Ang Lee continued to walk along the mountain path. Along the way, the forest became denser and denser. The denser the forest, the more dangerous it was. Generally, bandits preferred to hide in high mountains and dense forests. It was convenient for them to hide and sneak attack.
There were already more than a hundred cavalrymen leading the way. Therefore, the chances of encountering bandits were not high. Li An did not come here to catch bandits. He just came here to enjoy the scenery. He also wanted to take a look at the topography of Da Ta Mountain and see if there were any resources worth exploiting. If there was a gold mine in this mountain, then the big bosses of Yi Zhou City would not have this kind of attitude. They would definitely mobilize all their forces to mine the gold mine in the mountain. Bandits would not be a problem.
Not long after, they encountered another caravan. When they got closer, they found that it was not just one caravan, but a combination of many caravans. Perhaps a single caravan was too weak and did not dare to take the dangerous mountain path. Therefore, they gathered together to transport the goods. There were more than 200 caravans.
There were more than two hundred wagons in this group. Some were pulled by donkeys and mules, while others were pulled by oxcarts. Each wagon was fully loaded. In addition to the coachmen who were responsible for pulling the wagons, there were also many armed guards. They were equipped with spears, bows and arrows, broadswords, and shields. This was the highest level of equipment that civilians could equip. Any higher would be illegal. After all, crossbows and armor were not allowed to be equipped. Whoever prepared armor was equivalent to rebelling. Therefore, no one among the civilians could be equipped with such heavy equipment. They could only use simpler weapons.
A caravan with armed guards like this must be transporting valuable goods. Otherwise, the merchants wouldn't spend so much money to hire guards. It would cost a lot of money. Things like charcoal and dates, which weren't worth much, wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of hiring guards?
"What goods are you transporting?"
Ang Lee's team stopped the caravan.
Because they had already encountered a group of cavalrymen before, they could tell that Li An and the others weren't bandits at first glance. Furthermore, they had soldiers and horses to protect them. Thus, they could guess that Li An was a high-ranking official.
"It's all silk from Jiangnan. We are preparing to transport it to Yizhou City."
A middle-aged man replied.
"There are so many caravans. Are they all transporting silk?"
Ang Lee continued to ask.
"Yes, it's all silk. There are no other goods."
The middle-aged man continued.
"With so many guards, did we encounter any bandits along the way?"
Ang Lee asked with concern.
The middle-aged man shook his head and said, "No, we haven't. We've been lucky this time. We haven't encountered any bandits along the way. We're about to reach Yizhou City, so we shouldn't encounter any more bandits."
Ang Lee continued to ask, "From the looks of it, you must be a frequent trafficker. Over the years, you've encountered so many bandits, where did you encounter them?"
The middle-aged man replied, "We travel the mountain roads all year round, so of course we often encounter bandits. In the past decade or so, we've been robbed by bandits hundreds of times, and we've suffered a lot of losses. More than a dozen of our attendants have died. In the past few years, we've hired guards, so the situation has improved a little. We don't have to be afraid of small groups of bandits, but if we're unlucky and encounter large groups of bandits, then we can only pay to avoid disaster.
Ang Lee nodded, pointed at the nearby Da Ta Mountain, and asked, "How's this Da Ta Mountain? Do you often encounter bandits here?"
"There are quite a lot of bandits here. I've encountered more than a dozen of them. In the past few years, many of them were robbed. Now that we have guards, it's much better. There aren't many bandits, so they don't dare to force us too much.
The middle-aged man said.
Ang Lee finally understood. These bandits were also picky. When the caravan had no guards, they could easily rob all the goods. However, if the caravan had a large number of guards, and their strength was similar to theirs, then they wouldn't dare to force the caravan too much. If the caravan gave in a little bit, then they would choose to stop while they were ahead. This was because if a fight really broke out, then they would suffer a lot of losses, and it was very likely that many of their brothers would die. Therefore, they didn't dare to force the caravan too much. Naturally, the merchants didn't dare to be stingy. Only by paying a little bit of money could they avoid casualties. If they were stingy and pushed the bandits too far, then it was very likely that many people would be killed. Every life was money, and if many people died, then the merchants would have to compensate.
