In order to establish his own faction, relying on himself would not be enough.
As someone who had come from a modern society, Chen Heng deeply understood this.
As such, after entering into a partners.h.i.+p with the northern rulers, he bought many slaves from them.
Slaves were a very good source of manpower.
The slaves did not have any rights and belonged to their owners; no matter how they were treated, no one would have any objections.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, apart from some special slaves, most rulers did not care much about the majority of their slaves.
After all, as rulers, they could command their subjects to a certain extent, and whether it was to fight or do other things, they always had free or cheap cannon fodder.
On the other hand, even though slaves were cheap, they had to be bought, so it was not as cost-effective.
However, Chen Heng did not agree with this—he had many ways to bring out the untapped potential of the slaves.
As such, most of the slaves from the northern rulers had been taken in by Chen Heng.
The profits he had earned in the Kutu Royal City over the past year were mostly spent in this way.
He arranged for the slaves to work in his residence, establis.h.i.+ng a simple workshop. He also used running water and water power to produce things, and he utilized his connections to sell the things that his residence produced.
Baron Kaisen did not know about any of this.
However, he could feel that Chen Heng"s subordinates were quite special.
Compared to ordinary people, these Blackfur slaves seemed a bit too hard working.
Not only were they hardworking, but their expressions towards Chen Heng were also quite strange.
It was not as if Baron Kaisen had never seen slaves before—his own residence had many slaves, and most of them worked on agriculture.
It was just that usually, their expressions were numb or fearful, as if they had lost all hope. They did not have any vitality about them.
However, Chen Heng"s subordinates were completely different.
Even though they were slaves, they looked like they were full of life and were extremely diligent, full of energy.
They did not seem like slaves at all.
Moreover, these slaves seemed to have good physiques and did not seem weak or feeble like other slaves.
"How did you do this?" Baron Kaisen could not help but ask after silently observing for a while.
He could sense that there were too many things that he did not understand about this child.
He was simply too capable, and many of the things that he did could not be understood by others.
"You need to give them hope."
Chen Heng"s answer was very direct.
"At the end of the day, people and tools are different."
He looked at the busily-working Blackfur slaves and said softly, "Tools can be repeatedly used but also need to be maintained. Slaves are a special kind of tool and also require maintenance."
He continued, "If you give them enough sleep and rest times, as well as sufficient food—proper daily maintenance—they will not collapse, nor will there be any problems with their bodies.
"Moreover, if you give them a bit of hope and show them that through their hard work their lives can become better, their efficiency will greatly increase…"
Baron Kaisen was quite startled. He somewhat understood but was still a bit confused.
Give slaves enough rest time and sufficient food?
This was not compatible with his views.
In order to save on costs, an ordinary person would give slaves as little to eat as possible and make them do the worst jobs.
In order to make best use of the slaves, it was better that they did not have any time for themselves so that they could create more value for their owners.
Chen Heng"s actions were completely different to this kind of thinking.
"People"s bodies require maintenance."
Looking at Baron Kaisen, Chen Heng explained, "If you want a slave to work hard, helping them have a good body is key.
"If you want them to have a healthy body, they need appropriate food. If you give them poor-quality food for a long period, their bodies will continuously become weaker. In the end, even if you whip them, they will not be able to work harder. Moreover, whipping them is not a very effective method in and of itself," Chen Heng said softly.
Listening to Chen Heng"s explanation, Baron Kaisen nodded, seeming to understand.
"I"ve always been very at ease about whatever you do."
He did not continue asking about this and instead changed the topic, "When we go to visit Myler, bring Ormando with us so he can also do some things."
"Very well." Chen Heng nodded, not seeming to mind at all.
A few days later, after all of the goods had been prepared, Chen Heng once again set out.
Compared to the previous few times, this time was extremely important.
The previous few times, because trade was just beginning, the surrounding rulers only bought small amounts.
However, things were different this time—Chen Heng was bringing over almost all of the goods s.h.i.+pped over this time. They were worth an extremely large amount of money, and it was a figure that made even Baron Kaisen feel extremely excited about.
If anything went wrong, the losses would be enormous.
It was because of this that Baron Kaisen brought more than half of his guards with them.
Baron Kaisen and Ormando traveled within the procession.
"So many…"
Sitting on his horse, Ormando looked at the carriages all around them, feeling great desire in his heart.
He knew exactly what those carriages contained.
According to what he knew, these carriages contained an enormous fortune within them.
Once this trade was complete, his family would obtain ma.s.sive profits.
Thinking to there, he could not help but feel incredibly excited.
What he did not know was that the seller of these goods was not his family but Chen Heng as an individual.
With how valuable these goods were, he could never imagine that they would belong to Chen Heng.
It was most likely Baron Kaisen who had paid the money for Chen Heng to buy them from the northern rulers, so they belonged to the family.
The family"s fortune would naturally be his fortune in the future.
Thinking about that, Ormando could not help but feel delighted, and his heart rate sped up.