The Ming Dynasty took away almost everything they could, leaving Suleiman II with debts that could not be repaid in twenty years and countless broken families. Including Suleiman himself, almost all of Constantine

All the men in the fort became widowers.

It wasn't that Ai Husheng wanted Suleiman to make an IOU, but that Constantinople really didn't have anything valuable to take away. There was no other way but to let Suleiman II owe it first.

However, if you owe money, you will owe it, and Ai Husheng will never refuse to charge interest. So with interest, Constantinople's twenty years of taxes are just enough to cover the debt.

This is no longer the interest of a donkey wallowing, but the interest of a whale turning over.

Suleiman II had no choice but to agree. This was the price after giving Ai Husheng two beautiful slave girls and a bag of gems.

The Ming army began to retreat, and the people of Constantinople who went north also began to rebuild their homes. In fact, there was no damage to the city of Constantinople, but the huge stone wall was seriously damaged.

There are more than a dozen openings that are 20 meters long. The huge stone city wall took hundreds of years to build, and it will not be repaired in a day.

Moreover, Constantinople is now short of food and clothing, and the people are hungry and cold. The most important thing is to keep the people full.

Ahmed estimated that if he wanted to restore the Turkic people to their ancestral glory, he would not even think about it for less than two hundred years.

The Ming army retreated, but the Ottoman Empire was in tatters. Last year it was the largest empire in the Middle East, but now it has fallen apart.

In just half a year, the Turks lost more than 70% of their population. East of Ankara, the Turks were basically killed.

From the octogenarians to the baby babies in their arms, no one is spared!

Li Xiao didn't care about this, he only knew that he got everything he wanted. The cost of the army expedition was covered, and the oil fields in the Middle East were secured.

Both the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptians have recognized the Ming Dynasty's ownership of the Suez Canal. As for the French, they are now about to imprison Li Xiao.

Although the anti-French alliance was defeated, anti-French forces across Europe were still ready to move. Napoleon needed to rely on the Ming Dynasty's advanced weapons to defeat those hostile forces.

He even wanted to pay to hire the Ming fleet to help France cross the sea to attack Britain. Unfortunately, Li Xiao refused because the army was tired.

Li Xiao's idea is that the more fragmented the world is, the better. It would be better to be divided into ten thousand countries, then the Ming Dynasty would be a behemoth.

Such a behemoth is an absolute force no matter if it faces any small country. Li Xiao would not be stupid enough to help the French unify Europe. In fact, Li Xiao did not remove the ladder to the French, which is considered to be the most benevolent thing.

There is no morality, fairness, or illusory friendship between countries. There are only naked interests between countries.

This seems to have been said by Churchill, and Li Xiao deeply believed it.

Let him continue the war in Europe. I have to go back home anyway. It has been almost two years since I left Ming Dynasty. I must go back and have a look.

Otherwise, if we conquer a huge territory in vain and end up with a fire in the backyard, it will be very unsightly.

Because it relied on the port, the Ming Dynasty advanced troops very quickly. When it retreated, it was also very fast. The army quickly withdrew from Constantinople and then concentrated on the island of Crete. Joseph came to Crete several times, hoping to get Ming Dynasty to participate.

In the battle for European hegemony, he was rejected by Li Xiao.

Under the threat of the Ming Dynasty's giant ships and cannons, the Italian Navy, the hegemon of the Mediterranean, stayed in the port like a cat. The British mediated many times, but the Italian Navy had no intention of intercepting France's maritime transportation.

Damn it, your British Empire claims that its navy dominates the world. Why don't you fight against the Ming Dynasty and let me fight with those battleships like that mountain? Then there is no fucking fight, only death. That's fucking one-sided.

The massacre!

Ming Dynasty ships roamed the entire Mediterranean without restraint. No one dared to stop them. Even when Ming Dynasty ships docked, they were welcomed by the locals.

There is only one reason for everything, and that is strength.

The strength displayed by the Ming Dynasty made European countries feel suffocated. No one was willing to confront this behemoth. The Ottoman Empire was like a baby.

Such a huge empire became history in just half a year. If we want to see such an empire again in the Middle East, it is estimated that a lot of people will die, and it may not be possible.

The big paddle boat was busy all day long, transporting mountains of loot from Crete. Due to limited transportation capacity, it had to be transported back to Egypt first. Then it was changed to a giant ship in Egypt and transported to Singapore, where more big paddle boats arrived.

