Ang Lee was not worried that other countries would catch up and step on the Tang Empire. Nowadays, all the high-tech and talents were concentrated in the Tang Empire. For many of the top talents, the Tang Empire had special protection and would not allow them to leave the Tang Empire. They would not even be allowed to leave Beijing. For example, the talents in the R&D Center could only choose to live around Beijing. They basically had no chance to go out. Otherwise, if they were caught, they would be treated as fugitives. To be precise, they would be technical fugitives. After all, the Tang Empire had trained them. Therefore, they must always serve the Tang Empire. The remuneration could be very high, but they absolutely could not leave, let alone serve other countries.
Similar to the protection of talents, the Tang Empire's technology blockade was also at the highest level. All the technologies that were crucial to the development of the Tang Empire had to be blocked and would never be mastered by other countries. Moreover, many of the highest-level technical materials were in Ang Lee's hands. As long as Ang Lee did not betray the country, these technical materials would not be leaked. Moreover, Ang Lee was protected by a large number of guards when he went out, so there was no possibility of him being kidnapped. Under the rule of the Emperor, no one had such great ability.
Under such circumstances, Ang Lee naturally did not have to worry that the Tang Empire would be surpassed by other countries. It was not so urgent to promote firearms in the military on a large scale. However, Ang Lee would continue to develop and manufacture a small number of firearms. He would accumulate the technology first. If there was a need in the future, it would not be too late to carry out large-scale production.
After considering the situation clearly, Ang Lee decided to pour cold water on Guo Ziyi's enthusiasm. He told him not to be so obsessed with firearms, or to ask the craftsmen to make some matchlock guns for him to experience. Moreover, he would not do it immediately. At least, he had to delay it for a while.
In the future, many countries would hide some secret killer weapons. These weapons were very powerful and would not be publicly displayed under normal circumstances. In this way, when they were suddenly used in a battle, they could cause a serious blow to the enemy.
The Tang Empire was strong enough. No country could be a match for the Tang Empire. Therefore, it was meaningless to deliberately prepare secret weapons. It was better to show these secret weapons to deter the surrounding countries and show the military power of the Tang Empire.
In addition, there were too many foreigners in the Tang Empire, especially in the vicinity of Beijing. People of different skin colors could be seen everywhere. It was not realistic to secretly prepare secret weapons in such an environment.
However, if Ang Lee secretly hid secret weapons, it would not be easy to be discovered. For example, there were only a few rifles that Ang Lee had developed. Ordinary people really did not know about this. Even the people in the R&D Center did not know. After all, when Ang Lee developed the rifles, he distributed the parts of the rifles to different craftsmen. These craftsmen belonged to different departments and did not communicate much with each other. Naturally, they could not figure out what parts Ang Lee asked them to develop and did not dare to ask casually.
Since the rifles had been developed successfully, they only needed to be set for industrial production. Soon, they could be mass-produced and equip tens of thousands of elite troops with no problem. However, because there was not much need for it at the moment, after weighing the pros and cons, Ang Lee still felt that there was no need to be too anxious. Anyway, the technology was in his hands and he could use it as he pleased. Now that he had already crushed the surrounding forces, it would be too much of a bully to continue upgrading the equipment. A one-sided competition would not be exciting. As for sacrificing the lives of the border soldiers, this was inevitable. It was acceptable as long as the casualties were not heavy. If they could casually annihilate hundreds of enemies without suffering any losses, it would be too easy. In this way, the nobles could easily go to the border and plate themselves with gold. How could they select talents then? If the mediocre could command troops with absolute strength to win battles, what was the point of having good generals?
"Lao Guo! Theoretically, this thing can be developed, but it will take time. When I return to the capital next year, I may be able to develop it. You don't have to worry about it. Also, I know that Lao Guo cares about the lives of the soldiers. However, to join the army to protect the country, someone has to sacrifice himself for the country. In recent years, the number of deaths of soldiers reported by the Ministry of War each year is less than 1,000, and many of them died of illness or accidents by falling off horses. Such a small number of casualties can't hurt the foundation of the Tang dynasty.
