Chapter 436: The Big Cake for the Slaves

Although these deserters had been captured, Lu was not entirely at ease; after all, these fellows harbored rebellious intentions. Fearing their martial strength, they were obedient for the time being, but the possibility of them fleeing on the road was extremely high, even if they lacked the guts to resist.

The Adjutant had already brought the people back to Huaxia City. When he reported to Baifeng, it even surprised Baifeng; he had not expected such a harvest, and since these people were all strong laborers, he had to carefully consider how to dispose of them.

Since they claimed to have escaped after killing their Leader, that was simple: go and confront them. The villagers were all there, and there were plenty of captives; by comparing their testimonies, the truth or falsehood would naturally become clear.

But after several comparisons, what these deserters said was indeed the truth. The slaves were also very surprised; they had not expected that the two great Leaders, Lanzai and Gongxia, had actually been killed by their own people. They had thought it was the work of the Huaxia people, but now everything had lost its meaning; they had all become slaves, destined to work for Huaxia for a lifetime.

The most terrifying thing was that even among Huaxia slaves, there were divisions of rank. Those slaves who had been there for years, aside from their status and position, had treatment only slightly worse than a Citizen, but they could even marry and bear children, possessing some of the most basic rights as "humans," including not being killed at will.

But they were different. As slaves, they had to live in large communal dormitories, and the food they ate was not as good as what the cattle and sheep ate. When they fed the cattle and sheep, they could smell the oily fragrance of the feed. Although it was already better than it had been at the Suiren Tribe, after having a comparison, their hearts were still very unbalanced.

However, because one slave was greedy, he stole some oil dregs from the cattle while feeding them. After being discovered, he was beaten half to death and then thrown onto the Grass to fend for himself, which made them clearly realize their status.

Those slaves could be considered lucky; they were discovered that same day by other Huaxia people passing by. They spoke for a long time to the manager who had done the beating. They roughly heard sentences like "a pity... short of people... Coal Mine," but they did not understand when the words were put together. In any case, the seriously injured slave was eventually taken away, and later they never saw him again, nor did they see a corpse.

After they had worked diligently for a period of time, their Small Team leader, who was also a slave but not an ordinary one—he was almost on the verge of reaching the status of a Huaxia tribesman—understood many things very clearly.

That day, after work, the leader gathered them together and, after ensuring there was no one outside, spoke to them mysteriously: "Do you know where your companion went?"

Everyone shook their heads.

The Small Team leader put on an unfathomable expression and said: "Don't look at me as just a slave; I know many big figures. I heard them reveal to me that there is a Coal Mine that needs to be dug open now, but they are relatively short of people there. It might be because it's too hard, so the Huaxia people don't go, and they can only send slaves. As for me, I've been in Huaxia for so many years, but it's a pity I've never had the opportunity for promotion. The slaves who worked with me back then now have lives better than one another... sigh."

"By the way, have they ever told you about slave promotion?"

The slaves all shook their heads, and the Small Team leader told them what he had known during his years as a slave. The main reason was that he had heard from former companions that the Coal Mine was going to select people and might need some old slaves to serve as small Leaders to manage other slaves. A slave like him was the best candidate; being selected could be said to be a sure thing, and this was also an opportunity to achieve class mobility.

Therefore, he wanted to use this method to win over these newly arrived slaves and form his own confidants. He was a slave and could not give these people, who were also slaves, anything, but he could draw a big cake for them.

After he finished speaking, the slaves, who had already lost hope in life, felt a fire reignite in their hearts. They prepared to start working hard tomorrow, using their greatest initiative to work for Huaxia and fight for an opportunity for themselves.

So much so that the next day, the workers at the Pasture were all puzzled, feeling as if they had seen those slaves from before again. They were working too hard. Didn't they know that no matter how much or how well they worked, it was impossible to change anything? Their verdict was "Slave for life, no promotion (the Royal Family reserves the right of final interpretation)"?

However, no one said anything. How could one dampen the slaves' enthusiasm for production?

The slave Small Team leader finished drawing the big cake for the others and then began to answer their questions. One slave asked: "What is a Coal Mine? How come I've never heard of it?"

And the Small Team leader could only guess based on his own shallow knowledge: "You've known about coal for this period of time, right? The stuff we burn is all dug out of the ground. In the past, it was all pulled back and forth by carts. I estimate that they might have discovered a new mine and are short of manpower."

But in reality, it was a small Huaxia Coal Mine where the open-pit part had been mostly dug out, and the remaining quality was too poor. To get high-quality coal, they had to dig mine shafts. Baifeng had no experience, and no one had experience, but Baifeng also knew how dangerous a Coal Mine was, which was why he decided to let slaves go down into the holes while Citizens supervised.

Subsequently, the slaves asked about what the good life in Huaxia was like and how strong their power really was. The Small Team leader then told them bit by bit, vividly and without reservation. Upon hearing that Huaxia had so much grain that they were worried about not being able to finish it, the slaves even began to shed tears.

But because the number of slaves assigned to their Pasture was ultimately very small, only a dozen or so people, this conversation remained in their collective dormitory and did not spread outside.

More slaves were assigned to various dirty and tiring positions, cleaning public toilets or hauling manure. In places like the Cement Factory, many skilled workers gradually appeared. The old workers were finally able to take off their Masks and rest in the distance. Over these years, they felt their bodies getting worse and worse; they would be out of breath after walking a few steps.

As for the newly arrived deserters, Baifeng finally pronounced judgment: because they had merit in killing the Leader of the Suiren Tribe, and their purpose was to defect to Huaxia, they would first reside in Huaxia as wandering savages, be assigned work, and have their character observed. If there were no problems, they would be granted the status of ordinary Citizens after two months.

Baifeng did not say what would happen if there were problems. Did that even need to be asked? Those who should be killed would be killed, and those who should go to the Coal Mine would go to the Coal Mine. However, he could not hurt these people's hearts for the time being; perhaps they really were wholeheartedly coming to defect to Huaxia.