Chapter 778: Buying People (3)_1
Yang Ruxin, though aware of the employment methods of the era, wasn’t too clear about them, so she sought out Han Baichuan.
Han Baichuan was a merchant, and his family was considered to be among the well-to-do households with many servants; he was naturally well-versed in the ways of employing people and didn’t hold back any secrets from Yang Ruxin.
In this era, if you wanted employees who would dedicate their lives to your service, you could only get those with a Selling Covenant.
The Great Xuan Dynasty allowed the buying and selling of people, but there were strict requirements—it had to be done through an institution recognized by the Governor’s Office. Such institutions were called Human Trafficking Agencies, and their managers were called slave-traders, or ’Human Teeth’. Male managers were known as ’Tooth Men’, while female managers were called ’Tooth Women’.
There were two types of people that were sold.
One was bound by a death covenant. Such people were slaves for life unless their masters mercifully set them free, otherwise, they could never change their status as slaves, and their descendants would be slaves as well. Such servants must live in dependence on their master’s household and, therefore, were usually the most loyal.
The other kind was bound by a term covenant. A term covenant had an expiration date, and upon reaching it, the person could buy their freedom if they had the money or could be redeemed by someone else. Of course, if they couldn’t afford to redeem themselves when the term ended, the contract could be extended if both parties were willing. During this period, even if the master sold a term-contracted slave, they would still be under a term covenant with the new master. Such servants could also be loyal, but only within the period of the contract, so they generally did not become the master’s confidants.
Whether it was a death or term covenant, any act of betrayal within the contract period, provided there was evidence, allowed the master to beat or kill the servant or sell them off at will. If the servant ran away, their punishment was increased.