Tibet.

Chapter 1406 Du Huan Receives Order
In the afternoon, Li Ye met Du Huan. Du Huan was about 40 years old, of medium build, with dark skin and a pair of very bright and lively eyes.

Du Huan had met Li Ye before. He was a military officer under Gao Xianzhi at that time. He was only in his early twenties. During the Battle of Talas, he met the brave young Li Ye.

Unexpectedly, fifteen or sixteen years later, Li Ye had become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

"Has General Du ever been to Baghdad?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Du Huan nodded, "I can speak Persian and Sogdian. I went to Mulu first. Later, the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs signed a formal agreement, which clearly stated that the Amu Darya River was the boundary. I followed General Gao's order to go to Baghdad to meet their Caliph Mansur and submit the formal agreement."

“What is your impression of Baghdad?”

"It was very luxurious, with huge and magnificent buildings everywhere. The buildings were very dense, layer upon layer. I was worried about what would happen if they caught fire. Later I realized that their buildings were not made of wood."

Li Ye laughed, "Well said!"

After a pause, Li Ye asked again: "Then why did you leave Anxi Jiedu Mansion?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing were transferred by the court, and Bian Lingcheng recommended Bi Sichen to take the position. This person is narrow-minded, and I have offended him before, so I resigned from my official position and followed a caravan to the Great Qin Kingdom. I have a strong interest in the West and want to broaden my horizons."

The Great Qin Empire was Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire. Li Ye asked with a smile, "Have you ever been to the west of the Great Qin Empire?"

Du Huan nodded, "I met several Western envoys in the Qin Kingdom. It was the first time they saw people from the Tang Dynasty, so they invited me to their country. I took a ship to Athens, Naples, Rome and Genoa, and didn't go west. It is said that there are many small countries in the north. On the way back, I went to Egypt, rode a camel from Egypt to Baghlan, and then took a ship from Baghdad to Basra, where I transferred to a Tang Dynasty ship to return home."

Li Ye was surprised and asked, "There are Tang Dynasty ships in Basra?"

"Yes, they are all 10,000-ton seagoing ships with a very deep draft. They cannot enter the Euphrates River and cannot reach Baghdad directly. The Arab merchants like our large ships very much. They are very big and very safe. The Arab merchants from Guangzhou and Quanzhou all come here on Tang ships."

Li Ye was very impressed. He was indeed the first Chinese in history to travel around the Mediterranean. Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Did you stop in Chola when you passed through India on your way back?"

Du Huan nodded. "We have been to the Chola Kingdom for supplies twice. It is a very old dynasty with too many low-level people, who are like ants and feed the upper-level dignitaries. This country is militaristic and has a large army. They have large flat-bottomed ships that can accommodate 400 soldiers and can release Greek fire. This country is also rich in iron production, and the quality is very high. Ironware, iron pots, and iron swords are sold everywhere in the market, and they are sold to the Arabs."

"Did Army Du go out again later?"

"I went to Southeast Asia three more times afterwards, and also visited Lugong Island."

Li Ye took out a large map from the bookcase and spread it out on the table. On it were the Tang Dynasty, Southeast Asia, Indochina, India, Persia, the Arab Empire, Egypt and the Mediterranean countries.

Du Huan was extremely surprised. "Your Majesty, where did you get this map? It is exactly the same route as mine!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "I drew this based on many maps. I printed many copies using woodblocks. General Du, I want to give you a task!"

Du Huan was excited and immediately bowed and said, "I am willing to share your majesty's worries!"

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "I have a five-year plan. The first step is Zhenla and Champa. Have you been there?" Du Huan nodded, "I went to Zhenla two years ago. There is a lot of grain there."

