This Heart Shines Brightly, Lu Hua Comes Calling, One Sword, One Backbone!

Sima Ting pondered for a moment before choosing his words carefully. "For the Yellow River works, the laborers being conscripted are, in truth, mostly those household serfs from the Thirteen Provinces Circuit."

"The court may claim that labor was being exchanged for wages, but after that silver traveled down from the capital and passed through so many hands, how much of it truly reached the common people?"

He let out a soft sigh, a trace of worry showing between his brows. "I fear that most of them are again indentured laborers under the Nine Great Surnames, driven as unpaid labor. Yet those clansmen of the Nine Great Surnames openly accepted the silver allocated by the court. These indentured laborers have been slaves for generations, and their hearts have long accumulated endless hatred toward the Nine Great Surnames."

The system of indentured labor was not slavery.

It was worse than slavery: a red seal stamped upon a contract of sale, binding one's descendants to servitude for generation after generation.

Sima Ting sighed with feeling as well. "With so many people gathered in one place, there will inevitably be outsiders among them, or people dissatisfied with Great Qi. If someone truly stepped forward and raised an arm in a rallying cry, that risk is not nonexistent."

"Are kings, marquises, generals, and ministers born to their stations? King Tang was once merely a humble salt peddler. Yet once he raised his banner, those who answered his call gathered like clouds."

Chen Lu had not expected Sima Ting, a man of the Nine Great Clans, to say such things.

He truly did not seem like one of the Nine Great Clans.

Tang Zi'ang's eyelids drooped as he said, "Yiju, there is no need for you to worry so much. Great Qi has stood for