Zhou Jun had something on his mind and didn't sleep well all night. The next day he yawned and walked to the front yard.
Father Zhou Dinghai is directing his servants to take care of two riding horses.
Seeing Zhou Jun approaching, Zhou Dinghai handed the reins of one of the horses to the former and said: "Get on the horse."
Zhou Jun looked at the tall horse in front of him and felt a little frightened. He had never learned to ride a horse in his previous life.
In the end, Zhou Jun tried his best and finally climbed onto the horse's back, avoiding making a fool of himself.
Zhou Dinghai looked at his son and shook his head: "Drinking and sex are harmful to the body."
Zhou Jun didn't refute, and followed Zhou Dinghai out of the house and onto the street.
Although it was seven or eight o'clock in the morning, there were already many people on the streets of Chang'an City, busy with their own livelihoods.
The waiter at the steamed cake shop opened the cage door outwards, and mist-like water vapor, accompanied by the aroma of fermented dough, spread out to the street, attracting many passers-by to buy.
The sound of frying Zahu meatballs can't be stopped. The bamboo skewers fall down, and the golden and crispy meatballs are put into the oil paper bag. After taking a bite, you can always hear the screams of the diners.
praise.
Zhou Jun, who had been busy with cases and had no time to hang out in the past few days, finally had some free time.
As he walked, he looked around. Everything in the Tang Dynasty was extremely novel to him.
Zhou Dinghai turned around and saw him lingering in the market, so he urged: "Hurry up. In a few hours, there will be more pedestrians on the road, and it will be even more difficult for mules and horses to move."
Zhou Jun urged his horses and followed Zhou Dinghai. He looked around and asked, "Are we going south?"
Zhou Dinghai nodded.
Zhou Jun asked again: "The west market is in Huaiyuanfang, and the east market is in Anyifang, but they are not in this direction?"
Zhou Dinghai: "We are going to Zhongshi."
Zhou Jun: "Zhongshi?"
Zhou Dinghai: "Zhongshi is located near Dayefang. It was first established during the Yonghui period. It is a market specializing in raw meat trading."
"The reputation of Zhongshi is far inferior to that of the East and West cities. Even people who have lived in Chang'an for a long time may not know it. There are three reasons for this."
"First, the scale of Zhong Market is not large; second, Zhong Market is only open five days a month; third, the environment of Zhong Market is relatively poor, and ordinary people don't go there."
"Since the establishment of Zhongshi, the Chang'an City Magistrate (the highest official of the Chang'an City Department) has written several times, hoping to move Zhongshi out of the city, but every time it was moved, people slowly came back."
After listening to Zhou Dinghai's words, Zhou Jun began to have a general understanding of the market where slaves were traded.
On the way, Zhou Dinghai said again: "People are divided into good and bad people. Do you know which categories there are among these untouchables?"
Zhou Jun, who had read the history of the Tang Dynasty in his previous life, replied: "It seems that the untouchables can be roughly divided into three categories: tribes, miscellaneous guests and slaves."
Zhou Dinghai nodded: "Most of the servants are guards for the master's family, and most of the miscellaneous guests are the daughters of tenant farmers. As for slaves and bitches... they are better than livestock."
"We, Nuya Lang, are in the business of servile Yakou. Although Buqu and miscellaneous customers cannot be bought or sold, they can still do it on their own from time to time. I will explain this to you later."
While they were talking, the Zhou family and his son had arrived at the gate of Zhongshi on horseback.
Before he even got close, Zhou Jun was hit by the unpleasant smell that hit his nose, causing him to sneeze.
Looking up into the distance, I saw a large number of cattle, horses, donkeys and mules tied together in pens, and merchants in various costumes crowded the entire dirt field.
The sounds of livestock crowing, bargaining, and the cries of vendors can be heard all the time.
Zhou Dinghai rode his horse to the market stables, dismounted, took the number plate, and led Zhou Jun towards the market entrance.
Zhou Jun glanced at the closed gate of Zhongshi in the distance and asked, "It seems that the market isn't open yet?"
Zhou Dinghai: "Three hundred drums are beaten at noon to gather the crowd, and three hundred trumpets are beaten before the sun sets to disperse. The market will not open until noon."
Zhou Jun was a little dumbfounded: "Then aren't we here early?"
Zhou Dinghai shook his head and said: "For Nu Yalang, it is already too late to come at this hour."
Taking steps forward, Zhou Dinghai walked towards the bustling city.
Looking at the rotten soil full of dirt in front of him, Zhou Jun gritted his teeth and followed suit, one foot deep and one foot shallow.
After walking past the market filled with donkeys, mules, horses, camels and other livestock, Zhou Dinghai and Zhou Jun came to the open space on the side, where a large group of people gathered.
Among these people, some are richly dressed and wear gold and silver, while others are not clothed and have no food to eat.
Zhou Jun guessed that this might be Nuyakou City in Zhou Dinghaikou.
Zhou Dinghai walked into the slave market with ease and familiarity with the people he met, while introducing Zhou Jun to everyone.
The slave trader with a mouth full of gold teeth recognized Zhou Jun's identity at a glance: "But the second son of the Zhou family who plays songs every night? Your elders brought you here, but they want you to help choose a maid to warm the quilt?
"
Zhou Dinghai ignored the laughing people and continued walking forward with Zhou Jun.
Stopping in front of a group of people hiding under a tree, wearing thin clothes and looking worried, Zhou Dinghai said to Zhou Jun: "The slave labels in Nuyakou City generally come from the following sources."
