Li An sailed in the Mediterranean for many days, and indeed encountered a lot of merchant ships on the way, but the Tang Dynasty merchant ships did not encounter a single one, most of them were merchant ships of Arab merchants, and a few were merchant ships of Europa countries, which was obviously different from the previous voyage.

After going south from Datang Guangzhou, the merchant ships encountered along the way have always been dominated by Datang merchant ships, and the number of merchant ships from other countries is not much, but why did this situation reverse when it came to the Mediterranean? This is naturally due to the fact that the canal connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea has not yet been opened.

The distance between Datang and the Mediterranean Sea is too far, and ships sailing on the sea cannot reach the Mediterranean, so in a short period of time, Datang merchants naturally cannot enter the Mediterranean, let alone enter the Europa region.

If it is said that a small number of Datang merchants have entered Europa, it is not unusual, but a small number of merchants must not be able to cause much impact, so that Li An sailed all the way, and not a single Datang merchant ship was seen.

The expansion of a country will be limited by geographical conditions, and at the same time, the overseas trade of a country's merchants will also be limited by geography, after all, if there is no particularly good profit, no one will be willing to run too far, over the mountains and mountains to earn this hard-earned money, in short, if the Tang Dynasty merchants cross the desert and go to the Mediterranean to trade, they will inevitably take a lot of risks, and the benefits they can obtain may not be able to make them tempted, after all, the cost is too high, and it is also very hard.

If the Datang Canal can be completed, and the Datang merchant ships anchored in the Red Sea can freely enter the Mediterranean, this situation will change, because the merchant ships can directly enter and exit freely, the cost and risk of trade will be greatly reduced, and people do not have to suffer too much, and the number of merchants who are willing to trade in the Mediterranean Sea will naturally increase on a large scale, so that the interests of Datang will extend to the Europa region.

Because of this, when Ang Lee proposed to build the Datang Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, almost everyone who knew about it was very excited, especially the businessmen, who were very happy, because it meant that they could earn more money in the future, can they not be happy?

The Grand Canal connects the two seas, making trade smoother, and most people can benefit from this canal, and the only ones whose interests are damaged are probably the camel gangs responsible for transporting goods by land.

In order to save transportation costs, Europa's goods are transported to the north of Egypt in large shopping malls, and then, from the closest to the northern end of the Red Sea, transported by land to the northernmost point of the Red Sea, and then loaded on ships again, transported to various port markets, this mode of transportation is the most cost-effective.

Among them, the shipping of the Mediterranean and the shipping of the Red Sea are low-cost, but from this section of land transportation, the cost is the highest, and it is also the most likely to encounter thieves, many businessmen are afraid of this stage, so they simply do not do business in the Mediterranean, wait for others to transport over, buy at a high price, and then sell at a higher price to the place where it is needed.

Because merchants will be robbed when they pass through this journey, in order to protect their belongings from loss, they will choose to hire bodyguards, which is a large expense, which will greatly increase the cost of goods.

And these bodyguard convoys responsible for protecting goods, as well as robbers who make a living from looting, do not want the Grand Canal to be built, because it means that their livelihood will be destroyed.

But the will and determination of the Tang Empire will not change because of them, if they dare to oppose it, they will definitely encounter a fierce blow from the Tang Empire, in addition, the Altic and Ottomans on the left and right sides have already expressed their support for the Tang Canal plan, and these small forces naturally can't set off any waves.

In short, the construction of the Datang Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, has been an established national policy of the Tang Empire, and no one can change this status quo.

Li An sat in the cabin and read the drawings, Li Xiaolu was next to him, gently massaging Li An's legs, so that Li An could relax well.

"Ahh How the boat rocked. ”

Li Xiaolu felt the hull of the ship shaking and became bigger, and said in surprise.

Although Li Xiaolu has seen waves on the sea, when she encounters it again, she will inevitably be surprised, after all, no one likes to encounter waves on the sea.

Li An gently put down the drawings in his hand, stood up, and walked out with Li Xiaolu.

After walking to the deck, Li An found that the wind outside was relatively strong, and in the high altitude in front of the right, there was a very powerful tropical storm raging, because it was not very close to the storm, so Li An's fleet was not affected too much, but it was just more violent than before, and there was no big problem.

However, if you continue to get closer to the center of the storm, it will be very dangerous, and God knows what will happen.

"Li Shilang, there is a thunderstorm ahead, let's suspend the march!"

A subordinate ran over to report.

Li An nodded and asked, "Is there a port nearby to take refuge?" It's time for the soldiers to rest. ”

"Not far to the left is the port of Benghazi, which was previously occupied by pirates, but now it belongs to the Ottomans, and the safety of the port is still guaranteed."

The subordinate spoke.

Li An nodded and said, "Okay! Then go to Benghazi to hide, and by the way, let the soldiers relax. ”

It is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone, and it is still done under duress, of course, it is a good thing, and Li An gave the order without hesitation.

The subordinates immediately went to convey the order for the entire fleet to move quickly towards the port of Benghazi.

For the name Benghazi, Ang Lee is too familiar, because this port was also very famous in later generations, almost a very important commercial center, and it is precisely because of its importance that many people want to compete for this extremely important port.

In the fifth century B.C., the Greeks built a port here, and during the reign of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt, Ptolemy III changed the name of Benghazi to Bilinch in honor of his queen, and after that, this important port was occupied by the Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, and Arabs.

After the Turks ruled the port for 300 years in the 16th century, it was renamed back to its original Benghazi name, and during World War II, the two major military blocs fought fiercely in the region, changing hands five times before being captured by the British.

