The envoys of Dashi naturally would not agree to such excessive demands from the Tang Dynasty, but they did not dare to be too tough under the roof, so they could only tactfully express that Dashi would never hand over the Suez Canal.

Li Shimin finally took a step back when it came to the insistence of the Dashi envoy. He believed that the geographical location of the Suez Canal was too important and could not be controlled by the Dashi family. Therefore, it was proposed that several countries should be jointly managed and that the interests and gains should be shared equally with each other. This proposal was also firmly agreed by the envoys of the Daqi and the Indians.

If we only consider economic interests, Dashi would probably agree with Li Shimin's request. After all, although the Suez Canal is a golden waterway, they would not care about it when facing the critical moment of life and death, let alone just transfer some of the interests.

However, the geographical location of the Suez Canal is really too sensitive. It happens to be between the Dashi Peninsula and Egypt, and is not far from the Dashi capital. If the Tang Dynasty's Three Kingdoms were allowed to intervene in the management of the canal, it would be like a sharp knife hanging on the heart of Dashi, and it would fall down at some point. So in the end, the Dashi envoys withstood the huge pressure of the Tang Dynasty and still did not agree with Li Shimin's proposal.

This made Li Shimin very angry. Many generals of the Tang Dynasty also shouted to start the war. However, in the end, the envoy sent by Li Yan proposed a compromise plan, that is, to make Dashi increase the opening of the Suez Canal again. No matter what conditions, they were not allowed to seize the merchant ships of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, they also had to implement a tax reduction policy on the merchant ships of the Three Kingdoms, and the tax revenue was reduced by half more than before.

Seeing that the Tang Dynasty was clamoring to start, the envoys of the Dashi were not having a good time. Now, seeing the envoys of the Daqi Dynasty proposed such a plan that did not touch their core interests, they naturally agreed with each other. However, Li Shimin initially acted as if he disagreed, but later, Li Yanhe, Li Zhen and Li Yun wrote a letter in person, which made him "reluctantly" agree to this plan.

So in this case, led by the Tang Dynasty, with four countries including Daqi, Tianzhu and Dashi, participating, and finally signed a commercial contract called the "Suez Canal Trade Treaty". In this contract, Dashi declared that it would never detain merchant ships from the Tang Dynasty and other three countries without authorization, and reduce taxes on merchant ships from the Three Kingdoms. At the same time, it also ensures the smooth flow of the Suez Canal.

In order to supervise the implementation of this treaty by Dashi, the treaty also stipulates one thing, that is, the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty will build a military port in Hafengjiao, and have a joint force composed of the Three Kingdoms of the Tang Dynasty for a long time. Once the Three Kingdoms does not meet the contents stipulated in the treaty, the Three Kingdoms will use force to protect their legal power in the treaty.

Although the envoys of Dashi resisted the joint force, they could not withstand the pressure of the Three Kingdoms in the end and finally agreed. However, they also successfully added a time limit to this, stipulating that if the Dashi did not violate the contents of the treaty within twenty years, the Dashi would have to withdraw the joint force of Hafengjiao.

The signing of the "Suez Canal Trade Treaty" ensured the smooth flow of the Suez Canal, and also greatly promoted cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West. However, these are not the most important. The key is that with the guarantee of this treaty, Li Ke finally had no worries and began to make every effort to prepare for entering the Mediterranean.

In the autumn of the 24th year of Zhenguan, after nearly a year of preparation, Li Ke himself recruited a total of 20,000 people willing to go to the Mediterranean with him in Shanghai and Suzhou. Li Shimin helped Li Ke gather 40,000 people in Guanzhong area, and another 60,000 non-Han people. Most of these non-Han people were Hu people from the northern grasslands, and a considerable number of people from the Western Regions. Together, they had enough 100,000, and they were all given to Li Ke.

Finally, Li Yan helped Li Ke recruit people in Daqi. In comparison, most of the Han people here have just moved from the Central Plains region, and are very satisfied with their current life. Therefore, few people are willing to move again. In the end, Li Yan only recruited more than 20,000 Han people. Li Yan was very dissatisfied with this, but there was no way, so he had to organize a lot of Hu people on Sanhan, Wuzhou and Heiyi Island again. In the end, there were 160,000 Han people, and 20,000 Han people were added, with a total of 180,000.

The number of people recruited by the three parties together reached 300,000, of which only 80,000 were Han people. However, because Li Shimin and Li Yan arranged very cleverly, the population of other ethnic groups was smaller than that of Han people. For example, the Hu people with the largest number except Han people, the Hu people in the north and the Hu people in the Xiayi people combined, and there were only 60,000.

