The prerequisite for the expansion of Port Tanal was that funds had to be in place. Without sufficient funds, nothing could be done. The new King of the Lion Kingdom, Ma Teqin, had already agreed to pay a huge amount of war reparations. As long as the money was in place, the expansion of Port Tanal could begin very soon.
"When will the Lion Kingdom's reparations be in place? Is there any news?"
Ang Lee looked at his subordinate behind him and asked.
"Assistant Minister Li, according to the people in the palace, the Lion Kingdom may not have enough money to compensate us."
The subordinate replied.
Ang Lee was rather unhappy when he heard this and asked, "What is going on? Why is the Lion Kingdom running out of money? After so many years of accumulation, the Lion Kingdom should have a lot in stock."
The subordinate replied, "Assistant Minister Li is right. The Lion Kingdom has indeed accumulated a lot over the years, but in order to expand, they have spent a lot of money to prepare for war. Most of the wealth has been used up. In addition, when they evacuated the palace, Kulam took away half of the national treasury's wealth. The remaining half is not enough to compensate us. In addition, the old King of the Lion Kingdom is still around. He has established a new court in the south to confront Ma Teqin. In order to eliminate the power of the old King, Ma Teqin still needs to expand the army and a lot of money. Therefore, Ma Teqin is at his wit's end."
"Oh, there is such a thing. There should be many wealthy nobles in the Lion Kingdom! They should have a lot of money in their hands! "
Ang Lee said.
In any era and any country, the nobles had a lot of wealth in their hands. Many of the nobles had even more wealth in their hands than the national treasury.
"Assistant Minister Li, most of the wealthy nobles have fled with their wealth. The remaining few nobles support Ma Teqin. Ma Teqin's new regime has just been established. If he offends the remaining nobles at this time, everyone will be in danger. Therefore, he does not dare to offend them."
The subordinate said.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "The people are not easy to fool. A newly established regime has to win the people's trust. Increasing taxes will definitely not work. This Ma Teqin is really in a dilemma! Haha! "
"Assistant Minister Li, the confrontation between Ma Teqin and the old King Kulam is good for our Tang dynasty. Therefore, I think there is no need to push too much. Otherwise, Ma Teqin's small court will collapse."
His subordinate said sharply.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. Since the Lion Kingdom can't afford the compensation we're asking for at the moment, then we'll pay in installments. However, there will be interest, and the interest won't be low."
This move could not only relieve the pressure faced by the new regime of the Lion Kingdom, but also gain more benefits for the Tang dynasty. Because the compensation that could not be compensated for the time being would be used as a loan shark, a considerable part of the money that the Lion Kingdom's national treasury could earn in the future would be used to repay the loan sharks of the Tang dynasty. This was a very good financial management plan.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. It is indeed a good idea to lend usury to the Lion Kingdom. However, how do we calculate the interest?"
His subordinate asked concernedly.
Ang Lee thought for a while and said, "10% interest! This shouldn't be considered very high! "
Thinking that the income of the Lion Kingdom would be used to repay the loan sharks in the future, Ang Lee smiled.
"10% interest? Is it monthly or annual? "
His subordinate asked.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "Of course annual interest. If it's monthly interest, the Lion Kingdom will pay more and more. They will never be able to pay it back. Even if it's only 10% annual interest, the Lion Kingdom will be under a lot of pressure. Give them a way out! We can't force them into a dead end! Oh yes, let them pay one-third of the compensation first and the rest in installments. "
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. I will pass the order and let the Lion Kingdom send one-third of the compensation as soon as possible."
His subordinate said.
Ang Lee began to calculate in his heart. As long as the money was in place, the expansion project of Tanar and Gordy could be smoothly started. The various infrastructure facilities of the ports could also be started. Part of the Tang Dynasty's troops could be permanently stationed in this foreign country.
Many ships of the Tang Dynasty were damaged during the fire attack of the Lion Kingdom. Moreover, there were relatively few ship-repair yards in the subcontinent and their standards were very poor. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty fleet had to stay in this area for a long time. At the same time, Ang Lee could better arrange the construction of Tanar and other ports.
