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

Chapter 124 The Emperor is Delighted and Rewarded

It's almost noon.

The Imperial Food Bureau of the Palace Department delivered the imperial meal.
Li Yuan sat there listlessly, covering half of his face with one hand. He tossed and turned and didn't sleep well last night. He had a mouth ulcer and it hurt even to drink water or talk.

"Saint, today's imperial meal includes scallion vinegar chicken, Tangyuxiu pills, bright shrimp roast, sheepskin flower filaments, Shengping roast, Eight Immortals plate, small heavenly pastry, longevity porridge..."

Today's imperial meal is very rich,
But Li Yuan had no appetite at all, not only because of mouth ulcers, but also because of his bad mood.

The mutiny of a group of surrendered Qiang people was not a big deal, but the mutiny outside the city of Chang'an made Li Yuan lose face. What made him even more angry was that Pang Yu was actually defeated by the surrendered Qiang people.

It's so embarrassing.

What about the prestige of the court and the emperor’s face?

He even felt a little regretful in his heart. If he had not transferred this sidekick from Erlang, perhaps this accident would not have happened.

"I have no appetite, I'm leaving."

"Whatever the Saint wants to eat, let the Shangshi Bureau prepare it."

Li Yuan waved his hands, feeling depressed.

The palace supervisor Lu Kuan came in.
"Your Majesty, the traitor has been beheaded and executed."

When Li Yuan heard this, he was greatly encouraged.

He quickly waved to the father-in-law, "Father-in-law, come and sit down, and talk to me."

He liked to hear that the emperor was executed for no reason.

Lu Kuan, whose original surname was Dou Lu, was a branch of the Xianbei Murong clan. When Murong Chang, the king of Beidi of the Later Yan Dynasty, surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty, he was given the surname Dou Lu, which means submission.

Doulu Kuan was the nephew of Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian. His mother was Princess Changle, and his father was the Duke of Nanchen, the governor of Hongzhou. He married the daughter of Yang Xiong, the King of Guande of Sui.

Among the eight pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty and the twelve generals, there was the Dou Lu family. They were a branch of the Former Yan royal family. Since the Western Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties, the Dou Lu family has been very prominent and has intermarried with the Yuwen, Yang, and Li dynasties.

The daughter of the 12th general Douluan married the son of Yuwen Tai, and Doulukuan was the son-in-law of Emperor Wen of Sui.

Therefore, as soon as Doulu Kuan surrendered, Li Yuan immediately appointed him as the governor of Qizhou, and also personally selected Doulu Kuan's second son Doulu Huairang as his future son-in-law.

Li Yuan also issued a special decree, allowing Dou Lu Kuan to change his surname to Dou Lu, and now he has been promoted to the position of Palace Supervisor.

Lu Kuan was tall and mighty, and had a good eloquence. Li Yuan pulled him to sit next to him and began to report.

When Li Yuan heard that it was Li Yi's servant who killed Pang Yidi, he was also incredulous.
When he heard that Li Yi's four red-rowed Qiang slaves had killed twelve rebellious Qiangs, and that those four red-rowed Qiang were the ones he had rewarded him with, he could not help but marvel.

"The Li Yi you're talking about is Li Yi, the village chief of Yushuchuan. He's the one who twice refused my offer of official position. He was also the one who was awarded the title of Qianshui County Man for his contribution in providing medicine to Erlang."

"It was this man who was summoned by the King of Qin to serve as a military officer in the camp last time. He participated in the Battle of Jingzhou and was awarded the fourth rank."

"Hahaha, hiss!" Li Yuan laughed so hard that his ulcer was affected and he had to cover his mouth. "Hiss, this Li Yi is really..."

"Li Yi and his servants have already arrived in Chang'an."

"Call him immediately. I will personally summon him and reward him."

The emperor was so happy that he even had an appetite.

He drank the Changsheng porridge first and also asked his father-in-law to drink it together.

"This scallion and vinegar chicken is good, you should eat more."

Choose a castrated rooster, steam it, and then season it with green onions and vinegar. It has a unique flavor and is very similar to poached chicken.

Li Yi and his group of six were brought directly into the Taiji Palace and presented to the emperor.

Xiuzhi was shaking with nervousness all the way, her palms were full of sweat, but Li Cunxiao and the other three were carefree and even asked the emperor on the way whether there would be any reward for summoning them.

"Your Highness, Li Yi, pays homage to the Saint. Long live the Emperor."

