As soon as Ang Lee opened the banquet, he said so many encouraging words, which was naturally very necessary, and it was very conducive to narrowing the distance between him and the merchants, so that the merchants could complain to themselves.

Real businessmen, because of the occasion, may speak more tactfully, do not dare to criticize the West Tianzhu court too much, but the fake businessmen sent by Li An will not be polite, they will strictly follow the content of the script, stand up at the right time, and fiercely refute the inaction of the West Tianzhu court, so as to facilitate Li An's takeover of the port in the northwest.

Seeing that the businessmen were so enthusiastic about him, Li An was very happy in his heart, he was able to come here today, and the matter was already half of the success, and then, he only needed to proceed step by step to achieve the previously expected goal.

"Everyone, let's drink this cup together, drink together, and rejoice together."

Ang Lee raised his glass and looked at all the merchants present.

"Li Shilang, please."

Everyone stood up and raised their glasses.

After a few glasses of wine, the banquet officially began, and all kinds of delicacies were served one by one, tropical fruits, all kinds of seafood, and delicious meat.

Although the cooking technology of this era is not very good, as long as the ingredients are good, it can be considered delicious if it is processed a little, and it is very delicious, especially the fruit is a food, which does not need to be condimented, as long as it is fresh fruit, the taste is very delicious.

Li An glanced at the king of Western Tianzhu beside the port master and asked, "Who is this?" ”

The port chief hurriedly replied: "Li Shilang, this is the western governor of our Western Tianzhu, and the subordinate superior. ”

"Governor of the West, haha! Come, let's have a drink. ”

Ang Lee politely raised his glass.

"Li Shilang is polite, I have always admired the culture of the Tang Dynasty, and if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely go to the Tang Dynasty to feel the style of the Tang Empire."

The king said.

"That's a good thing! In the future, as long as the Datang Maritime Silk Road is completed, it will not take too long to take a boat from West Tianzhu to Datang, and Datang also welcomes the arrival of all friends. ”

Li An said politely.

"Come, Li Shilang, let's have another drink."

King Xi Tianzhu took the initiative to find Li An to drink.

Eating and drinking, complimenting each other, the banquet went very smoothly, everyone was immersed in a happy atmosphere, many people drank high, and their speech was more floating.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Li An glanced at his subordinates, then stood up lightly, quieted the merchants, and said: "Everyone, this official is very happy today, it is the honor of this official to be invited by you, if you have any difficulties, just tell this official, this official will be the master for you, everyone can speak freely." ”

A fake merchant stood up and said: "Li Shilang, since you said so, then I will boldly say that we merchants are indeed facing a great threat at the moment, that is, pirates from the northwest, this group of pirates has wantonly robbed passing ships and killed many merchants and crew members for more than a year, and they are the number one enemy of our merchants. ”

"That's right, before this group of pirates appeared, we merchants could live a good life, but since this group of pirates appeared, our life has been very sad, every time we pass by the northwest direction, we are scared, many merchants have been robbed and bankrupt, and there are many businessmen who have lost their relatives, if this group of pirates is not removed, we businessmen will not really have a good life."

Another fake businessman, loudly exaggerating feelings.

A real businessman spoke: "Li Shilang, what they said is not false at all, the old man has also been robbed by this group of pirates, and the losses are extremely heavy, the old man sees that the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses are very strong, if I can exterminate this group of pirates, I am willing to do anything." ”

"Please, Li Shilang, help us!"

"Except for the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses, we can't count on anyone else."

The merchants were emotional.

Li An took a look with his spare eyes, the chief official of the West Tianzhu Port, and the official who claimed to be the governor of the west, had very bad expressions, and it should be said that his face was green.

As for why they have such an expression, it is also very simple, the rampant pirates, they have an unshirkable responsibility, if it is not for their Xi Tianzhu indulgence pirates, how can these pirates exist, a West Tianzhu's military strength, although it is beyond its strength to fight against the Tang Dynasty, but against the little pirates, it can still be done, although there will be a lot of losses, but after all, it can be beaten.

