Ang Lee felt that he had to make an example of the Lion Kingdom during his trip to the South Asian Subcontinent. Only by suppressing the development of the Lion Kingdom as much as possible could he avoid the emergence of a strong regional power in the South Asian Subcontinent. The existence of such a strong regional power was very detrimental to the interests of the Tang Empire. It would pose a great challenge to the interests of the Tang Empire overseas in the future.
Since ancient times, if a country wanted to attack another country, it must have a good reason. That is, it must have a legitimate excuse. Otherwise, if it did not have a good reason, it would bring great difficulties to its own mobilization. It would also increase the hatred of the other country, which would make the resistance more intense.
But since ancient times, there was another saying, "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext." That is to say, if you want to attack a person, you will always find an excuse. It was really not difficult to find an excuse to attack another country.
There had never been an invading country that would boldly say, "I am invading you. What's wrong? Are you not convinced?" Instead, they deliberately created all kinds of incidents and described their invasion as righteous and reasonable.
Ang Lee realized that the existence of the Lion Kingdom was very detrimental to the Tang Empire. He must find a way to weaken it. For this reason, he must find a reasonable excuse and then attack the Lion Kingdom.
In this way, a large number of small countries around would not be afraid of the Tang Empire. Instead, they would think that the Tang Empire was doing the right thing and was teaching the wrong Lion Kingdom a lesson.
Judging from the current situation, many small countries in the South Asian Subcontinent were more afraid of the gradually stronger Lion Kingdom. They were full of vigilance against the Lion Kingdom. Of course, they would not have a good impression of the Lion Kingdom, especially the South Tianzhu, which had a small territory invaded by the Lion Kingdom. They hated the Lion Kingdom even more.
This was a very good situation. Ang Lee could totally take advantage of the arrogance and domineering of the Lion Kingdom and form an alliance with the weak small countries to fight against the strong Lion Kingdom.
The specific action plan still needed to be carefully considered and prepared. It was not easy to be done. For example, how to cooperate with a few small countries, how to cooperate, who to send to contact them. Would the weak countries believe Ang Lee? Would they choose to cooperate with Ang Lee?
All of this was unknown and uncertain, and there was also a certain risk. But for the sake of the interests of the Tang Empire, any risk was worth it.
Of course, in order to ensure the success of the operation, Ang Lee had to think carefully about every detail of the operation, as well as how to make promises to win the support of those small countries.
"Assistant Minister Li, the Lion Kingdom has occupied all the supply points in this important area. All the ships that come and go must resupply at the ports under the control of the Lion Kingdom. The price of clean water has increased by more than three times. In the future, it may increase again. This is not good, and it does not meet the requirements of the imperial court of the Tang dynasty."
"Assistant Minister Li, the strength of the Lion Kingdom is not to be underestimated. I heard that they have 50,000 elite soldiers. We only need to stabilize the Lion Kingdom, and then we can completely control this important area and realize the Maritime Silk Road Plan as soon as possible."
"The Lion Kingdom is the only big country. This is very bad for the Tang dynasty. It is not wise to cooperate with the Lion Kingdom. We should cooperate with the small countries to weaken the strength of the Lion Kingdom. This is a long-term plan."
Many officials expressed their opinions, but their opinions were not unified. There were all kinds of ideas.
Ang Lee said, "The Lion Kingdom is the only big country, but it is not a good thing. Once the Maritime Silk Road of the Tang dynasty is completely open, the number of merchant ships will increase sharply, which will bring great benefits to the countries along the way. But if the benefits of this area are monopolized by the Lion Kingdom, the Lion Kingdom will become more and more powerful, and this will inevitably affect the interests of the Tang Empire. This is very inappropriate. We must try our best to weaken the strength of the Lion Kingdom, especially the land occupied by the Lion Kingdom. We must make the Lion Kingdom spit out a part of its own territory. Even the whole Lion Kingdom must be included in the colony of the Tang dynasty."
With that, a faint smile appeared on Li An's face.
"Colony? What is like a colony? "
Many officials had never heard of this term, and their faces were full of astonishment.
Ang Lee explained, "The so-called colony is a puppet regime. If the Lion Kingdom becomes a colony of the Tang dynasty, everything owned by the Lion Kingdom will be dominated by the Tang Empire. Even which country the Lion Kingdom interacts with, the tariff, the commercial trade, and so on, will be controlled by the Tang Empire. Their imperial court is only responsible for managing the people and preventing unrest."