Li Ye said slowly: "The first step is this year. I want to buy a batch of grain from Zhenla and Champa, about 500,000 stones, to alleviate the drought in the Central Plains. But I heard from Zhang Boyi, the governor of Jiaozhou, that pirates often attack Jiaozhou. Every time they go ashore, they suffer heavy losses of personnel and property. These pirates are mainly from Chola and Java. They use Champa as their base and continue to invade the north, but in fact they are not pirates, but regular troops disguised as pirates. Champa is also ambitious. I heard that the Tang Dynasty was in turmoil and wanted to take the opportunity to annex Jiaozhou, so they indulged fake pirates. So I decided to crack down on pirates, destroy Champa, and rule it by the Jiaozhou Governor's Office. I plan to set up the West Sea Trade Office in Champa to transport grain from Zhenla and Champa to the Tang Dynasty. You will be the director of this trade office."

Du Huan bowed and said, "I will definitely get the job done!"

Li Ye nodded, "You must remember my principles. I generally do not exploit the lower class people. They are already poor enough and there is nothing worth exploiting. I destroy the kings and nobles, take away their wealth and land, and give them to local farmers to cultivate. Half of the grain obtained belongs to them, and the other half is collected as rent to the court. As for Zhenla, we will rely on trade for the time being, exchanging our goods for their grain."

Champa is today's central Vietnam. Champa was just a stepping stone. Li Ye's target was still the Mekong Delta and the Tonle Sap Plain. The grain here could be harvested three times a year and there were enough people to farm. The Tang Dynasty only needed to bring advanced agricultural technology there, coupled with strong military control, to gradually erode the land of the nobles and the king, and transport large amounts of grain back to the Tang Dynasty to make up for the Tang Dynasty's food gap.

After a pause, Li Ye pointed to the Chola Kingdom on the map and said, "After we control Zhenla, the second step will be the Chola Kingdom. Probably starting from the third year, I need two things from the Chola Kingdom, one is iron ore, the other is population. I need the population of the Chola Kingdom to develop Lugong Island, but I don't need them to stay. They will be replaced after five years, so I must recruit young and strong men with families. It only costs 300 coins a month, which is a high income for them.

The second is iron ore, which is my top priority. You need to build a smelter in Zhuluo and transport the smelted pig iron to the Tang Trade City."

Du Huan was startled. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, where is the Tang Trade City?"

Li Ye pointed to the location of Singapore today, "It is here. The Tang Dynasty will buy a piece of land here, build a trading city, and construct a large number of warehouses."

Du Huan thought for a moment and said, "I have a suggestion!"

"What suggestions do you have?"

"If the Tang Dynasty wants the iron ore of Chola, it will inevitably go to war with Chola. Only by defeating Chola can we seize their iron ore."

Li Ye nodded, "What then?"

Du Huan pointed to Sri Lanka on the map and said, "This is called Sinhalese. They believe in Buddhism, which is very different from Chola. Sinhalese has been occupied by Chola, but the locals have been resisting. We can help the Sinhalese people restore their country. This place can be used as our transit point for supply. A large amount of Chola iron ore can be transported here and smelted here. In this way, we can transport a large amount of iron ore in a short time."

Li Ye pondered for a long time and nodded, "You are right. We should first take over Sinhalese as a place for our logistics garrison for attacking Chola."

Li Ye immediately appointed Du Huan as Langzhong of the Ministry of War, with the title of Censor-in-Chief, and appointed him as the Chief Clerk of the Annan Protectorate and the Director of the West Sea Trade Office. He immediately went to Nanzhao and then set out to Jiaozhou from Nanzhao. At the same time, he transferred 3,000 troops from Nanzhao to Jiaozhou.

After completing the Zhu Luo Kingdom plan, Du Huan will travel to Hezhong to replace Li Chenghua as the Hezhong Xuanwei Envoy and be in charge of Hezhong affairs.

At the same time, Li Ye ordered the naval commander Li Chengshi to lead 20,000 Tang naval troops from Quanzhou Port to Jiaozhou to prepare to fight pirates and launch a war to destroy Champa.

Since ancient times, rulers have suffered from food shortage anxiety, and Li Ye was no exception. He launched the Annan War in order to obtain one million dan of grain before the end of the year to make up for the losses caused by the disaster in the Central Plains.

(End of this chapter)