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

Chapter 125 The Imperial Decree for Promotion

Li Yuan took Li Yi's hand and said with a smile: "Just tell me what reward you want. Once you miss the opportunity, it will never come back again!"

Li Yi thought to himself, "I want to be conferred the title of Duke, but you won't give it to me."

Being looked at so closely by the emperor, most people would probably faint from excitement. Fortunately, Li Yi was somewhat immune to the emperor's aura.

"This time, almost all of the seven villages in Xingshengli were destroyed. They were all burned down by the rebels. The food that the people had just brought home was also robbed, and the rice that had not yet been harvested was also burned.

Winter is coming soon, and the people of Xingshengli don't know how they will survive this cold winter. If the court can exempt the people of Xingshengli from rent and provide relief this year, Li Yi, on behalf of the five hundred households in Xingshengli, would be deeply grateful.

Li Yuan said, "Relief from disasters is the duty of the imperial court. Even if you don't ask, the imperial court will do it. Don't worry, the imperial court will allocate money and grain to help everyone repair their houses, and will also exempt rent and taxes for this year and next year."

"Your loss this time must be huge,"

Li Yi nodded and said that he had two courtyards of his thatched cottage without a shed, more than 200 acres of newly harvested grain, rewards from the emperor, the prince, the King of Qin and others that Wuji Academy received, donations from Du Ruhui and others, all the money, grain, paper, pens, and even desks and chairs were gone.

His workshop was also burned down.

That sounds like a significant loss.

But the emperor didn't know that on that day, his family had already transported a lot of grain to three caves under the cliff behind the thatched cottage, and then sealed them up.

Many of the iron pots, bean curd sheets, oil, etc. in the workshop were also moved to Feng Liulang's manor.

Li Yi put everything that he didn't have time to take away from home into the space, and even put the furniture on the terrace. The Qiang soldiers had nothing to rob when they looted, and the fire they set only burned the yellow thatched roof and damaged some doors and windows.

The school didn't even lose a set of desks and chairs, not to mention the precious paper, pens, inkstones, books, and the grain, money and silk in the school's warehouse.

But Li Yuan had no idea of this. He naturally thought that the incident happened in a hurry and Li Yi had no time to move the food, cloth, etc., so the thieves burned and robbed them.

Li Yuan thought about it and asked the palace supervisor Lu Kuan to draft an edict for him.

The emperor ordered the construction of a new Wuji School and the renovation of Wuji Courtyard.

"Build a manor for Li Yi. Make it bigger and higher. Build rammed earth walls on all sides. Make them three feet high and two feet thick at the bottom. Enclose ten acres of land. Dig a trench two feet wide and deep outside the wall.

You won't have to worry about anything anymore. You have two courtyards enclosed inside. Let the Shaofu Supervisor send craftsmen to repair your doors and windows, and replace the roof with small green tiles.

I will let you build a garden."

Wuji Academy was built on the six mu of land at the bridgehead previously given by Wannian County. This time, high walls were built on four sides to form a fortress. The school buildings were also built on rammed earth and the roofs were replaced with small green tiles.

They were also provided with tables and chairs, books, paper and pens, and a sum of money and food was allocated.

The ten-acre Wuji Courtyard and the six-acre Wuji School are located at the foot of Shenheyuan, on the north bank of the Hehe River, with two forts, one large and one small, about a hundred meters apart.

Li Yi was very happy to hear this.
The emperor ordered its construction, the Ministry of Works sent craftsmen, the Ministry of Finance provided materials, and the Ministry of Finance paid for it. There was no reason to object.

"You have made great contributions this time. Not only will I compensate you for your losses, but I will also give you a heavy reward. I will grant you a promotion of one level, a second rank of honor, and a third rank of casual position.

He was granted a thousand mu of land, a hundred thousand yuan in cash, a hundred taels of gold, a thousand pieces of silk, and twenty slaves.

"I will appoint you as the lieutenant of Chang'an County, specializing in catching thieves."

Even the purple-robed third-rank official Lu Kuan, the Palace Supervisor, was envious of this series of rewards.

Li Yi also admired Li Yuan's generosity and magnanimity.

"I can't even do the job of proofreading or editing, so how can I dare to take the position of Chang'an County Lieutenant? The Chang'an County Lieutenant is also known as the Bandit Catcher, responsible for the security of more than 50 districts in half of the capital, as well as more than 50 villages outside the city. I am only 16 years old and have just returned to secular life. I really don't have the ability to do this."

