797, Dust of History (1/2)
The sky was getting light.
The sheep in the sheepfold began to move around.
Their hooves stepped on the chests and backs of the slaves sleeping in the sheepfold, and the sheep dung mixed with sheep urine with the smell of grass covered the slaves.
The slaves were awakened by the noise made by the sheep.
They did not dare to scold the beasts who stepped on them and even defecated and urinated on them - in the eyes of the nobles, a sheep was more valuable than all their lives combined.
If the sheep were frightened and injured because of their scolding, they would be punished terribly.
The slaves whispered to each other, and when the sheep walked to the trough on the side and began to enjoy the grass brought by other slaves, the people in the sheepfold looked at each other and sat up from the ground together - their movements were so uniform, as if they had been trained for a long time.
——The ankles of the seven slaves were all passed through a crossbar, and the iron hoops in the holes of the crossbar tightly imprisoned their ankles. This crossbar restricted all their movements, forcing them to be as uniform as possible when sitting, lying down, and living. Otherwise, if any one of them moved a little too much, it would be very likely that all seven of them would fall to the ground.
Even broken leg bones!
After the seven of them sat up, the two slaves on the left and right of the crossbar shackles each hugged the pillars in the sheep shed to support their bodies, and the other five also supported themselves with their hands and worked together to stand up from the ground.
The seven people stood guard at the locked door of the sheep shed in an orderly manner.
Not long after, a slave with an iron chain wrapped around his feet hurried over and opened the door of the sheep shed.
He removed the horizontal wooden shackles on the ankles of the seven slaves,
and put on iron chain anklets less than half a meter long for the seven people, silently led everyone out of the wall outside the sheep shed and walked towards a half-cultivated wasteland.
"Today, we have to reclaim this wasteland."
The leading slave finally said the first sentence.
No one responded to him, and they all dragged the heavy iron chains and walked towards the wasteland in silence.
The sun gradually rose, and the golden light sprinkled on the half-cultivated slope, reflecting the trees around the slope more green, all things are full of vitality, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and this beautiful scenery makes people feel relaxed and happy.
But the people in such a beautiful scenery have no interest in life, as if they were sinking into the hell of endless suffering, and they were already tortured by this hell of endless suffering.
The eight slaves stood at the edge of the wasteland, waiting for other slaves to deliver the farm tools needed for reclamation.
This is probably the only time they can relax a little in the day.
They stood on the slope, bored and looking down at the ‘Shang Kong Lord’s Manor’, which covered a large area, raised countless cattle and sheep, and stored countless treasures, and slowly ‘woke up’ under the morning light.
Teams of slaves came out from the hidden small doors around the manor. They drove cattle and sheep to graze, carried stones to repair the manor, or went to other areas to reclaim wasteland like the eight people at the moment.
The calls of cattle and sheep sounded one after another.
Interspersed with the calls of cattle and sheep were the continuous and fragmentary collisions of chains and buckles.
The eight slaves on the slope stood for a while, and they did not wait for the slave who delivered the farm tools.
Instead, they saw a team of female slaves carrying tall baskets on their backs, walking up the hillside, picking up stones and cow dung not far from them and putting them in the baskets behind them.
"Is that Wujin?"
"Wujin Jiangqu..."
"It seems to be - Doji, Wujin Jiangqu is there!"
The eight slaves who had been silent all the time finally heard a whisper in their team when they saw a group of female slaves picking up cow dung not far away.
Several slaves were talking, and from time to time they pulled the corner of the clothes of a taller slave among them.
The slave had been in a daze, but when he heard his companion mention the name "Wujin Jiangqu", his eyes lit up, and he followed the finger of his companion beside him and looked at the group of female slaves - in the group of female slaves, there was a fat woman carrying half a basket of stones, she was still bending over, searching for stones everywhere.
The fat woman's bending was very difficult - it was not because she was too fat, her "fat" was only relative to the other skinny female slaves, and in fact, her figure was thinner than those women from noble families.
What really made her look "fat" was that she had a huge belly.
——This woman named Wujin Jiangqu is already pregnant.
And she may have been pregnant for eight or nine months.
"Wujin! Wujin!"
The tall and thin slave looked at Wujin Jiangqu in the distance, and the longing in his eyes almost condensed into substance, so he waved his hands vigorously at the team of female slaves.
The leading slave looked around vigilantly.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he pulled the clothes of the tall and thin slave and whispered: "The supervisor has not come yet, you be careful.
We will help you watch for a while."
The tall and thin slave looked at the leading slave gratefully, turned back and looked at his Wujin Jiangqu.
Wujin Jiangqu heard his call, supported her knees and raised her head, her dark red face was full of sweat, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, and smiled at the tall and thin slave.
