Chapter 9: Slave trade

Mr. Cohen took Xiao Chen and others into a large and comfortable carriage. The carriage had the prototype of a modern European carriage. The carriage was square and had windows on both sides. The four people sat opposite each other, and from the window, they could see the monotonous street view of the slave camp.
Cohen is completely different from the surging Inda. He is a quiet person, but as long as there are any problems with the guests, he can be very detailed. After hearing that Xiao Chen wanted to use slaves as guards, he thought for a while: "Master Xiao, ordinary slaves are not good guards. You have to find a group of trained soldiers. We have some prisoners of the Purple Eagle Empire here. Plus training is a group of good people. "
"Use prisoners of war? Is this safe? Will they defect?" Xiao Chen asked.
"Speaking of running away, there is no difference between prisoners of war and other slaves. If you are in your life, there is more hope than running away. Why do they run?" Cohen asked. Southerners are paler and taller. We usually brand your insignia on their faces. It is difficult for them to escape back to the empire secretly. You know, all lords and levels will hang the fugitive without hesitation. "
"He is telling the truth." Kalanda added, "Few slaves can escape to the empire alive. As long as the master is not too harsh, it may stay longer to stay. The most terrible thing is not being bought, It was rented out by a slave merchant, and it was a walk at the gate of hell. Is n’t Cohen in charge? "
"Head Karanda, some statements are only rumors." Cohen replied blankly.
"Oh? Then you clarify and listen." Luo Ling is quite interested in this topic.
Cohen managed to disregard both the magician and the warrior and stared at him, but just shook his head and said, "Miss Luo, these things do not belong to me, and the explanation I give may not satisfy you."
"Then, Calanda, what are you talking about?" Luo Ling asked Calanda again.
"After the slave merchants accepted a large number of slaves, they often could not sell them quickly, so they would lease the slaves to some lords to work, so that not only did they not have to raise them, but they could also earn extra rent ..." Kalanda said here. pause.
"But the lord will not treat the slaves because they are rented?" Luo Ling accepted.
"I will use them to death! Because even if the slave dies in rent, the money paid to the slave merchant is much cheaper than the price of the slave. I have seen slaves who were pulled to mine stone mines. Six of them came back, and there were still a lot of injuries. "
"If all the slaves die in this way, aren't the slave merchants going to lose money?" Xiao Chen puzzled.
Luo Ling shook his head and said, "You really don't have a commercial cell, how can a slave trader do a loss-making business! They must have a supporting plan, for example, a slave with a good skill will definitely not be used to mine."
"Yes, the best-quality slaves do n’t return to rent to work, and those beautiful ones will be dressed up and learn to serve others. Those strong will accept military drills. Those old, weak and sick can hardly find a buyer anyway and live alive. It ’s always cost-effective to return the rent before dying, right?
Kalanda finished, and looked at Cohen with a bad look.
"You may be telling the truth, maybe not, but my evaluation does not change anything." Cohen bowed slightly. "That would only waste everyone's time. The car is coming. Let's go pick people."
Xiao Chen nodded when he saw that Cohen was tight-lipped, "Then go and see the prisoners of war."
After Luo Ling got out of the car, she pulled Calanda behind and asked her softly, "Why are you so clear about the matter of slaves? Don't tell me that it's a hearsay. Most people don't know the inside story."
Kalanda hesitated and replied, "I have introduced many people to buy slaves here."
Luo Ling glanced at Karanda and saw that she was not ashamed. "I believe you do this, not just to be a broker."
"I will only introduce some good people who can be trusted. The slaves will be bought back by them. Maybe the life will be much better."
"However, there are so many slaves ..."
"I know I can't change anything, but I can change the fate of several people. You know, even if the fate of a person becomes better, that is also a very unusual thing."
It is also very unusual to change a person's fate. Luo Ling silently read this sentence, and suddenly felt that it was heavy but powerful.
"Once, I asked a kind jazz to buy a sick female slave, so that she did not die in the slave camp. Later she became the maid of the jazz, and then he had a child with a male maid. I I have seen the kid. Like his mother, he has a pair of light green eyes like gems. Without the things I did, this kid had no chance to come to this world. "
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"No wonder you will volunteer to bring us here, and you have done amazing things." Luo Ling looked at her and saw the attachment in the eyes of the female soldier. "But, I think there is always a reason for you to start doing that. . "
"This is ... because Catalina, she was bought from the slave market. And her father, died in the mine. From her, I learned a lot about the slaves ..."
After getting off the carriage, he walked a few more steps, and the crowd came to a place surrounded by fences. Four soldiers stood guard with spears at the door.
