Ang Lee personally ground a lot of soy milk. In addition to tasting it for himself, he originally planned to send some to the Western Tianzhu officials so that they could also taste the soy milk. However, he did not expect that the local merchants of the Tang dynasty had already started the soy milk business. This showed that the merchants of the Tang dynasty had a very keen sense of smell and knew that they could make money by grinding soy milk and selling it.
Since these Western Tianzhu officials praised his soy milk, which was much better than the soy milk made by the local merchants of the Tang dynasty, Ang Lee naturally had to send some to them. Anyway, he had ground so much that he could not finish it.
The subordinate looked at Ang Lee's eyes and hurriedly prepared the soy milk that had been ground so that it could be sent to the Western Tianzhu officials.
"Since it's Assistant Minister Li's kindness, we'll accept it."
The chief officer of the port didn't stand on ceremony and directly accepted it. In any case, the soy milk wasn't expensive. After a pause, he asked, "Assistant Minister Li really is in the mood for leisure. He actually spent the entire morning grinding soy milk on the beach. How envious!"
Ang Lee smiled and replied, "I have nothing to do recently. It's really boring. So, I'm grinding soy milk here to pass the time."
"Oh, this …"
The Western Tianzhu officials were all stunned. They did not expect Ang Lee to be so direct. This answer was far beyond their expectations.
"What's wrong? Are you all busy?"
Ang Lee asked with a frown.
"No, we're not busy. We're also very free. So, we came to see Assistant Minister Li grind soy milk."
The port official said.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Haha! It's good that you're not busy, it's good that you're not busy. Come, try it and experience the feeling of grinding soy milk. "
"This … well, we'll give it a try."
The port official agreed and sat down to grind soy milk himself.
"Oh, this is not difficult! Just turn the millstone gently. It's very simple! "
"I'll give it a try too."
"Get out of the way. It's my turn!"
Several Western Indian officials began to scramble to grind the soy milk as if they were suddenly addicted.
Ang Lee sat at the side and looked at the Western Indian officials who were grinding soy milk. Recently, he had been smiling. These guys learned quite quickly and were very suitable for the dry grinding of soy milk.
"I heard that there's a pirate lair a few hundred miles northwest of here. Is that true?"
Ang Lee asked the Western Indian officials.
"Pirate's lair? It seems that there is indeed such a thing."
A Western Indian official responded.
Ang Lee then asked, "How long have these pirates been around?"
"Uh, it's been more than a year!"
Another official replied.
"I heard that the pirates' lair is in the territory of Western Tianzhu. Aren't you going to take care of it?"
Ang Lee continued to ask.
"This … To tell you the truth, Assistant Minister Li, these pirates are very powerful and difficult to deal with. Besides, there are bandits in every country who don't obey orders. It's not strange for pirates to occupy a port and establish themselves."
The chief officer of the port said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "What you said seems to make sense. Pirates are desperadoes. I'm afraid you won't be able to beat them!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Pirates are indeed very difficult to deal with. We're really powerless! Moreover, the place a few hundred miles away is not our defensive area. We're only responsible for the defense around the port. We won't care about other places. "
A Western Indian official complained bitterly.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "I understand. The port a few hundred miles northwest of here is not under your jurisdiction, but it's still your territory. Won't your king care about it?"
"This … We're not too sure about the imperial court's affairs."
The chief officer of the port said and pushed the matter away.
Ang Lee agreed and said, "You're right. You only need to take care of your own land. You don't have to worry about the imperial court's affairs. You should have reported to the imperial court when I led this fleet into the port, right?"
The chief officer of the port quickly said, "Yes, it's our honor to have the Tang Dynasty fleet come to visit. We reported it to the imperial court as soon as possible. I believe that our great king already knows about it by now."
"How do you think your king will treat us?"
Ang Lee continued to ask.
"Of course we'll give you a warm welcome. If the king sends his confidants over, they'll probably arrive tomorrow morning."
