The demand of the Horse Gang was very simple. They just wanted to live a free life. When they had no money, they would rob the caravans of merchants. When they had money, they would be free and unrestrained. They would eat and drink to their heart's content and enjoy life. They would not be controlled by anyone and live a carefree and befuddled life.
However, the happy and comfortable life they pursued was built on the foundation of other people's pain. They robbed the merchants' caravans and gained a lot of wealth. They were happy, but the merchants who were robbed were unlucky. Some merchants were rich and did not mind being robbed a few times. However, some merchants bet their lives on the goods. Once the goods were robbed, all the investment would be wasted. They could not pay the debts and could only jump into the river. There was no one to take care of their wives and children. Their lives would be very miserable. It was possible that they would sell their brothels in order to live.
Therefore, these Horse Gang members harmed the lives of others for their own selfish interests. It was a very hateful behavior. They must be eliminated.
However, this burly Horse Gang leader and his subordinates did not think so. Their worldview had long been distorted. They had their own unique way of looking at things and had their own unique views. In their eyes, except for a small group of people who needed to protect each other, the rest of the people could be bullied at will. This was because they were strong and those who did not have the ability to resist were weak. It was natural for the strong to rob the weak. For example, when a lion ate a zebra or a wolf ate a sheep, it was natural for the strong to rob the weak. Therefore, when they robbed the merchants, they did not have any psychological burden at all. It was just like when a wolf ate a sheep, not only would it not have any psychological burden, but it would also be in a very good mood. It was a kind of refreshing feeling when one's desire was satisfied.
In ancient times, there had always been a saying that a strong dragon could not suppress a local snake. The emperor was in charge of ruling the entire country while the bandits each occupied a territory to maintain their own small country. Everyone lived in peace. If these bandits who did not obey the law were easy to eliminate, the imperial court would naturally not be lenient. The officers in charge of the encirclement and suppression would also be rewarded. However, if these bandits were difficult to eliminate and did not have the tendency to spread, the imperial court was likely to ignore them or take a passive approach to defense. As long as the bandits did not attack the county, the imperial court's troops and horses would not interfere. This could maintain a comfortable balance.
It was precisely because of the existence of a large number of bandit forces in each dynasty that these bandits felt that their existence was natural. Why could the old emperor have such a vast territory, while they could not even have a small piece of it? They also lived in this world, but why could the old emperor have supreme power and a large amount of wealth and beautiful women, while they had to do the most difficult and tiring work and earn the least money? Since they had strong martial strength, why not go and rob? Robbing merchants' goods earned much more money than herding sheep, and they did not have to worry about being bullied. Their lives were more relaxed and comfortable.
However, these bandits neglected one point, that was, the strength of the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty was not what it used to be. Through the application of new technology, the economic strength of the Tang Dynasty had soared. The national treasury was becoming more and more abundant, and the strength of the army was also becoming more and more powerful. In this case, they had enough strength to deal with the bandits in the mountains and rivers all over the country.
Moreover, almost all the foreign enemies had surrendered. The imperial court of the Tang Dynasty did not need to maintain too many troops to defend the border. In this way, they could transfer more troops to deal with the bandits who did not obey the law in the country. Otherwise, so many troops would be too idle. Moreover, cracking down on these bandits was also beneficial to improving the living standards of the people. This was what the imperial court needed to do at this stage.
There was another very important point, that was, to let the people establish correct values and guide them to understand that if they wanted to live a rich life, they had to rely on their own legal means instead of illegal plundering. Otherwise, they would be severely punished by the imperial court. Otherwise, everyone would want to rob, and the normal economic development of the Tang Dynasty would inevitably suffer a great blow, and the losses would be very heavy.
Judging from the actual situation in recent years, there was indeed a bad trend. In the past, due to the economic backwardness, the people did not have much money in their hands, and the number of merchants was limited. Therefore, the bandits' activities were not very rampant. However, in recent years, with the rapid economic boom, the development of technology, and the development of business ushered in a period of spurt. The number of farmers began to decrease, while the number of merchants undoubtedly increased rapidly, and they could all make money.
This in itself was a good thing, but to a certain extent, it also caused a very serious gap between the rich and the poor. Those who took the risk to become merchants made a lot of money, while the farmers who worked at home honestly had very limited income growth. The lazy people who did not work hard in the field had relatively less wealth.
In this case, some people who were unbalanced began to think about how to change their poor status. Taking the risk to become a merchant seemed to be a good choice. Since others could make a lot of money in this way, why couldn't they? However, not everyone could become a merchant. Some people were too stupid. They could be competent in farming, but once they entered the business world, they would be eaten up by others. Not only did they not change their fate, but they also lost their capital, and their lives became worse.
Under such circumstances, these people did not reflect on their lack of ability, but instead lamented the unfairness of fate. Therefore, evil thoughts would arise in their hearts. Since they could not become rich through legal means, they might as well rob. In this way, it was simply a profit with no capital. As long as they robbed once, the income obtained was enough to maintain their chic and free life. When they had no money to spend, they could just rob again.
If more and more people chose to take this path, then an empire would be finished. The development results achieved before would also be in vain. After all, social stability was more important than anything else. When the society was unstable, the merchants and the people did not have a sense of security in their lives, and people would not have the will to work hard. The economic development of the society would be greatly affected, and there would even be a great regression.
After all, the development of the economy required an incentive mechanism. Merchants could make money by selling goods, and the people could make money by working hard. Only in this way could there be enough motivation. However, if the hard-earned money was robbed by others, who would have the motivation to continue to make money? Wasn't that just suffering?
Therefore, in order to correct the worldview of the people and let them know what they should and should not do, the imperial court had to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to crack down on these illegal bandits, so as to prevent the spread of this idea of reaping without sowing and let more people invest in the construction. In this way, the Tang dynasty could develop faster and better, and the people could live better.
