Chapter 638: Reflections on the Slave System

When Xiong went out, he saw a group of people already surrounding the horses and touching them all over, but Xiong was not angry; he just joked, "You all like horses so much, how about it, do you want to learn to ride and become Cavalry?"

Unexpectedly, those people all said in unison, "We can? Really, Marshal?"

Looking at the expectant expressions of the crowd, Xiong couldn't help but chuckle, then said, "It is possible, but you didn't seize the opportunity before, so just wait for now; we'll talk about it when there are enough horses."

The result was a chorus of sighs.

Xiong waved his hand: "Alright, hurry back to work, why are you all crowding here?"

Only then did the crowd reluctantly leave the horses' side, looking back every few steps as they returned to their offices, while Xiong and the four Soldiers stayed behind to continue watching the horses.

Xiong touched the belly of a black horse and said, "Hmm, it grew up really sturdy."

He circled around the horses again, still feeling like he hadn't seen enough, but given that the horses and the Soldiers were all very tired, he didn't delay any further and told the few of them: "You take the horses back to the Pasture first, let Changzhi see if there are any injuries or anything, let them rest well, and you few don't need to go on missions in the short term; I'll give you a period of leave to rest well. As for the specific time to return, wait until Luo comes and then he will notify you."

The few Soldiers were also very happy and quickly gave Xiong a military salute: "Thank you, Marshal!"

Xiong returned the salute, then waved his hand to signal they could leave, but as they were untying the reins, Xiong urged them again: "Pay attention to confidentiality discipline; even when you go home on leave, you must be careful. Don't say what shouldn't be said, otherwise, you know how you will be punished."

The few people quickly stood at attention and replied: "Yes!"

Meanwhile, Baifeng also received the letter forwarded by Yu. He was puzzled as to what letter it was; he hadn't received news in this form for a long time. He opened the Ministry of War envelope, pulled out the letter paper inside, and then read it carefully. Yu stood to the side; he did not see the content of the letter, as the letter had been resealed in Xiong's hands, and he did not have the qualifications to open it privately.

While Baifeng was reading, his brows were tightly furrowed the whole time. Yu also judged that it might be some trouble again, and not a small one at that, otherwise Baifeng wouldn't be so worried.

After Baifeng finished reading, he shook the letter paper and handed it to Yu: "Sigh, you read it yourself. I don't even know how to put it; should this be considered a good thing or a bad thing?" Afterwards, he lay straight back on his chair, not caring about his image at all.

After Yu saw the report from Luo in the letter, he also felt that it was somewhat troublesome. The houses built in Xiao Town were already in a state of semi-abandonment and could at most be used as places to store sundries in the future; their maintenance mission could be considered a failure. The mission to collect Saltpeter, however, was completed in a very absurd way.

The main thing was how to deal with these captives? Luo also listed the data very clearly in the letter: twelve thousand seven hundred and fourteen people, with men accounting for over eight thousand three hundred and sixty. If this were a few years ago, this would be great news; even if the entire Xiao Town had turned to ash, it wouldn't matter—so much labor could completely make up for the losses.

Although this population was also very useful for Huaxia, the trouble lay in how to settle them, especially with so many people.

Baifeng asked Yu directly: "Do you have any good ideas?"

Yu put the letter back on the table and paced back and forth. After a while, he replied: "King, I think that treating all these people as Slaves and selling them to the Citizens is a better way to handle it. Most of the previous Slaves were bought by people from Huaxia City, and the people of Lema City almost didn't get any. But Lema City is not small either; the Residents there now have enough surplus grain, and I think they are fully capable of buying these Slaves."

Baifeng was still leaning on the chair; he felt that it would be best to have a cigarette to smoke right now, as that would make his thinking feel much easier.

He did not immediately reply to Yu's proposal but was considering the feasibility. According to Yu's explanation, there was indeed no problem, but Baifeng wanted to perfect this plan a bit more. Otherwise, as the number of Slaves in Huaxia increased, the slave system would definitely have to be abolished in a few hundred years in the future; it would be better to perfect the system now so that the resistance would be smaller when the slave system was abolished in the future.

He once thought that he absolutely must not promote the slave system in Huaxia, but reality was forcing him; Slaves had appeared in Huaxia anyway, and now he had to perfect the slave system while he still could.

Yu was still standing there. After Baifeng thought for a long time, he slowly opened his eyes: "Yu, what do you think about giving the Slave status a time limit?"

Yu's eyes widened instantly; this proposal had a significant impact, so he hurriedly asked: "King, what is this idea of yours?"

Baifeng sat up straight from the chair: "I am thinking of adding a time limit to the Slave status, for example, twenty years or thirty years. Once this time is up, even the descendants of the Slaves can have their Slave status removed and become ordinary people with nothing. They can then earn wealth for themselves through their own labor and support a family."

Yu quickly thought of the drawbacks: "King, then what if a Slave is already very old and no longer has the ability to work after becoming an ordinary person? How should they live then? Do you want us to support them? Isn't this increasing the burden on the country?"

Baifeng glanced at Yu: "Then if it were you, would you be willing to support a Slave in your home who can no longer work? How would you deal with a Slave of yours who has no ability to work? Keep supporting them, or not give them food and let them wait for death?"

Yu was silent because he felt he couldn't do it—supporting an elderly Slave who had no abilities and couldn't work was a waste of food.

Baifeng tapped the table with his finger: "Exactly. You all wouldn't support them, and if it were me, I wouldn't support them either. But if they become our Citizens, we have to support them. Why do this? Because they have descendants. What I value is not the old Slaves, but the Slaves who still have labor power. You must know that a Slave can create wealth, but the wealth created goes into private homes, into the homes of big families and Nobles. Only ordinary Citizens can create wealth for the country.

I think the wealth created by a family of five is enough for us to support an old person who won't live for many more years, and there would still be plenty of surplus."