The rich capital naturally had more wealth, but this wealth was not something that ordinary people could easily possess. There were more opportunities for development in the capital, but they were also controlled by the aristocratic families, so it was very difficult for ordinary people to have the opportunity to develop. There were even more luxurious houses in the capital, but this was also not something that ordinary people could afford to live in. Ordinary people had to spend a lot of money to rent a small house, and their lives were all tight.
Although living a tight life was better than living in poor remote areas, for some people, their happiness was really, really low, and they did not even feel any happiness at all. This was because they lived a tight life every day, but they could see many rich people flaunting their wealth at any time and place. This feeling was the worst. No one would be jealous of the rich countries overseas, and no one could understand the poverty of the African continent, because these were too far away from their lives and had nothing to do with them. However, if the people around them were richer than them, especially by a lot, the difference in their hearts would be very big and they would be very unhappy. Many people would be like this.
This was especially so for those who could not find a suitable way to make a living in the capital, which was full of wealth. Instead of suffering so much, it was better to just give up and go to the capital. Staying in a small place like Wenchuan County was actually quite good.
For example, the young man from the East Woman Kingdom was quite open-minded. His abilities were limited to farming and hunting, and he basically didn't know any other skills. If he stayed in Wenchuan County, he could at least occasionally hunt for a living. If he moved to the capital, he really didn't know what else he could do. There was no farming, and hunting was even more of an extravagant hope. Going to a workshop to work as a coolie was a good idea. Although his skills were not good at the beginning, as long as he practiced for a period of time, he could still be competent. However, living in the capital was not easy. After earning some coolie money to eat and drink, the rent would be gone. Most importantly, it was too sullen and too tiring.
Hunting in a place like Wenchuan County was free, but working in a workshop in the capital was a dark life for some people who were used to living a free life. The degree of freedom and happiness were not good, and it was simply an unbearable state of life.
This was just like the sweatshop in the modern world. Some people thought it was good, but some people would rather work at the construction site, which was harder and more tiring, than the sweatshop. The reason was that the system in the workshop was too strict. When they worked, there were people watching them. It was too oppressive. How could it compare to the freedom of hunting, which made people feel comfortable?
The hunter from Dongnu Province was obviously a person who advocated freedom. He was not very interested in a bustling and prosperous place. As long as he could fill his stomach and live a relatively free life, he was satisfied. The conditions here in Wenchuan County completely met his needs, so he took root again.
"Are you going to stay in Wenchuan forever? Have you ever thought of going back to your hometown? "
Ang Lee asked.
The hunter said, "There's no food at home, so I can't go back. If my hometown is rich and can fill my stomach, of course, it's better to go back."
Obviously, the hunter also wanted to go back to his hometown. It was the place where he was born and also the place he dreamed of. The relatives in his hometown were his real relatives. No matter how good it was to wander outside, it was not as good as staying in his hometown. He might not have much feelings now when he was young, but when he was old, he would have the idea of returning to his hometown. At that time, his homesickness would be even stronger.
Hearing the hunter's words, Ang Lee suddenly felt that it was good to be able to help them. As long as Dongnu Province became Dongnu Province, it would not be difficult for it to become rich. With the imperial court of the Tang dynasty to build roads and invest, the burden of local people would be greatly reduced. As for the most important food, under the premise of improved transportation and the elimination of tariffs, the price of food would be reduced by two or three times. This was unimaginable before Dongnu Province submitted to the Tang dynasty.
Although there were still so many people and resources there, after the imperial court and army of Dongnu Province were abolished, the burden on the shoulders of the ordinary people in Dongnu Province could be removed. Why did the people have to pay a lot of taxes? Why did foreign goods enter Dongnu Province have to pay taxes? Because if the people and merchants did not pay taxes, the imperial court and army of Dongnu Province would lose their ability to survive. In order to maintain the normal operation of the imperial court of Dongnu Province and ensure that the army was on duty, the people had to pay taxes. If foreign merchants wanted to transport food in, they also had to pay a certain amount of tariffs to the imperial court of Dongnu Province.
