A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 11: Paying debts with one’s body

For the first time, Li Yi felt that the war was so close to him.

He was even somewhat grateful that Guo Erlang helped him become the village chief, which saved him from being drafted into the front lines.

Five hundred miles to the north in Jingzhou, a war involving two hundred thousand people is about to break out.

He vaguely remembered that Li Shimin had suffered a rare defeat in his life, and it seemed to be this battle, which seemed to be called the Defeat at Qianshuiyuan. After bidding farewell to Village Chief Guo's house, Li Yi returned home with a heavy step.

He has now renamed Wuji Temple to Wuji Courtyard. He does not want to be boundless with the sky, but only wishes to be free and unlimited.

We came to the big elm tree under the wall in the northwest corner of the courtyard and sat down. The elm tree had a rugged trunk, was tall and straight, and had a dense crown. It was also one of the ancient trees in the original Wuji Temple.

It is said that money cannot buy the northwest elm, the big tree in the northwest corner of the courtyard, also known as the guard tree of the courtyard. The bigger and denser the tree is, the better, as it is believed to be able to bring blessings to future generations.

In the hot summer, Li Yi likes the shade provided by this big tree.

He originally chose the dilapidated Wuji Temple as his home garden. In addition to the good terrain, there were also many ancient trees in this dilapidated Taoist temple.

There is an eight-hundred-year-old soapberry tree in front of the Taoist temple.
There is an old elm tree in the northwest corner of the east courtyard, three jujube trees in front, an apricot tree in the back, a pomegranate tree in the east of the courtyard, and a persimmon tree in the west of the courtyard.

Especially the ginkgo and persimmon trees, which are also tall ancient trees. In autumn, the ginkgo leaves turn golden, and in winter, the persimmon leaves fall off, leaving only clusters of red persimmons hanging high on the branches like red lanterns. It is so beautiful.

The ancients said that mulberry trees should not be planted in the front or back yards, cypress trees should be avoided in the home, mulberry trees should not be planted in front and willow trees should not be planted in the back, and ghost clapping trees should not be planted in the yard.
Pay attention to the locust tree and jujube in the front, the apricot and elm in the back, the pomegranate and gold in the east, and the persimmon and silver in the west.

The trees in Wuji Temple are planted with great care. Now that the new house has been built and the wall has been erected, these ancient trees in every corner of the courtyard immediately embellish the courtyard with great style.

Sitting alone for a long time under the shade of the elm tree,

He felt that the burden of being the village chief was very heavy. Since becoming the village chief, Li Yi actually didn't take it seriously at all and never took care of anything.

But now the mission has come. He has to send four able-bodied men to the front battlefield in Jingzhou, and also send four young men to Chang'an to serve.

It is possible that those four strong men will never come back.

He also didn't expect that Guo Erlang's wife's cousin was Du Ruhui.

Footsteps were heard, it was Sanniang coming.

"When will my brother and the others come back?" Sanniang asked.

Li Yi looked at the yellow-haired girl, whose face was covered in sweat. "Sit down first. Guo Erlang said they might have to serve for an additional month, for a total of fifty days."

When Sanniang heard this, she fell silent.

"The county has sent notices to the villages, recruiting men again. This time, our Luojiabao wants to recruit four able-bodied men and four middle-aged men."

"My father is the only male in my family. Can you please not recruit him?" Sanniang requested anxiously.

"How old are you, Aye?"

"Forty-eight."

Li Yi thought Luo Erdu looked like a man in his sixties, but he didn't expect that he was only forty-eight years old. This meant that he was one of the only seven able-bodied men left in the village.

Out of seven able-bodied men, four must be conscripted.
Luo Er, Luo San, and Luo Wu are all able-bodied men in the village, and are from the same group as Li Yi. Luojiabao now has four groups, and the other three groups each have five households, while his group has four households.

If there were many able-bodied men in the village, each group would only need to send one able-bodied man, but now there are only seven able-bodied men left in the village, so it is impossible for each group to send one.

"Let's go and inform the villagers to discuss this matter later."

The imperial labor service cannot be refused.

Li Yi went to notify every household,

At noon, everyone went home to rest and gathered under the poplar trees beside the rice field canal for a meeting.

