West Pole Port has become very busy. Under the guidance of high wages, local people have begun to participate in the construction of West Pole Port in large numbers. Even some people from other places have slowly gathered in West Pole after learning the news.
Here at the port, we began to participate in the construction of the West Pole Port.
"Dang~dang~"
As the bells rang, everyone who was busy in the West Pole Port put down their tools one by one, and it was time to start dinner again.
"It's time to eat! It's time to eat!"
With the sound of the cook's voice, loads of rice and pasta were picked out, and the smell of meat made David, who had been busy all morning, swallow his saliva.
"We have meat again today~"
The same goes for Simon next to him. Who knew that coming here to work would even include a lunch, and there would be meat to eat from time to time. Although it was not as good as the food standard of the Ming army, at least he could have a full meal, which was also very good.
Everyone hurriedly came to the canteen, lined up, washed their hands, received rice bowls, picked up chopsticks, and then started loading the food. Some people liked noodles and steamed buns, while others liked rice from Tianzhu.
A big plate full of rice, and a spoonful of braised pork, everyone ate with their mouths full of oil, without making a single sound.
"Yeah~"
Simon burped with satisfaction, and then looked at the dining shed. His children, like other children in the village, were secretly eating meat here.
People in Ming Dynasty are very generous and treat children very well. Even if they see it, they won't say anything.
"This is called life!"
Simon next to him touched his round belly, looked at the sea water in the harbor, and couldn't help but sigh.
Since the people of the Ming Dynasty came here and this place was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, their lives have also undergone earth-shaking changes.
From being scared and worried at the beginning, I am now slowly adapting, and gradually I have hope and progress in my life.
In the past, the taxes in the Kingdom of Georgia were very heavy.
Because not only does it have to satisfy the enjoyment and life of the nobles of the Kingdom of Georgia, but Georgia is also a dependent state of the Ottoman Empire. It needs to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire in large quantities every year. In addition, the Crimean Khanate in the north also belongs to them.
The vassal states also indispensable to pay tribute of property and beautiful women to the Crimean Khanate every year.
Therefore, the ordinary people here have to bear heavy taxes, which are even heavier than the taxes of the people in England, so they are very poor, very poor, and their lives are very difficult.
Even if you are poor, the key is to be cautious.
The Kingdom of Georgia was split into three small kingdoms. Each wanted to unify the other and fought back and forth. War was a common occurrence here.
In addition, people from the Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and even the Kazakh Khanate north of the Caspian Sea and the Timur Khanate that previously ruled here often have people coming here to beat the autumn wind and harvest grass and grain.
Caucasus beauties and Caucasus white slaves are world-renowned goods. Whether they are Europeans, the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, nobles, or Persians, they all like them and flock to them, which leads to turmoil here.
Almost every once in a while, they would be robbed.
Take West Pole Port as an example. It used to be a small fishing village, but pirates from the Ottoman Empire would attack here every now and then. The main goal of the pirates was to rob people. The people here were so poor that only people were the most valuable thing.
.
But it's different now.
The Ming Dynasty defeated the Ottoman Empire, destroyed three Georgian kingdoms, completely annexed the South Caucasus, and ended the war here. At the same time, the Ming army also began to protect the place.
Under the garrison of the powerful Ming army, they have not had pirates come here to rob for almost two months. Of course, even if pirates come, they don't need to worry about anything, because the Ming army around them is very powerful, enough to ensure their safety.
Safety.
In addition to safety, life has also become better.
After becoming the territory of the Ming Dynasty, they needed to pay taxes to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The taxes of the Ming Dynasty were very low, and their taxes were suddenly reduced a lot, a lot.
In addition, with the arrival of the Ming Dynasty came a lot of work.
The construction of Xijipang requires a large amount of labor, and a large number of locals are hired to work. As long as they work honestly, they will be paid well and receive food, and even a lunch will be included.
Such a good thing would have been unthinkable before.
In addition, as the South Caucasus region was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, merchants from the Ming Dynasty began to arrive here one after another, and they also provided a large number of jobs.
