The Deqin Family's loss was the greatest. At the same time, Sayer and the other families also sold several properties and suffered heavy losses. In fact, the loss of property was negligible. The greatest loss was their broken relationship with the Angi Family. They could see that in the future, the Angi Family would be the commercial center within a few hundred miles. Only by seeking property here could they obtain the greatest benefits. However, they had all offended the Angi Family, and it was quite serious. It wasn't something that could be resolved with a few words of apology. It was something that couldn't be resolved at all.
They offended the Angi Family for the top-grade gem mine. As a result, not only did they not get a single gem, but they also offended the Angi Family and fell into such a situation.
At this moment, the six families were helpless. They had killed hundreds of people from the Angi Family, including many core disciples. This hatred was really big. If they wanted to resolve it, not only would they need great sincerity, but it would also take a lot of time. The six families simply could not afford this price. Otherwise, their capital chain would be completely broken, and their families would still fall into eternal damnation. In short, all of this was a dead end, and they had no way to change all of this.
For this reason, they could only set their sights further away, two hundred miles away, or even three hundred miles away. Such a long distance meant that they had to give up their roots. Their roots were near the Stone City of the Angji family. If they went two or three hundred miles away, they would have to start all over again. The difficulty of doing so was imaginable. It was almost like starting all over again. Facing the local tyrant that was hundreds of miles away, whether they would really have a chance and how much they would have to pay, these were all unknown. But one thing was for sure, the price they would have to pay would definitely be very high, and the losses in the early stage would definitely not be a small number.
At this time, the six families of the Deqin Family were actually regretting. They had been blinded by lard. In order to get the gems, they had completely offended the Angi Family and put them in such a passive situation. At the same time, they naturally complained about the Tang dynasty. If the Tang dynasty had not interfered, their goal would have been achieved long ago. It would not have been difficult to even destroy the Angi Family and seize the gem mine. Of course, they had taken it for granted. Even if they could seize the Angi Family's gem mine, how could they keep it? The Pyu Imperial Court was not to be trifled with. The surrounding families would also be tempted, and they would also lose the gem mine. If it was not theirs, it was not theirs. It was useless for them to force it.
The news of the skyrocketing housing prices in the Angi Family's stone city naturally spread quickly. More and more businessmen came from afar, ready to pick up some scraps. Of course, all of them were disappointed. In the entire stone city, there were only people who wanted to buy houses. No one wanted to sell their houses. Everyone knew that the price of houses would continue to rise, so naturally, they would not sell their houses.
Ang Lee naturally learned the news soon. However, he was not surprised. This was expected. The larger the size of the railway station, the greater the potential for future development. Any businessman could understand that the Angi Family's stone city would gradually prosper in the future. The price of houses would inevitably rise. This was almost certain. However, Ang Lee was not short of money, so naturally, he would not pay attention to this matter, nor would he take the opportunity to stock up some houses here.
"Assistant Minister Li, the price of houses here has increased by five times. It seems that it will continue to increase. If I had known earlier, I would have bought a few houses and sold them for several times the profit."
Chen Long said with a smile.
Ang Lee said, "You are not short of money. Don't care about these profits. This will damage the image of the Tang Dynasty. After all, the larger size of the railway station was decided by the Tang Dynasty. If we buy houses wantonly in advance, what will others think of us?"
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. The road construction will take at least many years. Let's just stay here all the time. The section of the road from the south to the sea has not been finalized yet."
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "We will go south after a few days of rest. By the way, send someone in advance to inform the Pyu Dynasty of our purpose. Tell them that the area within ten miles on both sides of the road chosen by the Tang Dynasty has been requisitioned by the Tang Dynasty. Ask them to cooperate."
