Capital Datang

At the end of November in the 18th year of Zhenguan, Li Min suddenly sent troops to Malacca, including [-] main warships, hundreds of other auxiliary ships, and tens of thousands of soldiers accompanying the ships.

After this huge fleet entered Malacca, it immediately caused panic in Mo Luoyou and other countries, thinking that the prince of Tang Dynasty was finally going to attack them.But what everyone didn't expect was that after entering the strait, the fleet did not conflict with any forces. Instead, it stopped at the Malay Peninsula on the other side of the city of Moluoyou, and then under the watchful eyes of various forces along the coast of Jinzhou , It even started to build cities and ports on the Malay Peninsula in a big way.

The place across the strait from Mo Luoyou is Singapore, a port country that will become famous in the future. However, the main island of Singapore is still desolate. There is only a native tribe of about [-] people on the island, and the army will soon be landed. After clearing, the army went ashore and set up camp. At the same time, the artisans and slaves who came with them also unloaded various supplies, and then immediately started to build docks and residences.

Mo Luoyou and other countries were very puzzled at the beginning. They couldn't figure out what these people were going to do. They just saw that the other party was powerful and they couldn't provoke them at all, so they were all very honest and didn't dare to interfere at all. However, as soon as the pier on the island was built, Lu Qing, who was sent here to take charge of the matter, immediately announced to all the forces in Malacca that the port under construction would be named Lion City, and that it would be under the jurisdiction of Prince Qi's Mansion. Acting as the governor of Lion City temporarily, he is in charge of the military and political power of Lion City.

The reason why Lu Qing, a military general, was appointed as the temporary governor was mainly because the Lion City was newly built, and it was in Malacca, a place far away from Taiwan.Therefore, there must be a general who can live in the town. That's why Lu Qing became the governor as a general.But this is only temporary, until the Lion City has a firm foothold in Malacca.Li Yin will soon send a civil servant to manage the Lion City. It's not that he doesn't trust Lu Qing, it's just that he can't set a precedent for a general to intervene in politics.Capital Datang 530

For the establishment of the Lion City, Mo Luoyou and these forces were quite disapproving at first. After all, they are all native forces in Malacca, and they have been operating in the strait for generations. Although the port is not safe, it is also very complete. outsiders can compare.

But soon they found that they were wrong.The craftsmen in Lu Qing's hands commanded the slaves to work day and night. They used cement to build ports and various facilities, and then used gunpowder to blow up the reefs in the sea to clear a wide channel. Quite a few usable piers have been constructed.

As soon as the construction of these piers was completed, many Han Chinese ships moored at the piers. Although the facilities on these piers were still far from complete, they were comparable to the chaotic Miluoyou port on the opposite side.The entry and exit are also very orderly, and there will be no frequent congestion like that of Mo Luoyou, and there is another most important condition.That is, safety is guaranteed, and the goods will never be detained or even stolen.

The establishment of Shicheng port made most of the Han Chinese ships willing to dock here.With the further improvement of port facilities, coupled with good port management.Gradually, not only Han Chinese merchant ships are willing to berth in Lion City, but merchant ships from other countries are also willing to park their ships in Lion City port.

Although Malacca has a lot of boat traffic.But with the rise of the Lion City, there are fewer and fewer ships calling at other ports, and this is still on the premise that the Lion City has not been fully completed. I believe that with the improvement of the Lion City, it will monopolize most of the ships in Malacca one day. At that time, Malacca will also be completely in Li Yin's hands.

In addition, while the Lion City was being built, the [-] major naval warships stationed in the Lion City were not idle. They were divided into several teams and patrolled the strait every day, mainly to fight against pirates in the strait, and regardless of the pirates' No matter what the background is behind it, as long as they meet them, they will all be beheaded and killed.

Most of these pirates are supported by some local forces in Malacca. They were already very dissatisfied with the Lion City, and now the pirates they sent out were also attacked by the Lion City fleet, which made them even more angry. The strength is too weak to do anything to the Lion City.However, these people will not give up willingly. The forces headed by Mo Luoyou are colluding secretly in an attempt to form an alliance to resist Li Yin's aggression.

However, for this situation, Li Yin has long been prepared, and he even intentionally annoyed these forces of Mo Luoyou, in order to let them take the initiative to attack, but forces like Mo Luoyou are all located in Jinzhou, and Lion City is located in the Malay Peninsula, so if they want to attack Lion City, they must go out to the navy, but in this world, there is no navy that can wēixié the main battleship in Lu Qing's hands!

