After Apos executed the six maids, new maids were quickly replaced. They served him with all their might, afraid that they would lose their lives if they weren't careful.
After deciding to support his younger brother, Mansur, Apos had two things to consider. The first was to find a way to increase Mansur's power and weaken Abdullah's power. The second was to find a way to extend his life as much as possible. Only by living for a few more days could he stabilize the turmoil in the Apus dynasty and allow the transfer of power to pass peacefully.
Adjusting the power structure of an empire was not an easy task. If it wasn't done well, it could easily lead to serious consequences. It could even lead to a mutiny. Therefore, it was a very mentally taxing activity that required a lot of experience and skill. However, Apos was a veteran, and he was completely capable of doing it flawlessly. No one could say anything about it.
Extending his life was even more difficult. He had seen the best doctors in the Apus dynasty, but they couldn't do anything about Apos's illness. However, Apos still wanted to try his luck. He knew that the Tang Empire had developed very quickly in recent years, and its medical standards were far superior to those of the Apus dynasty. If he could find a way to extend his life in the Tang Empire, that would be great.
Apos personally instructed his trusted subordinates to go to the Tang Empire to find a famous doctor. As long as it was a famous doctor, he would hire one no matter how much money he had to spend.
In the Arabian Sea, Ang Lee's fleet was still slowly moving forward. From time to time, they would receive news from Aden City. However, most of the news was not very important.
During his free time, he organized fishing competitions on the sea. Those who won would be rewarded, and those who lost would be given another chance. This earned him a lot of praise.
"Assistant Minister Li, pirates are robbing merchant ships 20 miles ahead."
A soldier in charge of observation put down his binoculars and reported the situation.
"We've been traveling for so many days, and this is the first time we've encountered pirates. I have to take a look. "
Ang Lee suddenly became excited. He hurriedly climbed onto the command deck and observed carefully with his binoculars.
He could only see two ships in the distance with his naked eye. As for what was going on, he couldn't tell at all.
"There really are pirates robbing. These damned pirates, do they not want to live anymore?"
Ang Lee was shocked and immediately ordered, "Send three steam gunships forward at full speed. We must capture the pirates and not let them escape."
Soon, three steam gunships emitted even thicker black smoke as they sped towards where the pirates were. With the strength of these three steam gunships, it was a piece of cake for them to destroy the pirate ships that were doing bad things.
Ang Lee didn't need to continue asking questions. He just needed to wait for the results. He walked down from the podium and continued to play cards with his subordinates. He also won a lot of money along the way.
The pirates' boats could not be compared with the giant ships of the Tang dynasty. Soon, the sound of cannons firing could be heard. Then, several pirate ships emitted thick smoke and raised white flags. If they urgently resisted, these pirates would only end up with their ships destroyed and their people killed.
"Assistant Minister Li, we haven't encountered pirates in a long time. I didn't expect to encounter one here."
One of his subordinates was excited. It was time for the Tang dynasty's troops to perform again. How could they not be excited?
"This is the Gulf of Aden. Of course there are pirates."
Ang Lee blurted out.
In the future, this was an area where pirates frequently roamed. Of course, there were many more merchant ships in this area in the future. Because of the opening of the Suez Canal, the number of merchant ships increased exponentially. Now, the Gulf of Aden was also a very important trade channel. It was just that its role was smaller than in the future. As long as the canal was opened, the number of merchant ships would increase exponentially.
"There should be pirates in the Gulf of Aden?"
His subordinates were very confused. This theory did not make sense at all.
Ang Lee knew that he had let the cat out of the bag. He quickly explained, "Because there are many merchant ships passing through here, the sea route is relatively narrow. This is the habitat for pirates, so naturally there will be pirates. Before coming here, I thought there would be pirates, but I wasn't sure if I would encounter them. Because the merchants said that there were very few pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Most of the pirates went to the city of Aden to be mercenaries. Only a few pirates are left. Moreover, they are very gentle. They only rob some of the merchants' belongings and not too much. I guess they are afraid of being attacked and want to leave a way out for themselves."