When Li Yi told everyone the news of the conscription, everyone became excited.

Someone asked why her husband had not returned for a month since he was conscripted for military service.

"There are so few men left in this village, and we're being conscripted. How are we going to survive?"

After a while of quarreling,
After Li Yi and others calmed down a little, he explained the reason for the conscription. When the villagers heard that they were going to fight a war, and a big war at that, they became excited again.

Finally, Luo San stood up and said, "Everyone, stop arguing. What's the point? It's not Wuyi who wants to conscript men, it's the court that wants to conscript men. Wuyi is just a messenger."

The crowd's voices quieted down a bit.

"This time, our village is sending four men and four middle-aged men. The men will go to Jingzhou to transport grain, and the middle-aged men will go to Chang'an to serve. The higher-ups said that this time, we may have to extend our service beyond the term, perhaps serving a full fifty days, at which point we will be exempted from all rent and transfers this year."

Let me ask first, is there anyone who would like to volunteer for this service?"

The seven able-bodied men in the village remained silent, no one willing to go. Back in the Liaodong Campaign, many able-bodied men went to transport grain, only to never return.

"Since no one wants to go, I think we should just draw lots. Whoever gets the lot goes."

Every man has to do twenty days of free military service every year. If you go this time, it will be someone else's turn next time.

Luo San squatted on the ground and said, "Drawing lots is the fairest way. Let's draw lots."

Four of the seven able-bodied men were picked. Li Yi broke off seven willow branches, three long and four short. He turned his back to everyone and held the uneven half in his palm.

"Who goes first? Whoever draws the shortest number goes."

"Let me go first," Luo San stood up.

Li Yi stretched out his hand, holding seven branches of poplars, all exposed ones were level.

Luo San pulled out a cigarette, which was obviously shorter. His face wasn't looking good. The last time a heavy rainstorm caused a cliff to collapse, his wife and eldest son were both crushed to death. Now, there were three children in the family: his daughter Lanxiang was only eleven, his son Shitou was nine, and Gousheng was his stepson, who his wife had brought with her later, and he was only seven.

If he leaves, there will be no adult left in the family.

But my luck was just so bad that I got the short one on the first draw.

Luo San squatted aside without saying a word.

The other six people came to draw, and soon the results came out. Sanniang's father, Luo Er, was also unlucky and drew a short lot.

The other two short lots were drawn by Erlang and Fugui, two men from the village.

Lao Wu and the other two didn't win and were obviously relieved.

Then the middle-aged men between the ages of sixteen and twenty from the village came to draw lots, and they also drew four. Because the middle-aged men only went to Chang'an County to work, usually as gatekeepers, warehousemen, or doing odd jobs for officials, so everyone was not too nervous.

Anyway, everyone has to take turns on duty for twenty days every year.

"Those of you who drew the four Dings and four Zhongs, everyone, please get ready. I will send you to Wangqu to gather the day after tomorrow, and then we will go to Chang'an City together.

Prepare everything you need, including clothes, shoes, and dry food."

The villagers gathered under the shade of the trees, chattering and making a lot of noise.

Li Yi squatted down beside Luo San. "This time, the grain transport to Jingzhou isn't too far. And it's your Majesty's second prince, Duke Zhao, who is leading the troops. Last year, Xue Rengao led an army of 100,000 to attack Fufeng, but was severely defeated by Duke Zhao's troops. Over 10,000 of them were beheaded, and they were chased all the way to Longshan. This time, Duke Zhao is leading 100,000 troops to Jingzhou. I believe they will win faster and easier. Maybe they won't even need additional labor and will be back in 20 days."

"Don't worry about your family. Just let Lanxiang and her two siblings move in with me."

Luo San rubbed his face with his hands, "Please help me look after them, just in case, just in case I..."

"Uncle San, there's no such thing as an emergency. We'll wait for you to come back."

Sanniang came over, her eyes red. "Wuyi, my father is old and in poor health. Can you not let him go this time?"

Sanniang's two sisters-in-law also came to plead for mercy.

There are four women and five children in the family. Two able-bodied men are serving in the army and have not returned yet. Now even the only old man left in the family is going to be taken away. What should this family do?