Xiuzhi and the others also said this, but the result was inconsistent and uncoordinated.

Li Yuan didn't care.
Waving to him, "Wuyi, come quickly and sit on my right hand side."

"You've come all the way here, and you haven't eaten yet? Let's eat this imperial meal quickly."

He then said to Xiuzhi and the other four, "You eat too."

"Let's talk while we eat."

Li Yi could not resist Li Yuan's enthusiasm, so he had to sit on the imperial couch with the emperor, picked up his bowl and started to eat the imperial meal.

It has to be said that the emperor's royal meal is both exquisite and delicious.

The scallion and vinegar chicken has yellow skin and white meat, and is fat, tender and delicious. It is served with scallion and vinegar, which is wonderful.

Tangyuxiuwan is a bit like braised lion's head, and it also contains water chestnuts.

Li Yuan also told him about this dish, saying that it was first mentioned in the Northern and Southern Dynasties Food Classics as the "Jiaowan Jie". Later, Emperor Yang of Sui rode a dragon boat down to the south of the Yangtze River and ordered all prefectures and counties within 500 miles to offer food. Each prefecture would have hundreds of carts of the most precious delicacies from land and sea. When Yang Guang saw the Qionghua flowers in Yangzhou,

He was very nostalgic for the four famous scenic spots in Yangzhou: Wansong Mountain, Jinqiandun, Ivory Forest and Sunflower Hill. When he returned to the palace, he ordered the imperial chef to prepare four dishes with the four scenes as the theme.

Under the guidance of Yangzhou's famous chefs, the imperial chefs worked hard to prepare four dishes: squirrel fish, golden shrimp cakes, ivory chicken strips, and sunflower chopped meat. After tasting them, Yang Guang was very satisfied and gave a banquet to all his ministers.
These four dishes have therefore become famous dishes.

Tangyuxiuwan comes from the dish of sunflower minced meat. It is made of three parts fat and seven parts lean meat, water chestnuts and mushrooms, which are chopped finely and roughly into balls the size of rice grains. They are fried first and then boiled.

The huge meatballs were beautifully shaped like sunflower hearts, resembling the heads of lions. Li Yi ate them while constantly pausing to answer Li Yuan's questions.

"Yesterday, I was supposed to be taking a group of people and some food to Weiburg to distribute porridge and provide relief to the victims. On the way, I met some people who had escaped from the general's camp..."

Li Yuan heard from Li Yi that although the seven villages in Xingshengli were basically set on fire by the rebels last night, the people had basically retreated into Fengjiabao. Everyone worked together to hold on all night. Although hundreds of rebel soldiers attacked several times, they were all repelled. Only three villagers suffered minor injuries.

Lu Kuan sighed and said that the military camp had more than 200 households and the village was burned to the ground. Most of the people were slaughtered, and many people died in several surrounding villages.

In comparison, Xingshengli is not far away, but it was able to be preserved. It must be said that it was all thanks to Li Yi.

At this time, Li Yuan also asked about Xiuzhi's situation.
Xiuzhi lowered her head, not daring to face the emperor. She could not speak clearly, so Li Yi had to help her answer.

Li Yuan was also very surprised when he heard about Xiuzhi's identity. When he heard that Xiuzhi was looking for her son who was abducted, Pang Yidi asked her to drink with him. She thought that she would not know anything when she was drunk, but Pang Yidi was very drunk. She drew her sword and killed Pang Yidi.

The four Qiang tribesmen sent by Li Yi happened to sneak into the bandit camp and rescued her.

"This is truly God's will. God will punish the rebels in the world."

Li Yuan was delighted.

With a wave of his hand, he said, "Such a remarkable woman, I will confer upon you the title of Madam Chongyi, a third-rank lady."

Xiuzhi was still kneeling there in a daze, and Li Yi quickly asked her to thank Jun for his grace.

This is the imperial decree of enthronement.
In the Tang Dynasty, women who received the titles of Lady or Lord were called "Outer Mingfu." Generally, mothers were honored because of their sons, and wives because of their husbands. The mothers and wives of officials were honored because of their sons and husbands. For example, the mothers and wives of first-rank officials with the title of Duke of the State could receive the title of Lady of the State. The mothers and wives of third-rank officials could receive the title of Lady of the County.

There is another type of woman who is not granted a title because of her husband or son. This type of county lady or state lady is given a separate title of the county, and is called a lady of a certain rank, a county lady of a certain rank, a county lady of a certain rank, etc.

Xiuzhi was originally Li Yi's private slave.