There are 300,000 people, at least a lot more than when Li Zhen and Li Yun went to Tianzhu. However, Li Ke's situation is quite special. The Mediterranean he was going to is far away from the Central Plains. Even though the sea transportation is developed now, few Han people still go there. Even Li Zhen and Li Yun's Tianzhu are stronger than his. For example, many Han people have gone to Tianzhu one after another to settle.

Therefore, in a short period of time, the population in Li Ke's hands will not grow too much. These 300,000 people will be his entire capital for the founding of the country in the future, especially the number of Han people among them is not large. Not only will he use this limited population to rule a large amount of land, but he must also prevent the forces of other ethnic groups brought with him from growing too fast, which is not conducive to his rule.

The population problem is only like this for the time being. After all, there are already a lot of 300,000 people. At least for Li Ke, he had an unexpected surprise. According to his original estimate, it would be good to recruit a total population of 200,000 in the end. He even thought that the number of Han people was only 50,000 at most, but he did not expect that it would far exceed his goal now.

Just as Li Yan said at the beginning, if there is a population, the army will not be a problem. Originally, there was a guard of one thousand people in Li Ke's mansion, so these people naturally had to follow him to the Mediterranean, and they would also become the backbone of the army in Li Ke's hands.

In addition, Li Shimin and Li Yan also recruited a group of students from their respective military academies to join Li Ke's team. These students were all given formal military education and each had a lot of room for growth. When they truly grew up, they would definitely become Li Ke's right-hand man.

It is worth mentioning that the students in the two military academy are very enthusiastic about joining Li Ke’s team, especially those young students. Although most of the students in the military academy can become officers after graduation, for these young people, instead of staying in the Tang Dynasty and Daqi step by step, it is better to follow Li Ke to the Mediterranean Sea. At least on the battlefield there, they can fully display their military talents and get promoted faster, of course, the premise is that you must have real abilities.

The young people have impulsive personalities and will not admit that they do not have real skills. Therefore, the recruitment work of the two military academies went smoothly, and the number of people they recruited in the end was much higher than expected. Not only were there some students who were about to graduate, but there were even some students who had just entered the school. Although they were a little irrational, the ambition of the men of the Tang Dynasty could also be seen from this.

With the addition of these military cadets and the original 1,000 guards as backbone, Li Ke finally set up the military arsenal, and the next step was to recruit soldiers from the people who were willing to move. Most of these people who were willing to move were people who were unwilling to the status quo, especially young people. They were mentally prepared to join the army from the moment they agreed to move. After all, they all knew that if they wanted to gain a foothold in a strange land, they naturally had to have strong force.

It is precisely because of this that the recruitment work was very smooth. The 300,000 people quickly recruited an army of 50,000, including 20,000 Han people and 30,000 other ethnic groups mixed troops. Moreover, in response to the problem of too few people in this army, Li Yan suggested that Li Ke build this army into a full firearm unit, mainly for attacks. As for the cold weapon troops used in the future, they can be used by the ethnic groups in the conquered areas.

After careful consideration and discussion with Wang Fangyi and others, Li Ke finally agreed to this suggestion. In recent years, the steel production of Datang and Daqi has been rising at a straight-line speed. Coupled with technological progress, the manufacturing cost of firearms has dropped a lot. Although the construction cost of a 50,000-person firearm troops is expensive, Li Ke feels that it can still be afforded. What's more, it doesn't matter if he has no money. He can temporarily lend it to Li Yan, and it's not too late to pay it back when he has money in the future.

In the next period, Li Ke's 50,000 troops were trained by military instructors provided by Li Yan, and even officers such as Wang Fangyi had to learn the command of the firearms troops. This training process lasted for about a year.

However, during this year, Li Ke brought other people who were willing to move and were not idle. Li Yan provided them with an island that they could live in temporarily in Nanyang. Li Ke bought a large number of ships, and most of them began to learn how to drive ships under the guidance of some invited seafarers. Li Ke even arranged a group of people to go to the shipyard for internships and learn shipbuilding technology.

The reason why everyone learns to drive a boat is inspired by Li Yan. The development of maritime trade has become an unstoppable trend and will bring huge trade returns to your family. Therefore, Li Ke has decided that after gaining a foothold in the Mediterranean, he will vigorously carry out maritime trade like Li Yan, and strive to gather a large amount of wealth in the shortest time, so that he can have greater strength to expand everywhere.
Chapter completed!