As early as the beginning of February, when the ice and snow were about to melt, Jian Chen had a conversation with his brother Wolf Skin, who had just separated from two small clan settlements, and several people from the same clan were sitting around. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"I don't care much about the affairs of the city, you have a lot of military achievements over the years, how many land slaves are there?"

"Give me one hundred and twenty acres of land, and the slaves cultivated four hundred acres, and then the war exploits are nearly nine hundred acres, right? There were more than 40 slaves, 30 mature slaves, and more than a dozen raw slaves. ”

"In this way, you sell some of the land for slaves, and our brothers will take out some of their private slaves with you, according to the rules, public slaves cannot be bought and sold, and I can't give you weapons directly, you use the land to exchange some slave weapons, otherwise I won't be able to explain to others."

Wolf Skin understood what Jian Chen meant, and asked, "Are you asking me to fight west?" ”

"Yes. I can't manage the land in the west, and I'm afraid that they won't be able to manage it well, so you just make a mold and let them learn. When it comes to building a fiefdom, our sister and Redfish will help you, and you have to rely on yourself to fight outside. To the west are wild tribes, and it is easy to fight. ”

Wolf Skin frowned and said: "Jian, since it is easy, you should do this thing, take everyone to fight, and capture thousands of slaves, everyone will be more convinced of you." ”

"What Xia City lacks now is people, not slaves. I don't have the heart to care about the affairs of the west, Xia Cheng is now tired of these people, I have to check everything, even if I have ten more hands and two heads, I will be exhausted. Our Xia City will go east in the future, so the things that go west can only be done by everyone, not the energy of the entire city. It's okay, if you can't do it well, you can't do it well, people are lost, the land is gone, and the brothers can still make you hungry? ”

Wolfskin laughed, "I'm not worried about that. Anyway, you and Yu Qian will give me thirty mature slaves from private property, and I will sell some land for some mature slaves, and do this well, so as not to break the rules of the city, and not to use the new army, not to use the clansmen, and to buy all weapons from the market. ”

After agreeing on this, he returned to Xia City, and Wolf Skin did something that shocked the people of the city, reselling his land to others in exchange for some slaves, and at the same time using the land as a pledge to buy some weapons from Fang City, and boasting in front of everyone that he was going to the west to do something great that shocked the city.

The sale of land and the conquest of oneself were things that no one in the city had ever experienced. For the big cake that Chen Jian drew before, many people think it is beautiful, and many people don't know what to do, it is too general and always feel that Xia Cheng is a root that cannot be abandoned, and it will take three or five years to have the ability to expand westward.

Using Xia Cheng's army to conquer those clans, the clansmen felt that it was easy, but it always felt unreliable to let themselves lead some slaves to do it, after all, there was no precedent for this matter: is it really that simple?

On the occasion of the third day of the third day of March, the wolf skin brought nearly 100 slaves and the grain and weapons obtained from the sale of the land to his empty and barren fiefdom, and a few slaves who were good at farming were instructing the people of those villages to burn the wasteland and plant corn and beans.

The slaves who came here with the wolf skin were uneasy one by one, not knowing what fate they were going to usher in, they were all the so-called mature slaves of Xia Cheng, that is, slaves who knew the language of Xia Cheng and understood the rules of Xia Cheng.

Looking at the barren land, the slaves sighed one by one, and said that they were afraid that they would start to reclaim the land again, which was the most tiring work, and the masters cherished cattle and horses, but did not cherish the cheaper slaves.

However, to their surprise, they were not forced to reclaim the land, but instead placed a jar of wine and meat in the field at noon, which was a difficult treatment for the slaves except during the New Year's Festival: they were inferior to the cows, and in order to reward them for their hard work for a year of farming, the people of Xiacheng would wrap a meal of dumplings stuffed with shepherd's cabbage and eat them with the cows during the Huaizi Festival.

The wolf skin was followed by a few younger brothers of the same race and mother, but the slaves knew that this person was powerful, even if there were many people in the wilderness, they did not have the intention of resisting and escaping, their thinking was already a little solidified, smelling the wine, swallowing their saliva but not daring to make any moves.

The wolfskin's brother poured the wine, and the slaves counted the bowls, guessing that there should be one of their own.

When the wolfskin raised the bowl, the slaves heard the wolfskin's voice.

"Lift it up, something is said to you, is there any of you who will not be slaves to oxen and horses any more? I have a way to get you out now, and if you do a good job, not only will you not have to do what cattle and horses do, but you may have your own land, slaves, and even women. ”

When the slaves heard this, they were silent for a while and couldn't believe that this was true, according to the rules of Xia City, either they could become the kind of dead soldiers who attacked the enemy's ranks, or they could do a good job in farming and servitude, so that they could change from slaves to subordinate farmers who could not be killed at will, become living people, and then become wild people step by step.

