Li An opened his mouth to express that the Tang Empire would not bully the weak, so that the Ottomans could cooperate with the Tang Empire with peace of mind and not worry too much about their own interests.

Of course, this so-called non-bullying of the weak is a relative concept, and it is not really not to bully people, but to do it more hiddenly, which can make people accept it slowly.

For example, since ancient times, farmers who farm land need to pay taxes to the imperial court, and after later generations, the imperial court does not need farmers to pay taxes, and even gives farmers a lot of subsidies to encourage farmers to farm and meet the needs of more people.

This kind of practice of not only not paying taxes, but also giving subsidies is naturally very moving, but this is not bullying, it is naturally impossible, all the money of the court is the people's, if not only do not collect the people's money, but also give the people a large sum of money, in that case, the court will go bankrupt.

The imperial court's approach is very simple, that is, printing money! The more money printed, the richer the court became, and correspondingly, the money in the hands of the common people was worthless, which was a kind of plundering in disguise, but it was completely different from the nature of direct robbery, and the people were easily kept in the dark, and the assets were plundered and happily sang the praises of the court.

What Li Ang wants to do for the Tang Empire now is to bully overseas countries in disguise, so that these small countries are bullied and have nothing to say, or take some means to benefit these small countries, let them follow the pace of the Tang Empire, the Tang Empire eats meat, and these small countries just drink soup.

Li An has taken a fancy to the geographical location of Aden City, but he will not use force in order to snatch Aden City, he wants to leave a good impression on the merchants and people of Aden City, so that they really like the Tang Dynasty, this is what Li An wants, and it is also the most in line with the interests of the Tang Empire.

Osman listened to Li An's words, although he didn't believe it very much, but he felt that Li An's words still had a certain degree of credibility, after all, the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses had been stationed in the port of Aden City, but they honestly stayed in the open space next to the port to garrison, and did not occupy the entire Aden City.

This is enough to prove that the Tang army is a benevolent and righteous army, and the Tang Empire is also trustworthy, and it is completely safe to cooperate with the Tang Empire, as long as it takes care of the interests of both sides.

"I have long heard that Datang is a state of etiquette, and it seems that it is really worthy of its reputation! Datang doesn't take advantage of the strength to conquer the world, it's really ......"

Osman opened his mouth to sigh, and at the same time, it was also a temptation, if he had the strength of the Tang army, he would have swept through Europe, Asia and Africa and become a great emperor.

Ang Lee smiled: "Haha! I Datang is willing to be friends with all other countries in the world, how can I conquer it? Only common prosperity for everyone is the goal of our Datang, and it is very wise for General Osman to be willing to be better with Datang. ”

Osman smiled, looked at another map, and said, "The Umayyad Dynasty has long since fallen apart, and it is really rare that the map of the Tang Dynasty still marks it as a country. ”

Li An pursed his lips and smiled, and said, "General Osman thinks that it is still possible for the Umayyad Dynasty to make a comeback?" ”

After speaking, he looked into Osman's eyes and waited for Osman's answer.

Osman's eyes were gloomy for a moment, and he shook his head and said: "Don't hide it from Li Shilang, my Umayyad Dynasty is already declining, except for me, there are no talents, there are many people who oppose Apos, but they will not support the Umayyad Dynasty, and it is too difficult to revive the Umayyad Dynasty." ”

Li An smiled and said, "General Ottoman, do you know why it is difficult for the Umayyad Dynasty to make a comeback? ”

"Why?"

Osman asked curiously.

Li An said: "This is because any dynasty has its fate, just like a person, there are always teenagers, young people, middle-aged and old age, and finally return to dust, the Umayyad Dynasty's qi has run out, and it is basically impossible to make a comeback, if the Ottoman general wants to regain the Umayyad Dynasty, it will only be dragged down, I don't know if the Ottoman general knows the history before my Tang Dynasty, if he knows, he can naturally learn a lot of experience and lessons from it." ”

"I still know a lot about the history of your Datang, and there are thousands of years of history."

