The head of the Fang family went to the construction site in person. Most of the people in the construction site were members of the Fang family, but there were also a few laborers from other families. There were even more than 30 ruffians who were forced to work. When they saw the head of the Fang family, they were stunned. The head of the Fang family, who was in his sixties, actually went to the construction site in person, which naturally shocked them.
At first, the members of the Fang family were very angry. They had already worked very hard, but the Tang dynasty had gone too far. They actually forced their old head to work in person and even brought the old, weak, women, and children of the family. If they could tolerate this, they would not be normal people.
"Hahaha! Isn't this the head of the Fang family? Why did he go to the construction site in person? Can these old bones still work? "
A fearless ruffian laughed arrogantly. He was very dissatisfied with being forced to work by the Tang dynasty. He had been unwilling to do it, so it could be said that he had accumulated a lot of resentment. Even if he had meat to eat every meal, it could not change his resentment. After all, he was used to a free and undisciplined life and felt ashamed to work hard. Moreover, he was forced to work by the Tang dynasty, so it was normal for him to feel resentment.
When the ruffian saw the head of the Fang family go to the construction site in person, most of the unbalanced feeling in his heart immediately disappeared. Although he was forced to work and felt uncomfortable, he was just a low-status ruffian after all. Even if he worked at the construction site, it was not a big deal and he would not lose much face. However, the head of the family was different. His status was far higher than a ruffian's. At such an old age, he actually went to the construction site to do such work that only low-class people would do. Naturally, he felt very happy, and the haze in his heart almost disappeared in an instant.
"Ruffian, you're asking for a beating."
The members of the Fang family were very angry. If it were not for the Tang dynasty's low-ranking officials watching the scene, they would have rushed up and smashed these ruffians into meat patties.
The head of the Fang family sighed. At this moment, he had to stand up and speak up. Otherwise, if the members of the Fang family did not work hard and could not complete the set workload, the Fang family might be in trouble.
"Fellow clansmen, there is no need to lower yourself to the level of a scoundrel. Although the Fang Clan is not a large clan, it has some fame. Our Fang Clan will fully support the construction of the Great Tang's roads, and this patriarch will personally do the work. Everyone, do your best and don't slack off. This patriarch came here of his own free will and was not forced by anyone.
The head of the Fang family said loudly.
Since the head of the Fang family said so, the members of the Fang family could only accept it. However, they still felt a little uncomfortable. It was equivalent to the whole family coming to build roads. The price was too high.
Like the Fang family, the heads of the other families also encountered a similar situation. They were all ridiculed and sarcastic by the people who worked with them. However, they were all old foxes after all, so they all rebutted back. How could ruffians compete with these old guys? These old guys naturally would not tell the truth, nor did they dare to talk nonsense. However, they only needed to use a little trick to make the members of the family work hard. As long as the younger generation of the family worked more, these old guys could work less. As long as the whole family was united, they could still complete the set workload. They had the ability to do so.
Many clans worked together in the fields, and even the patriarchs of the clans worked personally. This naturally caused a huge uproar. Those clansmen who didn't work personally were naturally shocked and immediately ordered their clansmen to investigate this matter.
"The heads of the nine families worked in person and even dragged the whole family, old and young, into the field. There must be something behind this. We must find out."
The heads of the other families issued similar orders, trying to figure out what had happened.
Although the Tang dynasty and the nine families who had made mistakes did not say anything, the other families could still find some clues and finally guess the general situation, which made them feel a little relieved.
"It seems that the nine families have made a mistake."
"Yes, there have been people around the gem mine in the past few months. Maybe they were plotting for the gem mine and were discovered by the Tang dynasty. Then, they were sent to the construction site to work. This is the most likely situation."
"Fortunately, our family did not plot for the gem mine. The Tang dynasty has a share of the gem mine. These families are too bold. How dare they plot for the gem mine?"
"It's also because of the wisdom of the head of the family that our family avoided this disaster."
