This time, Hong Tao stayed in Cape Town for a short time, only five days, and if it wasn't for the cargo to be loaded on the ship, he didn't even want to stay for five days. It's not that I'm not used to the food here, in fact, the food here is similar to that of Jinhe Bay a few years ago, and with Martini, a foodie, the food must not be too bad. There are also a lot of things to play, after having horses, Hong Tao and Wen Nan can take a group of slave soldiers to the northern grassland every day to chase prey, and then shoot them with pike darts and crossbow arrows, no one cares how much they want.

But Hong Tao is not very worried about Karlburg, if Carl has half of Medini's heart, he will not let himself be worried. That guy is too straight-hearted and easy to be fooled, especially by his relatives and friends, and Hong Tao is most worried about Friedrich II. If this emperor's cousin wants to fool Carl, then Carl is in danger, I hope he can have more eyes.

With four truckloads full of cargo, Hong Tao said goodbye to the port of Martini and Cape Town, and once again embarked on the voyage north. This time God didn't show too much face, and the road from Cape Town to the Leeward Islands was full of large and small storms, and the four ships were blown away no less than three times. Fortunately, these captains and sailors were experienced veterans, and each time they arrived at the scheduled assembly place on time in the midst of the fear of the waves, except for the loss of a few sailors and a few sails, they were all necessary.

In the last month of 1238, the Golden River finally entered the Strait of Gibraltar with three armed cargo ships, a voyage that gave Hong Tao a new understanding of the salmon-class cargo ships built in Golden River Bay. Don't look at the speed of this kind of ship is not as fast as the Jiao Shark class, but it is indeed a good long-distance cargo ship, not only with good seaworthiness and moderate loading. It also saves one-third of the number of sailors compared to the Jiao Shark class. Although lost speed by a few knots. But as an ocean-going cargo ship. It's already good. If you can build more, you can also be armed with a group of good helpers who can cross the seas, and you can't fight large-scale naval battles, and there is no problem at all when you are a plundering ship.

"Dangdangdang...... Not long after Dangdang ...... entered the entrance of the strait, the lookout's alarm bell rang again, and the flag showed that there was a sailing ship in the same direction directly in front of the fleet, and the speed was only 3 knots.

"Don't come near yet, see what flag it's flying!" The Golden River carried three armed merchant ships. Hong Tao had to be careful, although he was armed, but after all, it was a merchant ship, or a fully loaded merchant ship, so it was better to cause as little trouble as possible.

"It looks like Captain Karl's whaling ship...... No flag......" The lookout observed for a while, but still didn't understand, the sails of the ships in front of him were very similar to the composite sails of Jinhe Bay, and he had also seen Carl's whaling ship, but he couldn't determine who the other party was by sails alone.

"Tell the merchant ships to speed up, let's catch up and see!" Hong Tao felt that it was most likely Carl's whaling ship. The technology of this composite sail has not yet spread, and ordinary people can't play with it.

Fate to meet thousands of miles away! The ship in front is indeed Karl's whaling ship. After hearing the sound of cannons coming from the sea behind him, the hundred-ten-ton brig not only did not run, but lowered its sails. Other ships are not easy to recognize, the appearance of the Golden River is unique in the world, and the flag on the whaling ship keeps repeating one sentence: I am Carl! This is my territorial waters!

"It's more than a thousand miles, it's a lot of thousands of miles, it's really fate! Old Ka, you don't seem to be getting along well, look at this rags. Seeing Carl again, Hong Tao couldn't help twitching in his heart, and even wondered if Carlburg had fallen, otherwise why wouldn't Carl even be able to mix his shoes? A ragged suit was full of cuts, and the slaves of Jinhewan were not dressed neatly.

"Very good! Very good! What are you wearing on the boat, I didn't look at the yellow calendar when I went out this time, I caught up with three storms in a row, and I almost didn't blow the boat to the shore and smashed it, so I couldn't bear the storm, and someone dared to rob me...... Alas, now I know how difficult it was for you to lead everyone to build Jinhewan at the beginning, and you have to do everything yourself, but I am worried to death. How are Mia and the kids doing? Carl also knew that he was looking miserable now, but the reason was not that there was something wrong with Carlburg, but that his whaling trip was not going well.

"Originally, I wanted to bring them over to see you, but I was afraid that it would delay the children's studies, and it would be a year to come and go, and they would have to work when they went back. The child is thin-skinned and can't hang up, so let's talk about it in two years. I said, how come your whale has been eaten by sharks, and you have only a skeleton of bones left and pulled back for hair? Hong Tao patted Carl on the shoulder, this is the real old man, he has followed him from the beginning, he hasn't seen him for more than a year, and he really misses him a little, but when he sees it, there is nothing to say.

