The 60,000 pirates who invaded Friendship City surrendered before they could survive the afternoon.

Nearly 30,000 pirates were buried in the city in this battle. After the war, the entire outer city was in a mess, with corpses everywhere, and a strong smell of blood filled the streets and alleys. Even if the sea breeze blows, it will not dissipate for a long time, which makes people feel scared.

Gu Xiuwen, the guardian of Friendship City, took responsibility, cleaned up the city, appeased the people in the city, put out the fire, counted casualties and financial losses, and everything was in order.

The uneasy people's hearts gradually stabilized.

In the city lord's mansion, Ouyang Shuo, who had won the battle, was not happy and had a stern face. One reason was that the battle only defeated a group of pirates, and there was nothing to show off. Two reason was that Farah escaped again, which made Ouyang Shuo quite depressed. Three reason was that there was a lot of doubt behind this matter, as if an invisible hand was secretly manipulating everything.

The attack on Friendship City is by no means an accident.

Although the pirates were repelled this time, it would have a huge impact on the reputation of the "Commerce Capital" that Friendship City finally established, and even on the reputation of the great route.

As the news spreads, this negative impact will gradually spread and will be difficult to eliminate in a short period of time.

Just imagine, when facing a city that may be attacked by pirates at any time, will ocean merchants still dare to stop here to recharge? When facing a difficult route, how many merchants will be discouraged?

The answer is obvious.

Behind this attack, the target directly points to the trade foundation of the Great Xia Dynasty, and its intentions are not uncommon.

In the afternoon of that day, the Black Snake Guard commanded the Black Snake to the Friendship City from Rabat City. Ouyang Shuo's instructions to the Black Snake were very simple: "Check this king thoroughly and find out who else participated in this pirate attack on the city."

Intuition, Ouyang Shuo suspected that there should be Farah's support in Somalia.

"promise!"

The black snake did not dare to neglect at all, and immediately mobilized its capable force to start by interrogating the captured pirates, follow the clues and be sure to find out who is instructed behind the scenes.

The captured two leaders naturally became the key target of Black Snake Guard's interrogation.

But Ouyang Shuo knew very well that Farah was the key and soul figure in the pirate group.

Therefore, Ouyang Shuo ordered the original Mediterranean Fleet that had been renamed the Atlantic Fleet, and arranged for the fourth and fifth formations to cross the Mediterranean immediately and rushed to the Gulf of Aden to arrest the "pirate king" Farah.

Only by taking Farah, completely destroying the evil [Sichelle Pirates], beheading them and bringing them to justice can we regain the lost credibility of Friendship City and ensure the prosperity of the great route.

This time, Ouyang Shuo will never let the tiger return to the mountain again.

In the study of the city lord's mansion, just as Ouyang Shuo was thinking about the situation in the Gulf of Aden, Xu Chu came to report: "Report to the king, the commander of the Friendship City Security Division was asking for a visit outside the door."

When Ouyang Shuo heard this, his brow jumped and he was immediately angry and said ruthlessly: "He still has the face to see me? If you pass the order, you don't have to see him. You will immediately detain this person and hand it over to the Military and Justice Department of the Privy Council for disposal."

In this battle, a military division had the advantage of the territory and had a strong city to defend. Faced with the siege of 60,000 pirates, he lost the outer city in less than three hours, which really lost all the face of the Daxia Dynasty.

Although pirates are cruel, the security division is negligent in training on weekdays and inappropriate command during wartime is an objective fact. If it were another security division, it would never be so embarrassing.

In this case, how can Ouyang Shuo not be angry?

"promise!"

Xu Chu rarely saw the king get so angry and dare not say much, so he could only watch silently for the division commander. It would be fine if he didn't come to pay his respects, but the king might have a lighter shot. Now he hit the gun, but no one can help.

Ouyang Shuo was even more reminded of other security divisions due to the poor performance of the Friendship City Security Division.

"It seems that it is necessary to let the Privy Council conduct a major assessment of the security divisions in various places." Ouyang Shuo thought in his heart that relaxing local military preparations was a taboo in the rule of the dynasty.

…………

That night, Ouyang Shuo personally held a banquet at the City Lord's Mansion to entertain the great merchants in Friendship City.

Being invited by the King of Xia is really a blessing for the merchants.

Ouyang Shuo's move naturally wanted to appease the businessmen's hearts, reduce the impact of this attack on the trade in Friendship City as much as possible, and revitalize the businessmen's confidence. Originally, the city guard Gu Xiuwen could only come forward, but Gu Xiuwen came forward and Ouyang Shuo had a different effect.

In the huge banquet hall, Ouyang Shuo raised his glass and the audience became quiet in an instant. Ouyang Shuo looked around the big merchants and said, "This time the friendship city was attacked by pirates, the court will never tolerate it. The dynasty Atlantic fleet has set sail and will arrive in the Gulf of Aden soon, completely destroy the [Silang Pirates Group], and give a peace in the Gulf of Aden."

"Xia King Shengming!"

