Ang Lee finally understood that the reason why Li Xiaolu worked so hard to practice sewing was to embroider a purse for Ang Lee. Such a simple wish really touched Ang Lee. Ang Lee suddenly felt pity for Li Xiaolu and wanted to take good care of her.
"My little beauty, you can embroider a purse at any time, but if you are exhausted, the loss will outweigh the gain. Nothing is more important than a person's body. You must pay attention to protecting your body. Under no circumstances should you do anything that will harm your body. Come, close your eyes and have a good sleep. I will wake you up when we set off."
Ang Lee said gently.
Although it was already time for breakfast, Li Xiaolu, who had stayed up all night, must be very sleepy. In other words, she would not have any appetite at all. Therefore, it was better to let her have a good rest. It would not be too late to eat when she felt hungry.
"Well, I will sleep for a while."
Li Xiaolu was really sleepy. Her eyes were almost unable to open. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Ang Lee helped Li Xiaolu settle down and went to the front tent alone to eat.
"Assistant Minister Li, the people sent to Spain earlier have sent back a message. Spain's Sultan Rahman is very happy that our Tang dynasty's diplomatic mission can go there. Moreover, he will personally welcome Assistant Minister Li."
After Ang Lee finished eating, his subordinate entered the tent to report.
Ang Lee was slightly surprised. After a pause, he said, "Oh, this Rahman is actually so cooperative. It is really beyond my expectation. Hey, why is he so cooperative? Wasn't he very angry before? He even wanted to crusade against Osman. "
His subordinate quickly replied, "Assistant Minister Li is right. At first, this Rahman was a little domineering and disrespectful to our envoys. But when he saw our armored sports cars and well-equipped guards, his eyes were filled with admiration. When our people told him that this was just the tip of the iceberg and that Assistant Minister Li's escort team had hundreds of armored cars and thousands of elite soldiers, he completely changed his attitude and became very friendly to our people. Moreover, he made it clear that he would welcome Assistant Minister Li very much. He really wanted to see the majesty of the main forces of the Tang dynasty."
After saying that, he looked proud. As an official of the Tang dynasty, it was a very proud thing for his country to be admired by others. It was enough to make him excited.
"Haha! It turns out that he is so good. It seems that this Rahman is a bully! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Ang Lee despised this kind of ruler who bullied the weak and feared the strong the most. Of course, at the same time, he also hoped to meet such people because such people were very easy to deal with. As long as he showed the strength of the Tang Empire, he could force them to submit.
Then they would obediently follow Ang Lee's arrangement, serve the global strategy of the Tang Empire, and contribute their necessary strength to the continuous prosperity and stability of the Tang Empire.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. Since the southern expedition was thwarted by Osman, Rahman has lost the courage to continue to be Osman's enemy. Moreover, he is very worried that Osman will attack him. But because of his face and the noble status of the Sultan, he is unwilling to lower himself to ask for peace. He is always on tenterhooks. Many businessmen in the capital have begun to sell their properties and are preparing to escape from Spain, a place of trouble."
His subordinate said.
Ang Lee was naturally very happy when he heard this. In this way, things would be easier to handle. Ang Lee could take advantage of the mediation opportunity to obtain huge benefits from Spain. Ang Lee would not give up until he dug out a piece of meat from the Spanish court.
"Pass down the order. Get more detailed information about Spain. Get all kinds of materials, such as the distribution of minerals, the situation of ports, forest resources, farmland resources, and pond resources. These must be made clear. In addition, Rahman is an invader who entered Spain later. He may not be recognized by everyone in Spain. Those who oppose Rahman must also be found out as soon as possible."
Ang Lee gave the order.
"Yes, your subordinate understands."
His subordinate responded and went to prepare.
After his subordinate left, Ang Lee was thinking about a very important question. That was, whether to add an overseas base of the Tang dynasty. Previously, there were five overseas bases, namely the Malacca Sea, the Lion Kingdom Sea, the West India Sea, the Aden Sea, and the Tang dynasty Canal Sea. A total of five overseas enclaves could play a huge role in controlling and maintaining global trade.
But at this moment, Ang Lee had another overseas enclave in mind. It was a narrow strait thousands of miles away from the Canal Sea of the Tang dynasty in the future. It was also called the Gibraltar Strait.
This strait was a very important maritime hub. In the future, many military powers tried to control this sea passage to obtain huge benefits for themselves.
After all, the status of Gibraltar was too special. It directly controlled the throat between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Cutting off Gibraltar was cutting off the connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
In the future, a country called England forcibly occupied Gibraltar. Moreover, they never returned this piece of land to Spain. Thus, this piece of land became England's land forever. It also became the only colony in Europe in the future.
In order to solve this problem, England and Spain carried out many rounds of negotiations. Spain never gave up its sovereignty claim over Gibraltar. After the Second World War, it strengthened its recovery activities and often discussed with England. However, no substantial progress was made. It even seriously affected the relationship between the two countries. Even the United Nations was alarmed and asked the two countries to solve the problem of the ownership of Gibraltar as soon as possible.
However, some things were indeed very difficult to solve. This was because recovering territory was not done by force. Spain's strength was far inferior to England's. It was impossible for Spain to defeat England.
However, in the end, due to international pressure, England agreed in principle to share Gibraltar with Spain. This seemed to be a better compromise and was favored by many countries in the United Nations.
