Chapter 179 [A reasonable lie]
That night, Ruolin took all the purchased slaves back to the workshop behind the shop. After learning Du Wei's identity, the slave trader also gave several young and beautiful female slaves as gifts in order to please the young duke.
These natives from Southeast Asia seemed to be very honest, but Ruolin still felt something slightly wrong. But what exactly was wrong, she couldn't explain clearly at the moment.
These slaves... seem to be a little too obedient.
Unlike Du Wei, who had lived in seclusion since he was a child. Ruolin had traveled on the mainland and met many slaves. Those slaves were either unruly savages, and only whips could make them obedient. Or, those slaves who had been tamed were always in trouble.
His face was numb and blank, his eyes were empty, and his thin body was burdened with heavy labor, his expression was miserable and indifferent.
But this batch of slaves... From the introduction of the slave traders when they were delivered to me, they should still be a batch of "birth slaves", but this batch of birth slaves are a little too obedient.
Twenty strong young men, the expression on their faces is not so much numbness as it is a surprising...mechanical one?
Yes, it's mechanical!
They seemed to simply obey their orders, and there was no joy or anger on their faces, nor the sadness of becoming slaves, nor the loss of being robbed and far away from their homeland.
What made Ruolin even more ridiculous was that for a moment, she seemed to feel an aura similar to...soldiers in these twenty male slaves!
Yes, they are soldiers! Their actions are very neat, fast, and very efficient. Even after being arranged into the workshop, it seems that the servants who were holding whips to drive them away have become completely decorations. These slaves are very conscious
He walked into a big house where they lived and finished the evening dinner quietly. If Lin was a relatively kind person, the dinner she prepared for these slaves was pretty good.
However, these slaves were neither happy nor angry. After eating quietly, they went to rest silently... Moreover, when they were eating, they actually knew to queue up!
The only ones who didn't move were the old man and the young man in this group of slaves. The two guys sat quietly on the ground. Naturally, there was a strong young man next to them who brought them food. Even Ruolin secretly observed, and could only wait.
Only after the old man and the young man finished eating did the other slaves dare to eat.
Ruolin, who had been secretly observing for a whole night, seemed to have caught some idea. She immediately went to see Du Wei that night and told the young master what she had discovered tonight.
Du Wei was wearing a nightgown. He had already gone to bed to rest, but Mader woke him up. Because Du Wei had given an order, if Ruolin asked for a meeting, he must tell him immediately at any time that no subordinates were allowed.
Unauthorized refusal of Your Excellency Knight Ruolin’s request for an audience.
At this moment, Du Wei met Ruolin in his study. He sat on a chair in his nightgown, pondered for a while, and glanced at the female knight in front of him: "What do you mean, the old and the young seem to be this gang?
Slave’s head?”
"It's not that simple." Ruolin said slowly: "I don't know how to describe it. The main thing is that these two people, the old and the young, seem to have a certain temperament. I can't describe what it is, but it is obvious, especially
It's the old man who seems to have been accustomed to the behavior of a superior. I seem to have only seen this kind of temperament in some big nobles in the imperial capital. And these slaves are all young and strong. The most important thing is that they
They were clearly well-trained when they acted, and I suspect they even received some training similar to that of soldiers. Although from our perspective, they are still far behind the soldiers in the empire's army... But, they are already
They have quite a bit of appearance. You have to know that they are indigenous people! They were originally just a group of indigenous tribes like savages! Isn't it strange to find such a temperament in such people?"
Du Wei's eyes lit up, and he immediately went back to the bedroom to put on his clothes. He asked Mader to prepare the horses, and rushed back to the workshop behind the shop with Ruolin that night.
Then, in a prepared empty house, Du Wei asked Ruolin to find the two slaves, an old man and a young man.
He wanted to meet these two guys in person.
The rooms in the workshop were not big. Du Wei sat in a chair and quietly observed the two guys in front of him.
Soon, he made a judgment. This old man seemed to be difficult to deal with, because there was no trace of panic in his eyes, his lips were pursed, and there was a trace of calmness on his face. And the boy also looked somewhat calm.
, but after all, he was still young. When he first walked in, his eyes moved, revealing a hint of timidity that was not easy to detect, but Du Wei clearly caught it.
"Say your name." Du Wei sat on the chair and said calmly. He looked into the old slave's eyes: "I know you can speak our language. The person who sold you to me introduced you. You
Seems to be the smartest of the slaves."
"Benka." The old slave uttered one word briefly: "Benka, is my name."
He speaks mainland Chinese well, and although his pronunciation is a little unclear, his meaning is very accurate.
"Your original identity." Du Wei smiled.
The old man was silent and did not answer.
"You must understand one thing." Du Wei said in a slow tone: "I don't care what your status was in your place before, but now, here, your status is my slave. You and you
Everyone’s life is mine! Do you understand?”
