Shortly after the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1950, Lear hurriedly boarded the fleet in Guangzhou, boarded a high-speed expedition ship with a new copper cover, and began his long-awaited voyage around the world.

If the North Sea (Bering Sea) expedition fleet continues to explore south along the coast and reach Cape Storm one step earlier, its circumnavigation voyage will be second.

On the basis of a complete nautical chart, on the fourth day of the first month of February, they successfully reached the westernmost territory of the empire, Socotra Island. Since this time is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the wind blows from the continent to the ocean, so it can be said that the wind and water are smooth to the extreme. But the stretch from Socotra to Cape Storm is full of twists and turns.

At the end of February, there was a turmoil, and the war between the Seljuk Empire and the Crusaders took a turn for the better, and the princedom of Solomon appeared. Marco Polo, as the inner line of the empire in Jerusalem, made a big deal in arms, and the arms on both sides naturally came to the right and left, and neither the Sultan of Marikshah nor the lords of the Crusader countries dared to offend this arms monopoly warmongers. If you can't pay enough for military goods, you can only exchange rights and land for arms. Ten acres of desert land or five acres of arable land can be exchanged for a full set of exquisite chain mail. A manor with an annual production of 200 barrels of wine can be exchanged for 20 heavily armed full-body steel-armored cavalrymen (including horse armor). One silver coin in exchange for an arrow made of steel triangular arrows that can be recycled.

High-quality and inexpensive children's undeceived arms continue to enter the battlefield of the jihad between the two sides through secret smuggling channels. Naturally, the main intermediate channel is the logistics channel of the local and many vendors along the way. But how could the Sultan of Malikshah, who had been the ruler of a generation, tolerate a steady stream of bloodletting by the Jews? Orders were issued to strictly investigate smuggling and illegal trade in the territory. All of a sudden, Comrade Marco Polo, who held high the banner of free trade, fell into a situation where the supply of goods was cut off, and the orders for arms worth tens of thousands of gold coins were at risk of default. In case of emergency. Comrade Marco Polo wrote a letter to the Governor of Socotra, the nearest imperial military base, asking for help, hoping that the empire could allocate a batch of arms to save the emergency, if it could not save his reputation. Then your mission will be in great crisis!

Socotra has been under the direct jurisdiction of the empire, and the means of obtaining it are also very taboo, and almost all of the island's small coastal islanders and internal nomadic tribes have been concentrated in the three newly built ports along the coast, and the west port facing the Red Sea is a dedicated military port, and it is also the largest port. Westport, with a total population of 2,000 people (including the garrison), is simply hilarious. How can this port, which can only serve as a supply port at most, have the strength to break through the blockade of the Sultan and send arms to Jerusalem? The navy has only 1,000 tons of ships on this island, and almost all of them are engaged in trade escort on the southern coast of East Africa. Not a single boat can be drawn.

As a result, the unlucky Lear was moved by the governor's words, and borrowed his fastest expedition ship to transport a large number of cold weapons and armor of more than 100 tons into the Red Sea and sailed directly to the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba to unload, naturally Marco Polo's men responded. The governor asked the prince to move as the emperor's brother, and naturally he had to pay the price. At the cost of all shipping routes from the Gulf of Aqaba to Cape Storm and military charts along the coast.

Lear was highly educated and naturally knew the difference between military and civilian maps. In front of this transaction, I couldn't help but be tempted. I calculated that I would spend a few days going back and forth, and that I might save more time than these few days on the way to Cape Storm with military charts; He was also able to form a friendship with the promising governor and the future king Solomon. The deal is still a good deal.

I didn't expect to leave Westport. When I arrived at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba smoothly, I was a little anxious, and I didn't wait for night to fall, and when I entered the Gulf of Aqaba at dusk, I was discovered by the Fatimid patrol ships, and the northern part of the Red Sea was naturally more important as the inland sea of the Fatimid Dynasty of Egypt, which was patrolled during the day.

Smuggling arms is a felony in any country, and Lear was naturally panicked when he was discovered, but the thought that he was the most powerful empire in the known world calmed down. Command the sailors to go south, and make a posture like a return voyage to the south.

His ship was the latest high-speed expedition ship, and it was impossible for the people of Fatima to see that it was a warship. This slender and low hull was not suitable for carrying cargo and carrying troop cannons; Therefore, it is most likely to be mistaken by the people of Fatima for a spy ship to explore the military intelligence.

When it got dark, he took out the shimmering night vision binoculars that he had bought at a high price at a secret auction within the school, and commanded the military charts with a meter detail to direct the ship through the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. Enter the Gulf of Aqaba, which is similarly narrow enough to be unobstructed by the naked eye during the day.

