There were people walking back and forth in the thatched hall, and some people were sitting cross-legged on the ground waiting. After Li Siye and the others came in, they stood near the door and watched. There were fifteen or sixteen people in the wooden cage opposite, and five or six people were squatting on the table.
A woman whose hands and feet were trapped by wooden shackles was wearing rough linen clothes that could not cover her body. They had braids in bunches on the back of their heads, and their eyes showed panic and confusion. Two Turks with knives stood aside to maintain the scene.
.The Sogdian merchant twisted out individual grass seeds and inserted them into their collars.
The method of buying and selling is very simple. If anyone likes that slave, he goes directly to negotiate the price with the slave trader. The experts will put their hands into the other party's sleeves to determine the price. The price difference between the two transactions is very big. As the saying goes, it is fooled.
It's you who don't understand.
Su He turned to Li Siye and Li Twelve Niang and said, "General Li, and Madam, if you like the grass on top, tell me to come up and give you a price."
Li Siye hesitated for a moment, as if he was still wandering between the boundaries of morality. Li Twelve Niang pointed at five of the women and said: "This, this, and this, buy all five."
"okay."
Su He pushed up his sleeves and stepped forward, standing in front of the Sogdian merchant, pointing his palm at the female slaves and saying, "I want these five."
He made a sound and stretched out his fingers: "Come on, pinch it."
The Sogdian merchant crossed his arms towards Su He and said with a smile in his eyes: "Su He's boss is a regular customer. How dare I try to fix the price with you? Why don't we just pay the old price?"
"Old price? I want five at once!"
"Then I'll lower it a little for you?"
"How about a little bit? At least two little bits."
The merchant frowned and considered for a moment, then reluctantly nodded and said: "Okay, two o'clock! But as long as I have Kaiyuan Tongbao and gold, I don't want any other messy money!"
Su He walked back with brisk steps, came to Li Siye and said with a smile: "It's settled, Li joins the army, six-pass treasure or the equivalent of three coins of gold."
Li Siye was shocked: "So cheap?"
Maybe cheap is more appropriate.
Su He hurriedly waved to him: "Don't say it's cheap, be careful these people raise prices, they are very evil!"
Li Siye led Mei'er and Li Twelve Niang to the stage. The Sogdian merchant knew that the military attache in crimson robes in front of him was the buyer, and said with a shy face: "Master, these slaves can be taken back now."
."
The Twelfth Mother bent down with a cold face and reached out to untie the wooden shackles on the slave girls' hands. However, two Turkic men with knives stepped forward and said coldly: "Be careful, madam, these bastards are very aggressive."
, it’s better to take it home and loosen it and train it slowly.”
Li Twelve Niang was not afraid, and still took off a woman's wooden shackles. After the woman took off her hand, she suddenly rushed towards the wooden cage on the side, put her hand in and let out a cry, and also murmured in her mouth.
What, a six or seven-year-old girl crawled out from the back of the cage, crying and grabbing the woman's hand.
Two Turkic warriors jumped over and kicked the woman twice: "Go back, go back!" One of them pulled out a knife from his waist, whether to scare her or to actually chop her down.
Li Meier's face turned pale, she pulled Li Siye's sleeve and shouted in a low voice: "Brother!"
He reached out to block Li Meier's eyes, stuffed her into Twelve Niang's arms, walked over quickly, and grabbed the shoulders of the two Turks: "Don't be violent."
The Turk raised his black mustache at the corners of his lips, and the muscles on his face were twisted and twitched as he said: "This slave has not left this thatched cottage yet. She is still one of ours. Please don't break our rules!"
"Now that I'm here, I set the rules. Get out of the way."
The two Turks stretched out their hands to grab Li Siye's palm on their shoulders. Siye grabbed his fingers and claws together. Their brown clothes were torn and their faces were red and red. He used force again and dragged them out of the wooden cage.
The Sogdian merchant hurriedly came over, crossed his hands to Li Siye and begged: "My lord, my lord is easy to discuss."
He let go of the Turkic man, and the two of them staggered aside, looking at him with fearful expressions while rubbing their sore shoulders up and down.
He pointed to the Sogdian woman who was kneeling on the ground and crying and said, "What did she just say? Please translate it for me."
"Okay, I'll turn it over." The vendor pointed at the woman and said, "In the cage is her baby girl. She asks you to buy her baby girl as well. She will definitely work honestly in her life to repay your kindness."