She straightened up and turned to talk to the leader of the female slave team in a low voice.
So, the team of female slaves picked up stones while approaching the position of a team of male slaves in the reclamation land.
The leading male slave pushed the lanky slave ‘Doji’.
Duoji immediately understood and quietly moved his steps closer to his Wujin Jiangqu.
The two groups of slaves mingled together and walked to various places in tacit understanding, blocking the sight of others to prevent others from seeing Dorje and Wujin Jiangqu who were surrounded in the middle.
"The baby is about to be born..." Wu Jin Jiangqu stroked her belly. She lowered her head and spoke softly. Her face was still full of smiles at the beginning. After she finished speaking, her eyelashes were already covered with tears, " We have to pay the birth tax to the great lord... We only have five spoons of tsampa per person every day, so we can't afford the birth tax..."
"I'll think of a way, I'll think of a way..." Duoji looked at his Wujin Jiangqu, and his heart calmed down, and he spoke warmly.
】
Listening to Wu Jin Jiangqu continue to speak: "I have tried many methods...
Eating herbs, bumping against pillars, beating his stomach - he is still fine.
He still wants to come out and take a look...
When he is born, he will be a slave to Lord Shangfang like the rest of us. Hey, I am so sorry for him..."
"I'll find a way..."
Dorje still said so.
He hugged his wife gently.
——They originally owned several pieces of land and lived a difficult but relatively free life with their parents, but they were afraid that the battle between the lords and the Naja lords would spread to their area. As a result, their families were ruined and their families were exhausted. After getting the last bit of food, the two 'sold' themselves to Lord Shangfang as slaves.
At that time, Wu Jin Jiangqu was pregnant.
As for the fetus now, it has grown to more than nine months old.
Will be born soon.
However, a birth tax must be paid upon birth. Without paying a birth tax, the child will never survive.
The two of them only had five spoons of tsampa to eat every day, so how could they have any savings to pay this ‘birth tax’?
All Wujin Jiangqu's sorrows are all because of this matter.
She whispered in Dorje's arms.
After about two minutes, the leading slave sent a warning signal, and the two separated - Wujin Jiangqu walked ten steps away from Duoji and began to bend down to pick up stones again.
Duoji's eyes were firm and he was determined.
"I heard that Lord Shangfeng's Master Duben needs a whole set of human skins to practice...
When I give my life to Lord Shang Ke, I treat it as paying the birth tax for our child. "Duoji said to Wujin Jiangqu in the distance.
Wu Jin Jiangqu looked up at her husband,
I was stunned for a while,
She nodded anyway.
There was no expression on her face, and she continued to bend down, numbly picking up stones in the soil.
In the distance, the steward responsible for distributing farm tools to Duoji and others and monitoring their work came over. This time, there was no slave entourage pulling a whole cart of farm tools behind him.
He rode up on a horse, followed by three other mounted soldiers with armored stomachs.
The slaves all over the mountains and plains became frightened when they saw the three armored soldiers.
The sound of chains being dragged across the mountains and plains became urgent.
Everyone moved away from the armored soldiers.
——But Duoji’s group of slaves could not move.
They want to cultivate a large piece of wasteland on this slope to fear the lord.
This is where they work.
So he could only watch the steward leading the three armored soldiers approaching - Duoji watched the huge shadows of those soldiers cast on the hillside, being pulled and twisted by the sunlight, and his heart was filled with an ominous premonition.
The other slaves knelt on the ground, put their hands on the ground, showed their tongues to the steward, and saluted like a dog.
Dorje also knelt down, pressed his hands on the ground, and stuck out his tongue to salute like a dog.
"These eight people should be enough, right?"
The strong horse under the steward's seat stood still a foot away from Dorji. The riding whip in his hand drooped down, and the whip fell gently on Dorji's back, making Dorji shudder.
The ominous premonition in Duoji's heart became stronger and stronger.
He suddenly kowtowed to the steward, and before the three armored soldiers could speak, he said: "Master Nanba, I want to donate my human skin to the wizards of this academy for their training!"
Snapped!
As soon as he finished speaking, the steward's whip fell on his back, drawing a long bloody mark on his back!
His mind was empty of thoughts.
It’s over!
The skin is damaged and cannot be donated——
"I haven't spoken yet, how can you speak?
This whip is your punishment for speaking first. "The steward said coldly, "But it's commendable that you have such dedication to the wizard Duben.
I agreed. "
"Then my child's birth tax——"
"What child?"
"Wujin Jiangqu's child is my child——"
"You volunteer yourself to the wizards, what does that have to do with your child?
Wujin Jiangqu still has to pay birth tax! "