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

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The courtesan was singing in the room when Li Bangyan suddenly collapsed drunk on the table.

Li Bangyan's old house was also raided; the person who carried out the raid seemed to have a deep-seated grudge against him.

Even if Li Bangyan offered to redeem his old house with his own money, it wouldn't work. When selling off his property, they deliberately refused to sell it to him, leaving him without a house of his own now.

Life is so meaningless!

The next day, after sobering up, Li Bangyan returned to his rented place and said to his wife, "Let's move to Hangzhou. I've never been to Suzhou and Hangzhou before."

"I'm not even sixty yet. If I take a concubine, maybe she can give me a son."

"When the time comes, make him your legitimate son, educate and train him well, and let him do business in Hangzhou."

The wife said, "I asked around and found out that Xu Fuyan's eldest son was reinstated to his official position a few days ago."

"Will your illegitimate sons be pardoned someday?"

Li Bangyan retorted irritably, "How can that be the same?"

"Xu Fuyan's eldest and second sons were innocently implicated."

“My two sons and several illegitimate sons are all corrupt and lawless.”

Even if the Emperor or His Majesty takes pity on us, at most he will restore my original writing system.

"If you want a son, you can only have one more child."

"If you really can't have a child, then adopt one from a member of your clan."

Li Bangyan came from a humble family. His grandfather was a gold miner and his father was a goldsmith who owned a shop.

There weren't many clansmen, but it was still easy to adopt a son.

The couple stopped arguing and started making arrangements to move to Hangzhou, and they changed their names from then on.

Li Bangyan found several familiar merchants and exchanged all 100,000 strings of cash returned by the imperial court after confiscating property into bank drafts in Hangzhou.

These merchants took advantage of the situation and charged him a handling fee of one thousand strings of cash.

Although all his relatives were exiled, the court did not pursue the servants.

Li Bangyan dismissed a large number of servants, selecting only a few trustworthy and loyal servants, and then took a boat all the way to Hangzhou.

Feeling empty and bored during his long journey, Li Bangyan began to create plays.

This time, he won't write any more erotic dramas about ordinary people; instead, he wants to write about a wealthy young man from a previous dynasty who experiences joys and sorrows during a period of political upheaval.

It depicts events in Bianjing (Kaifeng) at the end of the Song Dynasty, including court intrigues, extravagance and wealth, and romantic relationships, showcasing that era of prosperity and splendor.

Corrupt officials have also fallen from grace in Hangzhou, and many of their assets have been auctioned off by the government.

Chapter 3325 Buying a Singer

Li Bangyan bought a property by the canal and also bought about a hundred acres of land. He then took his household registration book to the county government to re-register his household and changed his name to Li Guodong.

Then he hired a broker, wanting to take a concubine.

The matchmaker said to Li Bangyan, "Sir, you have too many requirements. You must have a beautiful face, a large bottom to give birth easily, and be well-educated and reasonable."

The Ming Dynasty was not like the former Song Dynasty; such young women were hard to find, since there were very few who sold their children.

The government also strictly investigated the human trafficking business; those caught running illegal brokers were imprisoned, and those who were careless could be exiled or even beheaded.

Li Bangyan said irritably, "I'm not buying maids or servants, I just want to take a concubine, and I need your help to find a suitable one."

"Then go find a matchmaker! I'm a matchmaker!"

The matchmaker retorted directly.

Li Bangyan was speechless for a moment, because what the matchmaker said made perfect sense.

The matchmaker suddenly said, "Sir, you can buy a Silla maid as a concubine."

"A Silla maid?"

Li Bangyan became interested.

The matchmaker explained, "In the past two years, fewer people have been selling their children, and the contracts for maids and servants have been strictly checked. As a result, Silla maids have become popular in Suzhou and Hangzhou."

"It is said that in order to pay off their debts, the nobles and officials of Goryeo searched for beautiful women, taught them the etiquette of serving others, and then sold them to the Ming Dynasty to exchange for money to buy grain."