When Li Zhi, who had just arrived in Shanghai, received Li Yin's dispatch of troops to Malacca, and did not directly conflict with those natives, but chose to build the city, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He thought that the sixth brother Li Yin would have a new round of war operations. But I didn't expect that he would use such a relatively gentle method to control Malacca. In this way, although war may break out, who the hell knows when?

However, although Li Zhi was disappointed, he didn't show it. He still happily visited Shanghai with his elder brother and third brother.In the past, he only heard that the new city of Shanghai was extremely prosperous, with many merchants in the city, and there were opportunities to make a fortune everywhere, but he never had any personal experience. It was not until he spent a few days in Shanghai that he really experienced Shanghai. Among other things, the astonishing flow of goods on the pier every day, and the crowded train compartments in the city all the time tell the outsiders about the prosperity of Shanghai.

After several days of observation of Shanghai, Li Zhi compared Dengzhou, which is also a port city, with Shanghai, and he soon discovered that although Shanghai is still not as good as Dengzhou, the development potential of Dengzhou has been exhausted , no matter how hard you try in the future, it is estimated that you can only maintain the current state.

But Shanghai is different. The development potential of this new city is much stronger than that of Dengzhou, especially the Chang'an waterway, which has brought endless wealth to Shanghai. I believe that in a few years, Shanghai will surpass Dengzhou. It has become the most prosperous city along the coast of Datang.

After staying in Shanghai for nearly ten days, although Li Chengqian and Li Ke always wanted them to stay for a few more days, Li Zhi was eager to visit Taiwan, where not only was the base camp of the sixth brother Li Yin, but also the place where Caier was born. Therefore, whether it is public or private, Li Zhi is full of longing for Taiwan.

Seeing that Li Zhi had made up his mind to go, Li Chengqian and Li Ke didn't want to keep him anymore. They just gave out a lot of gifts to Li Zhi and the three of them. Naturally, he would not refuse.

Speaking of the ten days in Shanghai, Li Zhi was most happy not to see the prosperity of Shanghai, but to see the changes in his elder brother Li Chengqian. The former Li Chengqian was the prince, although his attitude towards them was not like that of Li Tai and Li Tai. You are like that, but he is also very rigid, and he likes to teach others with his big brother's airs. I'm worried that my big brother will be overwhelmed.

However, when he met Li Chengqian, he realized that instead of being depressed because the prince was abolished, his elder brother enthusiastically participated in the construction and management of Shanghai and became a good assistant to the third brother Li Ke. If you hear this news, you will definitely be very pleased.

Shanghai is very close to Taiwan, especially after the launch of the steamship flight, it is only a few days away.When they arrived in Dengzhou before, they had seen steamboats on the pier, but they had never had a chance to sit on them, so they couldn't miss it this time.So Li Zhi asked people to charter a few steamships, and then the fleet followed. They first took the boat to Taiwan.

Li Zhi is also very interested in this kind of steamship that travels thousands of miles a day. He also specially chatted with the shipyard for a while, and learned about the performance of the steamship in detail, and found out that this kind of ship is originally restricted. It is also very big. First, it is easy to break. Of course, with the advancement of technology, this problem has been greatly reduced than before.The second is that there is a huge demand for coal and fresh water, so there must be supply points along the way, otherwise it is not as good as a sailboat.

However, although the steamship has various shortcomings, and the hull is relatively small, it cannot withstand the bumps of the wind and waves, but it conceals its advantages. For example, the biggest feature is that it is fast and requires less manpower. There is no need to consider issues such as wind direction and ocean currents.It is believed that with the development of navigation, one day this kind of steam ship will replace the sailing ship and become a real nautical weapon.Capital Datang 530

After sailing on the sea for three days on a steamship, Li Zhi and the others finally arrived in Keelung, Taiwan.Standing at the bow of the boat, Li Zhi could not help but feel a little excited when he watched the ships coming in and out of Keelung Outer Harbor. This is the base camp that Sixth Brother painstakingly built. The island has grown from scratch, and has gradually developed into an overseas Even the newspapers in Chang'an mentioned the prosperity of Taiwan from time to time, which attracted many scholars to regard Taiwan as their must-see place when they travel.

"Although Taiwan and Dengzhou are both your sixth brother's territory, they are fundamentally different. Whether it is politics or economy, they are obviously different from Datang. When you get there, you must observe carefully and learn humbly. I believe you will definitely gain a lot!" Thinking of his father's advice to him when he left Chang'an, Li Zhi couldn't help feeling a sense of anticipation, he really wanted to know what he could learn in Taiwan? (to be continued...)