easily occupied Malacca, annihilated and captured more than 5,000 pirates, and Li An was naturally very happy in his heart.

Since the formation of these advanced troops, the pressure on the Tang army has been reduced by more than ninety percent in the face of foreign enemies, and almost every battle is a victory, and the victory is very easy, which is caused by the generation gap in weapons.

With advanced equipment, it is naturally very easy to fight piracy, but to open up the Maritime Silk Road, in addition to eliminating the great enemy of pirates, it is also necessary to contact neighboring countries, establish good relations with various countries, and jointly promote prosperity.

Malacca is an important location of the Maritime Silk Road, is a very critical place, there are many small countries in this region, each region has a lot of special products that other regions do not have, and the trade complementarity with the Tang Dynasty is very high, to get these small countries, for the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road is particularly important.

At this moment, the core power of the black wolf, a very large group of pirates, has been eliminated, and the sword hanging over the heads of the surrounding kingdoms has disappeared, and it is the Datang Navy Division that has eliminated the Black Wolf Group, so that the Datang Navy Master can use his benefactor to coerce the surrounding countries to obey the national policy of the Tang Dynasty.

Li An believes that this task should not be difficult to complete, although the national policy of the Tang Dynasty has a certain compulsion, which makes the kings of the countries a little uncomfortable, but the policy of the Tang Dynasty is also mutually beneficial, from a long-term point of view, it is very cost-effective for these small countries, so as long as patience and persuasion, plus military deterrence, the goal will definitely be achieved.

The people outside were very comfortable with the sea breeze blowing, Li An looked at the general of Luo Yueguo, and said, "What's your name." ”

"The name is too long to remember, just call me General Luo."

General Luo Yueguo said with a smile.

Li An nodded and said, "General Luo, it's not bad to call it that, your king sent you to deal with the black wolf?" ”

General Luo said: "Yes, our king has not been able to sleep well all day since he learned that the Dragon Tooth Gate was controlled by pirates, this group of pirates has grown too fast, and they have doubled their strength in a few years, which is a great threat to our Luo Yue Kingdom." ”

Li An nodded, and said with a smile: "Your king is good, he has a lot of ideas, he is not a master who sits back and waits to be killed, how many soldiers and horses do you have in Luoyue Kingdom?" ”

General Luo puffed up his chest and said: "Li Shilang, our Luo Yue country has 3,000 elite soldiers and 5,000 reserve troops. ”

"There aren't many troops, but in Malacca's generation, it's pretty good."

Li An said and asked: "Since you Luo Yue Kingdom know that the black wolf group of pirates is a big threat, why don't you contact the rest of the countries, as long as the countries jointly send troops, they can completely surpass the pirates' soldiers and horses in terms of troops." ”

General Luo sighed and said: "Unite the rest of the countries, we have already contacted this, but all countries are affected by the pirates' obscenity, and they dare not send troops to fight the pirates together, and the pirates have been operating in various parts of Malacca for many years, and their combat power is not weak, and we are also powerless!" So, the king came up with the idea and asked me to wait for an opportunity to get rid of the pirate leader in the name of Shou. ”

Li An was happy when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Weak? The army of more than 10,000 pirates collapsed in an instant, and in my eyes, the pirates were nothing more than a rabble, and their combat power was not worth mentioning. It's not worth mentioning! ”

Putting on a pretending posture, Ang Lee felt much cooler.

General Luo was obviously a little unhappy, but he had nothing to say, after all, what Li An said was the truth, not long after the Tang army first attacked, except for the dead and captured, the pirates were all gone, and the ten thousand pirates collapsed in an instant, which shows that the combat effectiveness of the Tang army is no longer what they can imagine.

Li An didn't care if General Luo was happy or not, now was the time for him to show his prestige, and he didn't need to worry about anything else.

"The main force of the pirates has been annihilated by our army, and then our army will be stationed in Malacca to effectively clean up the remaining pirates, this raid, the pirate leaders have basically been captured alive, this is the credit of your General Luo, this official will play the name of the Tang Emperor, Your Majesty will definitely reward you."

Li An said it very politely, but this is tantamount to putting Luo Yue Kingdom under the Tang Empire and making Luo Yue Kingdom a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.

