After signing a series of treaties with the Ottoman Empire, the Tang Empire officially acquired the entire Egypt and the West Asian Peninsula, as well as the Basra area on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf.
And this is not a method of leasing, nor is it a method of forcing the other party to cede land through war or other means.
Rather, it is a very fair and just transaction.
In order to obtain these lands, the Tang Empire paid 2.3 million Tang Yuan, and at the same time provided a large number of ships to help the Ottoman Empire transport evacuated personnel for free, and provided a certain number of instructors to help Murad III train his royal guards, and
A promise was given to continue to support Murad III as monarch of the Ottoman Empire.
Well, the figure of 2.3 million Tang Yuan is indeed a bit low. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to purchase such a huge number.
But you have to know that the Tang Empire only spent a few million Tang Yuan to purchase a large area of African colonies and American colonies.
Being able to acquire such a huge amount of land at such a low price was a great deal for the Tang Empire.
After all, to the huge Tang Empire, a few million was nothing, and launching a small-scale war would cost more than that.
This is also the reason why the upper echelons of the empire have always been reluctant to launch a third Western Expedition.
You can get a large territory by just spending a few million Tang Yuan. Why spend hundreds of millions in a war to get the territory? Can't you just buy it with money?
Not to mention, if the Tatars were willing to sell out large tracts of land in Eastern Europe, the Tang Empire might actually buy it directly.
But to Li Xuan, the Holy Emperor, none of this mattered.
The third Western Expedition will be fought sooner or later, and other places will also have to be conquered.
Adhering to the principle of putting the easy things first and then the hard ones, and spending the least resources to do the greatest things, it is not cost-effective to directly launch a third Western Expedition now. It is better to win other places first.
North Africa and West Asia are what Li wants.
On the one hand, it is for the Suez Canal, and on the other hand, of course, it is for oil.
Although Datang currently has no easily exploitable oil fields in East Asia, it does have a huge oil field in Baku and a huge oil field in Nanyang.
The oil fields in these two areas alone can actually meet the current oil consumption of the empire.
After all, the current oil consumption of the Tang Empire is mainly kerosene and a small amount of industrial lubricants.
Before the large-scale popularization of internal combustion engines and the popularization of petroleum industry, too many oil fields were of no use.
The Tang Empire had already discovered traces of oil in parts of North America a few years ago, especially in the Sanhezhou area around the Gulf of Mexico. However, the upper echelons of the empire have never approved the localization of North America, let alone development.
North American oil.
It can also be seen from this that the Tang Empire currently does not lack oil resources.
But, that's just for now!
Li Xuan knew very well that West Asia and North Africa had vast oil resources, otherwise he would not have let his men toss around in West Asia and North Africa, and finally bought the entire area.
If it is just for a Suez Canal, there is no need to go to such trouble at all. Just get the land on both sides of the Suez Canal. If it is just such a simple condition, it can be negotiated with the Ottoman Empire casually. It probably won't cost a dime.
The Ottoman Empire would give these places to the Tang Empire for free.
However, there is oil in North Africa and West Asia. Li Xuan knew about this, but he did not expect that his officials would also know about it.
But Li Xuan soon learned that this was purely false propaganda created by the colonial officials.
This can be seen from the fact that the local colonial officials did not even report it to the superiors in formal official documents, but only secretly released the news through the media.
But regardless of whether these colonial officials knew it or not, Li Xuan would go according to his own plan.
So at the cabinet meeting, Li Xuan personally set the tone for this newly acquired overseas territory.
The Red Sea Affairs Office was established, whose jurisdiction included the African region on the southern coast of the Red Sea, Egypt, the West Asian Peninsula, and the northern coastal areas of the Persian Gulf, including several small colonies of the empire in the Safavid dynasty.
However, the jurisdiction of the regional affairs yamen of the Tang Empire was not limited to the areas actually controlled by the empire. Instead, the affairs of the empire in all the above-mentioned areas were under their control (excluding military affairs), even if these places were still under the control of the indigenous people.
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This is because the empire's regional affairs offices overseas are not only responsible for civil affairs, but are also responsible for diplomatic affairs with the local indigenous people. They can sign diplomatic agreements with the indigenous people. Of course, this requires urgent reporting to the local area and approval.
In the early days, when ships sailed slowly and it took several months or even a year or two to travel to and from overseas territories, the affairs offices in these overseas areas even had the power to directly declare war on the indigenous people.
The Red Sea Affairs Office will establish two states and one district for each region under its jurisdiction. The first one is the Peninsula State, which has jurisdiction over the entire West Asian Peninsula plus the Basra area, plus part of the Sinai Peninsula area, excluding the scheduled Suez Canal area.
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Next up is the North African State. The jurisdiction of the North African State is excluding the Suez Canal and also does not include the lower reaches of the Nile River, the most important area in Egypt. This North African State will govern the Red Sea coast and other Egyptian areas.
In addition, there is the Suez Canal area. Although the construction of the canal has not yet begun, the empire attaches great importance to this area. This strategically critical position must be completely controlled and a large army stationed.
At the same time, it is also considered that it is not feasible to build the canal purely by relying on manpower. Like the Panama Canal Zone, there must be a limited localization. Otherwise, there will be no way to build the canal or operate the canal.
But this kind of complete control does not mean simple localization, but setting it up as a military base, just like the island of Ceylon.
Today's Ceylon Island is a very typical military base. Although the Tang Empire also established a traditional civilian governance institution such as Ceylon State, it also immigrated to it.
But the entire island of Ceylon is within the scope of military bases!
In the future, the Suez Canal and Panama Canal Zone will also become a typical military base along with the Island of Ceylon.
In order to keep this area under Chinese control forever, Li Xuan specifically included the area under the jurisdiction of the Nile River north of Cairo, and prepared to immigrate to this area on a large scale, at least to the Suez Canal.
There are hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the district.
At the same time, all the indigenous people in the above-mentioned areas will be relocated without leaving a single one.
To ensure the smooth implementation of future localization, and to ensure the empire's long-term control in this region.