Some of the core areas of the Tang Dynasty had become very prosperous and affluent. It was not an exaggeration to say that they were filthy rich. However, it should be clearly seen that behind the prosperity of some areas, there were also a large number of poor areas, especially the people in the surrounding Jiimi District. Their lives were relatively poor, which was very different from the prosperous metropolises of the Tang Dynasty. Many people struggled to feed themselves. There were many people who did not have enough to eat, and the phenomenon of poor clothes still existed, especially young children. In poor families, they simply did not wear clothes.
In summer, it might not be a problem to be naked, but once it was winter, it would be very cold without clothes. In order to keep out the cold, many people invented straw clothes, weaving straw into clothes to keep out the cold. Everyone knew that straw was not suitable for keeping out the cold, and the effect of keeping out the cold was very poor. However, there was no other way. The people were too poor to buy cotton-padded clothes. They could not wear shabby clothes, so they could only wear cotton-padded clothes made of straw.
There were also some commoners who would sew two layers of cloth by themselves and stuff reed flowers in between the two layers of cloth. Compared to straw and weeds, reed flowers were slightly better at keeping warm, but it was still far inferior to cotton. No matter how thick the reed flowers were, they didn't have much of a warming effect. It was far inferior to cotton, but it was better than straw.
Because many poor people lacked clothes, in winter, they often had to go out in batches. Not everyone could go out together. Those who went out would wear clothes, and those who did not have clothes would not go out. They had to wait until the first person who went out came back, and then the last person could go out, which was obviously very unhealthy.
A healthy person needed to go out and bask in the sun every day. Those who were weak needed to go out and bask in the sun even more. Staying in the room all day would do great harm to their health, and the indoor air quality was not good enough. Staying in the room all day long with poor air quality was more likely to cause dizziness.
Human beings were spirits bred by nature. They needed more contact with nature to grow healthily. Without contact with nature, one's health would be seriously damaged, and it would make one weak and easy to fall ill. After all, human beings could not choose to hibernate in the cave in winter like some animals. They did not need to eat or drink. Humans could not hibernate. They needed to eat and drink every day, and they needed to be in contact with nature every day to feel the wonderful scenery of nature.
The main reason why people in ancient times were often not clothed was that the productivity in ancient times was too low. In order to fill people's stomachs, most of the arable land had to be used to grow food crops, and the planting of other crops was greatly limited. If the planting area of cotton could not be increased, the problem of people's clothing could not be guaranteed. Without enough cotton, it was impossible to produce enough cloth. The planting of flax and mulberry trees could not be increased. Wool could also be used to make clothes, but the output of wool was also very low. The Tang dynasty mainly relied on agriculture, and there were not many sheep. The wool that could be provided by wool was also very limited. It could not fundamentally change the current situation of people lacking clothes.
Therefore, in order to improve the problem of people's clothing, the most important thing to improve was the unit output of food. Only when there was enough food to eat could more land be allocated to grow cotton and other crops. Only when there were enough textile materials such as cotton and linen in the market could a sufficient amount of clothing be produced. Only then could the situation of people in remote areas be completely changed.
Now that the grain output had increased a lot, the Tang dynasty could allocate more land to grow other crops. The problem of people's clothing was actually very good. In most areas of the Tang dynasty, there was no shortage of clothes for people, but in extremely remote areas, there was still such a phenomenon.
At this time, it was no longer the problem of the insufficient production of clothes in the Tang dynasty, but the problem of some people not having enough money to buy clothes. Now, the cheap cloth in the Tang dynasty was not expensive. It was really cheap, but even the cheapest cloth needed money to obtain. They could not expect merchants to give it to them for free! In addition, the traffic in the Western Detention Area was very bad. It was very difficult to transport cloth in, and bandits would rob along the way. Therefore, after the cloth was transported here, the cost would greatly increase. The income of the people here was very low, so how could they afford the cloth? Even the lowest quality cloth could not be bought.
