Chapter 83 The indulgent He Yan, the slaves tragic fate!
Braving the scorching summer sun in Luoyang, Cao Shuang left the palace through Changhemen, the main gate of the palace. He got on the horse tied outside the palace and bid farewell to the people next to him with a smile on his face. "My lords, I'll see you another day," he said.
Today I have to go back to accompany my wife and children at home. The weather is hot. Please go back and rest early. Don't stand at the gate of the palace, lest you suffer from heat stroke.
I would also like to trouble your Majesty to send an imperial physician to treat you. My residence is quite close to the palace gate, so I might as well send a doctor from the palace to come and take a look at it.
After all, you and I are colleagues and good friends, so I can’t think too highly of you and don’t save you when you have a heatstroke!”
After the court ended, He Yan stretched for a long time outside the palace gate, patted his mouth and yawned a few times. It was obvious that he was overworked again last night.
After all, after the banquet in the palace last night, He Yan still felt that the banquet in the palace was not enough to celebrate the general's victory in Jiangbei.
Then he invited a group of friends to his consort's house to drink and celebrate all night long, and smoked Wushi Powder, a combination of drugs and aphrodisiacs. Of course, Ye Yushu Nu was indispensable.
Originally, He Yan wanted to invite Cao Shuang to the mansion to celebrate, but Cao Shuang shied away from traveling for these days and was quite tired so he didn't join in the fun. He just asked He Yan to pay attention to his health and not miss the court time the next morning.
.
He Yan didn't listen in the end. Early the next morning, Princess Jinxiang estimated that it was almost time. He Yan had overindulged again last night, so she sent someone to wake him up to wash up and change clothes, so that he didn't miss the time to go to court.
…
It happened that a group of beautiful and slender white dancers in the mansion were dancing in the banquet hall, and they became the target of their venting.
The dancers had no choice but to let He Yan and his gang of gangsters torment them. After all, they were just a group of female slaves with no status in He Yan's house.
Either He Yan bought them from the slave market, or they were given by officials in the capital who wanted to get close to He Yan, use his way to gain access to the general, and achieve success.
The slave deeds have all been sent to He Yan's house for preservation. Their life and death depend on He Yan's thoughts. Apart from living a humiliating life in He Yan's house to please their master,
Even if they leave the house, they will have almost no place to go, and their life will even be even more miserable than now. After all, except for the slave deed, there is nothing else that can better prove their identity.
After all, in this dark age, apart from being far away from the busy city and living in seclusion in the mountains and old forests, the black households can still barely survive. Apart from eating more modestly, everything else is fine. If they were in a slightly more prosperous place,
Maybe you will be forced to become a slave by the landlord. After all, you are not a slave with an owner, nor a commoner.
In this era, the most lacking thing is population. If there is a gangster, we still have to find ways to use it...
During the sparsely populated period of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, many "non-productive" tycoons, landlords, and aristocratic families filled the society, which would lead to overwork of "general producers".
The most miserable people for these "general producers" are slaves. Originally, the treatment of slaves had gradually improved in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, but due to the wars in the Three Kingdoms period, it plummeted.
After all, there is no longer an emperor who can unify the affairs of the world and formulate laws to restrain the people of the world. They all have their own affairs. These powerful and powerful families all divide themselves into one party.
Or they have a very high position in a force, and no one can suppress them, so they start to act unscrupulously. Due to the years of war and lack of people to farm the land and serve their daily lives, they can only continue to accumulate wealth.
Slave,
As early as the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu, he issued three edicts on matters related to slaves.
The first letter demanded that slaves should not be killed indiscriminately, the second letter pointed out that slaves should not be burned, and the third edict ordered the abolition of the law that "if a slave hurts someone, abandon the market."
Emperor Guangwu also issued edicts to encourage the emancipation of slaves and enacted laws prohibiting the sale of human beings.
First of all, all those who were punished as slaves during Wang Mang's period were deposed and pardoned as common people.
Secondly, those who are suffering from famine or being threatened by thieves in Qingzhou and Xuzhou must be released as long as they want to be free. Otherwise, the detainees will be sentenced to the crime of human trafficking.
Finally, it is requested that those who were reduced to slavery in Longxi and Yizhou should be exempted from becoming common people as long as they have not been reported through official approval.
During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, the situation of buying and selling people resumed. After all, many people from all sides died in successive wars.
There is a shortage of people, so the human trade has become fierce again. The top leaders of various countries just turn a blind eye to this situation. After all, this population has been harvested one after another.
It won't be many years before a large number of them can grow again. Now there is a real shortage of people. Let's buy and sell people. It will be good if we can restore our strength faster.
Yang Jun, the governor of Nanyang, once participated in the redemption of slaves. "Ren Gu Farewell" pointed out that he and a person partnered to purchase a slave, a total of sixteen pieces of cloth.
Later, the slave's family came to the door and redeemed her with 60 pieces of cloth. In addition, the "Chen Tai Biography" also described some situations about the sale of slaves.
The situation of slaves during the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period was very miserable. At that time, there were many slaves who served the government and were called official slaves. If they reached the age of seventy or were disabled or seriously ill, they would be ruthlessly dragged to the streets to sell for money.
.
Three years ago, in the seventh year of Zhengshi, Cao Fang issued an edict stating that there is still the practice of buying and selling official slaves in the market, and many slaves are over seventy years old or disabled and seriously ill.
All localities are required to demobilize the above-mentioned people and restore their status as good citizens. If there are people who cannot take care of themselves, the counties and counties should also provide them with necessary help.
In fact, when Cao Fang succeeded to the throne, he had already issued an edict to exempt official slaves over sixty years old from becoming good men. However, seven or eight years later, the practice of reselling official slaves in the market still occurred, and it could not be completely banned.
Slaves continued to be used, and many powerful families ignored the edict. After all, Cao Fang's power in the Wei Dynasty was still too weak, and he could only be regarded as a puppet emperor.
No matter it was at the beginning of the succession, when Cao Shuang and Sima Yi were in full strength, or now when Cao Shuang is the dominant one, neither of them can completely compete with the powerful families in the world.
Even if they want to, they can't do it. After all, no matter who is in the world, they still have to rely on powerful families to maintain their rule and then rely on them to unify the world.
Under this situation, we must not destroy our foundation and lose the opportunity to dominate the world just because of some slaves!
In fact, as long as people's views on slaves are deeply rooted, it will be difficult to completely eliminate them administratively.
The same was true in the Shu Han Dynasty. Prime Minister Yang Yong once found Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. In the conversation between the two, Yang Yong compared slaves to chickens, dogs, cows and horses, which shows the status of slaves in his eyes.
Mao Jie once expressed sympathy for those who were not slaves. Boss Cao Cao almost killed Mao Jie because of this. This shows that the slavery system was prevalent again at that time.
The three kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu were supported by aristocratic families, powerful families, and nobles from all over the country. And the strength of these powerful families was supported by the blood and tears of these common people and slaves.
But now no one in the world can directly bypass the aristocratic family and let the powerful directly rule the slaves and civilians. After all, there is a saying that the government cannot compete with the "people" for profit...