasn't popularized in the world.
Therefore, the use of oil was very low, and the demand wasn't high. This was not good news for the Middle East countries.
Of course, the Mediterranean countries had more than just oil. They also had a long history. Among the four ancient civilizations, Babylon and Egypt were both located around the Mediterranean.
Needless to say, the Roman Empire, Macedonian Empire, Persian Empire, and Arab Empire had all interacted with the countries around the Mediterranean.
Egypt's Cairo, Greece's Athens, and Italy's Rome all had a long history, and in the depths of their palaces lived an ancient emperor.
Darius the First, Alexander the Great, Gavis Octavius Augustus, each of these emperors had a great reputation, and were comparable to the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty.
In a game like "Earth On Le", having a long history was equivalent to having a deep foundation. Using this opportunity, the rulers of these countries would try to restore the glory of the empires in history.
They were all active figures on the global stage.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo didn't have any ambitions for the Mediterranean countries. His only goal was to open up ocean trade with these countries, and nothing else.
That was why Ouyang Shuo chose to establish his foundation in Somalia early.
…
The Red Sea wasn't red, but a sea of blue.
The fleet passed through the Red Sea, passed through the Gulf of Suez, and arrived at the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal had existed since ancient times, and of course, it was only built in 1869. It was a sea-level waterway that connected the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. It provided the shortest route from Europe to the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific Ocean, and was one of the most frequently used routes in the world.
At the same time, the Suez Canal was the border between Asia and Africa, and was the main route between Asia, Africa, and Europe. The canal stretched from Port Said in the north to Suez in the south, spanning 190 kilometers. It dug into the Mediterranean Sea to the south of Suez in the north of Port Said.
The completion of the Suez Canal turned the African peninsula into the African continent. Egypt spanned across Asia and Africa, and trade between Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, and Southern Europe became busier.
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