When the soldiers opened the chests, everyone's eyes lit up. Inside the chests were no other than chests of golden biscuits. It was an irresistible amount of wealth.
"Gold, this chest is filled with gold. This is too much. I've never seen so much gold. We're rich."
"This chest is full of gold. The chests below and next to it must also be filled with gold! How could a few mounted gangsters have so much gold? Where did they get so much gold? "
"It's said that the Summer Province is a poor place, but it doesn't seem to be the case! These must be from the usual robberies of the mounted gangsters. I just didn't expect them to rob so much. "
"Yes! It's indeed a lot! This is only a part of it. The mounted gangsters took away even more. There might be more in their lair. All added together, it's not a small amount! "
"Who knows what's in the other chests? Why don't we open them and take a look? "
The officers and soldiers were also greedy for money. When they saw so many golden pancakes, their emotions immediately soared. Everyone seemed so excited. If it weren't for the military law, they might have taken these treasures for themselves. This was completely possible. In front of such huge benefits, who wouldn't be moved?
"Good lord, these chests are also filled with golden pancakes. They're translucent. Wow!"
"These aren't golden pancakes, but at a glance, I can tell that they're more valuable than golden pancakes. These strings of small lumps should be pearls! I haven't seen pearls before. So that's what they look like! "
"Ignorant. How are these pearls? These are gems that are thousands of times more valuable than pearls."
"Gems? They sound very valuable. "
"These are golden bracelets. These things are much more valuable than golden pancakes."
The officers and soldiers' excitement lasted for a long time. However, there was always a time when they calmed down. With all these treasures in front of them, how to deal with them became a problem.
"There are so many treasures. Do we have to move them all back?"
"We don't have enough manpower. I'm afraid we can't complete this task. Let's seal them here for the time being. When we inform the general, we can naturally send more troops to move them."
"You're right. Put all the treasures in the box and bury them. Let's leave this matter to the general!"
"That's not right. We should leave a few people behind to guard this place. It would be troublesome if someone took it away."
"This is great. Our task is even more important. We need to pay close attention to the Horse Gang's every move and leave a few people to guard the cave. We are a little understaffed. We need to inform the general as soon as possible to send more people to take away the treasures here."
After some discussion, they decided to leave four men to guard the cave and the rest to keep an eye on the Horse Gang. In addition, the man who was sent to keep Lao Guo under control was also the one who reported the situation of the Horse Gang.
It seemed a little wasteful to leave four people to guard an inconspicuous cave, but it was also for the sake of absolute safety and to prevent all kinds of unpredictable consequences. For example, if there were too few people, there would be no way to arrange the guards. After all, people needed to eat, drink, go to the toilet, and sleep. If there were too few people, there would be no way to arrange the guards according to different shifts, and the guards would be less likely to be in place.
In addition, if there were too few people, it would be troublesome if someone became selfish and took all the treasures for himself. Therefore, it was necessary to have more people so that everyone could supervise each other. Only then could they ensure absolute safety and prevent all kinds of uncertainties from happening.
When such important news reached Lao Guo's ears, Ang Lee had already returned and was enjoying the delicious food with Lao Guo.
"General, the Horse Gang buried some treasures, about 100 boxes, and about 200 boxes are still being transported. All of them are valuable treasures."
The soldier reported.
"It's a good idea to hide the boxes in the cave. You've checked them. What are the treasures?"
Lao Guo asked.
"We've opened some of the boxes. There are gold cakes, gold bracelets, and many pearls, gems, and some tiger skins. All of them are valuable."
The soldier answered.
Lao Guo was surprised as well, and said, "There are so many valuable things here. That's amazing! We're rich. "
"General, so many treasures can't be carried away by three or five people. Should we send the army to carry them away?"
The soldier asked.
Lao Guo thought for a while and said, "No need to rush. Send 30 soldiers to keep an eye on them. When the Horse Gang is taken care of, they can carry them away together."
"Yes, General."
The soldier went to pass the order.
"With so many treasures, Assistant Minister Li, do you think we should hand them all to the imperial court?"
Lao Guo asked with a smile.
Li An replied with a smile, "That's your business. I won't ask about it. However, with so many treasures, there's nothing wrong with taking out some as a reward for the soldiers. The imperial court won't specially send people to investigate."
Li An had never paid much attention to petty acts of greed. The soldiers had indeed worked hard at the border, so it was only right to give them more benefits. This was human nature. Only when the soldiers were treated better would they be able to do their best to serve the court. With so many treasures being distributed this time, it was only natural that a portion of the rewards would be given to the soldiers.
"The mounted bandits have left behind a portion of their treasures. In this way, the speed of their movement can be increased by quite a bit. Perhaps, we will be able to reach this place tomorrow or the day after. The complete annihilation of the mounted bandits is just around the corner.
Lao Guo said excitedly.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. But we'd better capture all of them so that we won't have any casualties. Isn't that what we've been trying so hard to achieve? I believe the Horse Gang won't have the courage to resist the attack of our imperial army after a series of failures and a long journey. As long as we rush out, they'll surrender at once. Then we'll have a complete victory. It'll be a history-making victory, and we'll be the ones who make history."
Ang Lee had no doubt about what might happen next. He believed that the Horse Gang, exhausted from the journey, would never have the courage to attack the imperial army. It would be lucky if they didn't wet their pants out of fear.
There were two reasons for this. First, Li An wanted to pursue zero casualties. Second, Li An was too bored. He wanted to have more fun in the north and see the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Tang Empire. In addition, he wanted to see the Horse Gang being teased. They had not taken any action, which gave the Horse Gang some hope. But in the end, the Horse Gang would find that their hope was shattered. They could not escape to the east of the river and enjoy themselves. They could not have such extravagant hopes.