The entire Fatimid dynasty was in a very unstable state, which paved the way for Lear's actions to be safe. Some of the smuggled arms were those of the Crusaders who were bribed by Marco Polo and turned against Genoese merchants to attack Egypt.

How many people knew that the Italians had no incumbent demands that the Crusaders attack the Eastern Roman Empire, which also believed in God, simply because it was to defend its own commercial interests in Egypt and to fight its rivals?

Therefore, Marco Polo's bribery of the Crusader lords to occupy the Sinai Peninsula in the northeast of Egypt was also a normal commercial practice, and in order to obtain Aqaba, an important outlet to the Red Sea, the Crusaders did not care about the agreement signed with the fools not to invade Egypt. After occupying this port, the various oriental goods obtained do not need to pay the sky-high price after the exploitation of a large number of merchants in the Seljuk territory, and the lords of Marco Polo promised that as long as they get this port, the price of all oriental goods will be reduced by at least 30%, and the price of arms will be reduced even more (those merchants who increase the price will also have to keep part of it, and the rest of the selling price will naturally add the intercepted part), at least 50% of the price.

Naturally, the lords of Jerusalem and the knights, large and small, who received this great news, rushed to Aqaba with all their hearts.

By the time Fatima reacted, Aqaba had already fallen. On the 8th of March, Lear's fleet docked at the rudimentary docks of Aqaba (a dock facility that could be ignored in relation to the various ports of the Empire) and began unloading. Marco Polo himself and many lords came to pick up the goods.

This shipload of arms is naturally not worth mentioning at home, but in the heart of the Middle East, where the flames are raging, the value is simply not measurable by money. Each suit of armor almost meant owning a large estate and title. A heavily armed hoplite knight on the plains of Egypt is simply a meat grinder, bulldozing 200 infantry with ease. The chain mail and full-body plate armor, which are almost impenetrable with ordinary bows and arrows, are simply invincible after wearing them, whether it is in siege or street fighting, it is like a bug existence with one enemy and one hundred enemies.

A smiling Marco Polo and many other lords brought gifts to Lear's and held a celebratory feast. At the banquet, Lear not only received the money due to the arms sellers (the governor of Socotra bought the state-owned military supplies in the name of armament needs at twice the domestic purchase price, and sold them to Marco Polo, who had been assigned by his superiors to cooperate actively, and was happy to complete the task under the premise of complying with the regulations), but also received a good gift from Marco Polo personally - a translated collation of Ptolemy's voyages along the coast of Africa. This precious resource contains the latitude and longitude of the West African coastline and the forests that can replenish water and food.

Overjoyed, Lear immediately became confidants with Marco Polo, and after many lords pushed their glasses and changed their glasses, the wine was also very intoxicating, and the well-fed guests naturally returned to their tents outside the harbor. Lear and Marco Polo conspired in the captain's chamber and finalized a secret pact that would have a profound impact on the future situation in the Middle East - the secret pact that would later be known as the Secret Treaty of Solomon, which was intended to destroy Fatimid Egypt.

However, the two parties to this secret treaty were not monarchs representing the government, a prince of the Chinese Empire, an independent crusader lord with a higher education in the empire, and the main content of this agreement was a private sales contract. The main contents include unlimited purchase of various European minerals, timber, slaves, agricultural and sideline products, light industrial products (mainly simply processed leather, wood and metal ingots, wine, etc.), which can be directly exchanged for arms, spices and various oriental goods, without the need for precious metal currency purchases; The second was to establish a commercial alliance that included all the Crusader states and their internal trade with their suzerains, and the Solomonic Kingdom would become a refuge for Jewish and Jewish merchants, and help Marco Polo become a mediator between the Chinese Empire and the European countries. Among the many lords and feudal lords who wanted to join this highly privileged business alliance, they chose to be the comprador who met the imperial standards, and provided unlimited quantities of granular black powder to the Crusader countries, components and assembly drawings of large siege equipment, and large quantities of burning oil and other Greek fire-like weapons as siege weapons; Lear and Marco Polo set up an exchange of war bonds issued by the various Crusader lords in Jerusalem, which could be purchased by individuals and imperial financial institutions, rated by the relevant domestic institutions, and treated and disposed of by all laws and regulations deemed to be equivalent to domestic corporate bonds.

Although this agreement is a private agreement, it is easy to obtain state endorsement, and it is believed that the Imperial Senate and the Holy See will not oppose such a win-win agreement. A beaming Lear left Aqaba and prepared to return to Socotra in mid-March to continue his round-the-world journey. (To be continued......)