There were too many houses in the residential area of the Yang Family Manor, so much so that the line of sight was blocked. He could barely see that there were people moving around inside, but he couldn't see clearly. This residential area was also divided into seven or eight courtyards. The size of each courtyard was not the same. There were main rooms and side rooms. There were gates in the east, west, north, and south directions that led to the other two courtyards and the road outside, making it convenient to go in and out.
The back garden had an area of more than ten mu, which was more than eight thousand square meters. Such a large piece of land could naturally be planned well. There were a lot of landscape trees and rockery inside, as well as some pavilions and pools. Basic entertainment facilities such as swings and wooden horses were naturally indispensable. The overall planning was quite good. It was a good place for leisure.
At this time, through Ang Lee's binoculars, he could see five or six young ladies playing in the back garden. Because it was too far away, even with the binoculars, he couldn't see their facial features clearly. Therefore, he couldn't determine the age of these young ladies. However, from their actions and clothes, he could tell that they should be young. They were estimated to be in their teens. This was a carefree flowering age. It was also the most beautiful age in a woman's life, the most innocent and brilliant age.
Young ladies of this age were Ang Lee's favorite. The young ladies who were raised in the boudoir fascinated him even more. Because they were raised in the boudoir, these young ladies were more innocent, which was very different from those who lived in the downtown area. There was a word called greasy. Greasy had nothing to do with age and gender. Greasy depended on how many things one shouldn't have come into contact with. Young ladies in the future would ask big brothers for money when they saw them. This was a kind of greasy that made people sick or their mouths were full of dirty words. No matter what they saw, they wouldn't feel anything and would never be shy. These were greasy young ladies who had been polluted by the environment. Ang Lee didn't have any feelings for such young ladies who didn't know shyness. He felt that it was a waste of time to talk to them. Only shy young ladies who didn't know anything were the most attractive.
At the very least, Ang Lee preferred the more bashful young ladies, which meant that they were purer. The young ladies who were playing in the back garden were naturally purer. They were raised in the boudoir and were unknown.
Standing at the top of the mountain, Ang Lee could still see the young ladies playing in the back garden of the Yang family with the help of binoculars. However, because the mountain top was too far from the back garden, the young ladies playing in the back garden couldn't see Ang Lee. They had no idea that they were being spied on.
Ang Lee didn't have any hobby of peeping. The reason why he peeped was entirely out of curiosity. He liked to do it occasionally, but under normal circumstances, he wouldn't peep.
"It's too far, I can't see clearly!"
Chen Long also picked up the binoculars and looked at the back garden of the Yang Family's manor.
Ang Lee put down the binoculars and said, "It doesn't matter if you can't see clearly. Let's go to his house and see clearly."
"Ah! This isn't appropriate! It's not appropriate to make such a request just to see their womenfolk! "
Chen Long said.
This was indeed a bit inappropriate. Suddenly running into someone else's house and asking to see if their family's women were beautiful was naturally a very inappropriate request. It would appear to be a bit rude, even a very hooligan behavior, and would be despised by others. If word of this were to spread, then it would become very famous.
However, Li An was just joking. He wouldn't really go and look at other people's womenfolk. Moreover, they might not necessarily be beautiful. They might also be very ordinary. Not every young lady in the boudoir could be as beautiful as the Imperial Consort. Those who were very ordinary would definitely occupy the majority.
"I'm just joking. I don't really want to see them. Standing here, we can already see the whole manor. We've also learned a lot about the situation in the manor from the passers-by. It seems that there's no need to go there. We won't be staying in Yi Zhou City for long, so we can't waste too much time."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Yi Zhou City was relatively large, and the outside of the city was even larger. With such a large area, they naturally had to walk around and see more. They couldn't waste too much time in one place. Otherwise, it would delay their exploration and understanding of the other places.
"Oh, you scared me. Where are we going next?"
Chen Long asked.
Ang Lee looked at the taller and bigger mountains in the distance and said, "This small pagoda hill is not worth mentioning. The one in the distance should be the big pagoda hill. Let's go to the big pagoda hill!"
"Assistant Minister Li, the big pagoda hill looks a bit far!"
Chen Long said with a frown.