In fact, these pirates who didn't kill to the last one were the smartest ones. They knew that killing the goose that laid the golden eggs wouldn't last long. Only a small amount at a time would be enough for them to spend. Why would they need to steal so much?
"I see. However, even if they are gentle pirates, since the troops of the Tang dynasty have come here, we can't let them go easily. We must completely eliminate these pirates to increase the prestige of the Tang Empire."
One of his subordinates said.
"Of course. The Tang dynasty wants to build the Belt and Road Network. How can we allow pirates to run rampant in the Gulf of Aden? Eliminating the nearby pirates is also a gift to the people of Aden."
Ang Lee said. He paused for a moment and then continued, "By the way, these pirate ships in front of us are definitely not the main force of the pirates. They must have lairs. We must capture more pirates. Only then will we have enough face when we are escorted to the city of Aden. Pass down the order immediately. Two steam gunships will form a group and a supply ship. They will wander around the Gulf of Aden and kill any pirates they find.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. I will arrange it."
Soon, many groups of the Tang dynasty's sub-fleets began to move in different directions. They wanted to find more pirate ships and ensure the safety of the merchant ships. After the Tang Dynasty fleet entered the city of Aden, more pirates would be able to show off.
The merchant ship that had been robbed quickly arrived, and several pirate ships with smoke and fire were also nearby. The pirates on the ships raised their hands in surrender, and a portion of the Great Tang soldiers entered the pirate ships and took control of them.
The merchants on the merchant ships all stood at the bow and bowed respectfully to the Tang dynasty soldiers. Obviously, they were very grateful.
Several leading merchants boarded Ang Lee's ship and expressed their gratitude to the Tang dynasty soldiers.
"You are a merchant from the Tang dynasty? What a coincidence! I can meet merchants from the Tang dynasty everywhere I go. "
Ang Lee could tell at a glance that the merchant was from the Tang dynasty. He could tell from his clothes and facial features.
"Thank you, Assistant Minister Li. Otherwise, we would have suffered a great loss."
The merchant thanked him.
"Where are you from and where are you going?"
Ang Lee asked straightforwardly.
"Assistant Minister Li, we came from the city of Aden. We are going to Anzhu City, then go to the ports in West Tianzhu. Finally, we will return to the city of Aden. Most of our businesses are in the city of Aden."
The merchant answered truthfully.
"Anzhu City, haha! That is a city with a lot of potential! Why don't you go there more often? You will make a lot of money. "
Ang Lee suggested.
"Yes, I understand."
The merchant replied.
"By the way, how is the city of Aden? Is the business good?"
Ang Lee continued to ask.
The merchant replied, "It is good. The business is good, and it is safe. It is a good place. "
Ang Lee asked, "I heard that there are 10,000 soldiers in the northwest and northeast of the city of Aden. Will they attack the city of Aden?"
The merchant thought for a moment and said, "I have indeed heard of this. However, it has been several months. If there was going to be a war, it would have happened a long time ago. I don't think there will be a war!"
Ang Lee nodded and said, "I hope there won't be a war. If there is a war, you businessmen will suffer. Hahaha!"
The merchant chatted with Ang Lee for a while, while the soldiers and sailors of the Tang dynasty carried the goods stolen by the pirates back to the merchant's ship. After all the stolen goods were loaded onto the ship, the merchant left happily and bowed respectfully to Ang Lee's ship.
"Assistant Minister Li, we are here. The merchants of the city of Aden will be very happy because we will wipe out all the pirates so that the merchants won't have to live in fear anymore."
One of his subordinates said proudly.
