There is a small forest in the south of Chang'an City.
Every spring, there are green willows and picturesque scenery.
Next to the woods, there is a huge open space enclosed.
In the open space, there is a horse racing range, a shooting range, and a small pavilion for resting.
Countless young men and young ladies from rich families come here to play on weekdays.
Of course, in order to avoid trouble, Li Chengqian also took off his brocade robe and changed into relatively low-key casual clothes.
He did this so as not to attract anyone's attention.
Otherwise, wherever he goes, he will be looked at as a rare animal.
Although it is free to enter here, it does cost money to rent bows, arrows, horses, and eat and drink inside.
To put it simply, the price of a cup of tea is at least three times what it is outside.
Of course, Li Chengqian is not short of money.
Ever since he started doing business with Changsun Wuji, his warehouse has never been empty.
Furthermore, Li Shimin would give him some pocket money every month.
While walking to the shooting range, I saw a ring not far away.
On the ring, two people were standing at opposite ends of the ring, facing each other.
Seeing this, Lu Wanjie's eyes showed a curious look.
Li Chengqian, who had been watching her, also noticed this small change.
He followed his gaze and after seeing the situation clearly, he said with a smile: "Anyone who can come is either a son of an official or a son of a wealthy businessman."
"There are some in the ring arranged by the owner of the shooting range. They compete with each other for everyone to watch and play."
"There are also some who come here to get acquainted with each other, thinking that if someone likes them, they can take them back to work as a caretaker."
"Um……"
Lu Wanjie nodded, then turned to look at Li Chengqian: "Have you been up there?"
"No."
Li Chengqian shook his head: "This place is nothing more than a second- or third-rate way of fighting. Even if Changsun Chong is put in, he can be the leader."
After hearing this, Su Qingling suddenly interrupted: "You mean, you are much better than Mr. Changsun." ?”
Li Chengqian is still very confident about this.
He raised his head and said: "Ten eldest grandsons bundled together can't beat me. Do you believe it?"
"I do not believe."
"I have heard about your deeds on the battlefield, but you may not be able to defeat ten eldest grandsons, right?"
Su Qingling shook her head and said, "So, you must be bragging to me."
Hearing this, Li Chengqian laughed.
But he was too lazy to argue with Su Qingling.
At this time, an unusually chaotic sound came.
The eyes of several people were involuntarily attracted.
Not far away, I saw a middle-aged man waving a riding crop and beating a young boy hard.
This young man was skinny, unkempt, and his clothes were in tatters.
He looks just like a beggar.
The middle-aged man was very cruel, whipping the young man until he rolled on the ground. The original color of his patched clothes could no longer be seen, and the skin and flesh on his body were all torn.
The middle-aged man showed no intention of stopping, and looked like he would not stop until the opponent was beaten to death.
There were also many people watching the excitement around.
But no one said anything, they just watched this scene with cold eyes.
After all, human life in troubled times is worthless.
Even an era like the Tang Dynasty was not truly a prosperous age.
What is prosperity?
There will be no war in the world, the people will have enough to eat, everyone will be equal, and everyone will be educated.
But obviously, this was not the case in Datang.
Although because of Li Chengqian's existence, food is no longer so scarce.
But it is inevitable that some people still do not have enough to eat, especially those families with too many children.
so
These families sold their children to wealthy families as slaves.
Actually, there is nothing wrong with this.
After all, in a wealthy family, people can have enough food to eat, and a better family owner will also give monthly money to the slaves.
If you are lucky and meet a good master, you may be able to help arrange marriage arrangements and so on.
Even if you don't help with the marriage proposal, you can redeem yourself when you get older and save enough money.
Of course, if you are unlucky, it will be really miserable.
In the files of the Tang Dynasty, there are countless cases every year about the masters beating slaves to death.
And the young man in front of him was obviously the unlucky one.
The reason why those people around me treat him coldly is simply because they don't want to meddle in other people's business.
After all, this is someone else's slave, and what they want to do with it is their own business.
In the eyes of these people, slaves are more like objects and have nothing to do with people.
In an era like this, there are countless slaves like young people beaten black and blue by their masters every day.
We don’t even know how many of them were beaten to death and secretly buried, and no one else knows.
The appearance of this pair of master and servant is just the tip of the iceberg in this troubled world.
Don't say there is a reason, even if there is no reason, if the master doesn't want to pull him over and give him a beating, even if the government comes, he won't say anything more.
Even if someone is killed, as long as they don't see it, no one will mind their own business.
But, after all, this is a place where people make money.
Who among the people playing around in the venue is not rich or noble?
Beating someone to death in front of them, do you still want to do this again?
Therefore, the boy who saw this scene immediately called the steward.
When the steward arrived, he pushed aside the crowd and walked up to the middle-aged man: "Master, if you want to teach your servants a lesson, please teach them from a distance, not here." "My servant, I can teach you wherever I want. What does it have to do with you?"
"What do you think you do? Go somewhere cool and stay around."
The middle-aged man was obviously angry, and he said angrily to the manager.
"If you are somewhere else, a certain family can't control you."
"After all, he is your domestic slave. Even if you are beaten to death, what does it have to do with a certain family?"
"But in this case, it has something to do with a certain family."
The steward sneered and said: "If you still insist on continuing to mess around here, then don't blame a certain family for being ruthless."
How could the person who could occupy such a large piece of land and open such a place outside Chang'an City be an ordinary person?
As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen servants and servants came towards this side, surrounding the man.
"What are you doing?"
Seeing this, the middle-aged man couldn't help but be frightened. He took a step back and said, "Do you know who I am?"
"Does someone need to know who you are?"
"Our master told a certain family that no matter who comes to cause trouble in this place, they will be beaten first before talking..."
The manager raised his eyebrows and looked at the middle-aged man: "Are you sure you want to cause trouble?"
Anyone who is not a fool can understand what this person means.
No one knows who the steward is. People who come often know that the steward always smiles to everyone.
Of course, that's just when treating guests. Once someone makes trouble, the person in charge will not have this face.
A few days ago, a disciple of a lord in the city came here and drank two bottles of wine and then disappeared.
I saw a pretty maid delivering drinks, and she took advantage of the wine to act rudely to her.
As a result, he was beaten up and thrown out by the steward.
Afterwards, the elders of the family personally came to the house with gifts to apologize.
From this, it is not difficult to see that the background of this scene is really very hard...