Ang Lee also felt that it was a bit far, so he called over the Yi Zhou City Lieutenant and asked, "How far is the big pagoda hill from here? Is the scenery good? "
The lieutenant replied, "The nearest place is about 20 miles away. The scenery is naturally good. However, there are bandits in the depths of the big pagoda hill. There are more than a dozen bandit groups. The small ones have dozens of bandits, and the large ones have hundreds of bandits. It's not very safe!"
Ang Lee heard this and nodded gently. This was expected. In the ancient Hua Xia, the imperial court's control could only reach the county level. The lower levels were basically autonomous clans. In many cases, the imperial court could not effectively control them. As for the bandits and other outlaws, the imperial court did not have much energy to encircle and suppress them. Unless the bandits were powerful enough to threaten the imperial court's rule, the imperial court would mobilize troops to encircle and suppress the bandits on a large scale. Otherwise, they would not go to war for such a small matter.
The Tang Dynasty was vast. As long as the mountains were high and the emperor was far away, there would be bandits. For example, in a mountainous environment like Central Sichuan, there would be a lot of bandits, especially in the mountains far away from the cities. Bandits were more likely to form large bandit groups in the mountains near the prosperous cities. The reason was very simple. There were a large number of rich merchants in the prosperous cities, and the merchants always had to go out to transport goods. The bandits robbed the merchants' goods to feed and strengthen their forces. Once the soldiers encircled and suppressed them, they would hide in the mountains and play hide and seek with the soldiers. After the soldiers left, they would come out again to rob. It was completely a guerrilla warfare routine, which was impossible to guard against.
It was said that when ancient merchants transported goods, they would hire escort companies to escort them. However, in the Tang Dynasty, escort companies were not very developed. Generally, only the materials of the imperial court would be escorted. If ordinary merchants wanted to ensure that their goods would not be robbed by bandits, they would either hire strong men who could fight, choose a safer trade route as much as possible, or deliberately choose a safe time to pass through dangerous areas.
Of course, they could also sign a verbal agreement with the bandits who kept their promises. Every time they passed by, they would leave a toll to ensure that most of the goods would not fall into the hands of the bandits. There were also some who directly acted as merchants in the city, specializing in wholesale goods that had already been transported by other merchants, and then directly selling them in small quantities. They did not participate in the long-distance transport of goods, so they could avoid being robbed by the bandits. In short, in order to avoid being robbed by bandits, it could be said that the merchants had exhausted all means to prevent their goods from being robbed. In order to succeed in robbing the goods, the bandits had also exhausted all their efforts.
For example, the bandits would frequently change the location of their robberies, and the time of their robberies was not very fixed, so that there was a certain probability of passing through each trade route safely. As long as there was a chance of passing through safely, the merchants would have the motivation to take risks and have a fluke mentality. As for the bandits, as long as they casually robbed this relatively safe passage several times, they would be able to make a good income.
These bandits were also smart. They would not deliberately provoke the officers and soldiers. They would always rob stealthily. Every time after they robbed the goods, they would quickly escape from the area where they robbed. No matter whether the officers and soldiers chased after them or not, they would not stay at the place where they robbed for too long to avoid being attacked by the officers and soldiers.
The soldiers of Yi Zhou City were helpless against such cunning bandits. Although Yi Zhou City was the administrative center of Jiannan Circuit and had the largest number of soldiers and horses, it only had three thousand soldiers and horses. These three thousand soldiers and horses would form a dense mass in the county town. However, once they entered the mountain, they would disappear without a trace. Moreover, in order to prevent them from being defeated one by one, the army couldn't be excessively dispersed when they entered the mountain to suppress the bandits. Therefore, it would be more difficult to find the bandits' lair if they were too scattered.
The bandits' fighting strength was relatively weak. They basically did not have armor, but the army of Jiannan Circuit had armor. If they really fought on the flat ground, the bandits would not be able to withstand a single blow. However, the bandits' advantage was that they were very mobile. They would not be entangled in a fight with the officers and soldiers. As long as they saw the officers and soldiers, they would run away. The fully armored soldiers would not be able to catch up with the bandits. Moreover, they were not as familiar with the terrain as the bandits, so they would be very passive. Under normal circumstances, they would not be able to maintain the situation for a long time. Moreover, they had to pay for every dispatch of troops. Every dispatch of troops would consume a lot of money. If they were to dispatch troops too often, the finances of Yi Province would be dragged down.