The chief officer of the port replied.
Ang Lee said with regret, "It's a pity that I can't stay here for long. Otherwise, I'd really like to go to your capital and have tea with your king or something."
"As long as Assistant Minister Li is willing, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Haha!"
The Western Indian official laughed.
After chatting casually for a while, the Western Indian officials left, taking the soy milk made by Ang Lee along the way.
Through this chat and the performance of the Tang Dynasty army after entering the port, the Western Indian officials finally relaxed a lot.
They originally thought that the Tang Dynasty army had bad intentions toward the port, but the Tang Dynasty army stayed on the beach obediently and did not do anything overboard, which made them feel a lot more relieved.
In the busiest restaurant in the port, which was opened by the merchants of the Tang Dynasty, a large group of people gathered together and complained with righteous indignation. Some of these people were soldiers under Ang Lee's command, and some were merchants from all over the world. The topics they talked about always revolved around pirates and the imperial court of Western India. In the end, they even dragged the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty into it.
The ones who controlled the topic were the soldiers under Ang Lee's command who pretended to be merchants. They always controlled the topic so that everyone in the restaurant had to talk about topics related to pirates.
Because there were many real victims, including the merchants of the Tang Dynasty who opened the restaurant, who had been robbed by these pirates, it was not difficult to control the topic of the entire restaurant.
"These pirates have been operating there for more than a year. At least one-third of the merchant ships that come and go have been robbed. Fortunately, they don't kill people. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to come back."
A merchant who had once been robbed by pirates said with lingering fear.
"Who said that pirates don't harm people's lives? My brother should have complained, but he was cruelly killed by the pirates. My five-year-old niece was also defiled by the pirate leader. Her body was thrown into the sea, and we can't find it even if we want to. Sob sob."
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who pretended to be merchants added fuel to the fire in order to increase everyone's hatred of the pirates.
"No way! When did those pirates become so ferocious? When I was robbed last time, only my money and goods were robbed. No one lost their lives! "
A merchant who was really a victim said.
"That's because you're lucky. I'm not so lucky. Half a month ago, my father, mother, and brother were robbed by pirates there. Because my father scolded the pirates, my father, mother, and brother were all killed by the pirates. Their bodies were thrown into the sea. I escaped by jumping off the ship, but all the people on the ship were killed by the pirates."
A merchant who pretended to be a merchant said.
"Oh, how can these pirates be so cruel? Not only did they rob people, but they also killed people. They really deserve to be killed."
The restaurant owner also ran over to join in the fun.
Three months ago, he had personally brought people to the Arabian port to buy goods. This was several times cheaper than buying from the merchants here, but he hadn't expected that he would be robbed by pirates on his way back. All the ingredients he had bought had been stolen by the pirates, resulting in a terrible loss. From then on, he no longer dared to personally go to the Arabian port to buy goods. Instead, he bought locally. Even if the price was several times higher, it was still better than having his goods stolen by the pirates. In any case, the final cost would be shared among the consumers. He just needed to sell the food a little more expensive.
"I heard that the owner was also robbed by pirates. The price must be quite high!"
A merchant asked.
Of course, the owner of the restaurant wouldn't keep such a grievance to himself. He had told others about it countless times. Some of the people who were close to him already had calluses on their ears. Therefore, the regular customers all knew that the owner of this restaurant had been robbed by pirates.
The owner immediately put on an aggrieved expression and hurriedly said, "Isn't that so? Three months ago, I rented a big ship and went to Da Shi Country to buy ingredients. The ingredients there were several times cheaper than here. I originally wanted to save some money, but who would have thought that when I came back, the pirates there caught up with me. The ship was full of good ingredients! They stole all of it! Oh, my mother, that ship was worth an entire year's worth of profit! It was all gone in an instant. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache! "
"Owner, don't be sad. Your luck wasn't bad. At least your life was saved. As long as you're fine, the money can be earned back."
