Capital Datang

Naturally, the envoys of Dashi would not agree to such an excessive request from Datang, but they dare not be too tough under the eaves, so they can only express euphemistically that Dashi will never use the Suez Canal handed over.

Regarding the insistence of the Dashi envoy, Li Shimin finally took a step back. He believed that the geographical location of the Suez Canal was too important to be controlled by the Dashi family. It also got the firm consent of Daqi and Tianzhu envoys.

Originally, if it was only from the perspective of economic interests, Dashi would probably agree to Li Shimin's request. After all, although the Suez Canal is a golden waterway, they can't care about it when they are facing the critical moment of life and death. sell part of the benefits.

However, the location of the Suez Canal is too sensitive. It is just between the Dashi Peninsula and Egypt, and it is not very far from the capital of Dashi. It is equivalent to hanging a sharp knife on Dashi's heart, and it will fall down at any time.So in the end, the Dashi envoys still withstood the huge pressure of the Tang Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, and still did not agree to Li Shimin's proposal.

This made Li Shimin very angry, and many generals of the Tang Dynasty also clamored for war, but in the end the envoy sent by Li Yin proposed a compromise plan, that is, let Dashi increase the opening of the Suez Canal again. Under what conditions, they are not allowed to seize the merchant ships of the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they must implement a tax reduction policy for the merchant ships of the Three Kingdoms, and the tax revenue has been reduced by more than half.Capital Datang 669

Seeing that everyone in Datang clamored to start.The envoys of Dashi are also having a hard time, and now seeing the envoys of Daqi propose such a plan that does not touch their core interests.Naturally, they all agreed with both hands, but Li Shimin made a gesture of disapproval at first.Later, it was Li Yinhe, Li Zhen, and Li Yun who wrote a letter in their own handwriting, which made him "reluctantly" agree to this plan.

So under such circumstances, led by Datang, Daqi, Tianzhu and Dashi participated in a total of four countries, and finally signed a commercial contract called "Suez Canal Treaty". In this contract, Dashi declared that it would never seize the merchant ships of Datang and other three countries without authorization, reduce or exempt the merchant ships of the three countries, and at the same time ensure the smooth flow of the Suez Canal.

And in order to supervise Dashi’s implementation of this treaty.There is also a provision in the treaty, that is, the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty will build a military port at Cape Harfon, and a joint force composed of the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty will be stationed there for a long time. Will use force to protect its legal rights in the treaty.

Regarding the joint force, although the Dashi envoys strongly resisted, they could not withstand the pressure of the three countries in the end, and finally agreed, but they also succeeded in adding a time limit to this one.It was stipulated that if Dashi did not violate the content of the treaty within 20 years, then the Tang Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms must withdraw the joint forces at Harfon Cape.

The signing of the Suez Canal Treaty guaranteed the smooth flow of the Suez Canal.At the same time, it also greatly promoted the cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West.But these are not the most important. The key is that with the guarantee of this treaty, Li Ke finally has no worries.Begin full preparations for entering the Mediterranean.

In the autumn of the 24th year of Zhenguan, after nearly a year of preparation.Li Ke himself recruited a total of 4 people in Shanghai, Suzhou and other places who were willing to go to the Mediterranean with him.Li Shimin helped Li Ke gather [-] people in the Guanzhong area.There are also [-] non-Han people. Most of these non-Han people are Hu people from the northern grasslands, and there are also a considerable number of people from the Western Regions.Added together, it was enough to make up [-] yuan, and all of them were given to Li Ke.

In the end, there are people recruited by Li Yin to help Li Ke in Daqi. In comparison, most of the Han people here in Li Yin have just moved from the Central Plains, and they are very satisfied with their current life, so few people are willing to After relocating again, in the end Li Yin only recruited Han people in the early 16s.Li Yin was very dissatisfied with this, but he had no choice but to organize a lot of barbarians from Sanhan, Wazhou, and Ezo Island. In the end, there were 18 people together, and [-] Han Chinese. [-] people.

The combined number of people recruited by the three parties just reached 30, of which there were only 6 Han Chinese. However, due to the ingenious arrangements of Li Shimin and Li Yin, the population of other ethnic groups was smaller than that of Han Chinese. People, the northern barbarians and Yezo barbarians combined, only [-].

30 people seems like a lot, at least a lot more than when Li Zhen and Li Yun went to Tianzhu, but Li Ke's situation is quite special. But there are still very few Han people going there. Even Li Zhen and Li Yun's Tianzhu is better than his. For example, many Han people have gone to Tianzhu to settle down one after another.

