The cooks in Li Daozong's house are very good at cooking. The steamed corn is very tender and has a milky aroma. In addition, the corn is a type of waxy corn, which is more fragrant and waxy. The fried potato slices are crispy and the heat is just right. These are obviously passed down from the Wu family.
The craftsmanship is a bit better than the previous one.
Paired with a cup of persimmon yaki, it tastes like a high-end meal.
After all, although the food is ordinary, it is auspicious at the moment. It has not yet entered people's homes, and it is surrounded by beauties, which makes it even more different.
After the meal, King Ren Cheng clapped his hands several times, and the beauties who served as meat screens dispersed.
"Show Duke Shouyang how ferocious the Qiang and Hu people are."
A group of Lingzhou tooth soldiers brought a group of slaves chained by their guards.
"You put on a show for the new governor of Yanzhou, Duke Wu. In the end, whoever wins, I will grant you freedom and reward you with a maidservant!"
Li Daozong's words caused a commotion among the slaves.
"Those people are Qiang and Hu warriors, and they are all relatively famous and capable fighters in each tribe," Li Daozong told Huaiyu. The warriors were more valuable after being captured as slaves. These tribal warriors could be bought as guards.
In addition, they have another place to go, which is to become slaves.
Just like cockfighting, dogfighting, bullfighting or even cricket fighting, some people will compete with these warrior slaves. Some of them are just a pastime for the nobles, and most of them are a business, fighting and betting.
In Lingzhou, slave fighting is very popular, and there are even many slave fighting grounds.
There are also many ways to fight slaves, including fighting alone, fighting between two teams, fighting with bare hands, fighting with swords, and even fighting with horseback and archery.
There are some who stop there, and there are those who never stop.
Many Qiang and Hu warriors have now become specialized fighting slaves. If they perform well, they can also receive good treatment and enjoyment. However, the elimination rate of fighting slaves is also very high. After all, even if they perform to the point of order, accidental casualties can easily occur, let alone
Talk about injuries.
Today, in order to welcome Wu Huaiyu, Li Daozong specially gave him a performance of the highest standard, which was also the most entertaining cage fight to the death.
Different from ordinary fights, war slaves have to fight in a very small ring, and it is surrounded like a cage, so it is also called a cage death fight.
The main focus is on two-person fights, until the death.
The nobles like bloody performances, and as for the lives of fighting slaves, they are not human in their eyes.
In other words, all slaves are not human beings in the eyes of free people.
Li Daozong had two groups of war slaves escorted in, one group was Dangxiang Qiang, and the other was Bu Luoji.
Huaiyu looked at the slaves.
Bu Luoji is known as the last Huns. They migrated inland from the Southern Huns, and then dispersed to the valleys and mountains of Shanxi and Shaanxi after the fall of the former Zhao Dynasty. They gradually mixed with the Han people and mixed their blood. In fact, these Huns were already seriously mixed and became more Han-like.
The former tribal warriors in front of Huaiyu, now Dou Nu, are short and stout, with big and round heads.
He has a broad face, high cheekbones, very wide nose, generally thick beard on the upper lip, and only a handful of strong beard on the lower jaw.
Her long earlobes are pierced, she wears a large copper ring, she has thick eyebrows, and her big eyes are bright.
Perhaps it was the intention of the slave owners to do this. In the cold weather, these people wore animal skins, horns, wolf head and other leather helmets.
It looks very barbaric.
Huaiyu even felt that their appearance was a bit like the dwarves in Warcraft.
He has a big face, small eyes, wide nose, and thick limbs.
Of course, in fact, they were either very short, or they just felt very stocky, but he estimated that they were all over 1.75 meters, and a few might even be as tall as 2 meters. Because they were too strong, they didn't look tall.
The Dangxiang Qiang Dou slaves on the other side generally have long hair, shaved in the middle, and braids on both sides. They have round faces, high noses, plump cheeks, and burly bodies like wine barrels.
It is very similar to the general stoutness of nomadic tribes, with a big face and big belly, thick limbs, and very tall.
Buluoji are short and stocky, while Dangxiang Qiang is very strong.
Mountain beards have large eyes, many of which are blue, while Dangxiang Qiang have many narrow eyes.
A small arena, surrounded by fences.
Two teams of slaves fight, first draw lots to catch and compete, the dead ones are eliminated, and the surviving ones enter the next round. After one round of competition, there will be another round.
There are eight people in each team. After three rounds, only two people are left. In the end, it is a battle of victory and life and death.
Li Daozong asked Wu Huaiyu to take a look at Dou Nu, and fifteen people were about to die.
Huaiyu was secretly shocked.
Although he has bought a lot of slaves in Chang'an, he is still planning to have a men's and women's polo team at home. At that time, he also wants to bring some polo teams from other noble families together to set up a Chang'an Polo League or something.
