As long as the Tang Dynasty fleet led by Ang Lee entered the estuary of the Guadalquivir River, they would be able to follow the river and reach Rahman's capital, Moldova. From there, they would be able to enter their royal city and meet Rahman the First in person.
As long as they could meet Rahman in person, Ang Lee was confident that he could convince King Rahman to give Gibraltar to the Tang Empire. Ang Lee was confident that there would be no accidents.
"We have finally reached the estuary of the Guadalquivir River. As long as we enter the inland river, we won't encounter too much wind and waves. However, we will encounter new problems. Pass down my orders. Tell all ships to be careful. Don't hit any hidden reefs."
Ang Lee instructed.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinate replied and immediately began to pass down the order.
"Assistant Minister Li, we are about to enter the inland river. This way, we will be able to see the beautiful scenery on both sides of the river. We won't have to look at the sea every day to relieve our boredom. Hehe!"
Li Xiaolu said happily.
The human eye needed to see different scenery frequently. Only then would it be more comfortable for the eyes. If they could only see the same boring colors for a long time, it would be very uncomfortable.
There was only blue water on the surface of the sea. At most, the sky would be filled with the occasional seabird flying overhead. There were also white clouds and blue sky in the sky. Although the scenery was beautiful, it did seem a little monotonous. If one kept looking at the scenery, they would get bored and lose interest in it.
However, it was different when they entered the inland river. There would at least be trees and other vegetation on both sides of the river. They might even encounter mountains and man-made buildings, or even ports and towns. In short, there were many things to see. It would definitely not make one's eyes feel lonely.
Looking at the estuary in front of them, there was still a distance. They still needed a certain amount of time to enter the river.
This was because the river was different from the sea. There were more hidden reefs in it than in the sea. Moreover, the depth of the river was not as deep as the sea. Therefore, when a large ship entered the river, it had to be very careful. There couldn't be the slightest carelessness.
In the last period of time, the ships of the fleet began to adjust their postures and make the final preparations to enter the inland river. As long as sufficient preparations were made, there would not be many problems sailing in the inland river.
Ang Lee sat down and closed his eyes to rest. He had been looking at the sea. He felt very tired and needed a good rest.
After more than two hours, Ang Lee slowly woke up. He just wanted to rest his eyes, but he did not expect that he would take a nap for a long time.
When he opened his eyes, Ang saw the river. The river was quite a wide river. There were green and rich scenery on both sides of the river. rolling mountains. In short, the scenery was really good.
"Assistant Minister Li, have some coconut milk......... drink.....
. "Li Xiaolu saw Ang Lee open his eyes and came over with a cup of fruit.
Ang Lee took it gently and drank a few mouthfuls. Then he handed it to Li Xiaolu.
"No wonder that guy wanted to go to Jiangnan six times. The feeling is really good!"
Ang Lee looked at the scenery on both sides of the river and said.
"What's going to Jiangnan six times? Who's that guy? "
Li Xiaolu asked curiously.
Ang Lee explained a little. He did not care whether Li Xiaolu could understand or not.
In fact, it was not one person who went to Jiangnan six times. It should be two people. These two people were grandfather and grandson. Moreover, they were both emperors.
In other words, the emperor went to Jiangnan six times to inspect his own country. The main areas he inspected were the rich and populous places in the south, such as Jiangning Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, and so on.
As for the purpose of the inspection in the south, it was recorded in the history books. However, those records were highly suspicious of singing praises. Among them, there were four main points. First, the officials of Jiangzhe represented the army and the people to respectfully invite the emperor to visit. Second, the Grand Secretary and the nine ministers suggested to allow the emperor to invite the emperor according to the history books and the example of the emperor's southern inspection.
Third, Jiangzhe was vast and densely populated. The emperor should go to Jiangzhe to observe the situation of the people and ask about their suffering. Fourth, he should respectfully serve the emperor's mother and visit the famous places to show his filial piety.
