As for whether there is shallow oil buried in this part of Yemen, Hong Tao does not know, but he knows that many places in the Arabian Peninsula have their own oil, and some places can dig up oil by digging a grave to bury the dead. It doesn't matter if Yemen doesn't have it, this emir doesn't know the Bedouins, they are the masters of the peninsula, and they will definitely know about this kind of black stuff when they run around. As long as they can get the goods they want to exchange, they don't have to worry about no oil.

Leaving the port of Aden, except for two merchant ships anchored here to unload, the remaining twenty-seven ships once again formed a three-column column, with two Seawolf-class warships exploring the way in front, slowly turning north along the coastline, and burrowing headlong into the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

"Old Sai, is this island also under the jurisdiction of the Emir of Benladen?" Looking at the lonely extinct volcano on the right, Hong Tao's little eyes began to shine again. The island, known to him as Pirin, was later a naval base of the Republic of Yemen, and ships from the Suez Canal had to pass through the narrow channel in front of it into the Gulf of Aden. If you can lay an egg here, the entire Red Sea will be under your control, and you can block it whenever you want, and it doesn't take too much effort. The main thing is that on the south side of this island, there is a large natural harbor, which is a good place to build a port.

"It's a deserted island, with very little fresh water on it, almost no grass, and the emir has no men stationed there." Saeed is worthy of being a scholar, he must have traveled around the Arabian Peninsula when he was young, and the Chinese pay attention to reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles, and the Arabs are the same. Whoever reads the most scriptures and travels through many countries. Who is the wise!

"If I exchange sugar and emir for the right to use this place. Do you think he'll say yes? Hong Tao began to test the tone.

"Change here...... What's here? Said is a scholar, but not a strategist, and he has never read Hong Tao's book on sea power, and he can't think of any use for such a desert island.

"That's ......" Hong Tao took advantage of the delay of lighting a cigarette for a few seconds to weave a fence in his stomach.

"I have a large merchant fleet, and it would be a hassle to dock at the port of Aden every time. You also know that the living habits of the Song people are very different from those of the people here. They like to drink alcohol, like beautiful women, like to eat some food that is unacceptable to the people here, and if they live together often, it will definitely cause ethnic and religious contradictions, and even conflicts. In that case, it would be difficult for the Emir and me to deal with. If I could build a small port here to call the cargo ships of the Great Song Dynasty and the Jinhe Kingdom, wouldn't this problem be solved? It's a deserted place, it's still an island, and the two sides won't have much contact with each other, and each is very comfortable. What do you say? ”

This fence is really densely woven and tightly knit. Hong Tao seems to have thought about the Arabs in all this way, and then paid for it himself, which must be said by an empathetic and broad-minded emperor.

"Your Majesty is the most far-sighted and broad-minded emperor I have ever met! All praise be to Allah! If His Majesty agrees, I can go and convey His Majesty's intention to the Emir, and I think the Emir will be persuaded by His Majesty's sincerity. In his opinion, as the emperor of an empire, Hong Tao can respect the customs and habits of the Arabs in this way, which is full of goodwill and sincerity, who does not want to be respected by other peoples?

"Hey, hey, hey...... There is no hurry, and it is not too late to discuss this matter with the emir when we return to the sea. "Hong Tao didn't want to lease Pilin Island right away, and the empire didn't have the energy to lay out too many places now. It is not like the port of Kalamba, where there are ready-made cities, nor is it like Cape Town, which can be developed at will, and once occupied, a detachment of troops must be stationed ready to deal with Arab harassment, and supplies are also a problem, and the gains outweigh the losses.

The Red Sea is actually not red most of the time, and the name is translated from Persian. Because there are no rivers flowing into this narrow sea area all year round, the outlet connecting to the ocean is very narrow, the exchange of water bodies is very slow, and the local temperature is dry and hot, so the sea water evaporates quickly and the salt content is very high. At some point, there will be an outbreak of a halophilic seaweed in the Red Sea, which is the red color, which may be how the ancients called this sea the Red Ocean.

Due to the climate and natural environment, both sides of the Red Sea are very desolate, on the left is the Gobi of North Africa, and the rolling brown hills are uninhabited and without animals except for some low small plants. On the right is the Sijaz Mountains of the Arabian Peninsula, with cliffs and extinct volcanoes as the main theme, and nothing is long. In later generations, this landform was called a flowless zone, which means that there is no surface water, and there are no rivers, streams, and lakes.