"A scholar in Hangzhou said that Goryeo was Silla."

“When Silla maids were in the Tang Dynasty, only the powerful and wealthy could afford to use them.”

"These Goryeo women are called Silla maids, and they are quite elegant!"

Originally feeling hopeless and even too lazy to create plays, Li Bangyan suddenly developed a great interest in Silla maids.

Li Bangyan smiled and nodded, saying, "The Silla maids are indeed elegant. If we add a Bodhisattva Man and a Kunlun slave, then we will truly rival the Tang Dynasty's golden age!"

The matchmaker brought several Silla maids, but Li Bangyan shook his head repeatedly upon seeing them.

He's clumsy and rough, good at making servants, but not good enough for taking concubines and having sons.

The matchmaker said, "These Silla maids are divided into three classes."

"The best are good at singing and dancing, the average are beautiful, and the worst are hardworking and conscientious."

“The best Silla maids were bought by brothels as soon as they arrived in Hong Kong.”

“Even middle-class Silla maids are sought after by wealthy men; these are all that’s left in Hangzhou.”

"Can these be considered average?"

Li Bangyan was quite disdainful.

The matchmaker added, "I will come and inform you, sir, as soon as the next boatload of Silla maids arrives."

Li Bangyan asked, "Is it on every ship?"

The matchmaker said, "Not necessarily, but there have been more and more of them in the last two years."

Goryeo was first plundered by the Jin Dynasty, and even had to pay compensation in grain. Pyongyang and the areas to the north were filled with starving corpses.

The Ming army occupied Pyongyang and also required Goryeo to provide military rations, which had to be paid annually.

Goryeo's food supply is far from sufficient.

They tried every means to use local specialties to offset grain taxes, and even captured rural women to sell to Han bachelors who had migrated there.

A well-educated merchant from Zhejiang was inspired while sourcing goods from Korea.

Knowing that Silla maids were popular during the Tang Dynasty, he colluded with Goryeo officials to engage in human trafficking, and then had scholars in Hangzhou promote and hype it up.

"Silla maid" became an instant hit!

When the high-ranking officials of Goryeo learned of this, they not only did not stop it, but also joined in, and the Silla maids they provided were of even higher quality.

Even the lowest-ranking Silla maids were bought by wealthy men.

Chapter 3326 Asian Blacks

Because they endured beatings and scoldings without complaint, they were grateful even for a simple meal.

This wasn't an act; it came from the bottom of his heart.

Just think about the lives of ordinary people in Goryeo. Cloth that could only be used for mourning in China was used as currency in Goryeo.

The lower-class Silla maids were all women from the lower classes of Goryeo. They were sold to Hangzhou to work as servants, and their food and clothing were better than in their hometowns, so they were naturally willing to work diligently.

Li Bangyan was now extremely suspicious and cautious in everything he did, so he couldn't help but ask, "Is it illegal for the court to keep private slaves or Silla maids in the household?"

By the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, slavery had been largely abolished, and even the female relatives of officials who had committed crimes were no longer taken as government slaves.

The Great Ming Code went a step further, explicitly prohibiting the keeping of private slaves and strictly regulating servant employment contracts.

Although there are significant problems in enforcement, legal loopholes have been closed, and any violation will be considered illegal.

The matchmaker smiled and said, "Don't worry, sir. I'm a matchmaker too, and I'm registered with the government."

"Since it is a public broker, it should abide by the law."

“Those Silla maids would first register with the government, and when they were bought and sold, they would sign a five-year employment contract. When the contract expired, they could sign a new contract to renew it.”

"That's alright." Li Bangyan nodded.

There are no relevant laws or regulations on this. How could ancient times have restricted cross-border migration?

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had a very lenient household registration policy shortly after its founding, which encouraged those who had concealed their household registration to register.

Silla maids, as attendants of maritime merchants, only needed to pay an entry tax when entering the port.

Then the merchants would go to the government office to register the Silla maids with Ming Dynasty household registration and complete their employment contracts with Ming Dynasty.

