The officers and soldiers of the Tang Army were responsible for calculating the losses of the Garigal Harbor. Naturally, it was easy to calculate the losses of the Tang Army because they knew very well what was on the ships.
As for the merchant ships that were burned down, it was not easy to calculate because many of the people in charge of the merchant ships were burned to death. The people below did not know the specific situation on the ships and how much the goods were worth. Some merchants deliberately exaggerated their losses in order to express their anger towards the Lion Kingdom. It was obvious that they were lying. This made the officials of the Tang Dynasty, who were in charge of the statistics, feel very embarrassed.
"General, it is really difficult to calculate the losses of the merchants. Moreover, many merchant ships have been burned to ashes. We have no way of knowing what was on the merchant ships. Only a few people can provide evidence to prove the goods on the merchant ships. Is there really any meaning to this kind of calculation?"
His subordinates did a round of calculations and reported the situation truthfully to their superiors.
Li Feiyu looked at it and smiled faintly. "These merchants are really good at talking nonsense. They actually wrote so much. If what they said is all true, even a thousand merchant ships can't carry so much goods!"
"General, what do you mean?"
Li Feiyu said, "Although many of what these merchants said is not true, we still have to make the Lion Kingdom pay double the compensation according to this list. Of course, we have to keep most of it. We can't give all of it to the merchants."
"Understood, your subordinate understands."
The subordinate acknowledged and retreated.
Li Feiyu walked to the beach of the Garigal Harbor and said loudly, "Don't cry. Listen to me."
When the crowd saw that Li Feiyu had arrived, most of them stopped sobbing. Only a very small number of weak people were still sobbing softly. It was probably impossible to make them stop, but their voices were very soft and did not affect the overall situation at all.
"Everyone, this time, the Lion Kingdom sent a large number of fire ships to attack Caligar's harbor, causing the merchants and common folk to suffer enormous losses. Many people died in the fire, and the damage to property was enormous. Many merchants suffered disastrous losses, and those who lost their families and companions don't even need to be mentioned. However, the Lion Kingdom's army has been repelled by our Great Tang, and they have lost many people. This can be considered as revenge for all of you. In addition, we will have the Lion Kingdom compensate for your losses, so there is no need to grieve. You must believe in the Great Tang, and we will definitely uphold justice for you."
Li Feiyu said loudly.
"Thank you, General. Thank you, Tang Dynasty. Thank you for helping us. Thank you."
Everyone knelt down and kowtowed, looking very grateful.
"Get up, get up, everyone! The Tang Dynasty aspires to let the people of the world live a good life. We will not let the people suffer. You can rest assured! Get up, everyone. "
Li Feiyu asked the people to get up.
To be nice to the people, it was to love the people as if they were your own children. To put it bluntly, it was to win over the people's hearts. In fact, the two had the same meaning. Under normal circumstances, it was difficult to distinguish. However, to love the people as if they were your own children meant sincerity, while to win over the people's hearts meant conspiracy. Who could tell whether a person was sincere to the people or trying to win over the people's hearts?
However, no matter what the situation was, the actual effect was the same. As long as the people were given some benefits, the people would support you in their hearts, regardless of whether you were sincere or just trying to win them over.
It was human nature to be greedy for benefits. No matter if it was an official or an ordinary person, they all hoped to get the greatest benefits. Whoever could give them benefits, they would support him. Whoever did not treat them well, they would oppose him.
This was the simple class characteristic of the ordinary people. The ordinary people were simple and pure, but it was difficult for them to be far-sighted.
For example, many leaders of peasant uprisings were able to show their great talents in the beginning with an irresistible force. However, when they were close to success, they often fell into a crisis.
What was the biggest dream of an ordinary person? First, they had enough food and warm clothes. Then, they had more wealth so that they could live a happier life. Finally, if they had more power, they would build a big harem and be served with beautiful women and wine all day long. However, a peasant who had never enjoyed beautiful women and wine would fall into it after suddenly enjoying such treatment. He would completely lose his motivation to move forward and finally die in the land of luxury.