In fact, Ang Lee felt that these words were too fake. There should be two main reasons. First, the emperor could easily go crazy from boredom if he stayed in the palace all day. It was better to go out and enjoy the scenery than to stay in the boring palace all the time. Especially the water towns in Jiangnan. Not only were they densely populated and culturally prosperous, but there were also many beautiful women. Since ancient times, few emperors did not like beautiful women. If they went to Jiangnan to enjoy the view of the small bridges and flowing water and admire the beauty, why not go to Jiangnan at any time?
Another reason was to appease the people of Jiangnan. When the army entered the pass, they had carried out large-scale damage to the people of Jiangnan who resisted tenaciously. Therefore, the resistance in Jiangnan was abnormally high. Since the emperor, the emperor had used various methods, such as establishing the Great Literature Department, conscripting the remnants of the previous dynasty, editing the history of the previous dynasty, and so on. He tried his best to win over the scholars and officials of the previous dynasty, especially in Jiangnan.
The emperor had gone south six times to appease the people and check the attitude of the people of Jiangnan toward the imperial court. His grandson, who wanted to imitate his grandfather, had also gone south six times. The first two times, like his grandfather, ended in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and even climbed Shaoxing's Huiji Mountain to offer sacrifices to the emperor's tomb. The purpose was to show off the power of the country, appease the people of Jiangnan, and inspect the costly Qiantang River Seawall project.
Many people were confused about the Hua Xia's Jiangnan and did not know what it was. In fact, Jiangnan mainly referred to the Yangtze River Delta, especially the area south of the Yangtze River to the mouth of the Qiantang River and Yangzhou, which was also the core area of Jiangzhe and Zhejiang.
Because the Jiangnan area was extremely important to the empire, and the scenery and culture were very good, the emperor and his grandson would not give up the opportunity to go south to see the beautiful rivers and mountains. At the same time, they would appease and win over the people and maintain the stability of the empire.
"Sightseeing the beautiful scenery of the mountains and rivers, inspecting the irrigation works, reviewing the troops, winning over the people's hearts, and inspecting the people's situation. That person went to Jiangnan a few times and did so many things. How amazing! He seems to be a good emperor! "
Li Xiaolu said with a smile.
"That's a good emperor."
The corners of Li An's mouth curled up slightly. He felt that this was nothing.
Li Xiaolu said, "This is not good? If Assistant Minister Li becomes emperor, will he be better than him? "
After saying that, he looked at Li An curiously.
Hearing this, Li An was shocked. He quickly looked behind him. Seeing that there was no one nearby, he let out a big sigh of relief.
Although Li Xiaolu asked casually, being an emperor was a very sensitive topic. It could not be said casually. If it was spread by people with ulterior motives, it would be terrible.
"My little darling, don't say such things in the future. You will lose your head, do you understand?"
Ang Lee said in a low voice.
"Why? I was just asking casually."
Li Xiaolu felt very strange and blurted out.
Ang Lee did not know how to explain. After thinking for a while, he said, "Don't worry so much. In short, don't say such things in the future, especially in the presence of outsiders. Don't say such things."
"Oh, I know."
Li Xiaolu quickly shut up.
"Oh! In a few days, we'll be arriving in Cordoba. Should I prepare some gifts for Lachman? What should I prepare? "
Ang Lee said.
Li Xiaolu thought for a while and said, "Why should we give them gifts? Isn't the Tang dynasty here to help them this time? They should give gifts to the Tang dynasty. "
Ang Lee nodded and said, "That's right. However, Rahman is the emperor of a country after all. It's not good to not give him anything when we meet for the first time! It's too shabby. This pot of flowers is good. Why don't we give it to Rahman as a gift? "
As he spoke, he looked at a purple and white iris flower.
There were more than a dozen pots of iris on the deck of the ship. They were all personally dug up by Li Xiaolu from the mountains of Gibraltar. Originally, she planned to take them all the way to the Tang dynasty.
"I carefully selected these flowers and planned to take them to the Tang dynasty for planting. However, on the way back, we will pass by my hometown and transplant a few more. However, why did Assistant Minister Li give a pot of flowers to Rahman?"
