Crane Mountain was located in Dayi County. However, it was a hundred miles away from the county seat of Dayi County. It seemed to be right in front of you, but you would find that there was still a long way to go. As the western border of Dayi County, Crane Mountain had a very important value. In addition, Crane Mountain itself was a very famous mountain. It was said that it was the origin of Taoism in Hua Xia and had a very important position in Taoism.
It was said that Zhang Ling, the ancestor of Taoism, founded the Way of Five Pecks of Rice in Crane Mountain. He worshiped Laozi, Li Er, as the leader and took Tao Te Ching as the main classic. Later, Zhang Ling's descendants ruled over a region. Both Zhang Heng, who invented the seismograph, and Zhang Lu, who ruled Guanzhong, were Zhang Ling's descendants. Crane Mountain was recognized by the world as the origin of Taoism in Hua Xia and was the holy land of Taoism.
In later generations, Crane Mountain was developed into a tourist attraction. In the era of the Tang dynasty, it was a pure land for practitioners. Many supermundane experts who were unwilling to get involved in worldly affairs would choose to practice here and live a life of self-cultivation. Because of the high mountains and dense forests, there were often bandits here. However, the bandits' areas were more concentrated near the trade route, which was the route to Dongnu Province that Ang Lee was going to take. Because only the trade route had the value of robbery. Bandits also needed to live in the deep mountains. Being close to the trade route, they could rob better and live better.
Because this trade route was not busy, the number of bandits was not many. Without enough fat sheep, the number of bandits would be greatly reduced. In addition, there were many otherworldly people with strong martial arts in the Taoist temple of Crane Mountain. These people liked to punish evil and promote good. From time to time, they would find trouble with the bandits, which made the bandits quite afraid. Therefore, they did not dare to approach the Taoist temple.
After passing Crane Mountain, they entered a relatively desolate area. This area belonged to Jirou Province of the Tang dynasty, which was also the former land of Maozhou. Because there were too many tribes, the situation was complicated and chaotic. In order to get rid of the burden, the imperial court established a lot of Jirou Province and let the chiefs of these tribes rule by themselves. As long as they pledged loyalty to the Tang dynasty, it would be enough. In fact, it was more like an independent kingdom. The chiefs of these tribes were all provincial governors. The imperial court established a large group of provinces in these areas, but it was just a name. These provinces were too different from the other provinces of the Tang dynasty, whether in terms of population or scale, they could not be compared with the other provinces of the Tang dynasty.
They could not be compared with the size and scale of their tributes. Giving the chiefs of these regions such high official titles was mainly to win them over and make them loyal to the Tang dynasty with peace of mind. What they needed to do was to go to the capital every few years to pay tribute. The rewards they could get from the imperial court were far more than the tributes they paid. In other words, the imperial court of the Tang dynasty suffered a loss, and these tribes benefited a lot by pledging allegiance to the Tang dynasty.
Of course, there were also many classifications of Jirou Province. Some were more independent, and some were less independent. The size of the classifications was also very different. Many Jirou Province in the west of Crane Mountain were very small local tribes. Some Jirou Province only had a larger territory and a very small population. Even tribes with only a few hundred people were called Jirou Province, and the chiefs of these tribes were also conferred titles by the Tang dynasty. The strength of these Jirou Province was very weak. If it were not for the fact that they were in a remote place, they would definitely be a village of the Tang dynasty.
The reason why the imperial court did not directly integrate these regions into the village system but let these tribes be semi-independent was mainly for the convenience of ruling. In the case of being blocked by mountains, the traffic here was very bad, and the folk customs were relatively tough. It was very difficult for the imperial court to rule here, because the cost of ruling would be much higher than the profit. If the imperial court completely ignored these tribes, they would bring trouble to the Tang dynasty. Therefore, the imperial court came up with such a way to win over these tribes in the name of paying tribute every year, so that they could be more obedient. Over time, when these tribes gradually became familiar with the Tang dynasty, they could be smoothly integrated into the administrative system.
Ang Lee still knew very little about the situation in Jifeng Province. He did not know how many tribes there were, how many territories and troops they had, whether they were really friendly to the Tang dynasty, how he would be treated if he entered Jifeng Province rashly, and whether he would be treated as an enemy. These were all unknown. Jifeng Province should be governed by the Jifeng Province's Jifeng Province.
