While Cleopatra and the vampire ancestors were discussing their future treatment, Wang Qiu took Jane to inspect the current situation in Alexandria.

The first stop on their expedition was the merchant ships at the wharf. But the problem is, she hasn't been a few steps out of the palace yet, and Janie. Glaus was so hot that he almost suffered from heat stroke.

“…… Whew-whew-whew-is this place a toast? Why am I so hot that I can't breathe? ”

She was sweating and panting, but she could no longer care about any shame, and took off her dresses in public. And the Egyptian soldiers and servants who surrounded them did not seem to have the slightest intention of avoiding it—they were accustomed to seeing the naked body of Queen Cleopatra, and did not think that the public undressing of nobles and noblewomen was something to avoid—but looked at Janine curiously. Glaus's various underwear, as well as the maid who stepped forward to wipe her sweat and take her clothes, made the female vampire hunter who had stripped only her bra and lace panties quite shy.

“…… No way, this is Egypt...... The temperature is 42 degrees Celsius now, aren't you looking for death in that black dress? ”

Because he had already experienced the harsh temperature in Egypt, Wang Qiu had already changed into shorts, a vest and plastic slippers at this time, and he was shaking a big fan in his hand. I saw him take out a thermometer and look at it, and then said, "...... Miss Grauss, you have been in England for a long time, and you are certainly not well adapted to the climate of Egypt...... Looking at you like this, I'm afraid that you will suffer from heat stroke if you don't take two steps, or go out in a sedan chair! ”

“…… Ay. Then take a sedan chair...... However, let four naked men carry the sedan chair for me...... Alas, let's not talk about it. Let's go! ”

Looking at the Egyptian soldiers in front of him with their bare arms and thighs and only a cloth around their waists, as well as four naked black palanquins, and the naked runners and celestial camps all over the streets outside, Janie. Glaus only felt that his eyes hurt and his legs and feet were even softer.

As a result, a group of naked men and women gathered around two palanquins with awnings and marched out of the palace, like a naturist procession.

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An hour later. Standing on the dock side of Alexandria, looking at the masts in front of her, Jenny. Graus finally understood the Mediterranean trade hub under the control of the traverser. In the end, there will be a capacity bottleneck in Weishenme.

In short, the ships of the Mediterranean were too backward to bear the huge volume of the Age of Discovery.

Although in the Mediterranean during the Greco-Roman era, the seafaring trade was already very developed. But the ships of this era were still very backward. Oars can only be used as the main power of power - from the Minoan civilization in Crete in ancient times, ships in the ancient Mediterranean have been basically stereotyped: the front and rear ends of the ship are cocked, the side of the ship is fixed with oars, the mast is hung with square sails, and the stern is flanked by one or two huge tail rotors that act as rudders. The problem was that its mast was crudely and unscientifically made, and it was hung with a primitive one-sided square sail. Instead of the more advanced spinnakers, there are no modern rigging that can flexibly adjust the angle of the wind. So this kind of merchant ship can only sail downwind. Sidewinds cannot be used.

From 2000 BC until the Middle Ages, this galley was used in the Mediterranean for 3,000 years. Strictly speaking, however, in Greco-Roman times, such ships were not even real sailboats, but only rowing boats with dhows, which could be used instead of oarsmen when there was a tailwind, so that the oarsmen could get a short rest. For the most part, the boats of the ancient Greeks relied on manual paddles. On one or more decks, there were usually two long rows of wooden chairs, and slaves or sailors sat side by side and rowed their oars. Even the direction of the voyage was directed by a special person, and the sound of drums or trumpets was used to mobilize these rowing slaves. This means that the larger the boat, the higher the tonnage, and the faster it is, the more oarsmen it will need, and the more terrible the amount of food and fresh water it will consume each day.

Therefore, the ancient Greek warships, whose main tactics were ramming and jumping, had to desperately increase the number of rowing seats in order to pursue the power of ramming, so that a 40-ton triremes of oars had to be crammed with 170 oarsmen and 30 soldiers, and the cabin was crowded as if it were a modern Tokyo subway, and after a day of sailing, the air in the cabin was so foul that it smelled. In order to reduce the freight rate, the merchant ship had to minimize the number of oarsmen, although the oars were available, but they were only used when entering and leaving the port and when there was a long-term lack of tailwind, so as to save the cost of labor, but this speed is ...... Unless you are riding the measured haode monsoon, you can only stop and go, as slow as a snail.

In addition, water seepage from the bottom of ships was also a serious problem in this era, although the ancestors of the Middle East learned to apply asphalt to the bottom of wooden ships thousands of years ago to prevent leakage, but in places such as Greece, far from the natural oil source, asphalt was not so easy to obtain. Other waterproof coatings such as tung oil have not been invented, and the wood of the hull will be soaked in water after a long voyage, greatly reducing the performance. So whenever possible, the boat was towed to the shore to dry at regular intervals, while plant fibers were used to plug and patch the seepage gaps.

