Rahman thought of many ways to deal with it. For example, he could use the reason of safety to make Charlemagne's people stay in their own posthouse, thus preventing them from meeting or even conspiring with the officials of the Tang dynasty. However, he always felt that it was a little inappropriate.
Another example was to restrict the travel of the officials of the Tang dynasty. He could tell them that there were rebels in the capital and that it was not safe outside. He could also tell the officials of the Tang dynasty to stay in their own places and try not to go out without permission. Even if they wanted to go out, they should be accompanied by their own people to prevent the officials of the Tang dynasty from meeting with Charlemagne's people. Of course, there would also be a problem in doing so. That was, it would cause the officials of the Tang dynasty to be dissatisfied, which was not something they could afford to offend.
Of course, they could also send people to guard the residences of the officials of the Tang dynasty and Charlemagne's subordinates to prevent irrelevant people from contacting them. This was also a way. However, it was still difficult to prevent both sides from going out. What if they met in a restaurant or a brothel and got together? How could they forcibly separate them?
In short, Rahman thought of many ways, but none of them could completely stop Charlemagne from meeting the officials of the Tang dynasty. Obviously, he could not use force casually to avoid causing worse consequences.
After discussing with his subordinates, he still could not find the most suitable way, which made Rahman very worried.
"Your Majesty, since Charlemagne's purpose is to contact the Tang dynasty, I'm afraid we can't stop him. Moreover, we still don't know the purpose of the Tang dynasty's trip, let alone where their final destination is. If they originally planned to go to the Charlemagne Empire, wouldn't it be meaningless for us to stop them? On the contrary, it will make both sides unhappy. It's better to let nature take its course and let them meet."
A confidant suggested.
Rahman thought it was very reasonable. Instead of being a bad person, it was better to be a good person with an open mind. Since it was almost impossible to stop them from meeting, it was better to let nature take its course and let them meet.
After staying in Cordova, Ang Lee was not in a hurry to tell Rahman his purpose of coming. After all, it was a bit of bullying to make a territorial claim to Rahman. Although it was for their good and to protect them, it was better to relax for a few days. If he made such a request as soon as they met, it would probably be hard for the other party to accept. He had to slowly cultivate their relationship, then find the most suitable time to make the request. Finally, he could take the port of Gibraltar in one fell swoop. This was the best and safest way. Moreover, the environment here was not bad. He could just treat it as a vacation and let his subordinates spread the prestige of the Tang dynasty and let the people here worship the Tang Empire.
In addition, Ang Lee had always been strict with military discipline. Although he allowed the officers and soldiers to go to brothels, he would not allow them to bully ordinary people. Even if they were people from other countries, they were not allowed to bully them. Moreover, they had to be very friendly to them. Only in this way could he improve the soft power of the Tang Empire and let them understand that the ordinary soldiers of the Tang Empire were high-quality people, which would make them yearn for it more.
In addition to the soft power, the hard power that could make people fear also had to be shown. After arriving in Cordoba, Ang Lee had already ordered the armored vehicles under his command to patrol the inside and outside of Cordoba in groups. In addition, ordinary people were allowed to visit nearby places where there were many people in the city. However, if someone wanted to go inside, they would have to pay a small sum of money. In fact, it was not expensive, but it could control the number of people who wanted to visit, so as to avoid causing chaos and causing personal injuries.
Since Ang Lee's order was issued, half of the armored vehicles under his command had already started to move. They either appeared in the streets and alleys to welcome the attention of the people at a slow speed, or they directly stopped in the places with the most people to let the people take a closer look and touch the heavy armor. Anyway, it would not be damaged, so satisfying their curiosity was the most important thing.
In addition, it was inevitable that there would be people in the crowd who were curious and wanted to go in to have a look. The soldiers of the Tang Empire just happened to ask for a small sum of money to let them go in to satisfy their curiosity.