"The colony that Assistant Minister Li mentioned is between the territory of the Tang dynasty and the affiliated countries. It is not the territory of the Tang dynasty, nor the affiliated countries. It has more benefits than the affiliated countries."
"Colony, this is good. In the past, the affiliated countries were governed by themselves and paid tribute every year. The Tang dynasty gave them more gifts than they paid tribute."
"The imperial court may not agree to this colony!"
"Why not? As long as we build it, how can the imperial court not agree?"
"The main reason is that the population of the Lion Kingdom is too large. If it is directly incorporated into the territory of the Tang dynasty, I am afraid that they will be disloyal and will resist. Keeping the name of the Lion Kingdom and making them a subordinate country of the Tang dynasty is also a good idea."
All the officials supported the idea of a colony.
Of course, it was not easy to realize this plan. There was a lot of work that needed to be done. For example, the Lion Kingdom must first provoke the Tang dynasty. Then, the Tang dynasty could legitimately attack the Lion Kingdom, and logically dismember the Lion Kingdom and colonize it.
If the Lion Kingdom greeted them with a smile and was very friendly to the Tang Empire, what reason would Ang Lee have to ask for colonization? After all, they wanted to be friends with you. How could you ask for colonization? That was not good enough. You would be ridiculed by the world.
"Assistant Minister Li, although the Lion Kingdom is powerful, it is still much weaker than the Tang dynasty. I guess they will not dare to provoke the Tang dynasty. So, what reason do we have to make them our colony?"
An official pointed out the key to the problem.
Ang Lee said, "This is simple. Before we contact the Lion Kingdom, we have to find a way to anger them. In addition, we have to hide our strength from the Lion Kingdom. If we show them all our strength, the Lion Kingdom will not dare to challenge us."
"Assistant Minister Li, you are wise. How can we anger the Lion Kingdom?"
The official still did not quite understand.
Ang Lee sighed and said, "It is not difficult to anger the Lion Kingdom. We just have to keep in touch with the South Tianzhu. By the way, if we go straight, we should definitely go to the Lion Kingdom first because the Lion Kingdom is closer and has more prestige. This is the most basic. But if we don't go to the Lion Kingdom first, but go to the South Tianzhu first and stay in the South Tianzhu for a few days to build a good relationship with the South Tianzhu, what will the Lion Kingdom do if they know?"
"The Lion Kingdom will be very unhappy about this. After all, the Tang dynasty is not giving face to the Lion Kingdom by doing this. They are deliberately trying to win over the South Tianzhu."
"That's right. According to the general rules, we should go to the Lion Kingdom first no matter what. This will indeed make the Lion Kingdom suspicious."
"The most important point is that the Lion Kingdom and the South Tianzhu have a feud. Once we show that we have a good relationship with the South Tianzhu, the Lion Kingdom will be extremely uneasy. After all, they have occupied part of the seaports of the South Tianzhu. How can they not be worried that the South Tianzhu will take it back? Once the Tang dynasty and the South Tianzhu become close, the Lion Kingdom will definitely think in this direction."
"Assistant Minister Li is wise. If we do that, the Lion Country will definitely be furious. They might even strike first to gain the upper hand and take the initiative to attack us. In that case, we will have sufficient reason to attack the Lion Country."
All the officials felt that Ang Lee's idea was very good. As long as they were close to the enemies of the Lion Kingdom, it would inevitably cause the Lion Kingdom to be nervous and suspicious. They might even be inexplicably angry and uneasy. In this case, they only needed to use a little trick to lure the Lion Kingdom into a trap. Then, they would overestimate themselves and launch an attack on the powerful Tang Army. In this way, Ang Lee's plan would be a complete success.
Since ancient times, there had been many such examples. Many of them had successfully achieved their goals and brought great benefits to their countries.
For example, a big country wanted to join the war, but the people in the country did not agree. They felt that it was not in the interest of the people. Therefore, the democratic government had no choice but to alienate the imaginary enemy and build a good relationship with the imaginary enemy. Thus, the imaginary enemy could not sit still and launched a fierce attack on the country.
