King Xi Tianzhu was in a tentative tone, and discussed with Li An, if not, he could make some more concessions, as long as he could keep the port in front of him that could bring huge benefits, the loss of less important land would not matter much, just like the whip dynasty, in order to make the imperial power linger, he chose to cede a large area of less populated land in the north to get a temporary good life.

Cession of land is something that no ruler is willing to do, because land is the foundation of a country and an important asset of a country, but if there is a hurdle that cannot be overcome and there is no better solution, then cessing land has become a thing that has to be done.

Especially for land that is not well located, in the eyes of some people, there is nothing wrong with ceding it, as long as you can get through the current crisis and make yourself feel better, then it is good to cede it.

The king of West Tianzhu proposed to cede the land in the northwest, which can be regarded as a plan to kill many birds with one stone, first, the seaport in the northwest itself was occupied by pirates, and Xi Tianzhu had no actual interests there, and it was not distressing to lose it. Second, the northwest is close to the more aggressive big food country, so that the Tang Dynasty is separated in the middle, which can avoid the big food country from going south, which can be regarded as beneficial. Third, the current port is too important to be forgiven for how to survive the current crisis without ceding the land in the northwest.

Of course, this is also because Xi Tianzhu is too weak, and it is necessary to obtain forgiveness from other countries to do things, if the Tang Dynasty is weak and Xi Tianzhu is strong, then their officials can answer domineeringly, 'It's about your'

And because Xitianzhu is a weak country, when their officials face the Tang Dynasty pointing out why they don't eliminate the pirates, they don't dare to say the words 'your', but can only listen religiously, and even cede the land, in order to ask the Tang Dynasty to help them solve the current crisis, so as not to lose more benefits.

Li An frowned, looked at the king of Western Tianzhu, and said curiously: "Is the governor of the west the biggest official in Western Tianzhu?" The decision to cede the Northwest Lands, can you have the final say? ”

In fact, from the time this Western Tianzhu official, who claimed to be the governor of the west, said that he was going to cede the land, Li An had already guessed his identity, but he didn't say it explicitly, so as not to be embarrassed in case he guessed wrong.

"This ......"

King Xi Tianzhu was stunned for a moment, and said: "Since Li Shilang asked so, then I will tell the truth, the place where the Northwest pirates are entrenched is too close to the Great Food Country, and the land is not fertile enough, it is not a good place, and the king and ministers don't like that place, so they will not object to my proposal, Li Shilang can rest assured." ”

"Oh, it turns out that Xi Tianzhu didn't plan to ask for that place for a long time, no wonder it took so long, and he didn't send soldiers and horses to regain the lost territory, this official understands."

Li An had a suddenly realized expression on his face, paused, and said: "The governor's proposal is very good, as long as the pirates in the northwest are eliminated, the merchants will not suffer any more losses, this is a great thing!" However, how much benefit can Datang get from helping Xi Tianzhu so much, is it just the port in the northwest that has been occupied by pirates? Isn't it a bit less? ”

Hearing Li An say this, King Xi Tianzhu's heart tightened, and the thing he was most worried about was that Datang's greed was insufficient, and if he proposed to ask for the current port, he would be too embarrassed.

"If Li Shilang has any other requirements, I will listen to you."

King Xi Tianzhu is not stupid, of course, he will not directly say the bottom line in his heart, but test Li An's request.

Li An took out the map, put it on the case, pointed to the port in the northwest, and said: "Fifty miles around the port belong to Datang, and the mountains that extend inland are also owned by Datang, these places are bordered by Dashi Country, and they are all assigned to Datang, and there are so many territorial requirements." ”

King Xi Tianzhu breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "In addition to the remuneration of the territory, what do you want, our West Tianzhu is not too rich, and the military expenses that can be provided to Datang are limited." ”

Li An shook his head and said: "Military spending, we can figure it out by ourselves, we don't need Xi Tianzhu's help, I Datang want to build the Maritime Silk Road, it is inseparable from the cooperation of all countries along the way, you Xi Tianzhu must cooperate with Datang in many aspects, here are the simplified conditions for the interview, you take a look." ”

King Xi Tianzhu read the documents and did not find any of them unacceptable, they were all conditions of some rules, which seemed insignificant.