The ships of the Tang Dynasty anchored in the port of Garigal began to move south and were scattered in the two ports of Tanar and Gordy. The other ports of the Tang Dynasty also symbolically sent a small number of troops to be stationed there to declare their sovereignty.
Li Feiyu went to Gordy and presided over the construction work of Gordy according to Ang Lee's request. At the same time, he also had to take care of the other ports. Ang Lee himself was in charge of the work of Tanar and the one-tenth of the land ceded by the Lion Kingdom.
The ceding of land was not only the land, but also the population and various resources. Because many people had lived on the land of their ancestors for hundreds of years, they had long been accustomed to the surrounding environment.
If they were asked to leave their homes just because the Lion Kingdom ceded land to the Tang Dynasty, they would definitely not be willing to do so. Their houses and fields were here. If they left, they would lose the basic guarantee of their lives.
Of course, Ang Lee would not cruelly order the expulsion of these people who had lived here for generations. If he did so, conflicts would inevitably break out. At that time, many people would die.
Of course, the most important reason was that the Tang Dynasty was too far away from here, and the development of this place required enough manpower. The cost of emigrating from the Tang Dynasty was too high. It was better to use the cultural advantages of the Tang Dynasty to gradually assimilate some of the people of the Lion Kingdom and let them identify with the culture of the Tang Dynasty. Then, they would become the reliable labor force of the Tang Dynasty overseas.
Some people felt that those who were not of the same race must have a different heart. They were innately wary of foreign races because they were not confident in their strength because they were too weak. In history, the reason why all the foreign races were disloyal was because of the decline of the Hua Dynasty and the weakening of their strength.
As long as one became weak, even if there were no foreign races, the people of the same race would be disloyal. There were so many peasant uprisings, but how many of them were led by foreign races?
Therefore, as long as the Tang Dynasty always maintained its strong strength, it would not be afraid of the foreign races being disloyal. Whoever dared to be disloyal would be eliminated immediately.
It was not easy to consolidate the overseas lands that had been obtained. Military occupation could ensure that these lands would not be lost easily, but if the people in the occupied areas kept rebelling, it would be very troublesome.
For example, the Hua Dynasty in the future constantly resisted the Wokou pirates, so that the Wokou pirates could not live peacefully in the land of Hua Dynasty, which affected the pace of the world hegemony.
Although the ability of ordinary people was relatively weak, when a large number of ordinary people gathered together, the power was relatively strong. It had to be paid attention to.
The Tang Dynasty wanted to maintain a permanent existence in the subcontinent. Therefore, it was of great importance to maintain a good relationship with the local people. Ang Lee felt that it was of great significance to do so.
Of course, a strong military force to maintain the advantage was also indispensable. A strong military force and a benevolent government needed to be carried out at the same time. Otherwise, the subcontinent would be unstable.
It was not difficult to maintain a strong military force. The Tang Dynasty already had a strong arsenal, so it was really easy to maintain a strong military force.
It was also not difficult to maintain a benevolent government in the occupied areas and let the people recognize the Tang Dynasty. As long as the ordinary people were satisfied in terms of material benefits and their lives became better and better, they would be strongly supported by the people. It would be easier to maintain the tranquility of the subcontinent.
With the knowledge that Ang Lee had mastered, it was very easy to seek benefits for the ordinary people. No matter what race or region the people were from, as long as Ang Lee was willing to help them, they would be able to obtain a great improvement in their quality of life.
If he wanted to help the ordinary people improve their lives, he must first understand the local situation, terrain, climate, temperature, economic crops, and so on. Everything must be understood before he could carry out targeted work.
After a period of investigation, Li An found that most of the local people were fishermen and hunters, which accounted for a relatively high proportion of the population. This was especially true for the fishermen, whose numbers were very large. In many inconspicuous seaside areas, there would always be simple ultra-small ports, which were built by the fishermen themselves. They could only accommodate a few dozen small fishing boats, and the draft was about one or two meters. Slightly larger ships could not enter the port.
