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

Chapter 12 The First Pot of Gold
On the third day of June,
Li Yi got up early in the morning. After moving into the new house, he found it much more comfortable than the straw shed. There were fewer mosquitoes and the house was much cooler.

The wooden bed is a bit hard.

I stretched and walked out of the upper room, which hadn't been doored yet. Lanxiang was already cleaning the yard. "Good morning, brother."

"Why are you up so early?"

Lanxiang smiled and said that they had gotten up early. She and Shitou and Gousheng went to the rice field early in the morning to catch a bag of fresh frogs and some snails to feed the ducks. Shitou and Gousheng had also gone to graze cattle again.

"Where's the third uncle?"

"My father got up and fetched some water, then went to the fields."

Li Yi was a little embarrassed, "Are you used to living here?"

"It's much better than a straw shed." Luo San was about to go on his conscription, which might last fifty days. Li Yi asked Lanxiang and her two siblings to move in with him. Luo San finally agreed and moved into the west wing. The west wing had three rooms, a living room, and a kitchen, and Luo San's family of four lived in one room.

Li Yi originally wanted Lanxiang to live in a room by herself, after all, she was an eleven-year-old girl. However, Luo San did not want to trouble Li Yi too much, so he hung a straw curtain in the room to separate half of the room for Lanxiang.

Brush your teeth, wash your face,
Then go to the squat toilet in the south corner of the east wing.
After taking a walk around the backyard, I was very satisfied with this new home. However, it still lacked a lot of things. There was no door, no furniture, and even the kitchen only had a simple fire pit and some simple ceramic pots and jars.

I'm a little hungry.
But the Tang people have a two-meal system, so breakfast is still very early.

Li Yi went out for a stroll,
Luojia Bridge is just down the hill from the door. There is a small bridge every five miles on the Hehe River and a large bridge every ten miles. Luojia Bridge is a civil bridge over a hundred meters long and is considered a large bridge.

The small bridge is usually only wide enough for one person to pass through. During the last heavy rain, several small bridges upstream and downstream were washed away, but Luojia Bridge remained intact.

During this period, people who want to cross the river can only take a detour via Luojia Bay and use the Luojia Bridge.

Luojiawan is actually an important transportation route. Two of the eleven official horse roads around Chang'an pass through here. One is from the south of Chang'an, through Weiqiao, Guozhuang, Wangqu, to Nanshan, and is fifty miles long.

Another route is from the south gate of Chang'an through Ducheng and Wenguobao, crossing the Fushui River and the Hehe River, then passing through Huangliang Village and Ziwuyukou into Zhongnan Mountain, which is 45 miles long.

Luojiawan is located right on these two Guanma Avenues.

Guozhuang, next to Luojiabao, is the only way to go up and down Shenheyuan in Wangqu.
When there is a flood, the temporary bridge on the Bahe River is washed away, and this place becomes the only way to pass on the Bahe River for more than ten miles. The temporary bridges upstream and downstream are often washed away several times a year.

Li Yi keenly discovered that the Luojiawan Bridge in front of his house actually has great commercial value. After all, there is traffic here, and traffic is value.

He became interested, so he sat under the big soapberry tree in front of his house, looking down at Luojiawan Bridge and calculating the flow of people.

It was early morning.
Today happened to be the market day in Wangqu, eight miles away. Many people from the surrounding villages went to the market. At the same time, there were also many people traveling back and forth between Zhongnan Mountain and Chang'an on the two official horse roads.

Guanma Avenue doesn't just end at Chang'an City and Zhongnan Mountain.
To go to Mount Zhongnan, you have to connect to the important Ziwu Road.

The Ziwu Road, also known as the Ziwu Plank Road, is an important passage from Guanzhong Chang'an to Hanzhong, Bashu and other southern places. It is because of the Ziwu Road that there are two official horse roads passing through Wangqu and Ziwu.

These two avenues have a large flow of people, especially since the temporary bridge over the Hehe River was recently washed away by water, and many commercial and traveling goods also have to go via the Luojiawan Bridge.

The people coming and going here include both local residents and long-distance travelers, merchants, and goods.

Endless.

Setting up a stall at the bridgehead, whether selling tea or some dry food, would probably be profitable.

"What are you sitting here doing?"

Li Yi was thinking when a voice interrupted him.

Turning around, I found it was the yellow-haired girl Luo Sanniang. She was carrying a tofu basket, and there was still a lot of tofu left unsold. The thin girl had a sweat-soaked shirt and a red face.

"You're back from the market so early?"

"It's not selling well, so I thought of selling it from village to village, but I couldn't sell it all after going around." Sanniang put down her carrying pole helplessly and sat in the shade of a tree to cool off.

“Is tofu hard to sell?”

"Crop prices are high now, and the price of beans has also increased a lot. Tofu can only be sold at a higher price, but once the price is raised, not many people are willing to buy it. And recently, there are many more tofu sellers. Everyone is competing on price, making it even harder to sell."

"I get up early and work late to grind tofu, and go to the market before dawn, but I can't make any money. My father is not in good health now, ah."

Li Yi looked at the tofu she had left.

"How about I give you an idea?"

"What's the idea?"

Li Yi pointed to the Luojiawan Bridge below and said, "Look, there are a lot of people coming and going here. You can build a straw shed and set up a stall here."

"Selling tofu here?" Sanniang shook her head. "I go to the market every day in other places, and there are many more people than here, but it's still hard to sell. I'm afraid it will be even harder to sell here."

Li Yi smiled and said, "You have to change your mindset. You can't just think about selling tofu. Since there are so many people selling tofu and the competition is fierce, you should change your products. For example, you can sell tofu pudding, soy milk, or even bean curd cakes and tofu rice..."