Don't look at the Red Sea, it is not big, it is only 300 kilometers at its widest point, but it is long and narrow, with a length of more than 2,000 kilometers. In addition to the mixed sailing ships of the Jinhe Kingdom, the sailing ships of this era had to sail along the coast for long distances, mainly for navigation. It is difficult for small and medium-sized ships to sail long distances in the Red Sea, because there are too few ports on both sides of the river to replenish them at any time. Moreover, there are many coral reefs in the offshore waters of the Red Sea, and it is very dangerous to drive offshore, and only those large fleets can pack up their supplies and run to the port of Jeddah in one go.

The second port of call for Hong Tao is the port of Jeddah at the waist of the Red Sea, which is one of the most prosperous ports on the Arabian Peninsula, not only because of its geographical location, but also because of a city called Mecca not far to the north.

Mecca, the most important holy place of Islam, has a Ka'ba in the Haram al-Haram in the city, and it is also the place where you should go to the holy place once in your life as stated in the five major canons. All Mus\Rins have to come here for Hajj, and it's strange if it's not prosperous. The port of Jeddah is the water passage of the city of Mecca, and the Muzzi Lim from the direction of North Africa and Egypt will travel long distances to the port of Ayed Hab (Port Sudan) opposite the port of Jeddah, cross the Red Sea by boat, go ashore from the port of Jeddah, and then ride a camel to the city of Mecca dozens of kilometers away.

Hong Tao really wanted to go to Mecca to see, but he was not Mus-Rin, he could not enter the city of Mecca, and all non-Mus-Rins were forbidden to enter here, and in Said's words, Kafir was not allowed to set foot in the holy city. The Kafir is the name given to all non-Mus-Rin. More than 10 kilometers from the city of Mecca, there are many checkpoints that are used to identify whether the pilgrim is Muz Rin, and it is not easy to know anyone.

Although the pilgrimage is a religious activity, it greatly facilitates the flow of goods throughout the Arab world. For the pilgrimage, the Abbasid caliphs built a 1,500-kilometer improvised road from Baghdad across the Iraqi and Nefud deserts to the holy city of Mecca. On this road, every other day, a qanats were built for the pilgrims to draw fresh water, and it was called Zubaida Avenue, which was the name of the caliph's wife.

From this point of view, the religious atmosphere here is indeed very strong, and there is no support for the construction of roads for life and trade, as long as it is said to be for pilgrimage, even the poorest people are willing to work and work even if they are hungry.

These Muz--Rim, who came from far and wide to make a pilgrimage, not only heard the voice of Allah, but also used their legs to weave a vast trade network throughout the world of Is-'Rham. Starting from the Indian Peninsula, Central Asia, the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Europe, and finally converging in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. So religion at this time facilitated the Arabs to trade all over the world at that time, and they even traveled north from the land to the Baltic coast in the Middle Ages.

When Hong Tao's fleet suddenly emerged from the deep sea and appeared in front of the port of Jeddah, the whole city was dumbfounded. The small box-like roofs were full of people, the docks were full of people, and even the boats in the harbor were full of people. Everyone was stunned as they looked at the huge body of the Sea King, and if it weren't for the banner of the Emir of Bunladen on this large ship, they would probably have worshiped as a miracle. Even when they saw the banner of the emir, many people knelt on the ground, raised their hands and faces to the sky, and did not know what they were saying.

"It's an undefended city!" Hong Tao's perspective is always different from others, he is not interested in the crowd, nor is he interested in the teams of camels, but uses a telescope to observe the terrain here. With no walls, no towers, and no defenses, such a city is very easy to attack.

"There is no need for it to be fortified, no one will come to desecrate the holy place of Allah, this is the heart of Arabia, and the infidels cannot reach it at all." Said felt that Hong Tao's question was very unlevel.

"Hey, hey, hey...... Not necessarily. Are there so many people here every day? "Hong Tao didn't argue with Said, and no city could block bullets and shells, this is blind optimism, and it is also a poor understanding of the times, so there is no need to explain it.

"Tomorrow is the day of the big prayer, and there will be a big bazaar in the mosque, and many merchants are here." Arin pointed to the crowd on the shore and reported good news to Hong Tao. According to the Arab calendar, today is Thursday, and every Friday a large bazaar is held next to the mosque, and the fleet comes at the right time.

With the experience of the port of Aden, Hong Tao still took the medicine according to the prescription, and first carried Said into the port in a small boat to negotiate with the managers here. In those days, whether it was a British, French or Japanese businessman, when they entered China, they would find a local businessman to be a comprador, which was very reasonable, and it was really easy to do things with local acquaintances. Although Saeed did not know the emir here, his identity and name played a role, and after more than half a day of negotiations, the two merchant ships in Hongtao's fleet were allowed to sell their goods in the port of Jeddah, but they were subject to paying taxes as usual.

(To be continued.) )