In order to avoid suffering heavy losses, and in order to create a strategic buffer zone between the Western Tianzhu and the Great Food Country, the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court finally adopted an indulgent attitude towards the pirates, and did not care about the pirates' actions at all, as for the demands of the merchants, they did not consider them at all, they were all unarmed people, and the merchants could not set off any big waves, and they could completely ignore the demands of the merchants.

And now, the businessmen are raising the issue of piracy in front of the officials of the Tang Dynasty, and it is natural for them, the officials of Western Tianzhu, to be a little weak-hearted and unhappy.

Of course, Li An couldn't admit it directly, frowned, and said angrily: "There is such a thing, these pirates are really hateful, not only robbing money, but also killing innocent people, is it tolerable or unbearable, by the way, this group of pirates has been entrenched in the northwest for more than a year, and the local court has not sent troops to encircle and suppress?" ”

After saying that, he looked at the soldiers he sent out and asked them to appear.

"Don't hide it from Li Shilang, the nest of the Northwest pirates was originally the land of this West Tianzhu, after being robbed by pirates by chance, the West Tianzhu court did not send soldiers and horses to recapture it, and for more than a year, it has never sent a single soldier, allowing the pirates to bully us merchants who come and go."

A fake businessman, angrily accused.

"What's more, I heard that the generals of Xi Tianzhu have received the benefits of pirates, and every month, the pirates will share a part of the wealth they have robbed and give it to the local officials of Xi Tianzhu, so they have always been interested in pirates and have never been willing to send troops to exterminate pirates."

"That's right, the Xitianzhu court did nothing, watching us businessmen being bullied by pirates, but not doing anything, such a court, how can we make the people loyal, we merchants, have to pay a lot of taxes and fees every year, but the court doesn't help us exterminate the pirates and watch us being bullied, it's really unfair."

"I implore the Tang soldiers and horses to stay in Xitianzhu, we want to be the people of the Tang Dynasty, we need someone to protect us."

"Life is a Tang Dynasty, death is a Tang ghost, we don't want to be bullied by pirates anymore, we implore Datang to take over the land here and drive away the inactive West Tianzhu Court."

A group of fake businessmen shouted very boldly.

At this time, everyone became very sober, and the businessman, who had been drinking a little high, was also awakened by fright.

These are all reactionary words, and all the big officials of Xi Tianzhu are sitting here? The fact that a businessman dared to say such a bold thing shocked those real businessmen.

However, the words were not what they said, and the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses had already entered the port, so there was no need to worry about the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court going crazy, the businessmen had already complained about the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court, if the Tang Dynasty really intended to take here, they would not work hard for this inactive imperial court?

Li An took a closer look, the businessmen all had surprised expressions on their faces, and the expressions of several officials in Xi Tianzhu were very complicated, even with a hint of fear.

Especially the senior official of Western Tianzhu, who claimed to be the governor of the west, his face had not changed to a certain amount of blood, and his face was like ashes.

"You ...... You will not be able to rebel here. ”

The port master was a little trembling.

If someone dared to speak like this when the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses did not come, he would definitely be very angry and order, arrest the disrespectful businessmen into prison, and even execute them, but the situation at this moment is a little different, the more than 10,000 elite soldiers and horses led by Li An are stationed in the port, and the strength is far stronger than the soldiers and horses of Xi Tianzhu here.

Therefore, although the port chief was angry, he was also very scared in his heart, afraid that he would anger Li An on the spur of the moment, and in this way, his life would be over.

"Everyone said, do we still need to be loyal to a court like this that does not think about the people? Should we support Datang? ”

"What are you all afraid of, the Tang Dynasty will be the master for you, shouldn't you do something yourself?"

Several fake businessmen shouted.

At this time, a few smart businessmen saw that these shouting businessmen were not real businessmen at all, because businessmen were not so desperate, and these were all new faces that had only recently appeared, and there were ghosts in real businessmen.

Businessmen have higher IQs than the average person, otherwise how can they gain a foothold in the turbulent business world? Through various recent events, they conducted some careful deliberation, and finally came to a conclusion, that is, Datang has territorial claims to Xi Tianzhu, and they feel that it is more advantageous to follow Datang.

