There were many types of food in the cave. There were common rice, wheat, corn, soybeans and other local crops of the Tang Empire. At the same time, there were also crops from the Americas such as sweet potatoes and corn. In terms of nutrition, they were quite well-rounded. It seemed that the quality of life of the horse bandits in the den was not bad.
Most of the food must have been robbed from the merchants and farmers. Some of the bags had the marks of the merchants. Ang Lee knew that the merchants had been robbed, so the food must be the stolen goods.
However, it was not a big deal for the merchants to lose some food. Ang Lee did not intend to send the food back to the merchants. After all, the food was already the trophies of the soldiers. The merchants did not contribute much, so why should he return the food to them? As long as he did not tell them about it, they would be fine.
"Humph, these hateful Horse Gang. They eat better than those in the military camp. How could they hoard so much food? With so few people, they can't eat it all up in three years!"
Lao Guo was very angry when he saw so much food in the cave. Most importantly, there were many kinds of food and the nutrition was very balanced.
"Lao Guo, don't be angry. From now on, all the food is yours. You can take it back to the military camp."
Ang Lee said.
Such a small amount of food was not a huge amount of wealth. It was just food. It was fine for Lao Guo to keep it for himself. Even if his superiors knew about it, they would not investigate it. Moreover, it was for the soldiers, not for personal embezzlement.
"No, just leave it here! It's a good place. It can be used as a military camp. In the future, we can station 500 soldiers here, and there won't be any Horse Gang within dozens of miles. Isn't that wonderful? "
Lao Guo said.
He had planned to set up a military camp in the mountain where the Horse Gang was active. However, he had not found a suitable place after entering the mountain several times. Moreover, it was not easy to build a semi-permanent military camp. It required a lot of houses and a lot of defensive buildings, all of which cost money. However, the military budget provided by the imperial court was limited, so it was not easy to ask for money. Therefore, the plan had been put on hold. But now, it was different. The Horse Gang's lair was very good both in terms of location and conditions. Most of the houses were ready-made, and the defense facilities were relatively complete. If the Horse Gang did not escape and stayed here, it would take a lot of effort and cost to attack it. What's more, there was plenty of food here. There was a stream nearby, full of clean water. It was a perfect place to live without any cost. Even the horses were his residence and food. How could Lao Guo miss such a unique condition? What's more, the military camp here could deter the Horse Gang in the mountain from a closer distance. Needless to say, the benefits were great.
What's more, if they didn't set up a military camp here, they would have to burn down this huge Horse Gang lair in order to prevent the Horse Gang from coming back again. That would be a waste of resources. It would cost a lot of money and time to rebuild all the houses and facilities. Lao Guo was really reluctant to give up such good facilities. What's more, the Horse Gang hadn't been completely wiped out, so it was necessary to station troops in the mountain. Therefore, it was natural to make use of the Horse Gang lair. This Horse Gang lair solved Lao Guo's big problem, so he was very satisfied with it.
"That's right! Stationing an army here can deter the surrounding areas better. The Horse Gang will be furious when they know about it. Haha! "
Ang Lee said with a smile, and took a few steps forward.
The inside of the cave was spacious, but it was not round, but long. The ratio of length to width was at least 10: 1, the average width was 10 meters, and the length was 100 meters. In total, it covered an area of 1,000 square meters, which was the size of 10 houses in the future, and could store a lot of food.
The most important thing was that the inside of the cave wasn't humid. On the contrary, it was rather dry. Otherwise, the stored food would easily rot. The reason for the dryness was naturally because this cave had a structure that was connected from the north to the south. There wasn't just one exit, but two exits. Thus, the dry air outside the cave could circulate through the inside of the cave and bring the moisture out of the cave. This way, the air inside the cave would naturally be drier. This was the main reason why the cave could preserve food.
Of course, there was another reason, which was the temperature. Whether it was high temperature or low temperature, it was not good for the preservation of food. High temperature would easily cause food to rot, and low temperature would also cause food to freeze. For example, sweet potatoes and potatoes would be frozen in low temperature.
