The golden desert is vast, and the dunes enrich the undulating face of the waves on the sea. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info a group of camels marching in it, like a small boat sailing on the vast sea, Xie Qinggao felt so small.

No wonder camels are called the ships of the desert!

Xie Qing glanced at the scorching sun overhead, he didn't know when he would be able to reach the westernmost part of the Red Sea, and he didn't know if there would be Chinese merchant ships in Suez Port at this time, or Western merchant ships would arrive. But he must rush back to China as quickly as possible to send the precious news back to China.

The situation in Europe is changing too fast.

In February of this year, the French suddenly announced the official recognition of the American Confederation as an independent state, and from that moment on, the Marquis de Lafayette, Gilbert de Mortier, became the hero of the entire Old World. The nineteen-year-old Marquis, who had been killed by British shells in the Seven Years' War, and the son-in-law of the 5th Duke of Noay, had chartered an entire ship and was forever recorded in history as the first person to volunteer for the North American War.

When the Chinese mission arrived in Europe last year, the anti-British atmosphere in the French was not so hot, and Lafayette was arrested by order of King Louis XVI, although it is not known whether it was real or fake. But this year, the reaction across France has risen sharply after Christmas.

Then in February of the Western calendar, France became the first country in the world to recognize the United States.

But if this news is spoken, Gao Yanming can still endure it, and he will not immediately send people across the entire Mediterranean, land at Alexandria in Egypt, and then the Ottoman Empire will send guides and guards to escort the envoys across the Sinai Peninsula, the narrowest gap between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and then quickly take a boat to China.

Then in March, a series of events happened that made Gao Yanming unable to sit still anymore.

Catherine II's St. Petersburg had opened its doors to the Chinese mission, but the first country to emerge from central Europe on the stage of the "Alliance of Armed Neutrality" set up by Tsarist Russia was the Dutch, a traditional ally of Britain.

Not Prussia, not Portugal. It's the Netherlands!

Then Catherine II once again made it clear that Russia was against British supremacy at sea.

Then, in March, news of the Battle of Saratoga reached Europe from the New World, and the Continental Army of North America achieved a brilliant victory. And the greater significance of this war is that it gave the French the confidence that the United States could persist in 'victory', which is the biggest reason why this battle was called a turning point in the North American war. Almost at the same time as receiving this news, France officially declared war on Britain at the end of March.

The North American War had grown from a battle in a corner of the country to an international war.

Gao Yanming couldn't sit still any longer, and immediately sent Xie Qinggao, who was a mission clerk, to lead a squad of soldiers as guards and set off quickly towards the country.

At this time, it was too dangerous and too long to sail south to the west coast of Africa, through the dangerous Cape of Good Hope, and then through thousands of miles of sea waves to reach the territory of China.

Therefore, the path chosen by Xie Qinggao and his entourage was to cross the Mediterranean Sea, from the western end of the Red Sea by land, and then it was best to meet a Chinese merchant ship, so that he could return to China as soon as possible.

There's a lot of uncertainty out there, but it's definitely the safest and most time-saving path.

Fortunately, the ships of the Chinese, the two great powers of Britain and France, will not intercept them. And China and the Ottoman Empire have already reached an alliance.

After Xie Qinggao landed in Alexandria, he only stayed in the port for two days before quickly hitting the road. All the necessities were arranged by the Egyptian Pasha.

The boundless desert is like a yellow sea, the sun shines on it, ten thousand points of light shine brightly, and the yellow sand in the distance really looks like a golden mountain.

It's very hot here, and under the scorching sun, waves of heat rise in the desert, making it difficult to breathe. It's no wonder that the people here wear such thick clothes and veils.

The yellow desert spreads flat and stretches all the way to the horizon, where the sky and the earth meet, and where the sky and the earth meet, the undulating sand dunes rise. Except that yellow is still yellow. For the first time, Xie Qinggao knew that the ordinary green in the past was so cute.

But that's not the biggest problem.

The problem is that when the wind blows, the sand flies and the sky is dark. The world of yellow sand makes it completely impossible for humans to gain a foothold.

And there is a whirlwind in the desert, one by one, rolling up the yellow sand and running high and high, like a pillar of smoke rising from the flat ground, turning and flying on the desert.

One by one, the sand waves surged forward, like an invisible giant hand, and the sea of sand was rubbing in different ways.