As a result, the logistics of trade in the Mediterranean became slower, and the captains were able to travel twice a year to do long-distance business.

“…… Hey, can you imagine? Miss Grauss, such a short distance from Alexandria to Lebanon, the merchant ships of this era sail for a month! The reason is that the wind is not good and the ship must be repaired regularly! ”

Wang Qiu sighed a little helplessly and complained, "...... In addition to being too slow, the number of ships was also insufficient - the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, which had a merchant fleet of 500 ships, was burned to the ground in the melee between Pompey and Caesar. After that, it took more than half a year to buy about thirty ships, and a few were lost due to wind and waves and pirates...... Today, Alexandria is so large that only one merchant ship enters and leaves every week on average. That's a lot of speed. All kinds of goods can't be sold or shipped......"

“…… Another reason is that these merchant ships are too small! Jenny pointed to the "boats" in front of her. Shaking his head, he said, "...... I once visited Lord Nelson's Victory sail battleship on the Thames, and at the time I thought such a small ship was not imposing, but after looking at the harbor on your side...... I just realized that Lord Nelson's Victory was already a giant ship! ”

- In Greco-Roman times, ships were usually not allowed to exceed 50 meters in length due to the strength requirements of keels and beams. And the tonnage is naturally very limited. For example, the average displacement of the triremes of the Greeks was only 40 to 50 tons, and a transport ship of 200 tons was already a giant ship. It is currently the largest merchant ship in Alexandria. The displacement is only about one hundred and fifty tons, and the cargo volume is only one hundred.

But this is not that the ancients did not want to build larger ships, but were limited by jishu conditions, for example. Ptolemy IV of Egypt in order to show off his magnificence. He once built a 40-oared ship. It is 280 cubits (about 130 meters) long and 48 cubits (about 22 meters) high, carries 400 sailors, 4,000 oarsmen, and can accommodate 3,000 fighters on deck. This is almost equivalent to the capacity of an aircraft carrier in modern Shijie.

However, the ship was not so much used for actual combat as for showing off the opulence of the royal family, and it was almost like an edifice fixed to the shore. Since it was built and launched, few people dared to drive it out of the harbor - because the hull was too large for the strength of the wooden beam structure to keep up. As a result, this seemingly majestic giant ship is actually as fragile as glass. After going to sea, if you encounter a little wind and waves, it will fall apart.

Therefore, this flashy giant ship, which could neither fight nor transport goods, was like a flash in the pan in history, and soon disappeared without a trace. The merchants, navies, and pirates of the Mediterranean could only compete with each other with their small ships of tens of tons to one or two hundred tons.

“…… How can this be compared! Lord Nelson's Victory, with a displacement of 3,500 tons, was a giant of the Age of Discovery. And all the merchant ships in Alexandria are now combined, and the total tonnage is probably less than 3,000 tons......" Wang Qiu continued to complain.

-- What kind of concept should be the total displacement of 3,000 tons and the total cargo volume of 2,000 tons?

Generally speaking, a train wagon can carry between 60 and 70 tons, while a long freight train can carry around 2,000 tons. In other words, the current transportation capacity of all merchant ships in Alexandria is only equivalent to a train in modern Shijie!

Moreover, these merchant ships sailed much slower than trains, and even the oldest steam locomotives could not keep up.

In order to break through the bottleneck of transportation capacity, Cleopatra once wanted to set up a shipyard, and there was no shortage of craftsmen and jishu - after all, the Greeks were seafaring peoples, and the Ptolemaic Dynasty was a colonial dynasty established by the Greeks in Egypt.

The area of ancient Egypt on both sides of the Nile was mostly covered by desert due to geographical and climatic reasons, and there was always a lack of trees for shipbuilding. The ancient Egyptians could only tie papyrus into small fluttering boats for sailing on the Nile. However, it is too difficult to use such an unsturdy "straw boat" to go to sea. The only countermeasure was to import cedar, fir, and other timber from Lebanon and Asia Minor to build Egypt's fleet – but again, these timber had to be transported by a few dozen merchant ships, and the import of this timber into Egypt was also slow.

In order to avoid the rupture of the capital chain, Zuihou had to sell a batch of expensive high-grade timber first, leaving the ordinary timber to build ships - unfortunately, the Mediterranean is now full of dangers, and the speed of shipbuilding is still not keeping up with the speed of loss.

In addition, the wood used to make the boat needs to be thoroughly air-dried, otherwise it will deform when the water strikes. Wood such as keels on large ships can be air-dried for up to two to three years, and then it will take another year to two years to build the boat - such a long time is indeed intolerable, but a ship made of air-dried wood. It is said to be able to sail for more than fifty years; If it is not completely dried, it will only be able to sail for five or six years; As for building a ship from completely fresh wood, there is a risk that it will fall apart as soon as it is flooded.

