On November 1, 1639, when the southern hemisphere was in full bloom, two ships of the East Coast Exploration Fleet, which had been wandering outside for more than half a year, rushed into the Hezhongbao Pier.

A ship repair shop has been set up on the Hezhongbao Pier, and some craftsmen and apprentices have been dispatched from the local area to repair passing ships. After several months of running around the sea, the sails, masts and riggings have been damaged in many places, and there are many leaks in the ship's plates, so emergency repairs have to be carried out here.

After the ship was repaired, on November 5, the Exploration Fleet once again spent a month crossing the Atlantic Ocean and docking in berth No. 1, the Military Pier of Oriental Port.

Since sailing in January at the beginning of the year, the officers and sailors of the exploration fleet have been away for nearly a year. Now they are back to the local area, and the excitement of the crowd is endless. The sailors stand on the deck and wave their arms to cheer on the dock workers on the shore, and the dock workers on the shore also applaud them with warm applause to commemorate this great voyage.

"The clean and tidy pier, the sea water is still very clean and the air is very fresh. The pier is also very efficient. Are slave workers used on the pier? They look strong and orderly." Hassan stood on the deck and looked at everything inside the pier, then asked Guo Zili through the translator.

"No, they are all free people, formal contract workers recruited by the Port Authority." Guo Zili responded casually, and then said seriously to Hassan and his translator: "Mr. Hassan, please be sure to abide by our agreement and not to go out of the designated area on the dock. We will send someone to arrange your residence. You know. Your identities are very sensitive. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, please keep a low profile before the government makes a formal decision."

Hassan and a group of Ottoman naval officers looked at each other, then nodded in agreement. As a great empire spanning Asia, Africa and Europe, with a population of more than 30 million, the Ottoman Empire is also the mortal enemy of the European Christ world. Their officers appeared on the east coast. If Europeans knew about it, the impact would be huge, and it is really hard to say what consequences would be.

Therefore, their identity and existence are still kept confidential at present. After all, the cooperation between the two countries they are about to talk about is not a small matter like buying a few tons of wheat or a few pieces of cotton, but a major event that may have a certain impact on the military balance of a certain region, and everyone must not be treated carelessly.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the embarrassing positioning problem of the East Coast Republic of China today, that is, is this country a Western country or an Eastern country? If it is an Eastern country, then the problem of deepening relations with the Ottoman Empire will not be too big; but if you are a complete Western country and now you spare no effort to help the Ottomans, it is likely to arouse the disgust and hostility of the Western Christ world, and will inevitably be rejected by them in the end. Especially Venice and Spain, whose interests are directly threatened. Their relationship with the East Coast will inevitably deteriorate sharply.

Of course, this problem is not absolute. Many times it depends on strength. Haven’t you seen that France and Ottoman had been docked in the Toulon military port of France for a long time? Didn’t France still lose a single hair?

For today's East Coast Republic of China, culturally, this country is undoubtedly more similar to the Eastern countries. However, in terms of trade, communication, etc., this country is closer to the Western world and closer to the Western world. It can be seen that the interests of the East Coast and the Western world are very deep. Since you want to be in the other person's circle, you must pay attention to the influence, because you are not strong enough to ignore the opinions of others and make rules alone.

The current Western world is a world where one and many strong people have risen. One of them is obviously Spain, which is strong outside and the middle. Below Spain are Austria, the Netherlands, France, England, Sweden and other countries. As for Portugal, Denmark, Venice, Russia, Poland and other countries, they are slightly inferior. No matter how they fight, they are still fighting for leadership within. However, as a system, the collision between them and another system of the Ottoman Empire, the competition is an innate instinct and there is no room for reconciliation. It must always end with the collapse of the other side.

To be honest, the East Coast Republic of China has been initially recognized by the first world system after so many years of development and two small wars. It can be said that if the East Coast people maintain the current development momentum and adjust some policies appropriately, it is not difficult to achieve by relying on the golden finger of the foresight, slowly integrating into the Western world and making a good position in it. But if they really do this, the future of this country is really not optimistic. There are also people with clear minds among the time travelers. They deeply realize that with the weak national strength of the East Coast, it is not a very strong culture. If they are completely integrated into the Western world system, they may eventually be assimilated by this system and eventually become a later generation of Australian, South Africa, and Canada-style country.