Said Ang Lee.
"Well, it's good that it can be developed. Anyway, we have to try. Last year, our side lost the most soldiers, more than 300. These Horse Gangs, who come and go without a trace, are really annoying. Except for dispersing the cavalry, we really can't find a better way to deal with them. The horses of these Horse Gangs are better than those of our soldiers, so they are very difficult to deal with."
Guo Ziyi complained.
It could be seen that the Horse Gangs were a serious problem in the Shuofang area, since they could make the elite border army lose so many soldiers.
"Why are there so many Horse Gangs in the Shuofang area? Isn't there a free trade there? Who are these Horse Gangs? Why do they choose to be Horse Gangs instead of living a good life?"
Ang Lee felt a little strange, so he asked.
Guo Ziyi heaved a sigh of relief and replied, "Of course there are benefits to trading. The people of the Tang Empire and the Turks in the north can trade fairly, but not everyone can do business. Some businesses are inevitably monopolized. In this way, those who don't have the opportunity to do business will take the risk to become Horse Gangs. Moreover, the more merchants there are, the more profits there will be from robbing. Those who have the ability to do business will use the trading to make money, while those who don't have the ability to do business will specialize in robbing these merchants. Our Tang Empire soldiers have the responsibility to guard the land and maintain law and order. As long as there are Horse Gangs, we must station troops to deter them."
Obviously, in the northern border area, many merchants became rich through the free trade. However, the prosperity of the merchants did not lead to the prosperity of the ordinary people, because the merchants controlled the resources and left all the opportunities to make money to themselves. In this way, they could make a lot of money, but the nearby people who could not make money through the free trade would easily be jealous. The gap between the rich and the poor was fatal in any era. This kind of unfairness would cause the psychological imbalance of the ordinary people. Some bold people would not hesitate to take the risk to rob the merchants.
Moreover, in the border area where the folk customs were valiant, many people were strong and sturdy. As long as they had the heart, they would have the strength. They were not weak scholars. As long as they were given a horse and a knife, they could become the most difficult horse gang to deal with.
Especially the poor nomads, they were born with the genes to ride horses. They had to learn to ride horses at a very young age. Therefore, when they grew up, their horsemanship would be extremely superb.
The soldiers under Guo Ziyi's command had to fight a battle of wits and courage with these difficult opponents. It was inevitable that they would fail occasionally and lose some soldiers.
"Lao Guo! Are these Horse Gangs all Turks? Are their horsemanship very superb? "
Ang Lee asked.
Guo Ziyi shook his head and said, "Of course not all of them. Half of them are Turks at most. There are also many Tiele and other small tribes. If their horsemanship is not good enough, how would they dare to be Horse Gangs? Not only that, they also have spies among us. As long as our soldiers and soldiers are mobilized, they will know in advance. They will deliberately avoid places where our soldiers and soldiers are heavily deployed and choose places where our soldiers and soldiers are weakly deployed to rob merchants. Once they succeed, they will take away the treasures. If they encounter soldiers and soldiers, they will scatter gold and silver and goods, leaving the heavy ones behind and only taking the most valuable ones. Some soldiers are greedy for money and will stop their horses to pick up the money, thus allowing the Horse Gangs to escape. Even some generals and the Horse Gangs have reached an agreement that as long as the Horse Gangs leave most of their treasures behind, they will not pursue them. Some of them will be bought over by the Horse Gangs' spies and thus make things convenient for the Horse Gangs. A few of these scums have been killed, but under the temptation of the Horse Gangs, there will still be a few generals and soldiers who cannot resist the temptation and become scums."
After listening to Guo Ziyi's words, Ang Lee was lost in thought. What Guo Ziyi said should be true. Not to mention in the Tang Dynasty, even in other times, it was the same. No one could resist the temptation of money and wealth. If some people were not tempted, it meant that the benefits were not good enough.
In this way, there might be a suspicion of using a stick to knock down a group of people. However, those who were different were destined to be in the minority. Most people could not resist the temptation. After all, what did they work so hard for? Was it for contribution? Such a noble quality could only be possessed by people who were made by machines.
