Gaumo was seasick again, this time in the Black Sea. Even the calm big bath tub made Gao Mo, a complete "land man", miserable. Fortunately, Hassan, a Turkish officer who accompanied him all the way, took great care of his old friend, and the fleet made many docks to rest, which made Gao Mo feel a little more comfortable and made the whole journey extremely long.

Today is the middle of July 1644, and the Rumili region of the Ottoman Empire is in the midst of its hottest season of the year. On the pier on the shore of Lake Burgas, several tall and slender warships are quietly moored. Gaumo hurriedly looked over and saw that these were frigates, gunboats, fast cruisers, and other ships built by the Ottomans for the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans anchored them in the calm Black Sea, rather than allowing them to join the Egyptian fleet or the Aegean fleet on the deep front, for which the reason is very puzzling.

Maybe they want to surprise the Venetians suddenly at some point? Hehe, let them go. Gao Mo smiled in his heart, the harder these two countries fight, the better, it is best to involve most of their energy. Then the Venetians would not have time to disrupt the East Coast in the textile market, and the Ottoman Empire would have an increasing demand for East Coast warships. The kind of galleys that the Venetians and Ottomans fought in the Eastern Mediterranean were small in tonnage, loose in structure, and lacking in firepower, but they were superior to maneuverability and could be mixed up in the large bathtub of the Mediterranean. However, when they encountered the frigate gunboats built by the East Coasters equipped with 24 guns of various types, their loose hull structure and outdated gang-jumping fighting tactics would be destroyed by long-range artillery salvos.

And this, the Ottomans have already seen. Last year, the Venetians and the Ottomans engaged in a small naval battle near Crete. As a result, two Venetian galleys were sunk and one was captured. The rest were injured and fled. The losses are not light. The Ottomans, who had tasted the sweetness, became even more fond of this new-age warship, and they began to turn to the people on the east coast for information about the more powerful battleships. Their ambitious navy, the Pasha, intended to reorganize the Ottoman naval fleet, which had been moving further and further from the West since the Battle of Lepanto, in order to regain supremacy over the entire Mediterranean—a difficult and unrealistic task, but the Ottomans were never short of ambition.

"With regard to the construction of the battleship Bayezid, our Government is still assessing it. As you know, there is a huge political risk involved, and Spain and France in the Christian world in the West have already questioned the warships that our government has sold to your country several times before. They said that this move upset the balance of power in the Mediterranean Sea and demanded that our country immediately stop exporting warships to your country. Enduring the discomfort of seasickness, Golmo whispered to Hassan.

They were located in the port of Burgas in the Rumili region of the Ottoman Empire, and the Zaporozhye Cossacks on the other side of the Black Sea had recently become more and more restless, and they often went to the Crimean Khanate, Wallachia, Moldavia and even the Ottoman mainland in small warships to raid, burning and looting everywhere, causing a very bad impact on the Ottoman country. Therefore, the Ottoman navy Pasha ordered the transfer of these most advanced warships of the empire to the port of Burgas, where they regularly patrolled the Black Sea, and at the same time asked their vassal state of the Crimean Khanate to intensify its attack on the Cossacks. to stabilize the situation in the region.

The docks were filled with Bulgarians wearing turbans and loose robes, as well as Moldavians who had come from the north to beg for a living. They look poor and insensitive. They do the work of hard labor on the docks, and if they can't find a job, then they go to beg. Some Muslims passing by cautiously kept their distance from them, and only some vulgar fellows would spit on them. In the midst of this, it is clear that the Moldavians were more insulted, because the local Bulgarian Muslims called them "sheep without horns".

The Muslims of the Ottoman Empire were proud at this time, and their country stood on three continents, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with a vast territory and a population of more than 30 million, and it also maintained military pressure on the Christian world in Europe. And they did quite well in terms of culture – well, at least a hundred years ago – they produced a large number of philosophers, artists, architects, and so on, and they were so civilized that all of Europe admired them. Of course, it is no longer possible to do so, the self-contained and extremely arrogant Ottomans live in their own world, their cultural development is gradually stagnating, science and technology have not made the slightest progress, and the system is also aging in the face of the development of the times, such an old country has gradually entered a period of decline.