The temperature in the cave was relatively stable. In summer, the weather outside was hot, but the temperature in the cave was cool. In winter, the weather outside was cold, but the inside was warm. At least, the sweet potatoes and potatoes would not be frozen.
More than half of the food stored in the Horse Gang's lair could be stored for a long time, but there were also food that could not be stored for a long time, such as vegetables. Moreover, they were fresh vegetables, such as garlic, radishes, and so on. These foods could be stored for less than a month. After radishes were stored for a long time, their taste would change, and they would become unpalatable. The garlic would be poisonous if it went bad.
Of course, there were some dried vegetables in the cave that had been stored for more than half a year. They were fresh vegetables that were dried in the summer and autumn. After these vegetables were dried, they could be stored for a long time. As long as they did not return to moisture, they could be stored for a few years without any problems.
Ang Lee looked around. There were plum beans, daylilies, and other sun-dried vegetables in the cave. Moreover, there were a lot of them. With so much stock, even if each Horse Gang ate half a jin every day, it would be enough to last them for half a year. It could be seen that these Horse Gang were very smart. They planned to stay here for a long time. Once the soldiers sealed the mountain, they could rely on the food stored in the cave to survive for a long time.
As he walked further in, Ang Lee smelled a salty smell. Yes, this was the place where the preserved products were stored. There was a large amount of preserved meat hanging on the high shelves. There was pork, donkey, and horse meat. These preserved meat had a long shelf life. Moreover, the taste was very good. It was easier to eat than fresh meat, so people could eat a lot of food unconsciously.
There was also a lot of preserved meat, enough for the Horse Gang to consume for half a year. Moreover, these preserved meat were cooked and cured, so they could be eaten directly without any processing.
Lao Guo took a piece of preserved meat, put it in his mouth and took a bite, and said it was delicious.
Ang Lee also took a piece of preserved meat, tore off a small piece, and put it in his mouth to chew. It tasted really good. It could be seen that there were some good cooks among the Horse Gang.
The salted meat was hung high up, and there were a lot of salted vegetables in the tank below. They were mainly radish type salted vegetables, and some leaf vegetables were also made into salted vegetables. Although there weren't many salted vegetables, salted vegetables couldn't be eaten too much. Therefore, this was still a large amount. It wouldn't be a problem to eat it for three to five years.
There was a small door in the innermost part of the cave, through which light came in. Apparently, there was another exit. Ang Lee opened the door and walked out of the cave with Lao Guo.
The sunlight outside was very good, and the environment was very good. What was more, this was a grain production area, which was reclaimed by the Horse Gang, covering an area of hundreds of acres.
There was also a lot of grain, which could be seen from the traces. For example, the field closest to the entrance of the cave was planted with pumpkins. Of course, all the pumpkins had been picked, but the pumpkin vines were left in the same place, which showed that it used to be a pumpkin field.
Farther away were the fields of sweet potatoes and soybeans, which were reclaimed by the Horse Gang. These reclaimed lands seemed to indicate that some of the Horse Gang members were farmers who had lost their land and could not find a way to make a living, so they became Horse Gang members in the mountain, and were responsible for planting grain for the Horse Gang.
On the other hand, the Horse Gang mainly relied on robbing to make a living. However, as the number of people increased, robbing alone was obviously not enough. If the soldiers sealed off a large area of the mountain, would they starve to death? By producing some food themselves, they could ensure that they would not be trapped to death.
Moreover, the Qiwu Mountain was so large that it had both land and water. It was best to make full use of these resources. Planting more crops could reduce the pressure of robbing and reduce the possibility of being exposed.
"It's really a good place! There are hundreds of acres of land here. If the Horse Gang members don't go out to rob, these hundreds of acres of land can feed a lot of people. "
Lao Guo said.