Merchants also knew how to calculate. They would accurately calculate how much it would cost to hire guards, and how much loss they could avoid if they encountered the bandits after hiring guards. As long as the loss avoided was greater than the cost of hiring guards, they would be willing to hire guards. If the cost of hiring guards was greater than the loss avoided, then hiring guards wouldn't make much sense.
Therefore, when the size of the caravan reached a certain scale, the cost of hiring guards would be less than the benefit of avoiding losses. Therefore, large caravans would hire guards, while small caravans would not. However, when small caravans worked together to act together, they would form a large caravan. In this way, they could afford to hire guards. Even the drivers and merchants who did not practice martial arts would all be equipped with weapons. When the time came, the guards would be the vanguard of the fight, and more drivers and merchants would hold weapons to support the scene, thus oppressing the bandits. In the face of two to three hundred men armed with weapons, among which forty to fifty were trained, small bandits really had to think carefully. Bandits with less than a hundred people could only brace themselves to ask for a toll at most. Only bandits with more than three hundred people would have the courage to swallow all the goods in one gulp.
In this era of the Tang Dynasty, although a formal escort agency had not yet been formed, it was still very common for businessmen to hire guards. As long as they had money, it was not a problem to hire a powerful person to be their guard. If they had more money, they could hire more. It was not a problem to hire hundreds of people to be their guards. The premise was that no matter how much money you had, it was not a problem to hire as many guards as you wanted. Every time you hired a guard, you would have to pay a fee. The more you hired, the more expensive it would be. For many small businessmen, this was absolutely unaffordable. Only big businessmen and small businessmen in groups could afford a sufficient number of guards.
Therefore, the proliferation of bandits also provided a brand-new occupation for the Tang Dynasty, that was, the guards of the caravans. Many people who were strong but did not have a suitable job to make a living would become guards. This was also a way to make a living. At least, they could support themselves and their families.
In other words, if Ang Lee wiped out all the bandits in the Tang Dynasty, not only would the bandits have no way to survive, but the guards of the caravans would also lose their jobs on a large scale. This could be regarded as a side effect of wiping out the bandits.
From this, it seemed that any measure would cause a lot of accidental injuries. Even if the measure was for the sake of the country and the people, some people would still be injured. For example, if the city gate was on fire, it was not wrong to use the water of the moat to save the people, but the fish in the moat would die because of it.
There were many examples of people dying of exhaustion. For example, in an area where the river was blocking, people could only cross the river on rubber rafts. However, in order to facilitate the passage of the people, the imperial court built a bridge over the river. In this way, it could be said that it was beneficial to the country and the people. However, the people who relied on rubber rafts to make a living were unlucky. As long as the bridge was built, no one would ride rubber rafts anymore. The people who relied on rubber rafts to make a living would face the pressure of unemployment.
The people of later generations understood that smoking was harmful to their health. In that case, why didn't the imperial court ban tobacco completely? Smoking was harmful to one's health, and smoking was not nutritious. Wouldn't it be better to ban it? Why didn't any democratic imperial court ban smoking? Almost all countries produced tobacco, and no one banned smoking by force. At most, they would make a soft appeal, but this could not stop people who liked smoking. This situation caused many people to fall ill, but no matter how many people fell ill, the imperial court was not willing to ban smoking completely.
Why was this? This was naturally because a comprehensive ban on tobacco would cause many accidental injuries. At the same time, it was very difficult to implement.
The production of a piece of tobacco required farmers to plant it, workshops to smoke it, and processing plants to process it. Finally, it was packaged and sold. This was an industry that affected the survival of countless people. Once it was completely abolished, millions of people would lose their jobs.
At the same time, this industry also had high taxes, which could provide a lot of financial resources for the imperial court every year. If it was completely banned, the imperial court's income would be greatly reduced, and there would be no money to do more production activities.
