"It's not bad from a distance, it's not as ugly as you say...... this ray of sunlight shines right on the headland of Gibraltar, setting off the top of the Karl Fort is particularly eerie and solemn. This building made of cement and stone is almost the same color as the mountain, and it looks like a big king there, which is really not good-looking. But Hong Tao thinks it is very pleasing to the eye, because in his eyes it is an armed fortress, and strong and practical are the most beautiful. What's wrong with Wang Ba, Wang Ba who can help himself bite is a good Wang Ba!

"The people in the neighborhood don't want to enter this harbor anymore, they say that there is a devil living here, and they all call me the Lich Count behind their backs...... "Carl has long understood Hong Tao's aesthetic level, and he also knows that it is useless to complain, but he has to say, not to say that it is uncomfortable.

"Hahahaha...... This title is very majestic, the two of us work together to strive to turn you into a great demon king, with your ability, you should at least be a king. By the way, let me tell you something, Jinhe Bay is gone, and it has become the Golden River Empire, how do you feel? "The title of Count of the Lich Hong Tao is quite familiar, he has played World of Warcraft in his previous life, and he doesn't feel frustrated by this name. When he talked about the king, he remembered that he didn't know that Karl was the emperor himself.

"Thoughts? What do you mean? "Karl still has a gap in his mind compared to Medini, especially in the details, he actually didn't hear the difference between Golden River Bay and Golden River Empire.

"It's really boring to talk to you...... Golden River Empire! Holy Roman Empire! "If you want to brag but no one cheers you up, it's the most annoying, you think about the words later, but the other party just doesn't give you the steps to say!

“…… You're going to make an alliance with my cousin? Carl still didn't understand, but thought about it further.

"I'm even your uncle's head! Empire, I am the emperor. Same as your cousin. It's the Emperor! "It's gone. This Guanzi Hongtao can't sell it anymore, so he can only bring it out without a taste, and it has no effect at all.

"It's useless for you to shout at me, it's better for you to go and tell my cousin yourself, it just so happens that the two emperors are talking, and I tell him that he won't believe it......" Karl couldn't get out of the dead end, he thought that Hong Tao wanted him to inform Friedrich II.

"Come on, I originally wanted to give you the title of Imperial Governor or something. Martini and Pojiao are already governors, so you don't want one? Hong Tao saw that Carl was not yet on the road, so he could only throw out a killer move.

"Think, that black fat man still dares to be a governor, he should be my slave! …… Oh yes, the Emperor...... I don't have to kneel down and kowtow like the Great Song Dynasty etiquette, don't you like kowtowing. As soon as Carl heard the name Medini, his IQ immediately returned, and only then did he reflect on Hong Tao's appointment as emperor. He touched his chest with one hand and knelt down with one leg to give Hong Tao a knightly salute.

"You're the stinking officer I've ever appointed...... How many days have you not washed your hair? It's all felted, it seems that there are still small insects crawling! "Hong Tao has no good way to meet Carl, a person with extremely lack of emotional intelligence. I just wanted to accept his gift, but when I looked down and saw his unkempt hair, I almost didn't throw it out.

Karl Fort has not changed much from last year, it is not as large as Cape Town where you can display your talents, and Karl is not a good manager, except that the castle is completed, there is a row of small houses on the shore, and this is a workshop for boiling whale oil, not to mention the smell. There seems to be a larger population, not only are there people working on the shore, but there are also people patrolling the walls of the castle, it seems that Karl is a good hand at military affairs, and it only took one year to train slaves into soldiers, and his every move is quite good.

"What about the other ship, also out for whaling?" Hong Tao didn't see another small sailboat in the harbor.

"Sunk...... Sunk by the storm, and six sailors of Golden River Bay died. This kind of boat is very difficult to operate in a storm, and it also leaks everywhere, which is very difficult to use! Karl reluctantly reluctantly told what he had done in the city, his tone full of complaints. It is indeed a bit difficult for a man accustomed to sailing the warships of the Golden River Bay to sail the sailing ships of medieval Europe, which have no stability plates and are not suitable for deep-sea sailing.

"It's okay, I'll leave you a salmon-class one when I leave. It's hard for you, this kind of hard life may have to go through a few years...... I can't come here every year for a short time, and I might see you again in two years. "Hong Tao didn't complain that Carl was not careful, this thing can't be careful, who knows when it will encounter a storm. Once driving in high sea conditions, the difference between the ocean-going ship type and the offshore ship type is immediately reflected, and even if you are on it, you can only resign yourself to fate. Carl is one of his few friends and an important pawn in Europe, and he cannot afford to lose him because of a storm, even if he risks the speed of technological diffusion.

"Hey, hey, hey...... Can I go to Cape Town and find Martini? Karl had been frowning for a second, but when he heard that there was a new ship, he immediately smiled. He also immediately remembered to torture Martini, and he and Martini were natural enemies.

