Chapter 44 — Serfs and Freemen

Gao Yang stood on the rock, looking down at the numb, cowering faces below him, and drew a deep breath.

The common folk were not foolish—but that did not mean they were not ignorant.

Foolishness is a judgment born of prejudice and contempt; ignorance merely states a fact.

The commoners and serfs of this age were indeed ignorant. The structure of society had decreed that they had almost no channel by which to gain knowledge or broaden their horizons, and the crushing cost of living left them no energy to spare for anything beyond survival. Living that way for so long, they only appeared not to think—only wore the false mask of "foolishness." In truth, they did think; it was simply that ignorance made it hard for them to grasp matters too remote from their own lives.

So one could not speak to them of hollow, high-flown things. One could not talk to them of ideals, of the future, of the territory's prospects or the logical relation between productivity and development. Say such things, and they would at once file these "lofty" notions under "the lord's business" and draw a line between themselves and it. The best approach, therefore, was to speak of matters bound up with their own lives.

"People of the Cecil Territory," Gao Yang called out loudly, "you all know who I am, and so you must know that I am the man with the greatest say in this land today. My words carry the force of Cecil law. These laws will give you protection—and they are also what you must obey.

"We are opening up new territory, and that calls for new rules. So I announce three things here:

"First: since the old territory has been destroyed, all wealth of the past is wiped clean. Therefore, in the name of the ancestors of House Cecil, I declare that every debt owed to the lord within this territory is canceled. Whether the debtor be freeman or serf, from this day on none of you bears any debt to the lord.

A stir ran through the crowd below, though a faint one—for although the commoners and serfs of this age all owed the lord something, in these days of rebuilding from the ground up none of them had the means to repay, and given Lady Rebecca's past kindness, they had long guessed the debts would be forgiven.

Gao Yang went on: "Second: every serf in this territory shall have the chance to become a freeman. The lord will issue a series of tasks—building houses, laying roads, opening mines, joining the army. Every such task will carry its own way of scoring. So long as you complete the work strictly as required, you will accrue contribution; once you meet the standard, a serf may become a freeman. And those already free, upon completing such work, shall receive corresponding pay. I will announce the exact method of calculating wages shortly. I can promise you this: any serf who is industrious and dependable need only work hard for two or three years to become a freeman, and any freeman who works steadily for five or six years may come to own a house of his own!"

This time, the stirring below burst into discussion that could no longer be suppressed.

A serf becoming a freeman was, in this age, a thing that challenged convention outright. The kingdom laws of Ansu did not strictly forbid serfs from becoming freemen, nor did the territorial laws of the various nobles contain any clear provision on the matter—but in truth, scarcely any noble would casually set his serfs free. To them, serfs meant cheap labor, meant they could squeeze out the last drop of blood without any burden of conscience; nobles who knew only how to raise taxes and lengthen labor hours to scrape up wealth could not begin to imagine what good might come of freeing serfs.

When Rebecca had first proposed that serfs might win freedom by taking up arms, that too had caused a stir—but this time Gao Yang had plainly gone much further.

As for earning pay by working, and even gaining a house... many of the commoners, free men themselves, could scarcely believe it.

Work for the lord and get paid for it? Who would believe that!

Gao Yang gave them no time to keep discussing, but went straight on to the third:

"Third: the tents and fences to be raised today, and the drainage ditches in the camp, are the first tasks the lord assigns you under the new law. I have had it recorded what extent of work each of you is responsible for; only those who finish strictly to my requirements will count as having completed the work. Moreover, as an incentive to earnest labor, the first ten to finish their work may eat meat."

That said, Gao Yang paid no heed to the reaction below, but jumped down from the rock and returned to where Hedy and Rebecca stood.

As for the gathered commoners and serfs, they stood stunned for a moment—then with a sudden shout they rushed toward the camp that looked already finished. They would go and re-tighten the loose ropes and pegs, and drive the fence posts deep into the earth!

To them, all that talk of computing contribution and scoring standards was still far too abstruse, and they hardly trusted that the soldiers and knight-officers overseeing them would truly help tally their work—but there was one sentence they understood: there would be meat to eat tonight!

Only those who finished early—and finished properly—would get to eat meat!

Just as Gao Yang had thought: only where a man's own interests are at stake is he spurred to his greatest effort.

Watching the commoners and serfs scatter in a swarm, Hedy still felt a little dazed; only when Gao Yang stood before her did she come to herself, and she asked, half in disbelief: "Ancestor... was everything you just said true?"

Gao Yang looked at her with a half-smile: "Which part, specifically?"

"...The part about serfs becoming freemen through work," Hedy said, frowning. "Of course I don't object to that—Rebecca already issued a decree allowing serfs to rise through military service. But you said even things like building houses and repairing roads could count as contribution, and that two or three years' work would be enough to make a serf free... is that true?"

"Of course it's true," Gao Yang said, looking at her. "Do you see something wrong with it?"

"If freedom is that easy to win, then before long every serf in the territory will be a commoner," Hedy said, utterly baffled. "And the children of commoners are commoners—are we to have a Cecil Territory with no serfs at all?"

Gao Yang kept looking at her, his smile unchanged: "Is there something wrong with having no serfs?"

From the habits of thought and worldview bred into her by her class, Hedy instinctively felt something was off—yet from the breadth of insight and thought that far surpassed the nobles of her day, she felt that even without serfs, there seemed to be nothing wrong. And so she fell all at once into contradiction.

It was Rebecca who, after frowning in thought a moment, spoke up: "Actually, I think... the serf system isn't really necessary anymore. If it were gone, nothing much would be lost."

Gao Yang looked at this ever-stubborn descendant of his with some surprise, and nodded: "Go on."

"Serfs are labor power, and the purpose of labor power is to supply labor. But if turning them into freemen yields more labor, then why insist on keeping the notion of 'serf' at all?" Rebecca scratched at her hair. "Father told me back then that the main reason serfs aren't freed is that once they're free, with no whip at their backs, they'd turn lazy at once and stop working. But I think the whip may not be the best way..."