When the transaction takes place, the contract is also transferred.

Everything was legal!

The matchmaker asked again, "Sir, you mentioned the Kunlun slave the other day, are you thinking of buying one?"

Li Bangyan asked in surprise, "Can you buy Kunlun slaves in Hangzhou?"

The matchmaker explained, "We don't have the goods in Hangzhou, but we can contact maritime merchants and have them bring them from Guangzhou along with the goods."

There were a particularly large number of black slaves in Guangzhou!

During the Xuanhe era of Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhu Yu wrote a book called "Pingzhou Ketan", which contained a record of black slaves in Guangzhou: "Wealthy people in Guangzhou often keep black slaves, who are extremely strong and can carry hundreds of catties."

“Those who cannot communicate their language and desires, and who are simple-minded and do not flee, are also called savages.”

"His skin was as black as ink, his lips were red and his teeth were white, his hair was curly and yellow... He could understand human speech after a long time, but he himself could not speak..."

Apart from a few African slaves brought by Arab merchants, the vast majority of the black slaves in Guangzhou were short-statured people from the Indochina Peninsula and the islands of Southeast Asia.

Negritos, also known as Pygmy Negritos, resemble African blacks in appearance.

However, from a DNA perspective, they belong to a branch of Asians, but they turned into that strange-looking creature in order to adapt to the climate.

The Kunlun slaves of the Tang Dynasty were mostly of short stature.

Their most outstanding strength is that they are good swimmers!

The Tang Dynasty tale "Ganze Ballad" tells the story of a prefect with a perverse sense of humor.

Whenever they arrived at a new body of water by boat, they would throw their swords into the water and then have the Kunlun slaves retrieve them, thus demonstrating how incredibly powerful their black slaves were.

Finally, this Kunlun slave was torn apart by the crocodile...

The book "Pingzhou Ketan" from the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song also records the main use of black slaves: serving as sailors.

When a major storm occurs, have black slaves set up and lower the sails.

When the ship's cabin leaked, they sent black slaves to repair the leaks.

"Is there a Bodhisattva's Charm?" Li Bangyan suddenly asked.

The matchmaker smiled and said, "When I was young, I was a singer and I can sing folk songs. I can sing twenty or thirty versions of 'Bodhisattva's Charm'."

Li Bangyan said, "Bodhisattva Man is a person."

The matchmaker asked in confusion, "Isn't 'Bodhisattva' a ci poem title?"

Li Bangyan discovered that he had found a business opportunity. Kunlun slaves had always existed, and now there were Silla maids, but the only thing missing was a Bodhisattva.

The origins of the Bodhisattva Barbarian are subject to various theories. One theory is that she came from white people in Central Asia, another is that she was a barbarian from the southwest region, and yet another is that she was a foreign woman from Southeast Asia.

The claim that they are white can be almost ignored, because that thing is called an orchid.

It is unlikely that the southwestern Yi people, based on the analysis of historical records, did not have such advanced textile technology, nor did they have such beliefs and clothing customs during the Tang Dynasty.

The Bodhisattva Man likely originated from the Thailand and Myanmar area!

Li Bangyan certainly didn't have such a clear geographical awareness, but in order to please Emperor Huizong of Song, he enjoyed reading all sorts of miscellaneous books.

The book only says that the Bodhisattva Barbarians came from the Women Barbarian Kingdom, and it records the clothing and jewelry in detail, but all other details are vague. So he could easily create a new Bodhisattva Barbarian.

Li Bangyan took out a string of copper coins (one hundred cash) and stuffed them into the matchmaker's hand, saying, "Who in Hangzhou is most knowledgeable about foreign lands?"

The matchmaker happily tucked the money into her pocket: "Most of the maritime merchants in Hangzhou trade with Korea and Japan, or transport goods to Fujian and Guangdong."

Li Bangyan said, "It's not unusual or surprising that envoys from Goryeo and Japan frequently visit the capital."

"I mean distant foreign lands, or those not too far away, but they must be unfamiliar to our people."