Chapter 53: Observations at the Great Zhou Slave Market

Many prefectures and counties in the Great Zhou Dynasty, emulating Chang'an, established Eastern and Western Markets.

Not to mention Longcheng County, a vital throat of Jiangzhou, where bustling trade flowed continuously from all directions, making the commerce of the Eastern and Western Markets naturally lively.

The Eastern Market was mostly operated by Han Chinese merchants, close to the local wealthy residential streets, including Luming Street, and tended to serve the officials and wealthy households of Longcheng County.

The Western Market was much more open. Close to the Penglang Ferry, it gathered travelers from all corners, leaning towards a more international profile with many foreign Hu merchants operating within its bounds. The prosperity of the Western Market had always surpassed that of the Eastern.

Consequently, in the Great Zhou, purchasing goods was colloquially referred to as "buying East and West".

Just like in Chang'an, Luoyang, and numerous other prefectures and counties, the slave trading market in Longcheng County was located at the Livestock and Mounts Exchange in the Western Market, dedicated to the trade of maids, servants, horses, and other domestic animals. This demonstrated that their legal status was effectively the same—they were regarded as private property, open to arbitrary selection, purchase, and sale by anyone.

It was Ouyang Rong's first time stepping foot in this place, and he was surprised to find that it lacked the expected chaotic filth and coarse cursing; instead, it was... remarkably orderly.

On both sides of the street, slaves were displayed separately from horses and livestock. Not all slaves were bound hand and foot or kept in cages—that was the treatment reserved for ordinary slaves. Many high-class slaves were adorned by Hu merchants with fine clothing and even jewelry, placed at the entrances to attract wealthy patrons.

On the announcement board at the entrance of the Livestock and Mounts Exchange street, there was even an officially prescribed standard price list for slaves, categorizing prices for ordinary slaves, high-class slaves, fine horses, famous steeds, female slaves, and domestic maids, with further distinctions between Han and Hu.

However, the official announcement provided merely a reference price, certainly not a ceiling.

The upper limit depended on scarcity. For instance, exotic foreign treasures, rare maids, young and beautiful female slaves, or those skilled in singing and dancing would undoubtedly command soaring prices.

Hu merchants who traveled and did business across the four seas were naturally shrewd and worldly, well-versed in the tastes and aesthetic preferences of the Great Zhou's dignitaries and nobles.

Therefore, beautiful maidens and fine steeds remained the two most expensive items by unit price at the exchange, never going out of style.

Yet the only slightly reassuring aspect was that the procedures and regulations governing the slave trade in the Great Zhou were extremely strict. After all, being a commodity that could be sold alongside horses meant the latter were classified as strategic resources.

At the end of this commercial street of the exchange, a Market Inspectorate was established to assist in administration. Every single slave transaction required the issuance of a market certificate by the inspector; otherwise, both buyer and seller would be flogged, and the supervising officials would be implicated and punished.

This was to prevent the forcing of free citizens into servile status. In this dynasty, the boundaries between free and servile statuses were exceptionally distinct, and regulations in this regard were severe.

At the same time, this served the purpose of taxation. The taxes extracted from the slave trade formed a source of military funds for the Great Zhou, which was why local market inspectors and other officials were not entirely under the jurisdiction of the local county yamen; they were commanded by specialized administrative offices from the Two Capitals and various circuits above.

The local government could exert little influence.

Scanning the scene along the way, Ouyang Rong's horizons were greatly broadened.

Stepping into this street filled him with a peculiar sense of order—simultaneously civilized and barbaric, gentle yet violent. Most crucially, everyone participating in it regarded it as entirely natural. Even the objects of the trade, the slaves, felt grief and indignation not over the existence of slavery itself, but over why they had fallen into servile status.

To become involved in or even shake such a barbaric order, the authority of a mere county magistrate was utterly insufficient, unless one wielded a portion of the imperial power of the central Two Capitals.

Regarding matters concerning Tanlang, the Zhen family was remarkably lavish. After pausing for a moment before the announcement board at the street entrance, she led Ouyang Rong and his entourage straight toward the largest Hu merchant establishment in the exchange.

Before stepping inside, Ouyang Rong glanced at the embroidered fabric signboard hanging above:

Jinxiiao Livestock and Mounts Exchange.

The person stepping forward to welcome them was a Sogdian merchant with a medium-to-tall build, lush full cheeks of beard, dark hair, deep-set pupils, and a large, hooked nose.

