Chapter 441: Complex Reasons
The valley entrance at the northern end of Ziwu Road is the Qianhu Suo of Ziwu Town.

It was the 26th day of the first lunar month when the black bear arrived here, and the remaining snow had melted and been eroded by the wind.

Some places with good light have already turned light green.

After staying overnight, his "chariot parts" were reassembled throughout the night and parked in the Qianhu Suo at dawn.

The sunlight refracted in through the window, and the black bear, who had taken a hot bath, felt very sleepy.

Urged by the crowing of cocks, he struggled to get up and put on his goose down robe.

He had several sets of similar pajamas, which were obviously wasted this year. Given his physique, the winter cold in Hanzhong and Shuzhong was nothing.

It is the end of the month in Guanzhong, which is near the mountainous areas, and the wind is strong at night when day turns to night. Otherwise, I could spend the night with just this set of pajamas.

After leaving the bedroom, he said to Gao Jun, the supervisor of his disciples who had been waiting for a long time: "Write this down. When you stay at other places in the future, just use mugwort for fumigation. No need to use other spices, let alone strong fragrances. The fragrance here is so deep that it penetrates deep into the wood. I have a keen sense of smell and can't sleep at night."

"Here."

Gao Jun bowed, stood sideways with his hands on his waist, and the personal soldiers who accompanied him entered carrying toiletries.

After Black Bear washed up, he saw that the breakfast consisted of four dishes and one soup. He said to Gao Jun, "Go and call the captain, deputy captain, recorder, and garrison captain to come and have dinner."

"Yes, they are waiting nearby for Your Majesty to summon them, but how should we prepare this breakfast?"

The quantity of breakfast was sufficient, and the accompanying officials all had relatively high-quality breakfasts.

This was the first time Gao Jun did this and he had no experience.

The black bear thought for a moment and said, "Eat until you are full. Don't waste anything."

"Here."

Gao Jun stepped back and left, Hei Xiong sat down, and soon the four military officers named by him came over.

With Black Bear's good memory, he didn't have much of a deep impression of these people, he just felt familiar with their faces.

All four of them were excited, but they didn't lose their composure.

Among them, except for the recorder who was one of the 700 recruited scholars, the remaining three were the first group of people who followed Black Bear into Hedong to fight the Huns, and were among the original 3,000 Guanzhong knights.

All knights who are able to perform well and be awarded the rank of centurion will receive this treatment.

The Thousand Household and Deputy Thousand Household levels need to have the relevant performance of leading a team independently to carry out tasks and be able to take charge of a small area. This is the assessment standard for the Thousand Household level.

Ziwu Town is a hundred-household unit, but it is also the garrison of a thousand-household unit, so there is a person who directly manages the military and civilians here, and he is also directly managed by the thousand-household unit to guard the hundred-household unit.

The thousand households are only responsible for communicating information up and down, and cannot govern the grassroots level without going beyond the hundred households.

They were also worried that they would not be recognized, so the four people entered according to their official rank and introduced their names in order when they greeted each other.

Black Bear recalled some relevant events and waved his left hand to indicate, "We can talk while we eat. I have a few questions that I wanted to ask you in person. Unfortunately, the enemies in Hanzhong and Shuzhong all surrendered, otherwise I would have selected a group of centurions to come to Ganquan Mountain to ask questions around October last year."

Seeing the recorder put down his chopsticks and was about to bow, Black Bear waved the chopsticks left and right in his right hand and said, "Let's eat."

"Here."

The three officers immediately picked up the yellow rice and began to eat. Black Bear stirred his dish and tasted it before putting it into his bowl. He said, "The first thing is about the beating and torture of slaves by various households last year. According to my preliminary investigation, some were beaten to death because of personal grudges, some were deliberately made difficult, tortured and abused, and another type was indeed a captive who was lazy and undisciplined."

This kind of thing is quite common, and most of the slaves are captured Xiongnu people or rebels and other hostile Hu people. The Baihu Suo is independent of the county. The county's supervisory system wants to control it, but the Baihu Suo will not listen to the nearby county government. The military force controlled by the Baihu Suo is also higher than the county government, and the neighboring Baihu Suo can support each other. Therefore, even if the county hears about it, it cannot send people to investigate, inquire, convict, or judge the case.

