Zhu Jingyuan asked clearly about the situation at the scene, and after thinking about it for a while, he ordered:

"Instruct the patrol fleet to find a place to keep the opponent's ship and everything on it alone.

"Single escort the other party's envoy responsible for liaison to see me with the so-called Tripoli Pasha's letter."

Zhu Jingyuan was slightly interested in the Tripolitans.

Because this group of people has a very close relationship with Zhu Jingyuan, the world's number one navy in his previous life.

If the United States were the protagonists of online novels, they would be the first villains to show off in front of the protagonist, and then be slapped in the face after the protagonist explodes.

The rulers of Tripoli, Tunisia, and Algeria are not separatist forces in the conventional sense.

They were actually a pirate gang that submitted to the Ottomans and were collectively known as the Barbary pirates. Parts of Morocco were once occupied by them.

Before the industrial age, these pirates had long been entrenched in the Great Qin Sea and the northern coastal areas of the Mozhou Continent.

They collected protection fees from passing ships, attacked ships that did not pay protection fees, arrested and sold slaves of all ethnic groups in Thailand and Spain, and extorted ransoms.

Their life has lasted for at least two hundred years, and all countries in Europe and the West have become accustomed to their existence.

By the eighteenth century, the scale and organizational capabilities of the British and French navies continued to develop, and they were no longer able to compete with the Barbary pirates.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, the Barbary pirates decided not to attack British and French merchant ships, and the two sides continued to live in peace for a long time.

But the United States became independent in 1783.

After the independence of the United States, merchant ships could no longer fly the British flag.

As a result, in 1785, just two years after American independence, two American merchant ships were captured by Tripoli pirates.

The Tripoli Pasha demanded a ransom of $660,000 from the United States.

Affected by isolationism and decentralization, the U.S. federal navy had only one gunboat of less than 100 tons at that time, which was maintained at Washington's own expense.

Therefore, the United States had no way to use force to recapture the prisoners, so it could only choose to be patient and give in and try to solve the problem through diplomatic means.

As a result, the pirates continued to rob more American merchant ships, capture more crew members, and raise ransoms.

After ten years of hard work, the Americans finally paid a ransom of $1 million in exchange for the Barbary pirates releasing the American crew.

This figure was almost one-sixth of the U.S. budget at the time.

At the same time, the United States will have to pay an annual protection fee of more than 20,000 US dollars in exchange for the Barbary pirates' guarantee not to rob American merchant ships.

This humiliation made the Americans learn from the pain. While enduring the humiliation, they formally established the Department of the Navy and made great efforts to build the federal naval fleet.

The famous USS Constitution, the self-built first-generation USS Enterprise, and the first-generation USS Constellation were all approved for construction.

The first task of the federal fleet is to prevent pirates from attacking American ships and to choose the opportunity to refuse to continue to pay protection fees to pirates in Mexico.

These events indirectly led to the increase in the power of the federal president and gained the power to command the navy's overseas activities.

In 1801, when Jefferson became president of the United States, Yusef Karamani, the Pasha of Tripoli, informed the new president that the annual protection fee should be increased tenfold.

Americans have been working hard for more than ten years, waiting for the day to defeat their opponents.

Jefferson refused Yosef's request, and Yosef immediately declared war on the United States and began to condone pirates plundering American ships.

The first naval-led foreign war in U.S. history broke out.

Theoretically, the war lasted from 1801 to 1805, which means it should have just ended now.

In the end, the United States won a small victory and spent $60,000 to ransom the captives. The Barbary pirates waived U.S. protection fees and signed a most-favored-nation treaty.

This treaty became "the most favorable peace treaty signed by the civilized countries of Europe and the West and the Barbary countries in the past century."

In the original history, before the industrial revolution, the navies of the European and European countries had gradually gained an advantage over the Barbary pirates.

However, there is still no absolute advantage on land, and it is unable to directly land and occupy the homeland of the Baba pirates.

At the same time, the Thai and Western countries, where traditional aristocrats held the power of the court, were not very motivated to destroy these pirates.

On the contrary, the United States, where the real bourgeoisie is in power, has extremely low tolerance for pirates who rob its own merchant ships and demand ransom and protection fees.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the bourgeoisie of various countries in Europe and the West came to power one after another.

In the twenty years from 1830 to 1850, the French gradually occupied the entire Algeria.

In the frenzy to carve up Mexico after the Industrial Revolution, the French further occupied neighboring Morocco and Tunisia.