There were so many such leaders of uprisings that one could not count them with ten fingers. This was the limitation of the ordinary people. They could win a temporary victory, but they could not win a permanent victory.
In later generations, there was a country that became extremely rich with abundant oil resources. This country was also a democratic country. All the people had the right to elect the first leader of the country. In this way, whoever treated the people better would be able to get the votes in the election and finally realize their political ideals.
Because the country was very rich, all the people who wanted to be president would promise great benefits to the people in order to get the people to support them.
Because of competition, both sides tried to increase their promises as much as possible to ensure that they could eventually become president.
In this case, the strong demand of the people for benefits forced the politicians to use all the income the country could get to improve the people's lives so that the people could obtain real benefits.
In this way, a large part of the country's income would be used by the people. It could not be used for more far-sighted projects. In this way, it caused a very terrible result, which was a single industrial structure.
After the oil price plummeted, the country's income plummeted. All of a sudden, there was no money to pay for the promises made to the people. It even caused a series of chain reactions, causing the whole country to fall into a state of collapse. The people's paradise suddenly became hell.
In the beginning, when the oil price skyrocketed and the country's income was high, it was possible to give less benefits to the people and use some of the money to develop other industries such as agriculture and high-tech. In this way, when the oil price plummeted, there would be other industries to support the development of the national economy, thus avoiding the crisis of the country's collapse.
But in such a democratic country, such far-sighted politicians would not be welcomed by the people, because what the people cared about was very simple, and that was, whoever was good to them and gave them more benefits, they would support that person. Whatever far-sighted or not, it was all useless.
Therefore, the people were very easy to make use of as long as they were given enough benefits.
As long as the Tang Dynasty gave the local people more benefits, the local people would support the rule of the Tang Dynasty, so that the Tang Dynasty could rule here stably.
What the local people did not know was that as long as the Tang Dynasty had a firm foothold here, all their benefits would be in the hands of the Tang Dynasty. Most of the benefits would be taken away by the Tang Dynasty, and they could only get a small part of it.
However, this process was like boiling a frog in warm water. By the time they found out, they could not leave the Tang Dynasty and had to work for the Tang Dynasty for the rest of their lives. Of course, they would also get a lot of benefits.
The Lion Kingdom's surprise attack on the Tang Dynasty fleet seemed to have caused a certain loss to the Tang Dynasty fleet and caused the Tang Dynasty to lose a lot of materials. But to a certain extent, it promoted the Tang Dynasty to win over the local people and merchants, and made the Tang Dynasty win the hearts of the people, which was very beneficial to the Tang Dynasty.
Ang Lee took his guards and went to Gedi, the southern port of South Tianzhu, to command the Tang Dynasty's army to attack the Lion Kingdom.
The King of South Tianzhu, Héraud, could not stay in Yunwu City any longer, so he also came with his guards. He said that his army would be the vanguard of the Tang Dynasty and help the Tang Dynasty to conquer the Lion Kingdom.
Although the fighting strength of the South Tianzhu's army was not very good, since Héraud had this intention, Ang Lee could not refuse, so he had to agree.
In the port of Gedi, there were more than 10,000 Tang Dynasty Army soldiers, and the King of South Tianzhu, Héraud, also brought 3,000 imperial guards. In addition to the 6,000 Lion Kingdom's soldiers who were captured, the entire port of Gedi was overcrowded.
Although the geographical location of Gedi was very important, the port was located at the protruding part of the peninsula, so the territory was not wide. However, there was a large shoal next to it. If land reclamation was carried out, the area of the port could be expanded by ten times, so this small port could become a big port comparable to the Tang Dynasty's Guangzhou, so that it could accept more merchant ships.
Land reclamation was not a difficult task for the Tang Dynasty at this time. As long as the Tang Dynasty's dredging ships arrived, such a task could be completed in a few years.