Another thing is that the slaves were basically dispersed and resettled, and even if they were beaten to death, their relatives and friends would not worry about it.

If they are dead, they are dead. Each household will report it, and someone will be sent to confirm that the body is the person's. Then the name will be registered and a grave will be dug to bury him. That's it.

Black Bear lowered his head to eat. The captain of this department swallowed quickly and answered, "It is just as your Majesty has investigated. There are three other types of slave casualties in this department. One is that they escaped and resisted with weapons and were shot. The shogunate issued an order at the beginning of last year, saying that slaves and prisoners of war who escaped should be shot and killed. They were not allowed to be killed directly, and they were not allowed to destroy any traces, so that it would be easier for the superiors to send people to inspect the situation."

The captain took another sip of the warm tea and spoke more clearly: "Another kind is death from illness. Medicinal materials are scarce everywhere, and there are few doctors. Slaves are not qualified to use medicinal materials. Another kind is that slaves cannot rest after falling ill, and it is difficult for them to recover, so they die from the disease."

"The last type is slaves fighting each other. If they are already injured, and they are not well fed during the punishment, they will die quickly. There is also no shortage of self-injury or suicide."

Qian Hu thought for a moment and then said, "Slaves are not as well fed and clothed as humans, and they live in shacks that are dirty and full of bugs. They are more likely to get sick and die than ordinary people."

Finally, he looked at Black Bear cautiously. Seeing Black Bear raised his chin to him, Qian Hu lowered his voice and said, "I suspect that the counties are using this matter to try to control me and others."

"Your suspicion is justified. I suspect so too."

Black Bear also served tea to rinse his mouth, then picked up the chopsticks and said with a sullen smile: "It's just that when you say something like this, you should be more courageous. You are not a slave, so why are you speaking in a low voice?"

"Yes."

The captain was awed and said, "The good land and good places are in the hands of me and others. The people in the county are anxious, and so are the other people in the county."

At this time, Black Bear went to see the deputy commander: "Do you have anything to add?"

The deputy captain was stunned, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I think that the slaves are dead. Although there are fewer people working, it can also reduce food expenses. I think that slaves who farm or do other things are not familiar with farming techniques, and then they are lazy. The food they grow can't even feed themselves. Keeping them will do more harm than good."

"Haha, there is always a use for life."

Black Bear couldn't help laughing. He probably understood the mentality of the grassroots military officers, who really didn't regard slaves as their lives.

After all, this was just the attitude of the thousand-household and hundred-household officials, and most of the people who actually managed the slaves were those who were rescued from the Huns.

These people had a deep blood feud with the Huns, and given the opportunity, they would naturally make things difficult for and torture all the slaves they could bully and vent their anger on.

But these people had been slaves of the Huns and had seen how the Huns tortured slaves, so they had more accurate management skills.

This group of people was able to quickly integrate and mobilize the slaves' enthusiasm for work. As for the heavy casualties among slaves, it was an inevitable sequelae.

If these people are not allowed to manage the slaves, who should be allowed to manage them?

We can't just gather together the resentful slaves who have experience in armed combat and hand them over to county agencies for management and operation, right?

Thinking about this, Black Bear asked the remaining recorders and the garrison commanders, "What do you two have to say about this?"

Before the recorder spoke, the captain spoke first: "Your Majesty, I also think that slaves are nothing. Let alone us, there are also many soldiers and maids killed by powerful families. When a slave dies here, I have to ask the superiors to verify his true identity, make a list and report it to the shogunate, and dig a grave to bury him. Being a slave of the shogunate is better than being a soldier of a powerful family."

After a short pause, the man continued, "I don't understand. Slave casualties are common. Why are they harping on this little thing? If the captives are gone, we can follow you out of the border and Hulao Pass to catch them. Why bother you with this little thing?"

"That makes sense. Give me some wine."

Black Bear smiled, glanced at the recorder who was preparing his words and considering the situation, and said to him, "If it is inconvenient to speak clearly, you can go back and write a document and give it to my supervisor."

(End of this chapter)