Rahman's palace had just been renovated a few years ago. It was built on the foundation of the original palace. The scale was expanded and the damaged houses were renovated. The originally dilapidated palace was restored to its former glory.
This was also because Rahman's foundation was not deep enough. The financial resources that his supporters could provide were limited. He could not afford to build a new palace without restraint. He could only make do with the old one.
It was a good thing to save money like this. After all, Rahman's kingdom had just been established. Restoring domestic order and production required money. There were too many things that required money. The years of turmoil had long exhausted the kingdom's vitality. The tax revenue that could be collected was a drop in the bucket compared to the huge expenditure. Therefore, even if Rahman wanted to build a new palace, he did not have the financial resources to do so.
Ang Lee took a closer look at the palace. Whether it was the scale or the size of the buildings, there was no way to compare it with the palaces of the Tang dynasty. The gap was huge.
This also fully demonstrated the gap between the strength of these small countries and the Tang dynasty. This gap was too big and would continue to expand in the future.
Although the palace here did not look as good as his mansion in Chang 'an City, Ang Lee naturally would not say this, nor would he despise them.
"Not bad! This palace is quite unique. The scenery is also very good. Not bad, not bad at all. "
Ang Lee praised.
Although she wasn't interested in the buildings here, the scenery was indeed different. It was quite comfortable to look at.
Rahman quickly introduced, "Assistant Minister Li, you may not know this, but this was originally the Governor's Mansion of the Abbasid Dynasty's governor, Yusuf. I led the kind people here and drove Yusuf away. Seeing that this place was really good, I decided to build the palace here."
"You directly built the palace in Yusuf's Governor's Mansion. You really know how to save money. It seems that you saved a lot of money!"
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Rehman laughed dryly. "We are a poor little country, and indeed do not have sufficient funds to build a new palace. This governor's office is indeed not bad, and we have no other choice. If we increase taxes on the commoners, the commoners will have a hard time."
I smiled awkwardly as I said this.
Ang Lee pretended to be surprised. "Really? Seeing how the King gave me so many gifts, I thought your country was very rich. "
Rahman hurriedly said, "You are a guest from the Tang dynasty. Even if we are a little poor, we won't let you get nothing. These gifts are the best we can give you. Our national strength is limited. We can't afford to be capricious!"
After saying that, he smiled awkwardly.
Ang Lee was touched and said, "Thank you so much. If I knew you were so short of money, I wouldn't have accepted it. However, since I've already accepted it, it's not good to return it to you, right?"
After saying that, an imperceptible smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Lachman nodded and said, "Of course. Assistant Minister Li is our friend, so it's only right that we do something for him. However, I wonder if there's anything special about the pot of flowers that Assistant Minister Li gave me?"
In fact, Rahman already wanted to ask the moment he received the gift. However, he was afraid that the people around him would laugh at him, so he didn't dare to ask. At this time, there was no one around, so Rahman asked very boldly.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "You need to understand this question yourself. I brought this pot of flowers from Gibraltar. I water it myself every day and take good care of it. The King must also take good care of it. Don't let it die."
"Oh, yes, I understand."
Of course, Rahman didn't understand. He didn't understand what Ang Lee was saying at all. However, in order to not expose his ignorance, he had to pretend that he understood everything.
Ang Lee looked up at the surrounding buildings and suddenly said, "The King just said that this used to be Governor Yusufu's residence. This reminded me of something."
After saying that, he frowned as if he was thinking back.
"Oh, Assistant Minister Li, what did you think of?"
Rahman looked guilty. He already knew what it was, but he didn't want to say it out loud.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "On the way here, I met Yusufu's son. He even boarded my ship. Oh right, he also said that he would give me a mountain of gold."
"Yusufu and his son have been eliminated by us long ago. The person Assistant Minister Li saw must be a fake. They must be Yusufu's accomplices. They want to create trouble for us. They are traitors. The words of these traitors can't be trusted. Assistant Minister Li, you mustn't believe them."
Rahman said very nervously.
Ang Lee smiled and nodded, "Of course I won't believe them. A kid of unknown origin said that he would give me a mountain of gold and said that he was the son of the former governor. How can I believe him so easily? I wanted to capture him and interrogate him, but I changed my mind. He was just a small fry. Moreover, he came to me on his own accord. It would be immoral to capture him. Therefore, I let him go directly to avoid delaying my journey."
"Haha! Assistant Minister Li did the right thing. We have thousands of traitors here. We are trying our best to suppress them. It's not worth delaying our business because of these small fries. Let's leave them alone. By the way, Assistant Minister Li came here from afar. What important things do you have to do? "
Rahman asked.
Ang Lee replied, "It's nothing important. I'm just a little bored in the Tang dynasty. I came out to relax and make friends with other countries and help them solve their problems."
"Oh, Assistant Minister Li must be tired after a day. Why don't you have a good rest first? We can talk about it tomorrow. "
Lachman didn't get any answers, so he naturally didn't continue to ask. They had indeed talked for a long time, so it was time to have a good rest and use the rest time to have a good discussion with his trusted subordinates.
Ang Lee nodded and agreed with Rahman's proposal. The two of them went to rest.
In Rahman's Council Chamber, more than a dozen of his key subordinates had all gathered. They had already begun to discuss. The main topic of their discussion was actually a pot of iris flowers in the Council Chamber. It was also a gift that Ang Lee gave to Rahman in front of them. It was a gift that they couldn't figure out.
