Go to ancient times and engage in construction

The slave exchange in Dacheng is very large. There are four or five half-open houses at the gate of the exchange. That house is the place where the exchange branded slaves. Because some slaves would resist the branding, there were more than a dozen slaves outside the branding house. Soldiers with weapons on alert.The Branding Office also undertakes another function, that is, charging fees. For branding a slave, the buyer has to pay a gold tax to the Dacheng Slave Trading Office.Only after the slaves purchased by the buyers are branded here will the branded slaves be officially recognized by Dacheng, and the slave rights of the buyers will be maintained by the rulers of Dacheng.

The slaves that Chu Chaohui bought were all refugees who voluntarily sold themselves in order to survive. These refugees branded their brands, and they would become the private property of Chu Chaohui and Zheng Yuming in the future. They were the masters of life and death. The city officials would dispatch soldiers to suppress it, and the local civilians would not help the slaves, because the Daqin Law clearly stipulated that civilians who helped slaves escape a felony, and the whole family would be demoted to slaves.

This group of slaves who are about to have masters, escorted by Chu Chaohui, Zheng Yuming, Wu Dahe and Mouse, obediently walked to the branding place. Although these slaves lost their personal freedom after being branded, they had a way out. Get food there, you can break free from starvation.

Branding is to put an iron block on the stove and burn it red, and press it on the face of the slave to burn it. There are several shapes of the iron block, some are so big that the slave has a mark on half of the face, and some are as small as a plum blossom.When Zheng Yuming saw that the buyer in front chose to brand his slave with a big iron block, and the branded slave howled in pain, he couldn't help his scalp numb. You must know that a large area of ​​skin is burned, and pain is a trivial matter. Died of an infected sore.

"Two governors! What kind of iron block should you choose for branding?" The management officials of the trading office bowed to Zheng Mingyu and Chu Chaohui. Every buyer must first register with him when entering the trading market. Zhong learned that the two were newly appointed governors by the Lord of Ulsan, and that the governors were of the same rank as the officials in charge of managing the slave farms, and they were both minor officials.

"Use that kind of plum blossom mark." Zheng Yuming searched for the iron block, pointing to the smallest piece of brand mark request.

"They all have this kind of mark?" The official repeated in surprise. He scanned the 21 slaves with his eyes as he asked, and found that none of them were handsome except for the stronger ones, and one of them even had a lame leg. Middle-aged slaves.

"Well, use these brands." Zheng Yuming nodded in affirmation.

The official was surprised by Zheng Yuming's heavy taste, but he saw many buyers in the trading office. Although Zheng Yuming's taste was a bit special, it was not out of the ordinary, and he should let his subordinates brand the 21 slaves.

Zheng Yuming felt that the officials at the slave trading office looked at him strangely, and seeing that Wu Da hesitated to speak to him, he quietly approached Wu Da.

"Brother Ang, is there anything special about this brand?"

"The face of the slave is marked with a large iron brand, and the master basically chooses that kind of mark. And the plum blossom seal is usually used for favored slaves." Wu Da knew that his two sworn brothers didn't understand the key, so he quickly put The various uses of brand marks tell Zheng Yuming that if the slaves are bought back to do coolies, the buyer will not care whether the slaves are disfigured or not, only those slaves who are more handsome and the buyer buys back to warm the bed, the buyer is reluctant to leave big marks on their faces. For scars, you will choose to use the smallest plum blossom branding. This kind of plum blossom branding is usually branded on the center of the eyebrows.

Zheng Yuming just didn't want to leave a big scar on the slave's face, and he didn't want the slave to suffer more, but he didn't expect the meaning of the mark represented by the plum blossom brand. Thinking of the surprised expression of the official who presided over the branding, Zheng Yuming's face turned red.

"Look here, I'll go to the market to buy another slave." Chu Zhaohui frowned and looked at the branded buyer in front of them, who was whipping the newly branded slave with a whip. Those slaves who were beaten had hatred in their eyes. If there were no soldiers around, Chu Zhaohui reckoned that the buyer might be beaten up by the slaves.

"Oh, you go." Zheng Yuming was in a state of embarrassment, and didn't ask Chu Chaohui why he still wanted to buy a slave.

When the 21 slaves finished branding at the trading office, Chu Chaohui came with a mouse and escorted a burly man. This burly man was the slave who caused the commotion in the trading market.

The burly slave was 1 meters tall, and he was the tallest ancient man Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui had seen in this world.The burly slave's face was full of flesh, with a big slave character branded on the left half of his face, and his eyes were fierce, making him difficult to deal with just by looking at it.

The official in charge of branding looked at the slave with a face full of flesh and saw that the slave had already been branded, so he only charged a gold tax and did not add another plum blossom mark to the slave.

"Why did you buy this slave? It looks hard to tame." Zheng Yuming stared at the burly slave who stood out from the crowd, and couldn't help frowning.There are only two adults in the valley, he and Chu Chaohui, but they have to take care of 21 slaves. Although there are laws and regulations of this era to restrain those slaves, if the slaves are not docile and docile, he and Chu Chaohui dare not buy so many at once. .The last slave that Chu Chaohui bought looked like a dangerous person. If such a dangerous person was put in the valley, would he and Chu Chaohui still feel at ease in the future?