"Head of the family, then what should we do? The heads of the nine families have worked in person. Although they probably made a mistake, shouldn't we take the initiative to send more people to work? "
"We didn't do anything wrong. There's no need to send more people. We don't have many people left."
Almost all the families had similar discussions. They were more or less glad that they did not plot for the gem mine. Otherwise, they would have suffered the same fate.
In the Angi family's meeting room, the head of the Angi family was also discussing this matter. Naturally, they knew a little inside information, but they still attached great importance to it.
"Head of the family, I didn't expect that the Tang dynasty would find out the nine families this time. If they hadn't found out, more than half of our gem mine would have been stolen by these people sooner or later. That would have been a great loss."
"Head of the family, the Tang dynasty suddenly set up camp 15 miles away and forbade anyone from getting close. Could it be that the Tang dynasty has also found a gem mine there? Could it be that the Tang dynasty is secretly mining without telling us?"
"So what? If the Tang dynasty is doing this, can we make the Tang dynasty spit out the gem mine? We can only pretend that we don't know anything."
"It's 15 miles away. There shouldn't be a gem mine, right? There are so many robber holes in the vicinity, but they haven't found anything. 15 miles away, there shouldn't be any gems, right? "
"It's a pity that we have personally checked the robber holes nearby, but we haven't checked the robber holes 15 miles away. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to guess here."
"Well, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's think about whether to send more people to the road construction site!"
"The gem mine still needs to be mined, and we can't transfer more people. Let's forget about this matter!"
The elders of the Angi family gathered together to discuss.
Outside the new gem mine, a large pile of freshly mined gems was neatly placed on the table. Most of these gems were jade of various colors. Among them, purple jade was the most abundant. These were all high-quality gems. Although they were slightly inferior to the previous gem mine, they were still very good.
"Good, good. It's only been two days, and so many precious gems have been produced. If these gems are sold in the capital, they will definitely fetch a lot of money. It's enough for the soldiers to make a fortune."
Ang Lee looked at the large number of gems on the table and said happily.
There were so many gems that it was indeed a great fortune. Among them, there was also a huge piece of jade that weighed hundreds of pounds. Ang Lee planned to transport this piece of jade back to his home in the capital and find a good craftsman to make it into a decoration to be placed in the main hall. Such a large piece of jade placed in the main hall could greatly increase the size of the main hall.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. Unfortunately, we are about to leave here. The Pyu is located in the plains. I'm afraid there won't be such a gem mine."
Chen Long said.
"That's not necessarily true. Who said that gem mines must be in the mountains? There may also be gem mines in the plains."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Chen Long nodded and did not say anything.
According to the current mining speed, they would be able to obtain a lot of gems every day, and the soldiers would profit a lot. However, it might not be a good thing for the soldiers to have too much wealth. If it was too much, it would easily attract attention. Therefore, Li An would also keep some of this wealth, keeping the biggest and the best for himself. Chen Long and the other generals would take the biggest share, and the rest would be distributed to the ordinary soldiers. For the ordinary soldiers, being able to get some of the money from selling the gems was enough.
"Remember, this camp and the mine are top secret. Do not leak anything. Use the excavated soil to build a camp and build a small stronghold here. Yes, it's decided."
Ang Lee said.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinates accepted the order happily.
"It's about time. Let's hurry! After entering the Pyu, we still have a lot of things to do. "
Ang Lee said.
After leaving the Angji family's stone city, Li An and his three thousand men headed south in a grandiose manner. They left behind two thousand men to intimidate the surrounding areas of Angji City and protect the safety of the gem mine. This was enough.
After passing through several small clans, Ang Lee finally arrived at Northern City, the gateway to the Pyu Empire's core territory. This city was a very large Pyu city and was located in the northern part of the Pyu Empire's core territory. The purpose of building this city was naturally to store soldiers and resources so that they could head north at any time to suppress the disobedient clans and display the might of the Pyu Empire. There were at least five thousand soldiers stationed in Northern City, accounting for one-sixth of the Pyu army. This was already a large proportion. After all, the Pyu Empire's territory was not small. Storing so many soldiers in one city naturally showed how much importance they placed on this city.
