On the deep blue sea, a colorful dragon flag fluttered in the wind, and it was a huge fleet sailing forward on the wind and waves.

This is the first time that Datang has sent a fleet to sea, which not only undertakes Datang's exploration of the sea, but also undertakes the heavy responsibility of collecting taxes from various departments in the southwest sea of Datang.

Therefore, Li Chengqian generously sent Li Ke more than 300 large and small ships, 15,000 elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, and 8,000 Turkic and warriors of various ethnic groups who surrendered. At the same time, there were also a large number of undesirable sons sent by the major scholars who supported the voyage in the fleet, and their purpose was to explore a suitable land for the family to establish a feudal state, but now they also had to obey Li Ke's dispatch.

In addition to the conventional weapons such as swords and crossbows, Li Chengqian also prepared 2,000 stone gunpowder and 50 hot air balloons for the fleet, and each large ship was equipped with trebuchets.

When he saw these equipment as soon as he first saw it, Li Ke wanted to directly attack Goguryeo with these soldiers and horses.

The day before yesterday, the fleet had already passed through the Liuqiu Strait and entered the South China Sea, and it seemed that in half a month it would reach their first destination, Guangzhou.

Li Ke, who was in a strong suit, stood at the bow of the ship with the sword at his waist facing the wind, his long black hair flying like a rag on the back of his head, and his body was motionless, firmly and forcefully looking at the magnificent sea.

It has been almost three months since Li Ke left Chang'an, and it should be winter in Chang'an, but the fleet is still as warm as spring in the South China Sea.

Li Ke clearly knew that they were not far from Datang now, and it only took one day to sail north to Datang's Lingnan Road.

Just a few days ago, he personally took a boat to Liuqiu Islands to take a look, and found that Liuqiu Zhuzhu was indeed as Li Chengqian said, with a humid climate and fertile land.

In his opinion, this is a treasure land for the establishment of a feudal country, but listening to Li Chengqian's meaning, this can only be regarded as a small island.

There are many islands in the South China Sea, and there is even a land in the south of the sun that is not smaller than the current Tang Dynasty.

At first, Li Ke was only skeptical and half-believed what Li Chengqian said, but now through his understanding of the sea, he has completely believed Li Chengqian's words.

I imagined that in the future, I would bring some people to establish a country on a big island, and my descendants would be the masters of a country for thousands of generations, which may not be worse than the emperor of the Central Plains.

Therefore, Li Ke made up his mind to find a piece of land in the ocean that belonged to him and left it to his children and grandchildren.

Of course, Li Ke also knew that now he had to help Li Chengqian govern the Tang Dynasty well, and if the Tang Dynasty was not well governed, Li Chengqian would not send the people out to develop the sea.

Li Ke was an ambitious person, but when he returned to Chang'an at the end of the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, he saw the love-hate entanglement between Li Shimin, Li Chengqian, Li Tai and Li Zhi's father and son in Chang'an City, which made him recognize his status.

No matter how proud he is of his own background, he cannot deny the fact that he is a concubine, as long as the three sons of Empress Changsun are still alive, it will not be his turn to take the throne of the Tang Dynasty.

If you want to kill the three sons of Empress Changsun, you have to kill Li Shimin first, which is something that you can't think of.

At the same time, through one or two years of contact, he also admired Li Chengqian's mind and insight very much, and even whenever he thought that Li Chengqian, who had lived in the north all his life, knew so much about the various conditions on the sea, he felt that Li Chengqian was a little unfathomable.

……

……

I don't know how long it took, but Yu Biao, the chamberlain, walked up to Li Ke with his hat on his head, and said softly: "Lord Wang! ”

Li Ke turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Feng Zhidai woke up and asked the prince to come into the warehouse and speak." Yu Biaodao.

Feng Zhidai is the eldest son of Feng An, the Duke of Geng Guo, and has previously stayed in Chang'an to equate proton.

This time he went to sea because he had to collect grain from Feng Ang in Guangzhou, so Li Chengqian ordered Feng Zhidai and Li Ke to go home to visit relatives together.

Feng Zhidai suddenly fell ill a few days ago when he was not used to the turmoil at sea, and he has been taking medicine to recuperate recently, so he woke up today and asked Li Ke to speak naturally because the fleet was about to arrive in Guangzhou, and he discussed how to collect grain.

Li Ke also guessed Feng Zhidai's thoughts, and when he heard the words, he walked to the ship's cabin.

----------------

Gengguo Mansion in Guangzhou.

