Since ancient times, as long as Hua Xia was strong, the four seas would submit to it. When Hua Xia was strong, the foreign races would always obediently submit. They even served as the dogs of the Hua Xia regime, helping Hua Xia pacify the barbarians in further places and becoming the loyal assistants of Hua Xia.
Once Hua Xia declined or fell into internal turmoil, the surrounding foreign races would take the opportunity to rebel and even replace Hua Xia. Of course, there were also some who did it for survival, for selfish reasons, or because they were threatened by the ambitious people of Hua Xia, and had no choice but to participate in the chaos of Hua Xia.
In short, when Hua Xia was strong and united, the foreign races would not have any chance to rebel, nor would they have any reason to rebel. When Hua Xia fell into decline and turmoil, the foreign races would have no choice but to rebel against Hua Xia for their own interests, thus forming a historical fact that foreign races wreaked havoc in Hua Xia.
All of this was just driven by interests. When Hua Xia was strong, the surrounding foreign races could only obtain the greatest benefits by submitting to Hua Xia, which was the best for them. Once Hua Xia declined and fell into internal turmoil, they would no longer have the conditions to obtain benefits. Even the ambitious people of Hua Xia who rebelled against Hua Xia would extort and control the surrounding foreign races to make themselves stronger and richer. As a result, these foreign races would naturally resent and rebel to fight for greater benefits for themselves.
This was the reason why the foreign races rebelled. It was for their own interests, or rather, for survival. In addition to the foreign races rebelling, if the people of their own race were forced to have no food to eat, they would also rebel. At the end of every dynasty, there would be large-scale rebellions among the people.
As long as there was food and a good life, the people would not take the risk of rebelling. The situation of the foreign races was the same. As long as they obtained the benefits they wanted and were not overly oppressed by Hua Xia, they would not rebel when they understood how much loss they would suffer if they rebelled.
The current Tang Dynasty was undoubtedly very powerful. Moreover, in the process of dealing with foreign countries, the interests of the surrounding countries were fully considered, so that these small countries could be convinced. Therefore, for many years, the surrounding countries did not dare to rebel much, and some tactless guys were ruthlessly dealt with by the Tang Dynasty.
Ang Lee was confident that he could maintain the strength of the Tang Dynasty forever. Therefore, he was not afraid that the local people of Anshi County would rebel. As long as the local military was strong enough to deter some lawbreakers and take full care of the legitimate rights and interests of the local people, the possibility of a large-scale rebellion would be very small. The local officials and generals were fully capable of handling it.
In addition, the court of the Lion Kingdom, which had submitted to the Tang Dynasty, would also help the officials of Anshi County of the Tang Dynasty to manage the local people for the stability of their rule, so as to prevent the people of the two places from colluding and doing illegal things.
There were nearly 100 kinds of crops, some of which these officials knew, and some of which were relatively rare. Even these officials did not know what they were. Under Ang Lee's patient explanation, they finally understood a little. They repeatedly said that they would work hard to help the local people according to the results of the experimental fields, and strive to turn the barren Anshi County into a land of fish and rice in a few years.
What was a land of fish and rice? Having fish and rice was the real land of fish and rice. Anshi County was surrounded by rich seas, so fish was indispensable. However, if there was no rice, eating fish every day would be boring, and the nutrition would be unbalanced. Therefore, it was necessary to develop the farming industry.
After returning to his residence, Ang Lee began to let his subordinates pack up. Early in the morning the day after tomorrow, they would take a ship to their next destination. The more prepared they were, the less flustered they would be when they left.
Yun 'er and the other women were preparing clothes and daily necessities. The people in the kitchen were preparing all kinds of ingredients and loading them into the ship. The soldiers were also organizing all kinds of weapons and equipment. Everyone was working hard.
Naturally, Ang Lee did not need to personally prepare anything. He only needed to make arrangements. Therefore, while everyone was busy, Ang Lee had already rested. After a busy day, he was really tired, very tired.
