Hearthstone Farm Lord

Chapter 43 Buying Slaves
In the Principality of Ryan, almost all nobles need to buy a large number of slaves to help them manage their estates.

The living conditions of the slaves were poor, the medical conditions were extremely poor, and the death rate remained high.

In order to maintain the income of the manor, the nobles would naturally buy more slaves in the slave market, which led to the prosperity of the slave market.

Naturally, the same is true of Jorn City. There are a large number of slave trades every day, and many people earn a lot of gold coins by selling slaves and catching slaves.

There are generally two types of slaves sold in the slave market:
The first kind of slaves are cultivated from children. These slaves have been instilled with thoughts such as "I want to work hard" and "I want to listen to the master" since they were young, so they are very obedient and will not betray the will of the farmer. Not to defect.

But because they were slaves since they were young, all of them were malnourished, dark and thin, and couldn't handle a lot of heavy physical work, nor could they work long-term and high-intensity.

The other kind of slaves were captured civilians, who were sold to all corners of the world at low prices by the victorious nations as spoils of war.

Compared with slaves raised from children, they are stronger and have more planting experience, so they are very suitable for the production of manors.

But they were all forced to become slaves after all, and finding ways to escape or slowing down their work has become a common occurrence among these slaves.

The prices of the two kinds of slaves in the Principality of Ryan are almost the same, but in the city of Jorn, because the distance to the north is farther, the northern slaves are more expensive than the southern slaves.

Now Sean is standing in the largest slave store in the slave market - "Slave House", and the housekeeper Henry and the chief guard John are also standing behind Sean.

And Windsor was sent out by Sean to convey his meaning to the mercenary group and the city guards.

Looking at the filthy slaves in the cage in front of him, and occasionally smelling the stench emanating from the cage, Xiao En frowned slightly.

"Baron Shuijing (Weil), please tell me the price of these slaves again. I was a little distracted and didn't catch it." Sean said to the slave trader Baron Shuijing who was standing next to him.

Baron Shuijing's full name is Sebastian Shuijing, and his family has been selling slaves for a living.

It wasn't until the last few decades that his family bought the title of baron and became an honorary nobleman with a title but no territory. Only then did he get rid of his status as a mere businessman and entered the upper class of Jorn City.

Although they are all barons, there is still a big difference in the status of honorary nobles and real nobles, so Baron Shuijing is very respectful to Sean:
"Your Highness Sean, the price of an adult northern male slave is 10 gold coins, a female 6 gold coins, and a child 4 gold coins.

They are the spoils of war that the Kingdom of Anjou attacked the Principality of Sunflower in the Northwest a few months ago. They have not been shipped to our Principality for a long time, and all of them are hardworking and capable;

The price of adult slaves in the South was 8 gold coins for males, 5.5 gold coins for women, and 3.5 gold coins for children. They were shipped from the port of Kapoor and were also slaves of the Kingdom of Anjou. "

"The price of slaves is actually cheaper than cattle?"

Sean was very surprised that the price of an adult male slave was half that of a farm cattle.

"Of course, Your Highness, cattle can still eat meat after they die. To some extent, cattle are indeed better than slaves."

At this moment, Henry, the housekeeper who was standing behind Sean, also said to Sean: "Your Highness Sean, I used to help my original owner, the Viscount of the Lake, manage the manor. I have been buying slaves from here, and the price of this family is the most reasonable. "

"Then Henry, what kind of slave did you mainly buy before?" Sean looked at the butler Henry.

Steward Henry was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "I have bought both types of slaves, and although northern slaves can do some heavy physical work, I am more inclined to buy southern slaves.

After all, slaves in the south are better managed and will not be passive and sabotage. "

Xiao En nodded and did not speak again, but carefully observed the slaves in the cage.

These slaves were all sallow and thin, with dull eyes, and had no longing for life at all.

The slave traders also cleverly carved slave tattoos on their faces, so that they could only live as slaves no matter where they fled.

Sean thought about it carefully, and said: "But now our territory needs to be rebuilt, and there is a lot of heavy physical work, so let's buy northern slaves.

As for the issue of passive sabotage, I made a plan at my residence just now, and it can't be called a plan, it can be regarded as a policy.

Henry, after buying the northern slaves you can tell them:

Every year, I will choose one tenth of them with the best performance to give them the status of freedmen, and I can issue them with freedman certificates, so that their enthusiasm can be guaranteed. "

"This can indeed ensure the enthusiasm of the slaves, but will the price be too high?" Henry the steward asked doubtfully:

"Assuming that we want to buy 200 slaves, restoring freedom to [-] slaves every year is equivalent to losing more than [-] gold coins, plus some died of illness, so the manor basically does not make money."

"It can't be calculated in this way, so why don't you count the taxes paid by these slaves after they became freemen?" Sean glared at Henry.

"This." The butler Henry was speechless, he really hadn't thought about this question.

"Then it's settled, let's do this first, and we'll discuss it later if there are problems.

Baron of the well, can slaves be cheaper? "Sean looked at Baron Shuijing, a slave trader who had been standing beside him without speaking.

Baron Shuijing was also very disdainful of Xiao En's method of "motivating the slaves", but it didn't show on his face.

Hearing Xiao En's question, he said: "If you want me to say, to ensure the enthusiasm of the slaves, you only need a few strong overseers and a few tough whips.

As for the price you mentioned, Your Highness, we have been at this price this year and have not changed it. "

Sean smiled and said, "After all, we buy in large quantities, which is cheaper. We will come to you again when we buy slaves in the future."

Baron Shuijing thought for a while, gritted his teeth and said, "All right, the price of each slave will be reduced by two silver coins. This is already the most favorable price."

"Okay." Sean turned his head to look at Henry: "Henry, you come to sign the purchase agreement, we need about [-] slaves.

John and I have gone to the Magic Guild, if you need anything, go find me there. "

After Sean gave Henry his orders, he left the slave market and drove towards the Magic Guild in a carriage.

The carriage was walking on the road to the rich area, and Sean sighed slightly while looking at the scenery outside the window.

Originally, Sean didn't want to buy slaves, but the territory was very short of people.

The current River Beach Town cannot attract residents from other towns, and buying slaves is the only way to increase the population.

Slavery will definitely be abolished in the future, not because of human rights and freedoms, but because slavery is extremely inefficient.

If you think about it casually, you will know that the wealth created by a slave who looks like a walking corpse and a farmer who is full of hope for the future is even more than two or three times different.

Moreover, the previous life experience told Sean that only a highly educated population can form a demographic dividend, and slavery is of course good for the lord personally, but it is a population burden for the entire territory.

But slavery cannot be abolished immediately. The surrounding territories are all slavery, so it should not be too eye-catching;

The second is that Sean understands human nature, and human nature is not satisfied.

The greatest wish of a slave is to be a freeman;

After becoming free people, their greatest wish is food and clothing;
After food and clothing are settled, their greatest wish is rich material conditions;

After the material conditions are rich, people will have spiritual needs.

So the abolition of slavery should be done slowly.

(End of this chapter)