The Datang fleet sailed for a whole day and a night, and the next morning, just after dawn, the fleet arrived at the port in the northwest.

In addition, in order to defend and prevent pirates from attacking the harbor, in some key positions, a few zhang high arrow towers were set up, and each arrow tower was guarded by at least five soldiers, which could not be said to be impregnable, but as long as the pirates exposed the target, they would definitely be hit.

Li An walked onto the deck and looked at the half-moon-shaped port in front of him, a satisfied smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, this shaped port is the best and the most potential port.

"Yes, it's a nice natural harbor! In the future, it will be a bustling metropolis. ”

Ang Lee opened his mouth and sighed.

"Li Shilang, how long are we going to stay here this time?"

The subordinate asked.

Whether it is Malacca or Anshizhou, the Datang fleet has rested for a long time, and everyone knows that the natural harbor at this moment is also a very important position, so it must stay for a while longer.

"The old rule, it's still a month or two! It should be enough. ”

Li An said.

As long as everything goes smoothly, it is completely possible to complete the gradual planning in one or two months, and the follow-up construction can be handed over to the imperial court.

After taking this land, Li An had already written a memo, suggesting that the imperial court send officials to rule here, and because this place was not far from Tocharo, and Tocharo's railway was already connected to the land of the river, and the railway of the land of the river had long been linked to the Anxi railway of the Tang Dynasty.

In this way, the person sent to deliver the letter only needs to ride a horse and go to Tocharian by land, so that he can take the railway, reach Chang'an City as quickly as possible, and report the newly obtained port and its surrounding land, as well as many plans and suggestions, so that the imperial court can send someone to manage it earlier.

Li An's plan is very well done, the construction and planning of a new port, it is enough to have captured pirate wealth, there is no need to let the imperial court pay additional money, as long as it is managed properly, it can earn a lot of wealth for the imperial court in the future, so the imperial court will definitely not refuse such a good proposal.

After the ships docked in turn, most of the soldiers left the ships and went ashore to camp, where they had to stay for a long time and do a lot of work.

"Li Shilang."

A number of generals who had arrived one step earlier walked over.

Li An looked around and asked, "What's the situation recently, and do any pirates dare to come over and make trouble?" ”

"Back to Li Shilang, the remnants of these pirates are very stubborn, and they came to attack last night and shot a soldier of our army."

The general replied angrily.

"It's not going to stop, how many pirate casualties, your defense is too poor."

Li An said very unhappily.

The general said aggrievedly: "Li Shilang, we have deployed a lot of arrow towers on the periphery, and the soldiers who were shot and killed were the soldiers who stood on the arrow towers and patrolled, and there were not many pirates, it is estimated that there were only five or six, because after shooting our soldiers, they fled immediately, and our army's pursuit was fruitless." ”

"Yo, this is a guerrilla war with us!"

Li An did not continue to blame the generals, and began to think about how to deal with these guys.

"Li Shilang, if these remnants of pirates, dozens or hundreds of people invade on a large scale, our army can easily inflict heavy losses, just like a few days ago, capture more than a hundred people in one go, and take them all over to kill, but if these guys are three or five people, secretly release cold arrows, we will really be difficult to defend, this move is too damaging."

One of the subordinates said.

Li An nodded in agreement, there is nothing wrong with this, the open gun is easy to dodge the dark arrow, and it is difficult to defend against large-scale face-to-face battles, these pirates only have the share of death, but if a few people come to sneak attack, and then hide in a corner, it is really difficult to find, especially at night, it is even more difficult to find, and the pirates have been operating in this place for more than a year, and they are very familiar with the terrain of the nearby mountains and forests, and Li An's Tang soldiers and horses are all newcomers, and they don't know much about the terrain, and if they play guerrilla warfare, they really can't play them.

"Li Shilang, these pirates have also learned to fall into traps, so sometimes we don't dare to chase too far when we see them running, otherwise, some soldiers will fall into the trap, especially at night, even if the trap is in front of us, it is difficult to find."