Ang Lee looked at the departing merchant ship and said, "We use force to wipe out the pirates, but this only treats the symptoms and not the root cause. The only way to truly wipe out the pirates is to develop the local economy and improve the standard of living of the people. If the people don't have enough to eat or keep warm, the pirates will never be completely eradicated. Fortunately, we are not just relying on force to open the Maritime Silk Road. Our goal is to make everyone rich. As long as the people on this road become rich, no one will be willing to become a pirate."
"Yes, we will do our best to open the Maritime Silk Road."
His subordinates hurriedly said.
The fire on the three pirate ships was quickly put out. The dead pirates were directly thrown into the sea. The injured pirates were naturally treated by the doctors of the Tang dynasty. The rest of the pirates were all handcuffed and shackled to prevent them from resisting.
Since the three ships had been captured, they were the spoils of war for the Tang fleet, and all the resources on the ships would belong to the Tang fleet. However, since the three pirate ships were ordinary sailing ships, they weren't fast enough, and they would be under a lot of pressure to operate them alone. Therefore, Li An decided to tie them to the back of the steamboat and drag them along. This would save a lot of trouble. After all, they weren't in a hurry to get to Aden City, so they could take their time.
In the northwest of Aden City, Osman and his soldiers were still celebrating. They had been celebrating ever since they learned that Apos was seriously ill. They celebrated almost every day. However, the celebration was not very big. They celebrated separately. In other words, only a portion of the soldiers participated in the celebration. The rest of the soldiers were in a state of battle readiness. In this way, if something unexpected happened, such as a large-scale enemy attack, they would be able to deal with it easily.
However, Osman seemed to be in a bad mood. The ruler of the Umayyad Dynasty, Abdal, had sent an envoy from Spain to the vicinity of Aden City. He wanted Osman to take over Aden City as soon as possible while Apos was seriously ill. He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Apus dynasty was seriously ill and restore the Umayyad Dynasty.
Osman was very disgusted by Abdal's order. This was because Abdal was a coward who only knew how to run away. When the Umayyad Dynasty was facing a great crisis, Osman was still able to lead the expeditionary force back to reinforce it. However, Abdal had run to Spain with his trusted subordinates to establish a small court in Spain. This made Osman feel very disdainful. He had never been convinced by Abdal. However, because most of the royals of the Umayyad Dynasty were dead, and Abdal was the only one left, Osman pretended to be loyal to the small court and restore the Umayyad Dynasty. However, he was not willing to lead the army to Spain. Instead, he ran all the way from Egypt to the northwest of Aden City. He was very far away from the small court, and it seemed like he did not listen to Osman's orders.
However, Abdal didn't seem to be aware of Osman's disdain for him. Instead, he issued an order to Osman, telling him to take down Aden as soon as possible, and even launch a counterattack against the powerful Abbasid Dynasty, even though he didn't know the situation around Aden City yet.
As a result, Osman was naturally furious. He had always looked down on his cowardly master. Now, his master dared to order him around and ask him to complete a mission that was impossible to complete. This was simply the height of stupidity.
"General, is Abdal crazy? He wants us to conquer Aden City in a few days? He's forcing us to our deaths!"
"The people in Aden City are just a bunch of mobs. As long as we launch a sudden attack, we might be able to conquer the city."
The two generals gave different opinions.
"The mobs have the city walls as support, so they are not to be underestimated. Besides, Ziyad has been watching our every move. If we launch a sudden attack on Aden City, he will definitely attack us from behind. If that happens, we will all be wiped out."
The general said.
"But this is the Sultan's order. Are we really going to disobey?"
Osman said impatiently, "Alright, stop arguing. This order cannot be carried out. As for the Sultan's reprimand, let him reprimand us. He's a coward, but he wants us to die. I, Osman, am not afraid of death, but I will not die for nothing. I will not die for nothing."
It was clear that Osman was not going to carry out an incorrect order. As for Abdal's reprimand, he did not take it to heart. If he was forced into a corner, he could break away from the small Spanish court and become the Sultan himself. He could even surrender to the Apus Dynasty. As long as it was beneficial to him, he would do anything.
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