Playing games can be a entertainment and entertainment experience, and you may be able to collect tickets, place bets, buy some snacks, earn some income, and bring some fame to the Wu family.
But who would have thought that Li Daozong had already reached this point in Lingzhou.
"Your Majesty, it's just the two of us watching such a good fighting slave. We don't have to fight to the death. Why don't we just finish it?"
Li Daozong looked at Wu Huaiyu and smiled, "Since Erlang requested it, I'll stop it, but I'd like to remind you in advance that it won't be as exciting as a life-and-death fight."
A bell rings and the competition begins.
In the battle cage, Bu Luojihu is tough and Dangxiang Qiang is rugged. They are both top tribal warriors. They even have rich dueling experience after becoming fighting slaves.
Due to Huaiyu's intervention, the fight to the death turned from unrestricted to a fist fight, without weapons or armor, with bare arms and fists in the cage, punches to the flesh.
Knock the opponent down to win.
From being beaten to death to being beaten to death.
But as soon as the fight started, both sides were very fierce and went all out.
Because there was a cage separating them, Wu Huaiyu and Li Daozong watched directly from outside the cage, observing at a very close distance without worrying about endangering themselves.
The two Dou slaves in the first battle were also the two strongest ones. They were both nearly two meters tall and strong as iron towers. One had his hair braided with a big gold ring, and the other had a Mediterranean braid. The other one had thick arms.
Ordinary people's thighs.
Their fighting was fierce and violent, which was very different from the fighting in Huaiyu's memory. In terms of viewing pleasure, the moves were not very interesting, but in terms of danger, they were quite dangerous.
They are all battlefield fighting moves, targeting the vital points with deadly attacks. Even if this is not a death cage fight, they will show no mercy.
In just a few moves, both of them failed.
One's brow was cut with a deep cut by an elbow knife, his face was covered in blood, and half of his face swelled rapidly, while the other's face was hit so hard by a swinging punch that several of his teeth were knocked out.
But they didn't stop at all, and no referee called a stop.
Keep fighting, and whoever makes a mistake may be knocked down with one move, or even sent to see the King of Hell.
In such a fierce battle, and in a small cage, both sides did not intend to delay, and the battle was over in just a few seconds.
After all, the strong man Bu Luoji was the better one. He punched Xiang Qiang so hard that he fell to the ground. He didn't know whether he was alive or dead.
Li Daozong clapped his hands and asked people to go up and clear the place. He turned to Huaiyu and said, "The Qiang Nu's fist was a little slower, and his fist had already touched the Mountain Hu's chin. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit short. The Mountain Hu's
The punch was not light and knocked him unconscious.
These fighting slaves' punches are so powerful that they can kill a cow with one punch."
The guards came forward to check and found that Dang Xiang Qiang was not dead after receiving such a heavy punch. He just fainted and was dragged down like a dead dog. The victorious Mountain Hu advanced to the next round.
He proudly walked out of the cage and came to the sidelines to rest. Two female slaves massaged his shoulders to relax him, and a doctor simply bandaged his wounds.
Wu Huaiyu found that the victorious mountain tiger's eyes no longer had the perseverance of a warrior. He had become a fighting slave, proud of a victory, and even had the mood to reach out and squeeze the female slave to take advantage.
"If you win a battle with good wine and meat, you can also get a female slave for a night. If you lose a battle with cold water and leftover food, if you keep losing, you will be sent to the salt pond to fish for salt, or to dig in the mine, or to plant in the manor.
Land, the treatment is not as good as that of a slave fighting field." Li Daozong said.
Wu Huaiyu thought of the gladiators of the ancient Romans, of Spartacus, of blood and sand, of the golden mask, well, he thought far away.
According to what Li Daozong said, slave fighting has become a very famous activity in Lingzhou, and those slave fighting have also become a profession. Although the casualties are high and the elimination rate is high, those who can survive in the fighting cage and gain fame
Those people will also be very beautiful when they are glorious, with good wine and beautiful people. They will lack nothing except freedom.
Although glory is always short-lived, one day, in a certain game, they may die in the fighting cage, but for many prisoners of war, they would rather die like this, at least it would be happy than living in glory, especially those who were sent to
For the prisoners of war in farms, mines, and salt ponds, instead of doing hard labor in the dark, working as cattle and horses, it is better to give it a try. Every year there are some famous slave-fighting achievements, and they succeed in being released. Although it is rare, it is always a success.
hope.
After some Dou slaves gain a certain reputation, although they may suffer from injuries, etc., they may also be bought by some powerful nobles to be Dou slave trainers or servants as bodyguards.
One game after another.
