652 Empire Glory (2/2)

The west was termed as the service district. Apart from a portion to be used to build houses, the rest were for buildings such as inns, hotels, brothels, gambling dens, restaurants, and auction houses.

The various entertainment places would be split into different tiers to fit the different needs of different groups of people. Without a doubt, this would be a paradise for merchants and sailors.

As long as you had money and were willing to spend, you would be a king in the west district.

Apart from that, the west district would also have many shops and warehouses, mainly selling resources like freshwater, meat, and grain.

Ouyang Shuo's words were for everything a squadron needed, the Friendship City could solve.

”Only things you never thought you could buy, never something you couldn't manage to buy!”

One could say that the entire city was designed around long-distance trading. If it was fully constructed, it would be a Capital of Trading.

With this, Ouyang Shuo left a total of 500 thousand gold to help the finances of Friendship City.

Rough estimations placed his investment into this place at around a million. Now, they just had to look forward to whether it could create a business miracle.

The third thing he did was to ask the voyage squadron to take out 100 cannons and leave them in the city. These 100 would be placed on the north city wall and aimed at the bay.

Friendship City was surrounded on three sides by mountains and the only way in was Courage Port. With a navy unit and the threat of 100 cannons, it was enough to scare away most enemies.

With that, he could finally leave at ease.

7th month, 11th day, the voyage squadron set off once more.

Before leaving, Ouyang Shuo did not inform anyone, just sneakily leaving. Who knows what challenges awaited this squadron that was destined to be recorded in history.

The squadron went past the Mendeb Straits and entered the Red Sea.

The Red Sea was located on the east of Africa, in the middle of Arab. The west and north sides were connected with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, and the east was linked with the Gulf of Aden through the Mendeb Straits.

At the same time, the Red Sea was also the saltiest sea in the world, the most important crude oil transportation pathway.

The Persian Gulf was known as the world oil warehouse in reality, making up for two-thirds of the world's oil reserves. Similarly, in the game, this region had a plentiful amount of crude oil.

This oil was known as alchemical fire oil in China and was only a support war resource.

Even England, where the industrial revolution started, was only at the sprouting phase of the first revolution. The steam engine, such a significant invention, was just born.

The first industrial revolution gave birth to the steelwork industry and the textile industry.

Crude oil really came into play during the second industry revolution. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, industrial mechanizing, cars, airplanes, and the like.

At that time, every country would have a massive need for resources.

Ouyang Shuo even doubted whether the game would even reach the second industrial revolution by the 10th year. In his last life, at the 5th year, the steam engine was not even common across the world.

Hence, the need for oil was minimal. To the Arab States, this was not a good thing.

Of course, they did not only have oil. They similarly had a long history, out of the four ancient civilizations, Babylon and Egypt were located around there.

Furthermore, Rome, Macedonia, the Persian Empire, and the Arabian Empire all had relations with the Arab States.

Egypt's Cairo City, Greece's Athens City, and Italy's Rome City were all imperial cities with long history; an ancient king lived in each of these places.

Alexander the Great, Augustus, all of them had massive empires comparable to Qin Shihuang and Emperor Hanwu.

In Earth Online, a long history meant a deep foundation. Making use of this, the Lords of the country would all try to replicate the glory of the empires.

They were all active people in the world stage.

Hence, towards these Arab States, Ouyang Shuo did not intend to go against them. He just wanted to engage in trade.

As a result, Ouyang Shuo had chosen to set down his roots in Somalia so early on.

...

The Red Sea was not red, but it was sky blue.

The squadron went past the Red Sea and passed the Gulf of Suez before they reached the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal river was already present in ancient times. Of course, the true construction was only done in 1869. It was a water passage that linked the Mediterranean Ocean to the Red Sea and provided the nearest route to get from Europe to the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. This was one of the busiest routes in real life.

At the same time, the Suez Canal was also the intersection between Africa and Asia, and it was an important passage that linked Asia to Europe. In the north was Port Said, and in the south was Suez City. The entire length of the canal was 190 thousand meters, from the north side of the port connecting to the Mediterranean to the south side of Suez City.

The construction of the Suez Canal made the Africa peninsula become the Africa Continent. It increased the trading between Asia and Africa, Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, and South Europe.