Li An really admired the Patriarch of the Yang Family more and more. He was actually able to use all the idle resources without wasting a single bit. He didn't even let off the old and the children, letting the old and the weak use their remaining energy to bring more benefits to himself.
There were probably very few people in the Great Tang who were so astute and scheming. Even if they were astute, they wouldn't be able to scheme so exquisitely, and they certainly wouldn't be able to maintain such a peaceful situation and even make the exploited tenant farmers feel grateful and unresentful.
This kind of method of exploiting others while at the same time making them feel grateful was very clever. This showed that this family head was well versed in the way of controlling people. He was not a simple person. He knew how to control the tenant farmers and how to control them so that they would continue to serve him while being grateful to him. At least, they would not hate him so much.
There were both elements of deterrence, dependence, and care. Of course, there were also comparisons with the surrounding tenant farmers and some inexplicable practical problems.
If a landlord distributed all his food to the tenant farmers, he might not get the tenant farmers' gratitude and might even cause hatred. However, if a landlord exploited and controlled the tenant farmers, sometimes the tenant farmers would be obedient and would not dare to have any resentment in their hearts. This was the so-called means. Even if a person with means bullied others, he could make others feel that he had done it to the end. However, if a person without means, even if he was considerate of others, he was likely to offend others.
There were too many examples like this. After some people became rich, the villagers in their hometown came to them one by one to borrow money. They lent a lot of money, but no one paid back the money. Moreover, they felt that others had given them too little and should have given them more. They did everything for the villagers, but they didn't get any benefits. This was a kind of sorrow. It was greed that didn't understand human nature.
Many people would not return to their hometown immediately after they became rich, in order to avoid spending money without pleasing others. They spent a lot of kindness and money, but in the end, they would be hated by others. This was not worth the loss. Even if they took care of their hometown neighbors, they generally did it by not contacting them and minimizing contact to avoid resentment caused by long-term contact. After all, after becoming rich, they were not in the same class as their previous neighbors. It was impossible to return to the previous state, no matter how good their previous relationship was.
The kings of ancient times all called themselves' Lone Man 'because once they reached a high position, they had to be a lone man in order to maintain their position. Otherwise, they might lose their position as king. If they cared too much about relationships, many government orders could not be carried out normally. This would greatly endanger the normal operation of a kingdom. Becoming a lone man was something that could not be helped.
In short, if he wanted to control them better, he had to have a good enough method. It had to be a method that made people feel dissatisfied, but they had no choice but to accept it. This method could not be too strong, but at the same time, it could not be too weak. It had to be suitable.
For example, there was once a very poor area. The people had almost no income. Except for the busy farming season, most of the time, they had nothing to do but walk and bask in the sun. They lived a very poor life.
One day, a workshop came and recruited the commoners who had nothing to do to work and gave them a certain amount of remuneration. At first, the commoners were naturally very happy. They would have extra income by working and they would have money to buy things. But not long after, they heard that the workshop's wages in other areas were two or three times higher than here. They immediately felt that they were being exploited, so they started to cause a ruckus.
However, these ignorant people did not know that this area was too isolated. Transportation was inconvenient and the cost of production was too high. If the wages were the same as outside, it would be a loss. The reason why the workshop was built here was to save costs. In desperation, the workshop owner was forced to choose to close the workshop and leave this isolated village.
As a result, these people who originally wanted to get double the remuneration were dumbfounded. After the workshop closed, they returned to their life of basking in the sun during the idle farming season. Their income returned to before they were liberated overnight. They naturally regretted this situation. However, regret was useless. The workshop had already been evacuated. They could only sigh helplessly. After sighing for a few months, a few thick-skinned villagers ran to the workshop owner again and asked him to open another workshop. They said that this time, they would definitely not make trouble and would work hard.
The workshop owner, who had been taught a lesson, naturally did not dare to agree easily. However, as long as there was a chance to make money, he still had to consider it. However, the previous construction and withdrawal of the workshop had consumed a lot of extra funds. When the workshop was noisy, it also caused a lot of losses. In short, he had suffered a heavy loss. If these villagers did not keep their promises and made trouble again, it would really be enough for him. Therefore, he could only ask the villagers to make up for the previous losses. Otherwise, he would not consider opening another workshop.
This request was not low, but after the villagers realized their mistake, they could only grit their teeth and agree. They proposed that they could work for free for a few months to make up for the losses caused by the previous disturbance. After that, their wages would be the same as before. As long as the workshop could be opened again, they were willing to accept this lower wage.
Were these people all bad people? Were they all unruly people? No, these people were all ordinary people. They were not bad people or unruly people. The reason why they were so noisy was completely caused by their ignorance. In other words, they could not see their own position and ability clearly. They could easily be instigated by a few people with ulterior motives. Without being beaten, they would not understand how much they were worth. If one wanted to control these ordinary people, one had to use a little trick. One had to give them a slap and a piece of candy from time to time. This was the best way to control them. One had to let them understand how much they had to pay and how much benefit they could get.
For example, the Yang family's bullock-cart transport team had asked the old and weak to drive the cart on the premise of two full meals a day. If the old and weak did not agree, they could only wander around the house. Not only would they not have any income, but they would also waste the family's food. It was not easy to find work elsewhere, and there was a high probability that they would not be able to find a job. Given the choice between two situations, they naturally had to accept this low-paying job.
This was mainly because there were too few job opportunities in Central Sichuan. If it was in Beijing, it would not be like this. It was easy to find work there. No one was a fool. If there was a high-paying job, they would not choose a low-paying job. However, in Central Sichuan, because there were still too few workshops, when selecting people, they would first choose strong men. They generally did not consider the old and weak.