"Thank you Li Shilang, because of the threat of pirates, my Luo Yue Kingdom has not been able to communicate with the Tang Dynasty, and now that the pirates have been exterminated by you, my Luo Yue Kingdom can send an embassy to the Tang Dynasty and formally establish diplomatic relations with the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty is a big country, and my Luo Yue Kingdom is willing to be a subsidiary."

General Luo is not angry, this is a national policy that their king has long thought of, because they know more or less about the policy of the Tang Dynasty, it is very cost-effective to be a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, and they only need to pay tribute to local specialties every once in a while, in exchange for a large number of rewards from the Tang Empire, in short, it is very cost-effective to be a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, otherwise, there will not be so many small countries vying to be a vassal of the Tang Dynasty.

When Li An heard this, he was naturally very happy, and hurriedly said: "This is a good thing!" You can now return to Luo Yue and tell your king that you can send an envoy to Datang now, if you are not at ease, this official can send a few steam cannon ships to escort you to Rising Sea Island, after which there will be no pirates. ”

"Oh, that's great, thank you Li Shilang, then I'm ready to return."

General Luo said happily.

"Don't worry, don't worry, this official will also send an envoy to your Luoyue country to discuss with your king about the unification of tariffs and the Maritime Silk Road, and you will go back with my Tang mission."

Ang Lee demanded.

General Luo nodded and said, "No problem, this is very good, I'll go and prepare." ”

In order to facilitate management, Li An asked the soldiers of the forward battalion to divide the captured pirates, and each camp could only allow a maximum of 500 pirates, and the soldiers of the forward battalion who were responsible for guarding it also had to have a hundred people, so that more than 4,000 pirates consumed more than 800 soldiers of the forward battalion, but fortunately, the forward battalion had landed 4,000, leaving 800 men and horses, and the strength was still strong.

It was getting late, and for the sake of safety, the soldiers and horses in charge of pursuing the pirates began to return one after another, and once again captured hundreds of pirates who had surrendered, and the results were still good.

"Big brother, the soldiers have all returned, leaving five hundred soldiers on guard, it should be enough."

Li Feiyu said.

"What about the casualties, and how many pirates have been caught?"

Li Feiyu said: "The Long Wu Army followed behind, there were basically no casualties, only a few feet were broken, and the casualties of the forward battalion were also very small, with less than fifty casualties, and three or four hundred pirates were caught, most of them surrendered voluntarily and had been pressed into the prisoner camp." ”

Li An said: "Today's harvest is very good, in one fell swoop to annihilate the main force of pirates, the remaining pirates are not to be afraid, let the soldiers have a good rest, starting tomorrow, the troops will be divided into multiple ways to exterminate all the pirates here, in addition, we must do a good job of persuading the surrender of the pirates, let the surrendered pirates join the forward battalion, and further enhance the combat power of the forward battalion." ”

"Don't worry, big brother! These are all left to the people below, most of these pirates have embarked on this road in order to make ends meet, as long as we give them a chance, they dare not surrender, they can only be used by us. ”

Li Feiyu said.

Li An smiled at the corner of his mouth: "What we lack most now is horse pawns, let these guys be the horse pawns of our army, it's not a pity to die, now we have five thousand horse pawns, after taking the black wolf, we have now captured four or five thousand people, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of pirates can be captured, so that the forward battalion of our army can be as high as 20,000 horses at most, this number is too big, I am a little worried." ”

"Big brother, what are you worried about? Is it for fear that these surrendered pirates will rebel? ”

Li Feiyu asked.

Li An nodded and said: "That's right, the soldiers of the forward battalion, although they are also the establishment of our Tang Army, they are all surrendered pirates after all, and they have done bad things, in case of rebellion, it will be a big trouble." ”

"Then what to do, whether to control the size of the forward battalion and kill all the newly surrendered pirates."

Li An shook his head and said: "Of course not, if all the pirates who surrendered here are killed, what will the soldiers of the forward battalion who have surrendered think, do they still dare to serve Datang?" This will not make an example of the monkeys, but will make the soldiers of the forward battalion feel sad about the death of rabbits and foxes, and in this way, it will force them to rebel. ”

"Then it's better to let them go home and farm, so that it will not increase the number of the forward battalion, let alone stimulate the hearts of the soldiers of the forward battalion."

