The cross-border investment envisioned by Ang Lee is to use Datang's advanced technology and capital advantages to allow businessmen to make direct investment in the relevant fields of small countries, because of the unique resource and labor cost advantages of these countries, it can create huge benefits for Datang businessmen, and at the same time, it can also drive the development of countries along the way, which is a win-win road.

After years of development, there is no doubt about the capital strength and scientific and technological ability of Datang merchants, and they are fully capable of making direct investments overseas and setting up various workshops, but what businessmen cannot handle is the policy, and the policies of various countries along the way are different, which will bring great trouble to overseas investment.

People are a little jealous of the rich, even the kings of small countries, they learn that the big fat sheep like the Tang Dynasty merchants come to invest, and can earn a lot of money, their hearts are naturally a little unbalanced, in this way, they will charge high taxes to get a piece of the pie, but in this way, the interests of the Tang Dynasty merchants will suffer a great loss.

Let the Tang merchants lose and enrich the royal families of the countries along the way, which is obviously not in line with Li An's original intention of opening up the Maritime Silk Road, the countries along the way can charge a certain fee, which is reasonable, but the amount of the charge must be decided by the Tang Dynasty court and them, and must not be left to them.

In addition, after the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, it is necessary to carry out long-term maintenance, large-scale pirate targets are large, one hit and one is accurate, but small-scale scattered pirates may appear from time to time, in order to maintain the deterrence of pirates, it is necessary to station a certain scale of deterrence troops on this route for a long time, and these troops are to eat, and the military expenses are borne by the Tang Dynasty, which is obviously unreasonable, after all, these soldiers and horses are not only protecting trade routes, but also protecting countries along the way, these small countries should pay some protection fees.

However, if the royal family is directly asked to pay for it, they will definitely not be happy, how can they be willing to spit out what is in their stomachs, so they can take a roundabout way and directly set up an anti-piracy tax in the multinational workshop, and after collecting it, they will be directly handed over to the Datang Navy Division to maintain the basic operation of the Navy Division.

There are also several areas directly controlled by the Tang Dynasty sailors, such as Rising Island, Longyamen and Malacca, etc., to build large-scale deep-water ports, these ports can provide fresh water and supplies for merchant ships, and can also provide ship repair services, in short, you can make a lot of money, and the merchants who contract these businesses also have to pay taxes, and part of the taxes paid will be used to maintain the local Tang Dynasty sailors, so that the Tang Dynasty sailors do not have to spend the funds of the imperial court, so as to reduce the burden of the imperial court.

Li An's main task now is to clear out the large number of pirates involved, most of the soldiers and horses have been sent out to carry out such tasks, and at the same time, he must also send envoys and some guards to contact the surrounding countries, so that they can obey the policies of the Tang Dynasty and unite with the Tang Dynasty to jointly promote each other's prosperity.

Now there are only 3,000 dragon warriors left in the Tang Army's naval division in the port of Malacca, and there are 1,000 soldiers of the forward battalion who are responsible for guiding the surrendered pirates, and there are only five steam gunboats.

As for the issue of transnational investment, Li An now has an idea, it is estimated that many businessmen have long had such an idea, but they have not been able to do it due to many practical difficulties, and Li An needs to clean up the nearby pirates first, and then he can contact the rich businessmen of the Tang Dynasty to invest in these small countries, and use the sailors and soldiers stationed here to support them and prevent them from being blackmailed by the small royal families.

The soldiers and horses from all walks of life scattered to encircle and suppress the remnants of the pirates, and the good news kept coming, and the prisoners were taken to the Malacca camp in batches, and let special people carry out brainwashing and education, so that they could be good people again.

In addition to encircling and suppressing the pirates, the subordinates sent out to contact the kings of the countries also sent back good news, they used the residual power of the pirates to coerce and lure the small countries, and successfully persuaded the small countries to accept the unified policy of the Tang Dynasty, and some details of the terms are still being discussed.

In addition to their contact with the royal family, these people also conducted detailed investigations into the surrounding areas of the cities of the countries in order to find out the specific conditions of these small countries so that they could invest in the future.

