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Text Chapter 669 Suez Canal Commerce Treaty

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    Naturally, the envoys of Dashi would not agree to such excessive demands made by the Tang Dynasty. However, they did not dare to act too tough when people were under the roof, so they could only express euphemistically that Dashi would never cut off the Suez Canal.  Handed over.

    In response to the insistence of the Dashi envoys, 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. Therefore, he proposed that several countries should co-manage it and share the benefits equally. Moreover, this proposal  It also received firm consent from the envoys from Daqi and Tianzhu.

    Originally, if they were only considering economic interests, Dashi would probably agree to Li Shimin's request. After all, although the Suez Canal is a golden waterway, they couldn't care less when faced with a life-and-death situation, not to mention it was just a matter of life and death.  Transfer part of the benefits.

    However, the geographical location of the Suez Canal is too sensitive. It is located just between the Dashi Peninsula and Egypt, and is not very far from the capital of Dashi. If the Tang Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms were also involved in the management of the canal, it would be equivalent to  There is a sharp knife hanging in Dashi's heart, and he doesn't know when it will fall.  Therefore, in the end, the Dashi envoys withstood the tremendous pressure from the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty 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. However, in the end, the envoy sent by Li Min proposed a compromise plan, which was to let Dashi once again increase the opening of the Suez Canal, regardless of  Under no circumstances are they allowed to seize the merchant ships of the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they are also required to implement a tax reduction policy for the merchant ships of the three countries. The tax rate is more than half of the original price.

    Seeing that everyone in the Tang Dynasty was clamoring to start, the envoys of Da Shi were also having a hard time. Now seeing the envoys of Da Qi proposing such a plan that does not touch their core interests, naturally they all supported it with both hands.  However, Li Shimin made a gesture of disagreement at first. Later, Li Minhe, Li Zhen, and Li Yun wrote a letter in person, which made him "reluctantly" agree to the plan.

    So under this situation, Datang took the lead, and four countries, Daqi, Tianzhu and Dashi, participated, and finally signed a commercial contract called the "Suez Canal Commerce Treaty". In this contract,  Dashi declared that it would never seize merchant ships from Datang and other three countries without authorization, and would reduce or reduce taxes on merchant ships from the three countries.  It also ensures the smooth flow of the Suez Canal.

    In order to supervise Dashi's implementation of this treaty, the treaty also stipulated that the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty would build a military port at Cape Hafon, and station a joint force composed of the three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty for a long time.  Dashi fell short of what was stipulated in the treaty.  Then the three countries will use force to protect their legitimate rights in the treaty.

    Regarding the joint force clause, although the Dashi envoys tried their best to resist, they could not withstand the pressure of the three countries and finally agreed. However, they also succeeded in adding a time limit to this clause, stipulating that if it is within twenty years  , Dashi did not violate the content of the treaty.  Then the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty must withdraw the joint forces from Cape Hafeng.

    The signing of the Suez Canal Commerce Treaty ensured the smooth flow of the Suez Canal and also greatly promoted cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West.  But these are not the most important. The key is the guarantee of this treaty.  Li Ke finally had no worries and began to make full preparations for entering the Mediterranean.

    In the autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Zhenguan, after nearly a year of preparation, Li Ke himself was in Shanghai, Suzhou and other places.  A total of 20,000 people were recruited who were willing to go with him to the Mediterranean.  Li Shimin helped Li Ke gather 40,000 people in the Guanzhong area, as well as 60,000 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.  All together, they collected 100,000 yuan, which was all given to Li Ke.

    Finally, there are the people Li Min recruited for Li Ke in Daqi. In comparison, most of the Han people here in Li Min have just moved from the Central Plains area, and they are very satisfied with their current life, so few people are willing to  After moving again, Li Min only recruited more than 20,000 Han people in the end.  Li Min was very dissatisfied with this, but had no choice but to organize again many barbarians from Sanhan, Wazhou and Ezo Islands. In the end, the total number was 160,000, and 20,000 Han people were recruited.  There were 180,000 people in total.

    The total number of people recruited by the three parties reached exactly 300,000, of which only 80,000 were Han people. However, because of the clever arrangements made by Li Shimin and Li Min, the populations of other ethnic groups were smaller than those of the Han people. For example, the largest number except the Han people  There are only 60,000 barbarians, northern barbarians and Ezo barbarians combined.