Now Li Yuan directly bestowed upon her the title of Lady Chongyi, a third-rank lady, which was an imperial decree of a county lady.

"I will grant you a thousand acres of land and a house in the capital."

Li Yuan asked Xiuzhi to look up, looked at her carefully, and asked some questions. When he learned that Xiuzhi was also attending Wuji Academy at Li Yi's house and could now recognize hundreds of words and write more than 200 words, he was a little surprised and praised her even more.

"My noble concubine, Madam Mo, has just given birth to the sixth prince for me. Would you be willing to enter the palace and serve as his tutor?" Li Yuan asked.

In the palace, the princes and princesses are accompanied by wet nurses and tutors who are responsible for the care and education of the underage princes and princesses.

Although he is just a tutor, his status is actually not low.

Especially during the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a system of "sons are honored if the mother dies", which meant that before the crown prince was appointed, the biological mother had to be executed first to prevent the mother from abusing power. Therefore, the status of the crown prince's tutor and wet nurse was extremely high. Although the system of "sons are honored if the mother dies" was abolished after the Northern Wei Dynasty, the status of tutors and wet nurses was still very high.

For example, Li Jiancheng's wet nurse, Chen Niangzi, and Li Shimin's wet nurse, Liu Niangzi, are still in their respective homes and have high status.

Sometimes, the princes' tutors were directly chosen from convicted women in the palace, usually women of noble families with good education. Sometimes, they were chosen directly from the common people, usually widows with experience in childbirth and raising children, and of good family backgrounds.

Xiuzhi has given birth to several children and now has two sons. She is only in her twenties. Although she comes from an ordinary family, she can now recognize many words. The key is that her performance has won praise from Li Yuan.

Xiuzhi looked at Li Yi, at a loss.

Li Yi thought it would be a good idea to enter the palace and serve as a tutor to the Sixth Prince Li Yuan.
"Brothers Shuanzi and Zhuzi, stay with me and continue your studies. I will take good care of them."

Xiuzhi listened to Li Yi,

So, this person who was a slave yesterday and was even kidnapped by the rebels, has become a third-rank Chongyi County Lady today, and has also entered the palace to become the Sixth Prince's tutor.

The emperor also gave her a thousand acres of land, a house in Chang'an, one hundred thousand coins, thirty taels of gold, and three hundred pieces of silk.

Naturally, the identities of her family of three also became good people.

Li Yuan asked Li Cunxiao and the other three what rewards they wanted.

The four of them were very straightforward and said, "Gold, go home."

"With all your skills, it would be a shame to return to the Longyou tribe. Why don't you stay with me in the Northern Court Forbidden Army? I will appoint you as a seventh-rank commander of the Forbidden Army. I will send people to fetch your families, and I will also provide you with gold and silk."

The brigade commander of the Imperial Guards' garrison was of the seventh rank, higher than the brigade commander of the Cavalry Bureau, who was of the eighth rank, a difference of three levels.

The official still has 250 mu of permanent farmland and 400 mu of official land.

The four of them looked at each other, and then looked at Li Yi at the same time.

"When you return to your tribe, can you compare to the prosperity and wealth of Chang'an in the Central Plains? This is a seventh-rank military position, the emperor's personal guard. Isn't it a hundred times or a thousand times better than being a guard for a small tribal chieftain before?
There are still several hundred acres of land, and I can become a landlord directly."

Li Yuan laughed heartily, "Wuyi is right, I also appreciate your loyalty and bravery."

Li Cunxiao said, "I'll listen to Alang, but I have one request."

"Speak," Li Yuan said happily.

"We want to settle down in Luojiabao and live with Li Lang."

"Yes, I will not only appoint you as commanders of the seventh-rank imperial guards, but also grant you a second-rank medal, 250 mu of permanent farmland, 400 mu of official farmland, and an additional 300 mu of farmland per person, 300 pieces of silk, and four slaves per person, and 30 taels of gold."

"Hurry up and kneel down to thank God for his grace." Li Yi said.

The four of them knelt down and thanked the emperor for his kindness.

Li Yuan turned his head and looked at Li Yi. "Li Yi, their contribution is also your contribution. Moreover, you also saved hundreds of villagers in Xingshengli. What reward do you want?"

"These are all things I should do. I receive the emperor's salary and share his worries. I am also a baron of Qianshui County in the imperial court, and I also hold the Seventh Transformation of Merit and the position of Bingyi Wei. These are all part of my duties."

(End of this chapter)