Chapter Seventy-Three: Seeking to Expand the Team

Good horses are terribly troublesome to care for. Besides daily grooming, they require feeding at night. Where would Feng Xiaobao find so much time? It really still came down to relying on a stableman.

To be honest, Feng Xiaobao’s current “little pond” (incapable of raising big fish) was a bit of an overkill for a servant like Little Six Tang, but he was exceptionally obedient and never uttered a complaint.

“My Tang family is ruled by military law. Direct descendants are punished without exception if they break the rules. As for servants who dare defy us, we beat or even kill them outright!”

“Oh? Have you ever been beaten on the backside?” Feng Xiaobao asked, curious.

Tang Tian shot him a glance. “No, but I’ve been locked in solitary confinement!”

So she was a bit of a problem child after all!

But she was more than just a problem child. Once he traveled to the Western Regions, he would find out that in just three years there, Tang Tian had earned herself the notorious title of “the She-Devil.” With a single arrow, she could send barbarian blood spraying, leaving bodies strewn across the ground!

As they talked, they watched Little Six Tang carefully slicing the horse feed. Tang Tian concluded, “You need more hands in your courtyard.”

“That’s right!”

After being attacked, Feng Xiaobao had lost several men and needed to replenish his staff.

Recruiting men was no easy task. They needed to be able to fight, be loyal, and not too dim-witted. Feng Xiaobao’s reputation had already spread far and wide. If he wanted to hire people, there would be applicants. In the end, he recruited six relatively satisfactory knights to serve as guards.

They were free agents, hired for pay. But after just one glance at them, Tang Tian said, “What you really need are retainers.”

Retainers were different from regular subordinates; the latter were free men, while retainers had limited freedom and their master held certain rights over their person, bordering on slavery.

Tang Tian’s suggestion was unsurprising; after all, this was a feudal society, and every great family owned a considerable number of retainers. Retainers weren’t necessarily looked down upon. In fact, they often enjoyed better material benefits and a more comfortable life than ordinary warriors. Their masters understood well that, just as a good horse must be well fed to run fast, so too must retainers be cared for.

Retainers often earned their master’s greater trust, for both sides knew that no one would ever trust a retainer who had betrayed them.

...

The northern part of Luoyang’s southern market was always thronged with people, for it was the “human market,” specializing in the trade of human beings. Here, people were bought and sold in great numbers, and business boomed.

Famine and war often led to a flourishing slave trade—such was the harsh reality.

The “goods” offered for sale were varied. There were the ever-popular Kunlun slaves and Silla maids. The Silla maids, hailing from the Korean peninsula, were the equivalent of modern Filipino maids—professionally trained, gentle and refined, utterly obedient to their masters. The Kunlun slaves were black men, each as strong as an ox, mild-tempered, honest, and reliable. No noble household could claim true status without owning a few.

There was also an abundance of captured barbarians for sale. The Tang dynasty frequently clashed with these peoples; wars were common, and prisoners had no rights—they were sold as mere commodities.

Even among the Tang people, slaves existed. Society was divided into free men and slaves, the latter being the lowest of the low, just a notch above retainers, and entirely dependent on their masters.

The slave trade flourished; in the southern market, the shops were packed together, and many “goods” were hawked right at the storefronts. The Silla maids in the windows were all stunning beauties—truly living up to their reputation as the treasures of the shop!

“What use is a good reputation?” Feng Xiaobao cursed his own hypocrisy inwardly.

It was only human: “Take a few burly men with you, swagger through Luoyang, flirt with some passing maidens. At home, let a Silla maid knead your shoulders, pound your back, warm your bed at night, changing them daily—a taste of feudal luxury. What could be better?”

“Oh, and if that’s not enough, this shop sells foreign slave girls—high noses, deep-set eyes, blue eyes like sapphires, tall and statuesque, their bosoms enough to take your breath away. Ah, let me die in their arms!”

Why worry about appearances? If he was going to transmigrate, he might as well enjoy the feudal life!

But alas, he cared about appearances. Look at how carefree others seemed.

And now, it was out of the question. Tang Tian was armed to the teeth; Feng Xiaobao probably couldn’t even beat her himself, let alone protect any Silla maid or foreign slave girls.

Besides, Tang Tian could dispose of any such women in the household at will... Yesterday, she was the one who bought the horse; today, she was in charge of buying people, clearly an old hand at this!

If she took it upon herself to sell off all the Silla maids and foreign slave girls while he was out, he’d be left with nothing but regret. Better not to think about Silla maids or foreign slave girls!

“Shopkeeper, do you have any quality goods?”

The shopkeeper Tang Tian called over was the owner of one of the largest establishments in the human market. He wore plain clothes and a pointed felt cap, his belt adorned with various dazzling jewels, sword and knife at his waist, clad in tall leather boots. He was a Sogdian.

His features were cunning, bearing the merchant’s trademark smile, with a small mustache, appearing to be about forty years old. Tang Tian addressed him as Boss Mini Mi.

...

The slave trade was a major business for the Sogdians. As the so-called civilized Tang people, how could they possibly engage in such an unsavory business as selling humans? Of course, every great Sogdian merchant had the backing of a powerful Tang family behind the scenes—there was no need to say more!

“So it’s Lady Tang Eleven! And this is...?” The shopkeeper glanced at Feng Xiaobao, “Master Feng, is there any particular ‘merchandise’ you’re looking for?” he asked attentively.

“Warriors!”

“What kind? Kunlun slaves, barbarians, or (Han) retainers?”

“Let’s see them all!”

“Certainly!” Boss Mini Mi didn’t send a steward, but accompanied them himself to the back courtyard to make their selection.

In the rear courtyard, makeshift pens held numerous slaves—men and women, young and middle-aged, but never the old!

The women were guarded loosely; some could even move about freely. The men, however, were strictly watched, with strong guards and dogs patrolling the grounds. After all, this was the heart of the Tang Empire; any trouble with the slaves would bring the merchants endless headaches.

Boss Mini Mi first led Tang Tian and Feng Xiaobao to a wooden pen where Kunlun slaves were kept, preparing for them to choose carefully.

So there really were black people in the Tang dynasty. Perhaps they were just dark-skinned peoples from near the equator in Asia, or maybe actual African slaves brought over—Feng Xiaobao couldn’t be bothered to care.

Then they witnessed an interesting scene: a burly customer, cursing under his breath, stormed past them and left, the steward beside him apologizing profusely.

“What happened?” Tang Tian asked.

“Ahem, my Kunlun slave Mi Seven Hundred Sixty-Four caused trouble again—he insulted a customer!” Boss Mini Mi shrugged helplessly.

The Kunlun slaves had no rights, not even proper names; Boss Mini Mi simply gave them all the surname “Mi” and assigned them numbers.

Feng Xiaobao and Tang Tian were both a bit curious. “A Kunlun slave insulted a customer?”

Weren’t the Kunlun slaves supposed to be mild-mannered? What could have provoked one to insult a customer? And why would the slave owner allow it—didn’t they want to make a sale?