Ang Lee had been sitting in the teahouse for more than two hours. He had seen more than two hundred merchants who had entered the teahouse to drink tea. From this, it could be seen that the business of this teahouse was pretty good. Normally, the business might not be this good, but there would definitely be a customer flow of a hundred people. The tea here was also divided into different grades. There were three grades, high grade, and low grade. The price difference was also relatively big, which was suitable for people of different grades to consume. However, even the lowest grade of tea was not something ordinary people at the bottom could afford. It was fine to drink it once in a while, but it would definitely be unbearable for them if they persisted for a long time. Even low-grade peddlers like Butcher Zhang were only willing to come for a cup of tea when they were at their happiest. They would still choose the lowest grade of tea. As for high-grade tea, it was basically the treasure of the teahouse. Usually, very few people would order high-grade tea. Only the wealthiest merchants were willing to drink high-grade tea. Therefore, when Ang Lee ordered a few cups of high-grade tea, the waiter of the teahouse immediately appeared to be very respectful.
After listening to the discussions of many merchants, Ang Lee left the teahouse in satisfaction. This time, he had done a very good job. He had greatly satisfied the basic needs of ordinary people. At the same time, he had also greatly raised the image of the Tang dynasty. The local people were full of goodwill towards the Tang dynasty. Their hearts had already begun to lean towards the Tang dynasty.
Although they were all Pyu people and should love their own Pyu people, they did not have a good impression of the Pyu imperial court. After all, they were located in the northern part of the Pyu Empire, which was the border area of the Pyu Empire. Moreover, they were often suppressed by the Pyu imperial court. Why did they choose to resist instead of assimilating into the Pyu Empire? This was naturally because the Pyu imperial court discriminated against these border areas. The benefits were all given to the core Pyu Empire and very little benefits were given to the border areas. This naturally caused the border areas to be dissatisfied. For example, if resources were found in the core Pyu Empire, they would naturally belong to the core Pyu Empire. If resources were found in the border areas, they would also come over and demand that the imperial court take it back. This was simply daylight robbery. This kind of daylight robbery naturally caused the border families to be very dissatisfied. Therefore, they banded together to resist and became estranged from the Pyu imperial court. This was because the Pyu imperial court did not have an overwhelming advantage, especially in the complicated mountainous terrain. Therefore, the northern part was already independent. It was only nominally belonging to the Pyu Empire. The Pyu imperial court could not do anything in the northern part of the country and could not obtain any resources from the northern part.
Originally, it could have been a win-win situation. However, the Pyu imperial court was too greedy and treated the border families as soft persimmons. They always had thoughts of robbing and did not leave enough benefits for the border families. This resulted in the current situation. As for why the Pyu imperial court was so domineering, it was naturally because the people in the core areas and the border areas did not belong to the same race. Their appearance was also very different. They suppressed the border families because they were worried that once the border families grew stronger, they would become a threat to the core families. This was also a kind of thinking that those who were not of the same race would have different hearts. They did not trust the races outside the core areas and always felt that they were outsiders and unreliable existences. Only their own race was reliable.
This kind of thinking could be regarded as a conservative thinking. In the short term, there was nothing wrong with it. However, in the long term, it was indeed undesirable. Being conservative would only cause one to lose the opportunity to become stronger. If a race reproduced for too long, it was easy to cause the bloodline to degenerate. Only by adding new blood could the bloodline strengthen and become a super large race.
The core races of the Tang Dynasty were already large enough, but most of them were formed after generations of integration with other races. Xiongnu people, Xianbei people, and other nomadic races in the north were now the core races of the Tang Dynasty. Many of the core races of the Tang Dynasty were foreign races that were absorbed hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
Of course, the process of absorbing foreign races was also very dangerous and painful. If one was not careful, one would be in danger of being swallowed up. This was a test of the strength of the race. If a race with weak strength and foundation tried to swallow a large race, the chances of being swallowed up by the other race were very high. On the other hand, it was relatively safer for a large race to swallow a small race, but it was still easy to cause great danger. In the hundreds of years before the Tang Dynasty, wars were extremely frequent in the Central Plains. These frequent wars were caused by the half-absorbed northern races. After they took over Hetao, their ambitions grew bigger and bigger. Coupled with some uncontrollable factors, it finally caused a super chaos that lasted for hundreds of years. But in the end, these rebellious northern races were successfully integrated into the Tang Dynasty. Even the royal family of the Tang Dynasty also had the bloodline of the northern races. From the perspective of a thousand years, integration was the way to make the race stronger.
