Yang Ji wants to go to the stationery store in the southeast corner, so just go east. As soon as he left Shunan Trading Company, he found that Gao Ling had followed him again. Fortunately, he was a one-man horse and could move easily. Gao Ling not only rode in a slow carriage, but also had a maid accompanying him. When he accelerated his journey, he quickly got rid of her. But when I arrived at the east end of the street between the City Department and the Peace Department, I found another girl in red behind me. Her slender body was riding on a short horse, and her slender body seemed to be gone with the wind and snow.
This was not because Yang Ji was suspicious or vigilant, but because of the enclosed design of Daxing City.
The eleven straight columns and fourteen horizontal lines in Daxing City divide the whole city into two neat cities and one hundred and nine squares. The activity range of the residents in the city is the lane where they are located. They will not go to these twenty-five main streets if they have nothing to do. Walking on the street.
The same is true for the East and West Second Cities and each lane. They are surrounded by tall square walls with two gates on each side. The square walls and the four streets with two vertical and two molds inside divide the area inside into nine residential areas, each of which has two gates. Surrounded by short walls, the residents of the community move around within the community where they live, and will not wander around the main street of Fangshi if they have nothing to do.
During the busy farming season, if you don't count the patrols, you sometimes walk down a street without encountering a single pedestrian. Therefore, it is quite common in Daxing City to follow a person for a long time without being discovered in broad daylight.
Although it is not busy farming now, it is still freezing and snowy. People who need to buy things are walking around in various communities. Although there are people on the main street, the person behind him has been following him from Jinxiucai Silk Shop until now, and there are no doors on the road. If he doesn't take a shortcut, he will go faster if he goes faster, and he will slow down if he goes slower. What else is this if he is not following him? Moreover, the man was dressed in red, like a rose blooming in the snow, and it was difficult for others not to notice him.
When encountering such a stalker with no professional ethics, Yang Ji really couldn't deal with it calmly. He was afraid that the other person was the assassin that Yang Guang said and would take advantage of his indolence to shoot a poisonous arrow. So a group of horses galloped back.
Yang Ji rode his horse and came closer. Through the snowflakes in the sky, he discovered that the girl in red was actually a stunning girl with a body like a willow and a natural beauty. The red cloak on her body in the heavy snow looked particularly matching.
The halo formed by the snowlight reflecting on the cloak illuminates her flowing hair, her beautiful dimples, and her bright jewel-like eyes, which are full of indescribable beauty and charm.
What made Yang Ji even more speechless and surprised was that she was caught off guard when she was killed, but she didn't realize that she was caught at all. She only stared at him with two ice-like eyes, as if she wanted to kill him. His eyes turned into two crossbow arrows, piercing into his chest.
"Little lady, can you please stop following me so openly? You make me lose face and make me feel like a blind or deaf person." Yang Ji did not dare to be careless about this kind of female leopard of unknown origin. He dismounted and ordered: " You, dismount and come over."
The girl turned over and dismounted obediently, slowly approached him, and explained: "King Wei, I was ordered to follow you and protect you, and I don't mean any harm."
"Who asked you to protect me?" Yang Ji's eyes fell on her small waist inadvertently. The sword that was hanging by the horse bag just now was already in her hand. Although it seemed to be placed casually by her side, her hand The grip is just right for unsheathing the sword. Once the sword is unsheathed, her sword and sheath may become deadly in an instant.
The girl frowned her delicate eyebrows, but still said: "Your Highness, King Wei, please forgive me!"
Yang Ji understood, glanced at her and said, "Then we can always tell you your name and your codename? Otherwise, how would I call you? Should I call you 007, Rambo, or Bikini?"
The girl was silent for a while and said, "My name is Hong Fu."
Yang Ji was stunned and asked in surprise: "Are you Hong Fu?"
"King Wei knows about me?" Hong Fu's cold eyes suddenly showed a hint of suspicion.