When Li Ke's fleet was still sailing in the South China Sea, the Duke of Geng had already received a letter from Chang'an.

Feng Ang is almost eighty years old this year, and his health is very poor, and he has been recuperating at home for the past two years.

The affairs of the Guangzhou Governor's Mansion were all handled by his sons, but this time the matter involved the imperial court, and his sons still came to discuss with Old Feng An.

Although it was already late autumn in Chang'an, Guangzhou was still very warm, but Feng An, who was weak, could neither stand the cold nor the heat.

The aging body was half-lying on the Luohan bed, with a silk quilt on his legs, but his upper body was only wearing a thin silk coat, and his half-squinted eyes were motionless as if he was asleep.

His second son, Feng Zhiji, sat on the stool in front of the bed, holding Feng Zhidai's letter in his hand, and also looked at Feng Ang motionlessly.

I believe that he has read it to Feng Ang twice, and now Feng Ang is thinking about it, and he doesn't dare to bother.

On the other side, the third son, Feng Zhiyu, was already impatient, and although he was still sitting in front of the bed, he twisted towards the door.

"Hmm-"

I don't know how long it took, Feng Zhiji heard Feng Ang hum.

"The child is here, you can tell me!"

Feng Zhiji hurriedly leaned over and said softly.

Feng Ang opened his eyes and twisted his body slightly, turned his face a little towards Feng Zhiji, and said slowly: "It's good to enjoy the shade with your back against the big tree, the Feng family's foundation in Lingnan can't be stable without Datang."

Besides, the Guangzhou Governor's Mansion has never supplied grain to the Tang Dynasty in recent years, and since His Majesty has no military rations for the Eastern Expedition today, it will be dedicated to the Tang Dynasty with 200,000 stone of rice. ”

Feng Ang had accompanied Emperor Yang of Sui on his eastern expedition when he was young, and knew how strong the Central Plains Imperial Court would be once unified, and Lingnan would not have the strength to resist it at all.

Moreover, compared with the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty has been extremely lenient in its governance of Lingnan, as long as it does not establish a separate imperial court, it will be left to its autonomy.

Feng Ang is quite satisfied with this, and he can also accept the grain in Lingnan because of the Eastern Expedition of the Tang Dynasty.

Feng Zhiyu frowned when he heard the words and didn't speak, so he heard Feng Zhiyu next to him say quite angrily: "Father, this crown prince of the Tang Dynasty is extremely ambitious, and we have to take precautions as soon as possible." ”

Feng Ang raised his eyelids to look at the young Feng Zhiyu, and after a while asked Feng Zhiyu, "What do you think?"

When Feng Zhiyu heard this, he immediately looked at Feng Zhiyu with a cold look in his eyes.

"Hmm-" Feng Zhiji muttered, "The child thinks that the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty is going to be divided overseas, and he may not allow us to be free in Lingnan." ”

Feng Zhiyu hurriedly said: "Exactly, what you say this time can't make them get their wish!" ”

Feng Ang hummed heavily when he heard this, and then he was silent.

Feng Zhiji and Feng Zhiyu didn't dare to say anything when they saw this, the two glanced at each other, and Feng Zhiyu said tentatively: "Father is worried that the eldest brother is on King Wu's boat?"

Feng An's face turned slightly pale when he heard this, and he thought to himself that he still knew your eldest brother.

Feng Zhiyu said with a relaxed face when he heard this: "This is also easy, just wait for the king of Wu's ship to enter the bay, and the child orders the nearby barbarians to rob their boats, and then we will write to say that the barbarians have rebelled, and the Tang Dynasty will naturally not embarrass the eldest brother if they want to use us to quell the rebellion." ”

Feng Zhiji's face was also happy when he heard this: "Yes! Military rations can also be used as a reason not to give them. ”

Feng Ang listened to them more and more outrageously and angrily: "Confused! King Wu led an army of 20,000 to come, how could he be afraid of the barbarians, and when the time came, he could pacify Guangzhou first by quelling the rebellion. ”

Feng Zhiyu was extremely unconvinced when he heard this: "Since the ancient Northern Army went south, it has suffered heavy losses at any time......

Feng Zhiyu saw that Feng Zhiyu was going to fight with Feng An, so he hurriedly interrupted him loudly: "Alas-

I'll just obey my father's orders, anyway, it's only 200,000 stone of rice, so why make my father angry......"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Feng Zhiyu, and Feng Zhiyu was silent when he saw this.

In the end, the two brothers appeased Feng An, and then left Feng An's residence to discuss how to deal with Li Ke.