This is something that Christians cannot do, and the Holy See does not allow interest-bearing loans among Christians...... Jews don't follow the Bible, so Christians don't like these people very much, no matter where they are. Although he was talking to Hong Tao in Chinese, Carl kept his voice down.

"Haha...... Hahaha...... Hahahaha...... I finally understood, dear Karl, do you think I need to strictly follow the Bible? After listening to Carl's answer, Hong Tao had a very strange expression on his face, like laughing and crying, and it took a long time to laugh a few times.

Hong Tao felt that he was really not a qualified businessman, he had not discovered such a good way to make money before, and he was worried about what business to do in Europe. You don't have to do any business, you can just put usury, or build your own banking system, then you don't need any strong ships and cannons, you are the Rothschild family of Europe! Any European government that wants to spend money has to ask itself if it is happy or not! And he has one more advantage over the Rothschilds, that is, his lair is not here, and he still has enough weapons in his hands to protect his interests. If the financial oligarchy were to add cannons, would there be a more perfect, more effective, and more lethal combination in the world than these two things?

The most important point is that the banking and financial lending credit system was set up by the Europeans, and this kind of thing is in the same vein as their culture and social norms, and it is much more convenient to play this set in Europe than in any other part of the world. Because they won't resist too much, this thing is designed for them, this is called a talent skill, and it has a talent bonus!

Especially when it comes to credit. Hong Tao was not worried at all. He had heard a historical story in later generations. It is said that Charles the Lionheart lost the Crusades during the Crusade. Disheartened, he walked back, and on the way he was captured by the Germanic emperor Henry II, who asked him to pay a ransom of tens of thousands of gold coins. Don't look at King Lionheart sounds pretty awesome, in fact, he is not much better than Carl's cousin, all countries in medieval Europe were poor ghosts, and his annual income is only more than 20,000 gold coins, which is several times worse than the ransom.

What to do, said Lionheart and Henry II. Dude, I don't have that much money, I'll give you a down payment first, and if it's not enough, I'll go back to the UK to make up for it, and then how about paying in installments? And guess what happened in the end? Henry II actually agreed, took the Lionheart down payment, and then put him back. At this point, if it were changed to the ancient Chinese emperor, maybe after returning to China, it would not be the ransom but the army. This face can't be lost, and he will never give up until he kills Henry II, it's too embarrassing!

But neither the Lionheart nor Henry II thought so. After King Lionheart returned to England, he went on a rampage. It's not about military expenses, it's about ransom. He would rather let himself be scolded by the British nobles and people than break his promise, and he must pay the ransom, so that he feels not ashamed, but to be embarrassed. On the other hand, Henry II, if he really wants to fight face-to-face with the Lionheart, he really can't say that he can beat the Lionheart, but he is not afraid that the Lionheart will repay the debt, so he waits for the ransom to be delivered to the door at home. As a result, the ransom was indeed delivered, and not a penny was a lot.

How true this story is, Hong Tao doesn't know, he saw it from history books, it's not a wild history, it's a true history. Because of the existence of the church in Europe, many historical materials have escaped the destruction of war, and many historical materials have been preserved much more complete than those in China. So Hong Tao feels that although this story cannot be said to be 100% credible, it is at least very credible.

Well, what do you see in this story? It is a habit that later generations called the spirit of contract, and it is also the spirit that is repeatedly emphasized in the Bible. The agreement is very sacred in the West, and even the agreement between God and man must be agreed in advance, the agreement with the Christians is called the New Testament, and the agreement with the Jews is called the Old Testament, so no matter what mortals do, they must make an agreement before doing anything. What is the convention? Isn't that a contract? It's not that Westerners themselves are more trustworthy than Easterners, it's their society and religion that force them to do this, otherwise you won't be able to live in this society.

If a Westerner breaks away from this environment and lives in the East, in a few years, he can learn the essence of Chinese culture, and that is flexibility! All kinds of workarounds! Hurry up and do the right thing! As for whether there is an agreement or not, it doesn't matter, as long as you make a profit, you are a smart person and will be praised by the whole society. On the contrary, it is synonymous with rigidity, stubbornness, and two fools, and this kind of person cannot survive in society.

The two cultures are incompatible, who is good and who is bad? Hong Tao didn't know, he only knew how to move freely between the two cultures. When he arrived in Europe, he obeyed European culture, and when he arrived in China, he lived according to the habits of the Chinese. There is no absolute sense of good and bad in this world, only suitable and inappropriate from a certain perspective.