Because it is a coastal town, Benghazi's status has not been very high, and what really made it rise was in the middle of the twentieth century, that is, the development of the oil industry, after all, Libya has oil, and Benghazi is an important port for exporting oil.

In the Tang Dynasty, Benghazi was just a port, and the scale was not large, the status was not very high, and the extremely important resource of oil was not found in the inland area, so for Ottoman, this place was not particularly important, and could only be regarded as a port within his territory.

And the reason why Benghazi can make Li Ang feel familiar immediately is not because it is very important here, but because Benghazi in later generations belongs to a country called Libya, and in this country called Libya, there is a powerful person named Gaddafi, who is also a very crazy person, he once wanted to buy powerful nuclear weapons from China, which is extremely arrogant.

Nuclear weapons are the most important weapons of the country, how can they be sold to others casually, this will not work in any case, but this guy named Gaddafi actually wants to buy nuclear weapons of the Chinese Empire, this is simply arrogant, even the Taizu of Huaxia also said, this Gaddafi is too arrogant.

Gaddafi's hubris, along with Libya's oil production, allowed Benghazi to prosper from a port town to a trading center for the whole of Africa.

What makes Benghazi even more well-known is that with the fall of Gaddafi, all forces in Libya began to compete for Benghazi, which plunged Benghazi into a long-term war, and reporters from all over the world rushed to Benghazi to report on the war here.

Later, there was even more unrest, and the embassy base of the most powerful country of later generations was raided by militants hiding in Benghazi, resulting in a tragedy that killed many people, and this tragedy was even made into a movie, which further increased Benghazi's fame.

As for the turmoil in Libya, it is because the old royal family of this country, opposed to tribal aristocracy, wealthy businessmen, and conglomerates against the government, and the outgoing government officials were dissatisfied with the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, so they formed an interim government and started a civil war struggle with Benghazi, the most important in the north, as its capital.

Why do these people oppose Gaddafi, naturally, it is for their own interests, because their interests have been violated by Gaddafi, so they have to rebel, rebel against this dictatorial ruler, and thus protect their own interests.

However, they never imagined that their actions have brought very heavy losses to the whole country, so that many ordinary people in this country have to flee to the world and become children without a home, in addition, their resistance has also given many terrorists an opportunity to take advantage of, making this country a hotbed for the development of terrorism, in short, since the opponents began to rebel, the whole of Libya, including Benghazi, which is very familiar to people all over the world, has been greatly damaged, and the cities and villages are full of ruins.

In other words, they shouted for the benefit of the common people to bring down the dictator, but the final result was that all the common people suffered.

There is a saying in Chinese history that says very well, the Spring and Autumn Period was unrighteous war, that is, all wars in the Spring and Autumn Period were launched for their own interests, and none of them were for the interests of the people.

Without the slightest panic, the Datang fleet marched towards the port of Benghazi step by step according to the pre-set route.

Due to the impact of the tropical storm, it soon began to rain around, and Ang Lee's boat was of course not spared, and it soon began to rain, but because the distance from the center of the storm was a little far, the rain had just begun, so the rain was not heavy, but the wind was a little strong, and the wind and rain were mixed together, which made people feel very violent.

Li Ang stood on the deck, spread his arms, and shouted, "Let the wind and rain come more violently!" Ha ha! ”

This behavior surprised everyone, but everyone has long been accustomed to Ang Lee's occasional nerves, and they don't think there's anything wrong with it.

"The wind and rain are already very strong, how much more wind and rain does Li Shilang need, don't you go to the cabin to hide?"

Li Xiaolu covered her forehead with her palm and asked with a smile.

The wind was really strong, blowing Li Xiaolu's hair up, and it looked beautiful, at least, in Ang Lee's opinion, it was really beautiful.

"Little beauty, don't you think it's a good feeling to stand in the wind and rain? Have you ever been drenched in the rain? ”

Ang Lee asked with a smile.

"Rain, why do you want to get rainy, you will get sick when it rains."

Li Xiaolu obviously didn't want to get wet in the rain, and said.

"It's okay, as long as you take a hot shower after the rain, there will be no problem, let's get wet together! Let's feel what it's like to bathe in nature. ”

On a whim, Ang Lee stood in the midst of the heavier and heavier rain, tilting his head to feel the baptism of the wind and rain.

"On a rainy day, it seems to accompany you out in the rain, watching you hide in my warm arms, smelling the fragrant body, clear arms, how sweet this feels, love is hard to breathe, I am willing to pluck every star in the sky for you, I am willing to wipe away every teardrop on my face for you, as long as you can promise me, never to leave me again, I am willing to do anything for you, as long as you want, I want to take you through the ice and snow, I want to take you to the most passionate island in the world, as long as you can promise me to accompany me for the rest of my life, My world is beautiful because of you, no matter how many thorns there are on the way, I hope you know that I am sincere to you, no matter whether the final outcome is sad or happy, I have always been here without regrets and waiting for you. ”

While Ang Lee was drenched in the rain, he hugged Li Xiaolu in his arms, and then, he sang a song leisurely, which is also a good song that later generations often listen to, at least, Ang Lee likes to listen to this tune very much, and it is indeed better, it is a soul song.

"What kind of song is Li Shilang singing, it's really good!"

Li Xiaolu asked enviously.

Li An smiled and said: "This is a song in our hometown, called Picking Stars, isn't it particularly good." ”

"I don't understand it, but I feel like it's good, and the tune is very beautiful."

Li Xiaolu said very pertinently.