The low income of the people, the high price of foreign goods, and the low price of local products were all caused by the inconvenient transportation. Because of the high transportation cost, the price of foreign products would naturally increase. At the same time, because of the high transportation cost, foreign purchasers would try their best to lower the price of local products. Otherwise, the purchasers would not make money at all.
Because of the extremely backward transportation, the two-way cost increased, so the people here could only sell their own products at a low price and buy other people's products at a high price.
The only way to change all of this was to build a road. At the same time, the various tribes along the way should unite to severely crack down on the bandits. The bandits who robbed on the way would not be able to gain a foothold, so as to ensure the safety of the merchants and reduce the transportation cost.
As long as the transportation conditions were greatly improved, the people here could sell their own products at a higher price. They could also use less money to buy goods brought in from the outside. The standard of living would be greatly improved.
Now, each group had its own mineral resources. After mining these minerals, they would smelt them into the metals they needed. Then, they could sell them in Central Sichuan. However, in order to gain more profits, they planned to transport the metal products to Central Sichuan by themselves. They did not want others to come to them to collect the goods. In this way, it would not be easy for others to seize their lifeline. In this way, they could gain more autonomy.
However, the population of each tribe was not large. If they formed their own transportation caravans, it would definitely take up too much manpower. This would affect the manpower for mining and smelting.
Some people might think that transporting iron products to Central Sichuan would not require many people. In fact, this view was wrong. Iron products were very heavy and bulky. The amount of goods transported at one time was definitely not small. It was impossible to transport only a small amount of products at one time. How could they have the nerve to sell it without dozens of carts?
The roads were difficult to travel now. It was already considered a lot if a truck could transport a thousand catties. For safety reasons, it was more appropriate to transport five hundred catties. If they wanted to transport ten thousand catties of products at one time, they would need twenty carts. At least one person was needed in each cart. In addition to the necessary guards and horses, it would be impossible to travel without at least thirty to fifty people.
Transporting ten thousand catties at one time was already considered a small amount. What about twenty to thirty thousand catties? The number of people needed would exceed a hundred. Many tribes did not have many people to begin with. If they took out so many people to transport the products, there would be no people to work. Moreover, with bandits appearing from time to time, a team of less than a hundred people could not guarantee their safety at all. It was very likely that they would need to add more people, which would increase the pressure.
In this way, the most reliable way was for each tribe to unite and form one or two joint transportation caravans. The caravans could have more people, and they could also achieve a continuous cycle between the Western Distress Zone and Central Sichuan. This would allow the products of each tribe to be exchanged with goods from the outside. The excess could be used as spare cash. This would greatly improve the living standards of the people in the Western Distress Zone and also avoid the problem of manpower shortage.
Of course, this needed to be negotiated. For each tribe to transfer manpower to form a joint transportation caravan, the contribution of each tribe and how to distribute the benefits, all these needed to be discussed properly. It was believed that they would be able to come up with a plan that everyone could accept. If it really did not work, Ang Lee could also mediate for them and let them reach a consensus as soon as possible. This was something that concerned all of their interests. They had no reason not to cooperate. After all, only by cooperating could they reduce their losses as much as possible. If they did not cooperate, it would only be possible for them to suffer heavy losses.
Ang Lee proposed the idea of forming a joint transportation caravan to the Zhan tribe and the Lang tribe leaders. The two tribe leaders felt that it was reasonable. However, they seemed to be quite conservative about the distribution of benefits. They seemed to have a lot of worries. Their furrowed brows explained everything.
These tribes along the way did not have much contact with each other and they did not have a deep relationship with each other. Therefore, when cooperating, there were many concerns. They were worried that the negotiation would reach a deadlock or that their tribe would lose more benefits.
Li An naturally understood the concerns of the two patriarchs. However, it was absolutely true that cooperation was the only way to achieve a win-win situation. In order to make the two patriarchs understand this point, Li An could only continue to explain, letting them understand that their strength was small and weak. If they wanted to develop better, they had to unite with the other races. Only by developing together could they develop faster and better, and avoid more risks.
