Chapter 56: Conquering Chang Island, Tasting Delicacies

As the words fell, Su Liang also understood the reason. The Liu clan members who moved to Wa Country to avoid the war were still thinking of their homeland!

And Li Er, who was on the side, was confused.

This couldn't blame Li Er. After all, the Tang Dynasty was more than 300 years away from Liu Azhi crossing the ocean, and no scholar could discuss the long-soured old things, and historical materials rarely recorded this.

From the words of the two, Li Er also clearly understood at this moment that Su Liang was very clear about the origins of several people.

Then Su Liang also cleared up Li Er's confusion: "Your Majesty, at the beginning, Liu Azhi, the great-great-grandson of Emperor Xian of Han, in order to avoid the war, crossed the ocean under the name of seeking immortality and medicine, and moved to Wa Country."

"After the clansmen of Liu Azhi stabilized in Wa Country, they also sent people back to their homeland to pick up many relatives and friends."

"Oh? Then so, are there still many Han citizens in Wa Country?"

As Li Er's words fell, Harada Masahira, who was on the side, immediately said: "Report to Your Majesty, my Liu clan members have developed into dozens of families in 300 years, including many large families such as Harada, Takahashi, Okura, Egami, Akizuki, and Hatake, and among them, my Harada clan has developed the best."

"The family is unwilling to let Wa people harm our Han citizens with the smallpox virus, so they specially sent me and others to report the news."

"At this moment, my Harada clan is uniting with the remaining Liu clan members, intending to assist the Great Tang in attacking Wa Country."

"It's just that..."

Su Liang immediately understood the meaning behind the words upon hearing this, then looked at Harada Masahira and said: "It's just that Emperor Ojin treated your Liu clan members well, and the Liu clan has also been intermarrying with the aristocratic families of Wa Country for several generations. Now you are begging His Majesty not to implicate the innocent?"

As the words fell, Harada Masahira and the others nodded heavily.

Li Er also completely understood the intention of the visitors at this moment. One was that he couldn't bear to see Han people suffer from smallpox, and the other was that he intended to return to his homeland. After a little thought, Li Er immediately said: "Seeing that your Liu clan is concerned about the Great Tang citizens, I will not implicate the innocent. Where do your Harada clan members live now? What is the number of Liu clan members?"

"Report to Your Majesty, most of the Harada clan members live on Kyushu Island. Currently, the Harada clan has more than 23,000 people, and the total number of Liu clan members is nearly 300,000."

As the words fell, Li Er was already speechless. It had only been more than 300 years, and they had developed like this... At this moment, Wa Country only had 7 or 8 million people...

Su Liang was also very surprised by this, but it was still within the acceptable range.

After Liu Azhi and his clansmen crossed the ocean, they lived very comfortably in the Wa Country. Not only were they revered as nobles, but they could also enjoy the beauty of various Wa Country beauties. Liu Azhi and his clansmen also frantically grabbed beauties, took concubines, and spread their

Just as Li Er and Su Liang were lost in thought, Harada Shohei continued to speak.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have more important military intelligence to relay. Currently, the Wa country has deployed two hundred thousand troops to the Kingdom of Tamna, intending to wait for smallpox to spread throughout the Great Tang before launching an attack."

The Kingdom of Tamna (also known as Danluo) was initially a vassal state of Baekje. After Baekje was destroyed, it was annexed by Silla. After Silla was destroyed by Goguryeo, it was annexed by Goguryeo, and later renamed Jeju; for several decades, it was under the direct administration of the Yuan Dynasty. Wa historical records state that a Tang envoy once accidentally drifted to the Kingdom of Tamna, and at the time, the entire nation, fearing an attack by the Tang army, paid tribute to the Wa country.

At this moment, Tamna must also be fearful of the Wa country's hundreds of thousands of troops and has already submitted to them.

After a moment of thought, Su Liang looked at Li Er with a smile and said, "Your Majesty, how about renaming Tamna to Zhantang Island in the future?"

Li Er heard this and nodded heavily.

Upon receiving Li Er's signal, Su Liang immediately looked at Harada Shohei and said in a deep voice, "Among the two hundred thousand Wa troops, are there any members of your Liu clan?"

"No, no, no..." Harada Shohei hurriedly waved his hands to deny it.

"Are you sure?" Su Liang asked.

"Sure! Sure! This lowly one would never dare to deceive Your Majesty and the Prince of Chu," Harada Shohei said with a serious expression.

"This action was taken by the Soga clan; many noble families in the Wa country do not approve of this matter..."

"Very well, you may withdraw for now. In the future, you should restore your ancestors' surname."