Of course, no matter how much money they were given, they could not visit for too long. They had to leave after a cup of tea to let more people satisfy their curiosity and better promote the outside world's understanding of the Tang Empire.
Although the Tang Empire's requirement was that as long as one had a small sum of money, they could enter the inner part of the armored vehicles for a while. However, there was always a distinction between the rich and the poor among the onlookers. The low-status businessmen, even if they could afford to pay, did not dare to push their way to the front. They had to let the high-status people go up first to satisfy their curiosity, and they could only go to the back. The ordinary passers-by did not dare to spend money to visit.
At noon, the soldiers of the Tang Empire directly locked the doors of the armored vehicles and then left directly. They did not stop the curious people from approaching. After all, there were so many people on the scene, and there was no chance for them to destroy the armored vehicles. At most, they would touch the iron sheets, or some naughty children would climb to the top of the armored vehicles to show off. However, these actions would not cause any damage to the armored vehicles, so there would be no loss.
The people sent by Charlemagne were naturally very interested in the armored vehicles of the Tang Empire. They had been taking turns to observe these armored vehicles. They even went inside to have a look. They could not calm down for a long time and were indescribably shocked.
"The king asked us to come here to investigate the situation of the Tang Empire. How do you think we should report it?"
"Just report it as it is. I know the king may not believe it, but we can only report it as it is. If we don't understand it, we won't report it."
"All right! It seems that this is the only way. Then, should we contact the people of the Tang Empire? "
"It's okay to say hello, but what gifts should we prepare? We can't go to chat with them empty-handed! "
"When we came here, the king didn't give us much money. I'm afraid it's not realistic to prepare more expensive gifts. Let's contact them first! There's no need to prepare gifts. Just go to a brothel or a restaurant. As long as they are drunk, it'll be easier to trick them. "
On the second floor of a restaurant, Charlemagne's subordinates saw the armored vehicles below through the window, so they began to talk about it.
It had to be said that there was no problem with these guys' thinking. Places like restaurants and brothels were indeed very suitable for inquiring about all kinds of information and getting the information they wanted.
However, since they could think of this problem, how could Ang Lee not think of it? Along the way, Ang Lee had used these places countless times to spread false information and gain huge benefits for himself.
This time, of course, he would not let go of such an important opportunity. As the saying goes, the truth is revealed after drinking, and a group of people under Ang Lee's command specialized in telling lies after drinking. They took advantage of the fact that others believed that the truth was revealed after drinking to lie and deceive people after drinking to gain benefits for the Tang Empire. The effect was extraordinarily good, it was simply too good.
Later, a phenomenon soon appeared. Whichever restaurant the officials of the Tang Empire went to, that restaurant's business would become particularly good. Wherever there were officials of the Tang Empire, there would be good business. Many businessmen who opened shops regarded the officials of the Tang Empire as the God of Wealth. Not only were their services more considerate, but they also gave discounts, even lower than the cost price. The most generous shops did not even charge the officials of the Tang Empire for food and drink, letting the officials of the Tang Empire eat and drink for free.
This was all voluntary by the shops, not the officials of the Tang Empire who wanted to eat and dash. Therefore, this was absolutely not against the rules. The officials of the Tang Empire did not have any psychological burden. They ate and drank as usual. After eating and drinking, they began to tell lies to deceive people who wanted to inquire about information. Among the lies, there were many truths mixed together. It was completely impossible to tell which was true and which was false.
Generally, after lying, these officials of the Tang Empire needed to lie on the table and have a good sleep to show that they were really drunk. Only then could they make people believe that what they had just said was true.
After the false information was revealed, whether it was Charlemagne's people or Rahman's people, they all hurriedly reported it to their superiors.
After receiving such important information, the people sent by Charlemagne hurriedly wrote a letter and had it sent back to the north. Rahman's subordinates hurried to the palace, wanting to tell King Rahman about this matter and have a good discussion with Rahman.