Early the next morning, everyone was still making the final preparations. A large number of people and horses needed to prepare a lot of materials for a large-scale trip. It was not something that could be completed in a short time.
Ang Lee did not go to the university, nor did he go to the experimental field. Instead, he went to the harbor. A large number of people and horses needed to rely on ships for a large-scale trip. Therefore, the preparation of the ships in the harbor was the most important. Only with sufficient preparation would there be no big problems on the road.
Large steam ships and gunboats were all neatly arranged in the harbor, which looked pleasing to the eye. In the whole world, only the Tang Empire could build such large and advanced ships. Moreover, because it was not enough for its own use, it had not been exported so far. In other words, only the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty had steam ships. No one else had one, including the very rich merchants of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, merchants, especially rich merchants, wanted to get a steam ship. In this way, the transportation of goods on the water would be much faster, allowing merchants to get enough benefits faster and better. Moreover, when encountering the threat of pirates, the steam ship could quickly get rid of the pirates, thus protecting their goods from being plundered by pirates.
The most important point was that the steam ship was a new thing. If they could get one, it would also make them very proud. Therefore, many rich merchants tried everything to get a steam ship. However, under Ang Lee's request, the imperial court's attitude was very firm. It was absolutely not given. No merchant could get a steam ship, at least not for the time being. They must first meet the needs of the imperial court.
Moreover, if the merchants' ships were too fast, it would not be a good thing for the imperial court to enforce the law on the water, because the law enforcement ships would not be able to catch up with them, so these guys could escape easily.
With the advancement of technology, the Tang Dynasty would build more, better, and faster steam ships in batches. At that time, the inferior steam ships could be sold to merchants. Moreover, merchant ships always paid attention to tonnage and load, so their speed would be limited to a certain extent. Merchant ships could only be faster than sailing ships, but slower than the steam ships of the Yamen of the Tang Dynasty.
"This humble official pays his respects to Assistant Minister Li."
The official, who was directing the preparations, saw Ang Lee coming and quickly stepped forward to salute.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "How are the preparations? What else do you need?"
"Assistant Minister Li, everything is almost ready. The fleet can set off at any time."
The subordinate official replied.
"Then what are you busy with now?"
Ang Lee saw that they were still busy and did not seem to be ready.
"This humble official asked them to prepare more fresh water. Also, all kinds of things on the ship are too messy. They are an eyesore, so I asked them to tidy it up."
The subordinate official said.
Ang Lee personally boarded the ship and checked it. He asked some key questions, such as whether the ship was damaged, whether the reliability of the steam power plant was up to standard, how was the power supply system, how much fresh water and food were stored, how long it could meet the needs of all the ships, and so on.
After confirming that all kinds of preparations were up to standard, Ang Lee got off the ship with ease and wandered around the port, admiring the changes in An Lion Port.
It had not been long since he arrived at An Lion Port, but the changes in An Lion Port were relatively big. Many old facilities had been demolished, and new facilities had been rebuilt. The entire port was much bigger than before, and this was only the beginning. There would be more changes in the future. An Lion Port would eventually become an important node of the Maritime Silk Road, which was one of the most important ports.
When he first came, he didn't feel much about it. However, when he was about to leave, he suddenly realized that he couldn't bear to part with it. In just one or two months, Li An had developed feelings for An Shi County. He even wanted to retire there.
Of course, this was only a momentary thought, which meant that he did have some feelings for An Lion County. However, Ang Lee had never forgotten his mission of opening up the Maritime Silk Road. He would not delay his journey because of his reluctance to leave An Lion County.
"Assistant Minister Li, the advance party sent a message."
A soldier handed a letter to Ang Lee.
"What's this? It's so heavy."
Ang Lee opened the letter and found many folded drawings inside. In addition, there was a written letter from the advance party.
