After being modernized by Ang Lee, the army of the Tang Empire had the strength to match its own national strength. This was the prerequisite for the Tang Empire's deterrence. It was also the reason why Ang Lee dared to open up the Maritime Silk Road.
Without the powerful elite troops of the Tang Empire, Ang Lee would never have dared to go south to open up the Maritime Silk Road. If he had tried to open it by force, he might have been wiped out by others.
It was the same at this time. Ang Lee could not take down Gibraltar just by mediating the conflict between Spain and Egypt. However, the Tang Empire had elite troops, so it had the capital to deter Rahman. If he asked them to cede Gibraltar, there was a great hope.
When two countries were at war, if a weaker country went to mediate, it would generally be difficult for it to play any role. Even if the mediation was successful, it would not gain any benefits. Only when a stronger country went to mediate could it have the effect of deterrence. The possibility of a successful mediation was higher, and it could even ask for enough benefits to make a lot of money.
Among them, the most successful example was the Russians. This shameless country was defeated in the west, so it ran to the east and pretended to be a big wolf. It took the opportunity of mediating between the Braid Dynasty and the Western rogue countries to ask for a large amount of land from the Braid Dynasty. Moreover, it asked for land again and again. The land it occupied was so large that it was even larger than the total area of many rogue countries in the West. It could be seen that it had a lot of advantages.
Some people might think that the land occupied by the Russians was bitter cold in the cold areas of the north, and there was nothing to feel pity about. However, this idea was wrong. Although the land in the north was bitter and cold, such a large area contained extremely rich natural resources. Once these natural resources were obtained, they could provide a continuous internal motivation for the development of an empire, allowing an empire to continue to develop.
In addition, a wider territory meant that there would be more defense depth, which was also very beneficial to the overall defense of the country. It would allow the country to have more time to react when it was invaded by foreign enemies, thus making it easier for the army to react quickly.
Because it was a weak country, the Braid Dynasty had no choice but to cede its peripheral territory in exchange for a chance to struggle at death's door. As for this so-called mediating country, it was actually just a tramp that had just been beaten up. In fact, it was not too powerful. If the Braid Dynasty could be a little more unyielding, it was entirely possible to force Russia to give up its unreasonable demands and thus protect its own legitimate rights and interests.
In any case, a weak country always had no diplomacy. A weak country would always be a weak country no matter what. No matter how hard they tried, it was futile. Unless they were strong, it was possible to get rid of such an embarrassing situation. This was the experience summed up by the previous dynasties, which was very worthy of learning.
Ang Lee's arrival in the Tang Dynasty was a good time. Not only was the original Tang Dynasty relatively strong, but after Ang Lee's transformation, the Tang Dynasty had become even stronger. It was not difficult for it to defeat the whole world in seconds. Naturally, it had the supreme right to speak. Therefore, when Li Xiaolu asked Ang Lee if there would be no wars and plundering after the Tang Empire controlled the whole world, Ang Lee could confidently answer her. He told her that the Tang Empire did indeed have a certain strength. It could force the two warring parties to stop fighting and sit down to negotiate slowly. Then, they could talk clearly about the issues that needed to be discussed, which would greatly avoid many serious problems.
Seeing Ang Lee express his meaning so confidently, Li Xiaolu's eyes were full of worship. She lay tightly in Ang Lee's arms like a docile kitten, letting Ang Lee touch and wander around her body. She enjoyed this feeling of tenderness very much. Perhaps, she had never enjoyed this kind of feeling from anyone else in her life.
"Little beauty, if Gibraltar belongs to the Tang Dynasty, I will report it to the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty and let all the people who were driven out of their hometown return home. The Moorish army stationed here must be evacuated. Even the Moorish people living here must leave. In the future, only the people of the Tang Dynasty and the original local people can live in Gibraltar. What do you think?"
Ang Lee said as he gently kissed Li Xiaolu's pink forehead, full of infinite love.
"Yes, of course, but do you really want to drive away the ordinary Moorish people? Isn't that too cruel? After all, they have lived in Gibraltar for so long. Perhaps they have long regarded it as their home. Forcing them to leave their hometown is too cruel. "
Li Xiaolu's mind was full of the Virgin Mary complex. She actually did not hate the Moorish people who hurt her family at all. Perhaps, in her impression, it was the Moorish soldiers who hurt her family, not the ordinary Moorish people. However, she neglected a problem. All the Moorish soldiers were trained by the Moorish people. Without the Moorish people as the foundation, where would the Moorish soldiers come from?
However, worldview was something that could never be explained clearly. Once some people formed their worldview, they would never be able to change it for the rest of their lives. When some people encountered unfair treatment, the first thing they would think of would be hatred. But for some people, even if they encountered a very serious injustice, the first thing they would think of would not be hatred, but only sadness. They would not even consider the problem of how to punish the criminal, because in their view, what was lost was lost, and it was impossible to get it back. Even if the person who caused the harm was cut into pieces, they would not be able to get their loved ones back.
Therefore, different people were different. Different people would have different thoughts. For those who abhorred evil, if someone dared to hurt them, they should pay back with multiple times the damage. For some people, even if they were deeply hurt, they would not ask the other party to pay any price. Instead, they would use the heart of a saint to forgive the other party and let the other party repent and think about their mistakes.
Of course, Ang Lee was a person who did not have the heart of a saint. Otherwise, he would not have been able to control an elite army of the Tang dynasty. There was an old saying in Hua Xia since ancient times, "The merciful do not control soldiers, and the righteous do not control wealth." People who were too merciful were not suitable to control military power. Similarly, people who were too loyal were not suitable to control finance. Otherwise, they would bring great harm to the business they were in charge of.
