Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 1294 Slave Uprising
late autumn.

After leaving the Hulao at the east gate of Luoyang, the emperor's large east patrol team crossed the Tongji Canal of the Grand Canal in Xingze, then entered Jishui, one of the four ruins, and continued eastward.

The prefect of Xingyang, Li Xuanba, Duke of Zhaojun, and the local officials and people waited to see him off by the river.

"Go back."

"I want to go to Mount Tai with Your Majesty." Li Xuanba was a little bit reluctant.

"You are now a local herdsman official, how can you leave easily." Luo Cheng patted Li Xuanba on the shoulder, "Xingyang County has been under your rule for the past two years, but it has developed rapidly. The development of the prefecture is no worse than that of Luoyang, especially the two cities of Xingze and Kaifeng, now there are many merchants and workshops, very prosperous, I am very happy."

Li Xuanba smiled, "I always listen to the suggestions of the officials below, and I don't know how to govern the place."

"It is very good to be able to listen to good advice with an open mind."

As the east gate of Luoyang, the eastern capital, Xingyang has strong geographical advantages, especially the Yellow River in the north, the Tongji Canal of the Grand Canal in the east, and the Jishui River that leads directly to Shandong in the east.These three rivers are the golden waterways, through which all the merchants’ materials going west to Luoyang, the capital of the capital, pass through. Xingze City is located at the junction of Tongji Canal and Jishui River, and the Yellow River is the north side, so Xingze City has become an important city. water terminal.

Warehouses are everywhere here, and the imperial court has newly established a Xingze warehouse here, which can store tens of millions of shi, and the royal internal treasury has also set up a large warehouse here, which can hold 300 million shi, and merchants from all walks of life have also established here Countless warehouses.

Not to mention, there is also a shipyard here, specializing in the production of merchant ships running the canal, Jihe River, and the Yellow River. In addition, many handicraft industries in Xingze are also well developed. The imperial court deliberately established a handicraft manufacturing area here. The officials of the temple have handicraft workshops, the royal handicraft workshops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, etc. Although Xingze is not the county town of Xingyang, it has a population of more than 20 and more than [-] slaves.

The city of Kaifeng, less than [-] miles southeast of it, is now also an important water transport terminal and handicraft manufacturing base, with a population of more than [-].

In the past few years, the imperial court also intends to transfer some manufacturing industries in Luoyang City to nearby Xingyang. Firstly, the transportation here is more convenient, and secondly, if Luoyang has too many people, it will also increase the difficulty of city management.If there are millions of people living in a city, the transportation and even sanitation of the whole city will be very difficult, and the difficulty of supplying materials will increase, and the price of goods will also rise sharply.

Historically, Constantinople in Rome became a dung city because of the millions of people living in the city. In the end, many people had to be evacuated to the surrounding area by forceful means, and the situation in the city improved.

"I have found that Xingyang County is currently using a large number of slaves, especially Xingze and Kaifeng, where handicraft manufacturing is more concentrated, using more slaves, and even nearly half of the population are slaves. This is a relatively prominent I hope that you, Xuan Ba, and the officials of Xingyang County can pay more attention to this issue."

Daqin basically dominates the world now, and it is also expanding outwards and expanding its territory.The imperial court actively immigrated to the frontier, which greatly changed the original situation of the Central Plains, which was originally small and densely populated. Especially with the imperial court's strong land equalization system, most of the Han people were allocated a lot of land and became self-cultivating farmers.

Aristocrats, officials, and landlords were also subject to the strict land restriction order of the imperial court, so they had to replace the over-limited land in the Central Plains to the frontier land. This makes the number of big landlords in the Central Plains less, and the number of self-cultivating farmers is extremely large, accounting for [-]% of the land. soil of.Self-cultivating farmers cultivate and grow by themselves, and even because a family can be allocated [-] to [-] to [-] mu of land, some families with less labor, or families with better conditions such as soldiers, have increased demand for labor, but nowadays Most of them are self-cultivating farmers, and it is difficult to hire others.

So in the end it can only be to buy slaves.

In particular, many powerful landlords, limited land in the Central Plains, bought land in the borderlands, and turned to manufacturing in the Central Plains.

Although slaves are not cheap, they are a last resort in today's environment. Besides, buying slaves is actually very cost-effective.Therefore, in Daqin, whether it is the nobles, powerful landlords or the common people below, they all like to buy slaves.

Aristocrats, powerful officials, and gentry bought a lot of slaves, not only for farming and working, but also for their daily life, such as car slaves who drove carts, gate slaves, gate slaves, horse slaves, and even dog slaves. There are tea slaves who serve tea and water, slaves who help the kitchen and cook, etc., and slaves are inseparable everywhere.

In the homes of ordinary people, most of them buy one or two servants who work in the fields, and some also buy some little girls as maids.

The imperial court also had special laws for slaves, which followed the laws of the Sui Dynasty. The slave laws were lower than property holdings, and their status was lower. Trading slaves was the same as buying and selling livestock. Although there were strict regulations, they were not prohibited.

"Xuanba, the use of slaves in large quantities is what is required by the current national conditions, but we must also guard against the possible harm that slaves may bring. Marriage between the good and the poor is not allowed. This rule must be strictly controlled. If the master and the slave have children, the children still cannot be changed. His status as a slave."

The one Luo Cheng mentioned is very cruel, but if this red line is not drawn, there will be chaos sooner or later, and there will be chaos.

"Slaves work hard, then slaves intermarry, and the next generation is still slaves, but if they behave well, they can also be redeemed for freedom."

The imperial court's attitude towards slaves is actually full of controversy now.

Although Luo Cheng insisted on the red line, he also had some protection laws for slaves, such as no abuse or harm, etc., and even stipulated that slaves should be given a minimum salary. Although this amount is pitifully low, slaves are allowed to own private property. Property is also a great change. If it is not for the opposition of many officials, the emperor is even ready to allow the children of slaves to have a semi-free status, and by the third generation, they will be completely free.However, this article was opposed by many officials, so the good and the poor were not allowed to marry, and the children born between slaves and slaves were still slaves and belonged to the property of the slave owner.

But keeping a minimum wage enabled them to have a little private property, and allowed them to save enough to buy themselves or their children their freedom.

Luo Cheng has always been a little worried. With the increasing number of slaves in Daqin, slaves will become a big problem sooner or later.He didn't hope that there would be a slave uprising in Daqin one day.

"Some hope must be given to these slaves."

"Also, we must strictly investigate. It is absolutely forbidden to sell Qin people as slaves. Qin people are not even allowed to sell themselves as slaves. Whoever dares to break this red line will be severely punished. Remember."

In the next step, Luo Cheng also plans to try to pass the provision that three generations of slaves can become free hired workers in the court. These free hired workers cannot share the land and grant land, but they can become hired workers and can be naturalized. Officials, but other aspects are almost the same as good people.The third generation of freelance workers can become truly good citizens.

In this way, the social conflicts, pressures and risks that slaves may bring can be alleviated.

"Xuanba, your Xingyang County is a slave county, and there are hundreds of thousands of slaves in the county. You must manage it well, you must not abuse the slaves, you must ensure their basic living conditions, and you must monitor them for a long time. If there are slave owners Torturing and killing slaves must be severely punished.”

(End of this chapter)