In normal times, when the weather was good, it might not be a big problem for the people to pay taxes. However, when there was a drought, the people did not have enough food to eat. How could they have food to pay taxes? But if the people did not pay taxes, what would the imperial court and army eat? Would they starve to death?
Although Dongnu Province also had a lot of mineral resources, and during a disaster year, they would expand the export of mineral resources in exchange for the most important food. However, due to the primitive technology, their mining progress was not high, and it was not easy to transport the minerals out. In recent years, the large-scale mining of minerals by the Tang dynasty had caused the price of many metals to drop to varying degrees. Therefore, even if a large number of minerals and resources were exported, the funds obtained could not buy too much food. As a result, the food supply in Dongnu Province was always in a state of insufficient supply, and the people's lives were miserable.
Many people had to leave their homes and go to Central Sichuan of the Tang dynasty to find a way out. Some also went to Nanzhao to find a way out. However, more people went to Central Sichuan of the Tang dynasty, accounting for more than 90%. First, the Central Sichuan of the Tang dynasty was richer than Nanzhao. Second, the area bordering Dongnu Province and Nanzhao was very small. Only a slender territory in the south bordered Nanzhao, and the rest of the territory bordered the Tang dynasty. In terms of climate, it was more like a part of Central Sichuan of the Tang dynasty.
The once-in-a-century drought in Dongnu Province made the imperial court of Dongnu Province miserable. If they continued to collect taxes according to the original tax rate, the people could not live. However, if they did not collect taxes like this, the imperial court and the army could not operate normally. Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice. No matter how powerful the imperial court of Dongnu Province was, it was still in an extremely awkward situation. This was a very important reason why Dongnu Province wanted to abolish the title of the country. The imperial court was almost unable to hold on. Taking the initiative to merge with a big country was also a very good idea. At least this was more practical than being overthrown by the people.
Of course, the reason why Dongnu Province was in such a predicament was not only because of the once-in-a-century drought, but also because of the industrialization initiated by Ang Lee in the Tang Dynasty. After Ang Lee initiated the industrialization and large-scale mining of minerals, Dongnu Province needed to export more minerals in exchange for the income that it could have obtained with less minerals. However, the mining progress of Dongnu Province was fixed, so the income that could be exchanged was less. When there was a disaster year, the food that could be bought from the Tang Dynasty would naturally be less. Although the price of food in the Tang Dynasty was also reduced because of Ang Lee, the reduction was about the same as the reduction of minerals.
However, the poor transportation conditions in Dongnu Province led to high transportation costs. Although the prices of minerals and food decreased at the same time, which seemed to offset each other, and there should be no change in the purchased food. However, the cheaper the commodity, the higher the proportion of transportation costs. If gold was transported thousands of kilometers away, the price might only increase by 20%. If coal was transported thousands of kilometers away, the price would increase by ten times or even a hundred times was normal. Whether it was minerals or food, they were relatively bulky bulk materials, so the transportation costs were relatively high. No matter how much the original price of the commodity was, after being transported to the destination, the transportation costs would cause the price of the commodity to increase by many times. As a result, most of the resources would be consumed halfway.
Of course, even if it was related to Ang Lee, no official of Dongnu Province would push the responsibility to Ang Lee. Queen Zhao Yefu would be the first to disagree. They lamented that God did not protect Dongnu Province and let Dongnu Province suffer such a drought. Many people who were farming had no harvest. Not to mention paying taxes, they did not even have food to fill their stomachs. How could they expect the imperial court to provide food? And the imperial court had no surplus food! This forced many people to flee to Central Sichuan in the Tang dynasty. Some even fled to farther places.
This kind of thing was very common in ancient and modern times. Many people in backward and poor areas would flee to richer countries in order to have a better life. In this way, they could live a better life and live a happier life. Of course, the Tang dynasty was no exception.
