Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 942 Accidental Encounter
Today, the scenery on the streets of Xudu is very different from previous years. It is much more prosperous. There is a bustling flow of people coming and going. The shops along the road are lined up one after another, and there are cars and horses transporting goods in and out all the time.

According to the officials who surrendered from Jizhou, Xu County is now as wealthy as Yecheng before, or even more so.

The reason for this is due to the geographical location of Xudu and its permanent population.

The former is because Xu Du is located in the heart of Cao Cao's power and has hardly suffered from wars. Also, because of its important geographical location, a lot of baggage and goods flow through here.

The latter is because many of the people living in Xudu today are from wealthy scholar families. In addition to Liu Xie's three gongs and nine ministers, there are also a large number of celebrities who have defected to or surrendered to Cao Cao. These people have rich families and like to live a life of enjoyment. , so merchants from all over the world came to hear the news and established merchants and shops in Xudu one after another.

Facts have proved that these firms made the right choice. Although the luxury goods and consumer goods they sold were expensive, they never lacked sales. Many goods, such as high-purity sugar and wine and fine silk ornaments, were very popular among the Xudu nobles. It has become a great gift item.

The prosperity of commercial consumption naturally gave rise to related service industries, such as restaurants, prostitutes, etc., which all came into being, turning the entire Xudu into a huge gold sales cave.

This is also the reason why Cao Pi likes to have fun in the streets. He is not yet an adult and has not been awarded any official position, but he is full of energy and is naturally restless every day.

But another reason is that Cao Cao seemed to have given up on him, and did not take him with him like he had cultivated Cao Ang before. There are rumors that Cao Cao did not like this son, Cao Pi, so Cao Pi behaved mischievously every day, which also seemed to be a sign of self-destruction. inside.

His behavior made the cronies who had bet on him complain endlessly. For various reasons, most of them could not turn back and could only bite the bullet and continue to follow Cao Pi. At the same time, they tried their best to persuade Cao Pi to be cautious. Proceed with caution, as is the case with Wu Zhi, Zhu Shuo and others.

For example, not long ago, during the massacre after the city of Ye was conquered, many women from wealthy families were captured by soldiers and turned into goods for sale. Many of them were very qualified. The most important thing is that many of these women were previously His status was not low, and there were even members of the Yuan clan, which further aroused the desire of buyers, so the price rose accordingly.

Zhu Shuo secretly complained, thinking that even though he said this, it was impossible to hide this kind of thing for a lifetime. If Cao Cao knew that he was harboring a maid for Cao Pi, what would be waiting for him?
Thinking of this, Zhu Shuo tried hard to persuade Cao Pi, making excuses that he didn't bring enough money today. After hearing this, Cao Pi could only say angrily: "Well, in that case, let's take a look and leave."

Seeing Cao Pi's persistence, Zhu Shuo had no choice but to order a carriage to rush to the slave farm in the south of the city.

When Zhu Shuo heard that Cao Pi wanted to buy someone, he was startled and said quickly: "Young master, think twice. It is not your turn to place the slaves in Duke Ming's back house. This matter is extremely taboo, so please be careful!"

Zhu Shuo just breathed a sigh of relief, and Cao Pi said again: "If you really like him, the worst thing you can do is go back and get the money, otherwise it will be on credit. Who in Xudu won't give me face now?"

Cao Pi said irritably: "I just went to take a look, you are too lenient!"

Among them, women can serve as maids in the house, and men can not only serve as servants in the house, but those who are physically strong can also serve as servants, which is very popular among major families.

Nowadays, the Xudu slave farm is prosperous. Cao Pi is naturally not interested in the men inside. What he wants to see are the female relatives of the enemy soldiers captured by Cao's army in the war.

There were similar slave farms in Jiangdong. Sun Quan was very happy to attack Shanyue. Often in one battle, he could capture tens of thousands of people in Shanyue and use them as slaves. Sun Quan bought them to the major families in Jiangdong for use as slaves. This was also an important part of the Sun-Wu trade in later generations. component.

Among the origins of the slave tribes in the North, the best ones are undoubtedly the Hu-Han border people in Bingzhou, Liangzhou. Most of these people were kidnapped by Ma Teng, Han Sui and others, or the Southern Huns took the initiative to send the disobedient tribesmen within. Strong, he was taken to Xudu for trading, and the business was extremely prosperous. In later generations of Cao Wei, slave trading was also a very important source of income.

"Besides, how could I be that stupid? I bought the items and brought them back. Didn't I leave them at your and Wu Zhi's house before?"

The slave market is a place where slaves and maidservants are sold. These people are either the family members of the enemy army or the Dingkou who were plundered from the city. They are an important source of slaves for big families. Many families often go to the slave market to buy people.

In the outer city between the inner city wall and the outer city wall, the slave farm needed to pass through a city gate. Zhu Shuo showed his token. After the soldiers checked it, they saw Cao Pi in the carriage and asked, "Who is he?"

At this time, Zhu Shuo tried his best to persuade Cao Pi in the car and temporarily gave up the idea of ​​visiting the brothel. Just as he secretly wiped his sweat, he heard Cao Pi say again: "In that case, let's go to the slave farm and have a look!"

Zhu Shuo smiled and said, "He's my younger brother."

Naturally, he couldn't say it was Cao Pi, otherwise it would be troublesome if things got out of hand.

