At this moment, Ang Lee was more worried about the situation in Dongnu Province. The famine in Dazhou was already so serious. In that case, Dongnu Province had a larger population and was also located in mountainous areas. It seemed that the famine there would only be worse than here. Moreover, due to the obstruction of transportation, the food that merchants could transport was limited. Many people were probably still hungry.
The more than 20 bandits in front of him were all farmers. They had no choice but to become bandits. Ang Lee decided to release all of them and give them some food so that they could go back and persuade other bandits to stop robbing. The imperial court of the Tang dynasty would soon find a way to solve their problem. If they really had no food for the time being, Ang Lee promised to give them half a month's worth of food so that they could temporarily fill their stomachs.
"Two steamed buns each. Let them go."
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are all bandits. If we let them go, they will still rob us."
The guard objected.
Not only were the guards puzzled, but the bandits were also shocked. The moment they were captured, they didn't plan to live. They didn't expect that Li An would actually let them go. This naturally shocked them greatly. They didn't understand why Li An would do this. They were proper bandits, and they had even injured so many soldiers.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Don't worry. These are all farmers who have gone crazy from hunger. They were forced to become bandits because they were forced to make a living. This was not their original intention. Let them off whenever possible. Give them a chance to turn over a new leaf. I believe that they will not become bandits again."
After that, he looked at the bandits and said, "I will give each of you two steamed buns. After you go back, tell all the bandits to stop robbing. If they are willing to surrender, I will give you half a month's worth of food. It will be enough for you to eat and drink for a while. After that, I will help you find a way. The food problem will be solved eventually."
After that, he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to release all the captured bandits. He also gave each of them two steamed buns to eat on the way back.
These guys did not stand on ceremony. Since Ang Lee promised to give them steamed buns, they naturally did not stand on ceremony. They all took two white steamed buns and then left in groups, heading in different directions.
"Assistant Minister Li, how many nests do these bandits have? Why are they all leaving in different directions? What's going on? Are these bandits working together to rob us?"
Chen Long asked.
Ang Lee was not very clear. He said, "Who knows? Don't worry about them. Let's continue on our way."
"What about the food we promised them for half a month? Don't we need to leave a team behind to wait for their reply?"
Chen Long.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "There's no need. If they want to turn over a new leaf, they will catch up to us. We can't waste too much time. We have to hurry. The situation in Dongnu Province is not optimistic. We have to get there as soon as possible."
Clearly, based on his understanding of the situation in Dazhou, Ang Lee felt that the situation in Dongnu Province would be even worse. Therefore, Ang Lee had to get there as soon as possible to help them solve their problems.
When they set off, Ang Lee's group had brought along a large amount of food. However, they had to consume a lot of people along the way. They had also left some for the people who were suffering. Therefore, this food did not seem to play a key role in solving the food shortage crisis in Dongnu Province. However, Ang Lee believed that the problem that Dongnu Province was facing now was definitely not just the problem of food. In the context of a food shortage, there would definitely be all kinds of troublesome situations. Ang Lee could help them deal with these troublesome situations. At the same time, he would also ask the officials in Central Sichuan to think of a way to transfer a large amount of food into Dongnu Province.
"The merchants who sell food transported 100 carts of food from Central Sichuan to Dongnu Province will have at most 80 carts left. They ate all 20 carts of food themselves, and they still have to leave 15 carts of food to eat and drink on the way back. They can sell at most six carts of food to Dongnu Province, and this is the ideal situation. If they were robbed by bandits, who knows what would happen?"
Chen Long suddenly said.
He was right. The merchants who transported food to Dongnu Province would consume too much food on the way, and they would also encounter all kinds of unexpected situations. Because of the existence of bandits, these merchants had to hire a large number of guards. The guards needed to eat food, and so did the escorting coachmen. The large transport vehicles couldn't travel on this kind of road, so they could only use small carts. The transport capacity of small carts was limited, and they couldn't travel fast on the mountain road. It would take about a month to travel from Central Sichuan to Dongnu Province. Too much food would be consumed along the way, and the livestock's rations would also take up several carts. Therefore, the consumption on the road was really quite high.
