Ang Lee was thinking about a good name for the new port, a more suitable name. In addition, he also had to think about how to intimidate the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court and make them obedient.
Although the strength of the Tang dynasty was very strong and the main fleet was enough to deter the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court, it was far from enough to rely on force alone. They must be convinced by reason to solve the problem fundamentally. Force could only be used as a support.
Of course, Ang Lee had enough reason to reprimand the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court for indulging the pirates. In addition, he would find some businessmen to accompany him to find trouble, and they would certainly be able to suppress the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court. Moreover, the Tang dynasty's point of view of protecting the interests of the businessmen and the people was enough to make them speechless. The artillery behind them was the guarantee of strength, and it was enough to make them sign an alliance.
General Zhao led 2,000 vanguard troops and soon set off. They took the fastest ships to ensure that they could reach the port in the shortest time and support the advance team to achieve full control of the port. They would also launch appropriate attacks to eliminate all the remaining pirate forces.
As for Ang Lee's main fleet, because there were too many ships, their speed would be greatly affected. They certainly could not move forward quickly, and there was no need to move too fast.
The vanguard fleet was enough to reinforce the advance team. Ang Lee did not need to worry. He needed to go to Western Tianzhu first to maximize the benefits of the Tang dynasty.
There were too many unknown things in the new journey. Ang Lee lay on the bed at night, but he could not fall asleep. Every time he went to a strange place, Ang Lee would have a temporary insomnia. It might be because of excitement, nervousness, or a touch of anxiety.
"Alang, you still can't sleep?"
A smooth body was attached to Ang Lee's body, and a small pink hand gently stroked Ang Lee's strong chest.
When going out, it was inevitable to encounter a lot of unhappy things. During the day, he didn't feel anything, but once night fell, he would feel even more lonely. At this time, if he didn't hug a delicate beauty, then the days would be too difficult to pass.
Regardless of whether he was doing business or not, Ang Lee would let the maid accompany him to rest. When he was unhappy, he would caress her a few times and his heart would immediately feel much better. A woman's soft body could always soothe Ang Lee's wandering heart.
"I'm a little reluctant to leave so suddenly. You're also suffering from insomnia."
Ang Lee took a deep breath and gently stroked Yun'er's smooth belly. Every cell in his body felt so comfortable.
"Alang is not sleeping, how can Yun 'er dare to sleep? The night is long, why don't we …"
Yun'er blew into Ang Lee's ear, causing Ang Lee's entire body to go numb.
"It's still Yun 'er who understands me."
Ang Lee didn't say much. He directly bit Yun'er's lips and gently turned over to press her down.
Early the next morning, Li An bid farewell to Governor Chen and the others who had come to send him off. He led the huge fleet and headed northwest. For the sake of safety, the fleet followed the coastline. However, they also maintained a certain distance to avoid the danger of running into reefs.
Along the way, Ang Lee had seen a lot of the fleet cutting through the waves, but he never got tired of it. The turbulent waves of the sea made people admire it and also made people sigh at their own insignificance.
In front of the vast sea, a human's body was really too small. Even a huge steam ship was pitifully small compared to the sea.
Standing near the sea would make people's hearts become extremely broad. When one was in a bad mood, going to the seaside to look at the sea would make one's mood gradually improve.
On the way, Ang Lee gave the port a very domineering name, Zhenxi Port. A large area of land near Zhenxi Port would be assigned to the Tang dynasty. Naturally, it should be called Zhenxi Province.
This name was given by Ang Lee, but it didn't count. It had to be recognized by the imperial court before it could be officially called this name.
200 miles southeast of Zhenxi Port was an important port of West Tianzhu. This port was not very far from the capital of West Tianzhu, only 100 miles away. Therefore, it was also an important port that was heavily guarded. The size of the garrison in the entire port city was more than 2,000, which was a very high number in a small country like West Tianzhu.
Ang Lee's next goal was to go to this port and negotiate with West Tianzhu to obtain a large amount of land resources for the Tang dynasty.