Li An smiled: "That's right, we had many dynasties before the Tang Dynasty, but all attempts to revive the declining dynasty have been completely defeated, after the decline of the Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang tried to restore the Han Dynasty, and in the end it failed, when the Great Sui Dynasty fell, the Tang Gaozu resolutely decided to raise troops in order not to be dragged down by the decaying Great Sui, and the founding of the country was called the Tang Dynasty, thus laying the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. Wouldn't it be nice to be the sultan yourself? ”

After speaking, he looked at Osman.

Osman is not a foolish person, so after listening to Ang Lee's words, there was not the slightest dissatisfaction on his expression, but there was a trace of excitement in his eyes, it was obvious that Osman seemed to have wanted to be self-reliant for a long time.

"Zai Xia is just a general, self-established as a sultan, I am afraid that I will be attacked by many parties, and there are only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses under my command, it is difficult to resist!"

Osman spoke directly about his concerns, and it was clear that he seemed to be seeking help from Ang Lee.

Li An naturally understood what Osman meant, smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, and said: "If the Ottoman general is willing to be friendly with the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty will definitely support the Ottoman general, and how much help the Ottoman general can get depends on how much benefit the Ottoman general can bring to the Tang Dynasty." ”

"Oh, that's right! If you have any ideas, you can tell me directly and show me the way. ”

Osman asked directly.

Li An pointed to an enlarged version of the map and said: "Ottoman general, please see, the core of the Umayyad Dynasty is in the Khorasan region, and now the Apos Dynasty also takes the Khorasan region as the core and controls the surrounding areas, and their strength is far stronger than the general's strength, so it is very difficult to stand on its own here, unless the general can defeat the elite army of the Apos Dynasty, otherwise, as long as he dares to be called a sultan, he will be attacked by the Apos Dynasty at any cost, and he is afraid that it will be difficult to support it." ”

"Didn't Li Shilang say that the Tang Dynasty would help me, if the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses helped, even if Mansur and Abdullah jointly attacked, they might not be able to destroy me."

Osman said with a smile, to test Ang Lee's sincerity.

Li An waved his hand and said: "The Ottoman generals are willing to be friendly with the Tang Dynasty, but Mansur and they may not be willing to be enemies with the Tang Dynasty, if you are all friendly with the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty will not interfere too much in the grievances between you, and the help that can be provided will naturally be relatively small, and everything will still rely more on the general himself." ”

"Then Li Shilang means that he wants me to go to a farther place, such as Egypt."

Osman looked at a piece of land on the map and spoke.

Li An happily replied: "That's right, Egypt is far away from Khorasan, the terrain is more conducive to defense, as long as the general works hard, he will always hold here, and the Tang Dynasty is also better to persuade Mansur to let them not conquer distant Egypt, so that the general can rest assured that he will be called the sultan in Egypt." ”

Osman said with a smile: "Li Shilang is very thoughtful, with my current strength, it should not be a big problem to occupy the remote Egypt, but this still does not guarantee that it will not be attacked by Mansour, and the small court of Spain is afraid that it will also come to find trouble." ”

Li An pointed to a location on the map and said: "There is a peninsula here, the place is not very big, if this belongs to the Tang Empire, then the Tang Dynasty will definitely not allow the troops of other countries to pass, so, Mansur They want to attack Egypt, they can only take the waterway, so, the Ottoman generals should deal with it very well, and the Tang Dynasty will also persuade them to give up, if necessary, they can also send steam cannon ships to patrol the sea to threaten the logistics of Mansour's army, so that they dare not act rashly." ”

The peninsula here is the Sinai Peninsula, is a very important strategic place, as long as you occupy this strategic place, you can calmly dig the canal, and once the canal is completed, the strategic value of this peninsula will be greatly increased, of course, this excavated canal can only belong to the Tang Empire, in the future, just the toll can be collected softly.