"Tell me in detail! How many bandits are there in Da Pagoda Hill? How many soldiers and horses are there in total? "
Ang Lee asked.
The Captain of Yi Province explained in detail. However, he was not sure how many bandits were there in Da Pagoda Hill. He could only make a preliminary judgment based on his own understanding. There were probably more than ten groups of bandits. The average number was less than one hundred. The total number should be about one thousand. Some said that there were two or three thousand, but it was certainly not too many. Otherwise, they would not be able to support so many people.
Because these bandits appeared and disappeared mysteriously, they usually didn't have much interaction with the soldiers and commoners. Therefore, he wasn't very clear about the bandits' situation. He roughly knew the names of a few bandit leaders and the bandits' equipment. He didn't know anything else about the bandits.
Ang Lee looked at the Yang family's manor not far away and asked, "The Yang family's manor is not far from Da Pagoda Hill. It's almost under the watchful eyes of the bandits. Have they never been robbed by the bandits? "
Ang Lee was very curious about this question. Generally, bandits would rob not only passers-by and caravans, but also landlords and rich farmers. As long as they could get some benefits, they were willing to do it. The Yang family's manor was not far from Da Pagoda Hill, where the bandits were active. Although it was close to Yi Province City, the bandits came and went like the wind. As long as they were fast enough, they could rob the Yi Province City's soldiers and horses before they could react.
The Captain of Yi Province said, "No, the bandits don't have the guts. Not to mention that the Yang family's manor is closer to Yi Province City, just the Yang family's Saburo is enough to deter the bandits."
"Who is the Yang family's Saburo? Is it very powerful?"
Ang Lee asked.
The Captain of Yi Province said, "Saburo himself is not very powerful. His martial arts are not outstanding, but Saburo is a Captain in the army. He has more than 300 elite cavalry under his command. They are stationed in the barracks near the city gate. Once the Yang family is in trouble, they will immediately light the fire beacon. When Saburo sees the fire beacon, he will lead the cavalry out of the city and arrive at the manor in a moment. The bandits can't run away even if they want to!"
"That's right! Has this happened before? "
Ang Lee asked.
"Well, it has happened before! But, it's not really. "
The Captain of Yi Province said, "At that time, the servants of the Yang family saw a group of bandits with weapons approaching, so they released the fire beacon ahead of time. The bandits didn't know what was going on. When they arrived at the Yang family's manor, before they could do anything, Saburo's 300 cavalry had already rushed in front of them and surrounded the less than 100 bandits. None of them escaped."
"Haha! It seems that the bandits are on foot! That's wonderful. They must have all been put in jail! "
Ang Lee said excitedly. He thought that the Yang family's defense idea was very good.
The Captain of Yi Province said with a smile, "The bandits only had five or six horses. Most of the rest were on foot. However, none of them were put in jail. Instead, they were invited to the manor by Saburo for tea."
"Oh, how could this be? Did Saburo collude with the bandits?"
Ang Lee asked calmly.
The Captain of Yi Province said with a smile, "It's not really a collusion. Later, the Provincial Governor asked Saburo himself. He said that although the bandits were armed, they didn't rob anyone, nor did they rob his manor. The word 'bandits' was not written on their faces. There was not enough evidence. They couldn't be put in jail just because they were large in number and armed. It would be unfair. As for inviting the bandits to the manor for tea, it was completely to warn them to be good people. Whether they were bandits or not, they would never rob again."
"Oh, I see! Do you believe that? "
Ang Lee asked the Captain of Yi Province.
The Captain of Yi Province said, "Of course I don't believe it completely. I think that Saburo was warning all the bandits not to have any ideas about the Yang family. Otherwise, he would spare no effort to hunt down the bandits and catch them all."
Ang Lee nodded. He thought that the Captain of Yi Province's words made sense. Saburo didn't catch the bandits, but invited them to tea. It was very likely that he had an agreement with the bandits not to have any ideas about the Yang family. At the same time, he also wanted the bandits to tell the other bandits not to have any ideas about the Yang family. In this way, the Yang family would be safe.
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