Although this request was a bit overbearing, with the current strength of the Tang Dynasty, it was completely possible to be so overbearing. Even if the Tang Dynasty asked the Pyu Dynasty to surrender and submit the whole country to the Tang Dynasty, there was no problem. Anyway, the Pyu Dynasty did not have the strength to fight against the Tang Dynasty. It was just that the Tang Dynasty did not want to do so for the time being. After all, the current territory of the Tang Dynasty was too big. It needed road construction and development everywhere, so it was a bit lacking. The bigger the territory, the better. Some territories were profitable, while some were loss-making, especially the barren territories on the border. Most of the new territories were also loss-making, at least temporarily. Many territories were occupied for strategic benefits, but they were actually loss-making. For example, the Western Regions had always been loss-making. After the railway was built, it might be a little better in the future, but it could only alleviate the loss. It was impossible to make a profit without decades of accumulation.
Therefore, the expansion of the territory had to be done step by step. It could not be done in one bite. This was probably what the so-called nibbling meant! It referred to expanding the territory bit by bit. After expanding a little, it would be developing and digesting a little. This would allow the people of the newly expanded territory to gradually become loyal to them. Only then could they continue to expand. In this way, after a few hundred years, a large country with a vast territory would appear. However, if one were to eat until they became fat, they would only end up being stuffed to death. For example, some races on horseback could conquer a vast territory in one go, but because they did not have time to digest it, they would fall apart after a few decades. They would be beaten back to their original state, or even completely disappear into the long river of history.
Ang Lee would leave Angji's Stone City in a few days. To be honest, he was a little reluctant to leave. After all, he had stayed here for so long and had some feelings for the people here.
After these days of reform, more than half of the more than 50 ruffians and beggars had turned over a new leaf. Only a few of them continued to struggle, but they would be completely reformed sooner or later. It was just a matter of time.
Because there were only a few days left, Ang Lee needed to arrange a lot of work. At the same time, he needed to enjoy his life and then continue to go south.
His work was mainly to repair the road. At the same time, he also needed to pay attention to the gem mine in Angji. After all, the gems produced there were very important to the troops of the Tang dynasty. With these gem mines, not only would the imperial court not have to bear the cost of the troops of the Tang dynasty, but they could also save a lot of money. Therefore, there must be no accidents in this gem mine.
Although the imperial court had sent a large number of troops this time, most of them would definitely go south with Ang Lee. There would not be too many troops left near Angji's Stone City. In this way, if the gem mine was robbed, the loss would be great.
In Ang Lee's view, with hundreds of troops of the Tang dynasty stationed there, ordinary forces would not have the courage to rob the gem mine. However, even if they did not dare to rob in the open, it did not mean that they did not dare to steal in the dark. Now, almost all the manpower was used to repair the road, but according to the soldiers of the Tang dynasty, there were still people peeping around the gem mine from time to time. Whether it was day or night, there were always people peeping at the gem mine of Angji's Stone City. This made Ang Lee very angry. How could these people peep at the gem mine for no reason? Since they peeped at the gem mine, they must have some ulterior motives. It was estimated that they were after the best gems in the gem mine.
"So many days have passed. All the manpower has been used to repair the road, but there are still people around the gem mine. Have you caught them?"
Ang Lee said angrily.
The soldier said with annoyance, "Assistant Minister Li, these guys are too cunning. They are observing from a distance. As soon as they find someone approaching, they will retreat immediately. There is no chance to catch them. They keep at least 300 steps away from us. Without binoculars, we can't find them at all."
"These guys still don't give up. They still want to get the gems. You have to strengthen the patrol. By the way, expand the patrol area. Patrol within a radius of ten miles around the gem mine. "
Ang Lee said.
Chen Long frowned and said, "Assistant Minister Li, the number of guards we have is limited. Patrol within a radius of ten miles is too big. Why do we have to expand the patrol area?"
Obviously, a radius of ten miles was not a small area. It was too big. There were only 300 soldiers in charge of guarding the gem mine. Being responsible for such a large area was a little stressful. In Chen Long's view, there was no need to do so.