Sanniang was stunned.

"You can expand it further. Not only can you sell these, but you can also make tofu into yuba, bean curd sheets, vegetarian chicken, and bean curd. You can also make dried tofu, fermented bean curd, salty fermented black beans, and even bean sprouts."

"We have what others don't, and differentiated operations are the only way to break through the siege and carve out a path forward." "Wait, speak slower, explain each one one by one. How come I haven't heard of any of these? What is bean curd sheet? What is tofu puff? What are thousand sheets? What are fermented bean curd?"

Li Yi was also a little surprised. "There are records of fermented bean curd as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty. Dried tofu with salt becomes fermented bean curd, and salty black beans have been made since the Qin Dynasty. Soybeans are steamed, wrapped in steamed straw, and fermented. After a few days, it becomes a sticky, slightly smelly, and slightly sweet salty black beans."

"I haven't heard of it," Sanniang said honestly. Although she was born in the suburbs of Chang'an, she had never even been to Chang'an City until she was sixteen.

"Then you must know about soy milk and tofu pudding, right?"

"I know, but is there really any business selling these here?"

Li Yi said confidently, "I observed here for a long time this morning. There are a lot of people. Only a few people from nearby cross the river to go to the fields. Most of them cross the bridge to go to the market. More than half of them are going from Chang'an to Zhongnan Mountain to Bashu, or from Zhongnan Mountain Ziwu Road to Chang'an.

You have all worked hard along the way. This place is still forty miles away from Chang'an. Whether you are coming from Chang'an or going to Chang'an, you can rest here before continuing on your journey.

Wouldn't it be nice to drink some water and eat something?"

Li Yi even thought divergently and came up with the concept of a service area, where he could build a toilet, provide toilet tickets, and clean it regularly, providing passers-by with a clean, hygienic and free place to use.

Building a toilet doesn't cost any money at all. Even if you clean it regularly and provide some toilet tokens, it won't cost anything. The important thing is that you will never lose money, because he thought about the lack of fertilizer for farming in the Tang Dynasty. Just now, when he was sitting here counting people, he found that some villagers were picking up livestock dung on the road.

If we build a public toilet, we don’t have to pick up waste on the road. It will be produced continuously by people. After fermentation, it will become fertilizer for rice, increasing production and income. How great!

Even if you sell it to others, you will still make money.

So, at the bridgehead, they sell tea, soy milk and other food, and provide free and clean public toilets. They also offer drinks, feed horses and mules, and help with simple vehicle repairs. Isn't this just a simple service area?

Who doesn’t need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate when they are out?
As long as the service is good and the price is low, there will definitely be business.

Even if someone arrives late at night in a hurry, they can provide some accommodation services. There are still several empty rooms in Li Yi's newly built house.

Sanniang didn't think too much about it.

She is only thinking about the soy milk, tofu pudding, tofu rice and other things sold here.

"Can it really be done? I'm not sure," she looked at Li Yi. "How about we become partners? I can grind tofu to make soy milk and fermented tofu, and you just need to help me attract customers and sell it here."

"This is just a small business. We don't need that many people. If there are too many people, we won't make any money." Li Yi said.

"As long as this business can really work, no matter how much or how little profit you make, I'll be confident only if you're willing to work with me."

Seeing the girl's expectant eyes, Li Yi couldn't bear to refuse. "Actually, we won't make much money just by selling soy milk and fermented tofu. But if we can make soy products like dried bean curd sheets, fermented tofu, and salty fermented black beans and open up the market, we'll definitely make money."

"That requires you even more. I've never heard of those. Let's split it 70% and 30% respectively. You get 70% and I get 30%." Sanniang said.

Li Yi shook his head. He just accidentally discovered that this place had a lot of people coming and going, but he had never thought about starting a tofu business with Sanniang.

But Sanniang eagerly hoped that he would join.

"Then 82, you 8 and I'll 2."

"I'm not complaining about the small amount, I just think you can make this deal yourself."

"You don't want to be in the spotlight, do you dislike doing business? Then I'll be in the spotlight, and you can teach me from behind."

Li Yi didn't want to get involved, but Sanniang made a sincere request.

"If you really want to form a partnership, then we'll split it fifty-fifty and each of us will get half."

"You are six and I am four."

"If you keep talking like that, I won't join you."

"Okay, half for each of us. I'll do as you say."

Sanniang was a straightforward girl and did not drag her feet.

"What do we do next?"

Li Yi looked at the Luojiawan Bridge and said, "Let's build a row of straw sheds under the shade of the trees at the north bank of the bridge, and build a larger toilet further downwind. Also, we'll build a few animal sheds next to our stall to make it convenient for customers to tie up horses and mules. We can also help feed and wash the horses and mules if needed..."

You can’t just set up a stall to sell soy milk and soy pudding, you have to sell services.

It provides food and drink as well as convenience.

"We still need to choose a flagship product to make our tofu shop famous. I think we can choose yuba (bean curd sheets), which are easy to preserve after being made. We can also focus on temples and sell them to monks. The monks in Chang'an are not short of money. As long as we can open up this market, our tofu shop will have to recruit people, and our future income will definitely increase."

"I'll do whatever you say." Sanniang trusted Li Yi immensely and tried her best to hijack him. "I'll make you some tofu stew later."

Li Yi looked at the remaining tofu and said, "No, there's so much left."

"I can't sell it anyway. It's so hot, it'll go sour soon."

"Let's try deep-fried tofu. Your tofu is pretty dry now, so it's a good time to try it."

(End of this chapter)