Behind the Sogdian merchant followed two Kunlun slaves, with curly black hair and physiques as robust as oxen. Most of these Kunlun slaves originated from the Southern Seas; because they were steadfast, honest, and capable of enduring hardship, they made veteran laborers whom the dignitaries and nobles of the Great Zhou loved to keep—though mostly not for manual labor, but rather to showcase their financial prowess.

As Ouyang Rong, the Zhen family, and their party stepped through the doors, the shrewd pair of eyes beneath the merchant's cap locked directly onto them, as if attempting to see right through the visitors.

Noticing the familiar Central Asian ethnic features, along with the head-covering fabric... Ouyang Rong felt a slight surprise and looked him up and down.

Hearing the Zhen family and the others whispering in explanation, he learned that these Sogdian and Persian Hu merchants at the exchange almost entirely hailed from the Guangzhou Governor-General's Office further south in Lingnan Circuit, which was the most prosperous region in Lingnan Circuit.

Although Lingnan Circuit, lying even further south than Jiangnan Circuit, had many areas remaining thoroughly undeveloped and belonged to the traditionally perceived barbarian lands in the minds of the Great Zhou commoners—a place of exile for demoted officials from which there was no return—this wild "South" possessed a single exception: Guangzhou, the sole major city of Lingnan Circuit. It was the premier port of the Great Zhou, economically thriving, crowded with foreign merchants, and teeming with foreign merchant vessels, presenting a spectacle of myriad nations paying homage.

All of this stemmed from a bustling trade route renowned both at home and abroad: the Guangzhou Maritime Silk Road.

Ouyang Rong estimated it must be a nascent maritime silk road, yet he had not expected the maritime trade of the Great Zhou to be so remarkably developed, permeating the entire country. These Sogdian and Persian merchants, bearing exotic goods and slaves, were active right before his eyes.

He had originally assumed that communication would require a translator or involve stumbling over broken speech, but to his surprise, this Sogdian merchant spoke the elegant speech of the Great Zhou even more fluently than Ouyang Rong himself. When introducing himself, he even bore an authentic and native name: "Li Yan".

Setting aside his appearance, he was truly indistinguishable from a native of the Great Zhou.

The Zhen family seemed unfazed by this. Without wasting words, she commanded directly:

"Manager Li, bring out your finest domestic maids and beautiful maidens for my Tanlang to choose from. Their ages must not exceed twenty, and the foreign women must be able to speak the elegant language. I cannot tolerate any chattering barbarian tongue; I detest that the most."

"Please rest assured, esteemed Madam, the beautiful maidens selected and cultivated by Jinxiao have naturally already been civilized, are well-versed in the elegant speech, and are obedient and pleasing."

Li Yan stroked his bushy beard. His rich experience in reading people made him deeply confident, even proud, as he chuckled softly:

"And each possesses her own unique charm, guaranteed to please the young master and allow him to return accompanied by a fair companion."

The Zhen family offered a noncommittal response. "It had better be so." Pausing for a moment, she added: "However, my Tanlang's standards might be just a tiny bit high."

The Sogdian merchant smiled slightly, brushing it aside.

A young man who had just reached adulthood, full of youthful vigor—how high could his standards possibly go, no matter what?

Furthermore, the noblewoman before him clearly possessed an assertive personality. If this handsome young gentleman had been raised under a woman's care, his tastes would be quite easy to guess:

Either he favored obedient, delicate, gentle, and clinging maidens of good family, which could grant him a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction difficult to obtain from a noblewoman;

Or he favored lively, cheerful, sharp-tongued, and straightforward charming elder sisters, which could soothe the reclusive personality nurtured within the deep courtyards of a great estate, leaving him utterly defenseless against an enthusiastic, bold, and empathetic mature woman who knew how to care for others.

Nevertheless, Li Yan's expression grew slightly more solemn.

First, he invited the noblewoman and the handsome young gentleman—who was looking around as if he had seen little of the world—into a private room for tea, leaving two Kunlun slaves to serve the tea and keep watch, while he went to the back to personally select the candidates.

Ouyang Rong was looking around everywhere not because he had never seen foreigners, but because the scene before him was just too damn bizarre. Perhaps in the eyes of the Zhen family and Liu Ashan, these individuals were all "uncivilized, unilluminated foreign barbarians" who looked pretty much the same and were all rather unattractive. But in his eyes...

Just imagine: inside an antique-style merchant shop, a short Arab accompanied by two robust Black men, dressed in lavish attire leaning toward Han Chinese styles, speaking fluent Mandarin, releasing various races of foreign slaves from cages, and respectfully introducing them one by one to you—who were dressed in a Confucian scholarly robe with your hair bound and crowned...

It was somewhat peculiar. Let's take another look.