Half a month later, Ang Lee and his party entered the Pyu's territory. Because they were informed in advance, they were not troubled by the Pyu's border guards. In addition, Ang Lee did not reveal his true identity. He was only a fourth-rank official in name, so he was not specially treated. He was just a local official.
Ang Lee was here to explore, so he naturally did not want to cause too much trouble. After entering the Pyu Empire, the terrain was still mainly mountainous. However, it would not be long before Ang Lee and his party arrived at the plains. The northern part of the Pyu Empire was mountainous, while the southern part was relatively flat. The Pyu Empire had large plains, and these plains were the foundation of the Pyu Empire's strength.
Of course, the Pyu Empire's strength was only relative to the surrounding small forces. If it was compared to the Tang Empire, it was far from being on the same level.
The Pyu Empire naturally did not dare to neglect the arrival of the Tang Empire's officials. Of course, they were more concerned about the purpose of the Tang Empire's officials and why they brought so many guards. More than a thousand soldiers were not a lot, but for an ordinary fourth-rank official, it was indeed a little too much.
These Pyu Empire's reception officials inquired from time to time, trying to figure out the purpose of the Tang Empire's officials' visit and what their intentions were. Nanzhao's destruction was right in front of them, and they had just received the news, so they were very nervous. Although the Tang Empire had listed Gelofeng's crimes, who knew if these crimes were fabricated? They did not know Gelofeng, let alone Gelofeng's handwriting. They certainly could not figure out whether these letters were written by the Tang Empire themselves. If the next target of the Tang Empire was the Pyu Empire, then their hundreds of years of foundation would be all over.
They could not sleep well until they figured out the purpose of the Tang Empire's officials' visit. Only by figuring out the purpose of the Tang Empire's officials' visit would they be able to sleep well.
The Pyu was a relatively loose regime. In addition to the central court, there were many rich small forces. These forces all admitted that they were Pyu people, but they had a lot of independent rights. They looked more like vassal states, but they did not have the title of king. Especially in the northern mountains, almost every valley was a small vassal state. Because of the obstruction of the mountains, they could not submit to the Tang Empire, and because the Pyu had the most power in the vicinity, they leaned towards the Pyu. However, they obviously did not particularly approve of the Pyu in their hearts. Once there was any trouble, they would not harm their own interests for the sake of the Pyu. Every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost. They valued the interests of their own small groups more than the interests of the entire Pyu. As long as their small interests could be guaranteed, they would not feel anything even if the Pyu Kingdom was destroyed.
The higher-ups of the Pyu were naturally well aware of the thoughts of these vassal forces. However, they did not have any good way to change all this. After all, there were too many vassal forces, and most of them were scattered in the remote mountainous areas of the kingdom. It was difficult to send troops to attack them. For hundreds of years, the Pyu had sent troops to suppress the vassal forces countless times. However, compared to the losses, the gains were too little. Over time, the Pyu did not have much interest in the vassal forces. It was fine as long as they did not rebel and admitted that they were part of the Pyu Kingdom. The annual tribute was also symbolic, and they would not ask for too much to avoid being rejected.
After Ang Lee's group entered the Pyu Kingdom, not only did they attract the attention of the Pyu Kingdom, they also attracted the attention of the vassal forces in the north. They all stared at Ang Lee's group, trying to figure out the purpose of Ang Lee's group.
In fact, Ang Lee's movements in Nanzhao were not very secretive. However, Ang Lee walked on a mountain path that was rarely visited by people. There were not many people who knew that he was scouting the path. Most of these people were villagers in the mountainous areas. They had no way to send this information to the Pyu Kingdom. This caused the Pyu Kingdom to be unable to figure out the purpose of Ang Lee's entry. They could only try their best to find out the situation as soon as possible.
The Piao Kingdom was a kingdom in the south, and it could be considered a major country in the south of the Great Tang. It had an army of more than thirty thousand soldiers, but its subordinate minor factions often only had a few thousand soldiers. The smaller factions only had a few hundred soldiers, and this was only when all of its citizens were soldiers. Many of these minor factions only had a few dozen soldiers, and if not for the fact that their terrain was extremely dangerous, they would have been wiped out long ago.