Therefore, in a short period of time, the population in Li Ke's hands will not increase too much. These 30 people will be all the capital he will use to build the country in the future, especially because the number of Han people among them is not large. The population rules a large amount of land, and at the same time, it is necessary to prevent the forces of other ethnic groups from growing too fast, which is not conducive to his rule.

The population problem can only be like this for the time being. After all, 30 people is already a lot. At least for Li Ke, he already has a kind of unexpected surprise. According to his original estimate, the total population that can be recruited in the end can be 20. Not bad, even for the number of Han Chinese, he thought it was only [-] at most, but he didn't expect it to far exceed his goal now.

Just like what Li Yin said at the beginning, with the population, the army is not a problem.Originally, there was a guard of 1000 people in Li Ke's mansion, and these people would naturally follow him to the Mediterranean Sea, and they would also become the backbone of Li Ke's army.

In addition, Li Shimin and Li Yin also recruited a group of students from their respective military academies to join Li Ke's team. These students have received formal military education, and everyone has a lot of room for growth. Can become Li Ke's right-hand man.

It is worth mentioning that the students in the two military academies are very enthusiastic about joining Li Ke's team, especially those young students.Although most of the cadets of military academies can become officers after graduation, for these young people, instead of staying in Datang and Daqi and starting from middle and low-level officers step by step, it is better to follow Li Ke to the Mediterranean Sea, at least in the On the battlefield over there, they can give full play to their military talents, and they can be promoted faster. Of course, the premise is that you have real skills.

Young people have an impulsive personality, let alone admit that they have no real skills, so the recruitment work of the two military academies went smoothly, and the number of recruits in the end was much more than expected. Not only were there some students who were about to graduate, There are even some students who have just entered the school. Although they are a little irrational, this can also see the ambition of the Tang man.

With the addition of these military academy cadets and the original [-] guards as the backbone, the army shelf in Li Ke's hands has finally been set up, and the next step is to recruit soldiers from among the people who are willing to migrate.Most of these people who are willing to relocate are people who are not satisfied with the status quo, and most of them are young people. The moment they agreed to relocate, they were already mentally prepared to join the army. After all, they all knew that they wanted to be together. To gain a foothold in an unfamiliar land, it is natural to have a strong force.

It is precisely because of this that the recruitment work went very smoothly. 30 people were quickly recruited into an army of 5 people, including [-] Han Chinese and [-] mixed troops of other ethnic groups.And in response to the problem of the small number of this army, Li Min suggested that Li Ke build this army into an all-firearms force, which is mainly used for offense. As for the cold weapon force used in the future, it can be filled by ethnic groups in the conquered area.

Regarding Li Yin's suggestion, after careful consideration and discussion with Wang Fangyi and others, Li Ke finally agreed to this suggestion.In recent years, the steel output of Datang and Daqi has been increasing at a linear rate. Coupled with the advancement of technology, the manufacturing cost of firearms has dropped a lot. Although the cost of a 5-person firearms troop is expensive, Li Ke feels that it is still possible What's more, it doesn't matter if he doesn't have money, he can borrow money from Li Yin temporarily, and it won't be too late to pay him back when he has money later.

In the following time, Li Ke's 669 troops were trained by military instructors provided by Li Yin, and even officers like Wang Fangyi had to learn how to command firearms troops. This training process would last about a year.Capital Datang [-]

However, during this year, Li Ke and other people who were willing to relocate were not idle. Li Min provided them with a temporarily livable island in Nanyang, and Li Ke bought a large number of ships. Under the guidance of some invited seamen, they began to learn how to drive ships, and Li Ke even arranged for a group of people to go to the shipyard for internships and learn shipbuilding technology.

The reason why the whole people learn to sail is that Li Ke was inspired by Li Min. The development of maritime trade has become an irresistible trend, and it will bring huge trade benefits to your family. Therefore, Li Ke has already decided that after gaining a firm foothold in the Mediterranean Sea, he will, like Li Min, vigorously develop maritime trade, and strive to gather a large amount of wealth in the shortest possible time, so that he will have greater strength to expand around.

In this way, the 30 people under Li Ke spent a year in intensive training, and the time finally became ripe. In the winter of the 25th year of Zhenguan, Li Ke led an army of [-] people and quietly left by boat. After conquering the Great Qi Empire, and finally passed the Suez Canal smoothly under the banner of Datang, and came to the Mediterranean region for the second time. (to be continued...)