Li An was also very helpless about such a situation. Such a situation was so common in any era. Corrupt officials were as common as dogs in all eras. As long as Bonehead was given enough, no dog could resist such a temptation.
Although in recent years, the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty had raised the salaries of border soldiers for several rounds, how high could the salary be? Compared with the benefits given by the Horse Gang, the salary was negligible.
For example, in some dynasties, the salary of a county magistrate was raised from 5,000 yuan per month to 10,000 yuan per month. The salary doubled, which was a great increase. However, county magistrates who held power in their hands could easily embezzle hundreds of millions of yuan. The money they embezzled once could be equivalent to hundreds or even thousands of years of salary. How long could a county magistrate live? In the face of such a great temptation, few county magistrates could resist it. It was estimated that many of them would become greedy parasites.
It was the same situation at the border of the Tang Dynasty. The soldiers' salary was very limited. Even after several rounds of salary increases, it was not much. However, the Horse Gang who robbed merchants could bribe the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty for ten years or even a hundred years of salary. In this way, which soldier of the Tang Dynasty would not be tempted by it? What's more, when chasing the Horse Gang, the Horse Gang abandoned some gold, silver, and valuables. The Tang Dynasty soldiers who were in charge of chasing the Horse Gang were naturally more willing to stop and pick up the money instead of risking their lives to continue chasing the Horse Gang. This would be a disaster for both themselves and the Horse Gang.
Even if the Horse Gang ran away in the end, these Tang Dynasty soldiers who were in charge of chasing the Horse Gang would righteously say that the Horse Gang ran too fast and they could not catch up with them at all. What else could they do?
Of course, it could not be ruled out that some soldiers had the idea of keeping the Horse Gang for their own sake. If all the Horse Gang were eliminated, what was the point of their existence? Even if they were not dismissed, they would not be treated as well as they were now. Moreover, without the Horse Gang, it meant that no one would rob the merchants. In this way, almost all the wealth would run into the merchants' pockets. What could the soldiers get? Would the merchants take the initiative to give the money to the soldiers? Of course, this was impossible.
In any era, only when there was turmoil and danger could the importance of the army be highlighted, and the social status of the soldiers could be improved. In a peaceful era without the threat of foreign enemies, the status of the soldiers would inevitably be greatly reduced, and they would even be reduced to the bottom of the society. This was a kind of tragedy.
When all the young people in an empire were unwilling to join the army, it could be seen how sad the status of the soldiers of the empire was. Once they suddenly encountered foreign enemies, the fighting strength of the empire would inevitably be difficult to show, and they might even be beaten up badly. Even if it was a huge empire, if it did not pay attention to military equipment, it was very likely that it would be beaten up by a small country.
Since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the status of the soldiers and generals was not low. It could even be said that they were very high, especially when the country was founded. Many of the nobles were talented generals, which was enough to show the importance the imperial court attached to the soldiers and generals. However, as there were fewer and fewer places where soldiers were needed, this situation changed. The social status of the soldiers was reduced to a certain extent. Among the nobles, the proportion of civil officials began to gradually increase, and there was a trend that they were above the generals.
Of course, in the Tang Dynasty, the boundary between civil officials and generals was not very clear. Some civil officials who had led soldiers and fought in wars would also be counted as generals. It was not new for a general to become a civil official like the Prime Minister in the Tang Empire. It was a common thing.
Ang Lee should be a civil official now, and what he did was also a civil official. However, Ang Lee had led soldiers and fought in wars, so he could also be counted as a general. The boundary was really hard to distinguish.
Looking at Guo Ziyi, who was full of righteous indignation, Ang Lee comforted him, "General Guo, don't be angry. There are scums everywhere. Just catch one and kill one. As for the problem of the rampant Horse Gang, there will be a solution. We can take our time to think about it. Don't worry."
"Don't worry. I, Lao Guo, am not worried. One day, I will get rid of all these Horse Gang. "
Guo Ziyi said confidently.
Ang Lee nodded with a smile and ordered, "Come on, prepare some food and wine. General Guo has come a long way, so he must have a meal before leaving."
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