One of the drawings was a miniature version of a world map. The location of the advance party was marked on the map, while the other larger drawings were topographic maps of the natural harbors discovered by the advance party. The drawings were very detailed, and even the height was marked.
"Good, very good. Such a good harbor must belong to the Tang dynasty. Hahaha!"
After seeing the drawings, Ang Lee was sure that this place was an overseas territory of the Tang dynasty.
After reading the maps, Ang Lee read the letter written by his subordinate.
"Not bad! Such a good natural harbor is actually a pirate's lair. God is really helping me. Men, invite all the generals and officials above the fifth rank here. I want to discuss something. "
After reading the letter, Ang Lee was very excited. This was a heaven-sent opportunity. It would be a pity if he missed it.
Soon, the main generals and officials all came. They looked at Ang Lee, who had a serious expression, and guessed that Ang Lee had something good to discuss with them.
"General, do you have something important to discuss with us?"
Nan Xia asked.
Ang Lee showed them the map and asked, "What do you think of the harbor on the map?"
Everyone looked at the map and agreed that it was a good natural harbor. It was very important and worth having. However, they did not understand why Ang Lee asked this.
"Assistant Minister Li, this looks like a very good port, but I don't think we've been to this port before."
"Assistant Minister Li showed us the map of this harbor. Is he going to tell us that our next stop is this harbor?"
"No, the good or bad of other harbors has nothing to do with us. Assistant Minister Li is going to tell us that this harbor is about to become the harbor of the Tang dynasty. That should be what he means."
The officials began to talk about it.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Do you know which country this harbor belongs to and who controls it now?"
"Assistant Minister Li, we don't even know the location and name of this harbor. How can we know which country it belongs to and who controls it now? It's impossible to guess."
"Assistant Minister Li once said that our next stop is this area. Then, this harbor is very likely to belong to one of the nearby countries, but it may be controlled by the neighboring countries. Just like many harbors in South Tianzhu, before we arrived, they were controlled by the Lion Kingdom."
"If that's the case, it's great. We can repeat the same trick and easily take over this harbor. It's not impossible to build another Anshi County!"
Several subordinate officials said happily.
Li An nodded and said happily, "Your guess isn't completely correct, but it's close. That's right, I've taken a fancy to this port. In the future, this will be the port of Tang Empire, hahaha!"
"The harbor of the Tang dynasty, hahaha! Great, as long as the Tang dynasty likes it, it will be ours. No one can oppose it. "
"Of course, such an excellent harbor should belong to the Tang dynasty. How can a barbarian country have such a good harbor?"
"Assistant Minister Li, then, what's the difference between here and the Lion Kingdom? Tell us quickly! We can make preparations. "
Everyone said.
Ang Lee thought for a moment, pointed to a location on the map, and said, "This is West Tianzhu, and this is Dashi. The area in the middle is their buffer zone. There shouldn't be too many resources, so they haven't paid much attention to it. The two countries don't have many troops in this area, so their control over this area is very weak. According to the agreement between Dashi and South Tianzhu, the location of this harbor belongs to West Tianzhu. However, in order not to provoke Dashi, West Tianzhu only sent a few troops to guard this harbor. In the end, this harbor was robbed by a group of pirates. After West Tianzhu heard about this, they ignored it and let the pirates occupy this harbor. Don't you think it's very interesting?"
Hearing this, everyone felt a burst of laughter.
"How can West Tianzhu allow such an excellent harbor to be occupied by pirates? Is it because they can't beat the pirates? "
"A big country can't beat a group of pirates. How powerful can these pirates be? It seems that we have something to do."
"If they are like those pirates in Malacca, ordinary small countries can't deal with them. However, in front of the troops of the Tang dynasty, these pirates are not worth mentioning."
"In my opinion, it's not necessarily because Western Tianzhu is afraid of these pirates, but because they want the pirates to stand between them and Dashi. This way, they can avoid friction with Dashi to the greatest extent. Western Tianzhu is not Dashi's opponent, so it's normal for them to back off."
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