Emperor Charlie the Great's ambition was huge, especially after he had won many battles to expand his territory. His ambition had swelled to the point where he almost regarded himself as a God. However, whenever he encountered failure, it would also affect his ego to a large extent.
For example, in the battle with Rahman, Charlemagne's army had been defeated and suffered great losses. There were also strong enemies in other directions, so Charlemagne's arrogance suddenly weakened. He did not want his empire to have enemies on all sides. In this way, no matter how strong he was, it would be difficult for him to fight against all sides. Therefore, after he saw Rahman's strength, he had the intention to negotiate.
In Charlemagne's territory, the threats mainly came from three directions. They were the Saxons in the northeast, the opposing forces in the southeast, and the Rahman Kingdom in the southwest.
Among them, the most troublesome was the Saxons in the northeast. In order to conquer the Saxons, Charlemagne had launched 18 attacks. The war had lasted for more than 20 years, almost once a year. It was a cruel and protracted war. Because of this protracted war, the Saxons had lost a quarter of their population, and Charlemagne's army had also suffered great losses.
As for why Charlemagne had to attack the Saxons in the northeast, other than the difference in their religious beliefs, it was also because of the need for the empire's expansion. Charlemagne was worried that the Saxons would become powerful one day, so he had to strike first to gain the upper hand. He had to completely conquer them and eliminate the possibility of the Saxons' rise.
This was just like Emperor Yang of Sui in Hua Xia. After seeing the strength of the Goryeo Kingdom in the northeast expanding, he launched many military campaigns against Goryeo, but he did not achieve victory.
There was a saying in Hua Xia since ancient times, "How can one allow others to sleep beside one's bed?" In the empire ruled by Charlemagne, all the people had to believe in Christianity. However, the Saxons had their own beliefs, and they had no intention of changing their beliefs. This made Charlemagne very unhappy. It was dangerous to let a country with different beliefs stay beside him and slowly develop.
The beliefs of the Rahman Kingdom and the Charlemagne Empire were different. This was the main reason why Charlemagne attacked the south.
However, in comparison, the threat of the Saxons in the north was greater. After all, the Saxons in the north shared a larger border with the Charlemagne Empire. However, the situation of the Rahman Kingdom was different. The Rahman Kingdom was located halfway, and the border between the Charlemagne Empire in the northeast was not large. Moreover, there were mountains and rivers in the way. It was a very good dividing line.
Therefore, even if Charlemagne suffered heavy losses, he had to conquer the Saxons in the northeast. As for the Rahman Kingdom in the southwest, he was willing to negotiate with them to prevent his empire from being attacked from both sides.
Ang Lee naturally knew that Charlemagne had sent his subordinates to Cordova for peace talks. Before arriving in Cordova, Ang Lee had already placed spies here. Therefore, Ang Lee was very clear about everything that happened in Cordova. He also knew that Charlemagne had an ulterior motive. The main purpose of the peace talks team was to understand the Tang dynasty.
However, what surprised Ang Lee was that Charlemagne's subordinates had been waiting for so long. Why hadn't they contacted him yet? Could it be that they were just here to take a look? Recently, Ang Lee had given a lot of weapons to the Rahman Empire. Why hadn't these guys responded?
"Assistant Minister Li, Charlemagne's men are here. It seems that they can't hold it in anymore."
His subordinate said.
Ang Lee smiled slightly. "Since they are here, of course I have to meet them. Let them in!"
After saying that, he began to prepare the words to welcome Charlemagne's men.
After a round of greetings, Charlemagne's subordinates stated the purpose of their visit. They expressed the wish of Charlemagne's empire to be friendly with the Tang dynasty. In short, they said a lot of words of praise, which seemed quite sincere.
Since Charlemagne was willing to be friendly with the Tang dynasty, Ang Lee certainly would not reject him. Naturally, the more countries that were friendly with the Tang dynasty, the better. The more countries there were, the more the charm of the Tang Empire could be reflected.
"Well said, well said. The Tang dynasty is willing to establish friendly relations with all the countries in the world. We also hope that all the countries in the world can get along with each other and give the people in the world a stable life."
Ang Lee said with a kind attitude.
This was Ang Lee's ideal, and at the same time, it was also in line with the interests of the Tang Empire. If all the countries along the Maritime Silk Road were constantly at war, then the commercial route opened by the Tang dynasty would suffer heavy losses. Only if all the countries along the route could get along with each other peacefully and everyone surrounded the Tang Empire could they obtain the greatest commercial benefits.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. We came here this time to negotiate with Rahman. As long as the border between the two countries is fixed, the probability of war in the future will be greatly reduced."
Charlemagne's subordinate said.
Ang Lee said affirmatively, "Well, that's great. I hope your two countries can reach an agreement as soon as possible and there will be no more wars in the future."
"We absolutely have the sincerity to negotiate. However, Rahman defeated us last time, and now the Tang dynasty has supported them with a lot of weapons. I'm afraid they won't be so willing to negotiate!"
Charlemagne's subordinate said.
Ang Lee said, "Don't worry! They won't. The weapons we support are all cold weapons like bows and crossbows. They are not as powerful as you think. They won't change the balance of forces between the two sides. In addition, although you lost last time, Rahman didn't win smoothly either. They also suffered a great loss! Your country has all kinds of problems, and so does Rahman. The internal opposition and the threat from the south have always been there. Therefore, you really shouldn't attack each other. It won't do any good to either side. "
"Assistant Minister Li is right. But can we buy some weapons from the Tang dynasty? The same as Rahman's will be fine. "
Charlemagne's subordinate asked.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "Okay, I'll sell you ten sets. They are exactly the same as the weapons Rahman received."