Xie Qinggao also saw what a mirage is here for the first time in his life, it is the effect of sunshine and cloud shadows, this vast and boundless desert has become a blue and clear sea, and he has also seen seabirds and merchant ships sailing by. The flag with a conspicuous red flag fluttering on it was a Chinese sea vessel.

Xie Qinggao didn't mention how much he wanted to cry at that time.

The Chinese sea ship in the mirage, such an unreachable distance.

The relentless scorching sun spewed like flames unobstructed onto the earth, and the desert of Ji was baked like a steamer. But when the sun sets, a round sunset sticks to the ridge line of the desert, setting off the earth dark and dark, revealing layers of crimson;

At that moment, the yellow waves that held the setting sun seemed to freeze, and the whole golden ocean fell asleep.

Writing is one of Xie Qinggao's great hobbies, and he hopes that one day he can write his own "Records of the Western Regions" like Xuanzang.

Compared with the more vast Americas, Xie Qinggao is not interested, he is interested in the West. He believes that the center of the world is still on the ancient continent of Asia and Europe, with one end in the east and the other in the west.

He traveled all over the Western countries with his own feet, recorded the geography and customs of the mountains and rivers along the way with his own pen, and before he died, this book could be published, and he did not expect to have such a lofty historical status and significance as "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" or "Xu Xiake's Travels", but it was enough for this life.

The desert is very vast, and he was willing to come to the Celestial World before.

However, the anxiety churning in his heart now did not give birth to half of the nostalgia and interest for the desert in front of him, so he wanted to give birth to a pair of wings and fly to the western end of the Red Sea in the blink of an eye. Get on a ship back to China and rush to China.

Any diplomat knows what the war between Britain and France means for China. Whether it is the Sino-British negotiations or the subsequent Sino-Russian negotiations, this is of great strategic significance.

Don't think that Xie Qinggao's status is low, he doesn't know some secrets, there have been some gossip in the mission for a long time.

The Emperor had long expected a war between England and France......

Britain and France go to war, and China will also make moves......

The South China Seas, which began with the island of Great-Mother Oshima, has always been a sensitive topic in China's diplomacy.

Britain and France rushed to the United States and did not stand with Spain and the Netherlands on the South Sea issue, but a qualified diplomat must not only look at the acres and thirds of land in front of him, and it is not the time of the pre-Qing Dynasty.

Spain had been the little brother of the Gallic rooster in Europe for a hundred years, and the Dutch had joined forces with England after the Glorious Revolution and became a major creditor of London for a hundred years.

These four countries are absolutely allies. In the face of China, Spain and the Netherlands have also reached an alliance and become a bridge between Britain and France. The difficulty for China to solve the South China Sea lies not in Spain and the Netherlands, but in Britain and France behind them.

But now that Britain and France are fighting, I don't know how many years it will take to start this war.

Newspapers all over Europe were headlining the words 'Seven Years' War Continued, and the Dutch had abandoned their good friends and put up a sign for themselves called the Armed Neutrality League, and mixed up with the Russians. The British are in big trouble!

But this news is a once-in-a-lifetime good opportunity for China and for China to solve the South China Seas issue. Even if the news can be spread a day earlier, it will be of great significance.

……

Chen Ming, from Nanjing, did not know that the situation in Europe had changed dramatically.

The 'meaning' of communication is crucial at this moment. Unfortunately, it is not known when this news, which is very beneficial to China, will reach his ears.

……

Even Chen Yaqiang, the captain of the Chinese merchant fleet that was docked at Mocha Port, who belonged to the Lingnan Trading Company, did not know at this time that there was still a small group of Chinese in the distant Sinai Peninsula.

Since the alliance between China and the Ottoman Empire on the Russian question, Chinese trade in the heavenly world has gradually opened.

Speaking of which, the history of communication between China and the heavenly world can be traced back to the original Silk Road, and the later Maritime Silk Road was also opened by them. During the Song and Song dynasties, during the Mengyuan and Yuan dynasties, countless Tianfang people settled along the coast of China. Although the impression they left on China in the last days was that ugly and sinful.

But the Tianfang people, and the Pu clan people who settled in China, also suffered retribution for this.

Not to mention that the Pu family was later bloodbathed by the Mongols, after Zhu Hongwu founded the country, he designated the surname Pu in Quanzhou, Fujian Province as a traitor, and those with the surname Pu were forbidden to study and enter the office. In one fell swoop, the Pu family disappeared.