- In the past, the Romans and the Carthaginians competed for domination of the Mediterranean. Unable to stock up and dry wood, the Roman Senate had to bite the bullet and build ships from fresh wood that had not dried. As a result, the quality of the Roman fleet was extremely poor, and it could not withstand any storms at all, and several times after successfully winning naval battles, it was suddenly swept into the bottom of the sea by a storm, and by the way, tens of thousands of troops on board were buried in the belly of the fish......

“…… In order to increase the throughput of this port, we can transport more troops and goods. You'll have to find a way to build bigger, more Haode ships here, and that's going to take your help. Wang Qiu said to Jenny, "...... We're so short of manpower......"

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After inspecting the ships and shipping in Alexandria. Wang Qiu took Jenny to visit the barracks in Alexandria, and then let the more conservative young lady see the exciting scene of almost blinding her titanium dog eyes - hundreds of sweaty naked muscular men under the scorching sun. Some are in a race or lifting stone locks. build muscle; Some beat each other with sticks and shields to practice fighting; There are also in the process of being arrayed...... The strong "manly smell" exuded by this can make people turn their heads from afar!

No way, in this era, warfare was all about hand-to-hand combat, so the Greeks had a cult of muscles very early. Anyone who is muscular and physically strong is praised. And the guy who is not good at sports. is looked down upon. When the soldiers are training, they show off their well-developed muscles and toned physique. They would strip their clothes naked - but also to prevent wear and tear of the expensive fabrics.

The reason why the ancient Greeks drummed up so many nude statues is actually a portrayal of their real life customs. Therefore, although the traverser had already issued military uniforms to the soldiers, these Greek mercenaries were still used to stripping naked for training, considering that the weather in Egypt was indeed so hot that people wanted to peel off their skin, and after wearing out the uniforms, they still had to pay for the reissue themselves, so Wang Qiu and they let it go.

On the face of it, due to the lack of good instructors and commanders, Queen Cleopatra's army was not much different from other armies of her time. However, in order to make up for the mediocrity of the quality of the soldiers, the traversers provided them with sophisticated weapons that were far superior to other opponents - taking the modern Shijie mass-produced sabers as an example, these knives used a low-temperature carburizing process, and were repeatedly folded and forged with a hydraulic forging machine, and the cutting edge was wrapped with haode high-carbon steel, although there may be some gaps with famous knives such as Damascus knives, but at that time, they would bend if they cut too much, and they had to be thrown to the ground and cut straight with their feet. It's as easy as chopping melons and vegetables...... When Wang Qiu cut off a Roman short sword with a few swords in the demonstration, the Egyptian army happily discarded its scrap metal and replaced it with a "sharp blade rewarded by the gods".

In addition to the sabers, the transparent shields and electric batons that were originally assigned to the riot squad gave them the killer weapon that could easily defeat other contemporaneous armies. In order to further enhance their firepower in combat, the Travelers have recently begun to distribute old-fashioned wooden-handled grenades to some of their most loyal soldiers, allowing them to replace discus throwing grenades with training grenades, in preparation for training a group of strong grenadiers.

In general, this Egyptian army has initially had the capital to sweep the nations, and what restricts them from taking the initiative is only the transportation capacity.

Next, before the sun set, Wang Qiu also took Janie. Graus went to visit a market near the city gates.

Although it's not a special holiday and it's not yet at its busiest, the market is bustling with activity—a few rows of towering date palms, full of tents and pergolas as far as the eye can see. Merchants from all over the world brought with them many rare goods, which were placed in front of the stalls for people to choose from, from all kinds of fierce beasts to small rings and earrings. There are also beautiful plates of ivory, pearls, inlaid filigree, gemstone earrings of various colors, silver vases with openwork reliefs, spices from the Arabian Peninsula, furs from the African rainforest, exotic Persian blankets and much more. The local Egyptians also traded their grain, fruits and vegetables. In addition, mirrors, matches, refined salt, sugar, porcelain, silk, and small hardware products brought by the travelers were also sold in several more "formal" mud-brick house courtyards, and seemed to be quite sought-after, with merchants often carrying camels laden with salt bags and groceries.

It seems that because of the woman's natural penchant for shopping, even in this noisy BC bazaar, Miss Jane went shopping with great relish, not only taking pictures with her mobile phone, but also buying a few ivory wine glasses and small colorful stone carvings that could be used as decorations, and Zuihou also bought a string of roasted pigeon eggs to eat as she walked—of course, she certainly did not have coins from this era on her, so the servants sent by the queen were responsible for paying for them.

Then, Miss Jenny suddenly noticed a strange shop.

“…… Oh, my God? What is it? Gynecology open foot examination table? The Egyptians even opened a maternity hospital in the bazaar? ”

“…… Belch? Where are you talking about? Oh, that ...... Miss, you seem to be mistaken, it's actually a barbershop......" (To be continued......