Other than King City in the central region which had ten thousand soldiers, Northern City's soldiers were ranked second. It was considered the second most important city of the Pyu Empire and held a pivotal position in the Pyu Empire. If something happened to Northern City, it would be a great disaster for the Pyu Empire.
The various families in the north of the Pyu Empire had once joined forces to attack Northern City. However, in the face of the tall city walls and five thousand elite soldiers, these motley crew could do nothing even if they had tens of thousands of people. In the end, several families were heavily injured by the enemy's cavalry. This made the northern families understand the power of the Pyu Empire. From then on, they did not dare to attack Northern City again. Similarly, after several large-scale expeditions to the north, the Pyu Empire also began to restrain itself. They also could not do anything to the allied forces of the various families who had the terrain advantage. Every time they went to the north, they suffered heavy losses. Not only did they fail to eliminate these stubborn families, they also suffered heavy losses. Especially when the two sides entered into a long-term confrontation. After all, no one could do anything to the other. The party who took the initiative to attack would always suffer more losses, while the party who defended would always win. Thus, naturally, no one was willing to start a war lightly. Unless there was something very important, a major conflict between the Pyu Empire and the northern families would not break out.
The sudden arrival of the Tang dynasty's three thousand elite soldiers naturally made the guards of Northern City very nervous. Although they had received news in advance that Ang Lee's group was going to enter the Pyu Empire's territory to plan the railway, they were still shocked when they saw so many elite Tang Army soldiers. With so many Tang Army soldiers, it would be terrible if they turned hostile!
"Have the army camp outside the city. Pick a hundred soldiers to follow me into the city."
Li An did not want to provoke the soldiers of the Piao Kingdom in the north city. Therefore, he did not bring too many soldiers into the city. He only brought a little more than a hundred men with him. The army traveled for more than a hundred miles and needed to rest in the north city before they could continue south.
After entering the city, Li An exchanged some pleasantries with the guards of North City for a while and stated his purpose for coming. Then, he led the group to the best inn in the city and settled down first before talking about anything else.
Northern City had a population of fifty to sixty thousand, which was considered a very large city in the Pyu Empire. It was estimated that Northern City could be ranked second after their capital city. After all, the total population of the Pyu Empire was less than a million. How many Pyu Empire could have fifty to sixty thousand people? There were hundreds of Pyu strongholds of various sizes. How could such a small population be enough to share? Moreover, the Pyu Empire was an agricultural kingdom. More than half of the population was not in the strongholds but in the countryside. Therefore, such a small population was not enough to share. In short, Northern City was definitely a big city in the Pyu Empire.
Along the way, Ang Lee saw the bustling Northern City. He had made up his mind to make this place an important node of the railway station. He would also build an eight-lane railway station to promote economic development and make this place more prosperous.
"Tell the soldiers to rest for two days. We will set off in the morning the day after tomorrow."
Ang Lee said.
Since they had already come to Northern City, they naturally wanted to experience the delicacies here and see if there was anything delicious here. Otherwise, it would be a wasted trip.
"Let's go and have a look on the street."
After resting for an hour, Ang Lee and more than ten people strolled on the street. Zhao Yefu also followed them. He also wanted to see the exotic scenery here.
"Oh, it's really a small place. There are people who eat with their hands. Don't they know how to use chopsticks?"
Chen Long frowned and shook his head when he saw several people eating with their hands on the street.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "These people shouldn't be Pyu people. The Pyu Empire was deeply influenced by the Tang dynasty. People still know how to use chopsticks. These people came from India to make a living. People in India eat with their hands and don't use chopsticks. It's strange that they eat with their hands. Moreover, they only eat with their right hand. They definitely don't eat with their left hand."
"Why? Why do they only eat with their right hand? "
Chen Long was puzzled.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