"Why would a senior official of the Tang dynasty give a pot of flowers to the king? It's so strange. This is our iris flower. There is no shortage of this kind of flower inside and outside the palace. What does it mean? I don't understand. "
A subordinate said.
"Oh, I don't understand either. I don't know what the senior official of the Tang dynasty is doing. It's so strange."
One of the subordinates said.
"Is he trying to tell us that he likes iris flowers very much?"
"I think this iris flower is definitely different from other iris flowers. There must be some unknown secret in it."
"Could it be that they bought this iris flower from a faraway place?"
"This kind of iris flower is only found here. It's obvious that they dug it out from our land. It's not expensive at all. It's really too common."
"Is there a possibility that our businessmen here sold the iris flower to the faraway Tang dynasty? Then, the people of the Tang dynasty would think that the iris flower is very expensive and then give this pot of flowers to our king as a valuable gift?"
"This assumption is too unreasonable. Even if they bought it from the Tang dynasty, they should have seen a lot of iris flowers here when they were traveling. In this way, they would naturally understand that this kind of flower is worthless here. How could it be a valuable gift to the king?"
"It's a little strange. Maybe they told our king that the people of the Tang dynasty liked iris flowers very much."
Many subordinates guessed at the same time.
Rahman soon walked into the meeting hall and saw his subordinates discussing noisily. A few of them were carefully observing the pot and the iris flower.
"Your Majesty, I've checked it carefully for a long time. The flowerpot is just an ordinary pottery pot, a very cheap one. The irises are no different from the irises planted in our palace. It looks too ordinary. I really don't understand. What do they mean? Why did they send a pot of irises?"
One of the subordinates said when he saw Rahman enter.
Rahman frowned and said helplessly, "This Assistant Minister Li is very mysterious and somewhat unfathomable! I also asked some questions just now, but his answers were very profound. I couldn't understand at all, let alone guess his intentions. It's really a headache! "
When the subordinates heard this, they all looked at each other. At the same time, they also agreed with the king's words. They also felt that Ang Lee was too unfathomable. The things he did were too illogical, which made it impossible for them to speculate, let alone predict the purpose of Ang Lee's visit this time.
Seeing that his subordinates were also confused, Lachman was very discouraged. This feeling of helplessness made him very uncomfortable. After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth and asked, "What about the people that old man Charlie sent? Didn't they want to negotiate?"
"Your Majesty, they said that they were too tired from the journey. They wanted to have a good rest here for three to five days. Then, they will sit down and have a good talk with us. But I don't think they are here to negotiate at all."
"Your Majesty, the people sent by Charlie are under our surveillance. They are relatively honest. When the Tang Dynasty fleet came today, they had been watching the fun at the dock."
The two subordinates reported separately.
Rahman quickly understood his subordinate's words. He also clearly felt that the people sent by Charlemagne were not sincere in negotiating at all. If they were in a hurry to negotiate, why would they care about the tiredness of the journey? Moreover, they wanted to rest for three to five days. Wasn't this nonsense?
And from the importance that Charlemagne's subordinates attached to the Tang Dynasty fleet, it could be seen that their main purpose was to figure out the reason why the Tang Dynasty fleet came to Cordoba, not to negotiate.
In terms of figuring out Ang Lee's purpose, Rahman and his subordinates racked their brains but came up with nothing. As for the purpose of Charlemagne's people, they saw through it at a glance. In comparison, Ang Lee was really much smarter than Charlemagne.
Of course, these guys' thinking was too limited. It was really impossible for them to diverge their thinking. Ang Lee sent a pot of very common flowers to Rahman. There was no profound hint. It was just to deliberately mystify things. It was very childish. Even a ten-year-old child could easily figure it out. However, these old people were limited by experience and common sense, so they could not figure it out. It was a pity that they could not figure it out.
It was a pity. "Forget it. Since that old guy Charlie is not sincere in negotiating, then let them be! Just keep an eye on them. Don't let anything happen to them. "
Rahman opened his mouth and said.
Although he did not like the people sent by Charlie, they were still envoys. If something happened to them in his territory, it was equal to giving Charlie an excuse to launch an attack. It would put them in a very disadvantageous situation. Therefore, no matter how much he hated these guys, Rahman had to do his best to ensure the safety of these envoys.
At the same time, sending people to watch them could also play the role of monitoring and see who they were interacting with. In this way, they might be able to discover Charlemagne's spies in Moldova in one fell swoop. This was definitely a good thing for them.
"Your Majesty, I think Charlie's intention is the Tang Dynasty. If they are in contact with the people of the Tang Dynasty, should we step in to stop them?"
A confidant suddenly thought of a very important question and hurriedly asked.
This reminder immediately caught Rahman's attention and enlightened him. Before this, he did not quite understand. If Charlie wanted to investigate the purpose of the Tang Dynasty fleet, he could have just let the spies lurking in Moldova do it. There was no need to send envoys. However, after the reminder from his confidant, Rahman immediately figured out the key point.
It was not difficult to let the hidden spies investigate the Tang Dynasty's envoys. However, these spies were very low-level. They could only inquire from the side and could not come in contact with them directly. However, it was different for the envoys sent. They were all high-ranking officials and were fully qualified to meet with Ang Lee. They could even negotiate with Ang Lee when necessary. These were all tasks that ordinary spies could not complete. Therefore, it was necessary to send envoys.
After understanding this key point, Rahman's expression became rather complicated. Since the matter was very clear, he had to take measures to deal with it. As for what kind of measures to take, he had to carefully consider them.
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