Even if there are occasional periods of prosperity later, the overall trend of decline has been very obvious. Even though some enlightened people in the Ottoman country recognized the widening gap between them and the West, their national consciousness as a whole remained complacent. They were conservative and reluctant to accept new ideas, and even the tolerant policies toward pagans that had been held centuries ago began to drift away, and unnecessary insults and persecution of Christians continued to destabilize the Ottoman Empire. The turmoil further exacerbated the rise of conservatism and extremism in the country, and the once secular Ottoman Empire turned back the clock on history. The imperial elite in the big cities were keen to send their children to religious schools, and they talked about doctrines rather than the work of the national economy and people's livelihood.

However, Hassan in front of him is obviously not the kind of guy who is full of mushy brains, he is the best of the younger generation of officers, with a sharp mind, a clear mind, and a certain understanding of the outside world. At the same time, he is also a very favorite figure of the Navy Pasha, and his family background is not bad, and he is a rising star in the Ottoman army.

"Gao, what else do you have to evaluate? This is a profitable thing for both of us, we have raised the price to 200,000 ducats, which is converted into more than 400,000 yuan in your currency, what are you not satisfied with? What else is there to evaluate? We have no intention of equipping the Red Sea Fleet with such ships, we have no competition with you, and our two countries can join forces to deal with the damned Christians. Hassan said sincerely through a personal translator.

Gao Mo just smiled, did not speak, and then changed the subject: "Hassan, why did you bring us to Burgas?" Where is Lord Pasha of the Navy? I thought maybe I could talk to him face-to-face? ”

"Lord Pasha is in Algiers, and is planning a major matter, and I am afraid that I will not have time to discuss anything with you for the time being. Of course, don't think about it, it's just a normal crackdown against Spanish and Sicilian pirates. "As for bringing you to Burgas, it is mainly because of the goods you need: black wool, white wool, copper, sulphur, mercury, graphite, livestock, and most importantly, slave girls." ”

Gao Mo nodded, and then asked, "Can you show me the goods we need?" If it's inconvenient, forget it. "The Rumili region was at this time the quintessence of the Ottoman Empire, which roughly included all of what would become Bulgaria and Greece, Romania, and parts of the former Yugoslavia. Many of the inhabitants of these regions still call themselves Romans and are predominantly Orthodox Christians, especially in Greece and Bulgaria, which were relatively wealthy during the centuries-long conquest and management of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and other places are relatively poor, and history records that they are full of "towering forests", with low population densities and "more pigs than people". It was not until the 19th century that the Ottoman Empire conducted a population census of the territory, so it is not known how many people lived in the Rumili region at this time, but it is estimated that there are 15 million to 20 million people.

"Absolutely." "You're a guest, Gao, and there's nothing to take you to the Bulgarian countryside." But maybe not today, your physical condition doesn't look very good, maybe we can wait until you're ready. ”

Gomo nodded and thanked Hassan.

On July 20, after a few days of rest, Gao Mo took Zheng Yong and more than ten other people, accompanied by Hassan, to ride a horse to enjoy the Bulgarian countryside. Truth be told, Bulgaria is now a "relatively rich" region, but in Gaumo's opinion it is still poor and desolate.

But that didn't seem to Hassan to be anything. "A few years ago an English writer came to our country on a trip and wrote that the Ottoman Empire was 'the largest and most impregnable empire under the sun. It is located in the heart of the world, like a valiant fighter who defies all his frontier inhabitants and holds the richest countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Our two metropolises, Istanbul and Cairo, are the largest cities in the world, and London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome are nothing compared to them. Their magnificence eclipses the neighboring Christian nations, and more and more Christians are leaving behind their old world and joining us as devout Muslims. Hassan said in a slightly exaggerated and proud tone.

Golmo gave him a strange look and didn't say anything. This Hassan, who was well-informed, and even spoke some rudimentary French and Spanish, was clearly not the kind of country fanatic who had little knowledge, and he only gave the impression that he was talking about it without regard for the facts. However, considering that this is the core area of the Ottoman Empire, it is obviously not incomprehensible for Hassan, as the owner, to say some flattering things about his own country.

Golmo turned his head slightly, and decided to see with his own eyes the customs and social life of the Ottoman Empire, and write a detailed report when he returned to China in the future. (To be continued......)