"Son, the continent to the north is the Europe that my father marked on the map, and the continent to the south is Africa that we passed through before, and between these two continents, there is a large sea area called the Mediterranean. See the headland on the right? Behind it is a very good harbor, called the port of Ceuta, and if this is occupied, and a few warships of the Golden River Bay, most of the ships of Europe and all of North Africa will have to be trapped in the Mediterranean, and no one can think of it, unless they can dig a canal hundreds of kilometers long from your Uncle Martini's hometown. A few days later, on a rainy noon, the Jinhe and the Malacca sailed into the Strait of Gibraltar one after the other, Hong Tao did not take care of the two small fishing boats in the distance, personally held a whaleskin umbrella, accompanied the Hong Salamander to stand on the stern to enjoy the scenery on both sides of the strait, and by the way told the child about the relationship between Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean.

"Then why don't we occupy it?" Hong Salamander bit his finger and pointed to the port of Ceuta in the distance, wondering why his father, who saw everything good and pulled it home, was now good.

"Isn't this to save some face for your Uncle Carl, we are guests, and we are following Uncle Carl to visit the door, and we can't rob other people's things for the first time, right? We are civilized people, we are the most polite people in the world, keep the good things in our hearts first, and when they don't want them, we will pick them up again, and we can't forget to pay! Hong Tao was embarrassed to say in front of Carl that he came to the Mediterranean to toss, but he couldn't let Hong Salamander feel that these things couldn't be touched, and how to explain the best of both worlds really took a lot of brains.

"Don't teach your children nonsense, why don't you want good things, I'm still waiting for you to pick them up!" Jiang Zhuyi was standing on the other side of Hong Tao's body, and Carl was also holding an umbrella to shelter her from the rain. Hearing the conversation between Hong Tao and Hong Salamander, she really couldn't bear it anymore, and planned to stop Hong Tao from continuing to teach Hong Salamander this kind of robber logic.

"If you blow them up with a cannon, they won't want it......," Carl on the side couldn't help but interject.

"It's not pretty. It's not as beautiful as our house in Jinhe City, and when I grow up, I'll help them build a house! The salamander wasn't interested in how to take over the city, she was interested in how to make a place fit her aesthetic views.

"You're more ruthless than your father, he's just trying to cheat people and money, and you're just looking good......" Carl listened to the salamander's reply. Goosebumps all over my body. He now understands why Hong Tao is so keen on education, and wherever he goes, he will get a school or something first. When I saw the salamander, I knew who they were from those schools, a group of little devils who were more like devils than Hong Tao himself. One Hongtao can be tossed from Asia to Europe, if there are a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand small Hongtao, is there a place for others in this world? Haven't it all become Golden River City?

"Shh......h You are also more serious when children speak. In an instant, Karl's ribs were hit by Jiang Zhuyi's elbow, and the second half of the sentence was directly nested in his stomach.

"Originally, Hong Salamander was right, their house is indeed not as beautiful as Jinhe City. It's a sin to help them build a house! As long as it's ......" Hong Tao pouted at Carl with triangular eyes, resolutely standing on his daughter's side.

"Bang bang...... Boom Boom Boom ...... Boom Boom ......" Unfortunately, before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a hurried bell.

"Why do I ring the bell every time I get to the point! Take the salamander back to the cabin...... "Hong Tao is so annoying, he doesn't ring the bell for half a month when he doesn't speak, and when he is about to make a tirade, the bell will come on time." But no matter how annoying you are, you have to shut up first, this is a wake-up call, and a threatening ship has been spotted nearby.

"A flotilla was spotted about seven nautical miles ahead on the right. Four schooners, the type of ship has not been seen. Heading 250. Soon, Karl translated the Lookout's flag into useful information.

"Count them lucky, I don't want to fight with my children, 15 on the left side, avoid them. Hang up the wing sails and extreme top sails, and it will be a headwind for more than half a month. It's time for full speed. "The sea is rainy, there is no sun in the sky, the visibility is not very high, and Hong Tao can't see the fleet yet. Even if he saw it, he didn't want to take the initiative to provoke. The salamander is still young, and if it can not fight, it will not fight, and the sound of the cannon is too loud to knock down the ears of children, and it is the same for hiding in the cabin.

After the port of Ceuta, the Strait of Gibraltar suddenly widened as if it had entered the stomach through the esophagus. The sea voyages of this era were not as busy as those of later generations, and the sail-laden Jinhe and Malacca leaned slightly to the north side of the strait by means of crosswinds, and gradually increased their speed, silently rowing eastward like two monsters walking on the surface of the sea in the thick rain and fog. At this time, even if there are passing ships, as long as they are not too close, they will not be able to see the whole picture of the two ships, and they may think that they are dazzled or have encountered a miracle at sea.