They will move these things back to Daming like ants moving.

As for those Turkic women, Li Xiao has no intention of bringing them back to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty is short of population, but it still doesn't want hybrids.

Although Li Xiao knows that scientists have proven that men are dominant in genetic matters, Li Xiao still firmly believes that after decades of Mongol rule, only three-thirds of the Han family bloodline cannot be confused.

Those Turkic women were auctioned nearby in Egypt. Many chiefs in the Middle East did business with the Ming Dynasty all year round. When there was no Suez Canal, their ships disembarked in the Red Sea and then boarded in Alexandria. It is much closer than going around Africa.

!

Over the years, these Arab bad guys have really made a lot of money. The most valuable thing is that these people like to use Ming Dynasty silver coins as their trading currency.

This was more pleasant to hear. With these silver coins as a deposit, Ai Husheng established the Suez Branch of the Ming Dynasty Central Bank in Suezburg.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty's silver notes will also be accepted here. This is very attractive to the Arabs. After all, no one is willing to carry a shipload of silver coins to trade with others. The possibility of encountering pirates is very high.

Especially those Arab sailors on the ship, you never know which one is the spy of the pirates. There are often floating corpses on the vast Red Sea, and those floating corpses are not all Indians who died in the war, or they are Egyptians.

There are pirates in Somalia all year round. In addition to not daring to rob merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, they are extremely interested in merchant ships anywhere.

It is said that a guy named Hailongwang there is from the Ming Dynasty and is a descendant of Zheng He's sailors on his voyages to the West. In Somalia, there is also a place called Zheng He Village.

For some unknown reason, the Ming Navy, which was addicted to suppressing bandits, never went to Somalia to suppress bandits. Perhaps Li Xiu felt that Somali pirates were very strict about maritime rules. Even the Ming merchant ships that were alone had never been robbed.

Sometimes, when Ming merchant ships encountered shipwrecks, these pirates would even come to the rescue. The rescued Ming sailors were well fed and entertained, and were finally sent to the Ming warships by fishing boats.

This happened more than once, so that when the Ming Dynasty ships met the pirates, it was like meeting their relatives. If the supplies allowed, they would also give the pirates some wine and meat to express their goodwill.

Li Xiao ignored the trivial matters of pirates and took a boat from Crete to Egypt. After crossing the Suez Canal, Ai Husheng took him to Daman.

This is the first batch of oil fields selected by the Ming Dynasty, and the kowtow machines shipped from the Ming Dynasty are already working.

"Commander, those oil wells over there have begun to produce oil. The oil layer here is very shallow, and it is easy to extract oil. It is much easier than when we drilled oil wells in Sichuan!" Shi Dongjian pointed to the oil well not far away and pointed to Li

Introduction to Xiaoxiao.

This is a leader among the next generation of the Shi Kefa family. For the energy industry of Ming Dynasty, he once drilled oil wells in Sichuan for five years. He is considered to be the person with the most experience in drilling oil wells in Ming Dynasty!

When Shi Kefa came to the Middle East to dig oil wells, he was the first person he thought of.

"Are you used to coming here from the Ming Dynasty?" Li Xiao looked like a great leader of later generations, patting Shi Dongjian on the shoulder in a friendly manner.

"It's okay, but I'm not used to eating it. People here eat beef and mutton, so I just want to eat pork. But there's no pork within a few hundred miles, and I want to raise the Minister myself, but I won't let him.

There is no other way. If the brothers are hungry, let the cook on the ship cook it and send it over. Now I am hungry for the big pig knuckle!"

Li Xiao curled his lips, it turned out to be a big problem.

Eating pork in Arab areas will cause big problems. After all, the religious people here are much more pious than the Uighurs in the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, this place is not too far from the Maijia Holy Land, a place of pilgrimage. It is really not suitable to raise pigs here. Although the Ming Dynasty is not afraid of the True God Religion, it is not a master who stirs up trouble without any trouble.

"As for eating pork, we can just find an island nearby to raise pigs." Li Xiao thought for a moment. Since raising pigs on land is not suitable, we might as well find an island. We might not be able to find many in the vast sea.

An island suitable for raising pigs?

