In the early hours of the next morning, the sweeping fleet set off again, continuing north along the coastline, attacking as soon as it came across a decent port town, and becoming more and more efficient. The first wave of naval artillery covered the province and landed the bloodthirsty Arabs directly, and then the sailors of the flood followed with carts. When it comes to resistance, it's just a few grenades, don't hurt people, just disperse them. And then there is the siege of the city, not to bother to blow up the city gate, just throw the incendiary bombs into the city, throw as far as you can, once the city starts to catch fire, the Arabs will climb the city wall to enter the city and open the city gate, and then rush in and start to ransack.

Hong Tao's sailors did not participate in the last link, not because they didn't want to, but because Hong Tao didn't let him, he was afraid that his own people would be injured. All the money that was looted could be earned back in other ways, and there was no need to fight with your life. But Hong Tao gave the sailors a more fucked up order, and once the city was breached, the wheelbarrows would be loaded with cans of whale oil, and they would become arsonists. From the inside of the city to the docks, set fire to all the buildings that could be burned, and then wait for the people to escape from the city.

When the second coastal city was breached by the floods, reinforcements came from the south, the six Southern Song merchant ships and many more Arab galleys, who had come to transport slaves and goods. As soon as the four galleys that had been transporting the captives back docked at the port of Kabaran, the slaves began to be auctioned, and it was then that the Southern Song merchants learned that the original human thing was a commodity in the Arab world, and the price was not low. As long as it is something that can make money, the businessman is willing to do it, and he is not catching the Song people to sell it, it is all of different races, so why watch this money slip away in vain? Well, let's come along, our boat can be loaded better, and hundreds of people can be crammed into it. Walk! Let's go! So, the army of reinforcements followed.

Now Hongtao's combat troops are more trouble-free, and the matter of going ashore to catch slaves will be handed over to the sailors who support the merchant ships, they are not good birds, all of them have worked as pirates part-time, and the war is not necessarily easy. But there is no ambiguity in arresting people. Moreover, these fellows are even more greedy than the Arabs, and they take everything they see, and they do not spare gold, silver and jade, and even clothes and furniture have to be carried on the ship. In their words, these things are certainly not worth much when they are taken back to the Great Song Dynasty, but they are also a lot of income when they are sold to the residents of the small ports along the way, and the bazaar in Cabalan Port is a good place to sell the stolen goods.

This huge sweeping fleet wreaked havoc on the eastern side of the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula for fifteen days. More than 400 kilometers, swept seven port cities, all burned to the ground, captured more than 2,000 prisoners, including two local kings or city lords, and reluctantly chose to sail back. Whether it was the Arabs or the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants, they were all elated, and no one complained that Hong Tao was too cruel. It's all about calculating how much money you can make from this windfall. Even Wen Nan, an upright person, slowly got used to this kind of scene. All day long, he took an abacus to each boat to calculate everyone's income, and after coming up with an accurate number, he wrote it down in his little notebook. Luo Dacai is not depressed all day long, he has forgotten all about killing, as the leader of a cargo ship, he is also responsible for his own interests. If others rob so much, he doesn't rob it, are the shipwrights on the ship happy? Who will follow you out next time to make a fortune? So not only did he have to go ashore to rob it, but he also had to rob more than others, and he couldn't care about talking about ethics and morality with Hong Tao anymore.

Chairman Hong ...... It's a little bit of the little people's heart. You have made a fortune with everyone, but you have thrown countless thunderbolts, and only got a hundred and ten slaves, how can we be unreasonable people, such pickles should be a little military expenses of the chairman, and I hope to laugh at it. "Back in Port Cabalan, the bazaar, which had just been quiet for a few days, was lively again. The Arabs and the Southern Song Dynasty maritime merchants, who had been engaged in large-scale trade, were transformed into small traders selling daily necessities and thrift goods, carrying their booty around the city for sale, and no one shouted that they were tired. They also spontaneously organized a condolence group, bringing a large bag of jewels to the battleship to support the army, and the first one who needed to be supported was Hong Tao, the pirate leader.

Hong Tao opened the package and looked at it, there were a lot of gold, silver and jewelry, and the style should have been robbed in those destroyed port cities. Don't look at those small walled towns, the population is not too large, and they are not very prosperous, but there are indeed some very wealthy people in them, especially those mansions of city lords and kings. They can run, but they can't run the house, and they can't take too much away from the softness, and they all cheapen these merchants who don't want to die.