Ang Lee said, "A radius of ten miles is a little big. However, I'm worried that these guys will dig holes in the distance to steal the gems. If such a thing really happens, it will be a loss for the Tang dynasty."
"Dig holes? That's really possible! "
Chen Long said.
Since the Angji family's top-grade gem mine was exposed, the number of people monitoring the mine had not decreased. After a long time, they were still monitoring. Ang Lee was really touched by their patience. It even made Ang Lee feel incredulous. Three hundred soldiers of the Tang dynasty were stationed near the entrance of the mine. How could they still think that they had a chance? Since they didn't have a chance, why did they still send people to monitor the mine every day? What was their purpose? What did they want to do?
After thinking about it, Li An felt that there was only one possibility, and that was that these people were preparing to dig a hole from the ground to steal gems. Digging a hole was not an easy task, so they would definitely not dig a hole dozens of miles away, and the location of the hole would not be too close to the hole. Three to five miles away seemed to be a good location, and for safety reasons, Li An set the patrol range at ten miles away.
Hearing this, the soldiers immediately returned to the station and prepared to start a careful patrol.
Ang Lee looked at Chen Long and said, "After lunch, let's go and have a look. I have a feeling that they have begun to dig holes. They have been digging for a long time, and there may be more than one hole. After all, there are many people monitoring nearby."
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. Let's go in person."
Chen Long nodded and said.
In the afternoon, when Ang Lee and Chen Long arrived at the camp of the soldiers stationed in the gem mine, a group of patrolling soldiers had just returned in a hurry.
"What's the matter? Did you find anything?"
Ang Lee asked.
The soldier replied, "Yes, we found a lot of fresh soil in a dense forest, but we didn't find the entrance of the cave. We are too few people, so we came back to report that we need more people to find the entrance of the cave."
Hearing this, Ang Lee ordered, "Mobilize 100 people and immediately go to the location where the soil was found. We must find the entrance of the cave."
After that, Ang Lee and Chen Long personally led a group of soldiers to the location where the soil was found. It was quite hidden in the dense forest, about four or five miles away from the entrance of the gem mine. When Ang Lee came here, he found a lot of fresh soil, but there was no entrance of the cave nearby, nor was there any trace of artificial excavation, which made Ang Lee feel very strange.
"Search. Don't miss even a blade of grass within a radius of 500 steps."
Ang Lee said.
There was indeed no entrance of the cave in the area that could be seen at a glance, which showed that this group of people was very smart. They didn't pile up the soil near the robber's cave, but in a place far away from the robber's cave. In this way, even if someone found the soil, they wouldn't find the entrance of the cave and wouldn't suspect their intention. But this was just a very lucky idea. There was a gem mine nearby, and any abnormality would definitely alert the Tang dynasty.
It was just that the Tang dynasty soldiers had always patrolled within two or three miles, so they wouldn't go so far, so they didn't find the abnormality in the dense forest. In addition, in order to reduce the chance of being discovered as much as possible, the soil they dug out was scattered over a large area, so that the Tang dynasty soldiers wouldn't know what was going on even if they found the abnormality.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is scattered soil everywhere within a radius of 500 steps. We didn't find any big entrance, only some hares' holes. This range is too large. Could it be made by wild animals?"
A captain said with a frown.
"I have to say that the scattered soil is very small, and I really can't tell that it was piled up by humans. However, I still think it must be man-made, and it can't be made by wild rabbits. Continue to expand the search range. We'll definitely find the entrance of the cave. Look carefully. If you find any suspicious place, dig it with branches."
Ang Lee said.
More than 100 soldiers continued to expand the search range. Moreover, they searched more carefully and seriously, not letting go of any suspicious place.
"Assistant Minister Li, there is a hollow tree hole ahead, which can accommodate a person. It's dark below the tree hole, and I can't see how deep it is."
A soldier hurried over to report the situation.
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