There are also many Ming Dynasty fields, manors, plantations, etc., which also require a lot of labor. As long as you are willing to do the work, the pay is still very good.
David and Simon only worked at the port for more than a month. Both of them saved a few taels of silver. At the same time, the children at home also had enough food and were much stronger.
"Yes, this is called life!"
David also nodded solemnly.
"what is that?"
At this time, his eyes suddenly opened slightly, and the shadows of several ships could be vaguely seen on the sea where the water and the sky met. Suddenly, he couldn't help but stand up.
"No, it's a pirate~"
"They came to rob us again."
David became panicked and ran away from home, preparing to take his family and flee into the mountains.
"Not a pirate~"
Simon also stood up and looked at the ships on the sea heading towards West Pole Port. He looked carefully and saw the dragon flag flying on the mast. This dragon flag was the same as the Great Ming Dragon rising in the West Pole Port military camp.
The flags are exactly the same.
After hearing Simon's words, David stopped and looked carefully again. It seemed that it was really not a pirate. The Ming Dynasty's dragon flag was hanging on the ship.
As the ships got closer and closer to the port, the West Pole Port became a bit turbulent. People who were afraid of being robbed by Ottoman pirates in the past had a natural fear of ships coming from the sea, and they were afraid when they saw ships.
"Dang~dang~"
Bells ringing from the newly built lighthouse.
"The Black Sea Fleet is coming~"
"The Black Sea Fleet is coming~"
Along with the ringing of bells, groups of Ming troops quickly came to the port at the military camp in the West Pole Port, marching in neat steps, and then spread out in formation, quietly waiting for the ships to dock.
After learning the news, Huo Ying also came to the port and looked at the large ships approaching.
"The ships following are not our Ming ships, are they?"
He could tell at a glance that there were several ships following the ships. The flags flying on them were not the flags of the Ming Dynasty, but rather looked like the flags of European countries.
Large ships slowly moored at the Xijigang Port. Tian Erniu stood on the deck and looked at the port in front of him. Although it was not big and relatively simple, at least it was still well-built.
Something like that.
"Welcome to Ming Dynasty's Xijigang Port!"
Huo Ying looked at Tian Erniu who was getting off the boat and smiled to express his welcome.
"The Marquis of Hezhong, I have admired your name for a long time, now
I finally see you today, I am so lucky!"
Tian Erniu looked at Huo Ying in front of him. He was very young. This was also a common phenomenon in the Ming army. Even senior generals were basically very young.
"Mr. Tian is joking, Mr. Tian is joking~"
Huo Ying smiled and shook his head.
"Mr. Tian is really hardworking and meritorious. He not only defended the Golden Continent for our Ming Dynasty, but also led the fleet to show off to Europe, letting Europeans know how powerful our Ming Dynasty is."
"When Mr. Tian returns to the Ming Dynasty, the position of a prince will definitely be indispensable."
"Where, where~"
"All this is because my great emperor has conquered the world and the barbarians from all over the world have surrendered. How can we, the ministers, dare to take credit and be arrogant?"
Tian Erniu also smiled and shook his head.
Some pleasantries.
"Mr. Tian, those ships shouldn't be our Ming Dynasty ships, right?"
Huo Ying asked, pointing to several ships nearby.
"Three of those five ships are Spanish ships, and they came here to find out the route. This Nanyun Province will belong to our Ming Dynasty from now on, and our Ming Dynasty has finally opened up the road route to Europe."
"From now on, our goods from the Ming Dynasty can be directly transported to the Black Sea via the Western Region, Hezhong, and Nanyun routes, and then can be transferred to Europe via ships."
"The Spaniards will naturally not let go of such an opportunity and want to seize the opportunity."
"The other two ships are from the Kingdom of Hungary in the west of the Black Sea. They are similar to the Spanish. After learning that our Ming Dynasty had obtained Nanyun Province, they sent people over. On the one hand, they were looking for business opportunities, and on the other hand, they hoped to be able to compete with our Ming Dynasty.
