In ancient times, reform through labor and exile were very common in order to make use of these criminals to serve the imperial court for free and to protect the interests of the empire to a certain extent.
For example, in any dynasty, the frontier was a place where ordinary people were unwilling to go, because the life there was very poor. But in order to maintain the stability of the frontier, the empire urgently needed to maintain a certain number of residents in the frontier, so as to strengthen the power of the frontier and deter the invasion of hostile forces. If some people were directly transferred to the frontier from the inland, the common people would certainly not be willing to do so. People always went from the poor to the rich, so how could they do the opposite? Under such circumstances, the ruler came up with the idea of exile. As long as a person had committed a crime, he or she would be forcibly sent to the frontier, even his or her whole family, so as to enrich the population of the frontier to a certain extent.
The reform through labor was also very common. The purpose of this reform was to make use of the free labor and let the criminals work hard, so as to provide the imperial court with certain economic benefits. The most common work in labor was mining and quarrying, which were the most difficult. Moreover, they were both in a relatively fixed area, which was convenient for the jailers to supervise and prevent the criminals from escaping.
As for the reform through labor, Ang Lee proposed to plant trees, it was relatively more difficult. Especially in such a large area around Qiwu Mountain, the planting of trees would not stay in one place all the time. For the sake of labor efficiency, the planting area would not be small, and a lot of materials would be prepared. Therefore, it was very difficult to limit the planting area to a small area. It was very likely that the working area would be hundreds or thousands of times larger, and the workers would be scattered, which would bring great trouble to the supervision. If the Horse Gang escaped from the prison, it would be very troublesome.
Of course, Ang Lee had thought about the problem that Lao Guo worried about. It was indeed a very tricky problem. These Horse Gang had just surrendered, so they had a lot of bad habits. They might be able to behave themselves under the eyes of the officers and soldiers, but it was hard to say what they would do if they were out of the sight of the officers and soldiers. Some of them would definitely try to escape. So, what could be done to prevent this from happening? Ang Lee believed that as long as they were well educated and sincerely considered for the sake of the surrendered Horse Gang and let them taste the sweetness of a stable life, they would be able to be influenced and be willing to work as coolies in order to live a peaceful life in the future.
After all, for most of the Horse Gang, the reason why they chose this road was that they had nowhere else to go. Under such circumstances, they chose this road of no return. As long as there was a little hope, they would not choose this road.
In ancient society, there were many such examples. There were many people who wanted to be slaves but were unable to do so, so they resisted without hesitation and eventually became emperors. For example, Shi Le from the Jie Clan had always wanted to be a slave, but in the end, the chaotic society made it impossible for him to be a slave. He was forced to fight for the world and eventually sat on the throne of the emperor. There was no one else who could do this.
Many people in the later generations would continue to engage in criminal activities after being released from prison. The main reason was that after being released from prison, they would not be recognized by ordinary people when they re-entered society. They would always be looked down upon, and employers would not casually hire such people. As a result, these people would be discouraged. When they could not find a way to support themselves, they would choose to do their old profession and continue to engage in illegal activities.
This was the tragedy of prison. The real function of prison should not be as simple as punishment, but should be focused on education and reform. This was the most correct way. If it was only to pursue punishment, then it should not be. It would cause the people who were released from prison to continue to do evil.
So that the people who were released from prison could have a way to support themselves and live a good life. In this way, the people who were released from prison would naturally not continue to engage in illegal activities.
During their sentence, the people who were released from prison should be allowed to work more and learn some basic survival skills. This was the best way to reform them. Especially for those who had bad habits, it was necessary to spend a lot of effort to get them to change their bad habits.
Lao Guo and Ang Lee always had different opinions. However, Lao Guo did not want to argue with Ang Lee. He proposed a compromise. He thought that they could start mining in Qiwu Mountain. There must be some mines in such a large mountain. After a period of mining, those who performed well could be sent out to plant trees in batches. In addition to the Horse Gang, they could also recruit some ordinary people to participate in the planting of trees. In this way, they could supervise each other and prevent the Horse Gang from causing unnecessary losses.
Ang Lee thought it was a good idea. Qiwu Mountain was so large that there must be mines in it. Even if there were no important resource mines, there must be some stone mines! Let the Horse Gang work hard. When they got used to working, their bodies would adapt to the rhythm of work and it would not be so painful. This was the so-called reform through labor.
This time, Li An brought a lot of technical talents. After eliminating the Horse Gang, he asked them to explore the mountains. It should not be a big problem to find some mineral veins. Moreover, there were coal mines in the Summer State. Therefore, the possibility of Qiwu Mountain having a coal mine was very high. As long as they explored seriously, it was very likely that they would find these mineral veins. Mining was very profitable in any era. By using the free Horse Gang to mine, not only could they make a lot of money, they could also transform these Horse Gang members. Through high-intensity mining labor, the Horse Gang members' bodies could gradually adapt to mining, and thus they could be transformed into good people.
Ang Lee had a good idea, which was to use the money earned from mining to cover the cost of planting trees. Of course, the income from fruit trees could also be used to cover the cost of planting trees.
After discussing some details, Ang Lee and Ang Lee rode to the Horse Gang's main lair. Mining and planting trees would be left for later. The most important thing now was to go to the Horse Gang's lair and check the discovered letters immediately. This was the reason why Lao Guo and Ang Lee wanted to go there in person.
