I looked at the old man who spoke, and then at the many young people in the village. Compared to the old people, these young people had different expressions. A few people obviously wanted to refute, but they all held back.
"I know, but the current Tang Dynasty is different from the previous dynasties. The most important thing is that the current Datang really treats us as the people of the Tang Dynasty, not as some barbarians." Huang Lingshan took a deep breath. He took a breath and spoke.
"The Xiaogou village where Puka is located is closer to the outside world. They have always kept in touch with the outside world, and you all know their changes."
"Now His Highness King Qin of the Tang Dynasty is collecting medicinal materials in Lingnan Road. Not only do we, the mountain people in the mountains, charge high prices for medicinal materials, but he also sells us grain at a lower price. Not only does every household in Xiaogou Village have no shortage of food. , no longer hungry, and many families also bought a lot of new ironware, knives, pots and other iron supplies."
"Although there are a lot of prey in the mountains, we all know that the prey cannot feed everyone, and the farmland we can cultivate in the mountains is limited, and the food we can grow is also limited. In our village for so many years, although people will not starve to death, everyone Are you full?"
"More importantly, Datang's attitude towards us is that it not only gives us discounts, but is also willing to provide us with ironware. The previous imperial court never dared to sell ironware to us mountain people."
"There is also this book "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual". As long as you are willing to exchange it, you can exchange it for a copy at a very low price in almost every village. Not to mention anything else, in our village alone, this book was saved. How many children and people are there? In the past six months, five people have been saved because of this book."
"I don't need to tell you how expensive the book is, you all know it, but His Highness the King of Qin is willing to sell this book that cures diseases and saves lives to us at a very low price, even though we mountain people may not have much culture, and we are also the innermost among many people of the Tang Dynasty. We are barbarians, but we are not people who don’t know how to repay kindness.”
"What's more, His Highness the King of Qin gave us a lot, but didn't ask us for anything in return. As for persuading the corvee, joining the army and fighting will kill people, but joining the army and fighting is not also protecting ourselves? What's more, when are we hunting in the mountains? Are you safe?" Huang Lingshan asked.
"Headman. I want to go down the mountain, even to join the army. I heard that the recruitment of soldiers in the Tang Dynasty is now paid with military salary, which means that they are given money every month, and the money given is enough to feed a family of more than ten people. Food! I now have three children, and if I just rely on hunting, they won’t be able to have enough to eat." Just after confirming that his son was fine, Huang Gu stood up and said.
"Go to me, too. My mother is sick. If it weren't for Dr. Puka, she might have died. And if I go hunting and can't get any prey, they will all starve, so it's better to be a soldier and buy food."
Many young people in the village stood up and expressed their gratitude.
Seeing the attitude of these young people, some old people in the village could not object.
…
In Gaozhou, Feng An was listening to reports from his own tribe.
"Brother, according to the information we have received so far, the veterans under the command of King Qin have more than 30,000 mountain people after training alone, and this month, nearly 10,000 more mountain people have come out of the mountains. They all From different tribes." Feng Wenji said with a strange expression.
"Is it just us here?" Feng An asked.
"Yes, it's just our place. If we look at the entire Lingnan Road, there may not be as many as 100,000 mountain residents who have completed training." Feng Wenji took a deep breath and said.
"Hey, I used to hear how powerful His Highness the King of Qin is from the Tang Dynasty Weekly and some legends. Now I can see the real power." Feng Ang was somewhat impressed.
"Yes, one hundred thousand mountain people! With our own influence, we could only recruit thirty or forty thousand soldiers at most before. This is because we have connections with the leaders of some large tribes, but His Highness the King of Qin did nothing. The mountain people came out on their own, registered with local officials as common people of the Tang Dynasty, and then took the initiative to undergo training. This gap is too big." Feng Wenji nodded, with a mixture of admiration and a bit of horror on his face.
So powerful!
Most of the mountain people are brave people. After all, they all need to hunt to survive. They have been good at moving in the mountains and fields since they were young. They are naturally good at fighting wild animals. Now His Highness has easily pulled out a hundred thousand mountain people. What do you mean?
Not to mention Lingnan Road, these 100,000 mountain people can sweep across the entire Nanyang land. Although His Highness did not recruit troops, but selected the best from the 100,000 mountain people.
But these mountain people are willing to accept training, which means that in the future, as long as His Highness makes a move, he can instantly send out 100,000 more troops!
"Everyone is a lot better behaved now, right?" Feng An couldn't help but asked with a smile.
"That's natural." Feng Wenji nodded.
Feng An smiled. The Feng family is different from other wealthy nobles. Several of Feng An's legitimate sons are in Chang'an. Therefore, when Feng An returned to the Tang Dynasty, he never thought of rebellion. However, among the local wealthy families in Lingnan Road, There are many people who rely on their local influence to do evil and disdain the government's decrees.
Now, you let them try again?
Oh, at first, when His Highness said that he wanted to purchase medicinal herbs from the mountain people and pay them food, these people were dismissive. They felt that His Highness was just showing off and kept purchasing medicinal herbs. If the medicinal materials could not be used up, how much could His Highness have? Money toss? Although food in Lingnan Road is cheap, how much food can His Highness spend?
But after a few months... His Highness's medicinal material processing factory began to spread all over Lingnan Road. Not to mention, more and more mountain people came out to register their households and became common people of the Tang Dynasty. Then they followed the medicinal material factory to expand to instructors all over Lingnan. They began to train these mountain people.
The training time was not long, only three months, and during the training, these mountain people did not receive military pay and only received food. But for the mountain people, this was enough, because the food they received every month was more than They hunt a lot more and it's stable.
And His Highness will only select the best among them as members of the Tang Dynasty Urban Management Corps.
Feng Wenji was not sure, but Feng Ang knew very well that when His Highness's instructors selected these members, they selected a few people from each village to keep, which meant that His Highness had people to retain in almost every village.
Once a war breaks out, these people will be the foundation!
What is the influence of those wealthy families now? No matter how powerful the influence is, it has no influence at all when facing an army of 100,000 mountain people.
What's more, His Highness's actions have such a strong impact on the mountain people, and even more so on the local people. Without the common people as their foundation, they, the powerful families, only have a little money.
"I heard that His Highness's ironworks has decided to provide some kind of loan to the people at the foot of the mountain, and then give them priority in providing them with plows and various iron farm tools?" Feng Ang asked.
"Yes, the person in charge here in Gaozhou told us before." Feng Wenji said immediately.
"Contact the other party and say that if they are short of money, our Feng family is willing to provide funds to His Highness as a guarantee and support His Highness's policies. First, we will give priority to the distribution of farm tools such as plows and plows to the people, and then allow all the packhorses in our family's name to receive them. Those who come out to make stallions will be taken out and given priority to the people to breed horses and mules." Feng Ang made a decision directly.
"Yes! Brother." Feng Wenji immediately understood what his brother meant.
If Lingnan in the past was like an enclave of the Tang Dynasty. Although it belonged to the Tang Dynasty, and even the local wealthy families were officials of the Tang Dynasty, in fact, if the Tang Dynasty did not have enough control over the local area, then Lingnan Road now may become the territory of the Tang Dynasty. Except for the area near Chang'an, the Tang court had the strongest control over the area.
And as time goes by in a year or two, this cohesion will become even stronger! In particular, the local people's attachment to the Tang Dynasty would make the Tang Dynasty unfavorable to the local rule, including Lin Yidu, who had just joined the Tang Dynasty.
