Chapter 301: The Sea (I)

Tang Fei seemed to have become much older suddenly, and his originally awesome momentum disappeared without a trace. When he heard Li Ming's question, he raised his head blankly, his mouth slightly twitched, and he looked at Li Ming and wanted to speak but stopped.

"The lives of 400,000 soldiers are in your hands. I hope you can think about it carefully. I don't have to know about this. You have also seen that even if you have such strong armor, you will still be overwhelmed by us. Asking this question is just to satisfy my curiosity." Li Ming showed a faint look on his face, and he added without any haste.

The expression on Tang Fei's face became even more painful. He lowered his head, twitched the corners of his mouth a few times, then sighed a long time, and said dejectedly: "I said, spare the lives of those soldiers."

A hint of unaware smile appeared on Li Ming's face. He turned around and sat back on the chair, waiting for Tang Fei's explanation.

"The shape of the Great Su Kingdom is a half-moon-shaped shape, with the Tang Dynasty on one side and the sea on the other side."

"Dahai? Dasu is a coastal country? Why have I never heard of it?" Li Ming, who was originally very calm, couldn't help but scream when he heard Tang Fei's words.

Tang Fei looked at him strangely, nodded and continued: "That's right, the other side of Dasu is the sea, which is a place we cannot cross."

"Does Dasu have his own sea fleet?" Li Ming interrupted.

Tang Fei nodded slightly and said, "There are fishing boats, and the fishermen on the beach must survive. I understand what you mean, but Dasu does not have his own sea fleet, because we have never encountered enemies on the sea, and the sea fleet does not have this need."

"The sea, I finally found the sea." Li Ming couldn't help but look of longing on his face. To be honest, he had been considering the issue of maritime trade as early as when he ascended the throne, but he had never discovered the location of the sea. Now that he heard that the Great Su Kingdom was actually on the sea, how could he not be excited?

"What do you mean by telling me about these? Could it be that your armor is related to the sea? Did it be transported overseas?" When he said the last sentence, Li Ming had already jumped up and rushed to Tang Fei and grabbed his shoulders nervously.

"The emperor is indeed wise." Tang Fei's shoulders were so painful that Li Ming grabbed him. He said this sentence with a grin.

"What kind of Fang? Who are they? Tell me quickly!" Li Ming was really impatient at this time.

"That's a very strange person. I have seen them several times. They look different from us. Their skin is very white, terrifyingly white, but their eyes are blue, and their hair is mostly yellow." Taking advantage of the opportunity to speak, Tang Fei got rid of Li Ming's hands, took a few steps back, and continued, "They have been engaged in trade with us for a long time, and it can even be traced back to more than a hundred years ago. According to historical records, they came to Dasu on a huge sailboat from the sea. Through the government office by the sea, they came to our imperial city to meet the emperor. I don't know how they talked about it at that time. In short, since then, they started the transaction with them."

"There is only one thing they need, that is a kind of gum that is a specialty of our Dasu Kingdom. Every time, they use a lot of gold to buy this gum, and they have to travel back and forth several times a year. For this reason, they have brought us Dasu a lot of money."

"Gum?" Li Ming rushed to Tang Fei again in surprise, stared at him nervously and asked, "What kind of gum is it? What kind of gum?"

Tang Fei was so scared that he took several steps back, shook his head and said, "I don't know this. You also know that I am a general who leads troops to fight. I don't care much about this matter. I really don't know what kind of gum."

Li Ming sighed disappointedly, took a few steps back and sat back to his seat, and said, "So, their technology... are their weapons good?"

Tang Fei nodded sincerely and replied: "That's true. I have tried swords with a few of them. Their weapons are extremely sharp. Our swords are not worth mentioning in front of them. Moreover, their ships are also very large. I heard that they can hold thousands of people and such a large ship, I don't know how they built it."

"Let's go, more detailed." Li Ming forced himself to calm down and stared at Tang Fei and said.

"In the past, we also bought some swords from them, but they were all equipped on the guards next to the emperor. However, a year ago, Li Qing brought a set of armor from somewhere. The strength of the armor was far beyond our own manufacturing. At that time, he explained to us in detail the terrain of the Tang Dynasty and the combat methods of heavy armored cavalry. To be honest, Li Qing was a very great general. His analysis and explanation allowed us to see a brand new way of combat. Fighting on the plains, this heavy armored cavalry is indeed invincible in the world."

"That set of armor and the tactics explained to Li Qing made everyone present expand the ambitions of everyone present. For many years, the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty has made us very envious. In previous classics, many things about the Tang Dynasty have also been recorded. Therefore, the Dasu has not stopped expanding to the Tang Dynasty for hundreds of years. We are full of jungles, we are wet and stuffy, and there are not many farmable fields. It is really not an ideal place to survive. Therefore, after having the hope of attacking the Tang Dynasty, we hit it off and authorized Li Qing to develop heavy armored cavalry in the Dasu."

"But Dasu's weapon smelting technology is very poor. We can't make such strong armor and sharp weapons at all. At this time, we naturally turned our attention to those overseas people."

"At this moment, those people came to trade gum again, and our emperor took the opportunity to talk to them about replacing weapons with gum. After seeing the set of armor and weapons, those people did not disagree. However, they set the price of steel higher than gold. In exchange for these more than 700,000 sets of armor and weapons, the Great Su Kingdom dispatched almost half of the laborers to collect gum. In the end, it was not enough, and even gave them all the gum collected in fifty years in advance, which made us big

Su established so many heavy armored cavalry, but unexpectedly, it was still vulnerable in front of you. If I had known this, I wouldn't have to mobilize such a group of troops. For this war, more than 90% of the adult men in the Great Su Kingdom were transferred to the army, all the food stored in the Great Su Kingdom was collected, and more than half of the adult women in the Great Su Kingdom were collected to collect gum. I thought that the cost of such a great price would give me a good reward in the Tang Dynasty, but I didn't expect, ah..." When he said this, Tang Fei sighed.