"No, this is just the first time I heard that there is a person with the surname 'Hong' in the world." Yang Ji had even met Yang Jian, Yang Guang, Yang Su, and Shi Wansui. Naturally, he was not surprised by Hong Fu. What surprised him was that , why did this legendary heroine suddenly come to protect herself?
"No! My name is Zhang Chuchen; Hongfu is just my current codename, just like 007, Rambo, and Bikini as King Wei said." Hongfu stared at Yang Ji with a pair of clear water eyes and explained seriously.
Hongfu is the daughter of Zhang Zhongsu, a general of the Chen Dynasty. Her mother also came from the famous Shen family in Wuxing. After the collapse of the Chen Dynasty, their mother and daughter were given to Yang Su as slaves. Since Mrs. Zhang had a daughter, she served as a wet nurse in Yang Su's house. .
Although Hongfu has learned a lot of skills, he has always been ashamed of his status as a slave. However, once the status of a slave is confirmed, no matter how capable and rich he is, no matter how willing others are to help him, he will undoubtedly redeem his freedom unless the master The status of the slave can be changed only if he and his eldest son jointly write a deed and submit it to the government for approval.
Perhaps the only thing she could hold on to was her name. Now she felt that Yang Ji would not know that she was a humble person, and she was not worried that Yang Ji could easily figure out the person behind her from the names of Zhang Chuchen and Hong Fu. Fang's reported his name.
"I see that you don't like the name Hongfu, so I'll call you Chuchen! Since you are ordered to protect me, just follow me openly." Yang Ji and Yang Su both regarded Yang Guang's The supporters are currently allies who share weal and woe. There is no conflict of interest, so they can safely let Hong Fu follow.
Zhang Chuchen was stunned when he heard this, and asked doubtfully: "Does King Wei believe me now?"
"I think you are trustworthy!" Yang Ji finished speaking without blushing and asked, "What are you best at..."
"It seems like murder!"
Yang Ji choked, coughed and said, "I mean, besides this, what else do you want?"
“I can play music, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing and dancing, medicine, cooking, and tailoring!”
"What a genius!" Yang Ji was amazed: "Are you interested in working with me?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Since the person behind you asked you to protect me, it shows that he has a good relationship with me. If I come forward, he will definitely give you to me." Yang Ji thought of the familiar 'Hongfu Night Run' and was confused. Said: "As long as you agree, I can ask for someone, and then you will be exempted from your status as a pariah and promoted to a good man. The only condition is that you help me train female guards and you will get a salary every month. How about it?"
Zhang Chuchen's heart skipped a beat. She knew that no one would ask others to release their slaves, especially from a family like Yang Su. Others would not dare to ask, and Yang Su didn't need to sell his face; and she was very capable, so she could The Yang Mansion was more useful, and the difficulty of getting out of slavery was countless times higher than that of ordinary domestic slaves. But if Yang Ji, with Yang Jian and Yang Guang as shields, came forward, it would naturally be different. However, her heart was racing, but she was worried that Yang Ji was testing her background, so she suppressed her excitement and remained silent.
Although she didn't speak, Yang Ji knew it well and said as he walked forward, "Just because you don't speak doesn't mean that I can't guess the person behind you."
Zhang Chuchen couldn't help but ask: "Then where does King Wei think I come from?"
"After I had a conflict with He Ruobi, the prince prepared for me several female guards who are proficient in assassination. However, he himself did not have the talent in this field, so he asked me to ask the Duke of Yue for maids like you." Yang Jizhizhu He smiled confidently and said: "Maybe the prince asked the Duke of Yue to send someone to protect me, and you followed me openly. Obviously you are not the one who came to assassinate me, so your origin is ready to be revealed."
The self-righteous Yang Ji had no idea that this was Yang Su's own idea and had nothing to do with Yang Guang. But the problem is, Zhang Chuchen doesn't know why Yang Su sent himself to protect Yang Ji? So after Yang Ji's deception, her big, sparkling eyes were filled with shock.
