The Zhou Family was able to quickly agree to cooperate with the Tang Dynasty to build the road. Firstly, the Tang Dynasty's army was right there, so they didn't dare to disagree. Secondly, the Tang Dynasty had taken their interests into consideration when building the road, so they didn't suffer too much loss. In fact, they could even gain a lot of benefits. Under these circumstances, they naturally had no reason to object.
After the route was planned, the road map was made public. Everyone in the Zhou Family could check and see it. In the beginning, there were indeed many people who objected, but after some persuasion and explanation, these objectors no longer objected. It was indeed troublesome for them to move, but the Tang Dynasty would also give them a certain amount of compensation. The compensation wasn't much, but it was enough to make them feel better.
To the south of the Zhou Family was the Chen Family. The Chen Family's strength was about the same as the Zhou Family's. The Chen Family had a population of five thousand people, which was slightly more than the Zhou Family. However, through the years of fighting between the two sides, it could be seen that the difference in strength between them wasn't that big. The Chen Family had a large population, but their core members were relatively few, so their cohesion was weaker than the Zhou Family's. When they fought, there was almost no difference in strength between the two sides.
In addition, these small border forces wouldn't really fight to the death. They also had a cooperative relationship. When faced with the threat of the Pyu Dynasty, they would unite and fight against the outside world. A small force might only have a few hundred elites, but when a dozen small forces joined together to form an alliance, it was a force that couldn't be ignored.
Although the Piao Country had 30,000 soldiers and horses on the surface, they could only deploy a few thousand soldiers to one side of the border. Facing the obstruction of more than a dozen small forces, the Piao Country might suffer a crushing defeat. These small forces were relatively powerful when united. However, they would only resist when their interests were greatly threatened. As long as the conditions offered by the imperial court of the Piao Country were acceptable to them, they did not care about losing some interests as long as the conditions did not exceed their bottom line. Otherwise, they would fight to the death.
After hundreds of years of confrontation, the small border forces had a lot of experience in resisting the Pyu Dynasty. Many of the checkpoints were also targeted at the Pyu Dynasty. Therefore, when the Tang Dynasty's troops suddenly appeared, the Zhou Family was shocked. If the Tang Dynasty's troops were a hundred miles away, they might be able to unite a dozen small forces to form an alliance and gather at the border. Unfortunately, when they received the news, the Tang Dynasty's troops had already entered. They didn't have time to prepare at all. The checkpoints were facing the south. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty came with good intentions, so they naturally had no other choice but to cooperate with the Tang Dynasty and fight for their interests as much as possible.
After Ang Lee and his group solved the problem of the Zhou Family, the next step was naturally to enter the Chen Family's territory. It would be more troublesome if they had to work again. Now that the Zhou Family had agreed to cooperate, it was naturally more convenient to let the Zhou Family participate in the persuasion. Although the Zhou Family and the Chen Family had a lot of conflicts, in fact, they were just small conflicts. There was no conflict of core interests. Taking this opportunity to reconcile the two families was also a good opportunity.
"What? You want us to reconcile with the Chen Family?"
Hearing this news, the head of the Zhou Family was shocked. He hated this neighbor of the Chen Family. Even if there wasn't much of a conflict of interest, the two families had been fighting for hundreds of years and many people had died. This grudge was a little deep. It was indeed a little difficult for the two families to shake hands and make peace. The most important thing was that they couldn't bring themselves to lower their heads to their old enemy. For him, this was a little too difficult. People needed face, they needed to save face.
"Head, it's better to squash enmity than to keep it alive. Our Zhou Family and the Chen Family have been fighting for hundreds of years. It's time to end it. When will it end if we keep fighting like this? The station is built between our two families. Now, there is no conflict of interest between our two families. It's not worth it to continue fighting. "
The middle-aged man said.
The conflict between the two clans would only end with both sides suffering losses. This was not a good thing for either side. The middle-aged man had long wanted to end the conflict between the two clans, but he had never had the chance. If he made this request for no reason, he would definitely be scolded. But now, the situation was different. The Great Tang had occupied the area disputed by the two clans and had suggested that the two clans reconcile. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he naturally had to seize it. Resolving the enmity between the two clans was beneficial for both clans, and he believed that the Chen Clan did not want to continue fighting. Both sides would suffer losses, and no one would benefit.