Every fight was bloody, and two of them were even beaten to death by merciless opponents. One guy just broke his opponent's neck, and the other picked up his opponent and smashed him on his knees.
Go up and directly break the opponent's spine.
Extremely cruel.
King Ren Cheng still looked elegant and looked at the bloody scenes with a smile. Huaiyu was greatly touched.
Compared to these people who are perverts, I am still far behind.
He found that many people in this era have very strong psychological qualities.
After the competition, there were still fourteen people left, and the winner was Bu Luojihu, whose surname was Liu, who was neither the tallest nor the strongest.
Many mountain barbarians have the surname Liu, because after the Southern Xiongnu surrendered to the Han Dynasty, many leaders changed their surname to Liu.
Nowadays, many Shanhu not only have the surname Liu, but also say that they are descendants of the Xiongnu Chanyu, and even say that they have Han ancestry, because the Han and Huns have been related to each other for many years.
"These fighting slaves are all given to Duke Shouyang."
When Wu Huaiyu left the Lingzhou Governor's Mansion, the fourteen Dou slaves followed him. In addition to them, Li Daozong also gave Huaiyu sixteen beautiful maids, saying that he was short of people to serve him when he arrived.
Sitting on the carriage, Huaiyu glanced at the land deed in his hand. Li Daozong gave him a thousand acres of farmland, plus two thousand acres of two pastures, a total of three thousand acres of land, which he used to buy some auspicious corn and potatoes from Huaiyu.
, sweet potato seeds.
In addition, there was an oral salt and grain trading agreement, whereby the Yanzhou Yamen exchanged salt from the Wubai Salt Pond for grain from the Lingzhou Dudu Mansion.
Of course, these are all transactions that can be brought to the table. The real transaction is actually a deep cooperation in selling salt, horses, and slaves.
Wu Huaiyu accepted this, which meant that he agreed to join Li Daozong and Duan De in the business they had been doing.
It's just that Li Daozong probably didn't expect that the new governor of Yanzhou was still from Liumen.
Wu Huaiyu carried the land deed of three thousand acres of land into his arms, and immediately in the carriage began to write a secret memorial to the emperor in Chang'an, recording all the circumstances he knew truthfully.
Wu Huaiyu believed that the emperor had known this for a long time, so he had to report it now.
In order to prevent the secret message from being intercepted, Wu Huaiyu used the code words in the six doors. When the letter arrived in Chang'an, it was sent directly to the emperor through special channels. The emperor could translate it using the agreed code book.
His secret report will not go to the political affairs hall of the three provinces without going through formal procedures, and no one else can see it without going through the prime minister. This kind of power is actually very huge, because under normal circumstances, all official reports need to go through formal channels.
, it has to go through the Shangshu Province, the Political Affairs Hall, etc., and before the emperor sees it, it will be checked and even copied and filed by multi-level departments, and preliminary disposal opinions will be given. It may even be intercepted directly and never reach the emperor at all.
Lower-level officials did not even have the power to report directly to the emperor and could only report to the corresponding superiors.
As the governor of Yanzhou, his reports had to go through the provincial government office, but as a member of the Six Gates, Wailang, he could directly report secretly to the emperor, and the emperor's reply did not need to go through the provincial government affairs hall, etc., and the emperor and his ministers communicated directly with each other in confidential letters.
Li Daozong is really a good person, but Wu Huaiyu can only be like this.
The carriage was escorted by soldiers and headed for Yanzhou Yamen, where Yuan Qiao was in charge. When it turned a street corner, Chen Sheng, who was riding a horse, suddenly shouted loudly.
"who!"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden scream.
"There are assassins!" Chen Shengsheng shouted, quickly pulled out his leather shield and blocked it in front of him, then jumped off his horse and stood in front of the carriage, "Your Majesty, there are assassins, be careful."
The next moment, countless arrows struck, and then figures jumped out from the darkness, and they rushed towards them with knives and crossbows.
The screams kept sounding.
Someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground.
Chen Sheng stood guard in front of the carriage and loudly ordered the guards to guard him.
More than a dozen troops quickly retreated and surrounded Wu Huaiyu's carriage, holding up their shields and crossbows, not leaving an inch behind.
The other dozen soldiers drew their swords, raised their spears and raised their bows, working in groups of three or three, and quickly faced the attacking assassins.
The Dou slaves and maidservants that Li Daozong gave to Huaiyu were exposed between the two groups of men.
The assassin attacked with a crossbow without any scruples.
The beautiful maidservant couldn't escape and screamed in surprise. Several people were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, with blood flowing all over the ground. The fourteen Dou slaves, although more injured than Dou just now, all yelled and quickly dispersed.
Open, some even directly held the dead maid in their hands as a shield to block arrows, and some directly rushed towards the assassin,