The merchants were overjoyed. They were doing business in the Mediterranean for many years and knew a lot about the Atlantic Fleet. They knew that this fleet would take action, the [Sichelle Pirates] would not be spared this time.

The uneasy heart gradually calmed down.

Ouyang Shuo continued: "The court is responsible for defending the territory. You trust the court and then stop in Friendship City to replenish supplies. The court will compensate you 100% of the losses caused by this pirate attack. You can go to the city lord's mansion to register the losses truthfully tomorrow, and make compensation immediately after verification."

"this……"

The merchants looked at each other, but they didn't expect that there would be such good things. According to the general rules, even if the court did not make any compensation, the merchants had nothing to say. This kind of full compensation was simply unheard of.

"Thank you for the grace of King Xia!" The merchants were so grateful, especially the huge losses in this battle, and they almost burst into tears. Although Ocean Trade has a big profit, all the goods were robbed and they might lose the bottom.

The court's move has saved many businessmen's future.

Ouyang Shuo nodded. His move was similar to "buying bones for a thousand gold coins". He would rather spend a little money than win back the merchants' confidence in the court. This is more important than hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

With this good news, the next banquet will be filled with guests and guests.

***************

Ouyang Shuo won people's hearts in Friendship City, but he never thought that bad news would come the next day.

The fourth and fifth formations of the Atlantic Fleet were ordered to cross the Mediterranean Sea, and were collectively protested by the Mediterranean lords and even stopped the ongoing negotiations.

In their words, "Since the Great Xia Dynasty has promised that the Atlantic Fleet will no longer enter the Mediterranean, it should keep its promise from now on. The Atlantic Fleet's move is undoubtedly a breakup of the contract."

"We are deeply doubted about the sincerity of the Great Xia Dynasty." Caesar said.

In desperation, the negotiation team was making Violet have to ask Ouyang Shuo for emergency instructions on how to deal with the matter.

Ouyang Shuo received the news and was speechless for a long time, but this time it was the Daxia Dynasty's fault.

"But, is it a little coincidental in time?" Ouyang Shuo had to be suspicious. Is there any connection between the negotiations and the pirates' attack on Friendship City? Ouyang Shuo is not able to draw conclusions easily now.

Last night, Ouyang Shuo wanted the merchants to promise to send the Atlantic fleet to wipe out the pirates. If they were to break their promise, it would be a slap in the face. All Ouyang Shuo's previous efforts would be wasted.

Faced with this dilemma, Ouyang Shuo finally turned his attention to the southernmost end of the African continent, where there is a magical place called Cape of Good Hope.

Before the Suez Canal was dug, the European route to Asia could only travel from Western Europe to West Africa, and then detour through the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to Asia. The Cape of Good Hope route became the only sea route for Europeans to the East.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, although the role of this route has been weakened, it is still an indispensable and important passage between Eurasia. Some giant ships cannot pass through the Suez Canal and must detour from here.

When it comes to the Cape of Good Hope route, we have to mention the famous Crusades in European history.

In 1,000 AD, Europe began to undergo great changes. Roman Catholic believers hoped to drive Muslims out of the Middle East. The Crusades launched by the Roman Catholic Church began in 1096 and lasted about two hundred years.

The emergence of European troops in the Middle East has promoted the development of ocean trade in disguise.

Italian merchants in Venice and other places made great money by transporting and providing supplies to warring parties. At the same time, when the Crusaders returned to Europe, they brought back spices, perfumes, silks, steel and medicines from the Middle East, becoming a popular European best-seller.

Ocean trade led to the rise of towns and created a large number of wealthy European merchants.

The power of European countries continues to grow. They set up troops and governments, and taxes paid by taxpayers are enough to maintain the operation of the troops and governments.

By the fifteenth century, European countries were ready to go out for adventure.

The Portuguese were the first to act. In 1400, they wanted to control the spice trade with the East, and wanted to go beyond the middlemen in Venice and Arabia to do business directly with the East.

If they can go directly to Asia to buy these goods by sea, they can greatly increase their profits.

Portuguese explorers visited the west coast of Africa, hoping to find a route to India and East Asia, and finally arrived at the southernmost tip of the African continent, the Cape of Good Hope.

Compared with the Suez Canal, the Cape of Good Hope is not an ideal route.

Because the Cape of Good Hope is at the confluence of the Indian Ocean temperature and the Antarctic cold current, the strong westerly rapids have caused storms and waves to continue all year round. In addition to the storms, there are often "killing waves" here.

The front of this wave is like a cliff, and the back of it is like a slow hillside. It frequently appears in winter and is often accompanied by rotating waves caused by polar winds. When these two waves are superimposed, the sea conditions are even worse. Moreover, there are strong coastal currents here. When the waves meet the current, the entire sea surface rolls like a pot, and ships sailing here are often in trouble.

Therefore, the Cape of Good Hope has become the most dangerous sailing area in the world.

Ouyang Shuo's plan to allow the Atlantic fleet to bypass the Cape of Good Hope, open up the Cape of Good Hope route, and detour to Somalia, is also a helpless choice.

The destruction of the [Siwolf Pirates] is related to the credibility of the dynasty.
Chapter completed!