Form an alliance to deal with the Ottoman Empire together."
Tian Erniu pointed to the five ships and began to introduce them.
Here, Antony from Spain and Ivan from Hungary also disembarked. Antony is a commander under the Duke of Kolster, and this time he only came to open up the Black Sea route.
It is Spain's important national policy to cling to the thick legs of the Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty people arrived at the Black Sea, Spain naturally had to master this important wealth route, and it was best to enjoy it exclusively.
Therefore, from the beginning Anthony was full of hostility towards Ivan from Hungary. These Hungarians were obviously very popular in Europe due to the popularity of Ming goods, and they came here so early.
This made Antony full of uneasiness. Compared with Spain, Hungary, which is also located on the Black Sea, has a great advantage. Their ships can arrive here directly, transport the Ming Dynasty's goods to Eastern Europe, and then sell them to Western Europe.
If the Spaniards want to make money from this route, they must transport it to the Mediterranean through the Bosporus Strait. In comparison, the disadvantage is very obvious.
If the Hungarians really succeed, then it is very likely that the Hungarians will take advantage of all the Ming Dynasty goods on the Black Sea route.
This is also the reason why the Hungarian king and nobles were immediately excited as soon as they learned that the Ming Dynasty occupied the South Caucasus, and hurriedly sent people over to contact the Ming people.
You must know that the Spanish made huge wealth from trade with the Ming Dynasty, and many were jealous of the Spanish. England, Portugal, and France even did not hesitate to start a war.
For these countries in Eastern Europe, they are also jealous, but they used to be jealous, but they can only stare blankly, because they can't touch the Ming Dynasty at all, and can only watch the Spaniards make money.
It's different now. The territory of the Ming Dynasty has directly expanded to the Black Sea. Hungary's advantages have been highlighted, and the exchanges with the Ming Dynasty will become more convenient.
Moreover, walking on transportation routes is obviously safer than taking sea transportation routes.
In this era of navigation, although navigation technology has matured, shipbuilding technology has also become relatively mature, and a large number of ships travel all over the world, but there are still many ship accidents every year. In comparison, road traffic is much safer.
Of course, the premise is that there are no robbers, thieves or the like on the road.
Obviously, there is no need to worry too much about this situation in the Ming Dynasty. In the past two years, the Ming Dynasty has carried out anti-criminal operations across the country, cleaning up bandits, thieves, road bullies, horse thieves, pirates, etc. that are entrenched in various places.
It also greatly improved the security within the Ming Dynasty and provided guarantee for the travel and exchanges of business travelers.
This is also what the Spaniards are worried about.
If there are no problems with road traffic, it is very likely that the flow of goods on the road will exceed the flow of goods by sea. At that time, Spain will receive fewer goods through sea trade.
If there are competitors at the same time, the price of the goods will definitely drop and profits will decrease. This is tantamount to extremely bad news.
Compared to Anthony's hostility towards him, Ivan's face was full of smiles.
Hungary's good days are coming. The Kingdom of Hungary, which occupies the Danube River, can use ships to continuously transport the goods of the Ming Dynasty to the hinterland of Eastern Europe. With casual transportation, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and Southern Europe can be easily reached.
There is no doubt that it will replace the Ottoman Empire and become a transit point for East-West trade. The huge benefits that will come with it will also make the nobles of all sizes in Hungary extremely excited.
For this reason, the Hungarian nobles even decided to give the soft king of Hungary some power, because this would make it easier to communicate with the Ming Dynasty.
"Spanish~"
Feeling Anthony's hostility, Ivan didn't care and just glanced lightly.
Hungary is relatively far away from Spain, and there are several countries in between. No matter how powerful Spain is, it can't do anything to Hungary in Eastern Europe.
Ivan looked at Anthony's hostile eyes, not only did he not show any signs of hostility, but he also showed a slight smile and nodded to Anthony with a smile.
This made Anthony even more angry, as if he was a challenged lion. He was extremely angry, but he had no choice but to glare at the opponent fiercely.