Osman thought about it for a while, and felt that it was just an inconspicuous peninsula, as long as Ang Lee could support him to dominate Egypt, and let him admit that the Tang Dynasty owned such a peninsula, it would not be difficult.

"Datang owns the peninsula, I can completely agree, but Mansur may not be willing to agree! They have already deployed small numbers of troops and horses on the peninsula and in Egypt. ”

Osman said bluntly.

Li An smiled: "This needs the help of the Ottoman general, as long as the Ottoman general captures Egypt and the peninsula, then, Egypt and the peninsula are the Ottoman general's, when the time comes, the Ottoman general will give the peninsula to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang soldiers and horses can be stationed justifiably, if anyone dares to be unconvinced, then the Tang army can't be blamed for bullying the weak, don't you say!" Ottoman generals. ”

Osman's back was cold, and he hurriedly said: "What Li Shilang said is that Osman is willing to cooperate with Datang, Egypt is mine, and the peninsula belongs to Datang." ”

In this way, a political agreement was reached between Osman and Ang Lee, and both sides had their own gains, Ang Lee won the peninsula for the Tang Dynasty, and Osman got Ang Lee's promise that he could go to Egypt to claim the king and hegemony, and he could no longer look at anyone's face.

Li An turned his gaze to the vicinity of Aden City on the map, and said: "General Ottoman, the plan I just said don't need to be implemented in a hurry for the time being, because the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses are not ready and cannot follow the general to the north, so let's stay here in Aden City for the time being!" When my Tang soldiers and horses are going north, I will definitely inform the general and let the general take the first step. ”

"Okay, I fully believe in Li Shilang, the situation in Aden City is complicated, Li Shilang can find me if he needs any help."

Osman said.

Li An nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, it's decided, I will definitely trouble the general." ”

"Li Shilang is resting, I'll leave first."

Uthman bowed and saluted, ready to leave.

Because he has talked to Li An too much, he needs enough time to digest the content of these conversations, and analyze how to cooperate more beneficial to him, and there are still some things that he needs to discuss with his subordinates and obtain their support and approval.

Ang Lee also had a lot of ideas to think about, and got up to personally send Osman away.

After returning to the back garden, Li An continued to observe the map, and was very happy in his heart, if the Ottomans could really cooperate with him, then sooner or later, the peninsula would be the territory of the Tang Empire.

And at the thought that the extremely important peninsula would fall into the pockets of the Tang Empire, Ang Lee's heart was very excited, and he wanted to jump up and celebrate.

Now that the peninsula issue is already in sight, the next thing to consider is the matter in front of us, and with the cooperation of the Ottomans, it will be more certain to take Aden City.

After Osman left Li An's residence, he immediately returned to the hotel, he didn't stay too long, because when he left Li An's residence, he found that a stranger was following, and the person who was following him was not a Tang Dynasty, so he suspected that he was being followed by his opponent's eyeliner, so the best way was to leave as soon as possible, and then, he only needed to send his subordinates to contact Li An, there was no need to come and risk it in person.

After Ang Lee stayed in Aden City, Al Tik sent people to monitor Ang Lee's residence, wanting to see who had contacted Ang Lee in order to control the situation.

"City Lord, the person who went to see Li Shilang yesterday went again today, and he stayed at Li Shilang's residence for a long time."

The subordinate walked up behind Artik and reported.

"Oh, I went again, did you find out who it was?"

Artik hurriedly asked.

"The subordinates quietly checked yesterday, according to the shopkeeper, there are thirteen people in this group, who came from Khorasan to do business, but they are all five big and three thick, and they don't look like businessmen at all, but like soldiers."

The subordinate reported.

"Oh, who looks like a soldier?"

Artik frowned and thought for a while, then spoke: "Send people to keep an eye on this group of people, you must find out their true identities, and why they want to contact the officials of Datang." ”

"Yes, my subordinates understand."

The subordinates were ordered to retreat, and soon ran back again, and continued to report: "City Lord, these thirteen people we want to monitor have just left the city of Aden, and our people are following behind. ”