Ceding land would definitely hurt Rahman, and it would even reduce his prestige and weaken the King's Aura that he had worked so hard to accumulate.
But as long as they could satisfy the needs of the Tang dynasty, they would also get corresponding benefits to make up for the loss of land and King's Aura caused by ceding land.
Moreover, they had no better choice. As long as Ang Lee really took a fancy to a certain piece of land here, they were afraid that they could not refuse. With their little strength, they were not enough to fill the gaps between Ang Lee's teeth.
Ceding land was painful, but if they did not cede it, they might lose more. This made Rahman very unhappy. Although Ang Lee did not ask for anything, he had learned about the situation from the sidelines. Moreover, he had almost guessed where Ang Lee's goal was.
"The Tang Dynasty fleet has stayed in Gibraltar for three days. Until now, there are still many of their soldiers and horses there. It seems that they intend to stay in Gibraltar and not leave!"
Rahman said.
"Your Majesty, the Tang dynasty is robbing us. How can we do that? Although it's only a small piece of land, it's still our land. It's ours."
"I think the same as your Majesty. The Tang dynasty probably wants Gibraltar. What should we do? We can't beat them. We definitely can't beat them. What should we do?"
"No, this is just a possibility. Maybe they don't want it. We can still discuss it."
"Your Majesty, what I care about now is what benefits the Tang dynasty can bring us. The Tang dynasty has vehicles made of iron sheets. If they can sell us some, then we don't have to be afraid of Charlie and Osman. It's not impossible to lose some land."
"What do you mean? Gibraltar is not in your territory. Of course you won't feel bad. That's my territory. Remember, it's my territory. I don't agree."
Many of the officials began to discuss loudly, completely ignoring the ashen faced Rahman. It was as if Rahman did not exist at all. This was enough to show that Rahman's position in the kingdom was not stable enough. The officials' reverence for him was not strong enough. They actually continued to argue in front of him. They did not put him in their eyes at all.
This was because Rahman knew that his foundation was too shallow. Therefore, even if his subordinates overturned the roof, he would not get angry.
"Your Majesty, it's not like I can't give up on Gibraltar. However, you must give me some compensation. You can't let me lose a port and a piece of land for no reason."
After some arguments, the vassal who owned the territory of Gibraltar compromised. However, he felt that he should not suffer a loss for nothing. If the Tang dynasty could really give Rahman Kingdom certain benefits, he should get more. Otherwise, he would feel unbalanced in his heart.
Rahman said, "Okay, everyone, stop arguing. Assistant Minister Li hasn't said anything yet. How can we take the initiative to give up the land? Let's wait! Let's see what conditions they offer in exchange! "
The officials felt that it was reasonable, so they left one after another.
Ang Lee stayed in Cordova for a few days. His daily work was very easy. He just had to eat and chat with Rahman. He also introduced the current development of the Tang Empire, the future direction of development, and the great achievements in science and technology.
This could also be considered as brainwashing! It was to make Rahman yearn for life in the Tang dynasty. In this way, he would naturally be more willing to cooperate with the Tang dynasty and would not mind selling a little of his own interests.
"The Tang dynasty is thousands of miles away from our country. It can be reached in a day. Even a bird can't fly that fast!"
Rahman found it hard to accept Ang Lee's idea of a passenger plane. After all, Ang Lee's idea was too avant-garde. It was hard for him to accept it for a while.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Yes, of course. A bird will get tired after flying for a while, but a plane won't get tired. Moreover, a non-plane is much faster than a bird. As long as the experiment is successful, it will take at most a day to fly from the Tang dynasty to Cordova."
"Too fast, too fast. When can the Tang dynasty develop such a powerful thing?"
Rahman couldn't help but ask curiously, although he couldn't believe it.