"Li Shilang, good news! The surrounding countries did not dare to criticize the requirements put forward by our Datang in one fell swoop, and basically agreed to our requests, in addition, although the population of these countries is not large, but the products are extremely rich, and there are many products that my Datang does not have or very few, which is very suitable for large-scale development. ”

One of his subordinates excitedly reported.

In fact, these small countries are afraid of the Tang Dynasty, not only because of the military strength of the Tang Dynasty, but also because they all sent people to celebrate the birthday of the black wolf this time, in case the Tang Dynasty labels them with the crime of colluding with pirates, they can be exterminated at any time.

Li An smiled happily and nodded, "Good thing! The tropical rainforest climate is full of products, and these products are extremely important to the development of our Datang, and when the pirates are completely eradicated, the next step is to contact the merchants of Datang and let them build workshops in these small countries. ”

"Li Shilang, I already have businessmen in Datang who have established a workshop in Luo Yue Kingdom, and the scale is not small, employing more than 100 people."

The subordinate said.

"Oh, yes, what kind of workshop is it, and who opened it?"

Li An asked with concern.

The subordinate said: "It is a palm oil workshop, Luo Yueguo has a lot of palm trees, and the workshop is built in a place where palm trees are dense, I heard that it was opened by Zhang Batian, a businessman from the Tang Dynasty, and it is Zhang Batian that we have seen in Guangzhou before." ”

Li An was stunned: "Zhang Batian, this kid is very capable!" Not only did the pirates not rob him of his goods, but he also opened workshops overseas, so it is no wonder that he made a fortune and was a man of brains. ”

"Li Shilang, we have also caught a lot of pirates now, as long as Zhang Batian has collusion with pirates, I am not afraid that I will not be able to find out."

The subordinate said.

Li An nodded approvingly: "That's right, now that the black wolf has been arrested by us, it is not difficult to find out who colluded with the pirates, but unfortunately many confidential letters in the black wolf's lair were burned by a fire, which caused us a lot of passivity, if only these letters had not been burned." ”

"Li Shilang, the letter can be burned, but everyone is still alive, catch the black wolf and ask, it will be clear."

The subordinate said.

Li An smiled and walked towards the camp where the black wolf was held, where he wanted to personally interrogate the black wolf and find out if Zhang Batian had colluded with them.

In one of the most tightly guarded camps, there are only more than 200 pirates in it, but all of them are pirate leaders, there are no ordinary small pirates, in fact, there are more than 500 people here, and the rest are people sent by the surrounding royal families to celebrate the birthday of the black wolf.

Li An naturally did not embarrass these people who were forced to come to celebrate their birthdays, not only let them go, but also sent his subordinates and elite soldiers and horses to escort them back, and used the extermination of pirates and grasping the handle as a threat to make the small countries accept the trade policy of the Tang Dynasty, in order to seek the greatest benefits for the Tang Dynasty.

After sending off more than 300 envoys from various countries, the most tightly guarded camp was left with the black wolf and his more than 200 small leaders.

The transformation of these leaders is the most difficult, because their personalities are already deeply ingrained, and it is very difficult to change, and it is definitely not easy to change them.

"Li Shilang."

When the guard's subordinates saw Li An coming, they greeted him with their chins.

"How is it, has there been any change in the mood of the black wolf?"

Li An asked with concern.

"Li Shilang, the black wolf's mood is much more stable, but he is still a little unconvinced, and he doesn't seem to feel that he has anything wrong with being a pirate."

The subordinate replied.

Li An smiled: "It doesn't matter, the black wolf has been a pirate since he was born, and his thinking has long been ingrained, and it is not easy to change his mind, take your time!" ”

After speaking, he walked into the camp, ready to chat with the black wolf, talk about life, and investigate Zhang Batian by the way.

"Black wolf, Li Shilang has come to see you."

The subordinate reminded.

The black wolf raised his eyes and looked at Li An, continued to lower his head, as if he didn't see it, obviously, he was still angry in his heart, as a hegemonic pirate leader, he had supreme power in this area, and the appearance of Li An made him a prisoner, it was strange that he had a good impression of Li An in his heart, as for the set of theories used in brainwashing, such as saving the black wolf, people should be kind, and other views, it couldn't enter the black wolf's heart at all, he didn't care about this, he only knew that everything he had was wiped out by Li An, this hatred he has written down.