But this was chosen by drawing lots, and Li Yi had no way to change people.

Luo Er is forty-eight this year, and does not meet the requirement of being fifty to receive silk as a substitute for military service.

"Unless someone is willing to volunteer to take Uncle's place."

But knowing that this trip might be to transport military supplies to the battlefield, who would be willing to take over?

Sanniang gritted her teeth and suddenly knelt down to Li Yi, catching him off guard.

"Hurry up, what is this for?"

"Village chief, I would like to borrow ten rolls of silk from you so I can find someone to replace my father on this mission."

Nowadays, ten pieces of silk can be exchanged for one dan of rice, or nearly seventeen dan of millet.

"I will definitely pay it back in the future. I'm willing to sign a contract with double the interest for one year. If I can't pay it back by then, I'm willing to use myself as collateral."

Even with double the interest in a year, the principal and interest would only be worth 7,200 coins, less than one tael of gold, but she was willing to use herself as collateral.

"I'm going to lend you this money. Please stand up and talk first."

Luo Sanniang stood up and said to the three strong men who had just drawn the long sticks, "Who is willing to do this mission for me, Aye Lun? I will give him ten pieces of silk as a reward."

For the villagers of Luojiabao, ten pieces of silk were a great temptation.

Some young ladies who were starving outside Chang'an City only needed three dou of millet to take home.

Luo Wu stood up,

"Oh my god, my family is so poor that we have no rice to eat. I was planning to go into the mountains to carry wood."

"Thank you, Uncle Wu. Please lend me ten pieces of silk, Village Chief."

One is willing to pay for the service, the other is willing to go.

Li Yi naturally would not interfere. He only needed to report Luo Wu's name, and Luo Sanlun would be the next to serve.

"Village chief, I don't want silk. Just give me one stone, six dou, and seven liters of millet."

"Okay, let's go to Nianwan to buy food later."

Sanniang was about to kneel down to Li Yi again, but Li Yi quickly stopped her.

Luo Er, with his gray hair and hunched back, sighed as he watched his daughter borrow ten pieces of silk to ask Luo Wu to take his place in the military service. "Son, let me go. Wu Yi is so kind as to lend us the money, but how can we pay him back? I can hire someone to take over this time, but next time I won't pay it back, and I can't avoid it."

"Yeah, this time is different. You're so old and not in good health, and this mission involves a major battle, so you can't go."

Luo Sanniang insisted, and finally Luo Er agreed to stay. Sanniang invited several village chiefs to witness the signing of a loan agreement. Li Yi said he didn't want interest, but Sanniang insisted on writing a one-year term and double the interest, and wrote in black and white that if the loan could not be repaid by the due date, she would pay the debt with her body.

Amidst the annoying cicada sounds,
This was Li Yi's first time performing the duties of village chief, and the conscription and labor assignment went relatively smoothly.

Luo San, Luo Wu, Er Lang and Fu Gui are the four people who will serve in this round.

Goudan and four other young men went to Chang'an to take on this round of chores.

Luo Sanniang was a filial daughter and was reluctant to let her old and sick father do this dangerous labor service. Luo Wu didn't get the chance, but for the sake of more than 100 kilograms of millet, he was willing to do it for Luo San, even though he knew it was very dangerous to deliver food for the Jingzhou battle, but he didn't care.

In the afternoon, Li Yi took Sanniang and Luo Wu to Nianwan to buy rice.

Gold was still very valuable. After inspecting the gold, the mill manager at Wang Lizheng's household happily accepted it. Li Yi bought millet worth one or two ounces of gold. Wang's manager gave him three stone, six dou, and four liters of it at 220 coins per dou.

They also gave him a discount of five cents per bucket, saving him 180 cents.

As agreed, Sanniang gave Luo 56 dou and 7 liters of rice to carry home, and Li Yi kept the remaining nearly 2 dan for himself.

Luo Wu collected the grain and readily promised to go into service the day after tomorrow.

Sanniang thanked Li Yi again,
"If you really want to thank me, please help me carry these millets back home. In the evening, I will treat the eight people who are going to serve this time to a farewell meal. You can help me cook." Li Yi said with a smile.

"Okay." Sanniang agreed immediately.

(End of this chapter)