Wuyuan City is located in the east of the Daxueshan Mountains. The warm air flow from the south is blocked by the towering peaks, creating a distinct difference in climate between the north and south of the mountains. The different climates bring different environments, with the southeast of the mountains being humid and fertile for farming, while the northwest is a vast grassland, a natural pasture for nomadic tribes.
The snow that has accumulated on the Daxueshan Mountains for thousands of years melts into small streams, which gather among the peaks to form creeks that wind down and eventually form a small plain at the foot of the mountains. Two hundred years ago, the expeditionary army of the Six Dynasties came to this place and built their logistics warehouse with stones and giant trees. Soon after, merchants from the rich southern regions arrived one after another, bringing countless goods and money, while also transporting goods from the grasslands and snow-capped mountains back to the inland. Today, the imperial expeditionary army's warehouse has been relocated to the snow mountain pass further west, but the city of Wuyuan remains.
Although Wuyuan is a city, it is only a border wilderness for the Six Dynasties. Neither the nominal emperor of the Han dynasty nor the ruler of Nanzhao established an official position here, making Wuyuan City an unmanaged merchant city.
Wuyuan City is located at an important pass. Every winter, Han men from the northern nomadic tribes drive their horses in groups, bringing a large number of high-quality fur goods, gold dust, excellent horses, and hunting falcons in exchange for tea, food, utensils, and wrought iron needed by their tribes.
In the spring, Persian merchants arrive on foot, stepping on the unmelted spring snow, bringing their carefully crafted jewelry and gorgeous carpets and fabrics. Other Persian merchants will form a caravan that stretches for miles, coming from even farther to the west. Their goods include sparkling glassware, finely crafted swords, and many other exotic treasures that cannot be named. At this time, merchants from the Song and Jin Dynasties would generously display their goods: exquisite silk, exquisite porcelain, and snow-white paper... and trade with these foreign merchants.
In the summer, the snow in the mountains melts, and the mountain roads reopen. Some dark-skinned Han men with thick beards will cross the unknown small paths in the mountains, bringing colorful gems, large pearls, and scrolls written on betel leaves from Dongtianzhu in the west of the mountains.
The south of Wuyuan City, crossing the rugged mountains and marshes in the direction of the river, is a dense forest and swamp. Tribes that come out of the forest bring blocks of jade, cinnabar, emeralds, and various mysterious drugs extracted from caves for trade with the fabrics, rice, and wine they need. Meanwhile, tribes from the seaside bring agarwood, tortoise shells, ivory, pearls, and even proud feathered people who occasionally come out of the jungle with their exquisite bows and arrows, exchanging them for their beloved lightweight fabrics and pearls.
Most of the merchants in Wuyuan City come from the Six Dynasties, including the elegant Song Dynasty merchants who wear silk headwear, and the wealthy from the Jin capital of Jiankang, who dress gorgeously, with even their boot tips inlaid with pearls. The fabrics produced in Shu, grain from Hanzhong, rice and fruits from various tribes in Nanzhao, ironware from the strong Qin in Guanzhong, copper mirrors, wine, and lacquer from the Tang capital of Chang'an, and silk, linen, and medicinal herbs from the Luoyang capital of Jing are all traded here. The gathering of merchants and the mixture of goods make this border city unparalleled in prosperity throughout the year.
At noon, a person entered the city with a dirty backpack, ragged clothes, and muddy shoes that were unrecognizable. He looked like a beggar, but fortunately, there were many beggars in Wuyuan City who were even worse off than him, so when Cheng appeared, he didn't attract too much attention.
Cheng walked on the street with stiff legs, struggling to walk. He no longer had the strength to curse the damned Yue. She not only took away the horses, clean water, and food but also took the coins that Wang Zhe had given him. Poor Cheng had walked to the present point in the grassland and didn't even know how he had made it out of the grassland to get here.
This city was completely different from what Cheng had imagined. There were no walls or tax officials and soldiers searching at the city gates. The whole city was more like a huge market, divided into trading areas according to different goods. The roads in the city were not planned at all and had become muddy like a swamp after being trampled by countless horse hooves and wagon wheels. But for Cheng, who had just escaped death, this was already heaven.
Walking further into the city from the edge, a road paved with bluestones appeared in front of him. Wealthy merchants dressed in silk with jade pendants on their waists were increasingly seen among the passersby, some even accompanied by a few robust bodyguards. These bodyguards carried long knives and carried large bows, their eyes shining with ferocity, each looking like they could fight. In addition, there were many pedestrians dressed in the styles of various ethnic groups, some wearing fur hats, some wrapping their heads in thick turbans, and some with high noses and deep eyes, curly hair, and red or yellow hair.
There were various fur markets displaying animal hides on both sides of the road, as well as horse markets, grain markets, and medicinal herb markets. Cheng licked his dry lips, feeling no more hunger in his stomach...
Suddenly, a loud clamor of people came into his ears. Cheng stopped and looked around in confusion. He didn't know when he had walked into a huge marketplace, with outdoor stalls scattered around and people swarming around them. But unlike other markets he knew, the stalls here were all half-human-high wooden platforms. The larger ones could accommodate more than a hundred people, while the smaller ones could only fit two or three people standing on them.
In front of the stalls, buyers and sellers argued endlessly, and the noise was as lively as any market Cheng had known. But unlike other markets, where goods such as fur, horses, tea, jewelry, salt, and food were traded, here they were trading living people.
