The local bustling streets are not very wide, compared to the Zhuque Street of Datang, the difference is not a star and a half, you must know that the width of the Zhuque Street of Datang is more than 100 steps, equivalent to 150 meters, which is equivalent to 50 lanes in both directions, and the width of the street here is much narrower, only 20 steps, removing the sidewalks on both sides, the width in the middle can only accommodate four ironclad artillery cars side by side, which is equivalent to two-way four lanes.

Because it is the most prosperous area, there are restaurants and restaurants on both sides, and there are many green buildings, and there are many people coming and going, showing the prosperity here.

Ang Lee and his entourage drove the road with an ironclad gun cart, and walked towards the restaurant in a mighty way, earning enough eyeballs, the return rate was not ordinarily high, and there were even many children, curiously chasing Ang Lee's team all the way to fully satisfy their curiosity.

Ang Lee doesn't mind being stalked by these curious children, and is also used to this kind of behavior, in his previous life, when he was young, Ang Lee lived in a poor rural area, as long as there was a car in the village, there would always be a large group of children running over to see the scenery, just like watching monsters.

These curious children who are following behind now, just like themselves back then, give people a sense of nostalgia when they look at them.

In the Xitianzhu official office, several young businessmen also went to treat them, since they invited the officials of the Tang Dynasty, they naturally did not dare not invite the local officials, otherwise, they would not give the local officials face, and after Li An left, they would have to rely on the local officials to take care of them.

"What are those merchants doing here?"

The king asked, looking at the harbour master.

"The king, they are all relatively large local merchants, and they invite their ministers to a banquet."

The harbor chief replied.

The king nodded, and said, "All right, then you can go to the feast!" These merchants can bring us a lot of wealth in Xitianzhu, and it is beneficial to associate with them more. ”

"King, they also invited high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty to a banquet with their ministers."

The harbor chief said.

"Oh, the high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty are also going."

King Xi Tianzhu was stunned for a moment, and said: "Hurry up and prepare, this king is also going to the banquet, just say that this king is the governor of the west and your boss." ”

"Yes, King."

The port chief replied and complained in a low voice: "Didn't you say the same level last night? How did he become a superior again today? ”

Soon, the king of West Tianzhu and the chief of the port went to the banquet with a group of guards.

Because the distance is relatively close, therefore, the king of West Tianzhu arrived a little earlier than Li An, and was welcomed by the merchant group, these are all officials, who dares not to welcome it, as for the complaints in their hearts, they can only endure it, if they don't have this ability, then how to do business.

After going upstairs, King Xi Tianzhu and his courtiers all stood near the window, standing and looking at the scenery outside.

The king, who had been in the capital for a long time, had rarely had the opportunity to come to the port, and it could be said that he had not visited the port for many years, and he was surprised to find that the harbor had changed so much.

The rapid development of this port is closely related to the increase in Datang merchants, especially in recent years, with the rapid development of Datang, there are more and more Datang merchants who choose overseas trade, and this is bound to drive the development of overseas ports and make the development of overseas ports faster and better.

"It's only been a few years, and the port of my West Tianzhu has developed like this, this king remembers that the last time I came, it was far from being so prosperous here, and this is all your credit."

The king spoke.

"King, making the port more and more prosperous is what a minister should do, and it is not a merit."

The harbor master said humbly.

"Hey, what's that, it's still smoking."

King Xi Tianzhu was startled when he saw the ironclad artillery cart driving in the distance.

"King, this should be the ironclad chariot of the Tang Army, Li Shilang and they will be able to arrive soon."

The harbor commander had been to Ang Lee's camp and had seen this weapon and asked about it, so naturally he knew something.

In order to show the prestige of the Tang Empire, Ang Lee dispatched twenty ironclad artillery vehicles and several command vehicles on this trip, and the entire convoy was mighty and majestic, giving people a strong sense of shock.

"So this is the Iron Chariot! You don't need to drag yourself, and it's faster than a horse-drawn cart, so it seems that the rumors are true! ”

King Xi Tianzhu had heard of the ironclad chariot of the Tang Dynasty, but he didn't believe it very much, it was difficult for him to imagine how the ironclad chariot could walk without horses dragging it.

"Grand, this is really magnificent."

The harbor officer said intoxicatedly.

"Yes! Datang's ironclad chariot is really magnificent, who can resist such a shining chariot? Datang is invincible! ”

King Xi Tianzhu immediately dispelled the idea of confronting the Tang Dynasty, he originally thought that if he was forced to be in a hurry, he would break the net with the Tang Army, but at this time, he didn't dare to think so anymore, even if the Tang Dynasty was persecuted, they couldn't confront the Tang Army, otherwise, they would not be opponents at all, he believed that what he saw in front of him was just the tip of the iceberg of the Tang Army's chariots, and there must be more ironclad chariots in the Tang Empire.

In addition, since the rumors of the ironclad chariot are true, then more advanced weapons about Datang will naturally not be fake, so how can the little Xi Tianzhu he ruled be the opponent of the powerful Datang.

As soon as he thought that the Lion Kingdom ceded a lot of territory to the Tang Dynasty, the king's heart was pounding, the Tang fleet went all the way west, occupying a lot of places, and now to the territory of West Tianzhu, will there be an attempt to occupy a piece of land in West Tianzhu? If Datang really makes territorial claims, what should he do?

A strong sense of sorrow lingered in the heart of the king of West Tianzhu, and he was very worried about the fact that Datang had taken a fancy to the excellent port of West Tianzhu, and this port was a good port that West Tianzhu had been operating for many years, and it was a port that West Tianzhu could not lose.

"Li Shilang, this is it, let's get off!"

The old merchant said politely.

Li An nodded, asked people to open the car door, and led everyone out of the car.