One of the generals stayed here for a few days, learning some lessons from the confrontation with the remnants of the pirates.

"Traps, they actually set traps around, it's pretty powerful! It seems that the official is underestimating them. ”

Li An nodded with a smile and asked, "Do you have any good ways to deal with these remaining pirates?" Also, do you know how many pirates are left? ”

The subordinates looked at each other one by one, not knowing how to answer.

"Li Shilang, most of these pirates have been annihilated, and the rest are all combined, it is estimated that there are less than a hundred people!"

"No, my subordinates think that there are at least two or three hundred people, and this number is still there."

Several of his subordinates argued.

Li An quieted his subordinates, thought for a while, and said: "You don't have to fight, no matter how many pirate remnants are left, we will destroy them all, from today onwards, this official will do two things together, one is to build a port and a port city, and the other is to annihilate all the remaining pirates, and no one can be left." ”

"We must cooperate with Li Shilang and do these things well."

The subordinate answered.

"How's the detailed map of the neighborhood going?"

Ang Lee asked.

"Li Shilang, please take a look, these are just drawn maps, and the surrounding radius of fifty miles is almost drawn, but the dense forest is too dangerous, so the specific terrain of the dense forest is not clear enough."

The subordinate handed over a map and handed it to Ang Lee.

Li An took the map and studied it carefully for a moment, a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Li Shilang, have you found a way to deal with these pirates?"

Seeing Li An's smile, the subordinates hurriedly asked.

Li An looked at several subordinates and asked, "You all know that pirates are hiding in these deep mountains and dense forests, and there are more than a hundred people, but in the deep mountains, is there anything to eat?" Does it work? Have you ever thought about it? ”

"What Li Shilang said is that the conditions in the deep mountains are very difficult, and it is very difficult to eat and use."

"What does Li Shilang mean is that these pirates are supported by the people of the surrounding villages, and what they eat and use comes from the surrounding villages?"

The subordinate analyzed.

Li An smiled and nodded: "That's right, there is a shortage of food in the mountains, and there is no living materials at all, and their supplies must come from the people of these villages, or rather, these pirates were originally the children of the people of these villages." ”

"Li Shilang is right, although these pirates have done a lot of evil, but they are also born to their parents, many of them must be from the surrounding villages, in addition, they all say that rabbits don't eat the grass by the nest, they rob the merchants is true, but they certainly haven't robbed the surrounding villages, otherwise, these people would have tied up these remnants of the guys."

One of his subordinates analyzed.

Li An smiled: "What's more, maybe some of the property looted by the pirates will be distributed to these local people?" Because these pirates come from the surrounding villages, when they get money, will they not give it to their parents and relatives? ”

"Li Shilang, the last general will ask for orders to arrest all the people in the nearby villages, as long as you interrogate them well, you will definitely be able to find out the remnants of the pirates who are hiding."

A general pleaded.

Li An waved his hand and said: "No, if we really do this, then what difference does it make for pirates, we Datang must convince people with reason in everything we do." ”

"Then what is the opinion of Li Shilang?"

The subordinate asked.

Li An thought for a moment and said: "This has to be divided into several steps, first of all, send soldiers and horses to each village to garrison, each village has a hundred soldiers, this number should be enough, there are only thirty villages around, only three thousand soldiers and horses are enough, and the rest of the soldiers and horses, divided into two thousand troops, searched back and forth in the deep mountains, and found that the pirates were eliminated on the spot, this is a preparation for force." ”

After thinking for a while, he said: "In addition to the control of force, it is also necessary to use the tactics of attacking the heart, the people of the village protect the pirates, but there will definitely be some people who hate pirates, of course, there will be people who are greedy for money, and these are the breakthroughs we can use, as long as we offer a large reward, there will definitely be people willing to reveal the hiding place of the pirates." ”

"Li Shilang, this move is really too high, my subordinates will arrange it."

The subordinate answered.

On the same day, the 5,000 soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty immediately set off and rushed to their respective areas of responsibility to achieve the goal of fighting the remnants of the pirates.

