The slave market in the capital is located next to the Empire Square, the most prosperous and lively place in the Southern District. Every day, there are huge crowds of people here, and it is extremely busy.
Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jin, Zhang Mao and others also came to the slave market. Looking at the crowded slave market in front of them, they were also shocked by the fiery scene here.
There are really too many people here.
The slave market is a very long street with a large number of slave shops on both sides, but these shops are open. Each shop has a similar booth. The slaves stand on the booth, and the people who want to buy slaves below
It's a show of hands to bid.
Of course, these are ordinary slave trading areas. There is also an auction area in the slave market, and the items auctioned are naturally high-quality goods.
At this moment, the slave shops on both sides of the entire slave market are doing brisk business, and you can see these slave merchants displaying slaves from all over the world on their stands.
This kind of display is often very naked, and many of them are even without clothes. This is to show the graceful figure of the slave and attract the following customers to compete to bid for the female slave.
"Your Majesty, such a dirty place is really unsightly. Why don't we stop looking at it?"
When Liu Jian saw such a scene, he quickly spoke to Emperor Hongzhi.
Emperor Hongzhi is regarded as the emperor, so this seems a bit inappropriate.
"Yes, Your Majesty, this slave market is indeed unsightly, so I'd better not look at it."
Li Dongyang also followed the suggestion.
"Your Majesty, you're already here, so there's no harm in taking a look."
"We have to look beyond the surface to see the essence of things."
"This slave market can trade more than 100,000 slaves every year. All of these 100,000 slaves are female slaves. They are sold to various parts of our Ming Dynasty, and most of them are used as concubines. At least 100,000 slaves can be sold to our Ming Dynasty every year.
Give birth to tens of thousands more people.”
"Many people in Ming Dynasty who could never find a wife finally managed to continue their popularity by relying on such a market."
However, Liu Jin chatted with Emperor Hongzhi about the slave market with a smile on his face.
The Ming Dynasty did not allow slaves to exist in the mainland, except for one situation, that is, female slaves were allowed to exist, because the Ming Dynasty needed to increase its population, and it was difficult for many poor people at the bottom to find wives. They could also spread their branches by buying and selling slaves.
In addition, the existence of a large number of female slaves can also greatly increase the working population of the Ming Dynasty.
Nowadays, in the entire Beijing-Tianjin area, if you see someone with blond hair and blue eyes, don't be surprised, because they are very common and can be seen almost everywhere.
When people in the Beijing-Tianjin area have money, it is more common to buy slaves as concubines. Many families have more than one or two concubines from all over the world.
"That's it~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, and then took the lead and walked inside.
When Liu Jian and Li Dongyang saw it, they immediately followed helplessly. If word of this got out, everyone would probably be blackmailed.
"Dangdang~dangdang~"
"Dear gentlemen, our store has a new arrival, a slave from Tianzhu Continent~"
Here in a slave shop, slave traders beat gongs and drums, and soon attracted a large crowd of people watching.
Then with a wave of his hand, two plump Tianzhu women with fair skin, wearing sari, with red dots on their foreheads were brought up.
Liu Jin knew at a glance that these two people must be from the high caste in Tianzhu mainland. Because their skin is very white and they have deep eyes, they are definitely high caste. Moreover, they look like they are only in their twenties.
Look.
"These two slaves are a pair of sisters. They come from the Tianzhu continent. It is said that they are from a Brahmin family. They now start with 80 taels of silver~"
The slave merchant didn't waste any time and started bidding directly.
"I'll pay eighty~"
As soon as he finished speaking, a thin man who looked wretched shouted.
"Okay, this gentleman will offer you eighty taels of silver~"
"I'll pay eighty-two taels~"
"Eighty-three taels~"
"Eighty-five taels of silver~"
There were many bidders, and in a blink of an eye, it amounted to nearly one hundred taels of silver.
"Ninety-eight taels of silver, is there anything higher?"
"Dang~"
"Congratulations to this gentleman on the beauty!"
Seeing that no one was bidding anymore, the slave merchant struck the gong and immediately concluded the deal.
The wretched and thin man who bought the two slaves happily went to the side to pay the money, and then left with the two female slaves. Seeing his anxious look, everyone couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, what I have always learned is the way of benevolence and righteousness. I, Ming Dynasty, want to conquer the world with my virtue and conquer people with my virtue."
"But looking at the current slave market, I really don't know whether this is right or wrong."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the helpless and sad expressions of the two female slaves and couldn't help but sigh.
All along, Emperor Hongzhi grew up under Confucian education and learned the way of a king, which is to govern the country with benevolence and righteousness and to convince people with virtue.
