The reason why the imperial court fully supported Ang Lee and sent many officials to An Shi County to rule was that An Shi County was very important. Occupying it would bring endless wealth to the Tang Empire for many years to come. It would also be more beneficial for the Tang Empire to dominate overseas.
The most important point was that by sending officials here, not only would the Tang Empire achieve overseas rule, but the imperial court would also not need to pay money. The local financial income would exceed the expenses of the officials and soldiers. If there was some surplus, it could be used for large-scale construction or sent back to the imperial court to support the local construction of the Tang Empire.
In any case, sending officials to An Shi County to govern would bring many benefits. No minister could raise any objections. As for the worries of having too many subordinates, they only needed to use some small tricks to change the financial situation. They would not let the local officials and military officers receive money directly. Multiple departments would check and balance each other, and the imperial court would change officials regularly. This would be enough to avoid such situations.
In addition, ever since Ang Lee drew the world map, the imperial court of the Tang Empire, from the emperor to the ministers, was very obsessed with this map. The emperor personally ordered the relevant personnel to make copies of the map, so that all the officials above Grade Five in the capital and all the other places could have a world map. In addition, the world map was to be hung in the office area of all the important departments of the imperial court so that the officials could see such a map all the time when they were at work. This would increase the officials' knowledge of the world.
In terms of the color distinction of each country, the Tang Empire was golden. Moreover, only the Tang Empire could use this color. The colors of the other countries were randomly matched according to the situation, as long as it could highlight these countries.
However, as Ang Lee's fleet gained some territory overseas, this map obviously needed to be modified. The conditions for large-scale modification were naturally not met, but the important maps of the imperial palace and the capital could be modified at any time. For example, after the territory of the Malacca Sea was obtained, there was an additional golden color on the imperial palace map. After learning that Ang Lee had gained a large territory of the Lion Kingdom, An Shi County also became golden.
In the future, there would be more and more golden areas on the map, which made everyone very excited.
Because there was almost no decent political power in America and Australia, the imperial court of the Tang dynasty unceremoniously painted the whole of America and Australia in gold, including many islands in the Pacific Ocean. Even Antarctica, which no one could go to, was painted gold. In short, more than half of the entire map was golden.
The Tang Empire was not called the Tang Empire for nothing. Only when the area was large enough could it be called a big country. If America, Oceania, and Antarctica were not included, the territory of the Tang Dynasty would not be so large on the world map. It even seemed a little small. How could the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty tolerate this? Moreover, no one would fight for these ownerless lands. With the advantage of technology, the Tang Dynasty would probably regret it in the future if they did not occupy them now.
Of course, all of this was thanks to Ang Lee, a capable person. If it were not for Ang Lee's advanced equipment, the existence of America and Australia would have been a problem without the steam ships, let alone turning these places into territories.
The Tang Dynasty only had a few cities in America and Australia, and the size of their population was not very large. The areas that they could really control were very small. In fact, they had not even been to most of the areas, so they were far from being fully controlled. Because there were almost no rivals, the remaining ownerless lands could be regarded as the land of the Tang Dynasty. No one dared to be unconvinced.
In order to show the strength of the Tang Empire, the imperial court not only put the copied map in the imperial palace and the offices of the major government offices, but also often gave it as a gift to the envoys of the affiliated countries. They asked them to take this gift back and let their kings have a good look at it to understand the gap between them and the Tang Empire.
Giving this gift to the small countries would make the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty very proud. After the small countries received this gift, they would be more afraid of the Tang Empire, so they would not dare to provoke this huge empire.
Studying the world map and coming up with various ideas for a long time became a very obsession of the emperor and the ministers, especially those members of the royal family who were paid nothing. They were very enthusiastic about this kind of thing. When they were idle and bored, they would sit together and talk about the world map while drinking tea.
Among them, the Maritime Silk Road proposed by Ang Lee was the focus of their discussion. They would analyze it through the map and point out some important places that must be occupied, and some that were not important and could be abandoned. They would put forward various ideas and even quarrel because of different ideas.
The ones who benefited the most from the Great Tang's expansion of overseas territories were those people who had failed to achieve their goals but still harbored lofty ambitions. Some of them were failures in business, while others were back-up officials. They desperately lacked the opportunity to carry out their ambitions. Going to a barren land like overseas was certain to bring them great prospects, and they might even be able to accomplish great things.
Of course, there was a certain risk, but for people with ideals and ambitions, even if there was a big risk, they would work hard. Ambition motivated them to work hard.
Li An had long discovered that most of the officials who came over were not very old. He did not see any particularly old officials. Perhaps it was because they missed home when they were old. Old people tended to miss their hometowns more and were unwilling to leave their hometowns and go to a faraway place to work hard.
After these officials adapted for a while, they could take over here. Ang Lee would soon leave Anshi County and go along the coastline of India to the next important place.
Before leaving, Ang Lee had to know how the repair of the fleet was going, which troops would be left to guard Anshi County, and other trivial matters.
Since Tanal City was changed to Anshi City, the name of Tanal Harbor naturally had to be changed. From the moment the imperial edict was passed down, Tanal Harbor no longer existed. It was replaced by Anshi Harbor, and the big characters on the harbor's landmark building were replaced immediately.
Of course, because the change was too sudden, many locals and businessmen still liked to use the name Tanal. It would probably take a long time for them to change the name.
With the help of the Tang dynasty, Anshi Harbor was developing very well. Its throughput was much higher than before. In addition, a larger and more magnificent Anshi Harbor was also under construction. Some of the facilities could already be put into use. It was estimated that in a few years, Anshi Harbor would replace Anshi Harbor and become the largest harbor in Anshi City.
