Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Li You taught according to their individual aptitudes, instructing Yan Hongxin and Zan Junmo, two students with excellent academic performance, on the methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Both of them found it amazing that such a convenient method of counting rods existed in the world.

As for Biaozi and Liangzi, let them memorize the rhymes first.

"Sanwa, there are still a few pieces of deer meat in that bronze stove. I didn't finish them, so you can take them and eat them."

"Alright, thank you, my lord!"

Besides wild boars, the most numerous creature in the mountains and forests is this deer-like animal called "reeves' muntjac".

However, Li You didn't really like this kind of meat; he preferred wild boar.

Wang Sanwa, on the other hand, was obsessed with the deer meat and couldn't get enough of it, so he excitedly carried the entire bronze stove away.

Li You smiled slightly, still behaving like a child, not even bothering to bring his own bowl and spoon to scoop the meat away.

……

The next morning, after getting up, Li You went to inspect the valley where the rice paddies were located.

The soldiers took their positions and began to get busy.

When I first arrived last year, I was in such a rush that I only managed to cultivate 500 mu of terraced fields, which consisted of only three layers.

Li You has devoted the most manpower to agricultural reclamation. From last winter to this spring, the soldiers have been working hard to reclaim terraced fields, attempting to fully unleash the agricultural potential of this mountain valley.

After a long period of hard work, more than 1700 mu of new terraced fields have been opened up, and five new tall waterwheels have been built.

The manpower deployed on this virgin land consisted of three battalions, A, B, and C, plus a supply battalion.

As the team explored the Tongbai Mountains more deeply, Li You was no longer satisfied with the current base.

At this time, the Ding and Wu battalions, led by Liang Mengbiao and Zan Junmo respectively, were focusing on cultivating another area with better conditions. The reason that area was considered to have better conditions was related to its water availability.

The first virgin land developed by Huang Chao's army had a water source located below the fields, so water needed to be drawn from above. However, the second plot of land that Liang Mengbiao and his men were cultivating had a naturally formed spring above it. With simple guidance, the water could flow downstream and directly irrigate the cultivated fields below, thus eliminating the need for water diversion.

However, the second plot of land has limited arable area, estimated to be only about 400 mu (approximately 66 acres).

Based on this calculation, by the time rice seedlings are transplanted in April, Li You's Huang Chaojun will have 2600 mu of paddy fields, which is more than five times that of last year.

After a rough estimate, Li You concluded that this size of farmland was nearing the limit that 4000 people could take care of.

Therefore, no matter what, we must mobilize a new batch of people to go up the mountain this year.

The lack of manpower is the biggest problem Li You is facing now.

The days when they could easily quell powerful clans and conscript tens of thousands of men are long gone.

Those are grand scenes that only occur under special circumstances. When humans get carried away, they are capable of anything. But humans cannot stay in a daze forever. Once they come to their senses, most will return to a low-risk life and continue farming and making a living.

Why not stay in your hometown and farm instead of going to some remote mountain valley?

Therefore, it is not an easy task for Li You to persuade people from other places to come to the mountains and join the army.

However, he is no longer allowed to use the old methods of incitement, as that would be too risky.

If the government found out that there was a group of people hiding in the mountains farming and not paying taxes, they would go crazy.

After his henchmen spent a winter investigating down in the mountains, Li You discovered a new, even more hellish method.

That is, just buy it directly.

You buy it with money, because some people are the goods themselves.

Through investigation, Li You learned that a "prosperous" slave trading market existed in the Tang Dynasty.

He gained a deeper understanding of the dark side of feudal society.

Although terms like "the Reign of Zhenguan," "the Prosperous Era of Tianbao," and "the Restoration of Lingwu" are well-known, the social structure of the Tang Dynasty 1100 years ago still retained some traces of barbarism.

The so-called barbaric legacy is the remnant of slavery.

Ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty were called "Liangren," which means good people or free citizens. They had independent household registration, were required to pay taxes and perform military service in accordance with the law, and enjoyed full personal freedom and property rights. They were ordinary legal citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

Besides the "good men," there are several other types of people whose lives are truly hellish.

They are: "lowly people", "slaves", "servants", "southern gate", and "guest women".

These five words sound quite explosive.

The term "outcasts" refers to a group whose status is lower than that of "free people".

They can be further divided into: officials who are considered lowly and commoners who are considered lowly.

Officials and commoners were mostly family members of criminals, prisoners of war, etc., who served the government for generations. Under them were government slaves, government households, musicians, miscellaneous households, and musicians of the Imperial Music Bureau.

People like Yin Hongzhi and Yin Fei were forced into government service when they were young, becoming lowly citizens and suffering a lot of bullying.

Private commoners belonged to private individuals, such as private slaves, servants, and female guests. They were the "quasi-property" of their masters and provided labor to their masters without compensation, thus having a very low status.

There are exceptions, such as the "servants," who have a slightly higher status, but they still depend on their master for survival, and their personal freedom is greatly restricted.

The so-called "slaves" were the lowest of the low, the most despicable people.

When they reached the slave class, they were no longer "quasi-property," but rather a part of "property."

Some records say they "treated livestock like animals," a description that is very inhumane but very telling.

The female weavers in Li Youjun's army were formerly "slave girls" kept by the Zheng family in Xingyang.

Upon learning about the classification of commoners in the Tang Dynasty, and recalling the daily behavior of the weaving women he had regarded as his precious treasures, Li You felt a chill run down his spine.

No wonder they worked almost non-stop, putting in tremendous effort, and were incredibly grateful to Li You, working harder than oxen and horses.

For the first time, they experienced the happiness of being "human" and being respected as "human".

Alas, it's all because of this cannibalistic Tang Dynasty society that we've been forced into this situation.

Finally, there is another group of people, known as "Nankou".

Nankou was also a type of slave, but their origin was quite special; they were wild people captured from the Lingnan region.

The term "wild man" isn't very good either; let's just say they are the indigenous people of the southern region.

Once captured, these indigenous people would be taken to large cities in the north and auctioned off.

After the auction, they officially became members of the "slave class".

Because of the strong demand for "slaves" from wealthy families in the Central Plains, the capture activities of "Nankou" were rampant, both at the government level and among the common people, almost no different from hunting animals.

After Nankou was sold to its new owner, it was subjected to rampant exploitation, and its treatment was predictably poor; in reality, they wouldn't live for many more years.

Some corrupt officials in Lingnan would even use large quantities of "Nankou" to bribe high-ranking officials in Chang'an. This was a new innovation, essentially using "Nankou" directly as currency.

The above is a general overview of the "slave system" within the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

There are many other terms, such as "Kunlun slave", "Beikou", "Huihe slave", "Turkic slave", "Silla maid", "Hu woman", "Liaokou", "Sengqi slave", "Cangtou", and so on, to name just a few.

The Tang Dynasty stretched for 30,000 li, boasted exceptional martial arts, and had a diverse population. They dared to capture and employ people from all over the world.

Furthermore, the early Tang Dynasty was keen on launching foreign military wars, and in each battle, it captured tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enemy people. The final destination of these people is easy to imagine.