Chapter 126 Buying Slaves

After washing up, Yu Chaosheng asked the waiter for a lot of information under the pretext of asking him to deliver food.

It's a rare occasion to have such a generous guest, so the waiter naturally told him everything he knew.

After Funing City was separated, the city lord became General Tu Su. The civilians in the city were beaten into slaves and bought and sold at will. Various shops were still open, but the owner was replaced by him, and the prices of all kinds of goods increased more than ten times at his instruction.

买人需要去城主别庄，青壮25两、妇人20两，45岁以上的老人和14岁以下的孩子统一12两。

If you buy for more than 100 people at one time, each person can get a discount of 2 taels.

Currently, there are about 50000 slaves in the entire Funing, almost half of whom are mixed-race children born after the Battle of Tongguan.

The waiter was talking until his mouth was dry, so Yu Chaosheng threw him two taels of silver and asked him to prepare a few special dishes of the inn.

The waiter left happily, but Pan Yingying's face fell.

Disasters are frequent in Dayu, and human life is the cheapest. It would be good if a young and strong man could be sold for 10 taels, but here it costs more than twice that.

"It's too expensive." Pan Yingying frowned. It's not that she didn't take human life seriously, but she had to adapt to the local customs. She didn't want to spend so much here.

Yu Chaosheng also felt it was expensive, so he sat down at the table and began to think about the feasibility of taking the person back with less money or even for free.

After a long while without any idea, he stood up and said, "Get some rest tonight and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Pan Yingying uttered a low "hmm".

The waiter said that there were about five to six thousand Tartars guarding the villa, all of them strong and powerful, with first-class armor and weapons. The possibility of taking them away without spending any money was almost zero.

The only way is to spend silver notes to buy the person back first.

"How much should we buy? How do we buy it?" Pan Yingying took out a small notebook and a ballpoint pen from the space, looked up and asked.

Yu Chaosheng calculated the progress of building the wall and said, "First, buy 500 young and strong men."

Pan Yingying: ...

"Is 500 too much? And with such a big target, there's no guarantee that it won't arouse suspicion. We have to pass through Ningyuan on the way." She hesitated. It was more than 1000 taels, not to mention that she would have to take care of food, clothing, housing and transportation when she returned.

Yu Chaosheng shook his head and said that 500 people were not many.

You know, if we bring these 500 people back, the wall can be built within a month.

"Ningyuan doesn't allow anyone to enter the city. Even if there are slaves passing by, most of them will not care. We just need to stop those spies." He paused, "Also, if 500 young and strong men are trained, we will be able to protect ourselves when we face Yaocheng again."

Pan Yingying: ???

Yaocheng has at least 2 soldiers, and if they gather together, it may be able to reach 500. How can people talk about self-protection? Is it just a dream?

She rolled her eyes and wrote down in her notebook, "Young men 1500, women 300, old people and children 100 each."

Yu Chaosheng raised his eyebrows in surprise, thinking that this woman was finally not so stingy anymore.

"When the time comes, build the wall as quickly as possible, and then start training them to defend their homeland." Pan Yingying tapped on the notebook with her pen.

Yu Chaosheng came over and sat with her, pointing at the old man written on her notebook, "What about the old man? The old man is of little use to Taoyuan Village."

Pan Yingying squinted her eyes. "An old man in the family is like a treasure. In such a backward era, many technologies are passed down by word of mouth." She reached out and touched Yu Chaosheng's head. "I don't want their labor, but the knowledge in their heads."

Yu Chaosheng suddenly realized that on this point, he still maintained a modern mindset and felt that young people had learned more culture.

He took the ballpoint pen from Pan Yingying's hand and wrote "×2" after the total number of people in the small notebook. "Since we're here, we might as well take more people back at once." Pan Yingying didn't want to talk and didn't cross out the number he added.

The waiter brought up a tray with another girl about twelve or thirteen years old.

The dishes were average, but the portions were generous, especially the big pancake, which was bigger than Pan Yingying's head.

After they left, Pan Yingying took out a silver hairpin from the space and poked them one by one. Seeing that the silver hairpin did not change color, she picked them up one by one and smelled them.

"No problem." She breathed a sigh of relief, then took out a clean cloth, wrapped a few pancakes and put them into the space, and took out a plate of hot buns again.

After dinner, they called the waiter to clear away the dishes, and then they rinsed their mouths and lay down on the bed to rest.

Silent all night.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the inn, Yu Chaosheng hired a waiter to drive a horse-drawn carriage to take them to the villa.

When he heard that they wanted to buy 4000 slaves, the manager of the villa, with a deep-eyed look, was suspicious, but he still took them in to select people.

Here, no one dares to make fun of them.

"This area is full of young and strong people." The middle-aged manager pointed to a group of low houses and spoke in poor Dayu dialect.

The house was built like a pigsty, and the fence was packed with people lying or sitting, all huddled together.

His clothes were tattered, he was dirty, and the smell was so strong that people dared not breathe.

Pan Yingying and Yu Chaosheng did not cover their noses, but just glanced at the young men inside.

"I wonder what you two are going to do with so many slaves?" The steward asked suddenly, his eyes slightly cold.

Yu Chaosheng seemed to be unaware of it and made up a story that sounded like the truth. "My father bought a thousand acres of good farmland in Jiangnan, and our family business is big, so we are really short of manpower."

The steward said "Oh", rolled his eyes, and pointed to the fenced houses on the far right. "The people over there are all very strong, suitable for farming."

Yu Chaosheng didn't ask for anyone to recommend, but rather randomly pointed out a few houses, all of which he had just spotted. Most of the people were between 15 and 30 years old, and many were mixed-race.

The manager was not angry and took them to the woman's side.

"The women here are a little prettier." The steward said, giving Yu Chaosheng a look that said "you know".

Yu Chaosheng quickly glanced at Pan Yingying, then straightened his back and glared at the manager, "Women should still be strong. Those weak women can't do farm work, so don't do it."

Pan Yingying didn't say a word or express any opinions throughout the whole process. Although she was wearing men's clothes, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that she was a woman dressed as a man.

The manager smiled awkwardly and did not make any more recommendations, just letting Yu Chaosheng choose.

Yu Chaosheng picked out both the elderly and children, regardless of gender, those who were not so sick.

The most important thing for them now is to bring people back, not to do charity. It is not worth it to deliberately pick out those with poor health and slow down the return journey.

After choosing the people, the two were invited to a small hall to negotiate the price. As soon as they sat down, they heard a man coming to report that some slaves were making a fuss.

The manager's face darkened instantly. He didn't avoid the two of them and asked directly the reason.

　Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
　　More updates added!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)