Lord of Puluo

That night, several hundred slaves came to the imperial city. These slaves came from various households. They were all brave enough to run out. The heads of the households did not dare to stop them, but these slaves had no place to go, so they could only come to the imperial city to seek refuge with Li Qi.

Yu Yunqiu and Ao Shuangqian did not take these servants seriously.

"More than a dozen slaves escaped from my house last night. I didn't stop them. I told the rest to leave if they wanted to. They didn't dare to leave!"

"I'll do the same as Brother Yu, just let them go. I'll see what they eat after they get out!"

Yu Yunqiu took a sip of wine and said, "Brother Ao, I am not bragging, but in Xiaodu, as long as someone comes from my family, no one dares to buy them, no one dares to use them, and no one dares to give them a bite of food to eat!"

Ao Shuangqian said, "Brother Yu, I have the confidence to do so. The slaves who leave my house can only wait to starve to death. If they want to find Li Qi, let them find him. I will see what Li Qi can use to feed them."

Yu Yunqiu sneered, "He said there will be no slaves within three days, so let's not call them slaves anymore. Let's change their name to slaves, which sounds nicer."

Ao Shuangqian nodded and said, "It doesn't matter what you call him, just treat it as a way to tease him."

Yu Yunqiu said: "The most urgent thing is to get the fire cage horse back."

Ao Shuangqian sighed, "This is indeed a difficult matter. The key is that Li Qi knows everything and may retaliate at any time. I was the one who gave the Fire Cage Horse to him, so I guess he will come to me first."

Yu Yunqiu was not optimistic either: "The Fire Cage Horse is a treasure passed down in my family. If Li Qi investigates, he will soon find it on me. Let's make preparations early. If it doesn't work, we'll just have to fight back!"

Ao Shuangqian also had the same idea: "While Li Qi is busy placing his slaves, we should take the initiative."

Yu Yunqiu picked up the wine glass, Ao Shuangqian nodded slightly, and they both drank it all in one gulp.

Li Banfeng looked at the hundreds of people in front of him with a somewhat serious expression.

He was not worried about the difficulty in finding a place to stay, he was just worried that there were too few people coming.

"I gave my courage to this point, and hundreds of people showed up."

Zhao Xiaowan, dressed in men's clothing, lowered her voice and said to Li Banfeng, "Fortunately, only a few hundred people came. There is no food in the imperial city. The little surplus food we have is enough for them to eat for a few days."

“Food is not a problem.”

"We can't keep them around forever, we have to find a way for them to make a living!"

"Making a living is not a problem," Li Banfeng said solemnly, "the only problem is that there are not enough people."

That afternoon, Li Banfeng went to the first city.

The first level of the city is full of factories. It looks like there are no people working there, but in fact there are a large number of slaves busy at work in the factories.

Li Banfeng entered a shipyard. In the first workshop, a palm-sized ship model was placed in a water tank. Various colored tubes were inserted into the water tank, and liquids of different colors were injected into the tank.

After passing two workshops further in, Li Banfeng saw a series of pools, each with a small boat more than one meter long soaking in it.

It is hard to say whether this boat has any practical value, as its structure is so complicated that even one person cannot sit on it.

But these small boats are very similar to the ship models outside. Could it be that this is the evolution of the ship models?

Li Banfeng continued to walk forward and saw a lot of equipment in the workshop, some of which were stirring liquids, and some were grinding powders. Walking to the end of the workshop, Li Banfeng saw a vast ocean with seven or eight ships of different sizes floating on the sea.

Thinking about the ship models in the water tank, the small boats in the pool, and then looking at the ships on the sea, Li Banfeng roughly understood the process of shipbuilding in Neizhou.

To be precise, these ships are not built, but raised.

They first built a palm-sized ship model, then developed a one-meter-long small boat, and finally developed a large ship of dozens or even hundreds of meters.

This shipyard was run by Ban Chiling. There was a problem with the pipe connection on a ship. Ban Chiling was on the ship and scolded the servants around him: "How did you check it? There were so many mistakes, and you didn't find it before?"

The clerk explained, "I asked someone to check several times, and they really didn't notice that these pipes were connected incorrectly."

Tie Baisheng was there too. He had shares in the shipyard. He took the blueprint and compared it carefully. "These pipes are fundamentally wrong. There's no way to change them. This ship is ruined. Ten days of hard work have been wasted."