To the Pyu Kingdom, Ang Lee's thousand soldiers were not a big threat. However, to the smaller forces in the north, such a large number of soldiers was enough to wipe out their country. It must be known that most of the smaller forces only had a few thousand people. All of the able-bodied men added up to about a thousand.
In other words, Ang Lee led an army that could wipe out a small force and entered their territory. Thus, how could the smaller forces not be nervous?
Some of the smaller forces obediently farmed and hunted. However, there were also some that were like bandits. They usually farmed and hunted. If they had the chance, they would also do some shady business like robbing houses. In any case, as long as no one found out, nothing would happen.
Ang Lee didn't know much about the Pyu Kingdom's situation. However, before entering the Pyu Kingdom, he had sent people a month in advance. Thus, he understood most of the situation in the Pyu Kingdom as soon as he arrived.
"It seems that the situation in the north of the Pyu Kingdom is not optimistic! The smaller forces here are all obedient. I thought that it would be enough to deal with the Pyu Kingdom, but now it seems that we have to deal with the local tyrants in the north as well. "
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li said so. However, we should first explore the terrain and determine the future road construction route. It won't be too late to deal with these smaller forces after that."
Chen Long said.
If the Tang Dynasty wanted to build roads in the future, they would definitely have to pass through the territories of these smaller forces in the north. Some of them might have to occupy villages, while others might have to occupy farmlands, which would all harm the interests of these smaller forces. However, after the roads were built, they would also gain a lot of benefits. Therefore, as long as the situation was explained clearly to these smaller forces, Ang Lee believed that they would be able to understand. After all, in the long run, they could gain a lot of benefits. Of course, they had to be clearly explained to them, otherwise it would cause misunderstandings.
When communicating with them, they were afraid of encountering unreasonable outsiders, which would be more troublesome. If they wanted to build a normal road, it would be a trivial matter to change the direction, but the railway had to be straight and could not have too many bends. This was very different from ordinary roads. In the case of ensuring that the railway was straight, it was inevitable that it would pass through some farmlands and villages, which would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the smaller forces. Some of the smaller forces did not have much land to begin with, so it was very likely that half of their land would be gone once the railway was built. This was something that they could not bear. If it was in the Tang Dynasty, this kind of thing would be easy to deal with. The Imperial Court would pay them to move to another place with more land, which would not be a big problem. However, the Pyu Kingdom's situation was somewhat special. These smaller forces did not have a close relationship with the Pyu Kingdom, so the Pyu Kingdom would not be willing to arrange new residences for these smaller forces. Therefore, when the road was built, there would be resistance.
These were all problems that Ang Lee had to consider. However, these were all problems that Ang Lee had to deal with later. The first thing to do was to figure out the terrain. Only after that could he do other things.
Ang Lee and his subordinates acted separately. First, they bought a large number of maps of the Pyu Kingdom. Then, they took these maps to the site to see if the terrain was the same as what was marked on the map. This was because under normal circumstances, there would be some differences between the map and the terrain. Although the differences were not very big, it would still have a big impact on the road construction.
Because of the cultural influence of the Tang Dynasty, many people in the northern part of the Pyu Kingdom had the surname of the Tang Dynasty. Some people's ancestors were from the Tang Dynasty, and some people were just following the trend. In short, if people who did not understand the situation entered the northern part of the Pyu Kingdom, they would mistakenly think that this was the Tang Dynasty instead of the Pyu Kingdom. This situation was very common in many small countries around the Tang Dynasty. This was also because the people of the surrounding countries admired the culture of the Tang Dynasty, which led to this situation. For example, many people in the later generations liked to give themselves a foreign name, thinking that it was very fashionable. In fact, it was not fashionable at all and gave people a strange feeling.