In short, every measure had its advantages and disadvantages. There was no perfect policy in the world, and no matter how good a measure was, there would always be shortcomings.
For example, the local officers and soldiers of the Tang dynasty were not very enthusiastic in suppressing bandits. That was because after weighing the pros and cons, they found that the gains and losses were not balanced. They lost too much and could gain too little. Coupled with some real difficulties, this prevented most of the officers and soldiers from suppressing bandits.
Ang Lee was more concerned about suppressing bandits because he had different resources. For many local officers and soldiers, it was indeed difficult to suppress bandits, but for Ang Lee, it was not so difficult. Ang Lee had strength that many people did not have. He could also mobilize the elite troops of the imperial court at any time. With the high-tech weapons in his hands, he could quickly find and attack bandits. This was something that other local officers and soldiers did not have. Moreover, there were some secret weapons that only Ang Lee himself knew. Outsiders were completely unaware of it.
Many local officers and soldiers had the idea of keeping bandits for their own sake. If the bandits continued to exist, they could continue to make contributions. It would be difficult for them not to be promoted once a month. However, Ang Lee did not need to be promoted at all because he had made too many contributions over the years. He really did not need to continue increasing his contributions. As for a higher position, Ang Lee had no interest in it. The most important thing in life was to enjoy. No matter how high an official position was, it could not be eaten. On the contrary, it was a kind of pressure.
Li An walked up to one of the guards and asked, "You must be a hunter, aren't you? You have been a guard for several years. How do you calculate your salary? "
From the guard's appearance and attire, it could be seen that he was a hunter. Ang Lee had this ability. After all, Ang Lee had often hunted in the mountains. Naturally, it was easier for him to recognize a hunter. As long as he was a hunter, he would be easily recognized by Ang Lee. "Yes, I am.
I earn more as a guard for a caravan than as a hunter. I have been working for three years. The salary is calculated by the number of times. Every time I escort goods, I will be paid. It is not fixed to which caravan I belong to. It is all temporary. When I run out of goods, I will continue to hunt. "
The Hunter Guard said.
"Oh, so you are paid according to this! This is quite reasonable. What about after you arrive at Yizhou City? What will you do after you get the money? Continue to escort goods or go home? "
Ang Lee asked.
The hunter said, "Of course it depends on luck. When we arrive at Yizhou City, if there is a caravan recruiting guards, I will join as long as it is within five hundred miles. If it is too far away, I will not go. If I don't want to be too far away from home, it is best to go to my home. Then I can go home and have a look after the next escort."
Obviously, these guards were temporarily recruited by the caravan. They were not fixed to which caravan they belonged to. This kind of guard's life was very unstable. There was no guarantee at all. However, there was a big advantage in this way. That was, the salary for each escort job was higher. After all, there was a balance. If there was a fixed guarantee, the salary would be lower. If there was no guarantee, they would have to pay more. Otherwise, who would be willing to work for them?
In addition, this way also gave them more freedom. Whenever they were tired and didn't want to work, they could go home and rest at any time. Anyway, they were paid on a per trip basis. They could escort goods ten times, twenty times, or even more times a year. As for how far they went, it was entirely up to them. They could do whatever they wanted. No one could control their decisions. It was a very free job, and it was most suitable for young people with active minds.
"Escorting goods from all over the world, you must have been to a lot of places! It is a good way to broaden your knowledge! "
Ang Lee said.
"Yes, I have been to almost every place within five hundred miles. However, it is just to look at the scenery. How can I gain any knowledge?"
The Hunter Guard said.
"Have you ever thought of setting up a special caravan guard team? They are responsible for escorting the caravan. If there is work, they will do it. If there is no work, they will train. In this way, even if they encounter bandits several times more than them, they will not have to be afraid."
Ang Lee asked.
"This, this is too troublesome! We don't know how to do it! It is more convenient to take jobs at will. "
The Hunter Guard smiled foolishly.
This guy was just an ordinary person who was too lazy to think. Ang Lee thought too highly of him. No matter how much he said to him, it was useless.
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