Ban Chiling roared at the slaves, "It's the end of a good ship. I should throw you into the boiler and boil you alive!"

Tie Baisheng checked it again. His professional ability was better than Ban Chiling's. "If I'm not mistaken, this should be a deliberate mistake. It was wrong when the mold was cast. There may be many ships with problems."

Ban Chiling grabbed the servant and said, "Do you really think I can't control you? How do you calculate the ten-day construction period? You have to redo the work now. If there is any problem again, I will kill you!"

The servant said nothing. He did not explain himself, nor did he beg.

He just walked away quietly.

The slave's attitude made Ban Chiling very nervous.

It's not just this one servant. Since the day Li Qi appeared, the attitudes of many servants have changed and the changes are becoming more obvious day by day.

Ban Chiling picked up the whip and was about to call the servant to stop him when he heard someone ask, "It only takes a dozen days to build such a big ship?

Ban Chiling was startled and turned to look at Li Qi.

To be honest, Li Qi was also frightened, not by the banchi bell, but by the ship.

In the Dark Star Bureau, he had carried out missions at sea and had seen many warships, but the ship under his feet was larger than most of the warships he had seen.

Not only was it big, but even though he was a layman, he could tell that the workmanship of this ship was better than those of military aircraft from other states.

Li Qi suddenly appeared and Ban Chiling could no longer speak.

Tie Baisheng bowed quickly and said, "I didn't know your Highness was coming. We are sorry for not coming to greet you."

Ban Chiling also quickly followed suit and saluted.

Li Banfeng looked at Tie Baisheng and found that among the group of ministers, this person was a little special.

He reacts faster than others, does things smarter than others, and always responds correctly in front of Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng asked again: "Did this ship really take more than ten days to build?"

Ban Chiling glanced at Li Banfeng, and his originally nervous mood gradually calmed down.

It is rumored that Li Qi is mysterious and unpredictable. Now it seems that his elusiveness is true. However, in terms of knowledge, he is just an ordinary person and can show his weakness sometimes. The sentence he just said proves that he knows very little about the craftsmanship.

Tie Baisheng explained: "Your Highness, this is just an ordinary cargo ship, thirteen days is enough for the construction."

Li Banfeng asked, "What if it's a warship?"

Tie Baisheng said: "There are many types of warships. It depends on the size and purpose of the warship."

Li Banfeng touched the railing beside him: "A warship as big as this cargo ship."

Tie Baisheng thought about it carefully and said, "There are many types of warships of this size, and the construction period ranges from 20 to 35 days."

Li Banfeng remained silent for a long time, his expression was very serious.

He once had an idea that in the battle with Neizhou, as long as he could make them consume some energy, he could make them fearful and they would no longer dare to attack Pro Province easily.

The ancient lifestyle of the Shang Dynasty sometimes gives people the illusion that their technological level was relatively backward.

Just like the camp that was used to invade Baishun County, such a meticulously constructed camp could be moved to Pro Province. Li Banfeng felt that it would take a lot of time to build that camp, and destroying one of their camps would cost the Shang Kingdom a huge price.

Li Banfeng also believes that the destruction of the maritime base by the navy will also cost Turkey a heavy price.

But now that I think about it carefully, the actual situation may be very different.

The air camps and sea fortresses that Li Banfeng considered extremely powerful might be nothing to Neizhou.

The outer states try to avoid direct conflicts with the inner states, and this is the right decision. In terms of technological level, there is a generation gap between the two states.

Li Banfeng walked around the cabin and said, "It's such a good ship, only a few pipes are broken, can't we just fix them?"

Ban Chiling was quite proud: "If your face is broken, it will leave a scar. If the boat is broken, even if it is repaired, the old wound will remain. The boats made by our factory are well-known. We can't ruin our reputation because of something like this."

What a domineering woman.

Li Banfeng said: "As long as we repair it seriously, it won't be considered a loss of reputation, right?"

Ban Chiling shook his head and said, "The defective ships will be directly sent back to the furnace for re-building. Repairing the ships will also require a lot of manpower. I don't have a lot of manpower to begin with, so I don't want to do such a thankless task."

Li Banfeng turned around and looked at Ban Chiling: "You said there is not enough manpower?"

