Slaves

Zhang Heng had heard some tragic stories about Roman slaves before.

In fact, the era of Black Sail was also when the black slave trade was flourishing. Back then, Zhang Heng had led the Jackdaw in raids on many slave ships, where he had seen black slaves crammed into the holds, pressed shoulder to shoulder like livestock awaiting slaughter. The cabins reeked of urine and sweat.

With Laeli's help, after capturing a ship, Zhang Heng would generally select the strongest warriors from among those black slaves and recruit them into the pirate crew. The rest would be released onto small islands, where hidden supply points were established around them. Those supply points later played an important role in Zhang Heng's maneuvering and battles with the Royal Navy after he left Nassau. Zhang Heng had even earned the title Liberator of the New World. He had never expected that he would one day become a slave himself.

And a slave in the second century AD at that. This was a slave society in the truest sense. From top to bottom, Rome's social pyramid was essentially made up of nobles, commoners, foreigners, and slaves.

In a sense, slaves at the very bottom could not even be called people. They were merely tools of production or entertainment. The gladiatorial spectacle taking place above their heads was exactly that: gladiators slaughtered one another, trading their blood and lives for the cheers of the audience.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhang Heng asked Valo.

"What?" Valo was taken aback before realizing what he meant. "Oh, I was wondering when it would be our turn to perform up there."

"We'll have to as well?" Zhang Heng was somewhat surprised. Judging by their current work, they were basically just doing odd jobs at the arena. Valo in