There are men and women, ranging from teenagers to forties. Everyone is sitting on the ground, looking weak, just looking at every passerby with their eyes open.

Most of them are wearing coarse cloth clothes, not the summer cold cloth that Yaoren likes. The weather is a little hot, and so many people squeeze together to sweat, the smell is imagined.

Dong Rui covered his nose and said, "I'll go, it's so scent! Where is this?"

"The house." He Lingchuan's face did not change his expression, and he had smelled the terrible stench. Sometimes the smell in the army was even bigger than this. "People from other places couldn't survive, so they came to Yao Kingdom. Tianshui City was known as the richest place in the Shinjin Plain, and there were more refugees sneaking into it than other places. Tianshui City built these small houses for them, called the houses, and let them stay here and wait for work. Someone liked them and would recruit them to work."

"Yeah, it's quite human."

"That's a necessity. There are so many refugees in Tianshui City that they can't catch them all, just like weeds, cutting and growing, and playing hide-and-seek with the official all day long. They steal and robbing here and joining a group of helpers. How can the official not be troubled?" He Lingchuan had already collected information on Tianshui City, so that he could explain to Dong Rui. "I can't do anything. Since I can't catch them, I can't drive them away. Tianshui City hopes to take care of them."

While talking, several people who looked like foreman walked into the house and pinched their noses and said:

"Seven men are going to transport wood, so they are going to be strong; and one woman is going to cook."

Suddenly, all the people on the ground stood up and rushed forward: "I'll do it, I'll do it!"

"I moved things quickly, and I've hit stones in the mine!"

"I cook deliciously, I can cook fifty people at a time!"

The house that was still dead just now was even more lively than the vegetable market. Everyone tried their best to promote themselves, and they were so excited that they drooled.

The foreman took two steps back, and someone immediately stood up and shouted: "Go back, go back!"

The refugee retreated slowly, so he whipped it with two whips: "Are you looking for death? I'll ask you to retreat!"

Everyone was sobbing by him that they didn't dare to move forward.

He Lingchuan pointed at him: "This kind of person is called 'mule man', which means the servant who cares for mules."

“Are refugees called mules?”

"Yes." He Lingchuan was quite impressed by this passage in the information. "Those who do not accept the rules and do not come to the house and do illegal activities to make a living are called 'Greyhounds'."

The muleman turned the whip tip and pointed at a few people in the room: "You, you, you, and you, right, come out!"

In a blink of an eye, he chose the seven men and two women.

One of them was really short and weak, with a big head and a small body. The foreman pointed at him and said unhappily: "I'll choose this for me? How many straws can he carry?"

The man quickly defended: "I can carry it, I can carry it very much!"

The mule man also said, "If you can carry it, don't look at him as young as he is very capable of carrying it!"

So in the envious eyes of other refugees, the person who was chosen left with the foreman.

The refugees' attention then shifted to He Lingchuan outside, who turned around and left.

"These 'mules' are black households in Tianshui City. They have worked for more than ten years and have not had any status for decades, so they all get the least wages and do the dirtiest and hardest work." If they don't work, they have no money, and if they don't have money, they starve to death. "I heard that hiring a local native of Tianshui City can at least five mules."

"You also saw more than 300 people crowded in the house. There were few job opportunities and many people, so if you want to find a job, you have to bribe the mule driver." He Lingchuan pointed to the mule driver, "If you are a little bit dark, you can take the mule's wages for three or five days. If you don't give it, you won't have a job."

The soul-catching mirror in his arms couldn't help but say, "It's really not easy for these refugees to make a living."

What He Lingchuan didn't say was that the residents of Tianshui City were particularly dissatisfied with these refugees. The Greyhounds robbed and kidnapped and disrupted public order, while the mules robbed ordinary people of their job opportunities. The houses where refugees gathered were occasionally destroyed and set fire.

Last year, a house caught fire and killed more than 100 refugees.

"Some refugees are anxious to find a job just to make a living. Whether they can earn money is second." He Lingchuan said, "It is so difficult to make a serious living. Some mules have turned into grayhounds and go to illegal activities."

There is no need to make money on the right path, so of course someone goes to the wrong path.

"I heard that in the past twenty years, there have been more and more 'Greyhounds', and they have divided dozens of factions. The traitors and silver plundered and formed gangs, which not only disrupted public order and did black work, which gave the official headache."

Dong Rui smiled and said, "How many houses are there in the city?"

"Three hundred people go up."

"One person is three hundred, three hundred are..." Wow, not a minority.

"Tianshui City itself has less than one million people, and refugees account for more than 10% of them." Everyone thought this was a good place, so they all squeezed here.

"This is not paradise, but at least there is no war."

"And there is also the largest slave market in the country in the west of Tianshui City. No matter how miserable the life of the refugees is, at least they have some personal freedom, which is much better than slaves? After those slaves are bought, they are tied with iron chains when they don't work; slaves that are always no one wants will be ---" He Lingchuan made a gesture of cutting his throat, "If there is no value, you can't waste food. The dealer and the owner kill the slaves, and the official doesn't care at all."