There were also many fishermen who were even more backward. They did not have fishing boats. They only had very simple fishing nets. They stood on the seaside and used the nets to catch fish. The harvest was enough to maintain their food and clothing.
The most pitiful fishermen didn't even have the most basic fishing nets. They relied on the ebb tide to scour the sea and pick up some fish left on the beach to fill their stomachs. These fishermen were generally old bachelors who lived one day at a time. Very few of them were able to get married.
In other words, the people of the Lion Kingdom were still at the backward stage of fishing and hunting. The level of civilization at this stage was still very low.
The reason for this situation was a gift from nature. As the Lion Kingdom was an island country, it was surrounded by the sea. There were too many fish resources in the sea. As long as they walked by the seaside, they would be able to obtain some food. Therefore, why would they work so hard to farm?
Because of the long years of inheritance from their ancestors, Ang Lee doubted whether the people of the Lion Kingdom were able to do slightly more advanced labor, such as farming.
Of course, the Lion Kingdom was so big that there were still many farmers. However, most of the farmers were concentrated in the south and central regions. In the land that Ang Lee took over, there were very few farmers.
The labor that farmers put in was far more than hunting and fishing. Furthermore, it took a long time to reap the fruits of their labor. The waiting time was too long. On the other hand, there was always a harvest from fishing and hunting. Furthermore, the harvests from fishing and hunting were in their hands and would never run away. The crops that they planted could be ruined at any time. When they were harvested, there was a high possibility that they would be stolen. This made many people choose to focus on fishing and hunting to feed themselves instead of putting in more effort to plant crops.
Another point was that the imperial court did not pay attention to agriculture and did not invest any funds in agriculture. As a result, there were almost no agricultural facilities.
For example, the construction of water conservancy required a lot of investment. However, the Lion Kingdom seemed to be more willing to invest in the port and the military. The port could serve the merchant ships and collect a sum of money from them. It could also provide a berth for fishing boats. The military could seize other people's ports and form a monopoly in a large area to increase the port's income.
As for the investment in agriculture, the results were very slow. Furthermore, with the current level of agriculture in the Lion Kingdom, it was difficult to bring about much practical benefits. Therefore, agriculture was naturally abandoned by the imperial court and the people were allowed to grow whatever crops they wanted.
As for the agriculture in the Lion Kingdom, there was not much investment value. On one hand, there were too many resources in the sea. The profits were good and the results were quick. Most of the manpower was concentrated in the sea. Those who were smart and intelligent were also focused on the sea. There were very few who seriously considered improving agriculture.
On the other hand, the terrain of the Lion Kingdom was not very good. There were a lot of mountains, forests, canyons, and so on. There were no large plains and the water network was not very developed. This made it very difficult to develop agriculture.
However, all of this was not a problem in Ang Lee's eyes. As long as Ang Lee was willing to intervene, the large piece of barren land in the north would quickly become a land of fish and rice. The living standards of the people would be greatly improved.
The compensation of the Lion Kingdom was very high. In the future, the income from the loan sharks would also be very high. In addition, the docking and replenishment of the merchant ships would also bring a lot of benefits to the Tang dynasty. With so much money, it was not difficult to build water conservancy in the north, improve the farming methods, and increase the yield per mu.
There were ready-made talents in the Tang dynasty. Ang Lee also brought some with him this time. Therefore, the task of surveying the terrain was handed over to his subordinates. As long as the terrain and resources were clear, they could start to work hard.
However, if the local people wanted to recognize the great value of agriculture, they had to see the results of agriculture. Otherwise, no matter how good your idea was, others might not be willing to support it. That would be troublesome.
Behind the Tanar military port, there was a large open space. Ang Lee decided to start building a test field there. He wanted to show the local people the advantages of agriculture and how much the advanced agricultural machinery could benefit the increase of agricultural output.
After Ang Lee gave the order, the construction of the test field began quickly.
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