On the wooden platform next to Cheng stood several strong slaves, with big nostrils, curly hair, dark skin, and only a dirty piece of cloth wrapped around their waists. Their hands were locked in iron chains, and their expressions were wooden.
"Freshly smuggled goods!"
The seller shouted loudly beside them, "They're strong, obedient, and easy to care for! Just give them some food and they'll work for you!"
A merchant walked up to the platform and checked their bodies first to see if they had any disabilities. Then he patted their shoulders to test their strength and finally opened their mouths to check their teeth for any missing ones.
The smooth-tongued seller said, "Absolutely top-quality goods! It's not easy to get them from the south, as black as ghosts, but their bodies are as strong as livestock. Unlike those feathered people, who can be blown away by the wind, they're even stronger than livestock when it comes to work. Don't believe me? Try it!"
A servant handed over a whip attentively, and the merchant took it and lashed a few times on one of the slaves. The sold slaves did not resist, even though their bodies were much stronger than the merchant's. They were as docile as lambs.
The merchant was satisfied and set the price, "Ten silver coins."
The seller screamed as if he had been greatly insulted, "The barbarian slaves on the roadside cost fifteen silver coins! For goods like this, it should be at least twenty silver coins!"
After some bargaining and haggling, both sides argued with red faces, and finally, the merchant bought three slaves, using a total of fifty silver coins.
Cheng had never seen a scene of slave trading before. According to Wen Ze's words, fifty silver coins were only the price of an ordinary horse in the interior. These slaves were really not worth much.
In the bustling market, every wooden platform was crowded with merchants and displayed a variety of slaves, like goods waiting to be sold. Some were chained with iron, some were locked in wooden cages, and there were even entire races of people who were captured, men, women, and children alike. He saw an old man with white hair holding a baby in his arms, who was eventually sold for six silver coins.
What surprised Cheng the most was that he saw a half-orc! This savage was not as fierce and violent as the ones he had seen on the grasslands. His shoulder blades were pierced with an iron chain, his wounds were bloody and fleshly, and his hands were heavily shackled with iron chains. His broad chest bore scars from branding, and his terrifying eyes were like burnt ashes, lifeless.
A high-nosed and deep-eyed merchant asked in a stiff language, "Can he use an axe?"
The seller replied, "This is a captive captured on the battlefield, and his best skill is using an axe. A few days ago, he competed with several families in the South City. With just a wooden stick and a cup of tea, he knocked down five people. If he wasn't chained up, he would have almost escaped. His strength is boundless..."
The seller went on and on, and the merchant pulled out a money bag and threw it over, "Two hundred silver coins! Treat his wounds and replace the iron chains with steel ones. Bring him to me in five days."
The seller laughed so much that he couldn't close his mouth. After the customer left, he said to his servant, "These slaves who can fight are the best sellers. I heard a few days ago that someone sold a feathered man who could fly for two hundred silver coins."
The servant said, "Why do these Hu people buy half-orcs? They can't work and are very fierce."
"I heard that the Hu people have a big gladiator arena, where they throw the bought slaves in and let them fight with tigers and lions. Dozens of fierce beasts die every day, as well as hundreds of slaves."
The seller took out a silver coin, blew on it, and put it in his ear to listen to its purity. He sighed in admiration, "At this price, it's worth tens of thousands of silver coins!"
The ancient Roman gladiator arena? Cheng remembered that it was a giant building listed as a cultural heritage site. For a person from the modern world, seeing a living slave market like this would inevitably evoke many emotions. But Cheng was so hungry that he couldn't think much about it.
In the lower abdomen, the cyclone that Wang Zhe had built for him slowly rotated, emitting a slight warmth. Although weak, it was continuous and had supported him until now. At this moment, his spirit had improved slightly, but his stomach was even more hungry. It felt like someone was squeezing his stomach hard, causing him to twitch. Cheng found a stone to sit on, holding his stomach with both hands, and nostalgically remembered the first meal he had eaten when he came to this world. At this point, even if it was a live horse, he could swallow it whole without even spitting out its hair. In front of him was a wooden platform, not too large in area, able to accommodate a dozen people standing on it. At this moment, there was no one on the platform, only a rope tied to each corner of the platform. Cheng sat for about ten minutes, and his spirit had improved slightly. Suddenly, the rope tied to the wooden platform was loosened, and a thin and sallow-looking man came out and led several slaves, all of them women. Their appearance was vastly different from the people of the Six Dynasties. They had slightly dark skin, high noses, big eyes, plump and wet lips. Three of them were slightly older, with red dots on their foreheads, which made Cheng feel familiar. They only had a tattered linen cloth to cover their bodies, draped from their right shoulders to their left waist, exposing most of their breasts. They stood barefoot on the platform in a row. These female slaves seemed to have just been sold and didn't have the same wooden expressions as other slaves, but instead had uncontrollable fear and timidity. Several people gathered below the platform, and someone shouted, "Qi Laosi, where did you get these goods from this time?" The man patted the buttocks of one of the female slaves, "From East India. If you want, I can give you a discount!" The person laughed, "It's East India again. What about that old stuff you keep hidden?" "Saving it for when you're ready to retire!" Qi Laosi laughed and cursed, then said to someone behind the wooden platform, "Bring out that old woman!"