Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"What attracts them are our basic needs: food, clothing, shelter, and transportation."

"After they saw the lives of the people of my Great Liang,"

"As long as we give them a chance,"

"They'll then want to integrate into our world,"

"Instead of still living the life of savages."

Zhao Yuan quite agreed with Yue Fei's viewpoint.

Which culture is more attractive?

It all depends on which culture can create more abundant resources.

Ordinary people don't think that much.

They only care about which culture will allow them to live a good life.

Later generations of various cultures invaded China.

Behind them are all developed countries.

People generally think those countries are advanced.

There has never been a case of backward national culture invading.

No matter how long their history is.

Hua Rong laughed and said, "You're talking about the premise that they can't beat us, right?"

"Otherwise, these barbarians would definitely think of looting first."

Yue Fei nodded and said, "General Dong is right."

"To deal with these barbarians, we must first use swords and spears."

Zhao Yuan laughed and said, "What you all say makes sense."

"To deal with barbarians, you need both a knife and money."

"Of course, it's not like the Song Dynasty, where we gave them money."

"Instead, let them see the abundance of my Great Liang,"

"Attract them to join my Liang family."

"Our Daliang is an inclusive country,"

"It's not that we can only accommodate Han Chinese."

"As long as they are willing to lay down their weapons,"

"We can still accept them."

When the Tangut general inside the house heard Zhao Yuan say this,

I felt much better.

Although Hua Rong wanted to kill all the barbarians...

But they always felt there was a sense of shared sorrow, like that of a rabbit mourning the death of a fox, when they heard it.

After all, they are not Han Chinese.

Before the fall of Western Xia,

They were also a foreign tribe that plundered the Han people.

Hua Rong asked, "What should we do with those prisoners?"

Zhao Yuan thought for a moment,

"See if the various departments need to send them back,"

"If you don't exchange them, they'll all be branded as slaves."

"Send it to the imperial mines."

The Liang dynasty acquired over 300,000 able-bodied slaves from the Vietnamese Ly dynasty.

They were all dispersed to mines in various locations.

Different mines, including those for coal, gold, silver, copper, and iron.

Each mine had no more than a thousand Viet Ly Dynasty slaves.

Daliang has enough mines to accommodate them.

If it weren't to prevent them from rioting,

A few large mines could house these slaves.

In the past, the imperial court's mines employed local people.

Slaves, on the other hand, are only required to have the strength to work.

Since the arrival of those Viet Ly Dynasty slaves,

The net profit from the imperial monopoly was even higher.

Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue also supported the Ministry of War launching small-scale wars.

Furthermore, slavery also emerged among the common people.

Wealthy families used to have servants as well.

However, the status of servants was greatly improved during the Song Dynasty.

Even masters cannot harm their servants at will.

One could say that servants were more like hired laborers.

Basic personal rights can still be guaranteed.

Chapter 1581 Slaves

However, after the appearance of foreign slaves in the Liang Dynasty...

Wealthy families also purchased slaves from other ethnic groups.

The Kunlun slaves, who were prevalent during the Tang Dynasty, have resurfaced after many years.

Many of the slaves also came from small countries in Southeast Asia.

These wealthy households did not use these foreign slaves to serve their daily lives.

The foreign slaves were clumsy and awkward.

In daily life, it's still more convenient to have servants whom one is used to ordering around.

They bought slaves from other races primarily for farming.

Due to the imperial court auctioning off large amounts of land

This led to the emergence of many large landowners.

These landlords were unwilling to hire ordinary people from Daliang.

Because the imperial court set a minimum income for tenant farmers.

To protect the interests of tenants,

Therefore, they preferred to spend money to buy foreign slaves to cultivate the land.

A large number of foreign slaves appeared.

This also caused a great deal of controversy in the imperial court.

The debate raged for a long time about whether or not merchant ships should be allowed to plunder slaves abroad.

Ultimately, Zhao Yuan also supported the existence of slaves.

Because landlords used serfs

This has left many people without land to cultivate.

Forced by the need to make a living,

They could only cooperate with the imperial court's relocation.

It was conducive to the expansion of the Han people.

Moreover, the imperial court could also collect substantial taxes from slave ships.

It can be said that the Great Liang Dynasty currently has a great demand for slaves.

The mornings on the grasslands are crisp and cool.

Unfortunately, there is always a stench in the city that even the strongest winds cannot carry away.

Zhao Yuan left the courtyard.

I can smell a foul odor in the air.

Unable to resist speaking to Shi Yong, who was keeping watch nearby,

"Today, drive all the Kreik people in the city into the river,"

"Let them take a bath,"

"Those who don't go into the water will be branded as slaves,"

"Send it to the mine."

Besides prisoners of war, the city was filled with...

There were also women and children from nearby tribes.

Zhao Yuan was clearly referring to women and children.

Although Shi Yong was somewhat puzzled as to why the King of Liang was angry,

But he still accepted the order with a bow.

Zhao Yuan was eating breakfast when

Then a series of hoofbeats could be heard rapidly approaching from afar.

The sound of horses' hooves ended outside the mansion.

Then a captain ran in and reported.

"Nearly ten thousand barbarians came from the north,"

"They said they captured Yelü Yanxi's concubines and princes,"

"We want to exchange them for their tribe's prisoners of war and women."

Zhao Yuan also planned to lead his troops north to Zhenzhou today to capture the remnants of the Liao Kingdom.

"I didn't expect the barbarians to be so filial," he nodded.

“Great! One Khitan royal can be exchanged for ten barbarians.”

"Those who submit to us, including women and children, may be returned to them."

"Those who refuse to submit can be exchanged for cattle and sheep,"

"Otherwise, women, children, and prisoners of war will all be reduced to slavery."

"Yes."

Zhao Yuan finished his breakfast at a leisurely pace.

Then he led his five generals and personal guards toward the north gate.

Last night, Han Shizhong, who was in charge of guarding the city, negotiated with the barbarians at the north gate.

However, it seems there are still some disagreements.

Han Shizhong saw the arrival of the King of Liang,

They hurried down from the city walls to greet him.

"Greetings to King Liang."