It was a morning when a horse-drawn carriage drove out of the village.

Under the rising sun, the mountains that towered in the distance were still covered with snow, reflecting the golden light, although the distance of the mountains was very far, but it was clearly visible under the morning sun.

The mountains in the distance, where the snow has not yet melted, are so vast, stretching for hundreds of miles, and at the foot of the mountains is a vast expanse of endless grassland, on which the weeds of half a man high are blown by the wind, setting off undulating waves, and among the meadows, the carriages driven by two men drove forward along the dirt road, and they drove in the direction of the mountains, as if the mountains were close at hand, but in fact, the distance was still far away.

The snow on the top of the mountain will wait another month or two to completely melt, although the mountain is already a spring at this time, but the snow on the mountain, if you want to completely melt, it will take a long time, and it is the snow that melts from the mountain, so that the vast grassland under the mountain is extraordinarily fertile, even in the middle of summer, even if there is no rain, the flowing river will bring an inexhaustible supply of snow water from the mountain, and the melting snow water moistens the earth, making it a fertile land.

Although the land is very fertile, as far as the eye can see, it is all meadow, and there is not much arable land to be seen, and occasionally you can see a house standing in the meadow, although it looks a little barren, but among the meadow you can faintly see a white fluffy animal, which is a sheep.

Thousands of sheep are lazily enjoying the tender grass in spring on this grassland with rich water and grass. And on the road between the pastures, this carriage drove through a cultivated field, which was only about 20 acres of cultivated land, next to a spring, and it was obvious that the owner here would reclaim this cultivated land here for the convenience of irrigation, and some young seedlings had already emerged in that field, including corn seedlings and wheat seedlings.

"By the time it comes next year, it is estimated that Lao Sun's family will open all the land around this pond."

Looking at the land, Li Ye said to the brothers beside him.

"I heard that he took several of his cousins from the gate and helped them clear the land."

"Brother, why, let's not open more land?"

"We're just brothers, we can't open so much, and we don't need to open so much land."

The elder brother's words fell into Li Hou's ears, and he immediately fell silent, all he could hear was the rhythmic clicking of the two-wheeled carriage they were riding in, which was the sound of the wooden axles rubbing against the wooden wheels, and the sound of the horses' hooves on the ground was almost inaudible.

Only two people simply can't open that much land, which may be a shortcoming of the few brothers. The more people, the more workforce. Naturally, more land can be cultivated.

As we got closer to the market, the faint smell of grass peculiar to the grassland had now passed, and all I could smell was the smell of dust from the fields around the market, and the smell of manure from the fields, which had been accumulated for a winter. Although it doesn't smell particularly bad, it can still be smelled, and at the end of each winter, the land is covered with this fertilizer. This smell will fill people's breath for at least the next few days.

This smell is exactly what these people have been familiar with since they were children, but for the natives here, this smell is unfamiliar, it is the smell of farming, and of course it also represents the breath of civilization.

But for the farming people, this smell makes them feel comfortable, and cordial, of course, now Li Ye and Li Hou brothers, for this smell is becoming more and more unfamiliar, Li Ye's 500 acres of military field, not used to farm, but raised hundreds of sheep, this time to the set, is to sell wool, compared to farming, although the income of sheep can not catch up with it, but sheep raising is relatively trouble-free, at least in the case of not much manpower, sheep raising is the most labor-saving and the most income.

Coming to the market, compared to the settlement of only four or three families a few miles away, the market is relatively lively, and the once wooden wall has long been converted into a broken stone masonry wall, where vendors from all over the world sell all kinds of goods brought from thousands of miles away.

Tea bricks from Wuchang, silk from the south of the Yangtze River, porcelain from Jingdezhen, and so on, such commodities from the north and south of the river are gathered here, and a few years ago, there were even large red dates from Shandong, and now with the planting of jujube trees here, there are no merchants who sell large red dates here.

In short, as long as there is money, the market near the river, like any market in the Heishui Governorate, can see goods from the whole Ming Dynasty, but in the last two years, goods such as cotton cloth are being replaced by goods from the Northeast, because the Northeast has also built yarn factories and cloth factories, although here, because the river freezes every winter, those factories that use water power will stop production, but the factories are still established. Even now even Heishui has built a woolen factory, because most of the immigrants in Heishui raise sheep, and the shrewd businessmen use the local wool to accumulate wool nearby, but the black water in the north of Heilongjiang is too cold, and the hydraulic loom can only run for four months a year, but even so, because of the freight, the local wool is still cheaper than the wool transported from Shenyang.

The carriage entered the market, and looking at the lively market, Li Ye said to his brother.

"Little brother, I'll go to the wool shop, and you go to the market over there to see the price of slaves."

The human market, perhaps in the "Daming Law", prohibits the people from selling themselves, prohibits the slavery of their own people, but it does not mean that there is no market in the Ming Dynasty, but now these people are sold in the market, not the people of their own country, after all, under the deterrence of the cool law of "the seller kills, the buyer flows, and the self-seller flows thousands of miles for the official slave", the slaves and maids in the human market are often from Korea, Guangnan, Burma, Zhila and Siam and other small vassal states, and even from Arabia and Europe, of course, compared to the rarity of the latter, Women in the Nanyang princely states are often the most common, and it is these people who support the people of the Ming Dynasty, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty can exchange limited money for slaves and maids. Although this kind of market seems to be unorthodox. But people are always realistic, and it is precisely because of the demand of the market that people will build this market. Of course, this trade of foreign slaves is now more acceptable than selling one's own family, and even in the last few years, it has developed into an industry, especially in frontiers like Blackwater.

