Li An did not rush to agree to the envoys of Shi Guo, after all, the generator set belonged to the urgently needed equipment of the Tang Dynasty, and he should aim to satisfy himself first, and then sell it to other small countries in large quantities when he was surplus. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In addition, listening to the words of the envoys of Shiguo, the king of Shiguo has a very big appetite, and he wants to illuminate the entire palace and the royal city as bright as day, so he must need dozens of sets of equipment, so much equipment, Li An can't take it out, this requires the approval of the imperial court.

Although all the equipment was invented by himself, all these industries belonged to the imperial court and needed to be subject to the control of the imperial court, and Li An did not have the right to dominate.

Of course, if it is a small number of products, there will be no such problem, and Li An, as a minister of the imperial court, still has a little privilege.

"What's your name?"

Li An looked at the envoy of the Shi Kingdom and asked.

The envoy of the Shi Kingdom was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Hui Li Shilang, in Lower Kurban, is the envoy of the Shi Kingdom. ”

"Kurban, nice name, let's make friends! As a matter of sincerity, I will sell you a thousand light bulbs. ”

Ang Lee said with a smile.

"A thousand light bulbs? Can't you sell another generator? ”

The envoy of the Shi Kingdom opened his mouth and asked.

Li An hesitated for a moment, put on a very embarrassed expression, and said: "The generator set is an important asset of the imperial court, and the imperial court controls it very strictly, about this, you must be very clear, but since you are a friend, I promise to help you, however, at most, I can only sell you one set of equipment, and the number of light bulbs will also increase to two thousand for you, how about it?" ”

"That's really good, Li Shilang is really a good friend, when he comes to our stone country in the future, he will definitely treat him well."

The envoy of Shiguo looked excited, with these things, he would be able to explain when he went back, at least not empty-handed.

"Kurban, how big is your stone country? There are several cities. ”

Li An was idle, looked at Kurban, and asked.

"Li Shilang, our Shiguo is very small, it can't be compared with the Tang Dynasty at all, there are only a dozen cities, and the capital is in Talas, there are about 100,000 people, and it is the largest city in my Shiguo."

Kurban replied truthfully.

"Talas? Such a familiar name. ”

Li An was puzzled for a moment, and then thought of Talas City, which is the battlefield where General Gao Xianzhi of the Tang Dynasty led his army to fight for the Great Food Country, in the battle of Talas, the Tang Dynasty was defeated, and most of the soldiers and horses were lost, which can be regarded as a harbinger of the decline of the Tang Empire.

And the failure of this battle, in addition to the enemy's soldiers and horses far superior to the Tang Dynasty, there is also an extremely important reason, that is, the Tang Dynasty's friendly army Ge Lulu was bought by the Great Cannibal and launched a sneak attack on the Tang Army from behind, which made the Tang Dynasty army chaotic, and finally returned with a heavy defeat, the main force of soldiers and horses were killed, Talas City and Shi Guo fell into the sphere of influence of the Great Food Country, and the influence of the Tang Empire in the west was greatly weakened.

Talas City is located on the Tang Empire's main transportation route to the West, and it is very important for the Tang Empire to control Talas or make the Stone Kingdom subordinate to the Tang Dynasty, which involves the Tang Empire's Belt and Road Initiative, and the security of land trade routes cannot be ignored.

"Talas City is the capital of our Stone Country, and everyone in our Stone Country knows about it, but after all, Stone Country is a small country, and it is already an honor for our Stone Country for Li Shilang to hear the name of Talas."

As an envoy of Shiguo, Kurban naturally respects the capital of the motherland very much, and because Shiguo is only a small country, it is a very normal thing for the ministers of the Tang Dynasty to not know what the capital of Shiguo is, after all, there are so many small countries in the world, who can remember so much?

Li An smiled and said: "Talas City is a good place, in the future, my Datang railway line will definitely pass through Talas City, and in this way, your Talas City will become richer and richer, and the life of the people of Shiguo will become better and better." ”

"Haha! Li Shilang is so right, my Shiguo relies on trade to support itself, if there is no trade, there will be no Shiguo, but our Shiguo also has hardships! ”

Kurban said, sighing.

"If you Shiguo have any troubles, speak out and listen."

Li An asked curiously.