After sending the three overseas Chinese away, Su Liang immediately began to discuss the matter with Li Er and the others inside the vehicle.

A full hour later, Li Er finally finalized the specific battle plan.

At the same time, the car had already arrived at Penglai City within the borders of Dengzhou.

Penglai City was anciently known as Dengzhou City. Initially, when Emperor Wu of Han failed in his seven eastern tours to seek immortals and the Dao, he built a water city in the old Dengzhou Prefecture called Penglai. Later, the ancient city of Dengzhou and the seaside water city were collectively referred to as Penglai. In later generations, Dengzhou has been used as an office for a sub-district under Penglai, serving as the seat of the municipal government.

"Father Emperor, your son will immediately lead the Divine Machine Battalion to eliminate the Wa people on the Wuhu Islands," Prince of Qi Li Ke said solemnly, looking at Long Island not far away (Long Island: Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han believed that ascending this island would lead to immortality, so they named it the Island of Immortality, abbreviated as Long Island, later known as the Changshan Archipelago).

"Good, good, good..." Li Er immediately agreed.

He then looked at Su Liang and said, "Hahaha... Thanks to my virtuous son-in-law's previous road-building plan, there are no longer any Great Tang subjects on the Wuhu Islands, so I don't have to worry about accidental harm."

At this point, Su Liang also smiled slightly; at this moment, all the fishermen of the Changshan Archipelago were building roads in Shandong.

That afternoon, Prince of Qi Li Ke and Li Junxian led 3,000 soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion to land on Daxie Island (South Changshan Island). Following the "Bang! Bang! Bang!" sounds of mortars, they continuously attacked the Wuhu Islands (the five islands in the northern part of the Changshan Archipelago). Everywhere they went, corpses littered the fields, and the Wa people who were lucky enough to survive were finished off by the Divine Machine Battalion.

At this time, Li Ke turned a blind eye to the Wa people's act of raising white flags. For a full day and night, Turtle Island (Tuoji Island), Xin Island (Daqin Island), Mo Island (Xiaoqin Island), and Wuhu Island (the collective name for North and South Huangcheng Islands) were captured one after another.

At the same time, under Su Liang's warm invitation, Li Er boarded the newly arrived Zhenguan and headed toward Wuhu Island.

The reason was simple: Su Liang was just feeling greedy.

South Huangcheng Island of the Wuhu Islands has the reputation of being the "Abalone Island of China." Not only that, but there are over 100 types of seafood treasures naturally growing here, such as sea cucumbers, abalones, sea urchins, shrimp, and scallops, making it the wealthiest island among the five northern islands of Long Island.

Along the way, Su Liang also educated Li Er on the specific situation of the Changshan Archipelago. Li Er was ecstatic upon hearing this; the delicacies Su Liang spoke of had never disappointed him.

"Virtuous son-in-law, according to what you say, wouldn't it be a pity if the Shandong Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula were really connected?" Li Er suddenly remembered what Su Liang had said before.

"Uh..." Su Liang felt a bit depressed upon hearing this.

After a moment of thought, he looked at Li Er and said, "Hehe... Your Majesty is overthinking it. These aquatic products are insignificant compared to freshwater resources."

"Besides, we can start reclaiming land from the sea from Huang County (modern-day Longkou, Yantai) and bypass the Changshan Archipelago, can't we?"

Half an hour later, the Zhenguan had already reached South Huangcheng Island.

Not long after, Li Er was dragged by Su Liang to go into the sea to catch fish and shrimp...

Subsequently, under Li Er's decree, the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion stationed on South Huangcheng Island also joined in. The group busied themselves for over an hour, and large quantities of abalone, sea cucumber, scallops, and other seafood were caught.

Su Liang busied himself for over half an hour, and seafood delicacies such as scallion-oil abalone, garlic-steamed clams, spicy prawns, spicy swimming crabs, and abalone and sea cucumber stew were continuously served onto the deck of the Zhenguan.

Facing the dozen or so delicacies before him, Li Er was dazzled.

Before long, Li Er, Su Liang, Er Hu, Li Ke, Li Junxian, and the soldiers began to feast heartily.

"Sigh... I really want to travel the world with my virtuous son-in-law," Li Er couldn't help but sigh at this moment.

"Hehe..."

Su Liang smiled softly at this and looked at Li Er, saying slowly, "Isn't Your Majesty already implementing the Cabinet system? Now that you are relatively free, why not?"

"Sigh... How could I not know that."

After a deep sigh, Li Er continued, "It's just that... if I were to really travel the world with you, what would happen if there were important matters in the court that required my decision, yet I couldn't be reached?"