The Barbary pirates' lairs on land were destroyed one after another, and they completely lost their ability to harm the countries in Europe and the West.

Although Tripoli continued to exist into the twentieth century, it could only survive in the face of the fully industrialized countries of Europe and the West.

Finally, in 1912, Tripoli became an Italian colony.

In this world, the industrialization of the Ming and Western countries has been completed, but the previous world war gave the Barbary pirates room to breathe.

Now that the world war is over, the Ming Dynasty has conquered Egypt and is adjacent to Tripoli on land.

As long as the countries in Europe and the West do not stumble secretly, it will only be a matter of time before the Ming Dynasty wipes out these pirates' lair.

This is probably the real reason why the other party came to Zhu Jingyuan to give him gifts.

Zhu Jingyuan considered the current situation and the relationship between the three visitors, and arranged for them to arrive at similar times.

On the same day, November 4, the 34th year of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jingyuan met with people from three aspects in sequence.

First up was Grand Vizier Zayadin, who brought a group of young girls in directly.

After a simple greeting etiquette, Zayadin said very directly:

"His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, on behalf of His Majesty the Ottoman Sultan, I would like to express my highest and sincerest gratitude to Your Highness for your support at the League of Nations meeting."

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded in response:

"Don't be so polite."

Zayadin bowed again and continued to explain his purpose:

"His Majesty the Sultan wishes to give His Highness His Highness the most beautiful Princess Irene as your maid.

"And give Rhode Island, located in the Great Qin Sea, and sixteen carefully selected female slaves of all ethnic groups as dowry gifts.

"Your Highness, I hope you will accept it."

Slavery was already popular in the Ottomans.

Barbary pirates in Tripoli and other places, as well as Tatar vassal states on the Black Sea coast, have long been capturing slaves in various countries in Europe and the West.

The main way of dealing with these slaves was to sell them to the nobles of the Ottoman Empire.

However, after industrialization, the ability to capture Barbary pirates was greatly reduced, and Lucia annexed the Tatars on the Black Sea coast.

The Ottomans had lost their main source of white slaves.

However, the Ottomans accumulated a large number of slaves of various ethnic groups, and these slaves produced a large number of descendants in the country.

In many parts of the Ottoman Empire, the nominal population of Taishi slaves exceeded one-tenth, or even more than one-third.

Therefore, there may be few newly captured slaves, but there are still many second- or even third-generation domestic slaves.

It’s not a big deal to select a group of outstanding ones to give as gifts.

As for sending the princesses to Zhu Jingyuan's maid, there was no pressure on the Ottoman Sultan.

There was a huge disparity between the status of men and women in the Ottomans. The Ottoman sultan himself had many wives and concubines, as well as a large number of slaves to give birth to offspring.

The status of Ottoman princesses cannot be compared with that of other countries.

The Ottoman princess herself might feel lucky to be sent to the court of the Ming Dynasty and work as a maid to Prince Zhu Jingyuan.

The real gift of the Ottoman Sultan was actually the land ownership of that island.

Rhodes Island covers an area of ​​1,398 square kilometers, at the foot of the Asia Minor Peninsula and on the edge of the Aegean Sea.

It is now 1805, and all the islands in the Aegean Sea belong to the Ottomans.

Of course, what Osman gave to Zhu Jingyuan was private land ownership.

It is the same as the land around Baku that Zhu Jingyuan obtained in Persia.

Zhu Jingyuan can be used to farm, build houses, and open factories, but the jurisdiction still belongs to the Ottomans.

Zhu Jingyuan imagined the location of Rhode Island and seemed a little unhappy and said:

"I have felt the Sultan's wishes, and I am indeed interested in obtaining a private island in the Great Qin Sea.

"But compared to Rhodes Island, I actually prefer Crete. I wonder if the Sultan can give up his love?"

Crete is the fifth largest island in the entire Daqin Sea.

The total land area is 8,236 square kilometers, which is more than five times that of Rhode Island.

The key is that the location of Crete is much better than Rhodes.

It is located in the middle of the western part of the Great Qinhai Sea.

It is more than 100 kilometers away from the Peloponnese Peninsula, more than 200 kilometers away from the Asia Minor Peninsula, and 300 kilometers away from the northern part of Mexico.

It is not too far from the three places, but has a certain degree of independence.

Rhodes Island is only twenty kilometers away from the Ottoman mainland.
To be continued...