However, the Jifeng Province's Jifeng Province's Jiannan Jiedushi's jurisdiction over these regions was very weak. In fact, he did not care about them at all, nor did he have so much energy and power to manage them. After all, the Jiannan Jiedushi's Border Army only had 30,000 soldiers, but they governed a very large area. There were not many soldiers in each border pass. Usually, they could intimidate the large and powerful affiliated states, but they really had no good way to deal with the scattered small tribes. At least, there was no Jiannan Jiedushi's Border Army in these regions. Firstly, it was to save money. Secondly, it was to prevent conflicts that would bring great trouble to the imperial court. After Zhuge Liang went on a southern expedition in the Three Kingdoms period, he also did not leave any troops in the south to prevent conflicts between the Shu army and the tribes in the south, which would affect the Shu army's northern expedition.
In a region that was not very large, the imperial court had set up prefectures such as Ge Province, Lang Province, Zhan Province, Jiang Province, Nu Province, Dazhou Province, Lu Province and so on. There were at least a dozen prefectures in total. However, the area of these prefectures was only enough for one prefecture. Therefore, each prefecture only had the area of a township of the Tang dynasty and only had three to five big villages.
Because the people in these remote areas were tough and there were more bandits, the villages in these areas were not natural. Instead, they were built with a certain defensive nature. Every village had a relatively large population. The villagers lived together. The periphery of the village was built with walls. Every day, strong men patrolled back and forth on the walls. Once they found an enemy, they could quickly defend against it.
Some tribes had five or six such villages, while some only had one. However, the population in the village was relatively large. There were at least hundreds of people. If there were too few people, they could not form an effective defensive force. If there were too many people, it would consume too much food. Therefore, it was best to have hundreds or thousands of people.
Ang Lee would not pass by all the tribes on his way to Dongnu Province, but he would pass by most of them. After all, these tribes also existed by relying on this trade route. Without the trade route, these tribes might not exist. Even if they existed, outsiders would not know about them.
Ang Lee looked at Yang Saburo and found that he was much darker than before. His face also looked a little thin and weak. This was because he had eaten and slept in the wild along the way. He probably needed to recuperate when he went back. His originally handsome face had become weathered. The rest of the soldiers would only change more. Only those who were ugly would not change too much.
"Saburo, tell me about the situation in Heming Mountain. How many tribes are there? What's the situation there? "
Ang Lee asked.
Yang Saburo replied, "Assistant Minister Li, I don't know much about the situation in Heming Mountain. I've never been there. The people who are more familiar with that place are the merchants who come and go. I heard that it's very poor there. It's much poorer than Yizhou, which is rich and populous. The people there are also quite tough and there are more bandits."
"Since there are so many bandits, why do the merchants still dare to take this road? Aren't they afraid of being robbed?"
Ang Lee asked.
"I heard that these bandits are reasonable. Generally, for the caravans they are familiar with, they will leave a part of the goods. Some caravans can temporarily hire local guards so that the bandits will not dare to rob at will. Some merchants are originally from there and have the support of their families. They are not afraid of the bandits. For example, the Jiang Clan has a caravan that often travels between Yizhou City and Dongnu Province. When they pass through the west, they have the guards of the entire clan, so they are not worried about the goods being robbed."
Saburo said.
"How many people does the Jiang Clan have?"
Ang Lee asked.
Yang Saburo replied, "I heard that the total population is three to five thousand, and there should be more than a thousand strong men. The leader was conferred the title of Governor of Jiangzhou by the imperial court. Every year, he pays tribute to the capital. It's the largest clan in the west. It controls a stone city and six wooden strongholds."
Although they were surnamed Jiang, they were a minority in the west. No one knew exactly what kind of people they were. This small tribe did not have a large population, but they were quite powerful in the mountains to the west of Heming Mountain. They had actually built a good-sized stone city. The defensive power of the stone city was much stronger than that of Muzha City. It also had a larger population, with more than a thousand people. The largest one had nearly two thousand people, which was almost as large as a county town in the Tang Empire. The six affiliated Muzha Cities each had more than three hundred people, with the largest having eight hundred people. These villages were all concentrated. Only bandits who had left their tribes would live alone, or those who had been driven out by their tribes would live alone. There were also a few who liked peace and quiet and would choose to live alone, but they were very few. Moreover, most of them were men. Women generally would not go out alone because it was too dangerous.