"Thank you, Marshal! Thank you, Marshal! Brothers, the Marshal said that we can find an island to raise pigs, and we can eat big elbows." Shi Dongjian shouted to the workers not far away.

"Thank you so much, Marshal! Thank you so much, Marshal! Long live Marshal! Long live Marshal!"

Li Xiao was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that the first time he was called "Long Live Long Live" was for raising pigs.

Shi Dongjian's face was so excited that his neck turned red.

"You're a kid!" Li Xiao kicked Shi Dongjian, and then continued to inspect the Daming Oil Field. Shi Dongjian rubbed his buttocks, and continued walking with Li Xiao without even wiping the dust on his pants.

This is not the future, and the word "long live" is not something that can be shouted easily. Shi Dongjian not only shouted it, but also shouted it in front of so many people. Li Xiao seemed to have seen the old fox smiling behind Shi Dongjian.

face.

"How many oil wells can be drilled by the end of the year?" Daming Energy is about to begin its transformation, and ships, which are the main force in shipping, will gradually be replaced by internal combustion engines.

Because diesel has a better combustion ratio than coal and can produce more powerful power. After Newton and others were transported back to the Ming Dynasty, the first task Li Xiao gave them was to research gasoline-powered cars.

When Newton's team was in Bombay, they had conducted in-depth research on gasoline engines, and the theoretical research had been gradually completed experimentally. If Li Xiao hadn't captured Bombay and interrupted Newton's research process, maybe a physical gasoline engine would have been made by now.

But it doesn’t matter. When they arrive in Daming, they will have more skilled craftsmen. They will also have more sufficient resources for research. As long as they make a gasoline engine, it will not be far from when four-wheeled guys are running on the roads of Daming!

In today's Ming Dynasty, road conditions are much better. Because of the gradual abundance of oil resources, asphalt roads have already appeared in some major cities in the capital.

There are many tricycles in big cities, some hauling people and some hauling goods. Apart from tricycles, the main means of transportation is horse-drawn carriages.

The emergence of automobiles will be the end of horse-drawn carriages. Because automobiles can pull more things, they can also cooperate more effectively with railway transportation, becoming the backbone of the Ming Dynasty's transportation power.

However, after the emergence of gasoline engines and diesel engines, the demand for petroleum energy will increase significantly. Now the oil coming out of these oil wells is oil. Soon, what comes out of these oil wells will be money, and they will be white coins. No one can compare with Li

Xiao also needs to understand the importance of oil to a country.

"Now workers are working overtime every day to drill wells. It is estimated that more than 50 wells should be drilled by the end of the year. If more equipment arrives next year, more than 100 oil wells can be drilled." Shi Dongjian said confidently.

Chest.

"Well! Very good. Drilling oil wells is very important. If you need anything, just tell Ai Shangshu. If Ai Shangshu can't solve it, then tell me and I will solve it for you."

"Thank you, Marshal!"

"Brother Xiao, do you think this thing will be very valuable in the future?" Master Ao came over and whispered in Li Xiao's ear.

"Well! From now on, this will be black gold. The money from this well will be more than what you can capture in a single war."

Master Ao looked at Li Xiao and saw that Li Xiao didn't look like he was joking. He immediately walked a few steps behind without leaving a trace, and murmured to Shi Dongjian while Li Xiao and Ai Husheng were talking.

Seeing him happily patting Shi Dongjian on the back, Li Xiao knew that there might be an oil well named Ao here.

Li Xiao did not stop him. It was better for people like Ao Ye to make money from overseas than from within the Ming Dynasty.

The Han nation often requires officials to have the moral standards of saints. In fact, this is wrong. Greed is the original sin of man, but it is also a part of human nature.

Now there is no way to prevent Mr. Ao from making money. Li Xiao knows that in fact many disabled soldiers are relying on him to support them. Although Ming Dynasty looks rich on the surface, he is right.

Today's Ming Dynasty is far from being as wealthy as that of later generations. There have been wars for years, and many people die on the battlefield every year. The court is not yet able to provide huge pensions to each victim.

Although the pension standard has been mentioned again and again over the years, the prices in the market have also been rising again and again. Without the main labor force in their families, many disabled soldiers are not living a prosperous life.

Unlike other armies, the Liao army can eat empty quota and drink the blood of soldiers.

Every year, the Liao army has a strict verification system and frequently goes out to fight. It is not easy to take advantage of the quota!
Chapter completed!