At this time, Ang Lee's camp was in a valley. This valley was relatively large and was the territory of a small force of the Pyu Kingdom. This small force only had a population of 3,000, and there were less than 1,000 able-bodied people. They built a stone city in the middle of the valley, surrounded by scattered villages. Among them, the population of the stone city was 1,500, which accounted for half of the small force's population. The rest were distributed in the surrounding villages, and each village had less than 200 people. The people living in the villages were naturally farmers, while the people living in the city were merchants and craftsmen. After all, the backward handicraft industry required a lot of manpower. Without a large population, it would be difficult for the handicraft industry to develop.
The leader of this small force was surnamed Zhou. One-third of the entire stone city was made up of the Zhou Family. One-fourth of the surrounding villages were also made up of the Zhou Family. The Zhou Family was the dominant force here.
It was said that the ancestors of the Zhou Family were from the Central Plains during the Han Dynasty. In order to avoid the chaos of war, they entered the Central Sichuan region. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, they entered the Nanzhao region to develop. During the Sui Dynasty, they entered the Pyu Kingdom. Their family could be said to be heading south all the way. Every time they moved south, their reason was to avoid the chaos of war. Of course, even if they arrived in the Pyu Kingdom, they couldn't avoid the chaos of war. Where there were benefits, there would be disputes. This was the law of the heavens, and no one could change it. The ancestors of the Zhou Family only knew how to hide, and as a result, their people lived in a barren land. The mountains of the Pyu Kingdom were very poor. Children under the age of 10 basically didn't have any clothes to wear. Of course, the girls were slightly better off, and they had clothes at the age of six.
Fortunately, the climate here was relatively warm. If the climate here was cold, people would freeze to death.
However, the Zhou Family didn't think so. They felt that their ancestors' decision was wise. If their ancestors didn't seek refuge, they might have died in the chaos of war, and there wouldn't be any descendants like them. Although the mountains of the northern Pyu Kingdom were very poor, at least they were still alive. This was enough. As long as they were alive, there would be endless possibilities in the future. They didn't think that there was anything bad about being poor.
Ang Lee's troops entered the Zhou Family's territory, which naturally made the Zhou Family nervous. The Zhou Family only had 3,000 people, and their own family was less than 1,000. They could only gather 1,000 strong men. However, Ang Lee's elite troops exceeded 1,000. How could they not be nervous?
In the face of such an elite force like the Tang dynasty's troops, they naturally didn't dare to offend them. They very politely provided Ang Lee and his group with all kinds of needs and inquired about what Ang Lee wanted to do.
Because the people of the Pyu Kingdom would know about the road construction sooner or later, Ang Lee didn't hide it. It seemed that there was no need to hide it. He directly told the Zhou Family, and also let the Zhou Family tell the news to the entire Pyu Kingdom. No matter whether the Pyu Kingdom's forces agreed or not, the Tang dynasty's decision to build a railway in the Pyu Kingdom was set in stone. They couldn't object. Otherwise, the country would be destroyed. Of course, deterrence was not enough. They also needed to be reasoned with. They needed to understand that after the railway was built, they could also gain huge benefits. Only when they saw the real benefits would they be willing to obey the demands of the Tang dynasty.
"What? They want to build a railway through our Zhou Family's territory?"
The Zhou Family's patriarch was quite shocked when he heard the news. He was a knowledgeable person. He had heard that there was a railway in the Tang dynasty, and he also knew that building a railway would take up a lot of land. The valley controlled by the Zhou Family was not very large. The railway must go through the middle of the valley, and they might even need to pass through Stone City. In this way, their Stone City would have to be demolished, and Stone City was their foundation. If they needed to demolish Stone City, they could never accept it.
"Patriarch, what should we do? The Tang dynasty has so many soldiers. They have already begun to survey the terrain. Why are they still drawing? I'm afraid we can't keep our foundation. "
An elder said nervously. Ang Lee's group had brought so many soldiers, which they couldn't resist at all. They didn't intend to use force, because there was no chance of winning. However, if the Tang dynasty wholeheartedly built a railway in their territory, occupied a lot of their land, and even demolished Stone City, they couldn't accept it. It was really too difficult for them.
"Hurry up and find out where they will build the railway through. In addition, invite more soldiers of the Tang dynasty to dinner. Try to get close to them. We can't do it by force, so we can only do it by soft means."
The Zhou Family's patriarch said.
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