Li Xiaolu naturally did not dare to oppose Ang Lee's request. However, she was very confused and did not understand what Ang Lee was thinking.
A gift to the emperor of a country should not be too casual. It was fine if he did not give a gift, but he should not give a gift so shabby!
Ang Lee smiled and said, "This pot of flowers was taken care of by Xiaolu personally. I have also watered this flower. There are so many flowers and plants in the world, but how many can be so lucky to have been watered by us together? Therefore, this flower is very precious. It is not shabby to give it to Rahman. I understand."
Li Xiaolu could not help but smile and nodded, "Assistant Minister Li is right. We have not taken care of many flowers and plants together. Rahman is very lucky to receive such a good gift from the world. Hee hee!"
After saying that, she could not help but cover her mouth and laugh.
Li Xiaolu was very clear that this kind of iris was not a specialty of her hometown. She knew that there were many such irises in the land of the north when she was very young. In other words, Rahman's palace should not be lacking irises. It was even possible that there was a huge garden full of irises. Ang Lee suddenly gave Rahman the very ordinary irises as a gift. This was really hard to understand. Although Ang Lee gave a reason, that reason was too ridiculous. It was simply bullying.
For Ang Lee, giving such a strange gift to Rahman had a special meaning. He wanted to make Rahman unable to understand the purpose of Ang Lee's gift. He wanted to make Rahman feel that Ang Lee was unfathomable.
It was best to make others unable to guess your intention. If everything was guessed by others, then it would be meaningless. It would make Ang Lee less mysterious.
After thinking about what gift to give to Rahman, Ang Lee began to think about what to take back from Rahman. Gibraltar must be taken back. As for other things, Ang Lee really could not think of anything. He just did not know if there were any local specialties that the Tang dynasty did not have.
In the direction of Moldova, King Rahman had prepared a lot of gifts for Ang Lee who was about to arrive. These gifts would be given to Ang Lee when Ang Lee arrived. Most of them were gold, silver, and jewelry. The amount was not a lot, but it was not a small amount either.
Due to the loss of the country's strength, Rahman did not have a lot of gold, silver, and jewelry to give to Ang Lee. He could only do this to show his sincerity.
However, what troubled Rahman the most was not Ang Lee's visit. It was the various pressures from the north and the country.
Outside the border of the north, Charlemagne's elite troops were still stationed there. They could attack the south at any time. The three main supporting forces in the country were competing for each other's benefits. The opponents were still active in the mountains, trying to destroy the new Kingdom. In the south, across the sea, Ottoman Empire had become a threat. So, how could Rahman not be worried?
"There's a letter from the north. Charlemagne has returned to the capital. Although there are ten thousand elite troops stationed at the border, they are mainly for defense. They should not attack us for the next one or two years. After all, their losses are not small. They need to recover their strength."
A confidant reported to Rahman.
Rehman sighed and said helplessly, "Charlie is very powerful and made us suffer heavy losses. However, his losses are not small either, so he won't be heading south for a short period of time. However, if we don't solve the problems in the country and in the south as soon as possible, when Charlie recovers, our situation will be very bad, very bad. Oh, right, I heard that Yusuf's son is still alive. The rebel army he organized has more than two thousand people, which is the largest group of rebel army in our country. Including the other scattered rebel armies, it should be no less than five thousand, maybe six thousand, eight thousand, or even ten thousand people. It's really bad."
"The situation is rather bad, but if the powerful enemies in the south and north are given enough time, it shouldn't be too difficult to deal with these fellows in the country. As long as the country is stable, after a few years of recuperation, our strength will be strong enough that we won't have to fear the threat from the north and south. However, Your Majesty shouldn't rashly attack the Ottoman Empire. If we can coexist peacefully with the Ottoman Empire, we won't have to worry about the threat from the south. We can focus on eliminating the rebels in the country and then move our main forces to the north to defend against Emperor Charlie the Great's next attack. For now, there won't be any movement in the north, and the strength of the rebels in the country isn't enough to pose much of a threat to us. However, the situation in the south is rather strange. We don't know what will happen after the Great Tang intervenes.
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