A row of female slaves sat or stood with expressionless faces, allowing the crowd in the audience to watch and discuss.
The onlookers commented on them unscrupulously.
A fat man in silk pushed a young woman to the center of the stage. The woman had a numb expression, lowered her head and said nothing, but she was wearing a long silk skirt.
The fat man picked up his whip and cracked it in the air, causing the woman's body to tremble a few times.
"laugh."
"Don't look so sad for me,"
The fat man put the whip against the woman's chin, raised her face, and said, "Smile, if you can't sell it, go back and eat the whip to make your smile brighter."
The woman's chin was lifted up by the whip, and her face was revealed to the people below. It was a very clean face, with delicate and beautiful facial features.
The fat man showed his product to the crowd and said loudly and proudly, "Everyone, this is the first slave auctioned today. She comes from Xiazhou. She was originally the daughter of a leader of the Buluoji Qianren tribe. She has not yet married.
Even though I have never given birth to a child, I guarantee that my body will still be perfect."
"Her father once defected to the rebels in the Liang division and was awarded the title of General Longxiang. However, he was later accused of treason and executed, and his wife and daughter lost their citizenship."
"Look, she is only fifteen years old. She is as young as a flower. Although she is the daughter of the leader of Mountain Hu, she can speak fluent Chinese, read and write, and sing with a voice as beautiful as an oriole."
"Everyone, such good stuff is rare, don't miss it."
The fat man worked hard to display and sell.
This is a place in the cattle and horse market in Baicheng Border City. This area not only buys and sells cattle, horses, camels and sheep, but also sells people. Each slave trader drives a group of tied slaves to stand or squat there to sell to customers.
After a demonstration and some haggling, a deal can be concluded, and it can be completed by inviting the city officials to sign a contract.
And in the center of this area is this wooden platform.
This is a rather special auction stage.
Trade in the fresh form of auction.
The woman's youthful beauty and her identity attracted many buyers.
"You said it's still perfect, how do we know?"
"Wearing so many clothes, I can't see clearly down there."
"Do you have scars on your body? If you have scars, they are worthless."
"Take it off so you can see more clearly."
Some people even asked for hands-on inspection.
The fat man smiled and said, "This is a high-end product, not a cheap one that comes with a few pieces. My father was once General Long Xiang."
The atmosphere at the scene became more and more lively, and there were more and more people watching.
Wu Huaiyu also came with the Fan sisters. He was wearing casual clothes, and the Fan sisters also wore dark fences to cover their bodies. They were accompanied by escorts and entourage. At first glance, they were important aristocratic customers.
"Alang, this girl looks good, let's buy it." Fan Wuniang looked at the maid on the stage and thought she was pretty good.
As the atmosphere became more and more intense, Fatty also began to quote the lowest bidding price.
"The bidding starts at 100,000 yuan, start bidding."
This price is very high. After all, the average maidservant may cost only about 10,000 yuan, or even 5,000 to 6,000 yuan, which is probably worth two straw horses.
One hundred thousand can buy ten ordinary maidservants.
However, this woman's appearance and figure, coupled with her identity, still attracted a lot of people. As expected, someone shouted loudly, whether the identity of this woman was true, whether it was perfect, etc. If so, he would bid for it. If not, what would happen then?
manage?
"I promise that everything I said is true. If there is any lie, I will tell you the truth."
As soon as this sentence came out, someone immediately started bidding.
Many people screamed at the top of their lungs, with veins on their necks exposed. This auction method is still very different from the traditional one.
In the cattle and horse market, the traditional negotiation of buying and selling prices is usually done by putting a piece of cloth directly on the hands of two people and making gestures under the cloth with their hands, silently.
Or draw it directly on your sleeve.
Setting up a stage for auction bidding like this is indeed new, but this method is said to be more popular among the Sogdians and was introduced from the far west.
If the goods being auctioned are good and the auctioneer is eloquent, it can greatly boost the atmosphere. Sometimes the atmosphere becomes intense and the fight becomes fierce.