And this is not the result that time travelers want to see. What time travelers want is to build a system and assume the responsibility of world leaders. Of course, this requires a prosperous economy, strong force, strong culture, the great difficulties and the hardships of the process are really hard to describe. Perhaps many time travelers will never see this day for their entire lives, but no matter how difficult it is, they have to do it, right?

If you want to be a world leader, your wish is beautiful, but the reality is that the East Coast Republic still needs to maintain a relatively harmonious relationship with the Western world. Because the East Coast needs many things such as immigration, market, raw materials, talents, etc. can only rely on the Western world before opening the Eastern route. Of course, there is another Ottoman choice now.

Hassan and others were respectfully invited to the dock hotel to rest for a while, and the waiter brought each person a few cups of drinks made of cocoa powder. The decoration in the hotel room was very simple, and it could even be said to be shabby: walls painted with lime water, furniture made of ordinary pine wood, chairs made of tree stumps, and candlesticks on the candlesticks, but fortunately the room was clean.

More importantly, the room is very bright - people from the East Coast installed glass on the windows of the room. The glass was embedded in the window frame made of iron window strips. It can be seen that people from the East Coast had to improve their technology in making glass. There were a lot of bubbles and impurities in the window glass, but in general, it was still clear and transparent.

It was noon, and the waiter quickly served them a simple lunch. Hassan glanced casually and saw that the staple food of the lunch was a kind of noodle cake, several pieces stacked on the wooden plate. The side dishes were a little more hearty: prawns, squids, eggs, vegetables, and shell soup. It seemed that the owner considered their religious beliefs and only served a steak for the meat.

As intermediate officers of the Ottoman Egyptian fleet, Hassan and others could not eat such dishes often, so they all started to eat and drink without hesitation. Hassan thought while eating, and just saw the waiters turning a blind eye to these dishes, they should be able to enjoy these meals often. In other words, even a lowly "slave" who serves others can enjoy the rich food that only the Ottoman officials can enjoy. So how rich should this so-called East Coast Republic of China be?

Hassan not only discussed with the East Coast people about entrusting the construction of ships, but also had the important task of examining the customs and social conditions of the East Coast. Because the adults in the country were eager to know what the strength of the potential partners they were interested in. The Ottomans were a big country, a strong country, and a country that was too weak did not have the qualifications to be an Ottoman Empire partner.

After lunch, the service staff came over to collect their tableware. At this time, there were suddenly a burst of shouts and shouts on the flat ground opposite a short wall from here. Hassan walked to the door and looked at him carefully and saw a large group of about hundreds of thin and thin men in queue training. A dozen uniformed officers walked around the crowd with short sticks, and knocked them at someone from time to time, which was to punish those who did not obey the command.

"Who are these people? They seem to be training. Are they recruited slave soldiers?" Hassan quickly asked the waiter through the interpreter.

Thankfully, the waiter understood Spanish. He thought for a little while, as if he thought it could be answered, and then said: "They are not slaves. In fact, our country basically does not use any slaves except in some mining areas. They are all free people who signed contracts. They just arrived last month, from the East, with a total of more than 1,200 people. Damn, those greedy Portuguese, the Ministry of Finance paid a huge fee of more than 400,000 yuan for them, almost dragging the finances down. For this reason, several water conservancy projects have been cancelled this year, and the canal project from Oriental Port to Chuyi River has also been cancelled, which is said to be to save money..."

Hassan nodded. It seemed that the East Coast Republic was extremely eager for population, especially the population from the Far East. For their East Coast people, they could even offer incredible high prices. This can be reported in detail to you. As a big country with tens of millions of dollars, the Ottoman Empire may not lack the most. From this point of view, the two sides have a foundation for cooperation.
Chapter completed!