My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 78: The Guest (Only one update in the early morning, please go to bed early after reading)

After a heated debate, the bargaining between Lu Yi and Zhen Yi was finally settled.

In the end, Lu Yi, representing the Lu family caravan, and Zhen Yi, representing the Zhen family, reached a long-term agreement.

Lu Yi promised to provide Zhen with a large number of geldings and mares on a long-term basis, with the quality of the horses not lower than the previous two times.

Zhen sent people to Mayi to purchase castrated horses in large quantities at the price of 25,000 coins each and mares of breeding age at 33,000 coins each.

The money will be paid immediately and both the money and the goods are settled.

To be on the safe side, Lu Yi naturally proposed to make a deal in black and white with Zhen Yi.

Since Zhen had done business and signed many contracts with other businessmen, it was natural that he would not object.

After the contract was signed, everyone immediately went out of the city to inspect the horses.

Although the Zhen family had been merchants for generations, they did not have the mercenary spirit of a businessman. Seeing that Lu Yi's horse was indeed as he said,

Manager Zhen immediately paid Lu Yi 1980 million yuan.

With this money, Lu Yi suddenly felt more financially comfortable.

"As long as there is money, the construction of the fort can be accelerated at any time. Even the complete version can be completed in about half a year. However, the spring plowing is about to end. If we miss this window, we can only wait until next year."

Lu Yi thought for a moment and immediately made up his mind.

"Keeping money at home only makes one a miser. It is better to exchange it all for land. With land, there will be an endless supply of food."

"With food, we can feed more people and consolidate more land!"

After figuring this out, Lu Yi immediately seized the opportunity to ask Zhen Yi where there were larger places for trading with servants.

The so-called "zhuangke" essentially means a slave.

Slavery flourished during the Han Dynasty.

Wei Qing, the national hero and general who fought against the Huns in the Western Han Dynasty, was born as a servant of Princess Pingyang.

Basically, there was one slave for every dozens of people.

The composition of these slaves was complex, including Hu Lu in the north, Di Qiang in the west, Nanman in the south, and Dongyue in the east.

But the majority are Han Chinese.

Among them were those who were demoted to slavery due to crimes, but more were those who simply could not survive and sold themselves as slaves to noble families, wealthy families, and rich businessmen.

Although they lost their freedom and political rights, they no longer had to bear taxes and labor service, and only had to complete the work assigned by their masters. Although their lives were still hard, they could survive.

These noble families, wealthy clans, and wealthy businessmen are not fools.

Since these servants have become their private property, they must squeeze out the maximum profits from them. They will also be more careful and will not arrange too much physical labor for them. Otherwise, if they are squeezed too hard, even people will die. Wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Zhen Yi had never done any housework, so the task of answering Lu Yi naturally fell to Manager Zhen.

"Guest?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at Lu Yi meaningfully: "Are you planning to buy it to cultivate farmland?"

"That's right." Lu Yi nodded without hiding anything. "If you plan to buy them as tenants, why not just recruit refugees?" Manager Zhen chuckled and pointed to a large group of ragged, pale-faced people gathered at the foot of the city wall near the city gate.

"These people don't want to sell their bodies for money. As long as Manager Lu can give them a bite to eat, they will give them as much as they want!"

Some people in the crowd of refugees became slightly agitated when they saw Zhen Yi and Lu Yi and others, who were dressed in gorgeous clothes, looking at them, and immediately cast eager glances in their direction.

These people all wandered here from the counties surrounding Jizhou. Among them were both men and women, most of them were young and strong, and there were very few old and weak.

Because the elderly and the weak simply cannot withstand the hardships of the journey.

Originally, these people fantasized that they could somehow beg for food in the wealthy Jizhou. However, when they brought their elderly and children and traveled through mountains and rivers to Jizhou, the richest city in Hebei, they despairingly discovered that few local wealthy families were willing to take them in.

The numerous exorbitant taxes, heavy corvée and military service, and the cold weather and drought during the Little Ice Age made it impossible for these honest farmers to survive, forcing them to leave their homes.

However, there were also many local farmers in Jizhou whose families were broken up, and countless of them were willing to sell themselves to the rich as slaves.

How could these wealthy and powerful families ignore the local farmers whom they know well and choose these outsiders with unknown origins?

What if there are spies from thieves or robbers among them, who sneak into our own fortress and attack us by surprise with both internal and external forces? What would be the outcome?

The local officials were worried that these refugees would get so hungry that they would gather together to riot, so they only distributed porridge once a day. Each person was given a bowl of porridge that was so thin that you could shine a light on it and mixed with a lot of sand. It was not enough to fill their stomachs, and they could only hang on for dear life, becoming increasingly weaker day by day. In Zhongshan alone, dozens of frail refugees died of hunger and cold every day.

When Lu Yi saw those eyes looking at him, filled with hope, numbness, and pain, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart and turned his head away quietly.

"These refugees have already lost their strength. Even if they are recruited back home, they will have to recuperate for a few months. This will delay the farming season. I still want to buy some servants who can be used immediately. It would be best if they can farm and have some skills."

Although he felt sorry for it, he was not a saint and knew that he should eat according to the size of the bowl.

Saving the refugees is not something he is qualified to do now.

It's good enough that he can take good care of the people around him.

"What Manager Lu said is true. These refugees who wandered here from other places seem to be honest and decent, but they will do anything to get a bite of food. Since the beginning of spring, these people have come to Zhongshan. Zhongshan, which was originally peaceful, has seen many cases of robbery and murder. Upon investigation, it turned out that all of them were done by these unruly people. If it weren't for the fear of provoking a civil uprising, the county governor would have expelled all of these people from Zhongshan long ago. It is wise for Manager Lu not to recruit them."

Manager Zhen nodded in understanding, looking at the refugees with undisguised contempt and disgust.

"It just so happens that recently many farmers in Zhongshan have gone bankrupt and brought their families to join our Zhen family. They are all honest people from nearby counties and prefectures who know each other well. Manager Lu is a distinguished guest of the young clan leader, so I can give you some of it."

After Manager Zhen glanced at Zhen Yi, he put on a smiling face and asked Lu Yi.

"Oh? In that case, thank you very much!" Lu Yi responded indifferently, with no expression of joy or anger on his face.

"It's just that we sold these to our Zhen family at a high price. Generally speaking, beautiful maids and strong slaves cost 20,000 to 30,000 coins, and young boys and girls also cost 10,000 to 20,000 coins."

"Since Shopkeeper Lu is the honored guest of the young clan leader, he will naturally lower the price. Beautiful maids and strong slaves are all 20,000 coins, and young boys and girls are all 10,000 coins. I wonder which one Shopkeeper Lu wants?"

Manager Zhen asked with a smile, as if he was not talking about people who had the same joys and sorrows as him, but a group of pigs and sheep that were at the mercy of others.

……

I have been gritting my teeth and updating for more than half a month without realizing it. I am tired and need a few days to recover my energy~
If I hadn’t been worried about readers waiting for updates in the middle of the night, I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze out even this chapter.

Today is just one update, there is one more update, I will write it tomorrow during the day, everyone go to bed early~
I will update twice a day as normal these days.

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(End of this chapter)