The condition of the roads on the territory of the Ottoman Empire was quite bad. Although the Sultan claimed to be the successor of the Roman Empire and had inherited the tradition of the Romans vigorously paving the road network within the empire, by this day in the 17th century, many of the roads built in the early years had long since been badly damaged.

Gaumo and his party rode along the muddy road, and from time to time a slow ox cart or mule cart passed by the roadside. Occasionally, they can also be seen with caravans, and the Ottomans seem to have been very fond of camels, which they used in large quantities in their wars with the Europeans. They are extremely load-bearing, do not care about mud, are less tired or thirsty than horses, and require very little care. The Ottoman army in the 15th century made extensive use of camels to transport military supplies rather than traditional horse-drawn carriages, which made their advance extremely fast. Later, even farmers in Greece and other places discovered the benefits of camels, and they also raised some camels to harness them.

The horses ridden by Gomo and others were horses from the Rasczek region on the south bank of the Danube River in Bulgaria. The horse was widely used in the Balkan Mountains and even in the Ottoman cavalry as it was widely used in the Balkan Mountains and even in the Ottoman cavalry units.

Many years ago, Suleiman dictated that the country's road network must be built in such a way that government messengers could travel from one place to another in a matter of hours and be able to find replacement horses or accommodation. However, the system is now gradually failing. Seeing the way Gaumo and the others struggled along the bumpy roads, Hassan explained with some embarrassment: "Many local nobles, especially those in the Rumeli region, are not very keen on repairing the roads that have fallen into disrepair, and these barbaric Christian lords believe that the poor condition of the roads can strengthen their defenses of their territory. And the ignorant and ignorant farmers have the same opinion. They thought it would prevent tax collectors from approaching their villages. All this led to a sharp deterioration in the condition of the road. This has caused great inconvenience to military movements within our country. His Majesty the Sultan has taken this issue seriously and has ordered the refurbishment of the country's road network as part of our cooperation agreement with your country, isn't it? ”

"Yes, poor road infrastructure not only affects national security, but also economic development. The mountainous Balkans are not suitable for canals, so they can only rely on land transportation. If the roads are all in this condition. Timber, grain, livestock, wool, hides and other materials accumulated in the vast inland areas of your country will not be able to be used effectively. It's a shame that these should have been exported in large quantities for money, but now they are rotting in the isolated countryside. Gao Mo pretended to sigh regretfully and said.

The cooperation Hassan is talking about is actually just an intention at the moment, and it is far from an agreement. The Ottomans demanded the import of large quantities of asphalt, cement and other construction materials to the East Bank Republic, and at the same time hired some road traffic construction technicians, first to assist the Ottomans in the construction of a high-quality road from Istanbul to the western town of Edirne (Adrianople), and if the road is used in good condition in the future, the two sides may continue to extend the road to Plovdiv.

Gaumo was of course ecstatic at the Ottomans' request, but the Ottomans tied it to the construction of the battleship Bayezid. This made Gaumo scratch his head a little. Although he was a diplomatic envoy plenipotentiary, he did not dare to agree to such a major event. You must first consult the country. However, this negotiation can be carried out in advance, especially when the Ottomans tied many commercial interests to the construction of battleships, and other commercial exchanges should not be disrupted because of this matter, right?

A close minister of the Ottoman court revealed to Gaumo through Hassan that if the Ottoman Coasters allowed the construction of the battleship Bayezid for the Ottoman Empire, they would allow the Ottoman Empire to build trading houses in Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Burgas and Suez, to sell all kinds of goods, and to carry out the slave trade of female slaves. In addition to this, they even allowed the East Coasters to invest in the construction of a freight track railway at the Kaffa (i.e. Kerchi) iron ore mine, and if the railway proved to be very efficient, His Majesty the Sultan would buy it and promote it in the mines of the country. Of course, all of these attractive commercial interests require a premise – the construction of the battleship Bayezid, which would have been abandoned if the people on the east coast were pressured to export such a formidable battleship to the Ottoman Empire. In the future, the people of the East Coast will only be allowed to drop and unload a limited number of cloth, leather goods, weapons and other goods in the ports of Smyrna and Suez, and all other in-depth commercial exchanges will be prohibited.