"Hey, hey, hey, this is the Carl Whaling Method I invented! Whale oil is cut directly in the sea, boiled on the boat, put in barrels, and the remaining bones and meat are pulled back. In this way, you can catch three whales at a time and then return to the sea, saving trouble! Carl was proud of his invention.

"Whoever is a sailor on your ship is unlucky! Boiling whale oil on a boat, can that thing still stay? Hong Tao didn't think Carl's idea was clever, he had tried this method on the Predator, but he only tried it, the smell was too big, and the smell was too bad to live on the ship.

"It's good to get used to it, hehe, they follow me out to sea and eat meat every day, and they all rush to get on board. You see, it's okay to plug your nose with this. Carl was unimpressed by Hong Tao's concerns, and he took two things out of his nostrils and threw them into the sea, so that he had to live with his nose gagged on his whaling ship.

To say that the people of this era are really leather, it doesn't matter if the emperor mixes with lice and bugs all day long, and he can still eat meat on a stinky ship all day long. In fact, this is the mainstream of this era, and people like Hong Tao who first ponder hygiene and cleanliness everywhere are alternative. But he has successfully cultivated a group of small alternatives, every time the nautical school is out of vacation, the children return to Jinhe City, the city is lively, every house is cleaned, and those students who have been bewitched by him since childhood have also developed the same stinky and exquisite as him.

"How was the year? Have the Saracens of the north come to rob your fortress? Just stand still...... It stinks! Guarding a foul-smelling Carl, Hong Tao had to change to the upper hand and stand. Carl may have been used to it, and didn't realize why Hong Tao was standing in front of him, and followed to make do.

"No, the tribal elders on the other side of the strait organized a negotiation, and the three of us sat together and explained everything. I promised not to interfere with the navigation of ships on both sides of the strait, and not to expand my territory northward, so they pretended not to see me, and they would restrain their men from coming here to harass me. Now that the Christian Mujahideen are attacking from the north, these Saracens don't care about me. Actually, we get along quite well, even better than with my compatriots. The Saracens needed a large supply of whale oil and meat, and even whale skins were bought for armor, and in addition to the whale bones and baleen that I kept for bows and crossbows, the oil boiled out of the whole whale was basically sold to them. They paid me gold and slaves, and if it wasn't enough, they replaced it with grain, fruit, and women. "Hong Tao really underestimated Karl, no one is stupid, he inherited his cousin's tradition of being good at getting along with foreigners, not only did not regard the Saracens as enemies, but also made the trade between the two sides quite prosperous. Of course, all this was done in secret, and ostensibly he, the papal Count of the East, was a hero of Christendom's invasion of the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, which greatly encouraged other Christians to continue to fight the pagans on the peninsula.

"I've brought you a few cannons this time, so you don't have to rely on bows and crossbows to defend the city in the future, put them on the top of the city, and collapse a large area." Hong Tao listened to Carl's story, and his heart finally settled down, and he dared to place the weapon of artillery in Fort Karl.

"Haven't you always been afraid that artillery will be learned by them? I can't guarantee that the people here won't tell anyone, so I'd better forget it. Carl still understands Hong Tao's worries very well, and he is not willing to guard a few cannons all day long to lure others to worry, although he does not know the allusion to his guilt, but he can figure out this truth.

"It's okay, you can come and see the cannon I brought you, it's different from before......" Hong Tao led Carl down to the artillery deck, pointing to a few round sticks wrapped in whale skin in the corner.

“…… How is it black? It's ugly! Karl unpacked it with his own hands and looked at it carefully by the light of the oil lamp, it was indeed different from the previous artillery, but he still didn't see the trick inside.

"It's made of iron, not copper, and even if someone else knows about it, they won't be able to cast it in a short time. However, it has a disadvantage, that is, it is easier to rust than copper cannons, so it usually needs to be wiped with whale oil, especially inside the barrel. Hong Tao felt that the Rodman casting method was a very, very sophisticated technology in this era, and it would be difficult for Europeans to come up with it if they didn't have a professional explanation and complete data, even if they sent these cannons to them as samples. Moreover, once the Europeans were distorted by iron cannons, it was difficult to change them for a while and a half, and it was safer to put copper cannons in Karburg.

"You've got so many harmful things in your head, but I like ...... Hahaha, it's finally sun, look, that's your Karlburg! How, it's already built, I still think it's ugly! Carl is too lazy to think about so many twists and turns, as long as Hong Tao says it, then he thinks it will be, this is a habit that has been cultivated for more than ten years. While wiping the grease from their clothes, the two men returned to the deck, just in time for the sun to tear through the clouds and illuminate the mountains on the north side.

(To be continued.) )