At the end of November of the 18th year of Zhenguan, Li Yan suddenly sent troops to Malacca, including twenty main warships, hundreds of other auxiliary ships, and tens of thousands of soldiers followed the ship.

After entering Malacca, this huge fleet immediately caused panic among Moluoyou and other countries, thinking that the prince of the Tang Dynasty was finally going to attack them. However, what no one expected was that after entering the strait, the fleet did not conflict with any forces. Instead, it stopped on the Malay Peninsula opposite the city and the city, and then under the gaze of various forces along the Jinzhou coast, it actually began to build a large-scale city and port on the Malay Peninsula.

The place that faces Moluoyou across the strait is Singapore, the famous port country in the future. However, the current Singapore island is still desolate. There is only a native tribe with a hundred people on the island. It was soon eliminated by the landing army, and then the army went ashore to camp. At the same time, the craftsmen and slaves who came with them also transported various supplies off the ship, and then immediately started construction of the dock and residence.

Mo Luoyou and other countries were very confused at first, and could not understand what these people were going to do. They just saw that the other party was powerful and they could not provoke them at all. Therefore, they were all very honest and did not dare to interfere. However, as soon as the pier on the island was completed, Lu Qing, who was sent here to take charge of the matters, immediately announced to all forces in Malacca that he would name the port under construction as Lion City, and it would be under the jurisdiction of the Qi Prince's Mansion. He temporarily served as the governor of the Lion City and was in charge of the military and political power of the Lion City.

The reason why Lu Qing, the general who was temporarily appointed as the governor was mainly because the construction of Lion City was newly built and was in Malacca, a place far away from Taiwan. Therefore, there must be a general who lived in a town, so Lu Qing became the governor as a general. However, this is only temporary. After Lion City gained a foothold in Malacca, Li Yan will soon send a civil servant to manage the Lion City. This is not that he does not trust Lu Qing, but that he cannot set a precedent for military generals to interfere in politics.

At the beginning, the forces such as Mo Luoyou were somewhat dissatisfied with the establishment of the Lion City. After all, they are all forces born and raised in Malacca and have been operating in the straits for generations. Although the port is not very safe, it is also very complete and cannot be compared with an outsider.

But soon they found out that they were wrong. The craftsmen in Lu Qing's hands directed 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 and cleared out a wide waterway. In just half a year, many available docks had been built.

As soon as these wharfs were built, many Han sea boats immediately stopped at the wharf. Although the facilities on these wharfs were still incomplete, the entry and exit of the chaotic Moluoyou port opposite were very orderly. There would be no frequent congestion like Moluoyou. There is another most important condition. That is, safety is guaranteed, and there will never be any detention or even stolen goods.

The establishment of the Shicheng Port made most Han sailors willing to dock here. With the further improvement of the port facilities and good port management, not only Han merchant ships were willing to dock in Shicheng, but other merchant ships from other countries were also willing to park their ships at Shicheng Port.

Although the flow of ships in Malacca is very large, with the rise of Lion City, there are fewer and fewer ships docked at other ports. Moreover, this is still under the premise that Lion City has not been fully built. I believe that with the improvement of Lion City, most of the ships in Malacca will one day be monopolized, and then Malacca will be completely in the hands of Li Yan.

In addition, while the construction of Lion City, the twenty major naval warships stationed in Lion City were not idle either. They were divided into several squads and patrolled the strait every day, mainly to attack the pirates in the strait. No matter what background these pirates have, as long as they are encountered, they will be killed.

Most of these pirates are supported by some local forces in Malacca. They were already very dissatisfied with Lion City. Now the pirates they sent were also attacked by the Lion City fleet, which made them even more angry. Unfortunately, their strength was too weak and they could not do anything to Lion City at all. However, these people would not be willing to give up. The forces led by Mo Luoyou are secretly connecting in an attempt to form an alliance to fight against Li Yan's invasion.

However, Li Yan had already made preparations for this situation, and he even deliberately annoyed the forces of Moluoyou in order to let them take the initiative. However, forces like Moluoyou are all located in Jinzhou, and the Lion City is located in the Malay Peninsula. So if they want to attack the Lion City, they must go out to the navy. However, in this world, no navy can wēixié the main warship in Lu Qing's hands!