However, for the imperial court of a country, under normal circumstances, it would try its best to prevent the people from fleeing to neighboring countries because the people were also very important resources and the symbol of the country's manpower. If the people fled on a large scale, the manpower of the country would be greatly weakened, which was not a good thing for the ruling class. However, if the people did not flee to other countries and starved to death, the imperial court would sometimes turn a blind eye. After all, in the case of insufficient food, it was also a great risk to forcibly keep the hungry people. If the hungry people rebelled collectively, the damage and losses that could be caused were much more serious than the loss of manpower. Therefore, in order to avoid the terrible acts of rebellion by the starving people, the imperial court would let the people leave their territory and let them go to other countries to make a living. This was more humane and could better reduce the risk.
Of course, if the people were not starving but went to other countries purely for a better and richer life, the imperial court of each country would generally stop them. They would feel that this would not only cause the country to lose a certain amount of manpower, but also greatly reduce the country's image. It would make other countries feel that the country was a poor and backward country, and thus despise the empire from the bottom of their hearts.
Under normal circumstances, only a superpower like the Tang Empire would be particularly concerned about its reputation. There were also some big countries with hundreds or even thousands of years of glorious civilization, such as the Persian Empire, who were also very concerned about their reputation. Generally, they would not allow their people to go to rich countries at will, even if they were hungry. This was a big matter related to the imperial court's reputation and the image of a powerful empire.
After all, the East Woman Kingdom was just a small country with a small land area and a small population. It was a small and weak country. Such a small country didn't have much confidence and a sense of pride. In order to maintain its rule, it couldn't care too much about other things.
"Don't worry! Your hometown will definitely become rich, as rich as the Tang dynasty. This will be realized in a few years, hahaha! "
Ang Lee said very happily.
"Why? Do you know how to tell fortunes? "
The hunter of Dongnu Province asked curiously.
"Dongnu Province will soon be the Dongnu Province of the Tang dynasty. How can it not be rich?"
The county magistrate answered excitedly. After that, he seemed to feel that he had spoken too fast and quickly shut up. Fortunately, Ang Lee did not blame him, which made the county magistrate feel relieved.
Ang Lee nodded gently and confirmed the county magistrate's words. However, this made the hunter look very unhappy, and there seemed to be a trace of anger.
"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Ang Lee asked with a faint smile.
The hunter naturally understood that a wise man knew better than to fight when the odds were against him. After a while, his angry face returned to normal, and then he said righteously, "Although I make a living in the Tang dynasty, I am after all a native of Dongnu Province. How can the people be happy when their motherland is destroyed?"
After that, he looked unhappy.
"Boy, you can't talk nonsense. What do you mean by destroyed? It is your Queen of Dongnu Province who asked to be merged into the Tang dynasty. It is not our Tang dynasty who wants to destroy your Dongnu Province. You can't talk nonsense. Be careful …"
The county magistrate was so emotional that he immediately interrupted again.
"Those who don't know are not wrong. Even a hunter can be so patriotic. It seems that Dongnu Province can't be underestimated! This is all because of Yefu's good governance, hahaha! "
Ang Lee said very proudly.
"The Queen of Dongnu Province asked to be merged into the Tang dynasty. How is this possible? There is no such thing in the world?"
The hunter obviously didn't believe it. Anyone else would find it difficult to believe it was true. When the county magistrate heard about this, he was also shocked and speechless. The hunter had a patriotic heart, so naturally, he was even more unwilling to believe it. Moreover, this kind of thing was not easy to happen in the Tang dynasty. Under normal circumstances, this kind of thing would not happen.
"Young Langjun, this is true. It can't be fake. There was a severe drought in Dongnu Province last year, and the people didn't have enough to eat. In order to let the people under her rule live a good life, your Queen thought of merging into the Tang dynasty. As long as you are merged into the Tang dynasty, the imperial court of the Tang dynasty will not leave you alone. A large amount of food from the Tang dynasty will be continuously transported to Dongnu Province. You won't have to worry about starvation anymore."
Ang Lee said very sincerely.
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