When he came to the market, Li Hou saw a lot of Nanyang native girls, although they were wearing a Ming-style dress, but the slightly dark skin color still revealed their identities, their languages were different, but without exception, they were full of expectations for Daming and their future lives. When those native girls saw him, they would show a look of expectation, and some people would even throw winks at him.

After all, for these Tibetan Tuyi, the Ming Dynasty is not only the Celestial Empire, but also the Heaven, and now, how can they not be expected to come to heaven? In anticipation, they naturally hope that their owner is a young and handsome man, not an older man.

However, unlike the interest that other people showed when they saw those native girls, Li Hou had no interest in these people at all, because most of their appearances were ordinary, which made him very disappointed.

"What the eldest brother needs is a woman who receives the Li family, not just a slave!"

Li Hou thought so in his heart, although he and his eldest brother's name are linked to "rich family business", but this family is actually very poor, otherwise the eldest brother would not have joined the army back then, fortunately, Zhang Shangshu did not like military affairs back then, although the eldest brother said that he joined the army, but he did not go to the battlefield, and after several tosses, he also got a piece of Gongtian when he retired, because it is located in the more remote Heishui in the north of Heilongjiang, and the Gongtian can even be doubled.

However, in such a far north, it is not easy to marry a wife and have children, and who is willing to marry a woman in the customs to such a far place, if it is not possible to marry a wife, then take a concubine, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the slaves and maids bought can be concubines, so the human market in Heishui is ostensibly to buy and sell slaves and maids, but in fact, it is a concubine room that buys and sells children for them.

Many single immigrants do not have any requirements for women, for them, as long as it is a woman, as long as a woman can receive them for their ancestry. But Li Hou wants to find a good-looking woman for his eldest brother, even if it is to pass on the lineage, there must be a little requirement.

"This little brother, look at me, look at me, my woman is different from Nanyang girl, although the appearance is different from my Han people, but all of them are bright-eyed, red-lipped and bright-toothed, all of them are full of beauty, and the price is not high, a Persian maid costs at least 100 taels, I only need 50 taels here......"

The man who stopped Li Hou was a man in his forties, this man was dressed in brocade, with a fat head and big ears, and he was worth an extraordinary amount at a glance, but he took the initiative to shout about business, which was unexpected. There are very few rich people like him who have come out in person like him.

"You brought a Persian maid?"

Li Hou looked at the person in front of him in surprise, only the rich can afford to buy the heavenly maid and the Persian maid in the Ming Dynasty, where did he get the Persian maid? Only fifty taels a piece?

In a place like Blackwater, it is probably difficult to sell a slave like that, which is good but not cheap. After all, what everyone pays attention to here is good quality and low price.

"Look at what this little brother said, if it is a Persian maid, it can still be sold here in the future, and it has been sold out in Guangzhou in the morning, isn't it......"

Slaves and maids from Persia are very popular in the current daimyos, although their appearances are very different, but for the rich people of the Ming Dynasty, slaves and maids with different appearances often reflect their identity better. As he spoke, he said with a mysterious smile.

"It's Tianzhu, do you know Tianzhu? It is the place where Tang Seng learned the scriptures, and the women in that place look similar to the Persian maids, that is, their skin is slightly darker, but they are more docile and obedient than the Persian slaves......"

As a businessman, after explaining the shortcomings of his own goods, his words quickly turned to the other side, where he talked about the benefits of Tianzhu maid, but no matter what he said, Li Hou still looked unmoved.

"Why don't you take a look, little brother?"

Looking at the son in front of him, Wang Shikun said tentatively.

"Little brother, if you miss this opportunity, you will definitely regret it in the future."

"It's too expensive!"

Li Hou shook his head, pointed to the Nanyang maid over there and said.

"Those Nanyang maids, at most twenty taels or fifty taels, are enough to buy two, and they have to find a head horse, two slaves and maids, and hundreds of sheep are enough, what can one do?"

Li Hou's refusal made Wang Shikun's heart suddenly smile bitterly, how could these people be more practical than the other, open their mouths to herd sheep, and shut up to farm. Doesn't he have the conditions? The faces of these slaves and maids are more beautiful than those of those Nanyang slaves and maids.

"Little brother, you see, these days the Zhu slaves force their buttocks to be round and upturned, such women are easier to give birth to, if you are interested, I can be cheaper, how about it, forty taels ......"

Wang Shikun's tone was tentative, for him who had just set foot in this business, what he needed was to open the market, if it weren't for that, he wouldn't have sold it all the way himself.

As he spoke, he invited Li Hou into his room almost half-stretched, and when he entered the room, through the sunlight shining into the room from the window, Li Hou saw that the room was full of women who looked very different from the Han people and Nanyang maids, although they had the same complexion as Nanyang maids and slightly darkened complexions, but those big eyes could barely be regarded as bright eyes. Among these women, there are many women whose appearance looks quite pleasing to the eye, and in terms of appearance alone, they are indeed more beautiful than Nanyang slaves.

"Forty taels, it's still too much......"

As soon as Li Hou's voice fell, Wang Shikun complained about his bitterness.

"Ouch, look at what the little brother said, what is this, I brought people here from Tianzhu for 108,000 miles, then you are the place where Tang Seng learned the scriptures back then, it is 108,000 miles away from us, and it is not easy for me, forty taels can't be lower, no matter how low it is, it will be a real loss......"

Before he finished speaking, Li Hou walked out, forty taels was too expensive!

"Thirty, thirty, little brother, how's it going? Think of it as making friends! ”

When he said this, he had a completely cut expression. However, even so, Li Hou still looked unmoved. He glanced at the Tianzhu slaves again, and then hesitated for a while before speaking.

"How about two taels less, two taels less for me? If not, I'll leave now. ”

As if a piece of flesh had been dug out, Wang Shikun said distressedly.

"Okay, just make a friend, let's make a deal."