"How much is this girl worth?"
The merchant clapped his fingers and said: "Although this girl is useless now, she will grow up. Such unbroken young girls will be more and more valuable in the future."
Li Siye said angrily: "Are you still waiting for appreciation? Don't talk nonsense, how much is it?"
The merchant trembled and said hurriedly: "Five hundred dollars is enough."
He reached out to take out his trousers from the inner pocket of his clothes, and when he touched it, he pulled out a Sasanian gold coin. Li Twelve Niang stepped forward and took the gold coin from his hand, but she threw a large bunch of copper coins to Su.
Special traders.
"Let's go." Li Siye put his arms around Mei'er's shoulders and was about to turn around when a dry and polite voice came from behind him: "Kind and noble general, please buy me. You will also have the reputation of our Kunlun slaves."
I have heard that he has a gentle temperament, is down-to-earth and willing to work hard."
He turned around and saw a brown-skinned black man sticking his face out of the wooden fence and his hands out of the cage to gesture, constantly promoting himself: "Look general, I can also speak your Central Plains Mandarin, these Sogdian female slaves
No, I can teach them. If you buy me back, I will come in handy immediately. If you can use me as a loyal and agile Kunlun slave, not to mention Qiuci, the rich people in Chang'an City will be jealous of you."
Li Siye pointed at the Kunlun slave and asked the slave trader: "How much does he cost?"
"Nine hundred thousand dollars."
"So expensive!" He took a breath. The house he bought in Chang'an only cost half a million, and this Kunlun slave was worth two houses!
"Of course it's expensive, sir." The slave trader folded his arms and said, "This is a monk slave bought from a big cannibal. It cost us a lot of gold, and we also sent someone to teach him the Mandarin of the Central Plains.
You can use it when you get home, and there are also cards. If the official wants to buy it, we can still negotiate the price."
"Let's go, evacuate the people." Without saying a word, Li Siye immediately called to Li Twelve Niang and Su He and led the slaves out. The black man was so anxious that he shouted from behind: "Dear guest, please buy me! I will
I will work for you and earn you the money you spend! I will satisfy all your respect and make all the people in Chang'an jealous of you!"
Li Siye's back felt numb and he sped away from here. My dear, if I want to make all the people in Chang'an jealous of me, wouldn't I be one step closer to death? With the current economic strength, there is no problem in buying such a Kunlun slave.
Yes, but this Kunlun slave is a high-end luxury product, and we are from a public family. Buying such a valuable slave will easily attract the attention of our superiors.
The source of your huge wealth is unknown. Come to the Governor's Mansion for tea tomorrow and tell me clearly whether petty officials are corrupt and deprive the army of pay.
They came out of the crowded slave market, and Li Siye invited Su He to his home. Su He declined politely, saying that he would definitely come to visit him next time.
I took these maids home. None of them could speak Chinese, and the two old maids had to make gestures to communicate with them. Fortunately, these Sogdian maids were quite dexterous, and they knew what to do with just a finger.
manual labor.
During the day, I bought a lot of bamboo and wood furniture, tables, wooden baskets, wooden couches, dowries for Li Meier and Twelve Niangs at the Qiuci market; there were also brand-new quilts, gauze tents, pots, pans, and various jars.
, the two old maids shouted and directed the slaves to carry them and put them where they should go.
"Take that jar and send it to the kitchen! Alas, it's not here, it's over there!"
"You're so stupid! You're so stupid! You don't have a brain! Take this dowry to the young lady's room!"
"Oh, Aunt Wu, they don't understand even if you scold them."
"Hey, if you don't understand, can't you see that I'm not happy on my face?"
Instead, Li Siye fell silent and sat on the edge of the well platform, holding a hammer and chisel to carve a piece of shale into a manhole cover. From time to time, he looked up and looked at the noise at home, with a calm smile on his face.
The Li family's first night in Qiuci fell. The lights shone through the small arched windows, bringing warmth and dimness to the cold house. The two old maids were still shouting and commanding downstairs.
It sounded from time to time, and actually echoed in the empty big house. Li Meier opened the window and looked outside. The flat-roofed houses and dome houses lined up in the distance were illuminated, and occasionally there were houses with black tile roofs.
, that might be some big businessman who is richer than my brother.
(ps: Thank you, I won’t say that I will choke you to death. The end of the Yangtze River will be red and rewarded.)