"Don't go! You can't beat Martini if you go, he now has tens of thousands of men under his command, a battleship and an armed cargo ship, and a gun emplacement equipped with 135 cannons. If he captures you, he will definitely find you five little black men to have children every day, and you will be tired to death! "Hong Tao's only hobby for Carl is really hard to understand, running so far just to torture others mentally, and he can't fight or kill, what is the picture?

"You're better for him than I ......" Karl was upset, more sad than losing a ship.

"No, no, no, if you were in Cape Town I would do the same to you, it's not a personal vendetta, it's a national need. Don't forget, I'm the emperor now, I'm responsible for all the people, and like your cousin, I need to do a lot of things that I don't want to do......" In fact, Hong Tao and Carl are the most worry-free together, this guy is very simple, without any ambitions, just like a child. As long as you find him a big toy he likes, he will never bother you, you can do whatever you want him to do.

"Then I don't want Karl Fort anymore, I want to go back to being a captain...... "Yes, Karl is still serious, it seems that he is really not happy here."

"Hey! Don't know what's wrong! There are only three governors, and you are one of them, do you know what a governor is? In the future, you will be the emperor of the soil here, in addition to abiding by the general policy of the empire and protecting the interests of the empire, you can do whatever you want, no one can care about you, this is not satisfied? Why don't we change the two of us, you go back and become the emperor, and I stay here as the governor? There are so many noble ladies, you don't have anything to do, don't go to the house or something? You're not short of money, so you can smash them to death with gems! Hong Tao saw that the soft one could not be successful, so he could only come to the hard one, and there were only three moves to deal with Carl, first soft, then hard, if it didn't work, take him out to play, and then he forgot all about the previous unhappiness.

"Anyway, I don't like it here, it's training all day, and you don't let me bring soldiers ashore, and no one comes to attack me, my greatest pleasure is to go to sea to hunt whales, and there are no good ships yet!" Hong Tao's second move didn't work, and Carl was still not happy to stay.

“…… Or I'll take you to the New World for a spin, no one else has been, and we're the first! Hong Tao had no choice but to come up with one last move.

"The one to the west?" Karl stopped complaining, and with a pair of dazzling eyes, he stretched out a finger and pointed to the west.

"Must drop! Let the cargo ship stay here to help you guard your home, and the two of us will go on the Golden River and take your soldiers with us. Hong Tao has always wanted to go to the Americas, on the one hand, to find tobacco, potatoes, corn, peppers, rubber and other cash crops, but on the other hand, he feels that the more he drags on, the less opportunities he can go. It is not his opinion that the old man is unwilling to sail away by himself, there will be more and more such opinions in the future, the title of this emperor is like a shackle, it will be tighter and tighter, it is better to take advantage of this time to go to the Americas first, and there is no regret if you can't come out in the future.

"When are you leaving? I need to prepare first, how many soldiers do I need to bring? I only have more than 200 people, why don't I borrow some from my cousin? As soon as Carl heard that he was going out on an expedition, he took the soldiers with him, and he was not happy, so he rubbed his hands and turned in circles, wondering if he had enough soldiers.

"Don't, it's enough to bring a hundred people, and you can't afford to raise more Jinhe. I'll send these goods to Renaya first, and then arrange Lao Wen, and I'll leave when I get back. Don't go to sea these days, go collect some supplies, the more the better. "Hong Tao likes this kind of life that just goes, what emperors, empires, Mongolians, and the Great Song Dynasty are all left behind. I didn't cross over to be a coolie, and I still live a fart in a life without fun, what is my love, and I don't want to die!

The two like-minded men hit it off, and Hong Tao's fleet had only rested at Fort Karl for one day, and then hurriedly set sail to the port of Re Na and Ya to unload its goods, and Karl was not idle, he sailed to the south of the strait, and went to the local tribal chief to discuss supplies. The Golden River had a large belly and was preparing for a long voyage, and no port on the North African coast would have been able to raise such a large number of supplies without saying hello in advance.

I haven't seen it for a year, and the port of Rena\ya is much livelier than the last time I came, especially the Saracen dhows and the Byzantine double-decker slurry boats have filled the docks. The free trade port without taxes is too attractive to the merchants of this era, and the goods from the eastern Mediterranean are constantly imported into the European continent from here, and the merchants from the European continent can buy goods from here at relatively cheap prices and then traffic them to the interior of Europe, and the prosperity brought by them can make up for the tax shortfall, or even exceed. In fact, tax exemption alone has not made such a big difference, mainly because Friedrich II has a good reputation among the Saracens, he is not an emperor who hates heretics, and even the Eastern Crusade can be resolved through negotiations, and he will definitely not play a mess when he does a deal. The emperor's friends from Saracen, Byzantium, and even Persia also played a leading and exemplary role.

(To be continued.) )