Gu Lao Er looked at the hundreds of Tartar slaves sitting in the slave market, and his neck shrank in fright. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This Quang Ninh Wei 3rd Tun slave market is said to be one of the smaller ones in Quang Ninh Wei, but there are still several hundred tartars. The Tartars were branded on their faces, and on their right cheeks were branded with a large word "Tartar". The Tartars, both male and female, had their braids cut off, their hair shaved short, and their feet tied with ropes tied to the market.

The women had no ropes tied to their feet. These women are burned in the face, and even if they escape, they will not survive, so the people who manage the market will not tie them up.

The slave market did not mistreat the Tartar slaves, who looked very strong and did not have a yellow face and thin skin from hunger. At this time, it was the moon of La, and the Tartars were wearing the old cotton jackets eliminated by the Tiger Army. But the Tartars have no spirits, and they are all depressed.

Gu Lao Er saw a strong middle-aged Tartar slave and observed the slave for a while. The slave looked up at Gu Lao Er, and Gu Lao Er was startled, and he didn't dare to look at this tartar again.

Gu Lao Er took a few steps forward, and said to Qi Gongji: "I really have a long experience, it turns out that Grandpa Guo really beat all the Tartars into slaves." ”

Qi Gongji didn't speak, and walked in the middle of the slave market with great interest, looking at those Tartar slaves, looking up and down.

Gu Lao Er followed Qi Gongji and walked among the tartars, grinned and said, "This is a tartar, does anyone dare to buy this?" ”

Qi Gongji said with a smile: "These tartars have been burned in the face, what are you afraid of?" ”

Gu Lao Er said: "The tartar with a branded face is also a tartar, isn't it like playing with a tartar to kill a Han man?" What if there is a sudden attack on that day and the buyer is killed? ”

A small waiter in the slave market heard Gu Laoer's words and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid of this merchant, if the Tartar is burned in the face, he has no way to escape." The roads and checkpoints in Liaodong Province were full of Han Chinese, and he could not escape from the province. The Tartars categorically did not dare to attack their masters. ”

Qi Gongji nodded and looked at Gu Er.

The little man in the market said, "Merchant, this Tartar slave in the prime of life only costs fifty taels each. Merchant, think about it, how much money does it cost to hire a long-term worker in a year? How much does it take to hire a tenant farmer to give out the harvest? Buy a Tartar slave and go back to farming, and in two years you will earn back the purchase price. ”

Gu Lao Er quickly shook his head and said, "I don't dare to buy it." I'm still thinking of something else. ”

Qi Gongji smiled and said: "According to the calculation that a tartar eats two catties of rice noodles a day, a tartar eats four stone rice noodles a year, that is, eight taels of silver, plus the money for making cotton clothes, quilts and houses, it only takes a dozen taels a year." It's much more cost-effective than hiring someone. ”

Hearing that Qi Gongji was going to give the slaves two catties of food a day, as well as cotton clothes and quilts, the slaves on the ground all said that this was a good master. The dejected Tartars raised their heads and looked at Qi Gongji, hoping that Qi Gongji would buy him.

"I'm going to buy six, and these six slaves will be able to plant all my five hundred and forty acres of land with two sets of ploughing oxen and agricultural machinery. This way I don't have to give the harvest to the tenant farmers, and the harvest is much more in a year. ”

After Qi Gongji said this, he walked into the Tartar group to pick slaves. The little guy was very happy when he saw the business coming, and followed Qi Gongji in. Every time Qi Gongji walked in front of a tartar, he asked the tartar to stand up to see if it was strong, and then looked at the appearance of the tooth and mouth, and made sure that the tartars were all young.

The Tartar slaves died in the country, and they did not have the arrogance they had when they bullied the Han people. The little guy in the market waved a wooden stick and told the slaves to do whatever they wanted.

Gu Lao Er stood alone, but he was a little afraid of the Tartar slaves sitting on the ground. He took a few steps back and stood in the doorway to feel safe.

Qi Gongji didn't buy six at a time, he finally picked two tartars, saying that he would take them back to manage it to see if it was managed. The little guy collected sixty taels of bills from Qi Gongji, and then took the two tartars down to pack the quilt and jacket.

Qi Gongji bought two tartars, thinking about saving the expenses of hiring tenant farmers, and was very happy. He took Gu Lao Er and walked to the female Tartar slave.

Dozens of female Tartars over there sat on the ground, some of them in their twenties and thirties with their children.

Although the female Tartars were also beaten as slaves, they were allowed to have children with the Han people under Li Zhi's rules, so the spirit of the whole group was much better. Since he was sold to the Han people, he could give birth to children for the Han people, and he could always have enough food and warm clothes. The key is to find a rich owner.

As soon as they saw that there were slave buyers coming in to pick slaves, the female tartars sitting on the ground all raised their heads and looked at Qi Gongji and Gu Lao Er with wide eyes one by one. Especially Qi Gongji, who was wearing a satin jacket, was obviously wealthy, so the female tartars paid more attention, and looked at Qi Gongji with wide eyes one by one, hoping that Qi Gongji would buy him.

The little guy in the slave market knew that Qi Gongji was rich, so he stood beside Qi Gongji and said: "Qi officials, these female tartars can be bought to make warm beds, the good-looking one is fifty taels, and the unsightly ones are thirty taels or twenty taels." ”

Qi Gongji looked at those female tartars, shook his head and said, "These tartars are too ugly. ”

Seeing that Qi Gongji had no intention of buying female tartars, the little guy said: "Merchants, you have a high vision, these female tartars actually have no shortage of buyers." A few days ago, we shipped 50 of them to Shandong, and they were all bought up by the poor old peasants who couldn't find their daughters-in-law. ”

"Especially the most unsightly category of twenty taels is the best to sell, and those poorest old farmers are good as long as someone inherits the ancestry, and they don't pick at all."

Polygamy was allowed in the Ming Dynasty, and wealthy men tended to have three wives and four concubines. As a result, many poor people will not be able to marry wives. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many men who could not marry a daughter-in-law in their lives and worked as cattle and horses in the cities and villages, and died quietly.

Li Zhi's female Tartar slaves gave these lowest-level Ming people hope for inheritance.

Gu Lao Er looked at those Tartar women and shook his head. He and his daughter-in-law have been together for many years, raising children together, and they have no idea of buying a female slave to warm the bed.

Qi Gongji looked at Gu Lao Er and asked, "Brother Gu is going to run the grange himself and find tenant farmers to farm?" ”

Gu Lao Er smiled and shook his head.

He took out a copy of the Tianjin Daily from his sleeve and said, "The governor of Liaodong introduced the service team in the newspaper. Give the field to the service team, don't take care of anything, and you can get 30% of the land rent a year. ”

"After that, I stayed in Tianjin as a factory supervisor, throwing the fields to the service team, and I could get 110 taels of land rent a year. It's much more cost-effective than hiring someone to run the grange and paying for the aqueduct facilities myself. ”