The most important reason for all of this was that the road was too difficult to travel on, which caused the huge consumption on the road. If the road was very flat and smooth, then the grain carts could choose large carts with ten times the capacity, and a coachman could be responsible for ten times the transport capacity. The transportation efficiency would be greatly increased. At the same time, if the road was easy to travel on, the speed of travel would also be increased by several times. In the past, it would take a month to reach Dongnu Province, but if the road was repaired, they could arrive there in about ten days. In this way, the efficiency would be three times higher. The shorter the delay on the road, the less food would be consumed. In this way, the consumption of food on the road could be ignored, and the cost of transporting food would be greatly reduced. After the food was transported to Dongnu Province, the price would not be as high as it was now.
Of course, in addition to the difficulty of the road, another reason was that the road was not peaceful. Robbers were very annoying. Because of these robbers, the merchant team needed to hire many guards. These guards not only had to eat, but also had to be paid. This would naturally increase the cost of the merchant. In this way, the food transported to Dongnu Province would naturally be sold at a high price.
Ang Lee nodded approvingly. In Ang Lee's opinion, whether it was the problem of the road being difficult to travel on or the problem of robbing by the bandits, they could all be solved by the road being repaired.
As long as the road was repaired, the problem of the road being difficult to travel on would naturally be solved first. After the problem of the road being difficult to travel on was solved, the economy of the various provinces along the way would be better developed. The number of robbers who robbed in order to survive would be greatly reduced. At the same time, when the various provinces had money, they would also spend money to hire specialized patrolling cavalry to patrol back and forth on the road to attack the robbers. In this way, the problem of the bandits destroying the transportation would be solved very well.
In short, in Ang Lee's opinion, road repair was extremely important. It could be said that it could solve all the problems along the way. As long as the road to Dongnu Province was repaired, most of the problems faced here could be solved very well. This was the best way to solve the problem once and for all, and it was also the only way.
Ang Lee and his team crawled forward like a tortoise. The speed of their progress was so slow that Ang Lee could not stand it. However, there was no other way. The road itself was very difficult to travel on, and there was a flash flood in the area. The road was muddy, and some sections were washed away. They needed to be repaired temporarily. Otherwise, the team would not be able to pass at all.
"This broken road is not for people to travel on. It's too bad."
Ang Lee said very angrily.
Chen Long nodded and said, "Yes, we are crawling forward like a tortoise. If I had known it would be so slow, I would have stayed in that small mountain village for a few more days."
The small mountain village he was talking about was naturally the village where Daxi 'er lived. Although it was not prosperous, the environment was good. At least people would not feel uncomfortable staying there.
"That's right. Who would have thought that a rain would make the road like this?"
Ang Lee said worriedly.
In Li An's opinion, the road under his feet could no longer be called a road. It was completely a pile of mud. Traveling on such a road was extremely torturous, especially when there were so many transport vehicles in the group. It was too difficult to move forward.
Fortunately, they were prepared when they set out. All the transport vehicles were light transport vehicles with large wheels. They could barely cope with it. If they were large transport vehicles, they could only leave them on the road.
"What's the matter? Why did we stop again?"
Chen Long shouted impatiently.
A soldier ran over and replied, "Assistant Minister Li, the road ahead has been opened by the mountain torrent. This hole is five feet wide and more than ten feet deep. Men, horses, and vehicles cannot pass through. We have to block this hole first. Only then can the team continue to move forward."
Ang Lee sighed and said, "This is really troublesome. What are we waiting for? Get all the drivers and soldiers to help and block the hole as soon as possible."