The Tang dynasty could only keep three steam gunboats at most. Ang Lee had calculated that each of the five fleets that were to be built overseas could only have three steam gunboats in the initial stage. They would be supported by a dozen ordinary sail warships captured locally. In addition, there would be a large number of small patrol ships to form a complete defense system.
Each fleet had three steam cannons, so five fleets would require fifteen steam cannons. Li An had only brought a total of thirty steam cannons with him to the south this time, which meant that he would need to use half of his forces to maintain local control, which was quite a lot.
As for the problem of insufficient numbers, they could use a mix of various old warships captured locally to form a combination of high and low to suppress the opponent in terms of quality and quantity.
For example, if there was a pirate attack somewhere and the pirates were weak, a single steam gunboat would be enough to solve the problem.
If someone discovered a pirate den with a large number of pirate ships, they would need to use even more steam gunboats and sail warships to support them from behind to block all escape routes and solve the problem in one fell swoop.
Of course, the local technology of the Tang dynasty was developing very quickly. Even more advanced steam gunboats were being built. In the future, there would be even more advanced steam gunboats in service. At that time, the number of steam gunboats in each fleet would definitely increase. In addition, in order to make up for the lack of strength, the main local fleet under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court would also patrol along the Silk Road from time to time to provide necessary reinforcements to areas with great threats. This would alleviate the situation of a fleet lacking in strength.
"Not bad, there are quite a few sail warships! Have they all been repaired? "
Ang Lee asked happily as he looked at the dozen sail warships anchored in the shipyard.
This shipyard could only build warships below medium size. It couldn't build anything slightly larger. However, it could still repair slightly larger ships. For a long time, the shipyard's mission was to help the Tang dynasty soldiers repair the warships they needed.
These warships didn't belong to the Tang dynasty, but were outdated warships captured from the Lion Kingdom. Although they were very outdated, they could still be used as long as they were repaired. Usually, they were enough to patrol and deter pirates.
When patrolling the straits, only one steam gunship and a few sail warships were needed to provide good protection to all the ships passing by. Within a radius of a hundred miles, these sail warships could be used to their full potential.
"Assistant Minister Li, most of the warships that can be used have been repaired. There are still five that are in the final stage. It is estimated that they will be completely repaired in three days."
The subordinate said seriously.
"Oh, how many warships are there in total?"
Ang Lee asked with concern.
The subordinate thought for a moment and replied, "Assistant Minister Li, there are a total of 25 large and medium-sized warships and 60 small warships. The large and medium-sized warships need at least 50 people and can accommodate 300 to 500 people at most. The small warships can be operated by a dozen people and cannot be operated by more than 50 people at most. In addition, there are more than 100 transport ships of various models."
Ang Lee nodded with satisfaction and said, "Good, very good. There are so many of them. I heard that many merchants want to buy the transport ships in the military port. Is that true?"
"Yes, it is true. The merchants think that the military transport ships are more sturdy. Moreover, these are all captured ships from the Lion Kingdom. They think that the price will be lower, so they came to ask about the price."
The subordinate replied.
"What did you say?"
Ang Lee asked.
The subordinate replied seriously, "I have already told the merchants that even if it is a transport ship, it is a military transport ship. We will not sell it to them. I made the decision on my own. Please punish me, Assistant Minister Li."
"Oh, then do you think that these transport ships should be sold?"
Ang Lee asked.
"I think that these transport ships can be used to transport soldiers and make up for the lack of warships. If we sell them to the merchants, it will be difficult to mobilize the soldiers in Anshi County."
The subordinate replied seriously.
Anshi County not only included a region in the north of the Lion Kingdom, it also included part of the ports in the south of South Tianzhu. The two regions were separated by the straits. If there was a need to help each other, the transport ships could play a huge role.
When the garrisons in the ports on the peninsula needed supplies, they could also use these transport ships. If they were sold, they could only use warships. In this way, it would take up the resources of the warships and affect the availability of the warships.
Ang Lee praised, "You did very well. Of course, these transport ships cannot be sold. If the number of warships is not enough, these transport ships can be used as warships after some modification. By the way, these ships must be completed as soon as possible. The officials sent by the imperial court have already arrived. These ships must be handed over to them in good condition."
"Don't worry, Assistant Minister Li. This subordinate will definitely handle this matter properly."
The subordinate replied confidently.
The handover work was very tedious. Although most of the work was done by the subordinates, Ang Lee still had to deal with the key issues himself. Therefore, it was really busy. Ang Lee was so busy that he did not have time to go to Anshi University in the Tang dynasty for several days.
However, the competitions and selections of Tang Anshi University had never stopped. Each student could only choose two competitions, and there were only four competitions in total. They were a shooting competition, a badminton competition, a shuttlecock competition, and a rope skipping competition.
The participating schools would compete fiercely. In the end, the top ten of each competition would be selected and then the final would be held.
Of the three hundred students, forty would enter the finals. Of course, it was also possible that there would be less than forty people. After all, some of the students were more powerful. If they entered the top ten in both events, then the number of people in the final competition would be reduced by one. In the worst case scenario, there would still be twenty people left.
Usually, Ang Lee was too busy to participate in the selection competition. However, in the final competition, Ang Lee must make time to participate. Otherwise, how could he live up to his promise?
It was naturally inappropriate to watch an exciting competition empty-handed. It was not in line with Li An's status, and it was also not in line with the expectations of the children. At the very least, it would be more interesting if he brought more prizes.
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