"Of course not, you're not a Christian...... However, if you do this, I'm afraid that everyone here will not be very happy, including the Pope......" Carl saw Hong Tao's last smiling face, and knew that Hong Tao didn't hold back his fart, he was also smiling like this in Port Calamba, and then there was a surname Hong.

"Don't worry, I'm much more advanced than them. Usury? Even your cousin is not willing to do something, can I do such a thing as a dignified Song Nanyang envoy? What I want to do is to use my money to help the people of Europe get rich, at least let some of them get rich first! Then you can lead other people, do you say this reason? "Of course, Hong Tao can't tell Carl that I want to slowly infiltrate the European economy, maybe I will directly control the European economy in the future, and it starts from your cousin's country, this kind of high-level gadget Carl can't understand, so just skip it."

And Hong Tao does not have to bear the guilt of deceiving his friends, he really wants to invest in Europe, or large-scale investment, which will stimulate the economic development of Europe to a certain extent, and it will indeed have short-term benefits for Europe. Why is it a short time? Because capital is not a white rabbit, nor is it a charity, it never gives you free, not even equivalent, it has to make ten, hundred, and thousand times the profit. In the long run, it is unknown whether Europe will develop with the help of its own capital, or whether it will be controlled by its own capital and become its own financial colony.

"I don't believe it at all, the better you say it, the more vicious it becomes...... But it's none of my business, I'll be going ashore and go home in a few hours, don't you want to go with me to the palace?" I think a lot of ladies will invite you to their estates for balls, horseback hunting, and the castles you've always wanted to see. Karl was dismissive of Hong Tao's explanation, and he couldn't figure out what bad ideas this guy was brewing, he was not surprised by this kind of thing, and instead of worrying about Europe, he should think more about his own happiness.

"Hey, hey, your last sentence convinced me, I want to see those castles, just castles! Of course, I will ask Huangya to prepare the ransom and cannonballs, and once I can't return, the whole Mediterranean Sea will be my burial with my daughter. Do you want to think clearly, are you sure to guarantee my safety? Don't force it, if you can't guarantee it, I'll stay on the boat, I'm used to it anyway. Hong Tao really wanted to see what medieval Europe was like, and this curiosity had overpowered the fear of death. Personality is something that can't be changed at all, and a person who likes novelty and adventure can't completely become a very conservative person, and when he encounters the right opportunity, he has to change back.

"Then you better stay on the ship, I'll go to my cousin first, and then let him send the royal guard to pick you up at the port......" Carl didn't take what Hong Tao said as a joke, he thought that Hong Tao would actually give Huang Ya more crazy orders, in order not to let the people of the Mediterranean fall into artillery fire, Carl decided that it was better to be conservative.

There was a seaport city in the northwest corner of Sicily, and the Palermo, the Golden River and the Malacca, followed by the merchant ship and finally arrived. Karl got on a merchant ship in a dinghy and sailed towards the harbor together, and Hong Tao took two warships and lowered the sails off the coast of Palermo but did not anchor, and was in a state of adrift. No matter what Carl says, Hong Tao will not let his guard down, especially in a strange sea area, the naval guns on both sides have been loaded, and as long as there is a situation, the gun door can be opened at any time to shoot.

Palermo is the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, where is the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies? Southern region of the Apennine Peninsula + Sicily + Malta. In the thirteenth century it was an independent kingdom with a king named Friedrich II Wilhelm Hohenstaufen. Carl went home to his cousin, why didn't he go to the Holy Roman Empire, but to Sicily? Quite simply, because his cousin's palace was here, and this King of the Two Sicilies, Friedrich II-Wilhelm Hohenstaufen, was Karl's cousin, that is, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick II.

"Brother Hong, this is Brother Ka's hometown Daqin? Why don't I look as rich as Zhenzhou Port? Carl left, Luo Youde and Huang Ya, the child, had nothing to talk about, so they simply ran to the Jinhe again, standing on the stern and holding a telescope to look at the port of Palermo in the distance. He is not the only one who looks like this, Hong Tao, Jiang Zhuyi, the second mate, and the boatswain, everything who is qualified to wear a telescope is an action, and even Hong Salamander is holding a telescope next to Jiang Zhuyi.

"It's really poor, this is still the actual capital of Great Qin, their emperor lives here, and the place where the spires in the middle of the city are estimated to be the palace." Located just a few kilometres from the port of Palermo, the Golden River offers a clear view of most of the city through a telescope. The size of this port is indeed not much larger than that of Zhenzhou, and most of the houses are pale yellow flat-roofed huts, a bit like adobe houses, but many are two-storey. There are several tall buildings in the middle, and from the style of the roof, there are both European style and strong A-La Bo flavor, and the largest one may be the imperial palace.

(To be continued.) )