Chapter 1940 The appetite of the Tang people is too great
In the 39th year of Xuanping, the Tang Empire, although there were many things going on, generally remained peaceful.
Whether it is the increase in the import and export committee, the comprehensive support for rural economic development led by Chen Lifu, or the relief for several disaster-stricken areas in the northwest.
There seems to be a lot going on, but it's all innocuous.
For the Tang Empire, which was huge and already had a complete set of administrative systems, these were all daily affairs.
But having said that, the officials and even the people of the empire are only concerned about these daily affairs. As for many matters in overseas territories, especially the conflicts, conflicts and even wars between the empire and some indigenous countries, in fact many people in the empire are
I don't really care.
Regardless of whether they are officials or the people, they basically do not pay attention to those indigenous countries.
Even the Golden Kingdom of Tatar is the same.
In recent years, the most common thing in the Empire regarding the Golden Kingdom of Tatar is the debate about the Third Western Expedition, but despite the debate, the Third Western Expedition was still not carried out.
There is no other reason. Except for the army generals, few people in the empire are willing to spend hundreds of millions on a Western expedition.
Instead of spending so much money to launch a large-scale war and seize some extremely far away land, it would be better to build more reservoirs, more railways, and more official roads in the countryside.
Anyway, the Golden Kingdom of Tatar is being held back by the indigenous countries of Europe, and we are not afraid of any troubles caused by the Golden Kingdom of Tartar.
With the level of equipment of the Imperial Army, it is completely capable of defeating them all the way.
In short, the current argument within the empire is that we should fight against the Tatars. We can do it when we have nothing to do. When money is hot, we can do it. But now the development of all aspects of the empire requires money, and hundreds of millions of dollars are spent to fight the Tatars.
Tatars? Your army is brain-burned and we are not stupid.
With so much money, one can directly arm all Europeans and then push the Tatars flat.
In this regard, the Army of the Tang Empire, from the generals to the ordinary soldiers, were quite helpless!
They have long wanted to launch the third Western Expedition, but they have never been able to gain domestic support because it was too expensive.
They keep saying that in the past, fighting wars cost just a few million, or at most tens of millions, but now the third Western Expedition requires hundreds of millions. How insane!
But the whole army is also very aggrieved!
Why is fighting so expensive now?
It's not the people of their army who eat and drink. It's purely because the weapons and ammunition produced by you bastards are so expensive. A new 75mm howitzer costs dozens of yuan.
Isn't this expensive to fight...
In short, the Third Western Expedition was still delayed because of the issue of military expenses. The Army even planned to simply raise its own funds and then find a way to fight it on its own.
Your army also has financial resources and military expenditures every year. If you accumulate this for a few years, you will be able to scrape together some ammunition.
It is impossible to fight a large-scale battle, but it is still possible to fight a small-scale battle. Fighting a few small battles and advancing slowly will also give the army generals the opportunity to be trained in war and gain promotions.
If we don't fight, we can't get promoted...
Compared with the army's troubles, the navy seems much easier, because the navy does not have to fight any large-scale battles with the indigenous people.
The navy's overseas operations are mainly small-scale operations. The previous bombardment of Suez by six warships was considered a rare large-scale naval operation.
More often than not, the Navy simply sends an offshore patrol ship or inland river gunboat to perform the mission.
After defeating Suez, the officers and soldiers of the West Asian Fleet of the Tang Navy found themselves in pain again.
Not to mention their arrival, even the Egyptian Expeditionary Force that has landed, that is, the joint army and navy landing force that is only a regiment size, is very idle.
The superiors did not ask them to continue heading north or east, but just garrisoned the Suez port.
As for the remaining matters, they will be resolved through diplomatic channels first. If the diplomatic channels cannot resolve it, then it will be time for them to take action.
In March of the 39th year of Xuanping, in the Consulate of the Tang Empire in Istanbul, several officials dressed as Tang officials were starting a new round of negotiations with several Ottomans.
But this time the negotiations left the Ottoman Empire's negotiators still helpless.
Because the words of the Tang diplomats opposite were still the same as last time.
"In order to ensure the safety of the people of the empire, we firmly believe that a military buffer zone needs to be established in Egypt!"
"Of course, our Datang Empire has always been reasonable in doing things, so we will not let you suffer. The Empire will invest 500,000 Tang Yuan to purchase the entire Egypt."
The people from the Ottoman Empire on the opposite side were not angry, because during the previous negotiations, they were already angry when they heard this condition, and they walked out directly and announced the suspension of negotiations in response.
As a result, those damn Datang people conducted another exercise off the coast of Istanbul, and even sent reinforcements of at least a thousand troops to the embassy district in the name of the exercise.
Upon seeing this, the upper echelons of the Ottoman Empire immediately panicked.
These damn Tang people want to start a war, and they start a war directly in Istanbul.
Once a war breaks out between the two sides, no one thinks that the Ottoman Empire can resist.
Because once a war breaks out, the Datang Steel Fleet on the sea can destroy the entire Istanbul almost instantly.
In several previous exercises, the Ottoman Empire's dignitaries already knew that the Tang Dynasty's naval guns could cover almost the entire city of Istanbul.
The original mistake even caused the prince's palace to collapse.
After the exercise, the dignitaries of the Ottoman Empire invariably moved their residences away from the seaside. Their sultan even lived in a small town twenty kilometers away from the seaside for a long time in the name of vacation.
Most of the other dignitaries also relocated.
But the Sultan and some dignitaries could escape, but Istanbul as a whole could not escape.
What's more, once a war breaks out, the strength of the Tang Navy will directly block the entire coastal area of the Ottoman Empire and block the Black Sea Strait.
Then, if the Tang Navy directly bombarded all the coastal port cities of the Ottoman Empire along the coastline like it did against the Tatars, then the losses would be huge.
And this does not even include the Tang Dynasty sending army troops to launch landing operations.
If the Tang Dynasty really got serious, they could destroy the entire Ottoman Empire directly.
Therefore, war is impossible war!
Since we don't want war, we can only choose compromise.
They were mentally prepared to pay compensation and cede territory, but the appetite of the Tang Dynasty was so great that they wanted the whole of Egypt!