After Ang Lee's explanation, the Zhan tribe leader and the Lang tribe leader finally understood Ang Lee's painstaking efforts. They made it clear that they would support Ang Lee's idea. They would take the initiative to contact the other tribes and form a joint transportation caravan. They would use the manpower of each tribe to work hard together and let their tribe live a good life.
The scenery in the Jie Mountain was quite good. It was a good place to cultivate one's character. The mountains nearby were high and the forests were dense. There should be a lot of natural resources and wild animals.
The ferrotungsten smelting workshop had not been built and the smelting work had not started. Before the first ferrotungsten ingot was made, Ang Lee would not leave. Otherwise, if there was a problem, the hard work of the two tribes would be in vain. Then, wouldn't Ang Lee become a sinner?
However, he could not stay here and do nothing. That would be too boring. Since the scenery was so good, he naturally had to walk around.
"The scenery here is too good. I want to walk around."
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li, this mountain road is really difficult to walk on. Let's …"
The Zhan tribe leader was the first to speak.
What he said was the truth. The mountain road was really difficult to walk on. Moreover, this old man was already over fifty years old. He really did not want to waste his time on the mountain. Previously, he had accompanied Ang Lee up the mountain and was already very tired. If he accompanied Ang Lee to walk around the mountain again, wouldn't it be asking for his old life?
The Lang tribe leader was also not young. Although he did not say anything, his expression showed that he agreed with the Zhan tribe leader's words. He also did not have the ability to accompany Ang Lee on a walk in the mountain.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Don't worry, tribe leaders. I don't need you to accompany me. Just find a few tribesmen who can walk well to lead the way for me."
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li," the Zhan tribe leader said.
He also sent a few young men in their twenties and thirties to lead the way for Ang Lee. They brought Ang Lee to appreciate the beautiful scenery of the Jie Mountain.
The Jie Mountain was the boundary between the Zhan tribe and the Lang tribe. As this mountain blocked the communication between the two tribes, it naturally became the boundary. This was a very simple phenomenon in ancient times. Many boundaries were separated by natural barriers. There was no specific boundary line. It was impossible to be precise to a foot or an inch. No one would care about this. After all, it was a mountain that was useless.
Now that there were tungsten ores in the Jie Mountain, the situation had changed. It was very likely that the two tribes would have conflicts because of the tungsten ores mining. The best way to avoid conflicts was to let the two tribes cooperate in mining and treat the Jie Mountain as their common resource. Everyone would share the benefits equally. In this way, the conflicts could be reduced by a lot.
As it was the boundary between the two tribes, the frequency of the Zhan tribe and the Lang tribe coming here was relatively low. They would only come here when the two tribes needed to hunt. After all, this place was further away from the human activity area. The further away it was from the human activity area, the better the vegetation would be. There would also be more wild animals. For hunting, this was naturally a good thing. Everyone liked to go to places with more prey so that they could have more gains.
Near the intersection, there would be caravans passing by from time to time. Therefore, there were not many wild animals. If they wanted to hunt, they would need to go deeper into the jungle on both sides. The deeper they went, the more prey they would find.
In the poor mountainous areas of the Western Detention Area, there were no recreational activities at all. The most interesting things were hunting, fishing and prawn catching. Hunting was the adult's pleasure, while fishing and prawn catching were the children's favorite activities. Nothing could make people happier than doing these activities. This was because these activities could bring benefits, and the benefits would inevitably make people happy.
With someone leading the way, there was no need to worry about getting lost in the mountains. These people of the Zhan tribe who were leading the way had all hunted in the Jie Mountain. They were quite familiar with the situation in the mountains. They knew what kind of prey they would encounter in the mountains, where the wild fruit trees grew, where the herbs were, and where the spring water could be found. They were very clear about all these. With them leading the way, Ang Lee could avoid many unnecessary detours.
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