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Chapter 1179 Someone can’t sit still
"Naval warfare... The Hawaii base has not yet been built, so it's too early to talk about America. Even if we really want to march east, we will draw elite troops from various military divisions to form multiple fleets. The candidates will be recommended by the commander-in-chief and examined by the Navy General Staff. As long as it does not affect the operation of the fleet, I have never said that you cannot recommend yourself."

What are the conditions? As soon as the naval battle was mentioned, Hong Tao immediately understood. Although the Hawaiian naval base has not been built yet, it has been targeted by many naval generals.

Compared with the army, the navy is more aggressive and relies more on fighting to gain merit. Wherever there is a war, you will be promoted quickly.

In addition, as a technical branch of the military, naval officers and soldiers generally have a much longer service period than the army. No one wants to see them still wearing blue epaulettes when they are in their fifties or sixties, while their juniors in their thirties or forties have to wear red epaulettes instead.

Can you agree to this? He is so capable. Even if he is promoted to the commander-in-chief, he is still a naval general and has to command ships in battle. One more person is not a big deal. He can be sent to fight one or two naval battles and then transferred back. Now that his wish has been fulfilled, he should work harder.

This is why Hong Tao likes to choose villains as officials. They make it clear what they need, and if they can reach an agreement, they will cooperate. If they can't, they will say goodbye. They are not like gentlemen who don't say what they need directly, but have to beat around the bush to make people guess.

You must not be like a hypocrite, saying one thing, thinking another, doing one thing, and looking at another. There are not many such officials in the court, one-third of them, so you should do nothing all day long, just guess what is going on.

"Student obeys the order, long live His Majesty, long live the Grand Marshal!" After the price was agreed, Setel immediately changed from worry to joy, knelt on one leg, put his right fist on his chest, and flattered the emperor madly.

"You'd better not follow his example. Negotiating with me will bring higher profits, but the risks are also great. If you don't want to work for the Shipping Department to transport goods at such a young age, it's best not to even try."

This conversation between the king and his minister took place on the rear deck of the flagship, and was heard clearly by the officers and staff around. Some of them were eager to follow Settle's example and recommend themselves. Hong Tao was one step faster than them and immediately stopped them.

"Your Majesty, the communication ship is coming!" At this time, a copper whistle suddenly sounded on the mast. The sail chief standing behind the rudder looked up at the flag signal and reported loudly the lookout's discovery.

"Why are you here at this time... Let the escort ships conduct a thorough inspection before letting you go!"

Ever since the Emperor led the vanguard troops to the port of Fao, the navy's communication ships have been transmitting messages back and forth at the highest frequency, and at a fixed time, every other day. Two ships in each batch carry the same documents to prevent accidents along the way.

But the communication ship had already arrived yesterday at noon, and it came again today, which was obviously not a normal situation. Now Hong Tao was most afraid of hearing words like "unexpected" and "special", which were far away from the center and out of reach.

But what you fear will come true. After receiving the emperor's handwritten receipt, the naval staff on the communication ship took out a small rectangular wooden box from his arms.

This thing is used by the Ministry of Public Security to deliver the highest-level letters. It has a double lacquer seal from both the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It can only be opened by the emperor himself, and no outsiders are allowed to be around.

"I finally couldn't help it! Come and see, the battle is not over, but has just begun."

After taking out the sealed paper from the box, Wang Chengen took out the emperor's seal to check it. Hong Tao walked to the stern alone, opened it and took a few glances. Without thinking seriously or stopping, he strode back and slapped the paper on the helm, indicating that the officers and staff present could circulate it regardless of their ranks. "Your Majesty, where is this Kingdom of Jerusalem?"

The secret report was very brief, with only a few sentences, but it contained a lot of information. Relying on his position as the commander-in-chief of the army's vanguard, Lei Lao Hu, the commander of the Central and Eastern Division, read it first, and then he was confused and didn't understand it.

"These are all old accounts from hundreds of years ago. At that time, the Eastern Roman Empire was overwhelmed by the Turks, so it asked for help from the Western Roman Empire, which had the same ancestry as it did, and promised that after the matter was accomplished, both the Eastern and Western Roman Churches would be managed by the Western Roman Pope.

Pope Urban II of the Western Roman Empire launched a crusade, calling on Christians to take back the Holy Land from the Turks, which was the small city of Jerusalem south of Beirut and west of the Dead Sea. That place was a holy place shared by Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

There were nine Crusades in total, which lasted for nearly 200 years. Both sides had their victories and defeats, and Jerusalem changed hands several times, but ultimately it was not taken back. However, during the first Crusade, the Crusaders established a Christian state on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Later, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Mamluks, and most of the nobles fled to this island to survive, retaining the title and heritage of the kingdom, always thinking about how to restore the country.

Now the opportunity came. After the Roman Emperor Ferdinand III sent a special envoy to have secret talks with the Ottoman Sultan, Murad IV detained the king and tore up the peace agreement, triggering the war.

When I led my troops here and defeated the Ottoman elite, the Venetians began to transport a large number of troops to Cyprus, claiming that they would revive the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

What a good plan, a move to drive away the wolf and swallow the tiger, and made Murad IV and I become clowns in the front, fighting back and forth, and finally made wedding clothes for others. "

What was in the secret report? There are two main contents. The first is that the Ming Dynasty envoys stationed in the Republic of Venice urgently reported that a large number of Holy Roman Empire troops were found sailing on Venetian ships, heading for Cyprus, which seemed to be related to the restoration of Jerusalem.

The second was the staff of the Advisory Office in Moscow, who learned through special channels that a large number of Polish-Lithuanian troops were heading south, and their destination happened to be the Republic of Venice.

After receiving these two pieces of information, the General Staff knew the location of the Island of Cyprus, although it was not quite sure where the Kingdom of Jerusalem was. They immediately realized that it might be related to the emperor's personal expedition, so they sent a communication ship to report the news day and night.

Why did everyone from the General Staff to the military commanders not know about the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem? The reason is simple: Hong Tao did not tell us. The reason why he did not tell us is also simple: the students’ foundation is too poor, and they can only learn knowledge related to their work in a limited time.

There is no history of medieval Europe in textbooks, and it will not be added for a long time in the future. At present, the country needs technicians and officers, and the study of history is not available for the time being, so it is better to skip it if possible.

But it is not impossible to obtain them. If anyone is interested in these things, they can go to the library to look them up. There are many translated European books there, and there must be records of this kind in them.

(End of this chapter)