Capital Datang

After Li Ke defeated the Visigothic army near the Strait of Gibraltar, there was no army in southern Iberia that could stop him from advancing. Therefore, after a simple integration, he immediately divided his troops into three groups to attack the Visigothic army. In just a few days, the city and the coastal city in the south of the Iberian Peninsula all fell into the hands of Li Ke.

And this is already Li Ke's self-restraint, otherwise, the entire southern part of the Iberian Peninsula has already fallen into his hands.However, he knew that his troops were insufficient. Although he had recruited a part of the Visigoth army, the loyalty of these people could not be guaranteed. The only thing he could trust was the [-] firearms troops in his hands, and the defense force was limited.

You have to eat bite by bite, let alone occupy the land of other countries. Li Ke first occupied the coastal ports, and then sent some soldiers to guard them. .After all, he doesn't have many troops, and every soldier is very precious, and losing one will make him feel distressed.

The city of Malaga is located not far to the northeast of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is a very prosperous port city. Because it is rich in fishing salt, it has formed a city as early as the time of the Philipians. Later, the Romans occupied it, and many Romans The migration of people to this city made this port city very prosperous. Even after the Visigoths occupied the Iberian Peninsula, the residents in the city still followed the Roman way of life and were not affected much. Influence.

After Li Ke occupied the city of Malaga, he felt that the port here had great potential for development, so he temporarily used it as a garrison for the army, and his residence was also here.During this period of time, he, Cen Changqian and other counselors are speeding up their time to count the situation in the various areas they occupy.At the same time, some adjustments were made to the administrative and military aspects.Capital Datang 675

But today in Li Ke's temporary residence, he is warmly entertaining a few acquaintances.These people are the envoys sent by the Eastern Roman Empire. Among them, Xi Luo is an old acquaintance of Li Ke, and he has the qualifications of envoys to the Tang Dynasty, so he is the leader this time. As for the other envoys, Li Ke Ke also met several times when he was in Constantinople, and he could barely be called an acquaintance.

"His Royal Highness, it has been nearly two years since we last parted. I never expected that we would meet again. It is here on the Iberian Peninsula. I would like to offer a toast to Your Highness!" Ciro raised his glass and looked happily at Li. Ke toasted.

I saw Li Ke also raised his glass with a smile on his face and said: "Ambassador Shiro is very polite. The trip to Rome that year also left a deep impression on me, especially His Majesty Constans II. Queen Irina and Irina treated us very warmly, but it's only been a year or two, how are they doing now?"

Ciro knew that although Li Ke was asking about Constance II and Irina.But in fact, Irina is the only one who wants to ask. After all, the relationship between the other party and Irina is well known in Rome, so I replied: "His Royal Highness, Queen Irina is in good health. I just left from Your Highness." After that, she often lived in the manor outside the city, and rarely returned to live in the Holy Palace."

Li Ke's heart moved when he heard this.It has been almost two years since he and Irina parted ways, when he was in Datang.He also often thinks of the days when he was with Irina. This time he returned to the Mediterranean.The first one wanted to meet the other party, but he was really inseparable from here, and his entry into the Mediterranean Sea had already posed a threat to Rome, so it was really inconvenient to see Irina.

After chatting for a while, Xi Luo finally began to tell his real purpose of coming to see Li Ke, and he said with a cautious expression: "His Royal Highness, Rome and Datang are allies. The military operation is naturally supported, but I don't know why His Highness led troops to the Iberian Peninsula, and why did he fight with the Visigoths?"

Regarding Xi Luo's questioning, Li Ke took a sip of his wine glass in a calm manner, and said slowly: "Presumably Ambassador Xi Luo also knows what happened two years ago, these Visigoths not only want to detain This king's ship, even this king wants to be captured as a slave. How can this kind of shame and humiliation be tolerated? Therefore, after obtaining the consent of my father, I brought some of my soldiers and horses here, in order to avenge the past. hatred!"

Li Ke had known for a long time that Rome would intervene in his invasion of the Mediterranean Sea, so he had prepared several excuses, and at the beginning, he was going to use the banner of his allies. After all, the Visigoths were also Rome's enemies. Attacking the Visigothic Kingdom is also helping Rome.But then it happened that the Visigoths took the initiative to attack themselves, which was simply an excuse to send it to their door.

When Xi Luo heard this, he curled his lips secretly. Although he knew Datang's strength better than anyone else, he also knew that Datang would never send an army of tens of thousands of people to attack just because a prince was attacked. It is not a small kingdom, and this kingdom is thousands of miles away from the Great Tang. The cost alone is an astronomical figure, and even the Great Tang cannot sustain it for a long time.