The price kept rising, and soon it reached 200,000 yuan.
The monk's maid originally wanted to buy it back, but the jade was too expensive.
He didn't care at all about the identity of the daughter of General Long Xiang and the tribal leader. After all, in times of trouble, if she was the daughter of the emperor, she would be the emperor's daughter. Unless she was Yang Guang's daughter, she would be the daughter of the true emperor.
Liang Shidu's daughter came, but she couldn't impress him.
Two hundred thousand dollars can buy ten good horses, or even two thousand acres of dry land in Yanzhou, but just buying a maid is too expensive.
The price rose rapidly, and many bidders had to withdraw from the auction.
The few people who were still bidding at the end, judging from their clothes, were probably stewards of a powerful and wealthy family or a large business group. They were interested in this woman's status and beauty, and they would definitely get more money if they bought her.
.
I have to say that this auction method is very novel and can even make people excited.
If the atmosphere is heightened and the auctioneer deliberately stirs things up, most people would really be embarrassed in this situation.
Finally, it stopped when the price reached 230,000.
Several other bidders gave up to the old man in fur clothes, saying that they would give it to him.
Huaiyu, the old man in Qiu Yi, knew one of Doulu Huairang's stewards. He was indeed a member of the Doulu family and was generous with his money. But I didn't know if the maid bought Doulu Huairang for her own use, for his father, or as a gift.
The old man made a request before setting the auction, that he would send a maid to inspect the goods in person.
The so-called inspection means taking the clothes into the back room and carefully inspecting the inside and outside of the clothes. If there are no scars or diseases, they must be perfect.
If it's right, he'll pay.
The auctioneer was very happy and agreed immediately. He even gave him a foldout page, which contained the woman's detailed identity, including her father's name, her mother's name, her tribe's name, and when she was sold.
, there is information on how many owners it has had.
The maid of the Doulu family took the woman into the house for inspection. After a while, she came out and nodded to the old man, indicating that it was indeed what the sound engineer said, so the steward of the Doulu family happily paid the money.
Two hundred and thirty dollars.
It was impossible to pay copper coins for such a large sum, so the transaction was made in silk at a rate of two hundred coins per bolt, and both parties were satisfied.
The onlookers were still asking about the origins of this generous old man. They heard that he was from the Lu Huairang family of Sima Dou, the governor of Lingzhou, so they all said "oh" and thought it was not surprising.
Then the auction continued, and the fat man introduced another maid.
This time her identity was not that impressive, but she was still quite young and beautiful. The fat man even tore off the maid's robe at the request of everyone.
So the maidservant was caught off guard, and her whole body was exposed on the stage.
There was a commotion below.
Many people began to comment on the maid's body. Some thought she was too thin, some thought her legs were not long enough, and some thought she was too dark.
The fat man even opened the woman's mouth to show everyone her teeth.
It's just like when you sell an animal, you open its mouth and look at the pairs of teeth, the fur, and the hooves.
Without her identity, this maid was much cheaper. Although she could sing and even sang a part in front of the public, which was indeed acceptable, she was only sold for 80,000 yuan in the end.
Later in the auction, the prices got cheaper and cheaper, and they even started to be packaged and sold, with two or even four or six being sold together, and the price fell back to normal.
There are about 10,000 young and skilled maidservants. There are 8,000 but young maids with no skills. They are already over 25 years old. Those who have given birth are even cheaper. If they are over 30 years old, they look older.
The cheapest ones are even cheaper, the cheapest one only costs 6,000, and if you buy a few more at a time, it only costs around 5,000.
Compared with the Fan Hu slaves, there are Han slaves for sale here, but the prices are much more expensive.
Under the same conditions, it is about two thousand dollars more expensive.
Most of these Han slaves were kidnapped as slaves by the Turks, Mountain Barbarians, and Dangxiang people in the past, and some of them became slaves because of debts and other issues.
In the border areas, the imperial court did not prohibit the trading of these people. Although the imperial court would also pay to redeem some, it was a drop in the bucket, and they were usually redeemed from the Turkic Khanate. In fact, there was a sense of paying ransom to redeem people, or even in disguise.