Kurban hesitated for a moment and said: "Don't hide it from Li Shilang, our Shi Country is only a small country, and we have no ability to protect ourselves, although we Shi Country people are very rich, but we have to pay tribute to the two big countries of Datang and Da Shi at the same time, and we Shi Guo can't afford to offend anyone!" ”

"Tribute to two great powers at the same time? Why, your king of Shiguo is a vassal to Datang and Dashi at the same time, this is a two-hearted to Datang! If your Majesty knows, how will your king explain it? ”

Li Ang rebuked loudly.

In fact, this is not a secret, many small countries in the west are colleagues who claim to several powerful countries, and this is also to gain the understanding of these powerful countries and prevent them from being attacked.

And among them, the main reason is naturally because the geographical location of Shiguo is too important, neither Datang nor Dashi will give up control of Shiguo, in addition, Shiguo is on the edge of these two big countries, and no one has enough ability to protect Shiguo, nor can they give Shiguo a security guarantee, so it directly leads to Shiguo being forced to pay protection fees to two neighboring countries.

"Li Shilang, it's no wonder that our Shiguo, Datang's military strength in the west is relatively weak, unable to effectively protect Shiguo, for the safety of the people, the king has to give Da Shi a little benefit, this is also a matter of no way, it's not that our Shi Guo has two hearts for Datang, Datang is more benevolent than Da Shi, of course our Shi Guo is hearted to Datang."

Shi Guo's envoy Kurban hurriedly explained.

"In this way, it is my Tang army that has failed to protect your Stone Country and made your Stone Country suffer."

Li An said softly.

"Li Shilang should know that the westernmost military town of the Tang Dynasty is Broken Leaf City, with only a few thousand men and horses, and my Shiguo is still a few hundred miles west of Broken Leaf City, once a major event is a surprise attack on Talas, the Tang army hundreds of miles away will not have time to rescue, besides, the Tang army in Broken Leaf City only has thousands of soldiers and horses, and its strength is relatively weak."

Kurban whispered.

"What's wrong with thousands of soldiers and horses, my Tang Dynasty soldiers are all elite divisions, even if there are only a few thousand soldiers and horses, it is enough to defeat tens of thousands of enemy troops."

Guo Yang, who was standing outside the walk, suddenly spoke.

"Brigade Marshal Guo is angry, the Tang army in Broken Leaf City is not very strong, if these thousands of Tang troops can be equipped with the ironclad artillery carriage under the command of Brigade Marshal Guo, of course, they can eat soldiers and horses at will."

Kurban knew Guo Yan, and he knew that Guo Yan had a good relationship with Ang Lee, so he dared to say anything.

"Guo Lushuai, what Kurban said is also reasonable, thousands of ordinary Tang troops galloped hundreds of miles to aid Talas, it is indeed unrealistic, if you want to protect a small country like Shiguo, you must increase the military strength of the Tang Dynasty in the west, and the premise of increasing military strength is that the railway must be unblocked, only the railway is unblocked, and the materials and salaries needed by various armies can be transported to the west more cheaply, so as to reduce the burden of the imperial court, if the railway is ordinary, raising a soldier in the west is equivalent to raising ten soldiers in Chang'an City, the price is too high."

Li An said.

The ancient Tang Empire, the reason why it only kept 24,000 soldiers and horses in such a vast land as Anxi, was because it was difficult to transport all kinds of materials from the imperial court to Anxi, and the same materials, after arriving in Anxi, were ten times the price, and the price of the Tang Dynasty to feed 24,000 men and horses in Anxi was equivalent to feeding 240,000 troops in the capital, and the pressure was still very great.

After the railway was built, the situation was completely different, all kinds of materials of the Tang Dynasty could be transported to Anxi by rail, very convenient and cheap, and the price increased by up to fifty percent, so that it was enough to feed more soldiers and horses in Anxi.

Now the railway from the capital to Yumen Pass has been open to traffic for a long time, and the railway from Yumen Pass to Shule Town has also been built for more than half of it, and I believe that it will be opened to traffic soon.

Moreover, Li An has the next plan, which is to continue to build railways to the western countries, first of all, the first is to start from the city of Swap, pass through Bodaling, and arrive at the westernmost military town of Datang, Broken Leaf City, and then continue to the west, through Kulan City, Talas City, to reach the farther western countries, and even, all the way to Europe.

The second route was to go south from Shule Town, pass through the Telmanchuan River, enter the Tocharian region, and through Tocharian into the western Dashi and the southern poison states, extending the influence of the Tang Dynasty to these regions and promoting the economic development of the Tang Empire.

