Xiao Shougui had no doubt about the fighting ability of Li Xiang and his men. Facing the elite army of the Arab Empire, they could go up and fight hard, and even beat the enemy into a panic. However, Xiao Shougui did not expect that the people around them would surrender.
"This shouldn't happen. Although the Arab Empire's army doesn't have much fighting power against us, they shouldn't surrender right away. In our repeated battles with them, they only surrendered because we scared them. If they still had fighting power, they shouldn't have surrendered."
Xiao Shougui said with some surprise that he had never thought that the Arab army would surrender voluntarily. After all, this is a big empire of the same level as ours. If they surrender at every turn, it would tarnish their reputation. What's more, they surrender too often, which is not like their style. After all, they were not like this before. If they surrendered at every turn, how could they have occupied such a large piece of land?
"Your Excellency, you may not know that this land isn't the homeland of the Arab Empire. Most of it was conquered by them only a dozen years ago. Although the locals have submitted to the Arab Empire, they don't necessarily stand with them. If they can win a war, they will naturally side with the Arabs. But if they can't, won't they find a new way out for themselves?"
After hearing the explanation from his men, Xiao Shougui finally understood what was going on. No wonder the war on the front line was not fierce, but they had occupied dozens of cities in succession and brought back so many good things. We had achieved the greatest results at the lowest cost. Our Tang Dynasty had not encountered such a war for a long time.
While Xiao Shougui was thinking about these questions, a man was kneeling in front of Li Xiang. This man was called King Hailant. He was originally the king of the Ali Dynasty of this land, but was conquered by the Arab Empire.
He had been hiding his identity in a small city. Apart from a few dozen guards, there was no other armed force around him. Now that the Arab Empire's army was defeated, this guy immediately stood up. Of course, he also knew his own power and did not think about asking the Tang Dynasty to return any of his land. He just wanted to serve the Tang Dynasty.
When the subordinates brought him in, Li Xiang immediately thought of some shameless people. When the Arab Empire occupied this place, you didn't have the strength to resist them. Now that the Arab Empire has left, you don't want us to return the Great Tang Dynasty to you? If you have such thoughts, then we simply don't need to continue the discussion. The goals of both sides are too far apart.
However, when this guy proposed to work for the Tang Dynasty, Li Xiang knew that he was a smart man, but he was definitely not at ease with him. The main reason was that the Tang Dynasty had some puppet regimes in various places, but they had to be kept a close eye on. If they were a little relaxed, these dogs might get out of your control. Li Xiang still remembered the incident in Gaochang Kingdom vividly, and he couldn't be distracted even in the place where he was most at ease.
"I haven't seen your loyalty to the Tang Dynasty yet, but I can trust your identity. So from now on, your mission is to help my army stabilize the seventy or so surrounding city-states, so that they can all settle down and honestly obey the orders of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, this is also a test for you. If you can pass, you will naturally gain the support of the Tang Dynasty. If you fail..."
Li Xiang made an exception and met this guy because he did not have enough troops. More than 70 surrounding cities came to surrender. Although most of them were small cities, people had to be sent to garrison there. If this was the case, Li Xiang would not have enough troops, so Li Xiang had to get some local people to cooperate with him. This guy was found by his subordinates.
Is King Helt real or fake? Li Xiang didn't care. As long as the locals knew about you, it would be fine. You can help stabilize the area, which is a good thing for everyone. Of course, it also depends on your ability. If you only have an identity and no ability, then we'd have to hire a few more deputies. That way, you'll have enough food and clothing.
"Thank you so much, Your Highness the Crown Prince..."
After hearing what Li Xiang said, this guy started to kowtow. It was mainly because of his poor Chinese that Li Xiang didn't understand very well. In order to kowtow to Li Xiang, this guy quickly learned some Chinese. He could only have simple conversations, and the rest had to rely on the translator.
Li Xiang didn't want to see this wretched guy either, so he waved his hand and told him to go down and get back to work. There are too many people like you. If he wasted his time with people like you, he would never know how much time would pass.
"Is he the biggest puppet around?"
Li Xiang asked people to search for some descendants of the former royal family in the surrounding area, but he didn't expect to find such a wretched guy. Li Xiang thought it was a blasphemy to his eyes to look at this guy for one more second.
"Your Highness, I'm afraid he's the most direct ruler of the Ali Dynasty. The remaining city-states are all small countries. Each city is a country. There's no point in looking for the descendants of those people. Apart from having some influence in their own city, they have no influence anywhere else. After all, the Arab Empire has occupied this place for more than a decade, and the influence of that guy just now is also average."
Li Chengyi said speechlessly that the Arab Empire's policy at that time was very ruthless. After finding the descendants of the local royal family, they would basically solve the problem with one knife and would never give these people a second chance. So they sent out countless spies, but in the end they only found such people.
"Then let him do it. We can't manage this place directly for the time being. Let him re-establish the Ali Dynasty and find some of his former subordinates. We will help him restore his country."
If it were closer to the Tang Dynasty, Li Xiang would never take this step, but now the great reputation of the Tang Dynasty has not been passed on, so he has to rely on these people, establish one or two puppet dynasties, and withdraw them when they are no longer needed in two years. Now is just a transition period, and it is also to save us some trouble.