In order to protect the interests of the merchants, Ang Lee could make a territorial claim to West Tianzhu. If West Tianzhu opposed it, he would not be polite and directly support the opposition to come to power.
In the cabin, Ang Lee thought of a lot of strategies. At the same time, according to the actual situation, he would use the merchants who had been robbed by the pirates to support him. If necessary, he could also hire some soldiers with good acting skills to pretend to be the robbed merchants. In this way, he could viciously slander the pirates. At the same time, more people would hate the inaction of West Tianzhu's imperial court.
The Tang dynasty had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and there were all kinds of talents. Among them, there was no lack of people with first-class acting skills. Since Ang Lee had thought of a strategy, he naturally needed to select talents to perform.
Soon, the quick-witted actors were selected and sent to Ang Lee's ship.
Ang Lee asked his subordinates to prepare the clothes of the merchants for them and let them start to perform.
"You are now merchants who were robbed by the pirates and narrowly escaped death. How should you accuse the pirates? Perform!"
Ang Lee personally ordered. He wanted to see how well they would perform.
"Wah, wah, wah, these pirates are inhumane! They robbed my ship's goods and thought it was not enough. They also killed my relatives. Even my five-year-old daughter was not spared. They are so hateful. Wah, wah, wah! "
A soldier cried at the top of his lungs while wiping his tears. Those tears were real and had just flowed out. This was enough to show that this soldier was really good at acting. Even Ang Lee felt that it was real. It was as if this person had really been robbed by the pirates.
"Wah, my brother, you died so miserably! You haven't married a wife yet? Those damn pirates killed my brother. Wah, wah, wah … "
This was the acting of two people. One was pretending to be dead, and the other was responsible for crying. They acted quite well, and the tears were all real. The dead man lying on the ground was like a real person, motionless.
Soon, more than a dozen people with better acting skills all performed once. The effect was very good.
Li An nodded with satisfaction and praised, "Your acting skills are really good. This official is very happy. I believe that you will be able to do the task that this official has assigned to you. As for the specific task, this official will personally arrange it later. You may leave now!"
"Assistant Minister Li, do we need to spend so much effort to deal with the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court?"
One of his subordinates disdainfully said.
Ang Lee replied seriously, "Although the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court is much weaker than our Tang Dynasty, we have to convince people with reason. We have to let the people of Western Tianzhu know how incompetent and hateful their imperial court is. We can't force them to cede land by force. This will make people think that our Tang Dynasty is seizing land by force. Our Tang Dynasty is the most civilized country. How can we bully the weak?"
After he finished speaking, his face was full of righteousness.
His subordinates looked at Ang Lee and held back their laughter. They felt that Ang Lee was too funny. He was asking for land from a sovereign country, and he dared to say that he didn't bully the weak.
Ang Lee's premeditated action was to bully the weak. It was just that he did it in a more tactful way, and it had a certain degree of confusion. For example, the Wokou pirates in the future had been blatantly bullying the weak Hua Xia, but they still did it on the surface. For example, goodwill! Mutual prosperity! In short, it was to give people an illusion that the Wokou pirates were civilized and were doing it to help Hua Xia.
Of course, Ang Lee would do better. Moreover, he would strictly enforce military discipline. He would never let the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty harm the people of Western Tianzhu. Moreover, he would do some good deeds that would make the people of Western Tianzhu feel grateful.
In this way, the people of Western Tianzhu would have no reason to be hostile to the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, through a large number of actors' performances, it would be deeply ingrained in their minds that the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court was a bastard. They actually didn't clean up the pirates and watched the people and businessmen being bullied. On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty not only helped them to clean up the pirates, but also helped them in many ways.
The people also cared about their own interests. Since the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court was so unreliable, why should they be loyal to Western Tianzhu? The Tang Dynasty treated them better. What was wrong with them supporting the Tang Dynasty?
As for patriotism and national consciousness, it didn't exist in this era. Everyone was working hard for their own interests. It didn't matter who ruled them.
