It was a great honor for Ang Lee to come in person, so Osman naturally had to welcome him in person. The growth of his power was inseparable from Ang Lee's help. No matter how he thought about it, he had to come out to greet him in person. Otherwise, he would feel uneasy.
Close to the Mediterranean Sea, an important town in the north of Egypt was located downstream of the Nile River. It was not far from the mouth of the Nile River, and there were many advantages to building a capital here.
First of all, it was very convenient in terms of transportation. The Nile River was very wide, so it was easy to build a good port by the river. From the port by the river, one could go to the Mediterranean Sea in the north or the upper reaches of the Nile River. It was very convenient.
Secondly, it was very safe. If the capital was built directly on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north, the soldiers in the capital would not even have time to warn the enemy if they came from the sea. This was obviously very disadvantageous. It was much safer to build the capital at the back. Moreover, it was more conducive to ruling the southern territory. It would not let the southern territory fall into a situation where the mountain was high and the Emperor was far away.
Of course, the more important reason was that this was originally a big city. It was the most convenient to make it the capital. If a temporary city was built by the sea, it would consume too much manpower and resources.
In short, Osman's capital was well chosen. This location was the most suitable from any point of view. It was a very good place.
Ang Lee stood on the roof of the armored vehicle and stared at the city in front of him. He felt the size of the city. However, it was only big in this area. If it was in Chang 'an and Luoyang of the Tang Dynasty, it would be too small. It was not at the same level at all.
The city walls were built with sand and mud. For the sake of beauty and firmness, a layer of stone bricks was placed on the outermost layer. It immediately looked a lot better.
"Big Brother, this is the capital of Osman! It looks good. It is not much worse than the provincial cities of the Tang Dynasty. At least, it is much bigger than many counties of the Tang Dynasty. "
Li Feiyu joked with a smile.
Ang Lee nodded. Seeing a large group of people rushing over, he knew that Osman was among them. So, he got off the roof of the car and prepared to meet Osman.
Ang Lee had met Osman in Aden City, so he naturally knew what Osman looked like. Thus, he saw Osman from afar, and led his soldiers to greet him.
"Assistant Minister Li, long time no see. You're still so handsome!"
Osman's first words were a compliment.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "General Osman is also very strong. No, I should call you Sultan Osman now. It's time to change your title."
After taking full control of Egypt, Osman announced the establishment of Egypt and sat on the throne of Sultan. Therefore, it was not appropriate for Ang Lee to call him General. It was more appropriate for him to call him Sultan.
"It's fine. It's just a form of address. Assistant Minister Li, it's Egypt's honor to have you here. You must stay for a few more days."
Osman said very politely.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Of course, I'll stay for a few more days. Sultan Osman, don't be afraid of being disturbed!"
"I won't. Why would I? Assistant Minister Li, please. "
Osman invited very politely.
Ang Lee nodded and led his subordinates and many soldiers into the city. Because the city was limited in size, Ang Lee only led a thousand soldiers into the city in order not to disturb the normal life in the city. The remaining two thousand soldiers were all set up camp outside the city. A few soldiers entered the city to buy daily necessities.
Although only a thousand soldiers entered the city, there were many weapons and battle vehicles. It was more than enough to ensure Ang Lee's safety and even overthrow Osman's court.
Of course, Ang Lee would not do that. Unless it was very necessary, Ang Lee would not use his troops at will to avoid causing unnecessary trouble to the court of the Tang dynasty.
Osman was very clear about the strength of the Tang dynasty's troops. It was dangerous to let the elite troops of the Tang dynasty into the city, but he did not dare to refuse. After all, the troops of the Tang dynasty were too powerful. If the troops of the Tang dynasty were unhappy, even if the capital city had the support of the city, it would be difficult to resist the elite troops of the Tang dynasty. Therefore, it was better to let the troops of the Tang dynasty enter the city to show his friendship with the troops of the Tang dynasty.
The population in the city was not large, only 30,000 to 50,000 people. In fact, such a large population was already considered a large city in this area. However, compared to Chang 'an, which had a population of over a million, it was still far from that of Chang' an.
After entering the city, almost all the people and officials in the city greeted them on both sides of the road. This was specially arranged by Osman to show his personal importance to the Tang dynasty and his respect for Ang Lee. It was also meant to flatter him.
However, the troops of the Tang dynasty did not disappoint the people in the city. They were just waiting on the street to complete the task, but when the troops of the Tang dynasty appeared, they felt that they did not wait in vain because they saw many new things that they had never seen in their lives.
Most of them had never seen the cars and armored vehicles of the Tang dynasty. Only some knowledgeable people had heard about them from others, but they had never seen them with their own eyes. They could only understand and guess based on their imagination. Now that they saw them with their own eyes, they knew what was going on.
Ang Lee was very familiar with such a scene. Every time he had to look at the curious and surprised eyes of these bumpkins, Ang Lee had become numb to it. He didn't even feel excited. He just felt that these guys were too pitiful for living in such a backward area in such a backward era. Their knowledge was too poor.
After entering the city, Ang Lee was arranged to live in an independent residence. This residence was very large, with two or three hundred rooms. There was also a larger courtyard that could be used to set up tents. There was enough space outside the house to park cars and various armored vehicles.
Of course, he could not directly tell the purpose of his visit. He had to get used to it first, and then slowly tell the purpose of his visit so that both sides could adapt.
After welcoming Ang Lee into the city, Osman returned to his newly built palace and frowned, thinking about the purpose of Ang Lee's visit. He had to figure out the purpose of Ang Lee's visit first before he could deal with the problem. Although Ang Lee had sent someone to tell Osman in advance that he was going to Egypt for a vacation, Osman was not a fool. He did not believe that Ang Lee was just here for a vacation. After all, he had just refused the labor request of the Tang dynasty a few days ago. Now, Ang Lee had come. Could there be some connection between the two? Could it be that Ang Lee had come to ask for a punitive expedition and wanted to force him to hand over the labor force?
