Both aircraft carriers and landing ships had to be remodeled immediately, so that they could quickly be put into active service to meet the needs of exterminating pirates, and all this had to be supported by the emperor, and the opening of sea voyages had to be supported by most of the courtiers and noble merchant classes. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the Nanyang navigation chart, Li An already has a relatively complete business idea, and this idea must be known to the emperor and ministers, and even, it can also be known to the common people, so that the people of the whole Tang Dynasty can support this feat.

Datang Daily is a very good medium, Ang Lee decided to open up his idea of opening up the Maritime Silk Road, simply published in Datang Daily, with easy-to-understand language, let the world understand the importance of opening up maritime trade routes, as for the details, there is no need to write out, after all, the level of ordinary people is very limited, if it is too detailed, it is estimated that they will not understand, in addition, there is also the worry of leakage.

Of course, maritime trade voyages have always existed, starting hundreds of years ago, and trade has always existed, and the reason why Li An proposed to open up this term is because it is necessary to thoroughly improve the environment of maritime trade, so that the merchants of the Tang Dynasty can trade more safely and quickly, earn more profits, and at the same time, let the imperial court also obtain greater benefits.

In short, the Maritime Silk Road, which Ang Lee has re-improved, will undergo earth-shaking changes, and it is not an exaggeration to use the word "pioneering".

The imagination of the Maritime Silk Road was reported on the front page of Datang Daily, which caused an uproar in the capital and became a hot topic on the streets and alleys of the people.

Many people who thought they were knowledgeable began to talk about the advantages of the sea trade routes, and some pointed out the shortcomings of the sea trade, in short, everyone's opinions were different, and it caused a great deal of controversy.

The impact of the headline on the front page was obvious, and the emperor couldn't sit still after reading it, and asked several ministers for their opinions.

The interests represented by the ministers were different, some expressed full support, some expressed opposition, and some refused to express their opinions, which caused the emperor a headache.

"The Maritime Silk Road sounds like a road to making money!"

After the minister left, Li Longji muttered to himself.

"The old slave shouldn't be too talkative, but over the years, none of the suggestions made by Li Shilang have not been beneficial to the country and the people, if Your Majesty has any doubts in his heart, he might as well summon Li Shilang and ask if it will be clear."

Colliers rarely spoke in support of Ang Lee.

"I'm sure I'll see you, but I'll have to figure something out first."

Li Longji frowned and thought about it.

"The pirates of the South Seas have existed for more than 100 years, and my Tang Navy Division has almost never experienced a major war, and if the labor expedition is defeated by the pirates, the court will lose face."

Mr. Li voiced his worries.

Over the years, the strength of the Tang Dynasty's army has been greatly improved, and the main border armies are equipped with artillery troops, which is enough to deter the surrounding countries, and the capital has more powerful ironclad artillery vehicles, and the newly established Heavenly Army has recently been established, which is enough to be proud of the world, but what is the strength of the naval division, Li Longji is still a little confused, even if he mounts a cannon on a steamship, can he really defeat the cunning pirates?

"Everyone is worried a lot, how could I lose to pirates, since Li Shilang dares to mention the Maritime Silk Road, he must be completely sure, it is better to listen to his thoughts."

Colliers is out of the way today, and he has been in politics one after another.

"Okay, Xuan Li An will see you."

Ang Lee had been thinking about perfecting the Maritime Silk Road, and after receiving the will, he immediately rushed to the palace and brought the newly drawn map with him by the way.

"Your Majesty."

Li An bowed slightly.

"Li Shilang, I would like to hear your idea of the Maritime Silk Road."

Li Longji asked straightforwardly.

"Someone, hang the map."

Li An asked the eunuch waiting next to him to help hang the map, and then stood in front of the map, ready to introduce the situation.

"Your Majesty, please see, this blue line is the area that the Maritime Silk Road will pass through, these dense small red dots are the cities and supply points along the way, the big red dots are the big cities, the small red ones are the smaller cities, and there are different colored blocks representing different small countries, and there are black skeletons on the sea, which means that there are often pirates here."

Ang Lee pointed to the signs on the map and began to introduce them carefully.

"There are so many pirates on the sea, it is really not easy for maritime merchants! It is no wonder that after the goods enter Datang, the price will increase dozens of times. ”

Li Longji looked at the black skeleton on the map and let out a sigh.

