Deep Space Wandering Fleet -
Chapter 406 - 404 Slave Society
Chapter 406: Chapter 404 Slave Society
The entire Taipu Star was governed by the same principles. Humans and the Taipu people, although different species, still operated on the same fundamental logic driven by self-interest. The behavioral logic of the Taipu Civilization wasn’t difficult for humans to understand, despite significant differences.
Upon observing this planet, although some large livestock could be domesticated, their physical abilities weren’t strong due to evolution in a high-gravity environment.
They were able to run fast for short periods of time, but they weren’t well-suited for long-term labor.
An animal known as the ’Membrane’ was suited for domestication as a large creature, but it could at most cultivate one acre of land a day, whereas a human’s cow could cultivate three acres. However, both species consumed roughly the same amount of food, which highlighted the differences brought about by the high-gravity environment.
In high-gravity conditions, short-term bursts of energy were far more critical than stamina. If the ’Membrane’ was forced to till the land every day without rest, it would quickly fall ill.
It would take years to raise a Membrane from birth to adulthood; it wouldn’t be viable to work it to death.
Even the Taipu people themselves struggled with this; hard physical labor from dawn to dusk wasn’t feasible, often requiring a day of rest after a day of work. Consequently, earnest farming became an exceedingly difficult endeavor.
Without truly establishing an agricultural culture, the ancient Taipu people had to primarily rely on hunting, gathering, and nomadic lifestyles. Such unstable food sources made it impossible to amass large populations, and thus it was difficult to form real states.
"Hence, a large body of archaeological evidence suggests that the Taipu Civilization lingered in the Stone Age for at least a million years,"
A buzz of discussion rose again in the meeting room, suggesting that if the Enlightener Civilization indeed visited this planet, they would be faced with a civilization stuck in tribal times, unable to develop an agricultural culture due to objective environmental influences.
"So, what would the Enlighteners do?" Zhang Yuan asked with interest.
Li Zhendong said, "If it were me, I might modify the genes of the native species, creating a creature capable of cultivation."
"Your idea isn’t very ’Nature.’ Such a creature would have difficulty adapting to the local environment and would quickly go extinct. In this high-gravity environment, where is a species with both strong explosive power and endurance? If such a species existed, it would already be so-called superman."
Clearly, the continued development did not include the appearance of such genetically engineered beings.
Perhaps the Enlighteners considered such a prolonged period of stagnation to be normal, and that the breakthrough would come eventually.
"Higher-level civilizations don’t just focus on the present. The Enlightener Civilization might not care about a few million years of stagnation, because stagnation doesn’t mean complete halt."
The images on the large screen continued to detail the ensuing history.
Given that the amount of people a unit of land could sustain was limited, conflict between tribes, wars over territory, became exceedingly frequent as a natural consequence. This was especially true after the development of animal husbandry, with fertile grasslands becoming hotly contested grounds. Why bother with farming when one could engage in the simpler task of raising animals?
Many civilizations, in their most primitive stages, had this in common. Or perhaps those species that truly revered beauty and goodness were eradicated in the Primitive Era.
Nonetheless, this ancient competition was not meaningless. The tribes that emerged victorious certainly had superior qualities, perhaps in terms of their systems, intelligence, or military strength.
Through long-term practices, as long as there were no significant disasters, these enduring tribes always managed to pass down some wisdom, achieving incremental progression in medicine, agriculture, animal husbandry, and handicrafts...
Progress through cumulative experience, though slow, was effective nonetheless.
One day, some of the victors in Taipu Civilization gradually realized that turning the prisoners of defeated tribes into slaves was far more cost-effective than killing them. Slaves meant scarce labor; they were disposable... Perfect for farming!
Thus, the most basic concept of slavery... took shape!
Archeologists of the Taipu Civilization had once discovered 22,000-year-old hieroglyphs in an ancient relic known as "North," determining the very beginning of intelligence in the entire civilization.
These hieroglyphs recorded a victorious battle of a tribe and the prevalent system of slavery at the time. To stay alive, the defeated groveled on the ground, willingly becoming slaves, and their descendants were bound to slavery for generations, while the victors of the tribe eagerly selected their slaves.
Indeed, during specific periods, the formation of classes truly propelled the progress of civilization.
The Taipu people were not suited for sustained physical labor, but for slaves, this was not much of an issue.
Slaves had no rights; what did it matter if some of them died from exhaustion as long as they produced more food?
This slave-owning tribe, which had instituted a new system, grew increasingly powerful, expanding its territory continuously and conquering other Primitive Tribes until it finally formed a unified nation, ushering in an unprecedented era of prosperity...
"North" was also the very first true nation on the planet!
The expert standing on the podium commented thus, "The so-called era of prosperity was built on the labor and lives of a vast number of slaves. Agriculture, not merely animal husbandry, was necessary to sustain the entire population, and this long-term cultivation could only be achieved by slaves, as well as a type of livestock called ’membrane’..."
"Due to the physiological makeup of the Taipu people, which was not suited for endurance tasks, the average lifespan of slaves was often less than thirty years. Just a minor illness could claim their lives."
"But we must not deny that this cruel and harsh system pushed the entire civilization forward. Without the dedication of slaves, there would be no Taipu Civilization as we know it now."
Slide after slide flickered past, and Zhang Yuan’s mind was unsettled...
Indeed, without the slave system, without the division of classes, the inherent physiological flaws of the Taipu people would have only allowed for the formation of small clans.
Without the formation of a true state, without the gathering of a large population, it would be difficult for a civilization to truly progress.
The slave system definitely had its merits.
The era of slavery lasted a very long time, then slowly entered into the Bronze Age and eventually the Black Iron Age. Tools of labor evolved, gradually increasing the efficiency of farming. Yet, the system of slavery was never abolished; even now, some smaller nations on Taipu Star still maintain such traditions.
"So, did the Enlightener Civilization play a role in this?"
Absolutely not, because the timing did not match up. The rise of the Taipu people was 22,000 years ago, not 150,000 years ago. Their theories were off; civilizations have their own resilience and can develop slowly on their own without external forces.
Moreover, the help from the Enlightener Civilization usually came in the form of subtle changes to adverse natural conditions rather than direct guidance in executing a social system for a Low-level Civilization. Hence, the emergence of this slave-based society was most likely a natural evolution of the civilization itself.
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