Chapter 136. Your Child is My Commodity.
The slave trader, far from being frightened by the two Star Luo Empire soldiers, said with a haughty expression, "You dare to stop me? Do you know who I am?"
"Who are you?" the Star Luo soldier asked.
"We are part of the Star Luo Song family's official slave hunting group. We hold official Star Luo slave hunting permits in the Astaka region."
He then produced a certificate for the Star Luo soldier to review. The soldier took one look and quickly apologized.
"I'm sorry, we didn't know you held legal slave hunting permits. I'm sorry, I misjudged you."
"You are also responsible for maintaining order in the Star Luo Empire. I won't blame you for this," the slave trader said with a wave of his hand.
The Xing Luo soldier smiled flatteringly, "Sir, these lowly Astyakas should all be enslaved. It's because of your tireless efforts to travel back and forth to the Astyaka region that the Astyakas, like flies, are becoming increasingly scarce."
"Hahaha, that's true," the slave trader laughed. "You two should get back to work. I'll return the goods to the caravan and then find a few slave girls to take to the imperial capital."
"We must seize all the Astyaka women and completely exterminate them. Only then can we free this fertile land for us," the Xing Luo soldier laughed.
However, this delay allowed the mother who had lost her son to catch up.
Seeing her child in the man's arms, she ignored everything and grabbed the slave trader.
"No! Let go of my son!"
The slave trader, clutching the child, angrily called to the two soldiers, "Quickly stop that crazy woman."
The two Xing Luo soldiers, reacting immediately, stepped forward to intervene, kicking the mother away from the slave trader.
"You, my child, give me back my child," the mother cried in grief.
"Hmph," the slave trader said disdainfully. "I'm a slave trader with the Empire's legal right to hunt slaves in the Astaka region. Anyone who comes into my hands is my merchandise. In the imperial capital, an Astaka slave sells for at least a hundred gold soul coins. Your son is quite good, so I estimate he can fetch five hundred. If you want your son, bring me five hundred gold soul coins."
Five hundred gold soul coins? The mother was despairing. She couldn't even come up with five, let alone five.
And yet, this was clearly her son, and she was paying for him. What kind of logic was that?
She could only look to the soldier beside her, hoping for justice.
"This honorable Daren is a slave trader with legal slave hunting licenses in the Xingluo Empire. Anyone in his hands is his commodity. You want to take his merchandise without payment? What's the logic behind this? If you have money, pay it quickly. If you don't, get out. If you refuse to stay here, don't blame me for using my gun." With that, the Xingluo soldier drew his spear and pointed it at the mother.
Desperate, she looked at the child, struggling in the slave trader's arms. As if resolved, she leaned in and said,
"Let my child go, and I'll go with you, okay?"
The slave trader looked the mother up and down, shook his head, and said, "Excuse me, look at you, a shrew with a yellow face. You've already given birth, and you're worth so little. Besides, my master has a very particular taste. He doesn't like women, he prefers boys, especially tender-looking boys like this. That's what's valuable. I won't do business at a loss."
The mother's despair deepened. A glint of determination flashed in her eyes. She looked at her son, so close, and reached out to grab him, trying to pull him away.
"Fuck you, you bitch! Put him down! He's my merchandise!" The slave trader, enraged, kicked the woman hard. Two other soldiers thrust their spears at her, intending to pierce her from the back to the abdomen.
At the critical moment, three roses sprouted from the ground, two of which extended vines that entangled the two soldiers' spears.
Hua Qiang sneered at herself. Expecting these two soldiers to make decisions for this woman was naive. She recalled the rumors about Asdaka when she arrived—brutal yet true.
Asdaka Province, a province ruled by the Xingluo Empire for only a hundred years, was also the most chaotic region in the entire Xingluo Empire. A hundred years ago, Xingluo's iron hoof destroyed the country here and established its rule. However, because the population here was different from the main population of Xingluo, rebellions were frequent. Therefore, the Xingluo Empire adopted a cautious attitude towards this region. The Xingluo Empire's rulers were unwilling to invest money in development. Instead, they preferred to increase local taxes and firmly control the mining areas and other areas.
The people here lived in poverty, and over a hundred years, they had erupted in more than a dozen rebellions. However, these rebellions were a minor nuisance to the Xingluo Empire, and were brutally suppressed. Furthermore, to force the people of this region to submit and accept Xingluo's oppression, Dai Tianfeng would select a city in the province after each rebellion in Asdaka was quelled, massacre the city, and relocate the majority of the Xingluo population there.
By exploiting them, he forced them to rebel. When they did, he would brutally suppress them, massacre the city, and then relocate the population. Gradually, he would erode and transform the population of this region, turning it into a stable area under the Xingluo Empire's rule.
Besides exploiting this region, the Xing Luo authorities also employed numerous tactics. Among the Xing Luo high command, His Majesty Dai Tianfeng once sparked a fad within Xing Luo City: the Astaka slave craze. This craze made it difficult for even the most aristocratic of the empire to call themselves nobles without at least one Astaka slave. Where there's demand, there's demand. This craze lured countless slave traders to this impoverished and chaotic region, capturing and trafficking people across the Xing Luo Empire.
Losing men, losing young and able-bodied labor, and losing women meant losing the continuation of their lineage. Due to the rampant slave trade, the Astaka province's population dwindled.
Chaos, poverty, and constant conflict reigned supreme.
For the Xing Luo Empire, the Astaka region was a legacy of centuries of repression and transformation, but for the Astaka people, it was a century of blood and tears.
A bard who had visited this place once said that only if the Astyaka people who refused to submit to the rule of the Xingluo Imperial Family were completely wiped out or permanently enslaved, would the Astyaka region have a future under the rule of the Xingluo Empire.
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(End of this chapter)