Jiangzhou was the closest tribal group to Crane Mountain. As long as Ang Lee climbed over Crane Mountain, he would soon enter Jiangzhou and deal with the people of Jiangzhou. Next to Jiangzhou was Gezhou, which was also a big province with a population of more than two thousand people. It had a stone city and three wooden strongholds. Luzhou bordered Jiangzhou. Its situation was similar to that of Gezhou, but it was obviously weaker than that of Jiangzhou.
Moving forward, there were some small Jifeng provinces with a population of about a thousand people. The smallest Jifeng Province only had 600 people and only one wooden stronghold. All the people lived in the same place.
Due to the lack of transportation, there was not much contact between these Jifeng provinces before. Therefore, there were almost no conflicts. However, after the emergence of the trade route, all kinds of conflicts began to appear between these tribes.
Because of the closer contact, all kinds of conflicts were inevitable for the sake of interests. For example, there was a very smart businessman in the Jiang tribe. He started a long-distance business between Yizhou City and Dongnu Province. He did business with all the major tribes along the way, so he made a lot of money. This made the Lu tribe and the Gezhou tribe next to him feel uncomfortable. Originally, they were all poor. Now, the Jiang tribe gradually became rich, but they were still poor. How could they feel comfortable?
Since the Jiang Clan could trade, why couldn't the other two clans do the same? They also learned from the Jiang tribe and started to do business. As a result, conflicts naturally appeared.
Originally, only the Jiang tribe did business. They not only took care of their own tribes along the way, but also entered the Ge tribe and the Lu tribe to make money. But now, the Ge tribe and the Lu tribe had to learn to do business. In this way, the Jiang tribe's business would be greatly affected. They could not maintain the previous situation of huge profits. All kinds of goods had to be reduced in price. This made the Jiang tribe very uncomfortable. They felt that the other two tribes were stealing their business.
The Ge tribe and the Lu tribe were also very angry. Doing business was not as easy as they thought. Not only did they have to deal with the bandits along the way, but they also had to compete with their competitors. If they were not careful, it would easily lead to a loss. The feeling of losing money and making money was not so good. Especially when the Jiang tribe kept reducing the prices in order to attack them. As a result, their business just started to fall into a situation where it was not profitable. This made them very angry.
Gradually, the conflicts between the Jiang tribe and the Ge tribe and the Lu tribe next to them became more and more serious. It even led to bloody conflicts. For example, in order to teach the Jiang tribe a lesson, the Ge tribe and the Lu tribe would disguise themselves as bandits and raid the Jiang tribe's caravans. How could the Jiang tribe not know who did it? Therefore, they would also disguise themselves as bandits and rob the caravans of the other two tribes.
It would have been fine if it was just the conflict between the three clans, but the problem was that after they got addicted to robbing, all the caravans passing through their territory would be robbed. As a result, the business of the three clans could not be carried on, and the business of the Great Tang and the other tribes could not be carried on either. The entire Western Border Area fell into chaos, and all the tribes suffered heavy losses. Because of their turmoil, the normal operation of the trade routes was affected, which caused the East Woman Kingdom, which had been short of food due to the natural disaster, to suffer. After the shortage of food, the East Woman Kingdom hoped to buy food from the Great Tang to tide over the crisis. However, the trade routes were not open, so purchasing food became an extravagant hope. This indirectly prompted the East Woman Kingdom to submit to the Great Tang.
The turmoil lasted for a long time, causing the three tribes to suffer heavy losses. If the situation continued to deteriorate, the three tribes would not be able to survive. This was simply a case of mutual destruction.
The young people were hot-blooded and liked to fight and kill, but the old patriarchs had to consider the future of the tribes. The patriarchs of the three tribes saw that the struggle would only make the situation worse, so they sat down to negotiate and ended the chaos. However, the relationship between the three tribes could no longer be as friendly as before the conflict. Their hands were all stained with blood. How could they reconcile with each other so easily?
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