"So that's the case, but I don't know how much His Highness King Wu wants to take revenge?" Xi Luo said helplessly.Although he sneered at Li Ke's reasons, he had no way to refute it, because the fact that the Visigothic Kingdom attacked Li Ke first could be big or small. To put it mildly, it was just a misunderstanding. An apology from King Te is enough, but on a bigger scale, it is related to the majesty of Datang and the safety of the royal family, which is enough for Datang to send troops to destroy its country and its species.

"This is very simple. Our Tang Dynasty has always had a tradition. For enemies who violate the majesty of our Tang Dynasty, we always want to capture the leader of the opponent and send them back to Chang'an to sacrifice to the Taimiao. Therefore, as long as the Visigoth king is captured, this The matter is over." Li Ke replied very easily, and from his tone, it seemed that capturing King Visigoth was a trivial matter.

As soon as Li Ke's words came out, Xi Luo and the other envoys looked at each other in blank dismay, and captured the Visigoth king. What's the difference between that and destroying the Visigoth kingdom, and Li Ke completely occupied the Iberian Peninsula by then. Will you still leave?

"His Royal Highness, forgive me for asking, if you capture the Queen of the Visigoths, what will you do with the land of the Iberian Peninsula?" Ciro finally decided not to go around in circles, and asked the most critical question directly. out.Although Li Ke has been preparing for more than two years to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea, among the Romans, except for Irina and Theodosius who knew something, the others still knew nothing at all, and there were even many Welcome to Li Ke again.

After hearing this, Li Ke glanced at Ciro very calmly, and did not rush to answer, but seemed to think about it, and then asked: "If King Visigoth is captured, what will happen to the Iberian Peninsula?" It will also fall into the hands of our Great Tang, but this land is too far away from our Great Tang, so it is not easy to manage, I wonder if Rome has any suggestions?"

Hearing Li Ke's words, Xi Luo's face immediately showed a look of surprise, and he said in a very excited tone: "His Royal Highness Wu Wang is wise, if the Tang Dynasty wants to reach the Iberian Peninsula, it will take several days by boat." In one month, and also through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal controlled by the big cannibal, with the current relationship between the big cannibal and Datang, if the other party cuts off this line of communication, then your highness will be in danger on the peninsula, so we Rome believes that the Tang Dynasty can hand over the Iberian Peninsula to our Roman Empire, after all, it was also our homeland at the beginning, and there is no problem in managing it."

As soon as Xi Luo's words fell, other envoys also spoke out to persuade them. The content was similar to Xi Luo's words. They were nothing more than singing praises for the alliance between Tang and Rome, and then wanted to take over the management of the peninsula from Li Ke in vain. .

Li Ke sneered in his heart, but he didn't show any expression on his face. Instead, he said calmly: "Rome and our Tang Dynasty are staunch allies. It's okay to hand over a piece of useless land to you for management. To take down here, we also need to spend a lot of manpower and material resources, if it is given to your country for nothing, I am afraid that the country will have a bad influence on this king, so I hope Rome can also show its sincerity!"

After Li Ke finished speaking, he stared at Xi Luo and the others with a half-smile. His words were very clear. If he wanted him to give up the Iberian Peninsula, he would have to pay a corresponding price.Of course, this is the foundation of Li Ke's country, and he will definitely not give up. The reason why he said this is just to let Rome retreat in spite of difficulties.

"Sincerity?" Ciro frowned after hearing this, and exchanged glances with the envoys around him, each with a look of helplessness flashing across their faces.At this time, they already understood that Li Ke was not easy to fool. If they wanted to get the Iberian Peninsula, they had to pay a price that the other party was satisfied with.Capital Datang 675

The Iberian Peninsula is the largest of the three major peninsulas in the Mediterranean Sea, and the peninsula is surrounded by plains, with relatively developed agriculture. The central part is a plateau, mainly based on animal husbandry, and is also rich in iron ore. It can be said to be a very fertile land. It is not easy to come up with a price that can be exchanged with the cost of this piece of land.

"Your Highness, what do you think of this? If Datang hands over the Iberian Peninsula to our Roman management, then we are willing to pay for it, but we need to ask His Majesty for the specific amount!" Ciro finally had to propose a Not the way the way.

If you want to pay the price that Datang is satisfied with, it is nothing more than land, population or money, but the territory of Datang is vast, dozens of times larger than their Rome, and Rome does not have extra land to exchange. As for population and land, it is the same. Needless to say, the only remaining option is to buy it with money. After all, as long as the price they offer is right, Datang should sell this piece of land that is too far away from the country.

It's a pity that Xi Luo and the others don't know that occupying Iberia is Li Ke's private behavior. Now Li Ke is just using the banner of Datang to delay time with them. (To be continued..)

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