However, he had already made it clear that the army would soon conquer Spain and needed a lot of labor support. He could not spare too much manpower to support the Tang dynasty's canal project. He could only helplessly help. Did Ang Lee not understand his difficulties?
Osman's subordinates all guessed that Ang Lee was unhappy because he did not get the support of the labor force and wanted to make trouble. The purpose of making trouble was to force the Osman Group to provide enough labor for the Tang dynasty to support the Tang dynasty's canal project.
"Sultan, the Tang dynasty wants to build a canal to connect the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in the east of our country. I heard that Altik has promised to provide 100,000 laborers, but this is far from enough. The Tang dynasty also needs us to provide the same amount of labor so that the Tang dynasty's canal project can be realized faster."
"Sultan, the Tang dynasty is determined to build the canal. It seems that they will not give up until they achieve their goal. If the Tang dynasty strongly asks us to provide labor, we should at least provide some support. We can't just give them nothing! After all, the Tang dynasty has helped us before. "
Several subordinates said.
Osman said discontentedly, "The Tang dynasty's construction of the canal is their own business. Why must we provide labor? Of course, if we really have enough manpower, we can give them as many as they want. But now we are also very short of manpower. The young and strong have already joined the army, and a lot of labor is needed to transport the army's supplies. We are short of labor now. I want the Tang dynasty to give me 30,000 to 50,000 young and strong men. How can we get enough labor for the Tang dynasty? "
Obviously, Osman also had his own difficulties. He was attacking from all sides and consumed a lot of manpower. In other words, he simply did not have enough manpower. There was already a shortage. So, how could he provide labor for the Tang dynasty? It was already good enough that he did not ask the Tang dynasty for labor.
But in this case, he could only complain in front of his subordinates. If he was in front of Ang Lee, he dared not say a word.
He originally thought that as long as he politely refused, this matter would be over. But he did not expect that Ang Lee would come. What surprised him even more was that Ang Lee not only came alone, but also brought 3,000 elite Tang dynasty troops, a powerful force that was enough to destroy him. What was he doing? Even though Li An's expression was still pleasant, Osman could feel the pressure. He felt that Li An had brought so many soldiers here to demonstrate his power and force him to submit. This obviously made him very unhappy.
"Don't worry, Sultan. Assistant Minister Li has just arrived and doesn't know our actual situation. As long as we tell him our difficulties in detail, I believe he won't make it too difficult for us."
"Yes, in addition to being reasonable, we also need to send more beautiful women. As long as Assistant Minister Li is happy, all the problems will be solved."
"Sultan, a new beauty has recently arrived in the city. She has a natural fragrance and has been taken into the Sultan's Palace. If we can give her to Assistant Minister Li, maybe he will be happy and not let us ask for labor."
"Yes, yes, yes. If we can exchange a beauty for world peace, it's worth it."
The subordinates clearly told Osman that it was better to reluctantly give her up!
When Osman heard this, he felt very gloomy. This little beauty was an outstanding beauty and he had taken a liking to her as soon as she arrived in the Royal City. He had only just taken her into the Royal Palace and had not had the chance to pamper her. If he were to give her to Li An just like that, he would lose all face. Furthermore, he also wanted to enjoy the warmth of a beauty and could not bear to give such a good beauty to Li An. However, if he did not give her back, what could he use to move Li An's heart? Ang Lee definitely did not lack worldly things like gold, silver, and jewels. These things were only icing on the cake. Only a beauty could truly move Ang Lee. After all, Osman had always been paying attention to Ang Lee. He knew what Ang Lee had been doing in the past two months. Of course, he also understood Ang Lee's dissolute nature. As such, what could be better than a beauty?
Osman felt a little upset when he thought of giving Ang Lee a beauty that made people drool. However, for his own great cause, he could only reluctantly give her up. After all, he could not afford to offend Ang Lee.
"When do you think is a good time to send the beauty and the golden beads?"
Osman looked at his subordinates and asked.
Seeing that Osman had agreed to send the beauty, his subordinates were relieved. Anyway, they could not enjoy this beauty. They might as well use her to solve their current predicament. At the same time, they could also take care of Osman's health. It was killing two birds with one stone.
"Sultan, of course, the sooner the better. I just saw that Assistant Minister Li did not bring a single woman with him on this trip. He really did not bring a single one. This is not in line with his style. It seems that this is a hint. Why don't we send it tonight, along with the golden beads?"
One of the subordinates said.
Another subordinate quickly echoed, "Yes, this kind of thing should be done sooner rather than later. Naturally, the sooner the better. Whatever Assistant Minister Li lacks, we should send it. Right now, what Assistant Minister Li lacks the most is women. We can't go wrong if we send it tonight."
"Sultan, it's too abrupt to send it directly. Why don't we invite Assistant Minister Li to a banquet tonight and let the beauty perform a dance. As long as Assistant Minister Li is satisfied, we can just take her away. This way, success will come naturally and will not be abrupt at all."
Another subordinate offered a plan.
Osman heard this and nodded with satisfaction. He said, "Good, then let's do it this way! Invite Assistant Minister Li to a banquet tonight and let the beauty perform a dance. I'll leave the banquet to you. As for the dance, I'll handle it personally. "
After Osman finished speaking, he personally walked to the palace where he had arranged the beauty. He wanted to say goodbye to the beauty for the last time. It would be perfect if they could have a breakup.
"Beauty, beauty, is the beauty here?"
Osman walked in with a grin and found that the beauty was hiding behind a cabinet, so he pulled her out.
"Why is the beauty hiding? Am I so scary?"
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