"Don't worry, he won't be able to jump if I'm here." Chu Zhaohui squinted at the burly slave who was full of air in the slave group.

"You..." Zheng Yuming looked at the burly slave, and then at Chu Chaohui, he wanted to say something but held back his mouth.

The 22 slaves were taken to the Dacheng Inn, where Wu Da had booked a room the last time he came to Dacheng. These slaves would shave their heads and take a bath in the inn, and change into the linen clothes Wu Da bought.

Chu Chaohui and Zheng Yuming both had 450 bolts of Dacheng cloth from the sale of glass beads, [-] gold from Wu Mu as a thank you, and [-] gold from Dr. Xu for buying medicine. In addition to exchanging a piece of Dacheng cloth for Wu coins as a backup, the two of them kept five hundred gold integers, and let Wu Da buy the sackcloth, food and some necessary supplies for slaves. These things are also stored in the The inn, after the purchased slaves have spent the night in the inn, the mule cart that was hired early tomorrow morning will transport the slaves and supplies back together.

When the heads of the slaves were being shaved at the inn, there was a commotion among the slaves.At this time, although Confucian ethics had not yet been formed, the love of hair was not included in the Confucian norms of "filial piety". After the Huaxia nation was born in the Yellow River Basin, it gradually formed its own national characteristics, that is, the love for hair.Therefore, although people at this time do not have the attitude of resisting with death, they are always reluctant to accept it emotionally.Facing the commotion of the slaves, Chu Chaohui didn't say anything, but beat up the burly slave who resisted the most fiercely. Although the burly slave was physically strong, he had already starved for two days when he was sent to the slave market by the former master. God, Chu Chaohui himself was tall, with top-notch fighting skills. Under Chu Chaohui's fists, the burly slave was as powerless as a three-year-old child.

The burly slave was beaten so badly that his nose was bruised and his face was swollen. Chu Zhaohui forced the first one to shave his head. When the other slaves saw what happened to the burly slave, they didn't dare to resist any more. They lined up obediently and waited for the rat to cut their hair. Shaved, even though the rats were not very skilled and left a few bloody mouths on their heads, they didn't make a sound.

The shaved hair, and even the clothes that the slaves took off were burned, and the dirty and shiny slaves were driven into the inn and washed twice in wooden barrels, cleaned up one by one, and put on Wu Da before reaching the city. With the coarse linen clothes and hemp shoes purchased, these slaves finally looked like human beings, and they were no longer humanoid animals in the slave trading market.

The slaves packed up, and it was getting dark. The innkeeper brought up three barrels of corn porridge (millet is a kind of millet), and each slave was given two bowls. On the first night, I finally let my stomach bulge once.Although the initial shaving made the slaves resist for a while, the subsequent treatment made the slaves flattered. These people who just wanted to have a ration of food and not starve to death did not expect that the treatment given by their master was so good. In addition to changing into new clothes, I also gave my stomach a full stomach.After the stomach and body warmed up, some slaves began to have expectations for their slave life, and became more obedient to the master's instructions.A dinner and a suit of clothes aroused the slaves' yearning for life, but the slaves who had yearning did not include the burly slave that Chu Chaohui finally bought.

When the burly slave was eating corn porridge, before he finished his share, he robbed the rice porridge from two thin slaves beside him. The two thin slaves who were robbed were the father and son. Chu Chaohui who was standing next to him didn't step forward to stop him. The father and son, who were already so hungry that their hands and feet were weak, were no match for the burly slave. The saved bowl poured into his mouth.

The burly slave drank four bowls of corn porridge, touched his swollen belly, and found that Chu Chaohui, who was in charge of him, hadn't taken a lesson. The slaves were all beaten away by him.

"Brother Zheng! Why did Brother Chu want to buy that unworthy slave? The slave was in the hands of the previous owner, and he fought for power. He beat the slave who lived with him to death before he was resold."

After Chu Chaohui bought the burly slave, Wu Da went to the seller to find out about the slave's situation. The seller had already sold the goods. Whether the burly slave was good or bad had nothing to do with him, so he immediately told the story about the burly slave. detailed.

The burly slaves were originally civilians, but they were demoted to slaves by the government because they were fighting for power and lost their lives. As a result, when they arrived at the master's house, they still did not change their nature and bullied the slaves of the master's house all over the place. One, the master originally wanted to execute the burly slaves, but thought that he had already lost two slaves, and if he executed one more, he would lose three. He was unwilling and decided to sell the burly slaves to recover some losses.

"Brother Wu, don't worry about this." Zheng Yuming had been with Chu Chaohui for more than a month, and had a vague understanding of Chu Chaohui's temper and character. Now, listening to Wu Da's explanation of the past of the burly slaves, he had a slight guess in his heart.

"Hey! Brother, I'm also worried. I'm afraid that my virtuous brothers won't be able to control the killing of embryos. Since you insist on using it, why don't you put torture tools on this slave."

"Well, let's talk about it in the valley." Zheng Yuming was vague and perfunctory. If the guess in his heart was correct, then the burly slaves didn't need torture instruments at all.