But looking at the people of the Ming Dynasty buying and selling people from other countries wantonly, and then thinking about the origin of these slaves, and how the behavior in front of them is different from bandits, the entire Ming Dynasty has become a country of bandits.
"Your Majesty, this matter must be viewed from both sides."
"For those countries and regions that were plundered, it was very painful for them and they lived in dire straits, but for us, the Ming Dynasty."
"The wealth from all over the world has made our Ming Dynasty richer, and the women from all over the world have made great contributions to our Ming Dynasty."
"As long as we persist for a few more decades or hundreds of years, our Ming Dynasty will have a population of one billion or two billion. Then our Ming Dynasty will be truly invincible in the world and will be extremely prosperous."
"As an emperor and a decision-maker, you should focus on the future and serve the interests of the entire country. The interests of the country are above all else."
"In the past, there was a saying that poor people in Ming Dynasty could not be poorer than three generations. This so-called poverty did not mean that they would become rich after three generations, but that after three generations, they would not be able to marry a wife. It was completely
The incense has ceased."
"But now, even if our Ming Dynasty is a poor family, we can still afford slaves to continue our incense. Naturally, everyone in our Ming Dynasty praises the strength of our Ming Dynasty, and every household can prosper. Naturally, how can our Ming Dynasty
Is there any reason not to be strong?”
Liu Jin was very troubled by this statement.
Regarding benevolence, righteousness and morality, if you say that it is okay for one person, but it is raised to the national level, it is nonsense.
Since ancient times, China has been very benevolent and moral towards its neighbors, and the story of the farmer and the snake has been played out many times.
If you give your good things to others, they will come back to bite you and call you a fool.
The textbooks of later generations are still right: there are only eternal interests between countries, but there are no permanent friends.
In an era like this, even more so.
We must try our best to plunder all the resources that can be plundered, whether it is land, wealth or women, and use them as much as possible to develop and strengthen the Ming Dynasty and strengthen ourselves.
Only in this way can Ming Dynasty's advantages be continuously consolidated and expanded, and Ming Dynasty's dominance over the world can be gradually established.
It would be nonsense to say that it is limited to the so-called morality of benevolence and righteousness, and that we must convince people with virtue.
If virtue can convince people, what else does the army need?
Even if you want to convince people with virtue, you must first beat the opponent hard with your fists. The opponent will be hurt by the beating and know that you are strong, and then he will be willing to listen to you talking about a lot of so-called benevolence and righteousness.
Morality.
The ideas of later generations of Europeans and Americans are prevalent all over the world. Are they really right?
This is not necessarily true. It is just because they are powerful enough and have defeated the whole world that everyone has to listen to them and learn from them.
"I know that's the case, but seeing those innocent women being traded like goods makes me sad for them."
After hearing this, Hongzhi also nodded.
He had heard Liu Jin's bandit theory a long time ago and agreed with it.
If the Ming Dynasty did not have the huge wealth continuously imported from the outside and the huge land and resources plundered from the outside, it would be impossible to have the prosperous Ming Dynasty today.
The input of huge external wealth, vast land and resources meant that Ming Dynasty suddenly had more wealth and resources that could be distributed to every Ming Dynasty person.
The originally sharp land conflict was suddenly alleviated, and the huge wealth distributed dividends to every Ming Dynasty person.
Otherwise, even if there are sweet potatoes and corn in the land adjacent to the original two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, it will just be the same as that of Ming Dynasty. It will just make everyone fuller and be able to feed more people. The common people will still be
Even though you are poor, you still cannot be as rich as you are now.
Without the continuous input of huge wealth from the outside, the ruling class of the Ming Dynasty still had to suck blood from the poor people of the Ming Dynasty, exacerbating internal conflicts, and wars would break out immediately after any disaster.
Without the vast land acquired from outside, it would be impossible for the landowners and gentry of the Ming Dynasty to reduce rents. Even the fields in the valleys would still be cultivated by people, just to produce more food to satisfy their hunger.
Without all of this, the Ming Dynasty’s so-called prosperity of Hongzhi was nothing more than self-deception.
In the prosperous age of at least a few upper-class gentry and ruling class, the common people at the bottom are still poor. A disaster will tear apart the fig leaf of this so-called prosperous age.
"They are lucky to be able to sell to our country~"
Zhang Mao thought for a while and said.
"Yes, it is their blessing~"
Liu Jin also nodded and said, then his eyes saw Lao Li Tou whom he had just seen.
"Isn't that man named Lao Li among the two old men I just saw at the gate of that community?"
Liu Jin said to Zhang Mao, Li Dongyang and others beside him.
"It seems like it's really him. The person next to him should be his son. The two of them look very similar."
"Are you coming to the slave market now to buy slaves?"