    Three hundred thousand people seems to be a lot. At least it is much larger than when Li Zhen and Li Yun went to Tianzhu. However, Li Ke's situation is quite special. The Mediterranean he is going to is far away from the Central Plains. Even with the current developed maritime transportation,  But there are still very few Han people going there, which even makes Li Zhen and Li Yun'sZhudu is better than his place. For example, many Han people are now going to Tianzhu to settle down.

    Therefore, in a short period of time, the population in Li Ke's hands will not increase much. These 300,000 people will be all the capital for his future founding of the country, especially since there are not many Han people among them. Not only does he have to use this limited  The population controls a large amount of land, and at the same time, it is necessary to prevent the forces of other ethnic groups brought from growing too fast, which is not conducive to his rule.

    The problem of population can only be like this for the time being. After all, 300,000 people is already a lot. At least for Li Ke, he has been pleasantly surprised. According to his original estimate, the total population that could be recruited in the end could be 2  One hundred thousand is not bad. Even for the number of Han people, he thought that the number was only fifty thousand at most. Unexpectedly, it now far exceeded his goal.

    Just like Li Min said at the beginning, once the population is established, the army will not be a problem.  Originally, there were a thousand guards in Li Ke's house. Naturally, these people would follow him to the Mediterranean, and they would also become the backbone of Li Ke's army.

    In addition, Li Shimin and Li Min 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 each of them has a lot of room for growth. When they truly grow up, they will definitely  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 the young students.  Although most of the current military academy cadets 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, at least in the  On the battlefield over there, they can give full play to their military talents and get promoted faster. Of course, the premise is that you have real ability.

    Young people are impulsive and will not admit that they have no real ability. Therefore, the recruitment work of the two military academies went very smoothly. In the end, the number of people recruited was much more than expected. Not only were some students who were about to graduate, but also some  Although some students who have just entered the school are a little irrational, they can also see the ambition of the men of the Tang Dynasty.

    With the addition of these military academy cadets and the original one thousand guards as the backbone, Li Ke finally had the army in hand. The next step was to recruit soldiers from those people who were willing to move.  Most of these people who are willing to migrate are people who are unwilling to accept the status quo, especially young people. From the moment they agreed to migrate, they were already mentally prepared to join the army. After all, they all knew that they wanted to be together.  To establish a foothold in a strange land, it is natural to possess powerful force.

    Precisely because of this, the recruitment work went very smoothly. An army of 50,000 people was quickly recruited from 300,000 people, including 20,000 Han people and 30,000 mixed troops from other ethnic groups.  In response to the problem that the army was too small in number, Li Min suggested that Li Ke build this army into an all-firearms unit, mainly used for offense. As for the cold weapon units used in the future, they can be filled by ethnic groups in the conquered areas.

    Regarding Li Min¡¯s suggestion, Li Ke finally agreed to it after careful consideration and discussions with Wang Fangyi and others.  In recent years, the steel output of Datang and Daqi has been rising at a linear rate. Coupled with technological advancement, the manufacturing cost of firearms has dropped a lot. Although the cost of building a firearms army of 50,000 people is expensive, Li Ke feels that it can still be done  It doesn't matter if he has no money, he can borrow money from Li Min temporarily, and it won't be too late to pay him back when he has money later.

    In the following time, Li Ke¡¯s 50,000 troops were trained by military instructors provided by Li Min. Even officers such as Wang Fangyi had to learn the command of firearms troops. This training process lasted for about a year.

    However, during this year, Li Ke and other people who were willing to migrate were not idle. Li Min provided them with a temporary island to live in in Nanyang, and Li Ke purchased a large number of ships, and most of the people moved there.  Under the guidance of some invited sailors, they began to learn how to drive ships. Li Ke even arranged for a group of people to go to the shipyard for internships and learn shipbuilding technology.

    The reason why all the people learn to sail is that Li Ke was inspired by Li Min. The development of maritime trade has become an unstoppable trend and will bring huge trade benefits to your family. Therefore, Li Ke has  Decided that after establishing a foothold in the Mediterranean, he would vigorously carry out maritime trade like Li Min and strive to accumulate a large amount of wealth in the shortest time, so that he would have greater power to expand everywhere.

    In this way, Li Ke's 300,000 men spent a year in intense training, and the time finally became ripe. In the winter of the twenty-fifth year of Zhenguan, Li Ke led an army of 50,000 people by boat.  Quietly left the Qi Empire, and finally passed the Suez Canal smoothly under the banner of Datang, and came to the Mediterranean for the second time.
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