Ang Lee really didn't care about these cold weapons that had been completely eliminated. Even if these effects were imitated, it didn't matter much. After leaving for so long, the R&D Center in Chang 'an City must have developed a lot of good things and accumulated a lot of technology. In this way, after returning, Ang Lee could invent more advanced weapons. It wouldn't be a problem to get a rifle. Once guns were introduced, swords and bows became useless. Even the most backward matchlock gun had a better range and power than bows, not to mention the subsequent flintlocks and even rifles.
Ang Lee had been industrializing in the Tang dynasty for some time. Now that he had accumulated so many years of technology, it shouldn't be a big problem for him to get a rifle. After returning to Chang 'an City, Ang Lee would get a rifle. He would first equip the imperial guards in the capital, and then popularize it step by step.
However, after the invention of the rifle, there would probably be many people who would oppose it. After all, this thing was too powerful and was especially suitable for assassination. Since ancient times, assassins had used swords and bows to complete their murders. The power of these two weapons was very limited. The success rate of the assassination was not high, and it was difficult to retreat to a safe place. Many times, assassination was simply suicide.
Once the rifle was invented, assassins could hide in a distant position to launch a surprise attack. After a successful attack, they could quickly escape the scene and continue to shoot at the pursuing guards to escape to a safe place.
Of course, the power and range of cannons were greater, but the size of cannons was too big. It would be very difficult to launch a sneak attack quietly. Moreover, the number of cannons in each army was limited. If one was missing, it would be easy to be discovered. The size of the gun was relatively small, so it would be difficult to discover when one was missing in the army. When assassins used it, it was also very convenient to carry it around, so they could kill people unknowingly.
In other words, once the gun fell into the hands of people with ulterior motives, it was very likely to become a tool to assassinate the enemy. Even the emperor of a country would feel unsafe when he went out. Therefore, as long as Ang Lee developed the gun, there would definitely be a certain debate in the imperial court on the issue of equipping it. However, because guns were of great help to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, even if there were huge opposition, guns could still be equipped with the army in the end. However, the management of this kind of weapon was estimated to be very strict, especially at the beginning. It was likely that only the most elite troops could be equipped with this kind of powerful weapon, and the general troops could still only use cold weapons, thus minimizing the military cost.
Wars were fought with money and food. It had been like this since ancient times. Weapons that consumed too much money were generally difficult to be popularized on a large scale. They were even eliminated directly unless the army was really rich. Otherwise, they really could not support it.
For example, the Mo sword of the Tang dynasty became an excellent military equipment because of its great power. However, when it came to the Song dynasty, the Mo sword had disappeared. Some people said that the technology of the Mo sword was lost because of the war. Some people also said that making the Mo sword consumed too many resources and the cost was too high. The rest of the spears and spears were much cheaper. Therefore, in order to popularize weapons in the army as soon as possible, it was natural to choose the low-cost spear type weapons. The expensive Mo sword became a burden to the army, so it was natural for it to be eliminated.
After all, a large sword could be used for a long time. It could be casually sharpened during a war. However, a gun was a precision weapon. Its manufacturing cost was high and it was much more difficult than making a large sword. When it was used, it would constantly consume ammunition. These ammunition were all costs. In addition, the lifespan of a gun was definitely not as long as a large sword and other cold weapons. After using too many bullets, the barrel would be scrapped or it would not be accurate. The barrel was the most expensive part of the entire gun.
Therefore, even if Ang Lee made this kind of advanced weapon, it could only be equipped with the most elite troops. Moreover, they must act together. Such elite troops were not allowed to act alone to avoid such advanced weapons falling into the hands of the enemy.
In later generations, many big countries would not support their most sophisticated weapons while supporting small countries. This was because the big countries were worried that the weapons they supported would be seized by the enemies of the small countries and then given to the enemies of the big countries. In this way, the technology of the big countries would be leaked and the losses would be quite heavy.
Of course, because the technological strength of the countries at this stage was relatively weak, even if the weapons of the Tang dynasty were obtained by other countries, they could not imitate them. Not to mention the complicated technology of the armored vehicles, even the seemingly simple Mo sword could not be imitated by these barbarian countries. Even if they could make the Mo sword of the Tang dynasty look like it, there was no doubt that the technical and tactical indicators would not be up to standard.
Since the technology would not be leaked, the main problem was the safety of the important figures. In case the enemy seized the gun and used it to assassinate the high-ranking officials of the Tang dynasty, it would bring great losses to the Tang dynasty. This risk was obvious and must be paid special attention to.
It was precisely because of this factor that Ang Lee did not develop the gun for a long time and made the cannon first.
Of course, another important reason was that Li An didn't think much of those lousy matchlock guns. If he wanted to create a powerful rifle in one go, he would need to accumulate a lot of skill and experience. Of course, he would have to take it slow.
After receiving Ang Lee's promise, Charlemagne's subordinate was very happy. Although Ang Lee only agreed to sell him ten sets of weapons, as long as the Tang dynasty agreed, his task would be completed. He could return to the north with these ten sets of weapons and explain to Charlemagne.
After Charlemagne's subordinate left, Ang Lee began to think about the preparations for returning to the Tang dynasty. After all, almost all the tasks had been completed. There was really nothing worth staying for. It was time to go back.
Although Rahman sincerely urged him to stay, Ang Lee still had to leave as soon as possible. After returning to the Tang dynasty, Ang Lee still had a lot of things to do. He could not stay outside and waste time.
Of course, before leaving, Ang Lee would leave his right-hand man behind. After all, whether it was to coordinate the relationship between Rahman and the neighboring countries, to let them live in peace, or to build the Gibraltar port, he needed reliable people in charge. Otherwise, Ang Lee would not be at ease.
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