Chapter 56
56 The martial King is here
Watching those slaves being brought up, those nobles in brilliant clothes stopped talking as they watched those slaves and started to comment.
A middle-aged noble raised his head to look at the sun in the sky and said softly. He then made a gesture to the soldiers around him.
Some of the servants took out incense sticks, stuck them into the ground, and lit them up. The nobles began to kneel on the ground and pray to the lit incense.
Then, someone took out a bronze ware and sprinkled some plant ash around the open space, marking a circle on the ground.
Then, a witch, who was dressed like a sorcerer, with colorful feathers all over her body and a wooden pole tied with colorful strips of cloth in her hand, appeared. She jumped up and down on the open space, her feet moving back and forth on the ground, muttering some words, and waving the wooden pole in her hand around from time to time.
After the dance, the witch left the stage, and the nobles nodded.
“The auspicious time has arrived, let’s start the ritual!”
As the voice rang out, the dozen or so slaves who were being escorted up began to cry and struggle.
mom, I’m scared, I’m scared of Yingluo! the little girl among the slaves cried out in fear, desperately trying to hide in her mother’s arms.
An old grey-haired slave hugged another little boy as he covered the little boy’s eyes with one hand. Some other slaves were still struggling.
However, the slaves ‘struggles were in vain.
The soldiers who were holding them down forced all the adults to kneel on the ground and stepped on their feet. They raised their machetes and chopped off their heads one by one. The heads rolled on the ground with terrified and painful expressions.
The blood of the beheaded adults sprayed on the children’s bodies and faces. Those children were so scared that they burst into tears. Some even directly passed out.
mom, mom! the slave girl saw her mother’s headless body fall down. She sat in a pool of blood with a dazed look in her eyes. mom! Mom! she shouted and wanted to grab her mother’s head.
The old slave’s blood sprayed over the little boy’s head, making him bloody.
......
Even though they were in the realm Pearl and knew what was going to happen, Xia ping ‘an still couldn’t help but close his eyes when he saw this brutal scene with his own eyes.
In the slave society, this kind of thing was common.
If Xia Pingan were to find the two cruelest Chinese characters in the history of China, where slavery existed, these two Chinese characters would be ” laying the foundation.
In this age, whenever slave owners wanted to build new high-rise buildings, palaces, and mansions, they would hold a groundbreaking ceremony. The slaves would become the sacrifices of this groundbreaking ceremony–when the construction of the buildings started, the slaves would be killed and their bones would be buried under the high-rise buildings. Their flesh and blood would be used as the building materials of the high-rise buildings.
Apart from construction, slaves would be killed when the foundation was laid, the walls were built, and the gates were installed. They would be used as sacrifices for the houses.
The slave owners felt that by doing so, they could bless their high-rise buildings and their wealth.
In the many archaeological excavations of later generations, under the ruins of the gorgeous buildings of this era, there were piles of slaves ‘bones, blood and tears. Just the ruins of a Palace in chennan used 889 living people to lay the foundation.
......
Blood gushed out of the severed necks of the slaves. Those slave owners in luxurious clothes watched all this with a smile. Then, they ordered the soldiers to drag the dead slaves ‘bodies around the open space for a few circles.
The soldiers raised the slaves ‘feet high and placed their severed necks on the ground. In this way, they could force out all the blood from the slaves’ bodies and spray it on the ground of the high-rise buildings and luxurious houses that they were going to build.
Xia ping ‘an and the other slaves were watching from the side.
When the blood of those headless corpses ran dry, some slaves in the front were driven forward and dug some big pits on the ground. One of the big pits was for the headless corpses of the adults while the kids were thrown into another pit. They were directly buried alive.
Finally, the groundbreaking ceremony was completed.
The slave owners, who had completed the groundbreaking ceremony, looked up at the scorching sun above their heads. They then left in their carriages with satisfied smiles, leaving the supervisors and soldiers to guard the place. 𝘧r𝘦𝗲w𝘦𝚋𝐧o𝘷𝘦𝙡.co𝑚
hurry up, work! the overseers waved their whips and whipped the slaves. They began to direct the slaves to work and transport the building materials.
......
pa, pa, PA. Xia Pingan was carrying a piece of wood. The leather whip landed on his body.
hurry up! Don’t be lazy! the supervisor shouted.
Xia Pingan looked at the armed and armored soldiers around her. She moved her things silently without saying a word.
The slaves worked in silence until the sky turned dark. Everyone was exhausted. The supervisors and soldiers then escorted Xia ping ‘an and the others back to their own houses.
Xia ping ‘an walked in chaoge city and looked around the capital of the Shang Dynasty. In this era, the houses of the slave owners were easy to distinguish. Almost all the slave owners lived in the ” four ah’s heavy houses ” of various sizes, which were considered exquisite and tall, while the commoners lived in relatively low ” suite rooms ” or ” single houses.
A ” single room ” was a single room, and a ” suite ” was also very simple. It was just two connected rooms with a door in the middle. In a commoner’s room, the biggest furniture was an earthen bed and a stove.
The slaves did not have the right to live in a house. Xia ping ‘an and the others were driven to some simple and crude sheds and underground caves. The sheds were built with the simplest wood and grass, while the underground caves were dug underground like dog kennels. No, in the eyes of many slave owners, the lives of slaves were not even worth as much as a good dog.
The underground was dark and damp. Many of Xia Pingan’s slaves had been living in the underground cave for a long time, so their joints were a little twisted. It was obvious that they were suffering from serious rheumatism and bone disease.
As for the slaves ‘food, it was just some flatbread made of husks and some porridge.
Xia Pingan held a piece of charred bran cake and squatted silently in the straw shed, looking at the people in front of her.
The slaves lived a life worse than pigs and dogs.
They buried their hatred in their hearts, and their appearances were all dirty and numb, as if they were soulless shells.
This life continued for five whole days. On the sixth day, the foundation was not completely completed, and Xia ping ‘an and the others stopped working.
That night, for the first time ever, they had a meal of flatbread and millet porridge.
It was also on that day that Xia ping ‘an heard the supervisor and the soldiers talking about the arrival of the martial king’s army.
The atmosphere in chaoge city began to become tense, and the nobles living in the ” four ah’s heavy House ” were in a panic.
On the seventh day, all the slaves in chaoge city were organized, given weapons, and brought to Muye. All the slaves knew that the Army of the martial King had opened.
Before King Wu’s Army arrived, the slaves were just sacrificial objects for the nobles in the ” four ah’s heavy houses “. They could be killed and buried at will, living like pigs and dogs.
When the Army of the martial King arrived, the nobles gave the slaves a good meal and gave them weapons. They then sent the slaves to the battlefield to protect the nobles.
To the nobles, everything seemed to be logical and should be like this.
However, for the slaves, a strange Qi was as restless as sparks.
The slaves had no status and were as lowly as grass, but they were not stupid.
Even a dog would wag its tail at whoever was good to it, let alone a human.
Would a dog risk its life to protect a person who would beat it, abuse it, kill it, and kill its wife and children at any time?
Dogs wouldn’t! Not only that, but the dog would definitely bare its teeth and roar at that person. It would want to turn into a Wolf and tear that person’s throat apart.
If so, why did those slave owners in chaoge city take it for granted that those slaves, who were used to lay the foundation for buildings and palaces, would protect their buildings and palaces?
Xia Pingan had never understood this question.
Between the slave and the slave owner, one must be stupider than a dog, and the other smarter than a dog. Otherwise, such an incredible arrangement would not have happened.
At the dawn of the eighth morning, Xia ping ‘an saw King Wu’s Army in the vast wilderness.