A customer comforted him.
The innkeeper frowned and said with lingering fear, "Those pirates were all ferocious. I was scared out of my wits at that time. My legs went soft and I bowed and cupped my hands in front of me. I was just short of kneeling down and calling those bastards my father. If I had been a little stubborn at that time, I reckon I would have been killed by those bastards and wouldn't be able to see you again."
After saying that, he didn't feel ashamed at all because he thought that if he had been a little tougher and a little more heroic, he would have lost his life. After all, many of the 'merchants' here said that their relatives had been killed.
"Owner! When I was robbed by the pirates last time, I was also polite and didn't resist at all. That was how I escaped! "
"Hey, me too. I was also scared at that time. How could I think of resisting? I smoothly handed over the goods and the pirates didn't make things too difficult for me."
The merchants immediately recalled what had happened to them. Everyone who had returned safely was polite to the pirates, and those who had said that their relatives had been killed were all rude to the pirates.
Talents who could do business were not low in IQ. Everyone concluded that whether the pirates killed or not was closely related to the attitude of the robbed people. If they obediently handed over the money, they wouldn't kill. If they dared to resist or speak rudely, they would be killed.
Although these merchants who said that their relatives had been killed by the pirates were all disguised by Ang Lee's soldiers, the local merchants believed it without a doubt and didn't realize that these merchants were imposters.
This was also the reason why Ang Lee dared to send people to impersonate them. He had long expected that these robbed merchants would be greedy and afraid of death. They definitely wouldn't have the courage to resist the pirates. As such, as long as he let the soldiers pretend to be the toughest merchants, it would be enough to discredit the pirates.
"These pirates are all desperadoes. If they catch up, they definitely won't be able to keep their belongings. Why fight with them? Look, those who are a little softer are fine. Those who fought the pirates head-on were all injured. "
A merchant said timidly.
"That's true. However, we are all merchants. The places where the pirates appear are areas that we have to pass through. Even if we suffer in silence, how many times can we be robbed? We make money every year, but in the end, all the profits are robbed by these pirates. It's meaningless to be a merchant."
A 'merchant' who said that his parents had been killed by the pirates complained.
"That's right! Who can stand being robbed every few days? These pirates are blocking the way between Western Tianzhu and Dashi. They are really blocking our way of making money. "
A real merchant complained.
"As far as I know, the port where the pirates are entrenched was originally the port of Western Tianzhu. There were even Western Tianzhu troops stationed there two years ago. Later, it was taken by a group of pirates. The Western Tianzhu imperial court never sent troops to take it back. This caused these pirates to become more and more arrogant and despotic, unscrupulously robbing passing merchant ships. "
"Yes, that's it. The imperial court connived with the pirates, causing them to be lawless. It's the imperial court's fault."
A few fake merchants said loudly.
"Isn't that so? But the imperial court isn't willing to take back the port. What can we do? "
"We have also complained to the local imperial court, but these officials are all perfunctory. They are not willing to get involved with the pirates at all."
"That's not all. I heard that the pirates send people to give these officials gifts every month. These officials received the benefits, so naturally, they won't care about the pirates."
A few merchants said helplessly.
"Hmph, are we going to let the pirates bully us? Are we going to let the local imperial court collude with the pirates? When will these days end?"
"Yes, the days of being bullied are too hard. What's the point of living so sullenly? We should unite and overcome the difficulties in front of us."
A few fake merchants said angrily.
"We are all merchants. We don't have the strength to truss a chicken. Even if we unite, I'm afraid we are no match for the pirates, let alone the imperial court."
The owner of the restaurant shook his head with a helpless expression.
The fake merchant and his companions looked at each other and said, "Don't worry, everyone. We merchants naturally don't have the strength to be enemies with the pirates and the imperial court. However, we can jointly petition and ask the passing troops of the Tang dynasty to help us. As long as the troops of the Tang dynasty are mobilized, the pirates are nothing to worry about."
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