The imperial court's great plan to govern the country was naturally not something that the leader of the Horse Gang could understand. They were all adults, and their ideas had long been fixed. Moreover, since he had been used to being a Horse Gang, he was naturally unwilling to change his profession to be a coolie. He could no longer adapt to coolie work.
In the beginning, before he became a Horse Gang, he and several main Horse Gang members under his command were coolies who herded sheep. They worked very hard every day, and several people had to take care of thousands of sheep. They were very tired, but the remuneration they received was very low. The monthly salary they received was not even enough to drink. It was all because they could drink too much.
Such a poor life naturally aroused their strong dissatisfaction, and the fuse that led them to embark on the road of no return, was the slaughter of a newborn lamb. They originally thought that secretly killing a lamb to fill their stomachs would not be discovered, but unexpectedly, it was discovered by their employer. Thus, they were directly fined a month's salary, and this caused them to completely give up the coolie industry, and enter the mountains to become horse thieves.
One of their business deals was to take away all the sheep of their employer, causing the employer to lose all of his money. On the other hand, they suddenly received thousands of sheep, which was more than enough to eat in a year. Naturally, it was difficult for them to establish a foothold in Mount Wu. Therefore, they recruited people who were also unwilling to do manual labor in order to strengthen their reputation.
However, there were conditions to join the Horse Gang, and that was that their strength must be strong enough. If they did not have the strength to truss a chicken, they would definitely not be accepted.
When there were only a few people in the team, they robbed the chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep of farmers and herdsmen to obtain some satisfaction in food. When the team grew to dozens of people, they began to target the caravans. After all, the caravans had more resources and money than the farmers. Robbing the caravans could obtain a greater income and allow them to live a better life.
After the number of people had increased to a few hundred, the scope of their robberies had expanded once again. Not only the area around Mount Qiwu, but the entire Summer Region had become their hunting ground. There were even signs of their activities in the neighboring regions. However, their nest was at Mount Qiwu. There was no doubt about it.
"Big Brother, did a fat sheep send itself to our doorstep again?"
A fat and short mounted bandit walked up with large strides and asked with a grin.
"Fat sheep? What fat sheep? It's clearly a hot potato. "
The Horse Gang leader said.
"Big Brother, what's the news? Let me see. "
A Horse Gang with one eye walked forward and rudely snatched the letter from the leader's hand. Then, he read it with a group of small leaders.
These Horse Gang leaders were not very educated, but they had learned some words. Therefore, they could understand the most commonly used words.
"Big Brother, how high is the rank of Assistant Minister? Is it higher than the Provincial Governor? "
The short and fat Horse Gang asked.
"Second Brother, this official is very old. He's not much younger than the Emperor. He's a big fish!"
"Big Brother, this kid is here to deal with us. Why should we be polite? Let's just kill him."
"That's right! Big Brother, we've never offended the Imperial Court, but the Imperial Court sent troops to encircle and annihilate us. It's really detestable. In the past few months, we've lost hundreds of brothers and the fat sheep we've caught are getting fewer and fewer. These days are too hard for us. Now, the Imperial Court has sent an even higher ranking official. They won't stop until they annihilate us! "
"I'm free and unfettered here. What does it matter to the Imperial Court? Since the Imperial Court doesn't let us have an easy time, we can't let them have an easy time either. At most, we'll fight to the death and kill the high ranking official sent by the Imperial Court to vent our anger for the past few months."
"Yes, there's nothing to say. Kill the high ranking official of the Imperial Court. We'll do it tonight."
The Horse Gang leaders expressed their opinions agitatedly.
The leader frowned and said, "These years, my brothers and I have enjoyed a few years of good fortune. In the past few months, we've had a hard time. If we really kill the high ranking official sent by the Imperial Court, I'm afraid we won't have such good days in the future. The Imperial Court will be furious and send more troops. At that time, we won't be able to hide even if we want to."
The leader of the Horse Gang was worried that the Imperial Court would launch a more intense encirclement and suppression. In this case, his good days would come to an end. He was very clear about his own strength. With the help of the terrain of Mount Qiwu and the long-established intelligence network, he was confident that he could deal with 8,000 soldiers of the Imperial Court. However, if more soldiers came, he was really helpless. "My brother is right.
There are only 1,000 of us in total. Although all of us are brave and good at fighting, it's still difficult for two fists to fight against four hands. The Imperial Court suddenly sent 8,000 soldiers, which has already made us very uncomfortable. If tens of thousands more come, it will be difficult for us to have a foothold here. However, the high ranking official of the Imperial Court is here to deal with us. Even if we don't kill him, he will be determined to kill us. We'll die anyway, so it's better for us to fight to the death and kill him first. If the Imperial Court really sends more soldiers, then we'll simply leave Mount Qiwu and continue to be free in other places. "
The one-eyed leader of the Horse Gang said.
"Yes, he is not a man if he doesn't take revenge. The Imperial Court has killed so many of our brothers. It's time to teach them a lesson. Let's kill some of their high ranking officials and let them know that we're not easy to bully."
"Brother, make up your mind! We've been holding it in for months. Our brothers are all full of anger. It's time to give it a try. "
"Brother, they only have a little more than 100 people. We can gather more than 600 brothers in four hours. Six against one, we have a good chance of winning. We'll definitely annihilate all the soldiers and soldiers."
The group of leaders said excitedly.
Since Lao Guo's army came to Summer Province, these Horse Gang had been living a very uncomfortable life. The number of robberies had decreased significantly. They even fell into traps several times and lost many brothers, which made them very angry and more violent. However, this time, Ang Lee and his people came to the muzzle. They felt that they could not let go of such a good opportunity to vent their anger.
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