The Pyu Dynasty was short-sighted. Their suppression had completely stirred up the small races in the north, causing a large area in the north to be alienated from the Pyu Dynasty. Now that the Tang Dynasty Dynasty had come to manage this place, it was believed that it would not be long before the people of the northern Pyu Dynasty were completely integrated into the Tang Dynasty. Even if they were still Pyu territory in name, in fact, they had nothing to do with the Pyu Dynasty.
The northern ethnic groups were all located in mountainous areas. Although they had more mineral resources than the core area of the Pyu Empire, they could not compare with the Pyu Empire in terms of other products and population. However, the northern mountainous area was a natural barrier that could prevent external threats from entering. If this barrier was controlled by the Tang dynasty, then the Tang dynasty could invade the core area of the Pyu Empire in an instant if they wanted to. It would only take a few days for them to surround the Royal City of the Pyu Empire. Therefore, the imperial court of the Pyu Empire naturally felt a thorn in their back and was very nervous.
When they heard that the Tang Dynasty had sent an additional 5,000 troops into the Stone City of Angji, the Pyu imperial court was frightened and went to Chang 'an to ask for forgiveness. However, the Tang Dynasty did not intend to do anything. They just wanted to protect Ang Lee and maintain the interests of the Tang Dynasty in the top-grade gem mine. In addition, the railway line that was planned in advance could be prepared in advance. The imperial court also attached great importance to this railway line. As long as the imperial court was free, it would immediately allocate a large number of resources and manpower to build this railway. Of course, the common people along the way would definitely be conscripted, and the businessmen along the way would also have to pay part of their money. Otherwise, when the railway was built in the future, these businessmen would lose the right to take it. These businessmen were very clear about what a railway meant to them. The most important thing in their business was the trade route. How could an ordinary horse trade route be compared with a train trade route? Whether in terms of transportation speed or safety, they were completely incomparable. Therefore, as long as the Tang Dynasty offered such conditions, the businessmen along the way would have no reason to refuse to pay for it. It was impossible to escape. In addition, after the railway was built, a token of a certain discount would be given to the businessmen according to the amount of investment. With this token, the businessmen could enjoy a certain discount when transporting goods and taking a carriage. The biggest discount was 30%. Of course, this was very difficult to achieve. 20% or 10% discount did not require too much investment. For businessmen who transported goods frequently, the more investment they made, the more benefits they would receive.
As more and more mining talents were trained by the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty, the minerals inside and outside the Tang Dynasty were constantly being discovered. The resources of the entire Tang Dynasty were increasing, and so were the talents. With the increase of machines, the progress of any project could be sped up. The speed of development even surprised Ang Lee.
Because these resources were basically all used to build roads and bridges, and very few were used to build buildings, the progress of road and bridge construction was extremely fast. This was equivalent to using all the construction resources of the Tang Dynasty to do the same thing. How could this speed not be fast? In order to speed up the process, the Tang Dynasty even mobilized manpower and material resources from all over the country. Not only the people near the road construction route had to participate in the road construction, but also other areas had to provide manpower. Of course, there was still a difference in the provision of manpower. The manpower provided along the road construction route was from the whole family, while the manpower provided in the farther areas were all able-bodied men, who were between 16 and 56 years old. There were no women, children, or those who were too old or too young. After all, the long journey was not something that the old, weak, women, and children could bear. Near the road construction route, children as young as 10 years old could help. Almost all the men and women from 10 to 60 years old went to work. Only those who had physical problems stayed at home and were responsible for taking care of the young children in the village.
