But the strange thing is that the carriage is not only followed by servants, but also a large number of thugs, and there is also a long line of prison cars behind it.
The carriage stopped politely as it entered the small school grounds, and four people in luxurious clothes got out. After getting off the car with a step stool, he walked straight to Liu Haojia.
General Sun Shen accompanied Liu Haojia to welcome him and introduced several people to him. If it were on a normal day, these four stewards would not even bat an eyelid when they saw Liu Haojia, the commander-in-chief! But something was very strange today. They all smiled and even saluted Liu Haojia first, which frightened all the gang leaders!
They thought Liu Haojia had some great power behind him, so these bosses who usually have a higher level of ambition would do this! You must know that all the people behind them are princes and have great power! Now they looked like Youqiu and Liu Haojia, so the leaders pricked up their ears to listen to their conversation.
At this time, I heard General Sun Shen pointing to a group of about twenty prisoners and saying: "Guys, look at this group of people first. This group of people are all worthy of beheading, and they are all good quality! Moreover, these people are usually rapists, they are constantly working hard all day long, and their bodies are very strong, and they are worth forty taels each!"
A fat steward said: "Forty taels? Why don't you go and grab it? I only spent ten taels of silver on a young and beautiful girl! It's too expensive!"
This person in charge really didn’t lie. A person in the Ming Dynasty was really worthless! The late Ming Dynasty novelist Xizhou Shengzai's long vernacular novel "Awakening of the Marriage Story" said in Chapter 36 that there was a tailor named Shen Shanle who ruined the clothes he made for others. He had no choice but to sell his eleven-year-old daughter. Sister Xi sold it to pay back other people's money!
The Shen family "wanted a full seven taels of silver", but who knew that "from several families, those who gave out four taels were considered to be of the highest quality", because later the good lady Mrs. Chao "could like it, so she gave out four taels first and then added more." "At five taels", it was already a good price. It seemed that you could buy an ordinary maid for four taels of silver at that time.
Of course, what I'm talking about here is a young maid who can't do heavy work and has no skills. She has to be raised slowly. But for some scheming masters, they deliberately cultivate the skills of their maids in their daily work. For example, some are good at needlework, and some are good at cooking. Then when they grow up, with this skill, they can be sold What a price! Not only has the master been working in vain for so many years, but he can also make a lot of money!
In Chapter 55, Di Yuan is looking for a girl who can cook. The head of the cloth seller in Haidaimen has a maid, she is eighteen years old, her feet are not very big, she is fair, her skin is tender and tender. After the interview, technical assessment and other procedures, she was very satisfied. Finally, after bargaining, the price was twenty. The transaction was completed with four taels of silver plus one tael of introduction fee.
It can be seen that the price of buying a maid in the Ming Dynasty ranged from three to four taels to twenty-five taels of silver, depending on her age and skill level! The Ming Dynasty's one tael of silver was calculated using the price of rice as a benchmark, and it was concluded that one tael of silver in the late Ming Dynasty was equivalent to 500 yuan in today's RMB. In other words, to buy a maid in the Ming Dynasty, the minimum cost was four taels of silver, which is equivalent to two thousand yuan today!
Of course, the buyer mentioned here refers to the maid who is not outstanding. If the maid is outstanding, the price will not be this! Especially the Yangzhou thin horses that were popular in the Ming Dynasty were extremely expensive!
So General Sun Shen immediately said: "You are said to be a little girl. She can't do anything and has to spend money to support her. Naturally, it is cheaper! And what I sell to you is a strong man who can work. It can be used underground! If it is used well, it may last thirty or forty years, and forty-two is not expensive at all!"
A steward with a rat's beard sneered and said, "Thirty or forty years? Do you think we men are the founders of charity? The fact that they can live for three years is because of their ancestors' merits!"
General Sun Shen laughed and said, "If you buy it back, it will be your own. I don't believe you will use it to your own death!"
When several stewards saw that Sun Shen would not take the bait, they looked at each other and made up their minds. The fat steward said: "Forty taels a piece, it's a bit expensive, but if you are like Mr. Sun said, they are all strong men." , but it’s acceptable!”
A sharp-faced manager also said: "That's natural. There are never enough manpower in this mine! Let's not talk about anything else. Let's go see the people first!"
Then several people, surrounded by a group of thugs, went straight to the prisoners designated as death row prisoners. When they got closer, they touched and pinched these people's bodies. Some even pulled out the rags from their mouths and looked at their teeth carefully!
Although some of these prisoners are still ferocious, their hands and feet have become weak after two days of starvation, and they have no strength to resist! Instead, they were beaten hard by the thugs as soon as they made any movement. They were beaten so hard that they kept wailing and not daring to move!
Listening to the screams of these people being beaten, the shopkeeper with a pair of slender eyes stamped his feet and said: "Be gentle, be gentle! These are all your own things. How to do things if they are broken! Just teach them a lesson!" "
Only then did the gang leaders standing by realize that these people had all been sold to the Xishan Coal Mine! These leaders couldn't help but be shocked! They really know about the coal mine in Xishan. People who enter it basically have no chance of coming back alive! And it is impossible to say that even they have sold people to the Xishan Coal Mine. Of course they know these things clearly!
When they thought that these acquaintances in front of them would have to work hard in the dark mines, and finally die silently in the mines, they felt miserable in their hearts! So their eyes looking at Liu Haojia were full of fear!
After inspecting the prisoner, the fat steward turned around and said, "Old Sun, this guy is a strong man, but you also know that the work in the mine is tiring and will be over in a few years, so why don't the prices drop a little? ?”
As an official, Sun Shen did not have the consciousness of an official. Instead, he bargained with the four stewards like a merchant. He said loudly: "You four brothers are too evil-minded! You can't even buy such a strong man in the market! And you only use this kind of man. No one cares about him when he dies, so why are you still here?" Can you tell me the starting price?"
The steward with a pair of provocative ears stepped forward and said: "Old Sun, that's not what you said! When a person like this buys it, it becomes his own property. He must use it carefully, so he must keep up with the food and medicine. It will cost a lot to use it for a few more years, so if it can be cheaper, it should be cheaper!”
The other four bowed and bargained, asking for a price reduction, but General Sun Shen was unmoved and insisted that he would not let go for forty taels of silver each! Another threatened: "I know there are more than just the four of you in the Xishan mine. If the price is lowered, I will find someone else to mine!"