"Yes, it's a big restaurant, but if it is compared with the restaurant in Chang'an City, it is much smaller."

Li An was not in a hurry to go in, first stood outside to look at the scenery, familiarize himself with the surrounding environment, and by the way, let the guards enter first to ensure the absolute safety of the banquet.

King Xi Tianzhu, who was standing on the second floor, naturally saw Li An and the others below, and asked, "The person standing in the middle is what you call Li Shilang!" ”

"That's right, it's this person, the minister visited him yesterday, and he is a good person."

The harbor chief replied.

"Li Shilang, please come inside, these are local businessmen, they have long wanted to meet Li Shilang."

The shopkeeper came out to greet him, and his waist was bent to ninety degrees.

Li An puffed up his chest and happily entered the hotel, and saw hundreds of businessmen in the hall, all of whom were better dressed and relatively older.

In addition to the merchants, only the chefs and guards were left in the restaurant, and the total number of people together exceeded 1,000 people, filling the entire room.

The second floor can only be reached by the highest-ranking merchants, and the environment is relatively relaxed, with compartments and halls, and the planks of the compartments have been removed in order to be with more merchants.

A large group of businessmen greeted Ang Lee warmly, and all of them looked at Ang Lee to understand Ang Lee through their external image.

After some compliments, the banquet began, and Ang Lee, as the protagonist, naturally sat in the best position on the second floor.

However, Ang Lee's purpose was not to eat and drink, so he did not rush to sit down, but stood close to the railing and looked at the merchants on the first floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to be here to meet you today, you are all businessmen, you are all pillars, without you merchants, the city would not be prosperous, your merit is the greatest, this official respects you a cup."

Ang Lee never discriminates against businessmen, and does not think that businessmen are the lowest level, but thinks that businessmen are very smart and capable people.

In the society of later generations, the merchant group is the elite class of the whole society, especially the big businessmen, and it is the elite of the elite, and it is the person that the people of the whole society aspire to become.

This is naturally because businessmen have made a relatively large contribution to the whole society and have played a very important role in promoting the prosperity of the whole society, and moreover, businessmen are very rich, and with money they can buy a lot of things they want, and even be able to buy status.

Especially in many Western countries, the establishment of their regimes itself represents the interests of the merchant class, and politicians who want to be the head of state must conform to the interests of these businessmen, and get the support of these businessmen, they can become the head of state, otherwise they can only step down, which shows the lofty status of businessmen.

In the era of the Tang Dynasty, the status of merchants is the lowest in the whole society, not only in the Tang Dynasty, but even in the previous and later dynasties, the status of merchants is also the lowest level.

This is because in such an era, science and technology are not developed enough, the productive forces are too backward, and the people's stomach is the top priority, and more people must be engaged in agricultural production in order to feed all the people, and if you support the businessmen and raise the status of the businessmen, more people will enter the business, which will cause the decline in the number of people who farm the land, which is not conducive to production.

Moreover, in the eyes of the ancients, farming could produce food and tools could be used, while merchants themselves did not produce anything, so they could only be ranked last.

Of course, in order to rule the people, the ruling class must put its position in the first place, so as to show the respect of its position and make it easier for it to rule the people.

Farming produced the most important material and food in the empire, so the peasants who cultivated the land were placed in second place in addition to the ruling class to demonstrate the importance that the empire attached to agriculture and food.

Life needs all kinds of tools, these tools need people to build, this industry is also very important, but it is less important than agriculture, there are no tools, the people can still bear it, but if there is no food, the people will go crazy, so the people who make tools can only be ranked last.

As for the merchants, they do not produce any goods, but are only responsible for transportation and exchange, and they are the most ingenious industry, and they are also the easiest to get rich, giving people the impression of treachery, so in ancient times, merchants have always been synonymous with profiteers.

The purpose of the ancient empire to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce was to allow more people to farm and fewer people to do business, which was more in line with the productivity of ancient times.

If there are too few people who farm the land and too many people who do business, it means that there are fewer people in charge of production, and more people in charge of exchange, and the whole empire will have fewer materials, which is naturally a situation that the ruler does not want to see.

Moreover, in ancient times, the huge ruling class was not working, in order to maintain the rule, it was necessary to feed the always large army, and it was also necessary to consume grain and grass, so food was indeed often in a state of shortage, and more people had to farm in order to alleviate the problem of food shortage, and merchants had no other role than to promote prosperity.

In other words, only a certain number of businessmen are needed to meet the daily needs of urban residents, and there is no need for too many merchants, otherwise, it is a waste of resources.

For example, in a small city with a population of 1,000 households, it is enough to have two merchants selling rice, and one merchant selling rice is responsible for 500 households, and the people buy rice once every 20 days, then only 25 households go to buy rice every day, and they are completely busy.

In later generations, because productivity increased, the common people did not worry about eating and drinking, so more people entered the business field, and there were too many people doing business, which directly led to the fact that business became more and more difficult to do, and many businesses closed down after a few days, and bankruptcy and bankruptcy became a very common phenomenon.

Therefore, in general, there is nothing wrong with the ancient empire emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, as long as this can ensure the harvest of grain, and at the same time, it can also avoid too fierce commercial competition and protect the interests of merchants from the side.

To be recognized by Ang Lee, these businessmen were very excited, and all kinds of exchanges were exchanged, and the scene seemed to be a little boiling for a while.

Li An looked at the merchants happily, waved his hand to signal the merchants to be quiet, and continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, this official can clearly tell you that this time the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses are marching westward to build the Datang Maritime Silk Road, to promote the trade development of the countries along the way, and to promote common prosperity. ”

"Okay, great, we're going to have a better time in the future."

"It seems that the Tang Dynasty is here to help us, and this meal is worth it."

The merchant group exploded suddenly.