"One is sold as a slave to the master's family, the second is a war prisoner, the third is a caravan merchant, and the fourth is a self-recommended slave."
Zhou Dinghai pointed at the group of poor people in front of him who were obviously from the same family, and said: "The first three categories of slaves are easy to say, but the fourth category, those who recommend themselves as slaves should be the most careful."
"Although these are good times, there are still many refugees who go bankrupt due to natural and man-made disasters every year. They cannot survive in their place of origin. In order to survive, they can only find a large family in Chang'an and recommend themselves as slaves."
"Although these people are good people, no one in their place of origin knows whether they have committed crimes or owed debts. Without a household introduction issued by the government of their place of origin, transactions will be cumbersome and risky.
Therefore, no guarantor or dentist dares to guarantee a transaction for them."
Zhou Jun asked: "What will happen to these people in the end?"
Zhou Dinghai touched his chin: "One way is to go to the county government to try your luck and see if you can become an official slave household. However, there is an upper limit on the number of official slave households in each county and prefecture. In case they
If you're unlucky and didn't qualify as a slave household, then..."
Zhou Jun: "What about that?"
Zhou Dinghai: "Then we have no choice but to leave here and continue to wander. Maybe we will be sold out by private fans, and we may starve to death on the way."
Zhou Jun lowered his head and looked at the group of refugees huddled together, including the white-haired old woman and the baby waiting to be fed. He couldn't bear to look at it, so he took out a dozen Tongbao from his arms and threw them away.
When Zhou Dinghai saw this, he wanted to stop him, but after thinking about it, he went with his son.
After listening to the homeless family's numerous thanks, Zhou Jun turned around and left with a heavy expression.
Zhou Dinghai said to him: "There is a taboo in Nu Yalang's profession, which is to feel pity for Nu Biao. With those dozen copper coins, even if you can save them for a while, can you save them for the rest of their lives?"
Zhou Jun said in a low voice: "We are all from the Tang Dynasty, I just can't bear it."
Zhou Dinghai sighed softly: "This is the case for all newbies in the industry, and it will get better gradually."
After saying this, Zhou Dinghai continued to walk towards the inside of the open space, where dozens of large vehicles were parked, as well as a large number of wooden cages and crossbars.
Looking closer, Zhou Jun saw that most of the two-meter-square wooden cages contained no less than ten slaves.
These slaves obviously did not look like people from the Tang Dynasty. Some of them looked like people from Central Asia, some from West Asia and East Africa, and there were also some blond and blue-eyed people who obviously came from Europe and other places.
While Zhou Dinghai was greeting the slave traders, he found an acquaintance inside.
The acquaintance was the leader of a slave-trading caravan, his Tang name was Sha Shiqing, he was in his thirties, strong, and had a Mongolian face.
The right side of Sha Shiqing's face had been severely injured by weapons such as flails. The gums were broken, the cheekbones were sunken, and the eyeball was missing from the frame of his right eye, leaving only a hole, which looked particularly terrifying.
When Sha Shiqing saw Zhou Dinghai, he didn't make any extra moves. He just stood still and said two words: "Here we come."
Zhou Jun saw that Sha Shiqing's stance and movements looked like those of a soldier, and he thought to himself that this man might have been in the army before.
Zhou Dinghai pulled Zhou Jun in front of him and said to Sha Shiqing: "This is my second son. From now on, he will work with me to make a living as a slave."
Sha Shiqing only glanced at Zhou Jun and nodded.
Zhou Dinghai walked to Sha Shiqing's motorcade, walked around in a circle, and came back and asked: "What goods did you bring this time?"
Sha Shiqing: "Turkic slaves, Huihe slaves, Geluolu slaves, Tubo slaves, Tianzhu slaves...there are all kinds of them."
Zhou Dinghai walked to the slave pen, looked at the Turkic mother and daughter in the cage who kept dodging inward, and asked Sha Shiqing with a smile: "Did the west win another battle?"
Sha Shiqing's eyes turned cold and he fell silent.
Zhou Dinghai quickly patted the corner of his mouth: "Slip of words, slip of speech."
After saying that, he turned around and said to Zhou Jun: "Come here."
Zhou Jun walked to Zhou Dinghai and whispered: "Father, I look at the clear sand and stones, and they look like they belong to the army..."
Zhou Dinghai said seriously: "When there are wars in the west, there are often tens of thousands of civilian prisoners after a war."
"But when they reported to the palace, the number of prisoners was only more than 10,000, or even several thousand. Where do you think the difference was?"
Zhou Jun suddenly realized: "Father, are you saying that the generals will plunder civilians and then sell them as slaves?!"
Zhou Dinghai: “Keep your voice down!”
"You don't need to be surprised. Anbei, Anton, and Anxi all do this... If they don't trade slaves, how can those border generals make a fortune just by relying on military pay and rewards?"
Looking back at Sha Shiqing who was playing with the dagger, Zhou Dinghai said to Zhou Jun: "I brought you here today to teach you how to distinguish between good and bad slaves."
Finding a tree stick, Zhou Dinghaixu pointed to the Turkic woman in the wooden cage and said: "At present, there are constant wars outside the Turks and internal strife is becoming more frequent, so Turkic slaves are very common in the city."
"If you want to distinguish the quality of a Turk slave, first look at the skin, secondly look at the hair, thirdly look at the hair, and fourthly look at the bones."
Zhou Dinghai was about to elaborate when suddenly a loud roar came from behind the motorcade: "Catch her!"