But the slaves also knew that the wolf skin was Ji Xia's brother, and he was also a figure in Xia City, so he definitely wouldn't talk nonsense, and finally some slaves couldn't help but ask: "I don't know what the master wants us to do?" If there is such a solution, we are willing to do it. ”

Wolfskin nodded, "As you know, I was sealed in this land, and there are countless clans in the open west. Ji Xia couldn't look down on this, and gave us how much land was ours. Although you are slaves, you are at least proficient in the language of Xia City, and many of you were also warriors of the clan, and I have made it clear that you are mine now, even if you escape and are captured, it will still be mine. Now I want to go west and take others as slaves, and if you are not afraid of death, follow me, and make meritorious deeds to capture slaves, I will give you some. All you have to do is fight, and if you fight well, not only will you have wine and meat to eat every day, but you can even have your own land, slaves, and women. But your future children should be responsible for following my children on the expedition, and I will ensure that your land slaves and women will not be taken away by others, and you will capture the slaves and seize the land for me. ”

"If you are willing to do it, drink this bowl of wine and swear an oath to me. If you don't want to do it, I won't embarrass you, it's still a slave, the land here has not been cultivated, and you don't need to say more about what you are doing. ”

When a few slaves heard this, they were afraid that the wine in front of them would be robbed, so they hurriedly picked it up, and after a little thought, they knew that this was a good road, and it was much better than cultivating land here.

"We are willing to follow the master, just ......"

Wolf Pi laughed and said: "When Ji Xia swore an oath, there were some habits that I couldn't get used to, and I always said it very clearly. Now, when I have to swear an oath to you, I understand why I have come to say one, two, three, four. Listen to the oath, and drink this bowl with me with your blood, if you will. ”

"One, you are loyal to me, and your children are loyal to my children and grandchildren, and to the lords of this realm, forever."

"Second, those who fight bravely and make great achievements in war will be given slaves and land, which are yours and can be passed on to future generations. You need to practice your bow and spear, and if you can't shoot those who can't hold the spear, I will take back your land slaves, whether it's you or your descendants. ”

"Three, in the future, when you have land slaves, you need to bring your own weapons, and I must follow when I need to go on an expedition. I promise that you are no different from ordinary people in the territory, and that you will have merit in capturing slaves and killing enemies, and you will never violate them. ”

…………

According to Chen Jian's instructions, Wolf Pi made this kind of subordinate system bound to private slaves and soldiers clear little by little, rights and obligations, the pacification of meritorious deeds, hope and future...... All of this is clear.

"In the end, if you do a good job, I can report to Ji Xia and let you have the same surname as me, so that you will be no different from the people of the country, you can also participate in the sacrifice, and you can also pass on the surname to future generations."

The slaves heard it clearly and swallowed secretly. After the wolf skin finished speaking, he took out a bronze short sword and pierced his fingers, dripped blood into the wine jar, and then asked his brother to pour out the wine, and shouted: "If you are willing, you will swear to me." If I disobey, heaven and earth will not allow our ancestors to spurn. If you disobey, you will be slaves for generations. The ancestors of heaven and earth are witnesses. ”

The slaves looked at the wine in front of them, and with little hesitation, they bit their fingers, repeated the oath, and drank it in large gulps.

Although these people can't pull bows and shoot arrows, they are extremely good at dancing sticks and spears, and more importantly, they have concentrated on the land and worked for several years, and they have already had a certain degree of discipline, knowing that the east, west, north, south, left and right, up and down, knowing that whistle is to eat and gong to work, and they know that their lives are not as good as cattle and horses, and they don't even have a woman.

After drinking blood and wine, he got drunk, and on the second day he distributed his weapons and did not mention his daily drills.

At the beginning of April, the peach blossoms will fall, the summer fish is not fat, the beasts give birth, and the apricots are still astringent.

The wolf's skin led nearly 100 slaves to the west, and within half a month, he opened up a hundred and fifty miles to the west.

The three clans pledged their submission and swore to honor him as their lord, were willing to live in their territory and kept their oath, and sent the young men of the clan to study in Xia City.

The two clans were captured as slaves for their rebellion, and half of them were sent back to Xia City, and the other half remained in their own territory.

The slaves who followed him on the expedition were also given some soup, eleven of the outstanding slaves were assigned to their own slaves, and two were even assigned to manage the clan within the clan.