Ban Chiling lowered his head and said, "City Lord, I was just about to tell you this. You may not understand the working methods very well. My shipyard may not need any manpower, but in fact, there are a lot of people working.

My family has more than 2,300 servants, but even that is not enough. All the available people have been sent to factories. I don't even have a maid to help me.

If you let me release all the slaves, my factory will be finished. If all the factories in Xiaodu are finished, it will be considered that you are not doing a good job of management. You will be laughed at when you go out. Don’t you think this is the truth?”

Li Banfeng actually laughed. Ban Chiling spoke very frankly.

Seeing Li Banfeng smile, Ban Chiling spoke more boldly: "We in the Ban Chi family are all honest people who don't beat around the bush. I'll tell you straight, I can't do without the slaves.

I can change their names, just like Tie Baisheng said, first change them to workers, and they are free to leave or stay, I will never stop them, and when I have more manpower in the future, I will slowly and completely change it, do you think it's okay?"

Li Banfeng looked at Banchiling and said, "Isn't this how it's done in Xiaodu now? Change the name, and then the slaves are still slaves?"

Ban Chiling was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Your Highness, I will tell you the truth again. The people in Xiaodu really do this! I am not the only one who can make a difference, so please don't force me!"

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "I'm not here to force you. I'm here to help you. Aren't you short of manpower? I'll send you some."

Ban Chiling was startled and realized the seriousness of the problem: "Your Highness, who are you going to send over?"

Li Banfeng smiled and said, "Commoner, a commoner who has just gained freedom."

Upon hearing this, Ban Chiling's face turned pale with fear. She knew what Li Banfeng meant. She also heard that more than a hundred commoners had arrived at the imperial city last night. "Your Highness, I can't afford these commoners!"

"Why not? Aren't you short of manpower? I'll let them come and work for you. But you must remember, they are common people. They need to be paid for their work. It depends on their willingness to stay or leave. I'll send them here in a while." After saying that, Li Banfeng left the shipyard.

Ban Chiling was dumbfounded. She stared at Tie Baisheng and said, "Old Tie, what are you standing there for? Say something!"

Tie Baisheng woke up as if from a dream: "Ah, what do you want to hear me say?"

Ban Chiling was furious: "Who told you to tell me? Go and tell the city lord not to send these one hundred people to our factory!"

Tie Baisheng said: "Why not? You say you are short of people every day. Wouldn't it be perfect to send us some people?"

"Are you really confused or are you pretending to be confused?" Ban Chiling pointed at several slaves working on the boat and lowered his voice and said, "Do you know who the city lord sent? They are all slaves like them.

But these slaves are now commoners. They have to be paid for their work, and they can come and go as they please. What do you think the slaves under my command will think?"

Tie Baisheng looked bewildered: "What can they think?"

Ban Chiling's eyes widened as he said, "The servants in the factory were already restless to begin with, and now a group of people like this have come. They all have the same job, and they live a good life. Won't my servants rebel?"

Tie Baisheng nodded: "Yes, we must rebel!"

Ban Chiling said: "So this matter must be reported to the city lord! He can't send the slaves to me!"

Tie Baisheng suddenly realized: "So that's what you're talking about. Why didn't you say it?"

Ban Chiling said, "I just told him, didn't you hear me? He didn't listen to me. You are so good at talking. Go and tell him that there are so many factories in the city. Let him send it somewhere else first."

Tie Baisheng nodded repeatedly: "Okay, I'll go find the city lord now."

Arriving at the Imperial City, Tie Baisheng met Li Banfeng. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Tie Baisheng got straight to the point: "Your Highness, I came here this time to discuss something with you. Could you please not send the slaves to the plate-tooth bell factory?"

Li Banfeng lowered his eyes and asked, "Why can't I send it?"

"She said it was inconvenient for her."

Li Banfeng sneered: "Then who do you think is convenient?"

Tie Baisheng raised his head and said, "My Lord, that's convenient for me."

Li Banfeng suspected that he had heard it wrong.

The record player standing in the corner of the room also thought he had heard it wrong.

Li Banfeng's move was to let the slaves see how a normal person should live.

The slaves dare not leave because they have forgotten how to live!

Ban Chiling was right. This was tantamount to forcing the slaves to rebel. How could Tie Baisheng dare to take the initiative to accept these one hundred slaves?