In order to show his support for the crackdown on piracy, Ang Lee personally took his soldiers to the nearest village to see the situation in the village for himself.

"Li Shilang, since there are people in the village who are fornicating with pirates, then you better not go! It's too dangerous. ”

The subordinate persuaded.

Li An waved his hand and said: "What are you afraid of, with so many people protecting, what risk can this official have, if you don't go to the village to see it in person, how can you better understand the attitude of the local people towards the officers and soldiers of the Tang Dynasty." ”

The subordinates couldn't resist Li An, so they had to accompany him.

Each village sends a hundred people, which can be said to be a great strength, and Li An brought fifty elite soldiers, so Li An's team has one hundred and fifty people, which is the largest number of people among all the teams, as long as you pay a little attention, you don't have to worry about security.

Li An led a team of 150 people to the nearest village, quite a ghost into the village.

Of course, Li An is not a devil, and he will not harm ordinary people for no reason, but at least on the surface, this is indeed the case, the local villagers are not familiar with the Datang soldiers and horses, and distrust and misunderstanding are indispensable, so it is easy to regard the Datang soldiers and horses as aggressive devils in their hearts.

Therefore, before this decision was made, Li An had already made it clear that all soldiers were absolutely not allowed to bully the villagers, let alone insult the women in the village, otherwise, military law would be involved.

As long as you don't wantonly hurt the people, and then slowly understand it with reason and emotion, point out the crime of pirates and robbing merchants, and Datang will help the local people, build a better home, and let the people live a better life, these people will slowly identify with the Tang Empire, and then, they will preach the benevolence of the Tang Empire to farther places, so as to attract more human resources for the Tang Dynasty.

"Li Shilang, there is Tur Village in front, we have arrived."

The subordinate who was in charge of leading the way pointed to a small village not far away and spoke.

Li An raised his eyes and saw that the small village in front of him was okay in scale, with about a few hundred houses, and it was estimated that there were more than a hundred households.

"This village is okay, there are more than 100 households!"

Ang Lee asked.

The subordinate replied: "This village has one hundred and thirty households, and the population is more than five hundred, which is considered a relatively large village. ”

Li An nodded and waved his hand: "Enter the village, everyone will enter the village immediately." ”

Hearing the order, the subordinates immediately entered the village.

On the way, I met some naughty children, because they had never seen these soldiers and horses, and they were so frightened that they ran away, even some adults, when they saw the Tang soldiers and horses entering the village, they also ran home to hide, as if the Tang soldiers and horses would be unfavorable to them.

"There are three entrances and exits in this village, and on each side of each entrance and exit, one arrow tower is built, and six arrow towers should be enough to control everyone entering and leaving the village, and in addition, three arrow towers should be built in the center of the village, which will be deployed in a zigzag shape, so that the defense will be impregnable."

Li An opened his mouth to arrange.

"Li Shilang, how long do we need to be stationed?"

Seeing that Li An made a defensive plan, and even asked for the construction of a defensive fixed arrow tower, his subordinates were a little puzzled.

"Don't worry! It won't be long, as long as we are stationed in all the villages, then it will be difficult for the remnants of the pirates to get supplies, in order to fill their stomachs, they will definitely venture into the villages, so it will be much easier to deal with them, this is still the worst plan, as long as we gain the trust of the people, we can deal with these pirates more easily. ”

Li An said.

"Labor and materials are needed to build the arrow tower, so will these be handed over to the people in the village?"

The subordinate suggested.

Li An nodded and said: "Indeed, the soldiers are understaffed, and they have to carry out the necessary defense, and the construction of the arrow tower is indeed a little inadequate. ”

"Yes, the subordinates will arrange it, let the villagers gather in the center of the village, arrange tasks for them in a unified manner, and send them money first."

The subordinates immediately went to prepare.

Soon, under the persuasion of the village chief, people from every family went to the center of the village to gather, some were the whole family, some only came, and finally a total of more than 300 people gathered, standing there looking at the Tang soldiers and horses, there were doubts in their eyes, and there was a trace of panic.