It's a poison wrapped in honey. Gaumo lamented that the Ottomans' attachment to battleships was astonishing. Perhaps it has something to do with the situation they are facing, as their Sultan has just led an army to attack Crete a while ago, and the war should be going on. Perhaps they feared that the Pope would once again call for the formation of a coalition of Christs at the request of the Venetians, and that the Ottoman navy would be completely routed in the Aegean region. Therefore, they urgently needed this huge ship, which could almost be called a fortress on the sea.

Speaking of which, in fact, everyone is already very clear. Now Gaumo is waiting for a response at home, and the Ottomans are waiting for a response from Gaumo. Prior to this, the two sides were still negotiating some other business cooperation, such as the slave girl trade.

The Bulgarian countryside is very inhospitable, and on both sides of the road, there is always green grass growing tall and animals roaming the grass. Many of the weeds are almost elbow-high, and it's amazing how fertile the land is, but it's also amazing how low the level of development is.

A village looms not far away. Gao Mo and the others rode over, only to see that the farmhouses in this village were extremely simple. The local Bulgarian peasants often covered the walls with braided branches and leaves, and a hut was not much better than the Xhosa dwellings that the East Coasters had first seen in South Africa. It was said that the farmers in Wallachia were even poorer and more backward, and they often dug a hole in the ground and then made a roof above the hole, and a house was built. Many of their agricultural implements were still made of wood, such as plows and wheels, and there was little progress for a thousand years. In today's growing Western Europe, they are far behind the times, and this is actually a microcosm of the entire Ottoman Empire today. Although it is still as brilliant as flowers and boiling oil on the surface, it has begun to slowly fall behind and collapse in its bones.

Such an old empire market is a market suitable for the development of East Coast people! Gaumo was quick to make a judgment that the empire was slow, conservative, and large, and had a rather superficial understanding of industry and commerce. This can be seen from the fact that their economy was initially controlled by Jews and Armenians, and later by foreign capital such as Britain and France, who lay on the huge body of the Ottoman Empire and sucked the blood for hundreds of years, greatly nourishing the domestic industry, so the people on the east coast can do the same! This would begin with the dumping of goods from the East Coast into Ottoman territory and the gradual infiltration of Ottoman ports, roads, mines, and other infrastructure, all on the premise of agreeing to the Ottoman Navy's request for cooperation.

Damn it! Now the crux of the problem is here. Gauma had some headaches, but in fact, he was somewhat inclined to cooperate with the Ottomans, and the French were not a good partner to work with. They are a rising power, with their own ambitions and a fairly advanced view of many things, so the East Coasters' business there is not destined to last long.

The Ottoman Empire, however, was different, as their recently decentralized system made it difficult to make any national change, and the country's vast empire was a mess with the Empress Dowager in the court, the powerful Grand Vizi (the equivalent of the Prime Minister) outside the court, and the sheer number of local warlords, the unruly and repeated rebellions of the Garishani Guards who deposed the Sultan. All this made Gaumo keenly feel that as long as he slowly leveled down the various forces in the Ottoman country and ceded some of the benefits to make a fortune together, it might really be much easier than doing business in France. At least the decline of the problem-ridden multi-ethnic states is inevitable for now, and perhaps they will cherish their cooperative relations with the East Coasters even more in the face of internal and external troubles.

Turn the Ottoman Empire into the number one market for the East Coasters! Just as India was to Britain in later generations, let the Ottoman Empire become the crown jewel of the Eastern Coast Republic's domination of the world, Gao Mo faintly had such an impulse.

The inhabitants of this village are mostly Bulgarians, but a few are Turkish. It can be seen that the two ethnic groups get along fairly well, which can be seen from the frequent visits between the women of the two ethnic groups. Moreover, many Bulgarians in this village are Christians, while Turks are Muslims, which can all be played together, and I have to admire that the Turks have done quite well in secularization. But now the situation is clearly moving in the opposite direction, secularization is fading, religious ideas are on the rise, and there is confusion as to where the Ottoman Empire will go.

"Your 'goods' are in the camp at the back of the village, where there are some pagans who owe taxes all year round, and now we are collecting women as taxes from their families." Hassan turned to Golmore. (To be continued......)