The two of them soon arrived at the main lair of the Horse Gang and saw many of the buildings that the Horse Gang had hidden. The design of these buildings was very interesting. There was no bright color on the top, just dry branches. The walls and many of the buildings were the same color as the branches and soil. These building materials were all taken from the ground and had not undergone any processing. Therefore, in terms of color, it was naturally more natural and not easy to be discovered. It had a strong concealment ability.
The gate of the Horse Gang's lair was not very high, only a little more than three meters high. The width was a little wider, about six meters, which made it more convenient for people to go in and out. After all, for the Horse Gang on horseback, a gate about three meters high was enough. It was meaningless to be too high. The reason why it was wider was that more horses could pass through at the same time.
There was a platform between the gate and the top of the wall. The Horse Gang could stand on it to patrol and protect the lair. In order to provide a shelter for the patrollers, there were canopies built on the top of the gate in the middle and on the left and right corners of the lair. They were very simple canopies with good shading effect. What's more, there were some camouflage creepers hanging on the canopies, which made the lair more difficult to be discovered.
At the moment, under the canopies stood the soldiers of the Tang dynasty. The Horse Gang had already fled. In the inner courtyard of the wall, more than a dozen surrendered Horse Gang members were sitting on the ground listlessly, counting ants. Beside them were several guards.
"Wow, there's a whole new world in here! It's so spacious and well hidden. From the outside, you would never expect there to be so many houses here. No wonder it's the most important lair of the Horse Gang. It's really wonderful. "
Ang Lee sighed with emotion.
Taking a closer look, these houses should have been built by the horse bandits themselves. The materials used were all available in the mountains, such as branches, leaves, grass, and extremely sticky soil. These materials could be used to build a very sturdy house. All the houses here were built using this method. Even the core of the house, the lobby, was built in the same way. The only difference was that the trunk used to build the lobby was thicker and longer, and the scale of the building was larger. Other than that, there was really no difference.
"Assistant Minister Li, General."
A subordinate came up to him.
"How's it going? Where are the letters?"
Lao Guo asked with great concern.
"General, the letters are behind the hall. There are thousands of them. I dare not make a decision without permission, so I didn't open any of them."
The subordinate said.
"Well done. How many people know about this?"
Lao Guo asked.
"Apart from me, only the deputy general and the messenger know about it. I dare not leak it out."
The subordinate said.
Lao Guo nodded with satisfaction. "That's great. Remember, don't leak it out, not to anyone. The messenger has told you to tell the deputy general not to mention it, as if it had never happened."
"Yes, sir."
The subordinate said.
Ang Lee and Lao Guo walked into the big tent of the Horse Gang. The first thing they saw was a huge tiger skin, which was obviously authentic. It was placed on a big chair, which was the throne of the Horse Gang leader.
In ancient times, many mountain kings liked to decorate their thrones with tiger skins, which had almost become an unwritten rule. If a mountain king didn't have a tiger skin, he would be too ashamed to call himself a mountain king. Even if it was a fake, he had to have a real one. For example, the emperor must have the imperial jade seal to be legal. Without the seal, the throne would not be legal.
"This tiger skin is good, but it's stained by the Horse Gang leader. Forget it, I don't want it."
Ang Lee said with a smile, and walked around the chair to the back room.
The lobby was the place where the Horse Gang leader and his subordinates discussed business. But the Horse Gang leader also lived here, which made it more convenient for him to deal with many things. At the same time, for the sake of safety, there was no place more strictly guarded than the lobby.
"Assistant Minister Li doesn't want it, so it's mine. Haha!"
Lao Guo was very happy. He didn't seem to care that the Horse Gang leader had sat on the tiger skin for a long time.
After walking to the compartment at the back, a very large box came into view. This box should contain the letters to and from the leader of the horse bandits.
Ang Lee and Lao Guo couldn't wait to open the box.
"There are thousands of letters. It's hard to hide so many of them!"
Lao Guo said.
If he were to bring such a box of letters back to Summer State Capital, it would be hard to avoid being discovered. The methods of those vermin in Summer State Capital were not to be underestimated. Furthermore, they were capable of doing anything.
"Let's sort them out first! Separate the valuable ones from the worthless ones. If it's a letter written by the same person that doesn't have much value, just keep one letter. "
Ang Lee said.
Lao Guo nodded, and started to sort out the letters with Ang Lee.
Because the Horse Gang leader had read all the letters, they were all opened. It was easy to read the contents, as long as they took the letters out.
"Why didn't the leader of the Horse Gang burn these important letters after reading them? Why does he have a hobby of collecting secret letters? "
Ang Lee opened a letter and said with a smile.
"Haha! Maybe he's trying to threaten someone! It's not easy to get off the Horse Gang's pirate ship. You have to stick with the Horse Gang all the time. Otherwise, the Horse Gang could threaten those vermin with these letters. "
Lao Guo said very clearly.
Having lived for more than half of his life, Lao Guo had rich life experience. He was very sharp in judging people and things. Many things could be understood by just thinking about it.
"Haha! You're right! The Horse Gang leader is really a villain. He should have kept this trick up his sleeve. Not only did he fail to threaten those he wanted to threaten, but he also benefited us. "
Ang Lee said with a smile. Suddenly, he thought of something and froze, just like Zhou Yu vomiting blood when being blown by the wind.
"What's wrong, Assistant Minister Li?"
Lao Guo asked.
Li An calmed himself down and said, "Old Guo, I'm sorry. It's no use keeping it a secret! These letters are collected by the Horse Gang leader. He must know that we've captured them. So, if he spreads the news, those vermin in Summer State will be prepared, right? "
Lao Guo paused and said, "I don't think so! The Horse Gang leader is a villain. He's not that loyal. "
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