As soon as they entered Gedi, the King of South Tianzhu and his subordinates were all shocked by the equipment of the Tang Dynasty's elite army. Many of the equipment were things they had never seen before, such as armored assault forces such as armored artillery vehicles, artillery units, and a lot of protective equipment that had no blind spots.
These were the latest cutting-edge equipment of the Tang Empire, representing the highest industrial level of the Tang Empire. It was a blessing for the King of South Tianzhu and his subordinates to be able to see these advanced equipment.
"Bang, bang, bang …"
Héraud curiously knocked on the body of a blacksmith artillery vehicle with his hand and praised, "Assistant Minister Li, such a thick iron sheet, even swords can't hurt it! It must be very heavy! How many horses would it take to pull it? "
Ang Lee smiled and said, "It is indeed very heavy, but it doesn't need a horse. The chariot can move on its own, and its top speed is much faster than that of a horse. Its power is also extremely powerful. Come, drive to the fork in the road ahead and bombard the big trees a hundred steps away. Let His Highness see the power of the armored chariot."
The armored chariot immediately started moving. With an unstoppable momentum, it quickly rushed to the turning point not far ahead and immediately slowed down. Then, it turned the turret with a click, aimed at a large coconut tree, and fired the cannonball with a bang.
Following a violent explosion, the tall coconut tree was shattered by the bombardment and fell powerlessly to the ground.
"Good, good, good. It's too powerful."
"The Tang Dynasty has such powerful weapons. No wonder they could defeat the Lion Kingdom's army so easily."
"This guy is much more powerful than the elephant troops of North Tianzhu. Elephants are most afraid of being frightened. This bang has already frightened the elephants and they will trample on their own troops."
"This is the power of the Tang Dynasty. The Lion Kingdom has overestimated themselves."
The ministers of South Tianzhu began to discuss.
King Héraud stroked another armored chariot and said, "The Tang Dynasty has brought so many armored chariots to the south. It seems that there must be more armored chariots in the Tang Dynasty's territory. If they line up and attack in a line, no matter how many soldiers they have, they will not be enough! Such heavy armored chariots can crush the enemy troops into meat paste! "
Ang Lee smiled and said, "His Highness, this armored chariot is an important weapon of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, it is not the most powerful. What about something even more powerful?"
"Oh, there are more powerful weapons. I wonder what they are."
Héraud asked curiously.
Li An pointed at the mothership of the Sky Steam Army anchored at the harbor and said, "See that ship? The Sky Army fighter planes anchored there are the most elite weapons of the Tang Dynasty. "
"Sky Army fighter planes? What is the Sky Army? "
Héraud continued to ask.
Ang Lee replied, "The Sky Army is an army that fights in the sky. Those weapons can fly in the sky like birds and then throw the weapons that kill the enemy to the ground to attack the enemy."
"Oh my god, they can fly in the sky like birds. This is amazing. Assistant Minister Li, can you let them fly and have a look?"
King Héraud asked curiously.
Ang Lee waved his hand and said, "His Highness, you should not see it for the time being! The Sky Army requires a lot of energy to take off and land, and there is a certain risk. The wind and waves are a little strong today, so I will not take off. However, I will definitely satisfy Your Highness's wish to see the aircraft. "
"Good, it is good that you can see it. Now that the main forces of the Lion Kingdom have been defeated by the Tang Dynasty, what is Assistant Minister Li's next step? Do you plan to destroy the Lion Kingdom?"
Héraud asked with concern.
Ang Lee said, "This will depend on the attitude of the Lion Kingdom. If their attitude is better, then we can give them a way out. If they do not agree to my request, then we will just cross the strait and continue to attack the Lion Kingdom."
"Oh, then what is Assistant Minister Li's request?"
Héraud was very concerned about Ang Lee's request.
Ang Lee looked at Héraud and said with a smile, "It is just a small request. I want some land and some compensation."
Although he said it casually, Ang Lee's request was definitely an exorbitant one. It was a request that would cause great damage to the Lion Kingdom.
"Assistant Minister Li, the damage list of the port of Kaligal has been sent over."
A soldier from Kaligal rushed over and handed over the list.
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