A railway leading to Yingzhou was completed in advance. The saved manpower was all transferred to Central Sichuan by the imperial court. Among them, there were not only 20,000 technical talents, but also 200,000 able-bodied laborers in the northeast. These laborers were all between 18 and 48 years old and were relatively healthy. Their arrival was naturally of great help in improving the progress of the road construction. However, the manpower mobilized in Central Sichuan was enough. If too many people were gathered together, it would be easy to form the effect of holdup, which would waste manpower and time. For this reason, the imperial court had to continue to transfer this batch of talents and laborers to the south and prepare to build the road that Ang Lee explored. This greatly surprised Ang Lee. After all, the conditions of the west road that Ang Lee explored were not as good as those of the east road. The cost of building the west road was naturally much higher than that of building the east road.
Since the 20,000 talented craftsmen and 200,000 laborers were already on the way, Ang Lee also had to make the corresponding preparations. This railway had a person in charge, but since Ang Lee was here, Ang Lee naturally had to be in charge. With Ang Lee's guidance, there would be fewer detours during the construction of the road.
"The imperial court suddenly sent people to build the road in advance. It seems that the families along the way don't have enough time to prepare. We need to inform them as soon as possible and have them speed up and replace the good farmland along the way with wasteland. In addition, begin to mobilize the people along the way and have them participate in the construction of the road. We also need to purchase sufficient food and vegetables. The problem of feeding the people along the road must be solved by us. We can't let any of them starve. Oh right, the merchants also need to donate money and goods. Tell them the consequences of not donating."
After receiving the news from the imperial court, Ang Lee immediately gave the order to his subordinate.
"Yes."
The subordinate immediately went to do it.
Soon, hundreds of people under Ang Lee's command left Angji City on horseback and spread the news that the Tang dynasty was going to build the road and recruit women. Naturally, the local county magistrate and village elders were responsible for mobilizing manpower along the way. The Tang dynasty was only responsible for dispatching and commanding.
The open space not far from Angji City was the area that the railway would pass through. Therefore, Angji City was naturally within the scope of the recruitment. The people in the city were also obligated to build the roadbed. As for the merchants, they naturally had to donate money and goods. This would be very beneficial for them to use the railway to transport goods in the future.
When the notice was posted, it quickly caused an uproar in Angji City. For the people of Angji City, this was completely explosive news, and it also became the focus of all the people's discussion.
Naturally, the people along the way had some resistance to the Tang dynasty's decision, and so did the merchants. However, the Tang dynasty's explanation was also very accurate. After the railway was built, everyone would benefit. Naturally, they had to pay something, especially the merchants. If they wanted to use the railway to transport goods in the future, they had to provide a lot of money and resources. Otherwise, they would not be qualified to use the railway to transport goods in the future. Even if they bought a passenger seat, they would have to pay twice the price. This was a punishment for resisting the Tang dynasty's recruitment.
As for the ordinary people, if they could not provide labor, their immediate family members would lose the right to take the railway for several generations. They would not be qualified to set foot on the railway for several generations.
With these restrictions, the people and merchants along the way could only obey. After all, they did not have the slightest strength to resist. In addition, the Tang dynasty was also quite generous. All the people who worked could provide food for them. After the merchants provided money and resources, they could also get discounts on future shipments. In the long run, as long as the merchants made a few more trips, they would be able to earn back the cost sooner or later.
In a teahouse in Angji City, a group of merchants sat together leisurely drinking tea and talking about the current hot topic. This hot topic was naturally about the Tang dynasty's plan to build the railway. Although they had known about it for a long time, the Tang dynasty had built the railway in advance, which made them a little unprepared. They were naturally reluctant to ask the merchants to provide money and resources, but the Tang dynasty also said that they could continue to use carriages to transport goods in the future if they did not contribute! Naturally, the merchants could not accept this. They all knew what the railway meant for merchants to transport goods. If they were really deprived of the right to use the railway, but other merchants could use it, then they would not be able to do business. The cost would be much higher, which would inevitably make them unable to compete with other merchants.
"The Tang dynasty's imperial court is really ruthless. Not only did they win a good reputation, but they also forced us to pay obediently."
A fat merchant said.
"Yes! It's fine if we don't pay, but we can't use the railway to transport goods in the future. Even if we take the railway, we still have to pay twice the price. Hahaha! "
The merchant in blue said with a smile.
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