When Li Zhi, who had just arrived in Shanghai, received Li Yan's troops from Malacca and did not directly conflict with the natives, and just chose to build a city, he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He thought that the sixth brother Li Yan would have a new round of war operations, but he did not expect that he would use such relatively gentle means to control Malacca. In this way, although war might break out, only ghosts know when it will be?

However, although Li Zhi was disappointed, he did not 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 merchants in the city and opportunities to make money everywhere, but he had no personal experience. It was not until he moved in Shanghai for a few days that he truly realized the prosperity of Shanghai. Not to mention anything else, just the amazing cargo flow on the dock every day, the carriages in the city where the trains in the city seemed very crowded at all times, etc., all of which were telling outsiders about the prosperity of Shanghai.

tongguo After observing Shanghai for a few days, Li Zhi compared Dengzhou, which is also a port city, with Shanghai. As a result, he soon discovered that although Shanghai is not as good as Dengzhou now, Dengzhou's development potential has been exhausted. No matter how hard he tries in the future, he will probably be able to maintain his current appearance.

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

I spent nearly ten days in Shanghai. Although Li Chengqian and Li Ke had always wanted to stay for a few more days, Li Zhi was eager to go to Taiwan to see it. It was not only the base camp of the sixth brother Li Yan, but also the place where Caier was born. Therefore, both Yu and Yu private, Li Zhi was full of yearning for Taiwan.

Seeing that Li Zhi had decided to leave, Li Chengqian and Li Ke no longer tried to keep him, but gave him a lot of gifts to Li Zhi and the other two, which was considered some of their brothers' intentions. Caier naturally would not refuse Li Zhi and Yizi.

Speaking of the past ten days in Shanghai, what Li Zhi was most happy about was not seeing the prosperity of Shanghai, but seeing the changes of his elder brother Li Chengqian. As the prince, Li Chengqian used to be a prince, although his attitude towards their younger brothers and sisters was not like Li Tai and Li You, but he was also very rigid. He also liked to teach people a lesson with his elder brother's airs. He was also very proud and did not like to listen to other people's opinions. When Li Chengqian was deposed as the crown prince, Li Zhi, as his younger brother, was really worried that his elder brother would be unable to think about it.

However, when he saw Li Chengqian, he realized that not only did his elder brother not be depressed because of the deposed prince, but also enthusiastically participated in the construction and management of Shanghai and became a good assistant to the third brother Li Ke. I believe that if his father heard this news, he would definitely be very pleased.

Shanghai is very close to Taiwan, especially after the steamship flight was opened, it was only a few days away. When they arrived in Dengzhou, they had seen steamships on the dock, but they had never had the chance to take them. This time they could not miss it. So Li Zhi asked someone to book a few steamships, and then the fleet followed them, and they took the boat to Taiwan first.

Li Zhi was also very interested in this kind of steamboat that travels thousands of miles a day. He also chatted with the shipyard for a while and learned in detail about the performance of the steamboat. He found that this ship was also very restricted. First, it was easy to break. Of course, with the advancement of technology, this problem has now been greatly reduced compared to before. Second, the demand for carbonite and fresh water is extremely large, so there are replenishment points along the way, otherwise it is not as good as a sailboat.

However, although steamboats have disadvantages, and the hull is relatively small and cannot withstand the bumps of wind and waves, it covers its advantages. For example, its biggest feature is its fast speed and requires relatively few manpower. When sailing, there is no need to consider wind direction, ocean currents, etc. I believe that with the development of navigation, one day this kind of steamboat will replace sailboats and become a real navigation weapon.

After sailing on the sea for three days on a steamboat, Li Zhi and the others finally arrived in Keelung, Taiwan. Li Zhi stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the sea boats entering and leaving Keelung's outer port. This was the base camp that Liu Ge tried his best to build. The island has gradually developed into a famous overseas bead. Even the various newspapers in Chang'an mentioned the prosperity of Taiwan from time to time, which attracted many scholars to regard Taiwan as their must-visit place when they were traveling.
Chapter completed!