The human tooth was afraid that the slave's words would anger Qingji and cause his own transaction to go down the drain.

But, Qing Ji didn't care!

"What are the conditions?"

The slave pointed to a wooden cage not far away, where a small, dish-faced boy of about ten years of age was being held.

The slave urn said angrily: "That's the son of an old man." His father has a life-saving grace for someone, if you can redeem him together, you are willing to follow you for the rest of your life, and you will not give up! ”

"Good!"

Qingji immediately agreed.

He looked appreciatively at the slave in the bronze cage!

This person really values love and righteousness, which is extraordinary.

Not to mention anything else, just this person's righteous and thin temperament and extraordinary conversation are enough for Qingji to guess that his origin must be extraordinary!

You must know that ancient people did not necessarily chew words and words, but also those who were not.

In the daily spoken language, the dialogue language of ordinary Li people is very concise, and only people from noble backgrounds (intellectuals) can talk extraordinary!

Qingji immediately took out a bag of horseshoe gold from his bosom and ransomed the slave.

As for the "son of the old man", it was redeemed as a gift!

After the tooth walk, Qingji started talking to the slave again.

I learned that he was from Chu, named Xiong Zidan, and was born in the prominent Chu family!

Xiong Zidan's great-grandfather was the famous King of Chuzhuang.

It stands to reason that as a descendant of King Chuzhuang, Xiong Zidan should not be so downcast, even reduced to the point of being used as a slave.

But, sometimes it's really providential!

Xiong Zidan's grandfather was a general who conquered the Yunnan barbarians in the south of the Chu State, but the battle was lost, and the expeditionary Chu army was cut off from the back road, and was deeply trapped in the barbarian land, unable to set foot on the way home.

As a result, the Chu army could only temporarily settle down in Yunnan and wait for rescue.

However, after a long period of silence, coupled with the cunning guerrilla warfare with the Yunnan barbarians all year round, most of the Chu soldiers finally became impatient and began to flee on a large scale.

Xiong Zidan's father had no choice but to lead the few remaining Chu troops on the way home!

Unfortunately, most of these Chu people fell seriously ill and died.

Xiong Zidan himself survived by luck!

He originally wanted to uphold the will of his father and return to the state of Chu, but unexpectedly entered the state of Wu by mistake.

In the end, Xiong Zidan was caught by a large group of slave hunters because he was outnumbered, and he was not bought by Qingji until today!

After learning what happened to Xiong Zidan, Qingji and Sun Wu both expressed deep sympathy.

A dignified descendant of the Chu State, a descendant of the King of Chu Zhuang, has fallen to such a point, how can it not be embarrassing?

However, if Xiong Zidan returns to the Chu State, I am afraid that the Chu people may not be able to accept him.

It had been so long since the incident that the Chu people had long forgotten the army that had been sent to the Dian region for an expedition.

As for Xiong Zidan, he is just the son of his father and Dian Nu, and his bloodline is unclear, so it is strange that the Chu people can admit and accept it!

This kind of slave hunting is actually not uncommon in the kingdoms of the world, and it is even like ordinary hunting, which is taken for granted.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, all kinds of democracy in the world should be divided into two kinds of people, one is the countryman and the other is the savage!

After the Zhou people destroyed the Shang Dynasty in the past, they abandoned the more primitive and barbaric slavery system of the Shang Dynasty and replaced it with a feudal system, but this system is not without slaves!

The Zhou exiled the remnants of the Shang Dynasty, prisoners of war, and foreign people who had conquered the surrounding areas, and other non-Zhou people.

The Zhou Dynasty implemented a feudal system, with a total of five titles, from high to low: duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male.

Although the state of Wu has established itself as the king, it belongs to the fourth-class viscount among the vassal states divided by Zhou Tianzi!

It's a pyramidal structure of governance.

The corresponding ruling positions are the Son of Heaven, the princes, the princes, and the scholars, who are hereditary.

For the common people, that is, the people, the authority of the people is relatively large, they are the basis of the rule of the aristocratic class, the people can not only farm, but also become soldiers, participate in political and economic life, and can also achieve the promotion of the rank of sergeant!

Moreover, the power of the people of the country is not small, and it even plays a role in determining the position of the candidate for the king.

The most famous case is the "national rebellion" during the reign of King Zhou Li, and the Chinese people who could not bear the exploitation directly executed the monarch!

In short, the difference between a Chinese and a savage is the household registration!

It is like a modern household registration system.

Household registration is related to everyone's housing, education, medical care, pension, etc., and the most important things in a person's life are closely related to it.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the urban population was called the Chinese people, and the rural population was called the savages.

Slaves, as the lowest level of existence, naturally have no household registration, that is, black households.

In this era in which Qingji lived, there were frequent wars in Gayin, and the concept between the Chinese and the savages had been confused.

The countrymen represent the nobles such as the ministers and doctors, the Shuren represent the common people, and the savages are the people of other countries who have fled, and the people who have no land.

Savages can be turned into slaves anytime and anywhere!

Because they are black households, once the slave arrest is caught, or the government is caught, what awaits them will be a difficult and dark slave life.

The slave trade was largely legalized in all countries.

Don't say that it is a remote place like Wu, even the Jin, Qi, Song, Wei, Lu and other countries in the Central Plains, which claim to be the state of etiquette, slavery is very prevalent!

The provenance of slaves is nothing more than savages, prisoners of war, prisoners, descendants of prisoners, and so on.

Xiong Zidan is a very sad one.

Savages without household registration have become valuable prey in the eyes of slave hunters!

……

After returning to the palace of King Wu, Qingji placed Xiong Zidan and the son of the old man, and sat opposite Sun Wu in the side hall to discuss important matters.

"Changqing, today's private visit between the widow and you has gained a lot."

Qingji sighed with emotion and said: "The widow wants to implement a new policy in my Wu country, perhaps, you can start from this!" ”

"The king is talking about slavery?"

"Exactly."

Qingji bowed his head slightly and said: "The slave system is not shallow to harm people. For the individual, it is unkind; For the country, it is disadvantageous! ”

"The widow had previously flipped through the household registration books of the Wu State and found that when the first king, ten years ago, there were only 140,000 households in my Great Wu, and the population was only 830,000!"

"After so many years, the population of Wu is only 850,000!"

"Why is the growth rate of hukou so slow?"

"What's the crux of the matter?"

Hearing this, Sun Wu couldn't help but groan, and then replied: "Great King, maybe it's because of the frequent wars and civil strife in my Great Wu in recent years. ”

"Impossible, impossible!"

Qingji said loudly: "Even if you exclude the soldiers and civilians who died in the war and the missing population, my Dawu's household registration should not grow so slowly!" ”