"Is that all there is to it? I can promise you on behalf of the king, but can Datang promise to protect us in Xitianzhu all the time? Won't there be any more claims? ”

King Xi Tianzhu said.

Li An said with a straight face: "This official assures you that it is enough for Datang to get the northwest port, and there will be no territorial claims to the rest of the land in West Tianzhu, so you can rest assured!" ”

The natural conditions of the northwest port are a little desolate, but fortunately it is a deep-water port, but the draft of the current ships is generally not very deep, so there is no big difference between the port that is too deep and the port with general water depth, and it does not reflect the advantages of the deep-water port.

But this is all temporary, sooner or later Datang is going to build 10,000-ton or even 100,000-ton giant merchant ships, and these merchant ships must be docked in a very deep deep-water port, ordinary ports cannot dock, and what Datang has to do at present is to occupy some important places along the way, and use advanced technology to build a deep-water port.

Large merchant ships are much more self-sustaining than small merchant ships, and do not need to call at ports constantly, so only a certain number of deep-water ports are needed along the way, which is enough to meet the docking requirements of large and giant merchant ships.

That is to say, although the western port is desolate at present, it is far inferior to the port in front of him, but this desolate port is a potential stock, as long as it is built at a certain cost, one day in the future, his status will far exceed the current prosperous port with a small draft.

The long-term vision should be right, Li An is looking at the scene ten years later, not the small interests in front of him, and after ten years, when King Xi Tianzhu discovers that the port in the northwest is the economic center, he is estimated to cry to death.

This is the same as a small country in later generations, that is, a small country near Malacca, with its superior geographical location close to the Strait of Malacca, a good deep-water port, and rapid economic development, the life of the common people is naturally very happy.

But with the development of a large number of deep-water ports in China, the economic status of this small country was soon replaced, and the scale of the economy was shrinking, and there was no place to cry.

used to be arrogant in front of Huaxia, looking high, but now he is only left to lick his face and beg Huaxia, which is even more pathetic.

Li An believes that the port in front of him will also repeat the mistakes of the past, at present, the prosperous port of West Tianzhu is the only place for merchant ships to pass through, so the development is very good, but the desolate port in the northwest, Datang only needs to build a few years, it will surpass the prosperous port in front of it, when the time comes, a large number of merchant ships will dock in the northwest port, and the business of the port in front of him will be divided into a part, and when the time comes, the development will definitely slow down.

King Xi Tianzhu couldn't think about it so far, he felt that Li An's request was still acceptable, and it was already a very good result to lose some unimportant interests and gain the ally of Datang.

"Li Shilang, it's better to just make a decision! The West Tianzhu Association fully agreed to the request put forward by Datang. ”

The king spoke again.

Li An nodded happily and said: "In the future, Xi Tianzhu and Datang will be a family, and Datang will definitely protect Xi Tianzhu, haha!" ”

"Hahaha!"

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became better, and everyone drank again.

"Li Shilang, I don't know when to send troops to recruit pirates in the northwest?"

An old businessman asked in a whisper.

If the iron is hot, take advantage of this opportunity not to urge the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses to encircle and suppress the pirates, but when.

When Li An heard this, the corners of his mouth smiled slightly, stood up, looked at all the merchants, and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, this official has good news to tell you, a few days ago, this official has sent a group of soldiers and horses to the northwest, and the order given to them by this official is to find and eliminate pirates, I believe that if everything goes well, the pirates in the northwest should have been eliminated, is this good news?" ”

After speaking, he looked at the merchants with a confident face.

"It turns out that Li Shilang has long intended to exterminate the pirates, causing us to worry in vain."

"We spent so much effort, isn't it just to let the Tang soldiers and horses destroy the pirates, I didn't expect that the Datang soldiers and horses have already gone north to destroy the enemy, this is really interesting."

"It's okay now, with the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses attacking, the pirates will definitely not be able to jump for a few days."

"Pirates are like rabbits whose tails don't grow, and that's a good thing."

