"San Lang, don't drive us away, please, have mercy on us, take us in." As soon as Li Xiao stepped into the door, the servants of the Zhang family outside had already knelt on the ground.

In the cold winter, the weather is cold and the ground is freezing.

Especially at night, it can be said that the water drips into ice, and at such a time, if you lose the shelter of the house, you will freeze to death. After this house was occupied by the Zhang family, it has always been the little overlord Zhang Chao who lives, and there are usually not many people here, so there are only a dozen servants.

There are doormen, cooks, maids who clean and serve tea, rough maids who wash clothes, grooms who feed horses, and housekeepers who follow them. These people are all the same, slaves.

They are different from tenants, who used to live in the land of the Li family, and after the land became the Zhang family, although the rent increased, it was still only the land of the Zhang family, and they were still tenants. But these people are different, these people are the slaves of the Zhang family.

It is a slave with a contract, and the law of the Tang Dynasty stipulates that the law of slavery is better than that of livestock. They are the private property of their owners, just like livestock.

Now that the Zhang family has suddenly fallen, it is like a tree falling and scattering, and they have also lost their support. A dog with an owner is a domestic dog, and a dog without an owner is a wild dog.

Although the status of being a slave is low, at least there is a place to live and eat, even if the residence is not good and the food is not enough, but if you lose your master, it will be precarious, and no one knows where your fate will drift.

"Childe, I used to be a slave of the Li family, feeding livestock for two generations of the Li family. Now that I'm old, I really don't want to leave here, even if I die, I want to die here of old age. An old man who was feeding livestock in the house shouted.

Li Xiao turned around, he looked carefully, and found that he really had a little impression of this old man, as if there was indeed this person in Li Xiao's memory before. He is very short, estimated to be more than one and a half meters, short, honest and benne, a man who is white and half-white, and looks like he must be fifty or sixty years old.

used to be one of the few slaves of the Li family.

"Brother, leave him, our family owed the Zhang family a lot of debts, and our house and the servants in the family were all taken away by the Zhang family."

There are also two rough mothers-in-law who used to be old men of the Li family, and when they heard this, they hurriedly begged Li Xiao to keep them. They are old and don't want to be sold like cattle anymore.

Li Xiao looked at Zhao Lushi, "Zhao Lushi, are these people all slaves under the name of the Zhang family?" ”

Zhao Lushi knew Li Xiao's intentions, and laughed a few times, "Virtuous nephew, these people are indeed all slaves of the Zhang family, and their slave deeds are in the hands of the Zhang family, and the government has a registration." It is said that the Zhang family is now committing crimes and raiding their homes, and their family property will be confiscated, and these slaves will naturally be brought back to the government for disposal. ”

"Uncle Zhao, can you do me a favor?"

Zhao Lushi didn't say anything right away, there were a total of twelve of these slaves, which was also a lot of property. The Datang slave trade was common, and the status of slaves was very low, equivalent to livestock, but the price of slaves was not cheap.

Cheap slaves can be exchanged for a few sheep, but some strong slaves can be exchanged for cattle and horses, and if they are skilled craftsmen, or beautiful women, they are more expensive.

Those expensive slaves could be sold for forty or fifty cents each.

The twelve slaves of the Zhang family are not valuable goods, the old ones are too old, the small ones are too small, and no one has any skills or posture, but even if they are sold as sheep, they can be exchanged for forty or fifty ones.

Xue Wu came over.

"Zhao Lushi, can you help with this?"

Xue Wu opened his mouth, then he had to help if he couldn't help with this favor, he originally wanted to take care of it in front of Li Xiao, but then he immediately changed his smile, "Of course there is no problem, this is also a trivial matter." It's all my own family, and I should do a small favor. ”

"The Zhang family invaded the ancestral house of the Li family back then, and these servants were the original slaves of the Li family, and now they should naturally return to their original owners with the Li house."

Li Xiao nodded with satisfaction, "Then thank you Zhao Lushi, as for the contract documents?" ”

"This is a trivial matter, I'll send someone to deliver it when I'm done."

Li Xiao looked at the twelve slaves and ordered an acquaintance.

"Saburo called me?"

"Well, hello Ah Fu." Li Xiao smiled and said to the frightened Zhang Fu, this Zhang Fu, the last time he came to sell cucumbers, this guy still wanted to ask for benefits. This person was not from the Li family before, and he didn't look like a good person, so Li Xiao simply gave him to Zhao Lushi.

Transferred to be sent out as a favor, Zhao Lushi got a slave for nothing, but he was quite happy.

Of the remaining eleven people, Li Xiao stayed.

In fact, Li Xiao really can't look at these people, one by one, crooked melons and cracked dates, old, weak and disabled. Let's just talk about the cook, the old man is probably dazzled, his body is still dirty, and Li Xiao doesn't dare to eat the dishes he makes.

And the old man who fed the cattle also dragged a lame leg.

Even the two youngest Yahuan are quite young, but their faces are yellow and thin, their chests are flat like a washboard, they don't have any posture, and they are poorly dressed.

Hey, these days, the living standard of the country bully landlords is also very average.

However, Li Xiao still left people behind, and these people are quite pitiful, not to mention a few old servants of the Li family who used to be. In any case, they have served the Li family for most of their lives, and it is also appropriate to stay and let them support their old age.

Everyone thanked them and kowtowed to Li Xiao together.

Everywhere you go, you are a slave, but you are used to living here, and the reputation of the Li family is good, it is better to stay as a slave for the Li family than to be sold again, and it is better to be sold to the master who does not know what character.

"Let's all get up, in the future, everyone will continue to stay in the Li family compound to do things. Everyone works hard, and our Li family will not treat everyone badly. ”

"Hurry up." Wan Niang also went over to beckon everyone to get up.

Entering the compound, the compound in winter was very bleak, and there was no trace of green. There are a few jujube trees planted in the courtyard, which are also bare and without half a leaf. The rammed walls of the loess are very strong, but they always have a feeling of dust.

The open space in the courtyard is also rammed loess, and there are no bricks, but it is clean.

"Lao He." Li Xiao called the old and dirty cook.

"Do we have an iron pot at home?"

"Yes, we have three iron pots!" Lao He said proudly, it is also quite proud to have a big iron pot these days.

"Okay, you take a few people, move all three iron pots to the courtyard, today we will build a stove in the courtyard, set up an iron pot, let's stew meat and cook noodles to eat!"

The first thing he did when he came back, Li Xiao was not in a hurry to check any account books or anything like that, and he was not in a hurry to put those things later. The first thing I did when I came back was to take everyone to a full meal.

"Lamb stew in one pot!"

"Cook pork in one pot!"

"And a pot of steamed cakes!"

"After a while, everyone will open up to eat, let go of eating, and be full!" Li Xiao waved his hand heroically.