"Your Majesty, the sea trade routes have been formed for hundreds of years, and in recent years, thanks to the development of the industrialization of the Tang Dynasty, they have become more and more prosperous, but pirates have also prospered, and the threat to the sea routes is extremely great, and they must be completely eliminated."

Li Anzheng said.

"The Tang Navy Division has not fought for many years, what is the chance of Li Shilang winning?"

Li Longji asked with a frown.

Li An was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, why do you say this, how can a mere pirate be my opponent of the Tang Dynasty, Weichen only needs 10,000 elite soldiers to wipe out all the pirates along the way." ”

"Li Shilang is so confident?"

Li Longji seems to have some little confidence in the Tang Dynasty sailors.

"Your Majesty, please see, Weichen has recently designed two new naval weapons, this picture is an aircraft carrier, this picture is a landing ship, with these two sharp weapons, plus dozens of steam gunboats, no pirate should be afraid."

Li An took out two drawings and presented them in front of Li Longji.

"What kind of ship is this, and what is so powerful?"

Li An explained: "Your Majesty, the top of this ship is straight, it can dock ten aircraft, it can realize take-off and combat at sea, the front end of this ship can be opened, and it can load ten ironclad gun trucks. ”

Li Longji didn't understand, but he felt that it seemed to be very powerful.

Li An continued to explain, telling the emperor that it would only take two months to prepare an improvised aircraft carrier and five landing ships, and in addition, it was necessary to transfer a flying brigade and an ironclad artillery brigade from the capital as the core force of the long-distance fleet, and more than 30 steam gunboats from Laizhou and other places to be the backbone of the fleet, and as for the logistics supply fleet, it was more than 100 ships.

The scale of the transfer of troops is not very large, but it also draws thirty percent of the most elite forces in the capital, a total of three flying brigades of the heavenly army, to transfer a brigade, a total of four ironclad artillery brigades to be transferred, and the total number of steam gunboats of the Tang Navy Division is not much, and thirty ships are transferred at once, which can be said to have transferred all its main forces.

There are not many soldiers and horses gathered, only 10,000 horses, but they are the most elite troops in the Tang Dynasty, and their strength greatly exceeds that of pirates, so it is of course no problem to defeat the pirates along the way.

"Does Aiqing have to go in person? Is it okay to send someone else? ”

Li Longji is a little inseparable from Li An, and it takes a long time to open up the Maritime Silk Road, and it will take a year or two to come and go.

"Your Majesty, the Maritime Silk Road is extremely important to the Tang Dynasty, there are many things that must be personally visited by Wei Chen, and about the naval battle of the Heavenly Army, only Wei Chen knows how to train and fight, and no one else can replace it."

Ang Lee insisted that he personally led this elite army of soldiers and horses to maintain the Maritime Silk Road.

Subsequently, Ang Lee enumerated the benefits of maintaining the Silk Road one by one to convince the emperor thoroughly.

First of all, the annihilation of pirates will further promote the prosperity of the sea routes, so that the merchants can obtain huge benefits, and secondly, after the pirates are killed, the cost of the sea routes will be reduced a lot, the goods can be cheaper, and the common people can buy the products they need more easily.

In addition, with the prosperity of the sea route, the imperial court can also get more financial revenue, which is also beneficial to the imperial court.

In addition, if the pirates are not eradicated as soon as possible, their strength will grow stronger and stronger, and it is also a great threat to Datang's coastal defense.

Along the way, the countries will more or less bully the Datang merchants, impose high heavy taxes on the goods of the Datang, and force these goods to increase the selling price, so that the sales volume will be affected to a certain extent, and the finances of these small countries will also skyrocket excessively, and there will be a blowout of strength, and they will also levy too much export tax on the goods imported by the Datang merchants, so as to exploit the Datang merchants again, and this situation must also be changed.

In short, the chaos of the maritime trade route must be effectively rectified, otherwise, this important road to make money will become a road for pirates and countries along the way to make money, and it has little to do with the Tang Dynasty.

For such an important road to make money, the Tang Empire must take the lion's share, otherwise it will be abnormal, and necessary corrections must be made, even at the expense of going to war.