Of course, this situation would gradually improve in the future. With the construction of the railway, the connection between the capital of the Tang dynasty and Central Sichuan would be more frequent in the future. More workshops were likely to move to Central Sichuan. In this way, there would be more job opportunities in Central Sichuan. The degree of exploitation of the tenant farmers would certainly be greatly reduced. The situation of only giving two full meals and sending people away would probably not happen again.
However, the Patriarch of the Yang Family was a smart person. Even if such a situation occurred, he would not be too worried. When the time came, he would definitely come up with a new way to deal with this situation. He would still be able to make a lot of money and control many people to be obedient.
"These cattle look quite strong. What do they usually feed them?"
Ang Lee asked.
The middle-aged man said, "What else can they be fed? Of course, grass. 30% of it is last year's straw, and there are also fresh young grass. When they encounter fresh leaves on the road, they will also be fed some. Look, these cattle have already begun to eat grass."
As he spoke, he looked at the few cattle that were eating grass on the side. There was tender grass on both sides of the road. Although the tender grass wasn't growing very well at this time, it was enough for the cattle to eat. They just needed to be patient and eat. Every time when they stopped, as long as there was young grass and young leaves on the roadside, they would let the cattle eat for a while. As long as the cattle ate well, they would have more strength to pull the cart.
The cattle ate free grass, but they worked very hard. It was a very affordable livestock, and also the favorite of many landlords. In ancient times, land was very important, and the land could not be separated from the cattle. As long as there were cattle, people could save a lot of physical strength.
After chatting for a while, Ang Lee and his people left and continued to go to Data Hill. The ox-cart team continued to rest for a while, and then went to Yizhou City.
Data Hill was getting closer and closer, and the trees on both sides of the road became more and more dense. The atmosphere seemed to be more tense. However, Ang Lee and his people did not see any bandit activities. There was not even a shadow on the road. It was as if they had entered a no-man's land.
Although these bandits had a large number of people, they did not rob every day. The merchants also avoided the dangerous mountain road if they could avoid it. Therefore, the robberies did not happen frequently. The bandits only needed to succeed once, and they could eat and drink well for a few months. Therefore, they did not need to rob too often. Moreover, if they robbed too often, the merchants would lose too much. It was like draining the pond to catch all the fish. In the future, no one would dare to take this road, and the bandits would not be able to rob any caravans.
After walking along the mountain road for a while, they finally met another caravan. This caravan had more than 30 donkeys and horses. It was full of goods, and there were more people transporting it. There were also special guards with spears in their hands who were responsible for escorting the caravan. All the people who were responsible for driving the caravan were adults. Some of them were older, but not very old. There were also many young people. Even if they encountered bandits, they could still fight. For example, if they encountered a small group of bandits, they were completely capable of fighting them. However, if they encountered a large group of bandits, they could only pray for good luck. Therefore, they chose to take this mountain road in the daytime because it was more dangerous at night. Although it was time to sleep at night, it was more advantageous for the bandits to hide and escape. On the contrary, the caravan would be more unsafe.
Since ancient times, robberies occurred more at night when there was not enough light. This was because robbery was a sin. In the daytime, they were afraid of being discovered. At night, they could use the lack of light to do bad things. Therefore, the bandits became bolder. The so-called dark and windy night was the best time for bandits to rob.
Why would merchants transport goods at night? It was naturally better to transport goods in the daytime, but some goods had a time limit. They had to be transported day and night without too many stops in the middle. Once the transportation time was too long, it was very likely that the goods would rot and deteriorate. Once the goods deteriorated, the loss would be too great. In addition, the price of goods would also change greatly. When there was a shortage of goods somewhere, they could get a good price by transporting the goods as soon as possible. However, once the transportation time was too long, there would be no shortage of goods after the goods were transported to the destination. The price was very likely to fall sharply. In this way, the merchants would suffer heavy losses. Therefore, for the sake of profits, they had to transport the goods as soon as possible. Taking the risk of transporting at night was inevitable.
Merchants would weigh the pros and cons of transporting goods. Sometimes they would take risks, and sometimes they would choose to be safe. When there were frequent bandits in an area, they would choose to be safe. However, when there were not many bandits, they would have more wishful thinking. Some of them were more straightforward and directly signed an agreement with the bandits. Every time they passed by, they would give some goods as a meeting gift or directly pay. Some bandits agreed. After all, although the income was less, they could earn money in the long run. In fact, it was quite good.
This caravan was transporting seafood from Jiangnan. It belonged to the category of dry goods, such as dried kelp, sea fish, shrimp, squid, and so on. There were no live seafood. This was also because Jiangnan was too far away from Central Sichuan. If they transported live seafood, they would have died on the way. After all, the railway in Central Sichuan had just begun to be built. From Jiangnan to Central Sichuan, they could only travel by water. It would take too long. It was very difficult to transport sea fish alive to Central Sichuan. On the other hand, it was relatively easier to transport dry goods, especially squid and kelp, which were the favorite seafood of Central Sichuan people. They could obtain a very good market in Yizhou City.
At this time, there was still a market in Central Sichuan if they transported seafood to Central Sichuan by water. However, after the railway from the capital to Central Sichuan was built, there would be no advantage to taking the water route. A large number of merchants were likely to take the railway to transport seafood from Laizhou all the way to Central Sichuan.
Because it was farther from the sea and the transportation was less developed, the price of kelp and squid in Central Sichuan was more expensive than in the capital. Although there was a large population in the capital, a large amount of seafood from the sea could be transported to the capital very quickly and in large quantities. However, the cost of transportation to Central Sichuan was even higher. Therefore, the price of seafood in Central Sichuan would naturally be higher. In the future, with the convenience of transportation, the price of seafood in Central Sichuan would gradually decrease and return to a more reasonable level.
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