Because many ministers had their own sources of information, they almost all learned about the situation as soon as possible. Only Rahman was the last to know.
When all these people entered the palace, Rahman also came from his residence to discuss this matter with his ministers.
"Your Majesty, the purpose of the Tang Empire's trip this time is to build the Maritime Silk Road and help the countries along the way to develop trade. It is completely out of good intentions, and there is no malice."
"Although that is the case, the high-ranking officials of the Tang Empire also said that along the way, they have captured pirate lairs, received land given by the countries, and built huge bases. Each base has hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, and the whole line is impregnable. I'm afraid that the next step …"
"Your Majesty, the officials of the Tang Empire also said that Osman has more than 100,000 soldiers, which is more than our soldiers and horses. Their strength should not be underestimated. If it were not for the Tang Empire's troops who went to dissuade them, their expeditionary force would have already attacked. In this case, if Osman and Charlemagne join forces to attack us from the north and the south, we will be in a difficult situation."
"The officials of the Tang Empire also said that only the troops of the Tang Empire stationed here can effectively stop our confrontation with Osman and ensure the safety of both sides. I don't know what they mean."
"Your Majesty, the Tang Empire seems to be interested in our land. This is not out of good intentions, but a conspiracy!"
Because different ministers had different channels, the information they could obtain was also different. However, there were also overlaps among them, which could prove the authenticity of the information. Moreover, there were no contradictions at all.
After listening to the conversation of his subordinates and combining the information, Rahman quickly figured out the purpose of the Tang Empire fleet's arrival. He suddenly felt quite complicated.
The Tang Empire seemed to be interested in their land, and land was a very sensitive issue no matter what era it was. Charlemagne attacked the south to seize their land, and the Tang Empire's purpose was also land.
At this moment, he seemed to think of something. He thought of the pot of iris flowers that Li An had given him, and he also thought of Li An's words. He suddenly felt that Li An had taken a liking to the land here, to the iris flowers here. By giving him this pot of iris flowers, he was telling him that the Great Tang needed a place where iris flowers could grow.
At the thought of this, Rahman broke out in a cold sweat. If the Tang Empire really needed land, then he was in trouble. Charlemagne and Osman were enough to give him a headache, and the Tang Empire was much stronger than these two countries. Just a small escort team here was already indescribably powerful, not to mention the powerful forces of the distant Tang Empire.
After seeing the armored vehicles of the Tang Empire with his own eyes, he felt that Ang Lee's current forces were enough to occupy Moldova. If the Tang Empire sent forces from the distant mainland, they could easily occupy the entire Rahman Kingdom. And from the situation along the way, as long as the Tang Empire wanted a place, there was no place that they could not get. So, did it not mean that as long as the place the Tang Empire wanted, it would be the land of the Tang Empire? There was no room for negotiation.
Every emperor valued their territory. No emperor was willing to give up their land. However, they could give it up when necessary. For example, when their dynasty was in danger, they could use the price of giving up part of their land to allow their dynasty to exist for a while longer. This was the so-called protracted existence. The Plait Dynasty was a very good example. They ceded their land and paid reparations time and time again. In the end, they were able to delay their demise for decades.
As for the Rahman Kingdom, although it was just established, it called itself the Umayyad Dynasty. Rahman himself was also the prince of the Umayyad Dynasty, and this dynasty had been destroyed for many years. In other words, the original territory of the Umayyad Dynasty was very large. At this moment, the Umayyad Dynasty in Rahman's hands was very small. Its territory was less than one-tenth of the former territory. Moreover, it was a remote existence.
From this point of view, as long as Rahman did not recover the former territory and recognized the new regime established on these lands, then his behavior was betraying the country. He had sold 90% of the territory.
For example, the Great Song Dynasty of the Hua Xia, after settling in the south of the Yangtze River, soon recognized the Jin Kingdom that occupied the north of the Yangtze River. This was equivalent to selling a large part of the country. It was a serious act of betrayal.
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