"Yo, changed your name to chairman? Are you planning to invest in the Straits Company? If you want to buy shares, I can collect these things as shares, if not, forget it, we have already negotiated the price before we come, and I will take my share. But you have to think carefully, I don't necessarily have the time to take everyone out to do business in the future, because I have to work hard for this strait company, take people's money and eliminate disasters with people, right? "Hong Tao is not short of money, it's useless to ask for so much gold, silver and jewelry, if he wants, he will rob it himself, don't play with borrowing flowers to offer Buddha, take the opportunity to remind them that it is true.

"Yes, yes, the reason why I didn't join the company last time was mainly because I felt that my family background was too thin, and I was afraid that I would drag the adults back. Now that we have figured it out, more money and less money have to do their part, and more money than less money is better than nothing, you say? "It's easy to chat with businessmen, once they make up their minds, no matter what you say, they won't change easily, and they won't spare so many circles, and they don't have to worry about setting up archways.

"That's right, I'm not alone on this route, and I'm the enemy of everyone else. This route is everyone's, we have to face not only these small walled cities, there will be bigger cities and more powerful enemies in the future, only everyone united, in order to bring long-term benefits to this group, the group grows, you will also rise. In the future, I will open up farther routes, everyone's investment will not be wasted, they will earn back hundreds or thousands of times, and it won't be too long, everyone can see that my surname Hong is not fooling people. For the specific matters of shareholding, please go to Luo Gangshou to discuss, I don't know the details too much. "Hong Tao is not afraid of many shareholders to join, now it is not a trade between a country and a country, but a business between the whole of Asia, and it is not too much to bring all the maritime merchants of the Great Song Dynasty with him, the more the merrier.

What he wants to do now is the East India Company of later generations, using a group of merchants to develop the whole world, this model is still unique at present, so there are no competitors, and it is relatively easy to develop. According to Mahan's "Theory of Sea Power", by guarding the main sea communication routes, he also controls the sea. In the era when navigation technology was not very developed, the sea could really be effectively used inshore, and the transportation hub between a sea area and a sea area was the key to this ocean, and whoever occupied it would dominate the two sea areas.

For example, Malacca, Ceylon, the Ryukyu Islands, Midway, Hawaii, the Cape of Good Hope, the Strait of Gibraltar, and several large islands in the Caribbean Sea are all such transportation arteries, and whoever controls them can control the entire sea area. Without the support and supply of these straits and islands, it would be tantamount to a dream to engage in ocean trade. Not only in the 13th century, but also in the 21st century, these sea communication arteries were still strategically important. In later generations, the reason why China competed with many countries in the East China Sea and the South China Sea was to gain its own frontier position, but unfortunately it was a little late.

Just imagine, if the Ryukyus and Wanwan line were still China's territory, would the Americans still be able to use Japan to blockade China? If we have our own naval bases in Vietnam, Indonesia or the Malay Peninsula, do we need to be afraid that in the event of war, the maritime lifeline will be easily blocked by others? At that time, only you will block other people's shares, and no one will dare to say a word, because the initiative is in your hands, and you can toss as much as you want. Even if the American is strong, he has to jump from island to island on the west coast, and these islands are not enough to be used as a forward position, at most they are a support point, and they can be easily pulled out.

But then again, just allow you Hongtao to grab it openly, won't others look at it and come to rob it? Can you defend yourself against the state with a chamber of commerce or a company? It only makes sense to discuss this issue in terms of time. After the 16th century, Hong Tao really didn't dare to play like this, because at that time, some people had already realized the importance of the sea, even if they could seize some strategic points in Asia, it would not be possible to lay out the whole world, and commercial companies really couldn't do the country.

But in the thirteenth century, the probability of success was very high. In this era, both countries and individuals do not realize that the sea is so important to the future. The reason why the Arabs expanded eastward was because the pressure from the west and north was so great that they had to explore east. They were only vaguely aware of the future of maritime commerce, and did not link the sea with the survival of the country.

This is the biggest golden finger of the traverser, he can bring two very important things to the era in which he lives: one is technology, and the other is thought! Compared to the two, the latter is more important than the former. With advanced science and technology, the level of productivity will be greatly improved, which will lead to an ideological revolution and promote the rapid development of society; And with the guidance of a new idea, this progress will be faster and more fundamental, which will give birth to higher technology. The two things complement each other, but science and technology alone cannot be achieved without ideas, and science and technology will inevitably come out with ideas, which is the proof of history. Every scientific and technological revolution in human history has been preceded by a wave of ideas. (To be continued.) )