The wolfskin fulfilled his promise, commanded the slaves to build the house, distributed it to the eleven female slaves, gave them weapons, and these slaves officially became his subordinate private soldiers, replacing slave labor with blood taxes, and became a special identity between the slave owner and the slaves: in terms of identity, they were still legally slaves of Xia City, and even if they were poor and dying of hunger, they still had to bow and make way; In terms of living standards, they transcended slaves, only needed to fight, and even had slaves and land, surpassing their own slave status within the territory.

In two months, the settlements in the wolfskin territory were reduced from two to five, and the area expanded one hundred and fifty miles westward, recovering more than three hundred slaves, and returning to Xia City in early May with the escorted slaves and the news of the victory, asking the city council to recognize its expanded fiefdom and population.

The person who was rumored to be crazy at the beginning was now stunned to see a group of slaves being escorted back by the wolfskin, and the slaves were in short supply at this time, and this group of slaves alone had made up for the land that had been sold, not to mention that his fiefdom had increased a lot.

On the premise of not breaking the rules of Xia City, many people's minds were shifted to the west: those who have the intention of going west must be the new aristocratic class of Xia City who have made meritorious contributions, and many people have a certain influence in the city, and they are the people who are most worried when Chen Jian goes out.

Those who do not have fiefdoms are even more eager to make meritorious deeds to be able to divide some land, and there are still many villages waiting to be divided.

And that's not all. Because of the increase in the price of cooked slaves, the slaves in Xia City became more expensive and had the status of a human being.

The new nobles who had made meritorious achievements did not follow the wolf's skin, but found ways to cultivate more land with less manpower on the premise of retaining the land of Xia City, so as to free up more private soldiers.

In order to improve production efficiency, slave owners spontaneously purchased more advanced production tools, which led to the development of Xiacheng's handicraft industry.

At the same time, in order to prevent the destruction of these new agricultural tools, it was necessary to improve the living standards of slaves, reduce some oppression, and in some of the models set by Chen Jian, a new mode of exploitation appeared in which slaves cultivated the land of their masters and handed over most of their income -- the exploitation of slaves without compensation was turned into the income from land cultivation and the lives of slaves were closely related, and the production efficiency of slaves was greatly improved.

Slaves with surplus products also have the ability to consume handicraft products, which can make a large number of handicraft slaves become craftsmen, improve production efficiency, increase the income of Xia Cheng Scissors in disguise, and save Yu Qian'er's work a lot.

A year ago, if Jian Chen had been forced to do so, he would have been opposed by the slave-owning class.

If public property is used to support the innovation of production tools, the income of the city of Xia City will not be able to support it, and the city government will go bankrupt; And the words that forced the slave owners to update their tools triggered their backlash, Chen Jian's current ass is supported by the slave owners, he does not dare to go against the entire class, and can only use this model reform method to implement it little by little.

The spread of ploughshares, oxen harnesses, and ridge practices had given Xia Cheng the basis to do so, and the opportunity for change was quietly beginning, and it was believed that in a year's time, the models of exploitation in different ways would have more food than normal slavery income.

At that time, it is natural that some people will follow suit and buy new tools, and by the way, absorb the rapidly developing handicraft industry in Xiacheng, and rely on domestic demand to support the establishment of Onozawa Castle so that it can be dumped by water transportation - the establishment of handicrafts requires a process, and slave craftsmen need to be honed to become skilled workers. If you form early, you won't be able to sell it, and if you mold it late, you won't be able to catch up with the heat.

At the end of May, when the vision of the new nobles was in the western fiefdom, some adjustments were quietly made within the summer city, and the wolf skin was assigned to a hundred soldiers to garrison their own territory, in order to prevent the appearance of enemies in the west who could not be defeated, but in fact, they were monitoring the foreign clans that were divided.

Baima returned to Xiacheng to train the remaining new troops, and Shishan, who resented the decision to divide troops in the Battle of the White Horse Grassland, was stationed in Yangguan because of his meritorious service in capturing the grassland tribes, and increased the strength of Yangguan. Tanuki and Acorn govern the soldiers of Xia Castle and the foreign war in the event of a foreign enemy.

At the same time, Ehuang, Weixi and others went to Onozawa by boat in the name of following Chen Jian's experience, accompanied by some clansmen from the Acropolis of Echeng.

On the first day of the sixth month, Chen Jian left Xiacheng and went down the river to Sucheng with a large number of copper ingots, gunpowder, farm tools, and war horses, as well as a hundred new troops and some craftsmen. (To be continued.) )