The disasters brought by the Mongols and the rise of European sea voyages directly ruined the jobs of the heavenly merchants.

Now the communication between China and the Tianfang world is no longer these Tianfang people rushing to China on sea ships, but the Chinese rushing to Tianfang with goods from thousands of miles away.

The port of Mocha is one of the most important ports in the Red Sea region, located on the shores of the Red Sea in Yemen, and was the world's largest coffee trading center from the 15th to the 17th century.

Even in later generations, Chen Ming is familiar with the name of 'Mocha Coffee'.

Although in the 18th century, with the beginning of coffee cultivation in other regions, the business opportunities of Mocha Port were greatly lost, but in this part of the Red Sea, Mocha Port was still one of the most important ports in this era.

The locals, the Yemenis, had just driven out the Ottoman invasion at the beginning of the last century, and coffee cultivation and trading made it the richest place on the Arabian Peninsula.

Judging from the entire history, this period is also their last good time.

It won't be long before Britain and France will be at war here, and after the Napoleonic Wars, the greedy eyes of the British will be on this place. Although the port of Mocha at that time was completely finished, it doesn't matter, the port of Mocha is not far from the port of Aden.

It will be the center of the British in the heavenly world!

But right now, the people here don't feel the slightest bit of worry.

Although the port of Mocha has lost the prosperity of the last century, it is still a thriving trading port. Two hundred years of prosperity and trade have brought economic prosperity and improved living standards of the people here.

The local indigenous nobles and big businessmen lived in an extremely extravagant manner, and Chen Yaqiang had heard about it before he came, but after seeing it, he suddenly felt that his eyes were opened. The houses of these nobles and wealthy merchants were full of gold and silver, the servants wore clothes of different but exquisite workmanship, kettles were inlaid with precious stones, and the soft carpets of pure wool were sold for at least five hundred yuan in China, but here, if they were sprinkled with a little stain, their fate was to be replaced.

In addition to the traditional local barbecue, the food also includes grilled fish, bread, cheese, plus some fresh vegetables and olives......

Food is a historical reason, and in many places it is not said that you can eat well if you have money.

The wealth of the people here is quite outward.

The silver tableware, the waist knife inlaid with precious stones, the gold and silver thread pattern embroidered on the clothes, the clear ruby on the turban full of temptation, and the gold ring full of ten fingers studded with precious stones, this is not an upstart show-off, but a sect and a custom.

There are also dancers with beautiful postures who are constantly sent to Chen Yaqiang's hands and give female slaves to distinguished guests, which is also their style.

It has to be said that after 200 years of cultivation and trade, the diet here has been influenced by the West to a certain extent. But these Yemenis, who are still happy now, would never have imagined what their children and grandchildren would be like when the next century dawned.

Without the emergence of Chen Ming, the world would be a world where the average standard of living of all classes in Europe is rising rapidly, and the opposite is true in other places, especially the Celestial World and the East. And this trend between the two sides is accelerating.

Chen Yaqiang had just arrived, and they had three merchant ships, all of which were traditional Chinese sailing ships. That's why I was able to come to the Heavenly World during this time period.

The intention of Lingnan Trading Company is not to continue to develop its influence and market in the surrounding area, but to seek a foothold.

Their target is the port of Aden.

Since the opening of exchanges between China and the Ottoman Empire, the exchanges between China and the Celestial World have been constantly strengthened. Seeking a long-term foothold has become a major task of the China Foreign Trade Corporation, and the goal of the Lingnan Trading Company is to see Aden.

There are no British involved here yet.

It's a little-known place in Yemen, but it's absolutely excellent as a seaport.

It is between the Aden Peninsula and the Little Aden Peninsula, and the Aden Peninsula and the Little Aden Peninsula on both sides are like two arms, protecting the port of Aden in the middle, not only preventing large waves from rushing into the port, but also preventing the monsoon from the northeast and southwest. And the water area is large and the water is deep.

The goods on the three sea ships that Chen Yaqiang brought this time were not so much for business as a gift to open up the joints.

He didn't know now that thousands of miles away on the Sinai Peninsula, Xie Qinggao, who was burdened with heavy responsibilities, was moving forward in pain under the scorching sun......

The world is so ingenious, and so is time...... (To be continued)). If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, your support is my biggest motivation. For mobile phone users, please go to read. )