Ang Lee said, "It's hard to say! However, it will definitely be developed. When the time comes, if the king wants to go to the Tang dynasty to have a look, he can get there in a day. "
After hearing this, Rahman's eyes were filled with shock and longing. Who didn't want to live a carefree life? Wouldn't it be the greatest carefree life to travel around?
Ang Lee saw that Rahman was tempted, so he continued, "This is nothing. What about something even more powerful? If the phone can be invented, the king only needs to make a phone call if he wants to find me. In the blink of an eye, I can hear what the king is saying. Isn't it more powerful? "
Rahman was completely shocked by Ang Lee's request. He was stunned for a long time and didn't know what to say. Ang Lee definitely didn't lie to him. As long as Ang Lee had enough time, he should be able to develop these things. After all, many technical blueprints were in Ang Lee's mind. As long as he spent time studying them, he would definitely be able to achieve the final success.
Of course, in addition to showing off all kinds of high-tech, Ang Lee also told Rahman that as long as he cooperated with the Tang dynasty and was a friend of the Tang dynasty, he would have a share of these good things in the future. The Tang dynasty wouldn't treat its good friends badly, as long as they were good friends of the Tang dynasty.
Rahman was completely convinced. In his opinion, it was too important to be friendly with the Tang dynasty. If they didn't get along well with the Tang dynasty, their losses would be too great. In this way, losing some benefits was nothing. As long as they could get the support of the Tang dynasty, it was very cost-effective.
In this regard, they only needed to look at Osman. Osman didn't have much strength before, but because he received the support and assistance of the Tang dynasty, his strength suddenly increased many times. He even rode on their heads.
Therefore, for the interests of the kingdom, Rahman must hold on to the big tree of the Tang Empire. Only in this way could he sit firmly on the throne.
"Assistant Minister Li, we are willing to be affiliated with the Tang dynasty. Is it possible?"
Rahman asked.
Ang Lee was, of course, very happy when he heard this. He quickly nodded and said, "Yes, very good. However, the conflict between you and Osman seems to be very deep! Osman is also a friend of the Tang dynasty, but he wanted to attack you. If I didn't repeatedly dissuade him, I'm afraid that Cordoba would be in the flames of war now. If the troops of the Tang dynasty withdraw, Osman may attack again. Wouldn't that be troublesome? This big trouble must be solved. "
"Assistant Minister Li, do you have a good idea?"
Rahman asked.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "If Osman wants to attack you, he will definitely choose to land from the southern port and then advance to Cordoba by land. If the Tang dynasty can station a troop in the southern port of Gibraltar, it can effectively deter Osman and prevent him from attacking from the north. It can protect you very well and let the two countries coexist peacefully. I just don't know if Your Majesty can give Gibraltar to us."
After he finished speaking, he looked indifferent.
In fact, Rahman had already thought it through. Naturally, he would not object, so he readily agreed, "If the Tang dynasty is sincerely willing to be friends, it's not a big deal to give Gibraltar to the Tang dynasty. We are not stingy people. We only hope that the Tang dynasty can help us. We need a lot of things that only the Tang dynasty has."
Ang Lee knew what Rahman wanted. He said, "Your Majesty is too generous. Since that's the case, I can't be stingy. Five thousand Hidden Yuan Crossbows, five hundred thousand arrows, and many other weapons have been prepared. They will all be given to Your Majesty to strengthen your armaments and defend against the invasion of foreign enemies."
Since Rahman was very generous to cede Gibraltar, Ang Lee had to give him some benefits. Otherwise, Rahman would not be able to give a convincing explanation to the ministers and people of the kingdom. Giving them so many benefits would naturally ease the dissatisfaction within the kingdom.
A very important matter had been resolved in a casual conversation. It couldn't have gone any smoother. It was beyond imagination. If this had happened in the future, this kind of matter wouldn't have been resolved even after decades of fighting. It might even have required the use of force. However, Li An was just that awesome. Through sufficient preparation in the early stages, he could resolve the matter with just a few words later on.