Such a large hole was not something that could be plugged in a short period of time. Li An did not have an excavator and could only rely on manpower and shovels. It was indeed very time-consuming to fill such a large hole. The only way to quickly fill up the hole was to mobilize all the manpower and do their best to fill up the hole. Li An's group had more than a thousand people. With so many people working together, the progress could be greatly increased and it would not take too long.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is a group of people coming from behind."
Chen Long said and ordered dozens of soldiers to get into formation. Although filling the hole was very important, it was not necessary to leave all the guards behind. Some of the soldiers should be left behind to protect the supplies of the team and their leader, Ang Lee.
Ang Lee had already seen that there was indeed a group of people coming. It did not take long for him to see clearly that it was the mountain bandits that he had released earlier. However, there were more of them, about forty of them. These people walked quite quickly, but their steps were a little shaky. They did not look very strong. They should be hungry.
"They are mountain bandits. Are they here to surrender?"
Chen Long guessed when he saw that the other party did not carry any weapons.
Ang Lee nodded and agreed with Chen Long's words. Since these mountain bandits did not carry any weapons, they were definitely not here to rob. They could only be here to surrender.
"You are here to surrender."
Chen Long asked when these people arrived in front of him.
One of the bandit leaders nodded and said, "Yes, we don't want to be mountain bandits anymore. We are willing to turn over a new leaf. However, we have no food. We have no food. There are also old and young at home."
Ang Lee saw that their faces were pale and believed their words. He nodded and said, "Alright, I will give you food. This cart has five days of food. I will give it all to you. Take it away. Although it is not enough, the Central Sichuan Granary will send more. Don't worry."
Although they felt that it was not enough, these mountain bandits were still very grateful for Ang Lee's gift. Five days of food was not enough for them to last long, but as long as they ate sparingly, it would be enough to last them for half a month.
There were less than a hundred of these mountain bandits, and there were probably not many old and young at home. Each person had about two jin of food. If they wanted to be completely full, they would finish it in two days. However, if they wanted to keep themselves alive, two jin of food would be enough to last them for half a month. It was impossible that there were no wild vegetables in the mountains. If they added some wild vegetables to fill their stomachs, it would not be a problem for them to last them for half a month. Even if there was no food at all, they could still survive by eating some wild vegetables and drinking some water. Those with a good physique would be able to survive, but those with a poor physique would suffer from all sorts of diseases and might even lose their lives.
Seeing the group of mountain bandits leave with a cart, Ang Lee sighed slightly. These people were starving. For a mouthful of food, they actually went to rob. Now that they heard that Ang Lee was going to give them food, they did not consider whether it was a trap and just ran over. Perhaps, in their hearts, even if they accidentally fell into a trap and died, it was much better than being tortured by hunger every day.
Nearly a thousand people continued to dig and fill the hole. Finally, the big hole was filled, and the team could continue to move forward. Along the way, such situations were often encountered. Not only Ang Lee's team, but other teams also often encountered such situations. Therefore, all the teams would carry a variety of simple road repair tools so that when they encountered an impassable section, they could carry out appropriate repairs in time to ensure that the team could keep moving forward and not be blocked halfway.
It was precisely because they encountered a lot of temporary repairs along the way that the speed of the team was greatly limited. It was impossible to move forward quickly. It was even common to encounter situations where they could only move ten miles a day. As a result, if they were unlucky, the merchant team would not be able to reach Dongnu Province from Central Sichuan within a month. As a result, the transportation cost would inevitably rise to a higher level. This was very bad news for the people of Dongnu Province. The increase in transportation cost would undoubtedly be added to the price of food. The higher the price of food, the more money the people would have to pay to buy food. Dongnu Province had never been a rich place. The money the people had in their hands was very little. Not all of them could afford expensive food. Some people who could not afford food could only starve every day or only eat a small amount of food every day. They put a lot of well water in the very small amount of food in order to continue their lives. Those who were in good health could still maintain their lives. Those who were not in good health or had some basic diseases would be in a very bad situation once they encountered such a situation where they did not have enough food to eat. It was very likely that it would cause their illness to worsen and then they would lose their lives.
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