The power of wealth and military power have been proportional since ancient times, and only proportional can they be maintained, and if they do not develop force with huge wealth, they will be at risk of being plundered, and after the force is strong, if they do not take the opportunity to serve the struggle for wealth, it will be wasted, and the huge force needs financial resources to maintain, so the force must serve the maintenance of financial resources.

Datang has the most powerful military force today, and if it does not grab the biggest piece of the cake of the Maritime Silk Road, it is a great loss, which is not conducive to maintaining eternal strength.

"What Li Shilang means, my Tang Dynasty still needs to garrison troops along the way, how many soldiers and horses do I need?"

Li Longji asked, looking at the map.

"Your Majesty, there is not much need for overseas garrisons, but the most critical locations must be garrisoned with strong troops, and officials must be sent to manage them, so as to turn them into the overseas territory of the Tang Dynasty, such as here, and here and here, etc."

Li An pointed to the location of Malacca, and then pointed to Gulin, Jishi, Aden, Kilwa and other places, these positions are the core and important, especially the location of Malacca, which is the first important overseas enclave, and it is relatively close to Yazhou in Datang, which must be fully managed.

As long as the Malacca region is managed well and the pirates in this area are completely eliminated, the Tang Dynasty will have enough reason to collect tolls from ships of various countries in the past, which is a large amount of income, and it is definitely a very considerable source of income after the sea route is busy.

In addition, the ships coming and going must rest in the port of Malacca, in order to meet more and more sea ships in the future, after occupying Malacca, the Tang Dynasty will also expand the nearby seaport, and the Malacca will be thoroughly managed, making it an important source of wealth for the Tang Empire.

As for the remaining points, they need to be controlled and rebuilt step by step, so that the power of the Tang Empire can fully control the Maritime Silk Road, support the merchants of the Tang Dynasty, and let the Tang Empire obtain the maximum benefits.

"Yes, what Li Shilang said is right, these locations are all important places, and they need to be garrisoned, and the current sea power of Datang is a little insufficient!"

Li Longji said regretfully.

There are many important points on the sea route that Datang needs to guard, and the ocean-going sea power that Datang can get his hands on is only a little, and it is more than enough to garrison one or two points, but if you want to maintain a huge large sea area, you need more maritime combat ships.

"What Your Majesty said is that these are not in a hurry, they need to come step by step, and in the future, only ten steam gunboats will be stationed in each of these areas, and the main force of the naval army will be stationed in Guangzhou, and they will regularly take turns patrolling everywhere to completely eliminate the pirates."

Li An said.

"It will take a lot of time to prepare, when does Li Shilang plan to leave."

Li Longji asked with concern.

"Your Majesty, it is enough for the minister to prepare for a month, and after arriving in Guangzhou, he needs to prepare for about a month, and then he can go south."

Ang Lee replied seriously.

"Okay, I support Aiqing, if you need anything, just mention it to me."

Li Longji said briskly.

"Your Majesty, Weichen will go back and prepare."

Li An was so happy that he left the palace and went back to prepare.

Going south to open up the Maritime Silk Road is a big operation, and there are many things that need to be prepared, not only materials and equipment, but also many personnel.

Li An will have to go out for at least a year this time, and he must bring enough soldiers and horses and his entourage, as well as all kinds of daily necessities.

"Husband, you are going to Nanyang, and you will leave for a year or two, do you have to go?"

When several ladies heard that Ang Lee was going to go away, they all had reluctant expressions.

"The husband is going to do business, and it's not that he won't come back, you don't have to worry, this time I go out, and I'm going to bring Yun'er, the two maids of the beauty, and the four Kunlun slaves, a total of six people, so it's almost the same."

Li An said.

"Husband, it's been a hard journey, take me with you!"

"Husband, I also want to go to Nanyang to have a look."

Li An waved his hand and said: "No, the sea is too hard, how can my husband bear to let a few ladies go to the sea to suffer that sin?" Don't go, don't go. ”

Although the sea is romantic, but the hard work is certain, Ang Lee is going out this time to open up the Maritime Silk Road, not to travel, but it is a little inconvenient to bring his wife, it is better to keep them all at home, and a few intimate slaves and maids can serve them.

In addition, the four Kunlun slaves are all from the African continent, and bringing them this time may have a big effect.