"Will Assistant Minister Li leave after wiping out the Horse Gang?"
Lao Guo suddenly asked with a little sadness.
Li An thought for a moment and felt that he had been in the north for quite some time. This time, he had finished dealing with the horse bandits and it seemed that it was time to go back. He was a little reluctant, but it was useless even if he was reluctant. He still had to go back. There were still many departments in the capital that needed Li An's help, especially the science and technology department. After Li An left, it was as if they had lost their souls. Almost all of their scientific research projects had fallen into a state where they could not make any progress.
It was not the fault of these talents, because the knowledge they grasped was randomly taught by Li An. It was not too strict and systematic, and there were many gaps in many places. For example, when a martial arts master practiced a remnant martial art, it was very easy for him to be possessed by the devil. If he was not careful, he would be possessed by the devil. Or a student who often asked for leave because he missed too many classes, so his learning was very unsystematic. In the exam, as long as there was any knowledge point that he did not know, then he would not be able to solve the question. For scientific research, the situation was even more serious. As long as there was a slight deviation in knowledge, then the research was very likely not to be done. This was definitely not an alarmist talk, but a real situation. Therefore, scientific research was very strict and did not tolerate the slightest bit of sloppiness. Anyone who was sloppy and careless could not do scientific research. Otherwise, the price to pay would be too high.
"Yes! It's time to leave, but to be honest, I'm really reluctant to leave. Although everyone says that the days at the border are hard, the border also has its advantages. That is, life is easier. I don't have to worry about being impeached for my words and deeds, and I don't have to deal with too many boring social activities. In short, it's a good place for retirement! Living in seclusion at the border is a good idea. "
Ang Lee said.
He didn't really want to live in seclusion. He just wanted to express his feelings. It was the kind of wonderful feeling that he wanted to be alone and not be disturbed by irrelevant people. People who lived in the city, especially those who lived in big cities, generally had this kind of feeling. Because living in the city, the probability of being disturbed was too high. Sometimes, they would be disturbed unknowingly. Sometimes, in order to socialize, they couldn't drive people away, which was really annoying.
In this case, it was natural for people to have an idea of escaping from the status quo. That is, they wanted to go to a place where no one knew them, stay quietly, contact no one, and not be found by anyone.
The idea of living in seclusion had a long history. Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty was a very famous representative. After that, many people imitated him. Many pretentious people began to learn to live in seclusion. Some of them were really talented and were called recluses. But there were also some people who didn't have any ability and learned to live in seclusion. They simply wanted to fish for fame, or wanted to take the shortcut to Zhongnan.
Because since ancient times, many people with lofty ideals, that is, people with great ability, liked to live in seclusion. Therefore, a person living in seclusion would give people a very unfathomable impression and make people think that this person was very awesome. Even the emperor would think so. Therefore, many emperors would personally visit these recluses in Zhongnan and invite them to rule the country for themselves and be their right-hand men.
Many learned people who couldn't find a way to live in seclusion felt that this was also a good way of promotion, so they followed others to live in seclusion in Zhongnan. In the end, many of them won the favor of the emperor and smoothly entered the officialdom, embarking on a broad road that they dreamed of.
Because in ancient times, the news was very isolated and resources were very scarce. The aristocracy controlled almost all the social resources. As a result, many talented people had no opportunity to show their talents. No matter how high your ability was, if you were not appointed, it was useless. Especially for scholars, being appointed by the imperial court was an extremely important way to make a living. If you studied hard for ten years but couldn't work for the imperial court and didn't get an official position for yourself, then these ten years of study were equivalent to a waste.
In history, many scholars who couldn't be appointed by the imperial court eventually became very poor people, even poorer than the old farmers. After all, the old farmers could still support themselves by farming, and the only way out for scholars was to serve the imperial court. In addition to being an official, the ordinary old scholars living in ancient times couldn't find a better way to make a living. The officialdom became their only way to change their fate. There was no other way. Therefore, the competition among scholars was white-hot. Many people, in order to be able to rise, would take all kinds of ways to achieve their wishes.
Some scholars tried their best to improve their knowledge and cultivation. They took measures such as passing the imperial examination to achieve their wishes. This measure was also the most proper. There were also people who tried their best to visit high-ranking officials and dignitaries. They wanted to use the help of high-ranking officials and dignitaries to achieve their goals. There were also people who plunged into Zhongnan Mountain. They claimed to live in seclusion, but in fact, they wanted to get the attention of the emperor and dignitaries so that they could have a good future.
There were too many people who walked on the political stage through the shortcut of Zhongnan Mountain, and for a long time, Zhongnan Mountain also became synonymous with fake seclusion.
If a person really wanted to live in seclusion, he didn't have to go to Zhongnan Mountain. The world was so big, and there were too many places to live in seclusion. There were many unknown mountains that were more suitable for living in seclusion, and Zhongnan Mountain was so famous, and it was relatively close to the capital. Living in seclusion here was obviously to attract the attention of the emperor and the imperial court.
For this point, the officials of the imperial court, and even the emperor, were very clear in their hearts. They all knew that most of the people who came to Zhongnan Mountain to live in seclusion were fake. Many of them wanted to set foot in the officialdom, but in order to show the importance of the imperial court to virtuous people, the imperial court had to warmly invite these so-called hermits to take specific positions in the imperial court, otherwise, they would be suspected of harming virtuous people.
In the history of the Tang dynasty, there were many famous people who set foot in the officialdom by living in seclusion, such as Li Bai and Du Fu. In their early years, they also had the experience of living in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain. Later, they wrote a few poems, which were sent to the palace by petty officials. The emperor saw that they were really talented, so he appointed them. However, Li Bai and Du Fu's background was not strong enough. Although they set foot in the officialdom, the positions they got were very low, and such low positions could not let them realize their ambitions.
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