Li An said: "Pirates are all good at robbing houses, most of them don't know how to do farm work, and there are not many people who are willing to go back to farming, if they are forced to go back to farming, it will only make them return to their old business and become bandits and bandits." ”

"Well, after talking for a long time, this can't do that or that, can you just sit and watch the forward battalion grow day by day?"

Li Feiyu touched his head, not knowing what Li An was thinking.

"It's inevitable that the forward battalion will grow, but we can do better to make them really good people and never rebel," said Ang Lee. ”

Li Feiyu hurriedly asked, "There can be such a good way, what can make these pirates completely change their mood?" ”

Li An said: "To start a family, there is also to strengthen ideological education. ”

"Starting a family and strengthening ideological education."

"That's right, now is the time to fight, the more important task of the forward battalion is to fight, in order to reduce the losses of our army's main force, but their pirate habits have not changed much, now our army's main strength is superior, they don't dare to make a second, once the strength gradually grows, and then there are people with ulterior motives to provoke, the situation is difficult to say, and if you want to change this situation, you must let them completely abandon the pirate habit and be a qualified Tang soldier, and the way to change their pirate habits is the most important thing is strict education, Brainwash them, and let them start a family, as long as the family is stable and they have concerns, they will not dare to rebel, so as not to affect their families. ”

Ang Lee explained.

"Big brother, it's not easy to educate pirates, especially older pirates, their minds are already deep-rooted, and the younger ones are better educated, but we will work hard, the eldest brother has brainwashing cheats, I'm not afraid that I can't change them, but this problem of starting a family is not easy to do, pirates are such virtues, will there really be women willing to marry them?"

Li Feiyu said.

Li An said: "Most of the people who died in the war were men, and the number of women was much more than that of men, and there was nothing wrong with unmarried women choosing pirates who were already Tang Dynasty soldiers, it was better than living alone!" ”

"It's also said that it's very hard for a woman to live alone, it's always good to have someone to take care of, and you can have children."

Li An pointed to the map in front of him and said: "Look at the map, these important places must be left to garrison, the pirates in the forward battalion are all people from the vicinity, they are more suitable for the local environment, it is a good choice to let them stay in these key points, after stabilizing, they can marry the local women, of course, my Tang Dynasty will also send some soldiers and horses to guard these key points with them." ”

"Rising Island, Dragon's Tooth Gate, Malacca, where are we going next?"

Li Feiyu asked.

Li An said: "Don't worry, let's rest for two months first!" There are more than 10,000 pirates nearby, although they are all small scattered armies, but it will take a lot of time to completely eliminate them, in addition, the surrounding small countries should also get it done as soon as possible, let them sign an agreement with Datang to unify import and export tariffs, and formulate policies more suitable for foreign trade. ”

"Two months is enough for us to do a lot of things."

Li Feiyu said happily.

Ang Lee looked at the map and began to think about the prospect beyond.

Opening up the Maritime Silk Road can facilitate trade between Datang and other countries along the way, so that they can prosper together, which will be of great benefit to both sides.

However, the science and technology of the countries along the way are too backward, and the materials produced are too few, especially some special goods and raw materials are too scarce, and they cannot meet the strong demand of the Tang Empire.

In order to break this situation, it is necessary to increase the output of special commodities in some small countries, and adopt machine production and assembly line management, which will greatly increase the output, thereby bringing huge wealth to itself, and also meeting the strong demand of the Tang Empire.

However, the people of these small countries have not been exposed to advanced machinery, and they lack relevant assembly line management experience, so letting them do these on their own is tantamount to whimsical and a task that cannot be completed in any way.

The only feasible way is for Datang's businessmen to enter these small countries with capital and management teams, as well as Datang's advanced machinery, to enter the markets of small countries as investors, and to establish various large-scale workshops in these small countries, so as to achieve the goal of increasing production capacity.

However, this kind of transnational investment is a new thing in this era, and many small countries have no experience in coping with it, and there are complex problems of various interests, which need to be solved, and this is obviously difficult to complete by relying on the Tang Dynasty merchants alone, and the Tang Dynasty must intervene strongly, so as to ensure the interests of the Tang Dynasty merchants.