"Reconcile with the two families? How can we reconcile? Do you want us to take the initiative to kiss the cold ass? I can't do that. "
The head of the Zhou Family also cared about his face. He felt that it was too shameful to take the initiative to go to the Chen Family and restore the relationship between the two families. He couldn't do it.
The middle-aged man said, "There's no need for you to do it. I'll go. The Chen Family will also send someone. We'll meet in the disputed barren land. The officials of the Tang Dynasty will also be there. They will be responsible for being witnesses for our two families and announcing that we occupy the barren land."
"Okay then! I'll leave this matter to you. Remember, you can't lose the face of our Zhou Family. You can't bow to the Chen Family. Our Zhou Family has a backbone for generations. We'd rather die than give in to the Chen Family. We're not wrong. "
The head of the Zhou Family said sternly.
The middle-aged man nodded and said, "Rest assured, Head. It's just the first contact. The Chen Family won't dare to go too far."
"Okay then, hurry up and go! It's not bad if the two families don't fight in the future. However, I'm afraid that the feud between our generations will be difficult to resolve. Let's leave it to the younger generation to resolve! "
The head of the family said realistically.
Even if the two families could shake hands and make peace with the help of the Tang Dynasty, they had been holding grudges against each other for a long time, at least in this generation. However, as long as they shook hands and made peace now, the feud would fade in the next generation. As long as the feud faded, the two families could really become a family. This needed time to resolve. They couldn't rush it. It was useless to rush it.
The middle-aged man nodded and led several clansmen to the barren land that the Chen Family had told them about. The representative of the Chen Family had arrived in advance. The representative of the Tang Dynasty was Chen Long. He was responsible for mediating between the two families so that the two families would not be hostile in the future. At the same time, he also asked the Zhou Family to help persuade the Chen Family and tell the Chen Family that the Zhou Family was willing to cooperate with them. They were all locals, so their language and habits were more compatible. The communication between them would be smoother.
After Chen Long's patient persuasion, the representative of the Chen Family and the representative of the Zhou Family shook hands and made peace. They also said that they would not be hostile to each other in the future. In addition, the disputed area at the junction would be given to the Tang Dynasty to build a railway station. Before the station was built, the Zhou Family and the Zhou Family would take turns to hunt there. The two families could not hunt in this area at the same time to avoid causing new conflicts.
Both the representatives of the Zhou Family and the Chen Family could accept Chen Long's proposal. After all, Chen Long's request was fair and did not favor either side. The representatives of the Zhou Family and the Chen Family could accept this. They had been fighting against each other for so many years, so they were mentally exhausted. It was also a good result to shake hands and make peace with each other in a fair way. They really did not want to fight anymore, but they also hated each other and were unwilling to be the first to put down their pride to make peace. They both hoped that the other side would put down their pride first. In this way, their side could obtain the greatest benefits and even occupy the moral high ground.
Because neither side was willing to be the first to admit defeat, the confrontation had lasted for many years. Now, the Tang Dynasty acted as a mediator, which gave both sides a way out. Naturally, they were willing to seize this opportunity. After resolving the conflict, the two small forces could develop better. They did not have to guard against each other all day long. The confrontation between the two sides would consume a lot of resources, which was not a good thing for either side.
Seeing the two sides shake hands and make peace, Chen Long breathed a sigh of relief and asked the two families to sit together and have a good talk. In particular, he asked the Zhou Family to tell the Chen Family about the Tang Dynasty's plan to build a railway. He asked the Chen Family to cooperate fully to reduce the Chen Family's losses as much as possible.
After learning that the Tang Dynasty's plan to build a railway had to pass through the Chen Family's territory, the representative of the Chen Family was not too surprised. After all, Ang Lee had already entered the Zhou Family's territory. The Chen Family must have sent people to inquire about it and found out a lot of things. It was just that they knew less than the core members of the Zhou Family. Through the explanation of the Zhou Family's representative, the representative of the Chen Family completely understood the situation and figured out all the details.