However, this proposal of dual sovereignty was strongly opposed by the local government and residents of Gibraltar. Many of the local people of Gibraltar felt that England's agreement to share sovereignty was an act of betrayal. In order to show the two governments that the people of Gibraltar were determined to maintain their status, the local government of Gibraltar announced a referendum.
The people of Gibraltar had held two such referendums. In the first referendum, 99% of the people of Gibraltar were in favour of Gibraltar remaining in the United Kingdom. Only a very small minority were in favour of Gibraltar returning to Spain. In the second referendum, 88% of the people of Gibraltar were in favour of Gibraltar remaining in the United Kingdom.
The number of people who opposed the two countries' joint governance of Gibraltar was 99%.
In other words, the people of Gibraltar's opposition to Spain's recovery of Gibraltar's sovereignty did not change.
The result of the referendum was a heavy blow to both the English and Spanish courts. It sent a clear signal to the world that the two governments could not ignore the people of Gibraltar when it came to resolving the issue of the ownership of Gibraltar.
It showed that the negotiation of the ownership of Gibraltar between the two countries was still a long way off. Spain's decision to recover Gibraltar's sovereignty would not change because of this, and the English court obviously would not be able to persuade the people of Gibraltar to change their minds in a short period of time.
This might be difficult to understand. Why were the people of Gibraltar unwilling to return to their homeland? What caused this to happen? Why were they reluctant to stay in England and opposed to returning to Spain? Wasn't this the act of a traitor?
This was naturally because when the English occupied Gibraltar, they chased away all the Spanish natives living there in order to permanently control this important place in the future. Then, a large number of people from other places migrated. As a result, many of the people living in Gibraltar were not Spanish. Naturally, there was no such thing as patriotism. This was also the main reason why it was difficult for Spain to recover this area.
In addition, people were greedy. Where there were benefits, people would go there. Between England and Spain, England's strength was slightly stronger while Spain's was relatively weaker. Therefore, the local people who were used to being ruled by the English were naturally unwilling to join the Spanish court. They were not fools. Why would they be willing to return to a relatively backward country?
In any era, any ordinary person would place more importance on their own interests. Their own interests were the most important thing, and achieving their life goals was the highest priority. As for the interests of the country, more often than not, it was a kind of selfishness. When it was beneficial to them to be patriotic, everyone would choose to be patriotic. However, if betraying the country could give them greater benefits, many people's patriotism would waver. They would think about how to obtain the greatest benefits for themselves.
Two countries were fighting for a piece of fertile land. As long as they could obtain this piece of land, they would be able to obtain great benefits. In other words, as long as they could obtain this piece of land, all the people in a country would be able to obtain great benefits. Therefore, all the people would naturally be patriotic. No one was stupid. No one would be willing to let their country's fertile land be occupied by other countries because they also had a share of it.
However, if there was a foreign enemy who gave a huge amount of money to a person to betray their country and steal information from their country, then this person would be very likely to do it. After all, the benefits that patriotism could bring to oneself were too little. On the other hand, betraying one's country for glory could give oneself greater benefits. Therefore, it was natural that they would be more tempted.
Therefore, when faced with foreign invasion, there would be a large number of traitors in all countries. The Hua Xia Empire had a large number of traitors. There were big traitors and small traitors. There were also particularly fierce traitors and traitors who were forced to make a living. In short, there were as many traitors as there were dogs. Wherever there were people, there would be traitors. Where there were benefits, there would be people who would betray their country.
Of course, the people of Gibraltar in the future could not be described as traitors. Of course, they could not be called Western traitors because most of them had never been Spanish. Since they came to Gibraltar, they were already British people. They were naturally very reluctant to change their country. They even felt that the British court was betraying their country.
In other words, the land of Gibraltar used to belong to Spain. However, most of the people living in Gibraltar were not from Spain. Therefore, this caused a lot of trouble for Spain to take back Gibraltar. In the foreseeable future, it would be very difficult to take back Gibraltar.
This was a pity for the Spanish court, but there was no other way! Who asked the people of Gibraltar not to be Spanish people? If they were all Spanish people, there would probably be more people who were willing to return. In addition, if Spain could be richer than Britain and could provide better living conditions for these people, then these people would be willing to return to Spain.
In this way, everyone's land would be connected. After returning, life would be more convenient, and the economy could develop faster and better. In short, the benefits were great.
However, the people of Gibraltar were already used to being British. Therefore, it was difficult for them to accept a new identity. Moreover, their composition was very complicated. They were not just a single Spanish descendant. For example, if a Hua Xia person became a Japanese, it would be very difficult for him to accept it emotionally. He would feel that it was too unbelievable and unimaginable, and he would be very angry.
In addition, there were many habits that were difficult to change. For example, traffic in the United Kingdom was on the left, while other countries were on the right. If one were to return to the United Kingdom, it would take a lot of time to adapt to the change in traffic rules, not to mention the various other problems in life. It was like being a new person, like a baby, starting to adapt to a different life, and this would inevitably bring pain to the people.
Due to these reasons, the local people of Gibraltar refused to return to Spain no matter what. They would rather follow Britain and leave Europe than return to the embrace of Spain. After all, they had been British for hundreds of years, and their ancestors had already adapted to being British. To suddenly change their nationality was unacceptable, no matter what. They would not accept it no matter what.
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