Gu Laoer looked at the hundreds of Tatar slaves sitting in the slave market and shrank his neck in fear.
The slave market of the Third Tunnel of Guangningwei is said to be a relatively small one in Guangningwei, but there are still hundreds of Tatars. Those Tatars have their faces branded with a big word "Tatar" branded on their right cheeks.
There were both men and women in the Tatars. The men's braids were cut off and shaved short. Their feet were tied with ropes and they were restrained in the market.
There were no ropes tied to the women's feet. These women had their faces branded and had no chance of survival even if they escaped, so the market managers did not tie them.
The people in the slave market did not abuse these Tatar slaves. The Tatars all looked very strong, and there was no such thing as a sallow complexion due to hunger. It was the twelfth lunar month, and the Tatars were all wearing old cotton-padded jackets that had been eliminated by the Tiger Army. However, the Tatars
They had no energy and were all downcast.
Gu Lao Er saw a strong middle-aged Tatar slave and observed the slave for a while. The slave looked up at Gu Lao Er, which frightened Gu Lao Er and made him dare not look at the Tatar again.
Gu Laoer took a few steps forward and said to Qi Gongji: "I really learned a lot. It turns out that the Duke really made all the Tatars slaves."
Qi Gongji did not speak, but walked in the middle of the slave market with interest, looking at the Tatar slaves.
Gu Laoer followed Qi Gongji and walked among the Tatars. He grinned and said, "This is a Tatar. Does anyone dare to buy it?"
Qi Gongji laughed and said: "These Tatars have been branded on the face, what are they afraid of?"
Gu Laoer said: "The Tatars who have been branded are also Tatars. The Tatars kill a Han as if they are just kidding? What if there is a sudden difficulty that day and the buyer is killed?"
A waiter in the slave market heard Gu Laoer's words and said with a smile: "This merchant must not be afraid. The Tatar has been branded in the face, and he has no way to escape. The roads and checkpoints in Liaodong Province are full of traffic jams."
He is Han and cannot escape from the province. The Tatars absolutely dare not attack their master."
Qi Gongji nodded and looked at Gu Laoer.
The boy at the market then said: "Merchant, a Tatar slave in his prime only costs fifty taels. Merchant, think about it, how much money does it cost to hire a long-term worker for a year? How much of the harvest does it cost to hire a tenant farmer? Buy one.
The Tatar slaves went back to farm and earned back the purchase price in two years."
Gu Laoer quickly shook his head and said, "I don't dare to buy it. I'd better think of other ways."
Qi Gongji smiled and said: "Assuming that a Tatar eats two kilograms of rice and noodles every day, a Tatar eats four stones of rice and noodles a year, which is eight taels of silver. Plus the money for making cotton clothes, quilts and houses, one
It only costs a dozen taels per year. It’s much more cost-effective than hiring someone.”
When they heard that Qi Gongji was going to give the slaves two kilograms of grain a day, as well as cotton-padded clothes and quilts, the slaves on the ground all said that he was a good master. The dejected Tatars all raised their heads and looked at Qi Gongji, hoping that Qi Gongji would
Buy it yourself.
"I plan to buy six. These six slaves can operate two sets of oxen and agricultural machinery, and they can plant all my 540 acres of land. In this way, I don't need to divide the harvest among the tenant farmers, and the harvest will be harvested in one year.
Want a lot more."
After Qi Gongji said this, he walked into the group of Tatars to look for slaves. The young boy was very happy when he saw the business coming, and followed Qi Gongji in. Every time Qi Gongji came to a Tatar,
In front of his wife, he asked the Tatars to stand up to see if they were strong and healthy. They also looked at the appearance of their teeth to make sure that all the Tatars were young.
The Tatar slaves lost their country and were no longer as arrogant as when they bullied the Han people. The boy in the market waved a wooden stick and told the slaves to do whatever they asked them to do.
Gu Laoer stood alone, a little afraid of the Tatar slaves sitting on the ground. He took a few steps back and only felt safe when he stood at the door.
Qi Gongji didn't buy six at a time. He finally picked two Tatars and said he would take them back to see if they could manage them well. The boy received Qi Gongji's sixty taels of banknotes and took the two with him.
The Tatars went down to pack their quilts and jackets.
Qi Gongji bought two Tatars, thinking that he could save the expense of hiring tenant farmers, and was very happy. He took Gu Laoer and walked to the female Tatar slave.
There were dozens of female Tatars sitting on the ground, some in their twenties and thirties with their children.
Although the female Tatars were also beaten into slaves, they were allowed to have children with Han people under Li Zhi's rules, so the whole group was in much better spirits. Since they could give birth to children for Han people after being sold to Han people, the rice would always be available
You can always keep warm when you have enough food and clothes. The key is to find a rich owner.
As soon as they saw slave buyers coming in to pick slaves, the female Tatars sitting on the ground all raised their heads and looked at Qi Gongji and Gu Laoer with wide eyes. Especially Qi Gongji, who was wearing a silk jacket, was obviously
Being relatively wealthy, the female Tatars attracted even more attention. They all looked at Qi Gongji with wide eyes, hoping that Qi Gongji would buy them away.
The boy at the slave market knew that Qi Gongji was rich, so he stood next to Qi Gongji and said: "Qi officials, these female Tatars can be bought to make bed warmers. The good-looking ones cost fifty taels each, and the unsightly ones cost thirty taels.
, there are twenty taels.”
Qi Gongji looked at the female Tatars, shook his head and said, "These Tatars are too ugly."
Seeing that Qi Gongji had no intention of buying the female Tatars, the young man said sarcastically: "Businessmen, you have a good taste. There is actually no shortage of buyers for these female Tatars. We shipped fifty of them to Shandong a few days ago, and they were found by those looking for them."
Poor old farmers who didn’t have wives bought them all at once.”
"Especially the unsightly ones are the best to sell. As long as there are people to carry on the family lineage, those poor old farmers don't have to choose at all."
Polygamy was allowed in the Ming Dynasty, and wealthy men often had three wives and four concubines. As a result, many poor people could not marry a wife. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many men who could not marry a wife in their lives and worked as slaves in cities and villages.
The horse died quietly.
Li Zhi's female Tatar slave gave these lowest-level Ming people hope to continue their family lineage.
Gu Laoer looked at the Tatar women and shook his head. He and his wife had been close to each other for many years, raising children together, and he had no idea of buying a female slave to warm the bed.
Qi Gongji looked at Gu Lao Er and asked, "Is Gu Lao Er planning to run the farm himself and find tenant farmers to work on it?"
Gu Laoer smiled and shook his head.
He took out a copy of Tianjin Daily from his sleeve and said: "The governor of Liaodong introduced the service team in the newspaper. If you hand over the fields to the service team, you don't have to take care of anything, and you can get 30% of the land rent a year."
"In the future, I will stay in Tianjin as a factory supervisor and give the land to the service team, and I can get a rent of 110 taels a year. This is much more cost-effective than hiring someone to manage the farm and spending money to build water canal facilities myself.