Since they could get a lot of benefits by cooperating with the Tang Dynasty, the Chen Family naturally had no reason to refuse. Their family also ran some small businesses. Every time they went on a long journey, it would take several months. With the railway at their doorstep, the time needed to go on a long journey would be very short. They could go back and forth in one day. If they went further, they could go back and forth in three to five days at most. It would not take too much time. For business, time was money. With convenient transportation, they could save a lot of costs.
Soon, the representative of the Chen Family expressed his support for the Tang Dynasty and sent some people to guide the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. They investigated the terrain together and discussed the best route. Naturally, the best route had to be taken into consideration not only the cost of the road construction, but also the impact on the Chen Family. If they passed through too many villages and fertile fields, the loss would be great. Under the condition that it did not affect the construction of the road, it was enough to avoid villages and fertile fields as much as possible.
The construction of the road had not started yet. When the road was built, they still needed to consider the problem of safety. After all, the railway was built close to the ground. The safety aspect was very important. If the children around were naughty, they would be easily hit by the train. If they often hit people, it would be troublesome.
The necessary isolation network still needed to be prepared. It would cost some money. However, for the sake of safety, the cost was worth it.
After dealing with the Chen Family and the Zhou Family, Ang Lee had gotten off to a good start. The following matters were easy to handle. He only needed to bring some people from the Zhou Family and the Chen Family to deal with the small forces below. They were all locals, so it was more convenient for them to communicate. The effect of their persuasion would definitely be better than the persuasion of the Tang Dynasty soldiers, and it would also be easier for them to explain things.
In order to celebrate their success in entering the Piao Country, Li An and his soldiers prepared to have a hunting competition at the future station. This location was the border between the Zhou Family and the Chen Family. Crops could not be grown here, but there were more small game such as wild rabbits. The land with a radius of thousands of acres was crisscrossed with ravines. Every small ravine had more than a dozen caves. Obviously, these caves were dug by wild rabbits. It was said that a cunning rabbit had three burrows. One cave did not mean that there was a nest of rabbits. Many caves were empty, but at least 20% of the caves had wild rabbits.
Hares were very timid. As long as they were frightened, they would immediately drill into the cave and hide in the cave. They were very careful. Therefore, there were two ways to hunt hares. One was to quietly approach the hares and use long-range crossbows to kill them. The other method was to find the hares' holes and use smoke to force the hares out. When the hares rushed out of the holes, their heads would be dizzy, so they were the easiest to catch. If a net was placed at the hole in advance, it would be more convenient.
If he used the long-range hunting method, he could only get the rabbits with damaged skin. If he used the method of smoking, he could get the complete rabbit skin, which was a better method.
However, the method of using smoke also had a weakness, and that was that there were too many holes in the rabbit's nest. No one knew how many exits there were in a rabbit's nest. If a hole was missed, and this hole happened to be the direction of the rabbit's escape, then the rabbit would be missed, causing the failure of the hunt.
Of course, there were more hares here. As long as more nets were prepared, it would not be a problem to catch some hares alive.
"Let the soldiers divide into two teams. Each of us will take fifteen people to catch hares in the east and west. One alive will count as two, and one dead will count as one. Let's see who catches more hares."
Ang Lee said.
Chen Long said with a smile, "Assistant Minister Li, what's the reward for winning?"
"Yes! The winning team will each get a pot of rabbit meat, haha! "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Chen Long nodded with a smile and led a group of men to prepare the nets.
Both teams were preparing as many nets as possible. As long as all the holes were blocked, then the hares would have nowhere to escape. The efficiency of hunting would be much higher.
In order to be fair, each team had three hundred nets. This way, it would depend on whose brain was more flexible. This was the time to test their level.
Ang Lee ordered the soldiers to block some of the rabbit holes, and then put nets on the rest of the rabbit holes. In this way, they could cover a larger area and get a bigger harvest.
After the soldiers were done, they began to release smoke. The fifteen soldiers scattered to release smoke. Each of them found a hole and then blew all the smoke into the rabbit hole, intending to smoke the hares out.
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