If the Song Dynasty was the commercial center of East Asia and South Asia, then the Italian peninsula was definitely the commercial center of the Mediterranean, especially some ports in northern Italy. Karl had said this to Hong Tao countless times, but there was still a difference between hearsay and what he saw with his own eyes, and it felt different. After the Golden River and the Malacca had penetrated the Mediterranean Sea along the Strait of Gibraltar and headed east along the coast of North Africa, he wanted to see what the level of Arab ships in the Mediterranean Sea was like, and then turn around and head north to see the navigation technology of southern Europe at this time.

Compared to the miserable waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, the further east you sail, the better the weather became, and when you reached the southern waters of Sardinia (later Sardinia), there was no cloud in the sky and the sun shone on everything in the world. But the sun in the Mediterranean is notoriously mild, not as strong as the sun in the windless zone of the equator, but more enthusiastic than the traditional continental ones, so much so that the off-duty sailors who had been huddled in their cabins felt the difference through the thick planks, and after obtaining permission, they came out of the deck in batches, and stripped off all the body with only a pair of Hung's shorts, intending to bask in their hairy bodies.

"Daddy, look, look! A sailboat as big as us, why are its sails pointy! Jiang Zhuyi and Hong Salamander were also allowed to get out of the captain's room to bask in the sun, they have long been accustomed to the attire of the sailors on the ship, and they have to get used to it if they are not used to it, and they can't let more than 200 people grow hair just because there are two women on the ship. The salamander obviously preferred the sunny weather, and she stepped on a wooden box, lying on the side of the stern, barely exposing her whole head, and was very busy looking at the left and the right. At this time, there is indeed something to see on the sea, and from time to time a few ships will pass by, and the sea is very busy.

"Old Ka, that's the Neff ship, right? It has 400 tons? "Not to mention that Hong Tao is dizzying, even Hong Tao is a little too busy. He and Karl had been standing in the command position, holding binoculars to carefully distinguish each ship in their field of vision, and next to them sat two draftsmen on board, using whaleskin paper to roughly trace the shape of the ships they saw, which was used to complete the fleet's ship type manual. This thing is a lookout's weapon, and with these manuals, they can accurately recognize the origin of the other party from dozens of kilometers away.

"You guessed it wrong this time, it's a ****** ship, a ship of the Holy Roman Empire, and a ship of the royal family, flying the Black Eagle flag! My cousin's boat! "When you get to the Mediterranean, Hong Tao is half a mallet, and some of the boats here look very similar, and it is difficult to recognize them from a distance. But Karl could accurately distinguish between the front and rear of the masts, the length of the hull, the number of oars, and the different flags flown on, after all, he was once half a navy.

"Would you like to go over and talk to them?" Seeing Karl's expectant eyes, Hong Tao had to go against his habits, and he was very reluctant to approach any ship at sea that did not know the details.

"Let the Malacca pass! There is a Black Eagle Flag in the box in my captain's room, which Mia embroidered for me...... "Carl knew Hong Tao's principles, and he didn't dare to ask the Golden River to lean over in person, so he had to retreat and want the Malacca to hang the Black Eagle Flag to make contact.

"Let's have someone send the flag over, I can understand the Latin of Yellow Cliff, you can understand it, but your cousin's people may not be able to understand it." Hong Tao is particularly good at talking today, and he actually plans to risk his life. In fact, he has more curiosity and adventurous spirit in his body than anyone else, and he usually just suppresses it with his life, maybe a little bit will emerge at any time, and Carl's excitement to go home just stimulates Hong Tao's curiosity and adventurous spirit.

"Idiot! A bunch of idiots! See the Black Eagle Flag and run! This captain should be hanged! Lowering the sails, lowering the sails, so that it will shatter its ...... in the past" Since the Black Eagle Flag was raised on the Jinhe, Carl involuntarily took on the position of captain of the Jinhe, and he simply forgot that Hong Tao was still standing next to him. A series of orders came out of his mouth, so that the second mate, the boatswain, and the sailmaster did not know whether to carry it out or not. Hong Tao simply took a few steps back, picked up the salamander and stood aside to watch the excitement, and at the same time gave a hint to the sailors that the captain had changed now.

The ****** brig was heading for North Africa, when it suddenly saw two huge sailing ships flying the Black Eagle flag on the starboard side, and was immediately so frightened that they even used their oars and ran desperately to the south. Compared with the shape and size of the Jinhe, the black eagle flag is obviously not very convincing, and it is strange for anyone to suddenly see a big ship that they have never seen before and look at it that is not good at stubble. From this point of view, Hong Tao felt that the captain of this ****** schooner was very qualified, at least he was not so confused as to be superstitious about a broken flag.

(To be continued.) )