After that, the big country successfully joined the war. The people in the country did not oppose it anymore. Because the country was attacked, they had to participate in the war.
The final outcome of the war was victory. The imaginary enemy also became the occupied country. The big country successfully achieved its set goal.
What Ang Lee wanted to do now was to imitate the practice of this big country. By approaching the imaginary enemy, he could lure the imaginary enemy to attack him. Thus, he could legitimately attack the imaginary enemy.
"Assistant Minister Li, the plan should be carried out sooner rather than later. Why don't we set off for South Tianzhu now and achieve this important plan as soon as possible?"
An official said anxiously.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? We have just arrived in Geguruo Country. If we leave before we even warm up, the King of Geguruo Country will not be happy. Let's stay for two days! We will set off early in the morning the day after tomorrow. Our goal is to go straight to South Tianzhu. In addition, send a side division to travel along the coastline and visit the small countries along the way. "
"Yes, your subordinate understands."
His subordinates responded.
After making arrangements for the day after tomorrow, Ang Lee lay down to rest. He kept thinking about all kinds of possibilities in his mind.
This time, the operation to destroy the Lion Kingdom was very important. There could not be the slightest carelessness. Any small mistake could lead to extremely serious consequences.
Now, before they set off, they had to think of all kinds of scenarios. They had to think of all kinds of things that could happen. There could not be the slightest bit of carelessness.
Before they set off for South Tianzhu, they had to figure out the map of South Tianzhu, as well as which seaports had been occupied by the Lion Kingdom. They also had to know the geographical location of these seaports, the depth of the seaports, how many soldiers were guarding them, how many merchant ships were coming in and out, etc.
They had to figure out all these things. Only then could they better complete the mission.
The map in front of them was quite clear. It marked all the seaports and countries. However, it was only marked. As for the natural conditions of these seaports, the depth of the seaports, the number of soldiers guarding them, and so on, they were not marked on the map. Moreover, these things were not easy to mark, especially the number of soldiers guarding them. This could be adjusted at any time.
In the Kingdom of Geguruo, there was naturally no way to figure out the specific situation thousands of miles away. They had to send people to investigate in detail after arriving in South Tianzhu, or directly ask the South Tianzhu authorities. After all, many of the seaports originally belonged to South Tianzhu. They had been occupied by the Lion Kingdom. As for these seaports and the supporting facilities nearby, the South Tianzhu authorities would definitely be clear about them.
Of course, in addition to the original South Tianzhu seaports on the mainland, some of the seaports on the main island of the Lion Kingdom were also very good. In particular, the northern seaports that faced the mainland were in a very important position.
As long as they controlled the southern part of the mainland and the northern part of the Lion Kingdom's island at the same time, the strait between them would be completely controlled by the Tang Empire. This strait was where most merchant ships had to pass through. There were very few ships that went directly to the southern part of the Lion Kingdom's island to resupply. This was because most merchant ships had limited voyages and had to travel along the coastline. It was most convenient to go through the strait.
Therefore, in order to promote the Tang Empire's Silk Road strategy more effectively, they had to firmly control many of the seaports on both sides of the strait. At least, they had to control the most important seaports.
At present, these important seaports were all under the control of the Lion Kingdom. Therefore, Ang Lee naturally had to start with the Lion Kingdom, so that the Tang Empire could occupy this strategic location.
Ang Lee would set off early in the morning the day after tomorrow. He still had two days to rest. There was nothing important to do in the Kingdom of Geguruo. The negotiation work could be done by his subordinates first. He only needed to appear at the end to confirm.
A good rest and a few big meals were what Ang Lee should do. This time, he was very lucky to come to the Kingdom of Geguruo. He came across an injured elephant. In order to express his enthusiasm, the king slaughtered the elephant that had lost its value.
The most valuable ivory was given to Ang Lee as a gift, and the elephant's meat naturally became the best dish for the king.
Although the elephant's meat was not that delicious, it was still the meat of an elephant. Ordinary people could not eat it. This was enough.
It was just like how a princess might not be more beautiful than a village woman, but the sense of achievement that came from sleeping with a country's princess was incomparable to sleeping with a village woman. The level of bragging was also different.
When you told others that you had slept with a country's princess, they would definitely look at you with envy, jealousy, and hatred. Just thinking about it made you feel good.
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