The soldier nodded and let the two people leave the city. The carriage entered the outer city passage. Compared with the prosperity of the inner city, the roads on both sides were much dilapidated and dilapidated. The roads were full of potholes, dust and sewage, and an unpleasant smell assaulted their nostrils. This is normal. Between the inner and outer cities, there are ordinary people living there. These people are very poor and can make ends meet by building a shed or thatched hut on the land by the roadside.

Cao Pi disliked these places very much, but in order to go to the slave farm, he had to take this road. The carriage turned two streets and finally arrived at the slave farm surrounded by a long earth wall.

The earth wall is not high, but it is covered with thorns and sharp wood to prevent people from climbing over the wall and escaping. However, it actually has more symbolic meaning, because most of the men and women in the slave farm are tied with ropes and locked in huge cages. Waiting for the owner's selection.

Most of the buyers sit in a carriage and do not get out of the car. They just let the carriage rush to the front of the cage. The people in the carriage look at the goods inside the cage through the window.

If the buyer is interested in something, they will send people to negotiate with the buyer. If the price is agreed upon, the men and women in the cage will be led out like animals, paying with one hand and delivering the goods with the other, and then tied up and dragged in the carriage by the owner of the goods. Taken away from behind, like a grasshopper being led only by a rope.

As the carriage passed one cage after another, Cao Pi sat by the window and looked over. After turning around for a long time, he couldn't see anything he was satisfied with. He couldn't help but shook his head and said, "It's strange. Why is the quality of the goods so poor recently? It's worse than a few months ago." The difference is not one or two,"

Zhu Shuo smiled and said, "That's natural. In the past, when Yecheng was destroyed, a large number of criminal women entered the market for trading. Now that the war in Jingzhou is stalemate, there are very few prisoners, so naturally the goods are not available."

Cao Pi was very unhappy after hearing this. He finally came out, but he was so disappointed!
When he was about to reach the end, Cao Pi found a cage with several good-looking women. He ignored Zhu Shuo's dissuasion and jumped out of the carriage to take a closer look.

As soon as he got out of the car, he was immediately recognized by someone on a carriage in the distance.

Fu Shou lowered the curtain, his heart pounding. After hesitating for a while, he opened the curtain again and confirmed again and again that he had seen correctly. The fat young man beside the carriage in the distance was Cao Pi!

She hated Cao Pi deeply, and his face and appearance had already been imprinted in her heart. She didn't expect to meet him!

Fu Shou also left the palace secretly. The reason for this was that she had been in a bad mood recently, so she wanted to go out of the city to relax several times.

The reason for this is that she recently thought of a way to deal with Cao Pi. Although the risk is high, the reward is high, and it is high enough to be worthy of risking her life and fortune. She continues to improve the details of the plan, and the planning process is also improving step by step. , but then encountered a problem.

During this period of time, she had never met Cao Pi. To be precise, Cao Pi never broke into the emperor's palace again.

Maybe it was because Cao Pi was frightened after being punished by Cao Cao after he beat Fu Shou last time, causing him to have a miscarriage. Maybe it was Cao Cao's decision to appoint an heir that made him restrain himself. But for Fu Shou, if Cao Pi didn't come, his plan would be ruined. It will be completely lost!
So after Fu Shou waited for Cao Pi for a long time but failed, she was a little anxious. She couldn't think of a way for a while and fell into anxiety.

But soon Fu Shou managed to find out about Cao Pi and learned that he not only liked to visit prostitutes, but also slave farms. After hearing this, Fu Shou, thinking that a blind cat will kill a mouse, found an opportunity to sneak out of the palace. Wanted to try my luck.

But the chance of this happening was too small, and Fu Shou couldn't go out every day. So during this period, Fu Shou got nothing until he met Cao Pi by chance today.

Fu Shou's heart was pounding. What she was going to do next was a dangerous undertaking, and there was a high chance that she would fail. But Fu Shou didn't want to wait any longer, otherwise she wouldn't know it would be the Year of the Monkey or the Horse next time, and it might even happen again. There is no such a good opportunity!

At this time, Cao Pi fell in love with a Jingzhou woman. When her family was destroyed in Xinye, the female family members were all obtained by Cao Bing's massacre of the city. It seemed that they had suffered a lot of abuse in the past few months. Cao Bing was tired of playing and did not want to raise her. Then he threw it directly to the slave farm and sold it.

Cao Pi saw that his clothes were in tatters and his body was bruised, but his appearance was good. At first glance, he seemed to have a weak temperament and a submissive attitude. Cao Pi felt a twinge of pleasure in wanting to ravage and abuse him, so he asked Zhu Shuo to bid.

Zhu Shuo had no choice but to get out of the car, talk to the owner of the goods, and agreed to buy the woman for the price of four bolts of silk. Then a carriage came next to him, and the person inside said in a hoarse voice: "I want this person, five pieces of silk." "

When these words reached Cao Pi's ears, he was immediately furious. Someone dared to steal something from me!

He was about to curse when he suddenly remembered that he had concealed his identity. He immediately suppressed the irritation in his heart and said: "Six horses!"

As a result, the man in the carriage on the other side replied directly: "Ten horses."

Zhu Shuo was also stunned at this time. Ten pieces of silk can buy several young men!
(End of this chapter)