According to the standards of later generations, a few hundred mu of land could easily feed a few hundred people. However, in this era of the Tang Dynasty, there was no industrialized fertilizer or high-yield hybrid rice. The yield per mu of grain was pitiful. It would be good if one could harvest two hundred catties of grain per mu, and this was only possible with fertile land. The land of Mount Qiwu was relatively barren, so the yield was even lower. The sweet potato, an exotic species, was slightly better. It could also produce a good yield in barren land, but sweet potatoes couldn't be compared to rice and wheat. Eating too much of these things would make one's stomach acid reflux, and it would make one feel very uncomfortable. Therefore, sweet potatoes couldn't be chosen as the staple food, as it would make people malnourished.
Generally, only under the premise that there was no other way, sweet potatoes could be planted on a large scale. After all, the yield of sweet potatoes was very high, which could better fill the stomachs of the people and let them have enough to eat. Between eating a full stomach and eating well, of course, eating a full stomach was the most important choice.
In the era of starvation in later generations, most of the land in the country was planted with sweet potatoes, because only the huge yield of sweet potatoes could meet the needs of ordinary people. Grains with low yield were definitely not enough.
It was sweet potatoes that fed more people. Without sweet potatoes, who knew how many people would starve to death in that special era?
There was a row of houses next to a few hundred mu of cultivated land. These houses were built under a few big trees. When one walked in to take a look, some farming tools for working were stored inside. There were even some fertilizers. These fertilizers were naturally human manure, animal manure, and green manure.
The so-called human manure was human excrement, animal manure was the excrement of animals, and green manure was even simpler. It was to bury plants in the soil to ferment and let the plants rot to become fertilizers. These two fertilizers were pure natural and pollution-free. They were very good as fertilizers. In ancient society, most of the fertilizers were these few kinds, especially human excrement. Although it was disgusting, it was absolutely not to be wasted.
In many cities, there would be people who were responsible for collecting excrement. These people not only did not receive a salary, but also had to pay a certain fee. This fee was the cost of buying excrement.
Therefore, ancient times were also very interesting. Human excrement could actually be sold for money, and so was animal excrement. Therefore, you absolutely did not have to worry about there being too many animals in the city. The roads would be covered by animal excrement. This kind of situation would never happen. Even if there were no cleaners, such a situation would not occur because many people would take the initiative to pick up the excrement of these animals at will. It would even reach the point of robbing.
Regarding this point, Ang Lee absolutely had the right to speak. In the special era of later generations, there were often people of the older generation who would talk about the hardships when they were young. The hardships these old people experienced in their childhood were unimaginable to the people of later generations.
For example, when they were five or six years old, they needed to get up early to pick up excrement. That was, when the sky was not bright, they had to carry a small basket and go outside to pick up chicken excrement. Moreover, there were no tools for picking up chicken excrement. They had to use their own hands to pick it up. After picking it up, they would smell it in their hands. After confirming that it was chicken excrement, they would put it in the small basket.
As for why they had to smell it, it was naturally because it was too dark in the early morning. It was impossible to see clearly whether it was chicken excrement or not. If it was a piece of mud, then wouldn't it be a waste to pick it up? It was safer to smell it.
Since they couldn't see clearly, why not wait until dawn to go outside to pick up chicken excrement? This naturally involved the problem of competition. In the era when the Wokou pirates invaded China, there were too many poor people. Everyone needed chicken excrement to increase the production of food. Therefore, there were many people who picked up chicken excrement. Every family had a need to pick up chicken excrement. If they went to pick up chicken excrement after dawn, they might not be able to pick up anything. In order to pick up the most chicken excrement, they could only wake up earlier than others. Only those who woke up early could pick up chicken excrement. It was also the most efficient way.
This was because during the day, there were many children who had nothing to do to pick up chicken excrement. Moreover, the chicken excrement under other people's trees was from other people's chickens. If you went to pick it up during the day, it would definitely cause conflicts. However, if you went to pick up the excrement that these chickens excreted at night in the early morning, you wouldn't be discovered by others. It wouldn't be easy to cause conflicts. Was this a kind of theft?
In that era, the chickens spent the night on the trees in front of the house. Later, some people felt that the excrement of their chickens was picked up by others. It was a bit of a loss, so they built a chicken coop. This way, no one could steal their chicken excrement.
。 Peak.
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