Xiao Chen looked inside. The camp was half a football field big, and most of them were stone houses with two or three floors. Unlike other houses in Sueiro, these houses have few windows and only a few are small enough. The cat couldn't crawl out. The camp was empty except for the armed patrol guards, almost no one else was outside.
"Here are the places where the merchants take care of the slaves." Cohen stood at the door and pointed to several other nearby camps. "Master Dyne is not the largest here, but it is indeed the best quality. Our Chamber of Commerce has the military. Relationship, so there is the best slave warrior. "
He was talking about three large vehicles coming out of a fork and slowly walking towards a camp diagonally opposite. The cart is very similar to the ancient prison car in the movie. The back car is made up of wooden bars with large bowls, and the space between the bars is only enough to extend one arm. Some rags were hung on the carriages, blocking everyone's sight, but vaguely could still see people evacuated or lying down or sitting in tattered clothes. The front and back of the car are the riders dressed by more than twenty mercenaries.
Cohen glanced at the tall, thin, one-eyed middle-aged man walking ahead, glancing back and forth at the team again, frowning.
"Cohen is in charge, is there anything strange about this team?" Xiao Chen noticed the surprise in Cohen's eyes.
"It's nothing, sir. They just sent slave mercenaries to the opposite Oaks' family. I just didn't expect the one-eyed Val to change into a new mercenary regiment, and they were born with the eyes of these people who came here," Cohen replied.
"I also know that the one-eyed Val is a scum in the mercenaries." Karanda's tone was full of contempt, "I heard that he had done the job of abducting the mountain people as slaves."
Xiao Chen has excellent eyesight now. He finds that Val's gambling money is lost. The whole face is wrinkled from top to bottom. The people around him are not very good-looking, and they seem to be a little ... nervous. More strikingly, there was a man in a black cloak riding on the edge of Val. He was hiding in the cloak as a whole. There was no armor and weapons on his body, but he had a unique style.
Is it a magician? Even a magician is involved in the slave trade?
Xiao Chen's eyes seemed to trigger the man's attention. He turned his head and looked over here. No one else could see the face under the shadow of the cloak. Only Xiao Chen saw a pair of long, divine eyes. The eyes don't look like humans, but they have a strange charm.
That's a woman ... Xiao Chen narrowed her eyes and tried to secretly release an investigative spell with her mental strength. This spell also comes from the inheritance of the ring and can roughly understand a person's mental strength.
"Xiao Chen, what are you dazed about?" Luo Ling pushed him.
Xiao Chen turned around and found out that the team had already walked past and entered the Oaks camp. Xiao Chen was a little bit afraid. The woman's eyes seemed to contain a spiritual force, countering his aggressive spiritual power, and let him fall into a long period of distraction. If this is a battle, it is enough to die many times.
"Hah, don't I like to be in a daze?" Xiao Chen turned around and cast another look at the team, his heart faintly uneasy.
Cohen led Xiao Chen and the three into a large house in the camp. The house is a cloister structure, the corridor is very dark, and there is even some water and moss on the ground. Only the stingy Ding Dianguang penetrated through some small windows, and the air was filled with an uncomfortable strange smell, reminding Xiao Chen of the farmer's livestock pen.
Xiao Chen's dark vision played a role again. Through the wooden fence door, he could clearly see the rooms where the slaves were held. Most of the rooms were empty, with only grass mats on the ground. Most of the slaves lay or sat. With. If it is not an occasional movement to catch lice, it is difficult to tell whether they are alive.
"Cohen is in charge, this is the soldier you want to give me? I think they are almost dying." Xiao Chen complained.
"Adult, they are just lazy. You will see their vitality when the meal is delivered." As if to confirm his words, the two guards dragged a large bucket of porridge into the room, and the surrounding room suddenly When the bustle started, the slaves rolled over and squeezed up to the door, reaching out a pottery bowl, patting the railing with their hands, and howling, as if they were predators. The two guards each took off a whip from their waists and pumped them fiercely into a few stretched hands. After a dozen screams, the room slowly quieted down.
"For soldiers, the most important thing is discipline, and what I see is a group of beasts." Xiao Chen said with a sullen face.
"These are mostly robbers, thieves, mercenaries. Naturally, they can't get into your eyes. Please continue to follow me, I have prepared better for you."
Through this corridor, came to a thick wooden door, Cohen opened a large lock with the key, and led Xiao Chen into a very large backyard.
It was actually a training ground, with arrows, dummies and stone locks. The sun shone in the courtyard, and the prison behind them seemed to be two worlds.