A popular saying in He Lingchuan’s hometown:

If you don’t go to hell, you won’t know that there are still eighteen levels of hell.

A strong wind blew and heavy rain came.

Dong Rui touched his stomach and was hungry: "Find a place to shelter from the rain and find something to eat. How about that store?"

They walked back to the front street, and the pedestrians passing by were at least in neat clothes.

The dirty and messy worlds were hidden in the dark back alleys. The two worlds in the front and back seemed to be incompatible with each other.

He pointed to a small courtyard that was not a restaurant, but rather an open-air yard. The signboard was actually a pure white cloth banner floating in the wind, with the embroidered "Fireworks World" on it.

Fortunately, these words are bright red. If they are black, then...

However, the two of them walked along the way, and the white signs in Tianshui City were actually everywhere, bringing a little vitality to the gray-brown or ochre-red walls.

It took another half an hour to reach the meal, but the restaurant was basically full of customers. The aroma of oil floated out through the window, making people's index fingers tremble.

As soon as he entered the store, He Lingchuan heard the sound of wailing.

Although the yard is open, the corridor is large and wide, and the rain cannot be poured in. A tart can be placed beside the corridor, expanding the space out, and seven or eight square tables are placed in turn, each with a hole in the middle, a mud stove, and a grill on the stove. Diners put the meat pieces on the fire, and the lard drips on the charcoal, making a sound.

I had to do it myself when I had to eat here.

The yard wall was full of food signs. When the two saw that there were many varieties.

In addition to the common cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens, there are also crocodiles, giant salamanders, pythons, mountain jumping frogs, etc., and the parts and prices are different, and the pickling methods are also different, and the prices are clearly marked.

Dong Rui ordered four or five plates of meat, one of which was even a pair of fruit marinated.

There are many varieties, small portions and exquisite...but expensive!

"The spices are quite complete." Yao Kingdom is also known as the spice kingdom. Of course, the spices used in the origin are of various types, and they are even used in wine. In addition to the common rice wines, there are also mint wine, pepper wine, etc., which will be the first sip.

After a while, Dong Rui roasted two pieces of sheep's waist and one sheep's eyeball, and happily handed them to He Lingchuan: "Come on, replenish the shape with shape."

The thick spices covered the smell of the waist, leaving only fresh and crispy. The sheep's eyes were also roasted just right and it was slurry in the mouth.

Setting a fire to barbecue in the countryside is called survival in the wilderness; sprinkling barbecue in the city is called enjoying life.

Dong Rui is good at both of these.

"On the Shrine Plain, ordinary people want to eat so luxuriously, probably only in Tianshui City." He Lingchuan is a businessman. He only sees any roadside shop that can provide a wide range of food. You know that Tianshui City's supply system is relatively sound and logistics and transportation is very developed.

In his impression, the previous city of such a complete one was Lingxu City.

"What a great place." But the prices are also ridiculously high. A plate of pickled pork ribs is less than half a pound, and the price is more than three times that of a restaurant in Jucheng.

He Lingchuan also noticed that in this beautiful courtyard, the people who barbecue with the rain were usually dressed neatly and had exquisite materials, and those who sat down to talk about either Fenghua or business.

There are very few civilians.

The quality of this store is not to be used to host poor people.

The two of them roasted and ate while catching the rain, watching the crowds running around the streets sheltering the rain, and lamenting the unique prosperity of Tianshui City.

Dong Rui sighed: "This is actually on the Falcon Plain, how weird!"

After saying this, he went to the thatched building.

When he returned from the water, he passed by the kitchen. He saw four or five people squatting on the ground to kill fish and wash vegetables, sort out the ingredients, and two of them were carrying water, with a clear mark on their faces.

One of them had obvious whip marks on his body, which were all inflamed and red and swollen.

slave.

This is the cheapest labor, sometimes not even called humans. As long as the owner provides some food, they have to work in a row and continuously earn income for the owner.

The imprint on the face is the symbol of a slave, and there is no way to survive if you sneak out.

The sources of slaves are diverse, sometimes they are prisoners of war, sometimes they are criminals who have been confiscated, and the most common ones are transformed by refugees.

After treating it as a refugee, do you think you have nothing and nothing can be lost again?

Wrong.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui had eaten and drank for half an hour, and the table next to him turned over twice. The newly-sitted diners were two merchants, one in white and the other in yellow. They ordered three plates of meat and two pounds of pepper burrito, and they ate it with sour pickled cabbage.

"...I'll tell you the truth, General Xue is dead."

The yellow-clothed businessman opposite quickly interrupted: "Don't talk nonsense, there are many people here, be careful to let the official office arrest you, and you scold General Wang Ting, and you will also implicate me."
Chapter completed!