Hundreds of merchants were suddenly boiling, this is ten very happy things, the purpose of their efforts to invite Li An is to ask the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses to help, now it's okay, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses have already regarded the pirates as a thorn in the flesh.

Everything was deduced according to the script, and soon, a soldier walked in and whispered a few words in Li An's ear.

Li Jian made a happy look, stood up again, and said: "Everyone, let me tell you another good news, my Tang soldiers and horses have defeated the pirates and captured more than 100 people alive, and now, these more than 100 people are on the way back to escort back, and it is estimated that they will be escorted back at noon tomorrow, how to deal with the pirates now, this official wants to hear your opinions?" ”

"Kill, kill these who have received a thousand cuts."

"Pirates have done many evils and must be severely punished, and they must not be spared."

"They should be put on the gallows and hanged on these hateful pirates."

"Ling Chi, Ling Chi should execute these hateful pirates."

The merchants were excited, many of them were victims, and they hated the pirates in their hearts, so naturally they would not say anything to excuse the pirates, and they were eager to put the pirates to death, and it was better to die in the harshest way possible, so as to relieve their hatred.

Li An smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, looked at the West Tianzhu official beside him, and asked, "Everyone, what do you think should be done?" ”

The harbor master did not dare to speak, and looked at the king next to him.

At this time, the expressions of the officials of Xi Tianzhu were not very good, and their faces were very complicated, after all, they felt that they had been put together, and the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses had already recovered the western port, but they were completely unaware, which was enough to show the fragility and incompetence of the Xi Tianzhu intelligence system.

King Xi Tianzhu thought for a while, and immediately replied: "These pirates have done a lot of evil, of course they should be severely punished, since they were caught by the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses, then Li Shilang should be responsible for dealing with them." ”

Li An felt that the king of Xi Tianzhu was very sensible, he liked it very much, smiled, and decided: "Since you let this official be the master, then this official is not welcome, pirates robbed business trips along the way, the crime is unforgivable, all of them are executed, and the location is placed at the entrance of the vegetable market not far outside, when the time comes, the official and the officials of Xi Tianzhu will be beheaded on the spot, how about it?" ”

After speaking, he looked at the officials of Xitianzhu and observed their expressions.

"Okay, okay, that's it."

How dare King Xi Tianzhu object, and hurriedly agreed.

The atmosphere of the next banquet became quite lively, Li An's side was satisfied, and the merchants heard that the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses had exterminated the pirates, and let Xi Tianzhu agree to many favorable conditions for the merchants, they were naturally very happy.

Those who are in a bad mood are the only ones left with King Xi Tianzhu and his courtiers, they are the only ones who have suffered heavy losses, and the happiness of the other two parties is based on their disappointment.

After the banquet, in the warm farewell of many merchants, Li An left the bustling street, sat in the ironclad command car, and returned to the camp on the beach.

"Haha! Today's harvest is very high! It's so gratifying. ”

Ang Lee smiled from ear to ear along the way.

"Li Shilang carefully planned, how could it not be successful, it's just that this success came too easily."

"Along the way, isn't it all like this, as long as Li Shilang is here, any difficult problems can be easily solved, Li Shilang is my lucky star of the Tang Dynasty."

"Being able to follow Li Shilang is also a blessing for me!"

The subordinates opened their mouths and complimented.

Ang Lee's mood suddenly became better, and he was about to float, and his excitement was indescribable.

"This is all Your Majesty's blessing, and this official is nothing? Hahaha! ”

At this critical moment, Ang Lee always has to be humble and not be too complacent, otherwise, he will bring disaster to himself.

Unlike the happiness of Li An and others, after King Xi Tianzhu returned to the official office, he angrily threw the hat on his head and glared at the port chief.

The port chief was so frightened that he didn't even dare to breathe, and lowered his head and waited for the attack.

"What a suspicious heart! This king really didn't expect that these businessmen would be bought by the Tang Dynasty so easily, and they would dare to say that I, Xi Tianzhu, was the biggest pirate, a great shame, a great shame! ”

The official of Xi Tianzhu said angrily.