The meaning of tribute.
Seeing him being brought to the stage and standing there for anyone to comment on, even having his fig leaf removed from his body, and being sold without dignity, Huaiyu felt very complicated.
But in this era, most people have long been numb.
"Buy all the Han slaves in the market today, don't let them suffer the same fate." Huaiyu sighed, feeling that his heart was blocked. Since the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Central Plains has been in constant war, but the Turks have taken the opportunity to invade frequently.
, how many people were taken captive and made into slaves and maidservants.
"Bought them all?" The monk and the maidservant were confused.
"Buy them all. Anyway, we still need a lot of people in the village, and they are quite pitiful."
Regardless of whether they were sold into slavery due to war, famine, robbery or debt payment, they are still Han people after all. "Whoever you buy is a buyer. At least they are from my race."
Huaiyu can't say that he just bought it and let it all go. This is unrealistic.
But buying it and placing it in his own village is what he can do. Using labor in exchange for food and clothing, at least he can have stability.
The monk maid thought for a moment, "Then I'll talk to them. If we buy so much at one time, we can get a good price."
Huaiyu was a little impatient, "Okay, you guys talk, I'll go somewhere else first."
He left straight away and went to the City Office in the center of the market. This was the center of the market and the only three-story building, where he could observe the entire market from a high position.
There is even a bell and drum tower on the roof, with bells in the morning and drums in the evening, to mark the opening and closing of the market.
The city magistrate is from the Wu family, and Samurai Kai is the uncle of Huaiyu in terms of seniority. Samurai Kai and Samurai Ke are cousins from the same grandfather. They are relatively close. They are only in their forties. They originally only farmed in their hometown. Last year
Came to Chang'an, and now comes to Yanzhou with Huaiyu.
He also worked as a merchant before, and now he is a city magistrate, which can be regarded as a ninth-grade official.
Samurai Kai handed Huaiyu a statistics and said excitedly, "Our Baicheng border market is very prosperous now. Since the opening of the market, the number of Yima in the official market has reached 1,993, while the number of Yima in the private market has reached 1,993.
The equivalent of mules, cattle and sheep is more than 19,000 guan, and the trading volume of skins, down, slaves, and medicinal materials is also very large."
The mutual market in the border market is divided into official market and private market. The official market is the transaction between the government and Fanhu, and the private trade is naturally the transaction between private individuals and Fanhu.
In a short period of time, there were nearly 2,000 Yi horses on the official market, which was a huge amount.
The volume in the private market is larger and the upward momentum is stronger.
"Recently, some Turkic traders came from Fengsheng. They only drove a few dozen horses this time. They were obviously here to test things out. They felt very satisfied after the transaction and said they would bring more horses and oxen when they return. Those people are Yu She
There are many things that people want to trade.”
Huaiyu said, "So what about Yu Sheshe's people? Even if they are Jieli Khan's people, as long as they are here to trade, we will welcome them."
After the White Horse and Wei Bridge Alliance, the Tang Dynasty and the Turks reaffirmed their alliance. The Tang Dynasty did not impose a border trade blockade on the Turks. Wu Huaiyu, the governor, also supported economy and trade. Confrontation was confrontation, and business was business, as long as they did not smuggle weapons to them.
In terms of weapons and iron tools, the Tang Dynasty actually benefited more from trading with them in border markets.
If you blindly pursue a blockade, you will kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred to yourself. If the Turks are cornered, they will go south to plunder. Now is not the time to start fighting.
There is no need to worry about capitalizing on enemies when trading in the border markets, because the border markets are not the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants. The Eight Great Shanxi Merchants are profiteers and traitors. They not only smuggle food and weapons for Houjin, but even collect intelligence for them.
And if it was just an ordinary trade, trading cattle, horses, sheep, mules, furs, medicinal materials, salt, tea, needlework, cloth, porcelain, etc., both the officials and private parties of the Tang Dynasty would make more money.