"Black wolf, don't you hate this official to the bone!"

Ang Lee said jokingly.

"How dare you, how dare you, I'm just a prisoner."

The black wolf said with resentment.

Li An smiled: "Okay, it doesn't matter if the official hates me or not, it doesn't matter, the official has suppressed countless bandits in his life, and there are hundreds of thousands of people who hate me!" One more is not too much, and one less is not too much. ”

"Can your Tang Dynasty really bypass me?"

The black wolf asked suddenly.

These words, the brainwashed people of the Tang Dynasty have told him many times, but he always refuses to believe it, and always feels that Tang Jun is fooling him.

Li An nodded and affirmed: "Of course I can spare you, but it also depends on your performance, as long as you can make immortal achievements, not only can you be spared, but also give you an official job, of course, the officials of the Tang Dynasty are for the benefit of the people, they can't act recklessly, they must be restrained, and they must accept transformation." ”

"Okay, I'm willing to accept the transformation of the Tang Dynasty."

The black wolf said happily.

Li An nodded and said: "The transformation is not something that can be completed in a day, it needs to be done step by step, especially a big man like your black wolf, you must be even more cautious, after all, you once had so many people under your command, if you rashly let your original subordinates work for Datang, in case you instigate your subordinates to rebel, wouldn't it be troublesome, don't worry, take your time!" The first thing you need to do now is to give an order as soon as possible, so that all the brothers under your command can surrender here immediately, without your cooperation, no matter how many soldiers and horses we have, we will not be able to dig up all the hidden pirates in a short time. ”

"Okay, I'm willing to cooperate, I know where all the brothers are hiding, and I'm willing to give the order to let them all come and surrender."

The black wolf compromised.

Li An nodded with satisfaction and said: "Okay, very good, that's right, this official believes that you will become a good person one day, by the way, there is a businessman named Zhang Batian in Datang, I don't know if you know it?" ”

In fact, it doesn't matter to Li An that the black wolf can be successfully transformed, as long as he is stabilized first, and his identity is used to better exterminate the rest of the pirates, as long as the Malacca area is stabilized, the life or death of the black wolf is no longer important.

"Zhang Batian, isn't he that very shrewd businessman, I met him in my early years, but I didn't see much later, I heard that he went to Guangzhou in the Tang Dynasty to develop."

The black wolf spoke.

Li An frowned and said, "I heard? You're not telling the truth. ”

Truth or falsehood, Li An can still hear it, and the black wolf is obviously weakening Zhang Batian's affairs.

The black wolf was stunned for a moment, thinking that Li An might already know a lot of things, or he wouldn't have come over to ask him personally, if he had any more concealment, he would be guilty.

"Okay, I said."

The black wolf had no choice, as long as he knew Zhang Batian when he was young and had a good relationship with him, and later, Zhang Batian took a fancy to maritime trade and had a relationship with the pirate leader, so it was natural to start the maritime trade, and it was a smooth journey, the business became bigger and bigger, and he made more and more money.

Later, Zhang Batian used the relationship of pirates as a backing to open specialty workshops in overseas countries to earn more money.

Later, Zhang Batian boldly revealed the whereabouts of the other competitors' merchant ships to the pirates, and asked the pirates to sell him all the goods they had stolen at half price, so that the pirates and him could get huge benefits, and the robbed merchants would go bankrupt.

Listening to the black wolf explain all this, Li An felt very angry, this Zhang Batian was really too much, for the so-called monetary interests, he actually dared to frame his peers, this kind of behavior is too shameful, and it is not an exaggeration to execute him immediately.

However, Zhang Batian also has something that Li Ang appreciates, that is, he successfully used the deterrence of pirates to drive his workshop into the Nanyang countries, thus obtaining the rich resources of the Nanyang countries.

Although Zhang Batian's workshops are still too small and the scale is not very large, he is the first person in Datang to open a workshop in Nanyang, and has taken the first step in transnational capital investment, which has a high reference significance for the businessmen who follow, which is very worthy of recognition.