Later, Ang Lee and Rahman discussed various technical support issues. After all, Rahman Kingdom's various technologies were too backward. In order to do better business with the Tang Dynasty in the future, it was necessary to provide them with some necessary technical support. In this way, the price of these materials could also be reduced for the Tang Dynasty.
For example, after the Tang Dynasty took Gibraltar, they would definitely carry out construction. However, construction could not be done without a lot of raw materials, such as sand, stones, cement, and steel bars. These were all necessary construction materials. It would not be feasible to lack any of them. If they produced all of these materials themselves, it would be very uneconomical. If they could let the local people be responsible for the production and supply, it would greatly reduce the construction cost.
Only with the technical assistance of the Tang Empire could they learn the relevant technology of cement and other construction materials. From there, they could carry out large-scale production, reduce the production cost step by step, and supply the market with sufficient construction materials.
Of course, when these construction materials were abundant, not only could they support the construction of the Tang Dynasty, but they would also be of great benefit to their own domestic construction. They could greatly improve the strength and construction efficiency of the buildings. They could even pave hard and stable concrete roads to promote the traffic of various main roads.
It could be seen that the technical assistance provided by Li An was the simplest and most basic technical assistance. As for the more advanced military fields, he would never help them. At most, he would sell them some products, and that would already be good enough.
"Your Majesty, these are all the technical information of cement and concrete materials. They are very detailed. In addition, I will leave a few technical personnel in Gibraltar. If you don't understand, you can ask them at any time."
Ang Lee personally handed over the technology that he had already prepared to Rahman. The value of these materials was far higher than the 5,000-volt long-range crossbow. They were of great strategic importance to change the overall appearance of the Rahman Kingdom. They were also good things that Rahman urgently wanted. Therefore, when he received these technical information, Rahman's expression was extremely excited. These treasures were much better than the 5,000-volt long-range crossbow.
Previously, when he thought of ceding a piece of land to the Tang Dynasty, Rahman felt a headache. But at this moment, after receiving so many benefits, he suddenly felt that he had gained a big advantage. The grievances in his heart were swept away, and he soon became lively again.
"Thank you, Assistant Minister Li. I will go and arrange it first."
Rahman naturally needed to take back and organize so much technical information. Moreover, he also had to consider how to distribute these technical information.
After all, whoever had these technical information would have the opportunity to make a lot of money. This was a matter of interest, so naturally, he had to be very careful.
In the process of obtaining the throne, Rahman had won the support of many local and Arab nobles. Although these forces supported him, their loyalty was not very high. They were only tied together because of common interests. If the interests were not distributed well, it might cause unrest again. In that case, it would be very troublesome.
Therefore, after receiving the technical assistance from Ang Lee, Rahman had to carefully consider which technology to give to whom, whether it would cause dissatisfaction among the other forces, or whether it would be necessary to copy all these technologies into several copies and give each supporting force a separate copy so that they could develop together and compete equally.
Of course, it could also be distributed according to the different resources of each territory. These distribution methods would cause different consequences, and this was what Rahman needed to consider.
In addition, Rahman could also use this opportunity to play games with the supporting forces and use the technical information to force them to hand over more rights. This would be conducive to Rahman's gradual centralization of power, and step by step, his grand ambition of completely controlling the Rahman Empire.
After receiving Ang Lee's order, the officials of the Tang Dynasty handed over the Fu Yuan Crossbows and other weapons to Rahman's subordinates one by one and watched them transport the weapons to the palace.
Ang Lee had already given the technical information and various weapons to Rahman as agreed. As for how to distribute these materials and weapons, it was entirely up to Rahman. Ang Lee would not interfere with other people's internal affairs, and there was no need to interfere at all. It was simply tiring and not rewarding. It was better to let them deal with it themselves. Anyway, as long as they could meet the requirements of the Tang Empire, it would be fine. Who cared how they distributed the benefits internally?
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