"I will go to the Duke of Yue's mansion for a banquet tomorrow and plan to ask him for some maidservants." Yang Ji looked at the heroine who came to his door and said with a smile: "You Zhang Chuchen will definitely not be able to escape my clutches. ! Do you have any relatives in the Duke of Yue's palace? If so, I will ask for them together. The conditions are similar to what I said before. Either they can escape from slavery by their own ability; or they can accumulate it on you, as long as you gain a foothold. Those who have made meritorious deeds will be included in the list of good people."
Generally speaking, the situation of slaves is quite bad. Everything about them is decided by their masters. The masters can give them away or buy and sell them at will. They will not be punished for raping and humiliating slaves, wives and daughters, and they can even be humiliated to death. They only have to report to the government. With one sound, the household can be cut off. Slaves, on the other hand, had no legal rights at all. They could not sue the officials if they suffered injustice. Even if their master committed a crime, they could not sue him, otherwise they would be sentenced to extremely severe penalties.
Although slaves can have their own families, the national law neither recognizes nor protects them. If they encounter an evil master, he can break up the slave family at will. The children born to them are also slaves from the moment they are born, and they are also part of the owner's property. part of it.
And those slaves who have been slaves for generations have thrived under the wings of their masters. Having children means being tied. As long as the master gives a little favor, does not break up their families, and gives them another bite of food, they will be grateful and completely lost. The courage to defect; and the new generation of slaves like Zhang Chuchen, who came from a well-established family, were not only knowledgeable, self-esteemed, and capable, but also did not have many ties, so their ambition to escape slavery was definitely much higher than that of ordinary slaves. Since there are normal channels to get out of slavery, Yang Ji doesn't believe that Zhang Chuchen is not tempted.
"Really?" Zhang Chuchen was indeed tempted.
"That's true." Yang Ji said with a smile: "I don't know how the Yue government treats the issue of slaves, but my slaves and maids can use their merits to leave the country. As long as they have established their merits, they will be transferred to their husband's household registration. .”
This rule was also the change that Yang Ji made to Prince Wei's Mansion. In his previous life, he had watched a TV series about black slaves called "Roots". That TV series was about a group of black slaves who wanted to escape. The master used both soft and hard tactics. Nothing could change the decision of this group of people, and in the end it seemed that they had alienated themselves. In view of this, Yang Ji persuaded his mother to adopt a merit-based system for the slaves in the mansion. The slaves had hope, worked harder, and did not cause trouble.
However, slaves who have established their merits have good living conditions in the palace and have a huge backer to rely on. This system has been implemented to this day. No one is willing to leave the jurisdiction of the Palace of Wei; even if some people become good people, they still remain in the palace. They were working in farms and shops all over the country. Once called for something, they would still come back obediently. Therefore, this system was of no use to the palace, but it could polish the slaves' will to resist and work harder. .
In view of the situation of numerous factions in the Sui Dynasty and the example of Li Min, Yang Ji, who has a sense of crisis and a desire to run a powerful force, now lacks all kinds of talents and wants all kinds of talents. Compared to people with a high profile, people with a humble status like Zhang Chuchen are almost unnoticed. It is also safer for themselves to win over people.
Although Zhang Chuchen cannot make the decision for his own life, and Yang Ji can directly ask Yang Su for help without her opinion, the effect will undoubtedly be better if he gives her proper respect.
"I only want my mother-in-law." In the past, the children of the Yang family only coveted Zhang Chuchen's beautiful, gentle and virtuous mother. As she grew up, both mothers were coveted. If he were not the person around Yang Su, I'm afraid the two of us are already finished. Now faced with such conditions and opportunities, she cannot refuse, let alone refuses.
"It's a deal." Yang Ji smiled.
"It's a deal." Zhang Chuchen also smiled, thinking that although this boy is known as the king of dandies, at his age, how could he have any evil intentions? If you gain his trust and rely on your own abilities, whatever you want to do in the future, wouldn't it be easy?
"Go buy gifts first."
Yang Ji and Zhang Chuchen reached a tacit understanding, and it depends on whether Yang Su is willing to let them go.