A scholar in the future once said that the favorite thing of the people of Hua Xia was to be a qualified slave. As long as the ruler gave them a chance to be obedient slaves, they would be grateful and obediently be slaves. Only when they couldn't be slaves would they rebel and look for a new slave master to lead them.
The people of Hua Xia were such a servile people. The situation of other ethnic groups was similar. They were all human beings. How big of a difference could there be? Therefore, as long as the Tang Dynasty treated the people of Western Tianzhu Imperial Court better, it could completely rule the people here. It would be no problem to build a Zhenxi Province.
After drifting on the sea for many days, Ang Lee's main fleet arrived at the port of Western Tianzhu. He sent a subordinate to negotiate and request to dock at this port.
"Assistant Minister Li, good news came from the Zhenxi Port. Our vanguard of 2,000 soldiers and horses has successfully reinforced the port. Now we have full control of this port. The wealth hoarded by the pirates is all ours."
One of his subordinates brought good news.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "What's wrong? The pirates have stopped resisting. They have given up."
"What else is there to say? Our army has 2,000 soldiers and horses, three artillery teams, and 30 cannons. These pirates are no match for us. After being defeated several times, they no longer dare to be presumptuous and hide in the mountains. Our army doesn't have many soldiers, so we didn't chase after them. We just waited for Assistant Minister Li to take over. "
The subordinate answered excitedly.
Ang Lee looked very happy. After a pause, he said, "Very good. The vanguard has done a good job. Don't chase after a desperate enemy. When our main force arrives, we can continue to expand our victory and wipe out all the pirates hiding in the mountains."
Of course, Ang Lee was not worried about those pirates hiding in the mountains. They were all pirates who did bad things. They did not have any support from the masses, nor did they have any powerful forces who dared to support them to fight against the Tang Dynasty. In addition, there was a shortage of materials in the mountains. These pirates must live a very stable life hiding in the mountains. For pirates who robbed merchants and lived a comfortable life, the feeling of staying in the mountains must be very uncomfortable. As long as the way down the mountains was blocked, these pirates would be forced to die. Even if they did not die, they would shed a layer of skin.
"Assistant Minister Li, the port officials of Western Tianzhu said that we have too many ships and their port is too small to meet the requirements of all the ships docking."
An official in charge of negotiations returned to report.
Ang Lee frowned, looked at the port not far away, and said sternly, "The port is so big. How can it not accommodate all the ships? It's just an excuse."
"Assistant Minister Li, this Western Tianzhu official is too insensible. Do you want to teach him a lesson?"
The subordinate asked angrily.
Li An looked at the surroundings of the port and pointed at the few fortifications. He said, "These arrow towers are too shabby. They need to be rebuilt. Pass down this official's order. Have the steam cannons fire immediately and destroy these arrow towers.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinate was waiting for this sentence and immediately passed the order.
Boom, boom, boom …
With a fierce bombardment, several important arrow towers used by Western Tianzhu to defend the port were completely destroyed by the Tang Dynasty fleet. The soldiers in the arrow towers were either dead or injured. However, there were not many people on duty in the arrow towers, so the casualties were not very high. The total number of people killed was only a few, and more than a dozen were injured.
Several arrow towers in important positions were destroyed by the Tang Dynasty fleet in an instant, which scared the Western Tianzhu official in charge of the port's security.
The destruction of these arrow towers was enough to show the strength of the Tang Dynasty. If they continued to refuse the Tang Dynasty fleet to dock, the whole port might be easily occupied by the Tang Dynasty fleet. Once such a thing happened, this official would not be able to explain it to their king.
But why did he refuse to let the Tang Dynasty fleet enter the port? Naturally, it was because the Tang Dynasty fleet was too large. If all of them entered the port, it would indeed increase the supply pressure of the port. In addition, the Tang Dynasty fleet was a military fleet. There were so many soldiers on board. Once they landed on the shore, what if they could not be driven away? He could not afford to take this risk.
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