Ang Lee needed to control an army, and his family had a lot of money. Therefore, Ang Lee could not be merciful or loyal. Everything had to be done according to a certain framework. Otherwise, it would be against the rules.
"What a kind little girl. Your family has been treated so unfairly, but you don't hate the Moors at all. It's really rare. In the Tang dynasty, there are not many people like you."
Ang Lee praised with certainty.
The word "saint" originally came from the Western world. The earliest people who preached the feelings of the Virgin Mary were the Westerners. Li Xiaolu was a European. It seemed that some Westerners were genetically engineered to have the feelings of the Virgin Mary.
"Assistant Minister Li, how long will it take for us to reach Gibraltar? Will the Moors be willing to give up Gibraltar? Will there be a conflict with the Tang dynasty? If there is a conflict, a large number of people will die. It will be too bloody. "
Li Xiaolu asked.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and replied, "We will reach the coast in one day at most. After boarding the ship, it will take about ten days! We'll reach Gibraltar soon. It won't take long. "
If the steamships of the Tang dynasty could enter the Mediterranean Sea, the sea voyage would not take ten days. At most, it would take five or six days to reach Gibraltar in Spain. However, at this moment, the steamships that Ang Lee brought from the Tang dynasty were still docked in the Red Sea. The ships that they could take were all borrowed from the Ottoman Empire. They had only been modernized by the craftsmen of the Tang dynasty. Some small steam tugboats were also obtained. The speed would be much slower, but the safety was more reliable and there were not too many safety hazards.
"Ten days. I only need ten days to return to my hometown. I am so excited!"
Li Xiaolu said excitedly.
For Li Xiaolu, who had left her hometown for many years, being able to return to the place where she was born was definitely something worth celebrating.
"Tell me about it! What interesting things happened in your hometown? What interesting things did you experience when you were young? "
Ang Lee liked to listen to other people's childhood stories because for anyone, childhood was always happy and interesting. After adulthood, there were more responsibilities, and happiness would gradually decrease. Even if one became a successful person with money and power, one would still not have the happiness of childhood.
This was because when people were young, they only needed to play well. There was no other psychological burden. They did not need to face all kinds of difficult problems by themselves. They could just leave it to the adults.
After reaching adulthood, one would have to face a lot of problems, and many problems were very distressing. There were many very simple things that required a lot of effort and a lot of painstaking effort to do. In short, after reaching adulthood, one would have to face a lot of problems. The pressure in one's heart would increase sharply, and the feeling of happiness would become lower and lower. Therefore, there were so many people who missed the past and their own childhood.
Li Xiaolu heard this, thought for a while, and said, "Then let's talk about it one by one! Let's start from when I was young! When I was five or six years old, I liked to lie in the arms of my family at night and look at the stars and moon in the sky while acting coquettishly. Those were the happiest years of my life. "
"Oh, when I was very young, I liked to lie in the arms of my family and look at the stars and moon. After we get on the boat, you can look at the stars every day. I will hold you every day and tell you the story of the constellations."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
"The story of the constellations? What do you mean? The stars in the sky have stories? "
Li Xiaolu seemed to have never studied astronomy at all, so she did not understand what the constellations were. She looked at Ang Lee curiously.
There was too much knowledge about the constellations. The whole starry sky had a large number of stars, so many that they were innumerable. There were also many constellations. In this area, there were professional astronomers in charge of the research. Ordinary people did not need to know too much. They only needed to know the most basic ones. For example, the Cowherd and the Vega were necessary to know. Of course, the Big Dipper was also necessary to know the most basic stars such as the North Star and Venus. Otherwise, when others asked, there would be nothing to talk about.
The more astronomical knowledge a person had, the more he or she could impress others. Since ancient times, in the Hua Xia Empire, astronomy had always been more popular. All the emperors in ancient times believed in the knowledge of constellations very much. There were people who specialized in observing the stars in each dynasty and recorded the trajectory of the constellations. They could even predict the rise and fall of a dynasty through the changes in the constellations. Therefore, no emperor dared to take the stars lightly. Even if there was a slight change in the constellations, the astrologer in charge of astronomy would report to the emperor in a timely manner, pointing out what this constellation represented and what the emperor needed to do to make up for it, so as to prevent the empire from suffering greater losses.
Ang Lee's knowledge of astronomy was still okay. Although it was not particularly awesome, it was enough to coax girls and flaunt his knowledge. There was no pressure at all. Just a few astronomical knowledge was enough for a silly girl like Li Xiaolu to digest for several months. There were not many people who could be better than Ang Lee in the field of knowledge. Most of them were rookies.
"Do you want to listen to the knowledge of astronomy?"
Ang Lee asked.
"Of course, I want to hear it very much."
Li Xiaolu said coquettishly. Obviously, she wanted to hear the story about the stars very much.
Ang Lee moistened his throat and said, "Well, let's talk about the Cowherd and the Vega first. These two stars have a story, a very touching love story. It's really sad!"
After saying that, he looked sad.
"I love to hear sad love stories. Tell me about them!"
Li Xiaolu was very interested in such stories. She held her chin with both hands and looked at Ang Lee cutely, just like a little girl looking at her father.
After all, she was a girl. She would definitely be very interested in sad and beautiful love stories. This was a common problem for all the women in the world since ancient times. No woman was exempt from it. Of course, Li Xiaolu was no exception.
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