Chapter 26 Tower Turbulence
"I heard that when Handan, the capital of Zhao, was captured, three thousand children jumped down the city wall, shouting 'Zhao people will never surrender to Qin'. Their voices and momentum were so powerful! You are also a Zhao person, why don't you learn from those children's courage and self-respect?"
At the table for four people, a pale-complexioned young scholar stood up angrily, walked up to the servant and scolded him.
He should be a young adult, and since he doesn't even have a callus on his hands, we know that he has been pampered since childhood and has never even done farm work.
"The difference between humans and animals is that humans know etiquette and have a sense of shame. Chang'an Jun is unwilling to spread animal skins here, but wants you to lie down. Doesn't this mean that you are not even as good as the fur of animals? How can you be so at ease after such a great insult?"
The servant rested his forehead on the ground, and a slight smell of blood penetrated his nostrils.
He didn't dare to refute or speak, he didn't want to die.
Everyone here has the power to decide his life and death, and he cannot disrespect anyone.
Li servants and concubines were slaves, and slaves were not protected by Qin law.
Under the premise that their lives are not guaranteed, the slaves and concubines have long lost the ability to argue, and the only thing left in their bones is begging for mercy, obedience, and fear.
"The people of Zhao are so lowly! They are willing to be treated so badly by that bastard! It's polluting my eyes!"
"Look at the joy on that bastard's face. Humph, a villain is getting what he wants! This Zhao man is heartless and shameless. He is a perfect match for that bastard!"
"These four Confucian scholars are short-sighted. If it was me who started the trouble, I would have ordered people to drag Li Chen away in advance. If Li Chen is gone, the behavior of that boy who doesn't treat others as human beings is the final conclusion. No matter how much I can explain, I am wrong. I will not fall into this situation!"
"A few self-righteous and book-reading corrupt scholars who can't even pick up a beautiful woman, what great things can they accomplish!"
The range attack that had been secretly directed by Ying Chengjiao to the young scholar had slightly changed the tone of the guests' comments.
Seeing the situation deteriorate, the young Confucian scholar saw that the servants on the ground did not respond to him, making it difficult for him to turn the situation around, and the sense of humiliation in his heart instantly exploded.
He drew the sword from his waist and slashed at the servant on the ground without hesitation.
He wanted to kill this servant!
Let's cut off the humiliation he suffered together!
Confucius, the Confucian philosopher, divided people into different classes and advocated etiquette. Confucianism is a typical aristocratic doctrine.
The benevolence in Confucianism refers to people.
And slaves are not human beings.
If a slave causes others to feel humiliated, he should be killed.
The young scholar's sword is not sharp.
The moment he drew his sword, the guards on the tower would definitely be able to stop him in time.
But none of the guards on the tower had the intention of stopping them.
They stood where they were, doing their duty, and turned a blind eye to the actions of the young scholar.
If someone wants to kill a slave, why should we stop him?
If they were insulted by the slaves, they would also be filled with anger.
This is the Qin Dynasty.
So this is people's attitude towards slaves, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it.
Boom~
Ying Chengjiao smashed a bottle of wine on the young scholar's head.
The young scholar cried out in pain after being beaten and retreated three or four steps. The sword in his hand fell to the ground and landed next to the servant's head.
The servant heard the sound of metal falling next to his ear and turned his head carefully to glance at it out of the corner of his eye.
The bright sword reflected a cold light and swept across the servant's eyes, making him tremble with fear. He almost died!
He wanted to get up and run away, run back to Zhao State, run back to that home that was poor but warm.
I hugged my mother and cried bitterly, and hugged my father and complained to him.
But in fact, he did not dare to act rashly, and was even more cautious than before, not daring to move at all.
If you move, you die!
If he lies here, he can live a little longer.
The servant was filled with fear, terror and panic, but he did not feel any resentment towards the young scholar.
He was a subject, a slave. Isn't it normal for slaves to be killed?
The same was true in Zhao State.
"Sir, why is this happening?"
The housekeeper took out a pink handkerchief from her bosom and wiped the saliva off Ying Chengjiao's hands with some resentment.
You let him kill them. For every servant killed, he has to pay one gold coin as compensation, which is enough to buy five concubines.
A lowly Zhao man could die at the hands of a customer in exchange for one gold coin. What a good deal.
Most slaves had a short life span, with more than 90% dying from disease, hard labor, and beatings by their masters.
These 90% of slaves died in vain and no one compensated them.
Under Qin law, slaves were private property. If they were beaten to death by others, they could receive compensation, and the amount of compensation was far more than the money from buying and selling slaves.
If a slave could be beaten to death by others, then for most slave owners, this would be a windfall and they would be happy to accept it.
"Are you questioning me?" Ying Chengjiao chuckled.
There was no dissatisfaction in his words, but the housekeeper had been in charge of the building for many years and had already developed a very smart mind.
She grabbed Ying Chengjiao's hand and put it into her clothes, saying flatteringly: "Don't be angry, Lord. I was just in a hurry."
"How obscene!"
"Shameless boy!"
"Unfortunate for the Ying family!"
The guests looked at him with jealous eyes and condemned him one after another.
The female steward is not a beauty on the porch, she is a steward and does not need to accompany guests.
Inside the pavilion, except Ying Chengjiao, no other guest could take advantage of the housekeeper.
