Chapter 489: Purchasing Slaves

After Baifeng finished making arrangements, he let everyone go back to rest. It was already very late, and because of this plan he had suddenly come up with on a whim, he had made everyone work overtime for no apparent reason. Now, Baifeng himself felt very sleepy, so he instructed the people from the Ministry of Revenue to rest early and not work too late, then he also went back to sleep.

Early the next morning, those who had attended the meeting the night before all returned to move out their grain. When the others saw this scene, they felt somewhat displeased in their hearts, but seeing that these people had already taken the lead, they had no choice but to move their own grain out as well.

However, the act of everyone moving grain left these officials feeling puzzled. The government decree had not been officially promulgated yet, so why had they already received the news, and why had everyone received it? Could it be that the King had stayed up all night to promote this to these people? That was impossible.

Just as Geng was loading his family's grain onto carts, his neighbor panicked a little. Afterward, he awkwardly approached Geng and asked, "Hey, Geng, did the King say how much grain we need to hand over? My family doesn't have as much grain as yours; if we hand it all over, our life next year will be very difficult."

Geng looked at the neighbor who was asking with a strange expression: "Hand over what grain? Didn't you receive the news?"

The neighbor was also confused: "What news? Didn't I just wake up this morning and see you all moving grain? I thought the National Treasury was empty and we were being asked to hand over grain to fill it. Isn't that the case?"

Geng said with a speechless expression: "How could that be? The King would not do such a thing. Furthermore, even if you were asked to hand it over, would you have any complaints? If that were the case, it must mean our Huaxia had encountered a great difficulty, so what would be wrong with handing over grain?"

"This time we are looking for grain because the King formulated a new policy last night. It is that all of us can purchase Slaves. They are our personal property, but they must be bought with grain, and furthermore, we must provide the Slaves with a place to live in our own homes. The King's meaning is that as long as there is a need, anyone can buy them. There are ten thousand Slaves, plenty of them."

The people gathered around listening, upon hearing this news, spread it to every corner at the fastest speed. By the time the people from the Department of State Affairs issued the decree, half of the country already knew the news.

Everyone who wanted to buy Slaves and had the conditions to do so began moving grain out of their homes, piling it at their doorsteps, just waiting to buy Slaves. It was only at this moment that Baifeng realized so intuitively just how much grain the Citizens of Huaxia had in their homes.

Now that the worries were resolved, the trade with the Suiren clan continued, and those Slaves bought yesterday began to be traded hotly. For instance, those officials bought about five Slaves per household on average; if it weren't for their houses not being big enough, they might have bought even more.

As for the commoners, it was basically one per household, just to add a labor force to their home. Those used purely for pleasure were almost non-existent.

Baifeng also announced some regulations at the same time, such as prohibiting the arbitrary execution of Slaves. If a Slave committed a major offense and the owner wanted them to die, they should report it to the Ministry of Justice. After verification, they could be executed, and the owner could do it themselves.

It was not permitted to beat Slaves excessively at will; punishment must be measured. Slaves could not be used as tools for venting anger, but as a labor force.

Finally, all Slaves were personal property and had nothing to do with the state, being equivalent to personal wealth. Whether or not to let them leave slave status was entirely up to the owner, and to leave slave status, it had to go through an audit.

Everyone had no objections to this at all. They happily handed over their grain and took away the Slaves they had set their eyes on. Most people, after bringing the Slaves back, would arrange for them to live in the woodshed, because only the woodshed had enough space to house people without affecting the owner's family.

When the Slaves saw the woodshed, they had no dissatisfaction at all; instead, they were incredibly delighted. Wasn't this kind of windproof, sturdy, and safe house exactly what they had been pursuing?

For safety, no fires could be lit in the woodshed, so those Slaves slept on golden silk beds—wheat straw, with a thick layer spread underneath and a thick layer covered on top. It could be said to be very comfortable and very warm.

Most families saw that the Slaves had no strength left, as they had not eaten for a long time and were gaunt, so when they ate, they also served some to the Slaves. During this period, the Slaves were very happy and could eat the same food as their masters.

Once the Slaves' bodies recovered, their food standards would be lowered, but they would certainly not be left to starve. Ever since the land was divided among households, every family possessed a large area of arable land. Their income was higher, but this also meant that everyone had more work to do, working non-stop from the beginning of the year to the end.

People in factories and Pastures were allocated less land because they could obtain grain from other places. Only pure farmers were allocated large amounts of arable land.

However, in a household, there was basically only one strong laborer, one man. There might be several wives, but their work efficiency was naturally not as good as a man's. As for the children, they had not grown up yet and now also needed to go to school to study.

When Baifeng originally issued the order that they could hire tenant farmers to plow for them, their mood was already very happy, because this way, not only could their own family's fields be well taken care of, but they could even take advantage of the benefits of the policy for reclaiming wasteland, making their family richer and richer.

Now that they could directly purchase Slaves, it meant that the family could have one more long-term and stable labor force. Therefore, among the exchanged Slaves, male Slaves were the most sought after, while women were exchanged very slowly. Most were taken by those officials; of course, they were not doing it to satisfy their own desires—who didn't have many more beautiful wives at home?

It was just that they did not need strong labor, but rather people who could do delicate work, such as cleaning, washing, and cooking.

Even Baifeng directly and generously bought twenty Slaves, all female. He believed that after his training, these women would definitely be able to keep his home in perfect order. Another thing was that they could come out to serve when he entertained guests daily. Now, even for Baifeng to pour a cup of tea, he either had to do it himself or have those rough men wearing Full Armor around him do it—what kind of look was that?

At the same time, it could add some liveliness to his vast courtyard. Living in the largest house in Huaxia, yet having only a few simple people inside, it was inevitably a bit cold and cheerless.