Tie Baisheng repeated, "Your Highness, the banchi bell is inconvenient, but mine is convenient."

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "You are a hero saving a beautiful girl?"

Tie Baisheng shook his head and said, "I'm not a hero, and I don't think Ban Chiling is a beauty. I just really want these one hundred people."

Li Banfeng said with a sullen face: "Let me remind you that they are workers, not slaves."

"I have been to other states, I know what workers are like, I know the difference between them and slaves, I am willing to set slaves free, I sign a contract with them, not a contract to sell themselves, but a contract from other states, I pay them wages,

They were also guaranteed to decide for themselves whether to stay or go. ” In order to prove that he had been in another state, Tie Baisheng’s tone of voice changed.

Li Banfeng asked again: "Aren't you afraid that the servants under your command will rebel?"

Tie Baisheng shook his head and said, "Don't be afraid! I treat my servants the same way. As long as you promise to help me, I will burn all their indentures when I go back. From now on, they will all be workers."

Li Banfeng still didn't quite believe it: "Don't you feel disadvantaged by doing this?"

"No, I'm not at a disadvantage," Tie Baisheng shook his head. "The way workers work is different from the way slaves work. Working for money is definitely different from working under the whip.

Workers work faster. If a worker makes a cargo ship that takes 13 days to build, I estimate it can be made in ten days. If a worker makes three out of ten ships, there will be errors. If a worker makes ten ships, there may not be one out of ten ships that have errors.

I have made money in other states, and I know I can make more money this way, but in the capital, I don’t dare to do that.”

Li Banfeng said: "What if I lend you a bit of courage?"

Tie Baisheng took a deep breath and said, "Excuse me for being so bold, but one courage is not enough. You need to lend me a few more."

Li Banfeng asked: "How much do you want?"

“Three!”

"Which three are the brave ones? Tell me."

Tie Baisheng said, "I have always wanted to hire more people to run the factory, but according to my status, the number of servants under me cannot exceed that of the Ao family and the Yu family. Now I don't want servants anymore. I hire workers. I think they should not limit the number of workers I hire anymore."

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "They can't restrict you, I said."

Tie Baisheng gained some courage, raised his head, and continued, "I want to ask for more land to build a bigger factory, but I can't use some of the land. I have to listen to the distribution of the Ao family and the Yu family."

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "You don't have to listen to their allocation. As long as I allocate it, you can use the land. That's what I said."

Tie Baisheng regained some courage, straightened his back, and continued, "There are some raw materials that I can't buy without the approval of the Ao family and the Yu family."

Li Banfeng said: "It doesn't matter if he nods or not. As long as I nod, you can buy it. I said so."

Tie Baisheng stood up and kowtowed to Li Banfeng: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Li Banfeng pulled Tie Baisheng up and said, "Stand up and talk. I said so."

Tie Baisheng really didn't come here to pretend. He quickly brought the indentures of all the slaves.

Li Banfeng called a man to verify the information on the spot. The man's name was Ba Suan.

Ba Suan took less than ten minutes to complete the comparison. The names of more than 2,300 servants were verified to be correct, and were exactly the same as the list provided by Tie Baisheng before.

Tie Baisheng brought the 2,300 slaves to the gate of the imperial city. Under the watchful eyes of Li Qi, he and the slaves lit a fire and burned the indentures.

When the slaves lit the fire, the torches kept shaking because they couldn't hold them steadily.

Shun stood behind Li Banfeng and also shivered.

The indentures were burned, the slaves shed tears, and Shun also shed tears.

"City Lord, our indentures have not been burned yet—"

Li Banfeng said, "You are no longer slaves. I will help you burn your indentures."

A group of ministers looked at Tie Baisheng coldly, with a hint of chill in their eyes.

Tie Baisheng was a little scared, but after a while, all the officials who were looking at him lowered their heads.

These officials discovered that someone was also watching them under the firelight. Li Banfeng glanced at each of them, and his eyes made everyone shudder.

Basuan looked at the fire, calculated the location, and fanned the fire.

The flames shot up high and flew into the air, carrying the paper ashes.

The slaves shouted loudly. Li Banfeng couldn't hear what they were shouting, and they didn't know what they were shouting either. They were shouting with all their might.

The lady used her voice-repairing skills to help them shout, so that the whole city could hear them.

