Viscount Alder had escaped with a little over a hundred able-bodied young laborers, but according to the latest imperial law, they were free and owed nothing to Viscount Alder; they were free to come and go as they pleased, so he could not allow them to be brought back.

He considered the hundred young and strong laborers as his private property, and was therefore deeply distressed.

However, he had no reason to cause trouble, so he exploited the laborers in his territory even more.

The laborers in the territory who were being whipped dared not say anything openly, but they had already gathered together in private.

After finishing work in the early hours of the morning, I cooked some rice to fill my stomach. A few young men sharing a tent huddled together and whispered, "Where did Big Bear and the others go? Does anyone know where they went?"

If the territory where Big Bear lives is good, they want to go there too!

"They probably went back to their original territory. I heard from Big Bear that the lord of their original territory is the same lord as the current one. He tricked them into coming here. They originally wanted to work and earn money to pay the taxes for their children and the elderly, but who knew they would be tricked into working illegally and doing hard labor in this territory. Forget about earning taxes, they can't even feed themselves!"

"So it's better to go back to our original territory. Even if we don't have enough to eat, we can still watch over our family and take care of the children. Otherwise, how will this family survive?"

"What else can I do? I'll just not get married and live alone. I'll be fine as long as I live to fifty. After that, I won't have the strength anymore, and these lords won't want me anymore. I'll have no choice but to become a vagrant!"

"Don't be so pessimistic. What if... I mean, what if things get better in the future?"

"Let me interject. I really don't want to stay in this territory anymore. Does anyone know how to get to Big Bear's territory? I'd like to go and join him. Although both are bad, at least they won't force us to become slaves like they do in this territory, right?"

"Yes! Being a slave is even worse than being a laborer! You don't even have the freedom or the right to escape!"

"You're right! I swear, no matter how hard or difficult my life gets, I will never be a slave!"

"Yes! Me too!"

***

Qin Yiyi set up two large steel frames with the words "Qin Ling" written on them.

She directed her slaves to mount steel frames on top of the outer iron bars, signifying that this was her territory!

She had been wondering if something was missing from her territory, and it turned out to be the name of the territory!

The characters "Qin Ling" were cast in steel and will even light up at night. It cost Qin Yiyi ten silver coins to cast!

However, her territory is not yet widely electrified; only the lord's manor has electricity.

In order to make her beloved lord's sign light up at night, Qin Yiyi decided to gather all the electricians to prepare to power up the lord's sign.

but....

"I have more than two hundred slaves, but only two of them know how to use electricity?"

The lack of professional slave workers!

However, in order to develop her territory, she promulgated a classification system for professional talents.

"Anyone with a skill can speak up and have Ox-Head and Horse-Face register them. We will select the best candidates. Once you have a formal job in the territory, you will receive three ounces of low-pollution rice a day, just like the security guards! There is no age limit!"

Suddenly, the slaves in the territory all had shining eyes, trying hard to recall what else they could do.

"Furthermore, if you introduce professional talent to the territory for recruitment, once that talent officially joins the company, they will be rewarded with one or two ounces of low-pollution rice for each regular job!"

"As long as this person works for more than three months, I will give the referrer an extra kilogram of low-pollution rice!"

One pound!

The crowd erupted in uproar!

"My lord, may we, as slaves, leave the territory?"

The people below, emboldened, began to ask questions.

Leaving the territory?

"Of course you can leave the territory, but if an individual runs away, I will expel the entire family. If a whole family runs away, I will also expel any other families that are on good terms with that family. I will not send troops to chase after a few useless slaves. However, I will bear joint responsibility. I will expel all the others and will not allow them to re-enter the territory!"

The people below all shook their heads in unison.

"Don't worry, my lord, we will never run away!"

"This is paradise!"

Some people started to burst into laughter.

A joyful atmosphere permeated the entire crowd; they hadn't felt such joy in a long time.

"Yes, my lord, we will never run away. You have already defeated all the lords by giving us food and drink!"

"Haha, I'm going to recruit people from other territories! I can get a pound of low-pollution rice for every professional I recruit who joins the company for three months. Is there anything better than that?"

"Yes, I'll call someone over. Even if it's just a 50/50 split between me and someone else, that would be fine!"

Someone else dared to ask, "My lord, can these be stacked?"

These people perked up their ears upon hearing this.

Qin Yiyi laughed generously: "Of course! And if you recruit five people within a month, I'll give you an extra pound of low-pollution rice. If you recruit ten people, I'll give you an extra two pounds!"

The people below gasped, and some had already begun to dream of recruiting ten people, which meant that if they got an extra two pounds for every ten pounds, that would be twelve pounds!

A family that could store twelve catties of grain! What kind of family is that!

To put it another way, if one ounce of low-pollution rice sells for 1 silver coin, then one pound would cost 10 silver coins, which would be equivalent to this family having a full 120 silver coins!

Then they can pay their taxes!

No, no, no! If we don't pay taxes, what if we become ordinary people and the lord doesn't like us anymore? What if the lord prefers slaves?

Yes, what if the lord only gives the slaves this job when taxes are due?

By the way, does the lord only like slaves?

Looking around, it seems that only slaves have this kind of work in the territory. Mercenaries don't have such good jobs; they have to pay for everything they eat and for lodging.

The people below had been working all morning, and during their one-hour lunch break, they couldn't help but start discussing things.

"The lord said to bring specialized talents, does that mean we can only get rice by bringing people to be slaves?"

"Bringing people here as slaves in exchange for rice would be fine!"

"Yes! What slaves are as fortunate as us!"

"That's right! It's this man's good fortune to be a slave to the lord!"

Some people whispered and discussed it, and soon reached a consensus.

"Then let's go to the neighboring territory to recruit people! We'll do the same thing as those brats before, walk there after get off work, arrive at midnight, and walk back. It's just staying up all night, nothing to us!"

"What if someone doesn't want to be a slave?"

"If he doesn't want to come, then don't bring him. He's missing out on the good fortune of being the lord's slave!"