"Support Datang, we support Datang."

A real businessman, after understanding the truth of the facts, also opened his mouth to support Datang.

"We support the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty will help us exterminate the pirates, and we will be the Tang Dynasty."

Suddenly, all the businessmen went crazy, and they all loudly expressed their support for the Tang Empire, because by supporting the Tang Dynasty, their interests could be better protected, and the Western Tianzhu Imperial Court had indeed broken their hearts.

"You ......"

The port chief's face was suddenly as dead as ashes, and he was so frightened that he couldn't speak.

This port city is in charge of him, and now, all the business elites in the city support Datang, trying to turn the port into the territory of Datang, and he, as the director, naturally has an unshirkable responsibility, the king is in front of him, he doesn't know how to explain to the king, and at the same time feels that the explanation will be very futile.

King Xi Tianzhu, who pretended to be the governor of the west, his face changed from pale to pig's liver color, and he was both angry and frightened, and the thing he was very angry about was that these merchants obtained wealth in West Tianzhu, and it was Xi Tianzhu who fed them, but they betrayed Xi Tianzhu so easily, and the thing that was feared was that the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses had entered the port, and there was no action before, so it was naturally the trouble of this banquet.

"It seems that your Western Tianzhu Imperial Court is really not doing very well! The common people are against you. ”

Li An smiled and looked at several West Tianzhu officials with extremely bad faces.

"I'm afraid Li Shilang has already had this intention!"

King Xi Tianzhu, who claimed to be the governor of the port, said helplessly.

Li An said very aggrievedly: "The official is just passing by, you don't think that all this is the conspiracy of the official!" ”

"How dare you, how dare you."

Seeing that Li An's tone was not good, King Xi Tianzhu was hurriedly frightened and overwhelmed, the guards he brought were limited, and he was not the opponent of the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses at all, once there was an armed conflict, his life would have to be explained.

Li An smiled and asked, "This official is just curious, why have you not been exterminating pirates, not making decisions for the merchants, and besides, the pirate lair in the northwest is also your territory, why is this?" Could it be that you can't beat the pirates? ”

"This ......"

King Xi Tianzhu paused and spoke: "The people below only said that the Northwest Harbor was occupied by pirates, and did not say that pirates killed people and oversold goods, I didn't know that pirates were rampant to such an extent. ”

"Okay, very good, what do you think of this reason?"

Li An looked at the merchants.

"What bullshit reason, the port is occupied by pirates, why don't you take it back, our merchants have reacted less? The imperial court never paid attention to it, and they took too many benefits from pirates. ”

"Yes, it's because they have received too many benefits from pirates, so they don't want to exterminate pirates, the Western Tianzhu court and pirates are a nest of snakes and rats."

"The Western Tianzhu Imperial Court is the biggest pirate, the biggest pirate."

The merchants have gone crazy, and the grievances they usually hold back have all been vented at once.

When the officials of Xitianzhu heard this, they were even more frightened, and the merchants actually regarded them as pirates, which showed that in the hearts of the merchants, they had long hated them.

The king regretted very much in his heart, he should not have listened to his courtiers in the first place, and allowed the pirates to occupy the port in the northwest, if he had made the right decision at the beginning, this would not be the situation now, and in addition, he was already sure that the courtiers who had spoken to him at the beginning must have accepted the benefits of the pirates, and this courtier, he must be killed, as long as he returned to the capital, he would kill the courtiers who harmed him.

But the current crisis must be overcome, and if the businessmen are not given a satisfactory explanation, it is a big question whether they can stand up and go out, let alone other things.

After thinking about it for a while, the king looked at Li An and said: "Li Shilang, it is indeed the fault of my Western Tianzhu Imperial Court that I failed to exterminate the pirates in time, we know that we are wrong, now, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses have come here, if we can wipe out the pirates in one fell swoop, the land near the pirates' lair will be given to the Tang Dynasty, you can see it." ”