There was a trace of struggle on the old man's face, and then he seemed helpless and whispered: "I used to be a tribal priest."
Du Wei nodded.
His old man made his fortune through his military exploits in the expedition to Southeast Asia, and Du Wei also had some knowledge of some of the customs of the Southeast Asian tribes. Among those tribes in Southeast Asia, the status of the priest was even more noble than that of the tribal chief.
"So, what about him?" Du Wei glanced at the child next to him: "What is his identity?"
Old Benka hesitated for a moment: "He is the son of the chief of our tribe... Our tribe was destroyed by your army. Most of the people have died, and the rest have been captured."
Oh...the son of an extinct tribal chief?
Du Wei smiled: "So, those young slaves who are with you are all from your tribe?"
"Yes." Benka nodded: "They all respect me very much, and they also respect the chief's son. This is our tradition."
Well, this explanation seems very reasonable.
Du Wei smiled, stood up, and said to Benka: "Your answer is very good. But I need you to understand one thing. No matter how prominent your status was in the past, you are all my slaves now."
"I understand." There was no expression of resistance on Lao Benka's face, and he seemed to be very submissive.
Du Wei nodded: "I am a kind person. I will not abuse you, let alone treat you like animals. I will let you eat well and wear warm clothes. Even as long as you are obedient, I can still
You are allowed a little free time every night to pray to the gods you believe in."
"..." Old Benka raised his head and looked at Du Wei in surprise.
This young boy actually understands our customs?
There are many islands in the vast sea of ​​Nanyang, and there are many different tribes on different islands. The culture of these indigenous people is similar, and their beliefs are completely different from those on the mainland. Du Wei once became interested in this. When he was a child,
I studied some quietly.
After all, his father was a naval commander, and his family still had a lot of knowledge about the customs and customs of Southeast Asia. Moreover, many of the guards at home were veterans who had accompanied Count Raymond on his expedition to Southeast Asia. Regarding this young master’s curiosity,
No one would think there is anything strange: it is normal for young children to be more curious. Du Wei also heard some old guards talk about the customs and customs of Nanyang.
Different from Roland Continent, there is only one temple in Roland Continent, and the whole continent only believes in one god, which is the God of Light.
As for those tribes in Nanyang, the system of gods they believe in seems to be more complicated than that of the civilized mainland!
According to the legend of Nanyang tribes, an ancient god created the world, and after the god, he gave birth to a number of sons and daughters. These became numerous and various gods, and these gods were responsible for controlling the world and nature.
The complexity of it is far superior to the temples and scriptures on the mainland.
For example, there are goddesses who are in charge of the harvest, goddesses who are in charge of the rainy season, and sun gods who are in charge of the sun... (Due to climate reasons, the indigenous people in the tropical ocean have never seen snow, so they are missing from the legends of natural gods.
The god of ice and snow).
As for the tribes in Southeast Asia, each tribe has its own gods. They will choose a son or daughter of a god to be the protector of their tribe.
They obey the common creator god. They acknowledge the existence of the god and the existence of the protector gods of other tribes among each other.
This makes Du Wei very interesting. Because on the continent of Roland, the doctrine of the temple is very clear: there is only one god in the world, which is the God of Light believed in by the temple. In addition, all other so-called gods are
Evil heresies are all false gods. The God of Light is the only God between heaven and earth. Such a religion is very exclusive.
Of course, the only thing that is relatively open-minded is that you can choose not to believe in religion or gods.
However, even if you do not believe in it or are not a believer, you must not insult the gods or slander the gods and other believers. This is a law. Moreover, you are absolutely not allowed to believe in other religions!
Either you believe in the God of Light, or you are not allowed to believe in anything! Otherwise, I'm afraid you will be arrested by the temple in the name of heresy, and you may even be burned to death.
The natives of Nanyang never seem to have conflicts over each other's religious beliefs. They recognize and respect the gods of other tribes, and admit that the world is jointly controlled by many gods.
Most tribes in Southeast Asia hold a ceremony to kneel down and pray to the gods at dusk every day. The ceremony is presided over by the tribe's priests.
"You know our customs very well." Benka opened his mouth and only said this sentence for a long time.
"Yes, I understand a little bit." Du Wei smiled lightly: "I can give you the freedom to pray. Of course, unless you are obedient."
"Thank you. You are a kind master." Old Benka bent down: "I will make them obey."
Du Wei then walked to Benka's side as if he was casual, and his eyes casually drifted over the exposed part of Benka's arm, where there was a tattoo.
"What is this?" Du Wei said with a smile, "Is this the totem of your tribe?"
"...It's the earth." Benka nodded: "What we are enveloping is the Sun God. This is the totem of the Sun Circle and the totem of our tribe. Our former tribe was called the Sun Circle Tribe."
Du Wei nodded, then he seemed to smile and asked Ruolin to take the old and the young down.
To be continued...