"Kurban, you can rest assured, Shiguo will not have to pay tribute to two countries at the same time in a few years, as long as the railway of the Tang Dynasty is paved to Talas City, your Shiguo will be safe, if anyone dares to provoke, the elite ironclad artillery car under the command of Guo Lushuai can arrive in Talas City within ten days and annihilate the invading enemy."

Li An said domineeringly.

The reason why he dared to say this was naturally because the Tang Empire had this strength, as long as the railway was unblocked, it could ensure that the violent machine of the Tang Empire could enter Talas City, and the absolute safety of Talas City could be ensured, and not only Talas City, but any distant city, as long as it was connected to the railway of the Tang Dynasty, would be under the protection of the Tang Empire.

"What Li Shilang said is that I am also looking forward to the arrival of this day, after the railway leads to Talas, not only can Talas be protected by the Tang Dynasty, but our merchants in Shiguo can also do better business, and Shiguo will become richer and richer."

Kurban said wistfully.

"Kurban, this day will come soon, and the official will definitely go to Talas to take a walk, and it must be very interesting to see the customs and customs of the west."

Li An opened his mouth to comfort Kurban, and he also looked forward to it.

After talking about the basic situation of some western countries, Kurban said goodbye and left, returning to Ezhou Railway Station, while Li An continued to enjoy the night view of the Ezhou Yangtze River Bridge with Guo Yang.

Standing on the bridge and blowing the wind, it still feels very comfortable.

"Li Shilang, this Kurban is very interesting, he dares to say anything, and he actually came to ask for power generation equipment."

Guo Yan said a word, and suddenly asked: "Li Shilang, you seem to have promised him just now, where do you want to get a set of power generation equipment for Kurban?" ”

"It's just one set of power generation equipment, the official still has this authority, it's really not good, the two sets of equipment in the official's mansion can also be dismantled and given to him."

Li Ang said very easily.

As an important minister of the imperial court and the technical director of the R&D center, it is not difficult for Li An to get a set of power generation equipment, and others dare not say anything, so this problem is not a problem at all, as long as Li An is willing to help, you can get a set of power generation equipment, as for the light bulb, it is much easier, after all, the light bulbs are all gadgets, and the number of production is relatively large.

After returning to Ezhou Railway Station, it was already late, and Li An fell asleep.

In the following days, Emperor Li Longji and his ministers visited both sides of the Ezhou Yangtze River Bridge, and saw almost all the corners of the bridge, and even the number of light bulbs on the bridge was clear.

A few days later, the emperor returned to Beijing and said that he would come to Ezhou again to inspect in the future, so as to show the importance he attached to the Ezhou Yangtze River Bridge.

After returning to Beijing, Li Ang spent one-third of his time in the R&D center, working hard to guide technical personnel and develop various advanced machinery.

The rest of the time, naturally, most of them stayed in their own courtyards, accompanied by their wives and children, and life was still very beautiful and comfortable.

"Congratulations to Li Shilang, the fourth lady is also pregnant."

A Lang Zhong had just checked the pulse of the fourth lady Li Hanlu, and walked over and said hello to Li An with a happy face.

"Sir has worked hard, reward."

Li An was very happy, Yan Ruyu was pregnant last month, and Barbarian was also pregnant a few days ago, and today, Li Hanlu is also pregnant with a child, which is of course a great joy.

However, there is also a big problem behind the happy event, that is, all the ladies have become giant pandas, and no one has accompanied Ang Lee through the long night, which is definitely a great torment for a young and energetic man like Ang Lee.

"Husband, I've been in a better mood lately, and I'm not so good! Is it that we are all pregnant and have no husbands? ”

In the bedroom of the main house, Yan Ruyu looked at Manman and Li Hanlu and whispered.

"Sister, don't say it, it sounds like a wolf and a tiger."

She couldn't help but show her shyness when she thought of the little thing with Li An at night.

"Like a wolf and a tiger, this seems to describe a woman! The husband is a man, how can he use it like a wolf and a tiger? It should be called a beast, hehe! ”

Li Hanlu has learned to smile since she entered Ang Lee's courtyard, and she laughs naturally.

"Beast, don't be so exaggerated! When the husband hears it, he will be angry. ”

The brute smiled again.

"Beast, isn't our husband?"

Li Hanlu smiled lightly and glanced at the two.