"Ying Chengjiao! You are so cruel that you beat up my Confucian students. How dare you claim to be the Lord of Chang'an of Qin!"
The young scholar supported the young scholar who was complaining with a red and swollen forehead, and scolded him harshly.
On the table, the middle-aged Confucian scholar and another Confucian scholar stood up together and walked towards this side, looking at Ying Chengjiao with eyes full of anger.
"Chang'an Jun must give an explanation for this matter!"
"Chang'an Jun is so rude, he has brought shame to the royal family!"
Ying Chengjiao started teasing these Confucian scholars because he was in high spirits.
Life is so boring, and if there are a few fools willing to come forward to add color, why not?
But the moment the young Confucian scholar drew his sword, Ying Chengjiao lost his enthusiasm and didn't want to say anything more to these Confucian scholars.
It's so impressive that he draws his sword and kills people when he disagrees with them.
"What the hell you want to hear? You don't deserve it!"
Ying Chengjiao sneered, picked up the plates full of dishes on the table and threw them at the four people.
The four of them were soon covered with vegetable leaves, meat, and various foods. Soups and stains of various colors were all poured onto them. The four of them, who were originally full of scholarly demeanor, looked so miserable that they looked more like beggars than beggars on the street.
"A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated!"
The young scholar's face turned purple, and he screamed in a hoarse voice. He drew the sword from his waist and was ready to fight Ying Chengjiao to the death.
The young scholar's face turned pale and he trembled all over as he smelled the various odors on his body. He had never suffered such humiliation before.
"Ahhh! I'll kill you!"
He reached for his waist and felt only the scabbard, then he remembered that the sword had fallen to the ground.
This reminded him of the injury he had just received from Ying Chengjiao. The severe pain in his forehead made him even more angry. He screamed and threw himself towards the long sword he had dropped on the ground.
"No! Junior Brother! Take them away!"
"Lord Chang'an, I will pay you back for today's humiliation!"
The two older Confucian scholars also had anger on their faces, which could be seen through the rotten vegetable leaves on their faces.
They forcibly dragged away the two young Confucian scholars, who were threatening and full of grief and anger.
The place where they were beaten was full of scattered wine and dishes, broken pieces of food, and leftovers, creating a mess.
The guests were a little dumbfounded.
We are all people of status and position, can't we just talk to each other in a nice way? How can we resort to violence?
I thought about how those four Confucian scholars would go out in public, covered in vegetable leaves and minced meat, and smelling terrible.
The guests who were proud of their status all turned pale, it was so embarrassing!
"Manager! Chang'an Jun behaved like this in the tower! What is the attitude of the tower! If Ying Chengjiao is not expelled, will we have to wear armor if we want to enter the tower in the future?"
A guest spoke up.
He was very smart and knew that his spending on the building could not compare to that of Ying Chengjiao.
He could not compete with Ying Chengjiao in terms of the right to speak in Loutai, so he dragged other guests into threatening Loutai.
This sentence made all the guests focus their eyes on the housekeeper.
Because what the guest said was right, no one wants to eat, drink, sing songs and play with women, only to be covered in vegetable soup, vegetable leaves and minced meat the next moment.
Come in glamorously and leave in disgrace.
The guests all agreed: Do you guys care about this? Do you still want to make money from us?
The guests had a clear plan. If one person couldn't beat Ying Chengjiao, how could a group of people be unable to do so?
There are so many of us, and we are in the right. What reason does Loutai have not to deal with Ying Chengjiao?
As long as we get together, Loutai must drive out this bastard Ying Chengjiao!
Being stared at by dozens of powerful and wealthy eyes, the housekeeper's pretty face turned pale, her legs became weak, and she was very nervous.
She was just a minor official with an annual salary of 100 dan. Her position as a tower manager allowed her to refuse when asked by the dignitaries to drink and sleep with them, but it did not allow her to hold her head high and show disdain in front of these dignitaries.
Qin law permeates all aspects of the Qin State, covering everything. There are hundreds of small categories, such as work laws, field laws, stable and garden laws (see stable laws), warehouse laws, gold and cloth laws, transportation laws, corvée laws, official appointment laws, and military rank laws.
The Work Laws made strict regulations on the revenue of towers: if the annual revenue of a tower is less than 5,000 gold, the manager will be dismissed and sentenced to prison. If the revenue is between 5,000 and 8,000 gold, the manager will have no merit or fault. If the revenue is more than 8,000 gold, the manager will be rewarded 100 gold, and the merit will be equal to ten heads.
If this matter today is not handled well, these powerful people will never come back, and the annual revenue of the building business will not exceed 5,000 gold. The female manager will go to receive the sentence - the punishment she sentenced to the servants lying on the ground.
Then can she drive Ying Chengjiao out?
cannot.
It was rumored that Ying Chengjiao contributed half of the company's revenue, but many people took it as a joke.
Such a huge building, the only place for high-ranking officials to have fun outside, is nothing but a money-spending den, a bottomless pit. How could one person take up half of the revenue? Your Majesty doesn't have that much money in his private treasury!
But the female manager in charge of the building knew that this was not a joke but the truth, otherwise why would she treat Ying Chengjiao differently and take the initiative to throw herself into his arms.
She was a manager, not a concubine or a prostitute.
So she was in a dilemma about today's incident. No matter what choice she made, the outcome seemed to be imprisonment.
She was just like the servant on earth, seeing no hope and falling into despair.