Back in the imperial city, the wife sighed softly: "My husband is right, Yu Yunqiu and Ao Shuangqian are indeed not the key."

Li Banfeng said: "Because there are too many people who can replace them."

"Husband, don't you want to go and take a look at Tie Baisheng's factory?"

"We must take a look. At this point, we must not let anyone cheat us," Li Banfeng held his wife's hand, "Let's go together and take a look at their craftsmanship."

When they arrived at the shipyard, Tie Baisheng first paid the workers their wages for the day.

The daily wages were not much, thirty coins for a skilled worker and ten for an unskilled worker.

Many slaves saw their wages for the first time and didn't know what to do with the money.

It was also the first time for Tie Baisheng to distribute money in Xiaodu. His subordinates had no experience, so Tie Baisheng had to do the counting and accounting himself. After distributing the money, Tie Baisheng looked at his pocket watch and realized it was time to finish work.

According to the old rules, after work, the slaves would eat some peat and then go to sleep. It was still early now and they didn't know what to do.

If Tie Baisheng gave the order to continue to keep the slaves alive, they would not object.

But Tie Baisheng is a smart man. Since he has already made an agreement with Li Qi, things have to be done according to the rules of other states. He can go home when the work is done and he doesn't have to work today.

He prepared a new contract and offered a monthly salary of 1,500 coins to those who were willing to work for him for a full year, while the monthly salary for unskilled workers was 500 coins.

This was much more than the daily wage, and many workers signed the contract, Shun being one of them.

But there are also many people who do not want to sign the contract, as they are worried that it will become a contract to sell one's body.

Whether he signed or not, he would not be late for get off work. The freed slave walked out of the shipyard and looked around.

I don’t know where to go.

The commoner Zhao Yeqing, holding a lantern, came over with a dozen waiters and shouted to the crowd, "Everyone, do you want to eat? My restaurant has just opened. Three coins will fill you up, five coins will keep you well fed, and ten coins will make you feel light on your feet. Do you want to try it?"

Going to a restaurant for dinner?

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing whether they were qualified. In Da Shang, servants were not allowed to enter restaurants.

Zhao Yeqing understood their concerns and smiled at them, "I have come here to invite you, it depends on whether you will show me the honor."

Shun touched the copper coins in his hand. He used to be a porcelain worker, but he could only work as a laborer in the shipyard. Today he earned ten cents.

He couldn't bear to spend all the money, so he didn't want to spend it lightly, but it was still okay to have a good meal.

There was a woman named Huan, who was also in the porcelain business and knew Shun. She walked up to Shun and asked in a low voice, "Want to go to a restaurant?"

"Okay!" Shun made up his mind and accompanied Huan and Zhao Yeqing to the restaurant.

Many servants also followed.

Li Banfeng looked at Zhao Yeqing and whispered, "This shop owner is a smart man who can make a lot of money.

He also looks like someone who can do great things.”

The lady smiled and said, "Zhao Yeqing, a firefly, is bright-minded and clear-eyed. He knows how to do business, but there are also people who don't know how to do business. This bull-headed girl is quite different."

There was a quarrel in the factory, and Li Banfeng took his wife to watch the fun.

Ban Chiling pointed at Tie Baisheng's nose and cursed, "What do you want, you bastard? I asked you to ask the city lord for a few more days, but you released all the slaves in your factory. What do you mean by that?"

Tie Baisheng laughed and said, "It's nothing. There's nothing wrong with doing what the city lord ordered."

Ban Chiling said, "You really know how to flatter yourself. Are you just following orders? You are clearly trying to fish in troubled waters and make a fortune."

Tie Baisheng smiled and said, "That's true. Isn't the purpose of doing business to make money?"

Ban Chiling gritted his teeth and said, "Remember this, don't even think about targeting my servants. If anyone dares to run towards you, I will kill them all!"

Tie Baisheng stopped laughing and said, "Lingzi, for the sake of our friendship, I have to remind you that Xiaodu has no servants left. This matter is a foregone conclusion and no one can stop it.

You can't just kill people casually. The consequences of taking human lives are right at the gate of the Imperial City. Think about it carefully."

PS: Banfeng hugged his wife and said, "We will take care of those who wake up early, bear with those who wake up late, and for the rest who don't wake up, we should send them on their way."