After Tang Fei said that, Li Ming sat there for a long time without saying a word. It seems that the overseas nation has extremely high smelting technology and navigation technology. If the rubber they need is natural rubber, they should have a certain industrial level. Li Ming originally thought that all humans in this space should be in a primitive state, but he did not expect that there would be such a high level of civilization. Think about it, this space is synchronized with the space where he is. It has been more than a thousand years since the Tang Dynasty. During this period, if there are suitable conditions and geniuses like Newton, it is possible to develop a sufficiently advanced civilization. However, why in every space, when developing according to the laws of history and nature, white people always have an advantage in technology? This made Li Ming really puzzled. Is this really because of cultural differences?

Yi Yi's scream woke Li Ming up from his thoughts. Turning his head, Yi Yi held a telegram nervously, looking at him, wanting to speak but stopping.

"What's wrong?" If nothing big happens, Yi Yi won't do this. Could it be that something happened in China?

"The news came from the desert, your worries finally became reality." B said, and handed the telegram to Li Ming.

Li Ming, who was already in a very chaotic mood, was even more upset when he heard the news. He took the telegram, glanced at it quickly, and sighed and handed the telegram back to Yi Yi.

The democratic system that Li Chaoyang pursued finally made his position begin to be in danger. With his support, many political parties have been established in the desert one after another. As their territory expands, which political parties have also begun to grow. Now, many political parties have begun to demand that Li Chaoyang relax his military power.

Judging from the telegram, they are still discussing this issue in the parliament. However, Li Chaoyang is still a foreigner after all. As the power around him is gradually weakened and his confidants are attracted one by one, Li Chaoyang, who is not good at this type of political struggle, seems even more alone.

Although Yang Ping's massacre also caused the disappearance of many political party leaders, to be honest, at this stage, the level of those leaders may not be as high as that of ordinary party members. Therefore, Yang Ping's massacre did not actually help Li Chaoyang much.

But at this time, Li Chaoyang, who was already in danger, had not yet awakened from his ideals. At this time, he even regarded the behavior of political parties' seizure of power as a progress in the process of democratization.

From this point of view, Li Ming has not given much time to the desert. He must end the war on the Dasu side as soon as possible, and then seize the time to rectify military affairs, and try his best to adapt his army to the battle of modern equipment before the desert legion begins a large-scale invasion.

Judging from the information obtained two days ago, the envoys of the Great Zhou Dynasty had been rescued by Liu Yang's reinforcements and successfully defeated the ambush surrounding them. They are currently pursuing the fish that escaped the net, and are also sending people to the imperial city of Dazhou to deliver letters. I believe that within a month, they will be able to return to the Tang Dynasty. In this case, there will be nothing to stop the marriage between the Tang Dynasty and the Great Zhou Dynasty. Once the desert legion breaks through the territory of Zhuhu and invades the Great Zhou Dynasty, Li Ming will have a chance to send troops.

With the military strength and equipment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he was no match for Li Chaoyang and his army at all. At that time, the Emperor of the Great Zhou, as his father-in-law, would definitely ask Li Ming for help. At that time, Li Ming could command troops north and fight a decisive battle with the desert army in the territory of the Great Zhou. The Tang Dynasty finally developed, and Li Ming would never allow the fire to ignite the war in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

But the key problem now is that overseas in the Great Soviet Union, a highly civilized country was discovered.

From Tang Fei's narrative, we can see that that country is very dependent on the gums in Dasu's territory. If he occupied Dasu, no one can guarantee that the mysterious country would not send troops to interfere. In this way, Li Ming, who is developing at a critical moment, has to face attacks from both north and south at the same time. Moreover, enemies in both directions may have the same modern weapons as Li Ming. In this way, it is hard to say whether the rapidly developing Tang Dynasty can withstand the attacks from these two aspects. No one knows how far the country has developed overseas. However, since they have been able to carry out ocean trade, their navy will definitely not be too bad. The existence of such a potential enemy really makes Li Ming feel extremely headache.

With a gentle sigh, Li Ming walked out of the tent with annoyance. A cool breeze blew on his face, making his confused mind slightly clear.

The safest way at the moment is to give up the Da Su in front of you, and instead develop your army with all your might, ready to deal with attacks from the desert. This will prevent you from contacting the overseas country too early. Da Su is no longer available at present, and it will not be able to pose a substantial threat to itself within at least fifty years. Therefore, it is a good idea to let go of this tiger without teeth at this time.

But, can Li Ming give up on Da Su? Now Da Su has opened his country to him, and he can occupy this place where the Tang Dynasty was in the past without much effort. Can he miss this opportunity?

In addition, if Li Ming was not wrong, the kind of gum in Tang Fei's mouth should be the natural rubber he had been looking for for a long time. For a period of time, he has been worried about the lack of such essential resources. Now, it is possible that this kind of thing is placed in front of him. Can he give up?

Standing in front of the tent for a long time, Li Ming couldn't make up this idea. This was a difficult choice. A mistake could ruin the achievements he had worked hard over the past few years, and it could also cause the people of the Tang Dynasty to fall into endless wars, which was contrary to his original intention.

However, he was a little unwilling to give up the fat meat that he had given up like this.

For such a difficult thing to choose, Li Ming thought about it for a whole day, and after comparing all the possibilities with his current strength, he resolutely made his own decision.
Chapter completed!