Li Yi simply refused the position of Chang'an Wei.
Did not refuse other rewards,

Li Yuan stroked his beard and said, "Third time is better than last time. Are you really going to refuse my offer of an official position for the third time?"

"The Chang'an County Magistrate is a public official and an important position in the imperial court. I dare not accept it."

Li Yuan said to Lu Kuan, "Father-in-law, don't you think Li Wuyi is going a bit too far?"

Lu Kuan could tell that Li Yuan was not really angry, so he smiled and said, "Li Yi has never been an official before, and this position of Chang'an Wei is indeed not that easy to hold."

"Well, since you don't want to be an official, I won't force you."

The emperor still gave other rewards.

Li Yi was promoted from Baron of Qianshui County to Founding Viscount of Qianshui County.

The merit was increased by two ranks, accumulating nine ranks, and he became a general. The casual position was increased by three ranks, and he was promoted to the casual position of Xuanhuiwei, the seventh rank.

The scattered officials and positions are worthless, they are very common now, and they have no responsibilities. The only thing that is worth money is the ability to request for the award of medal land.

As a ninth-level meritorious official, a general can obtain 1,500 acres of meritorious land.

This meant that Li Yi could obtain another 500 mu of permanent land, and the emperor granted him an additional 1,000 mu, bringing his total to 1,500 mu. Xiuzhi, Li Cunxiao, and seven others were freed and made free. Li Yi lost seven slaves, but the emperor compensated him with 20.

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace."

Li Yi's thanks were sincere.
This time I made a lot of money.

Rejecting the Chang'an County Lieutenant was also necessary. Although Chang'an County had six county lieutenants, each in charge of a different department, Li Yuan said that his position was specifically to catch thieves, meaning he was the county lieutenant in charge of the legal department, and was known as the thief-catching lieutenant.

This position of county lieutenant was the most difficult, because the capital was so large. Even though Chang'an County only managed half of the city and half of the area outside the city, it still had more than fifty districts and more than fifty townships in total.

There are so many princes, nobles, and powerful families in the capital and its suburbs that it is difficult to be a small county lieutenant or even the Jingzhao Yin, the nominal local official in the capital.

In the history of the Tang Dynasty, most of the Jingzhao Yin were dismissed within a year.

Li Yi has no experience and no prominent background. It is difficult for him to do this job well. It is more likely that he will offend important officials or be kicked out to take the blame soon after taking office.

So, it’s better not to get involved in that muddy water.
Why are you working so hard?
As the saying goes, if you are unlucky for three lifetimes, you will be a county magistrate; if you commit evil for three lifetimes, you will be a provincial capital; if you are full of evil, you will be a capital city.

Even being a county magistrate in the capital was said to be due to his many evil deeds in his previous life, which was why he was punished to be a county magistrate in the capital in this life. It can be seen how difficult it was to be a county magistrate in the capital, and it was even more difficult to be a county lieutenant in the capital.

People, when luck comes, it cannot be stopped.

Good luck is on your side, and pie falls from the sky.

The rebellion of these three thousand Qiang cavalry was originally a great disaster, but Li Yi turned it into a blessing in disguise, and was promoted, given titles, money and land.

A lot of good things,
But he also grasped it,

On the way, he heard that the Qiang soldiers were rebelling, burning, killing and looting. He made timely and decisive arrangements and did not flee to Chang'an City to avoid disaster.
Instead, he stayed and organized the villagers of Xingshengli to retreat to Feng Liulang Manor, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack.
He even sent his own Qiang slaves to scout the enemy situation.
These performances are worthy of praise, especially the accidental beheading of Pang Yidi, which is a real achievement.

The emperor told Li Yi,
Now that the rebellious Qiang were killed in the neighboring land, the three thousand Qiang bandits have been scattered and are fleeing to the Nanshan Mountains in a swarm. They are trying to escape to Hanzhong.

Pang Yu assembled an army of 10,000 men and pursued the Qiang bandits closely, defeating them several times.

However, Li Yuan gave Pang Yu a secret order, asking him not to kill all the Qiang bandits, but to chase the defeated Qiang soldiers to Hanzhong. The 10,000 Tang troops led by Pang Yu followed into Hanzhong.

In the name of suppressing the rebellious Qiang soldiers, they officially entered Hanzhong.
Although Hanzhong was nominally under the Tang Dynasty at this time, it had no actual control.

When Li Yuan led his troops south to attack Guanzhong, Yin Shishi, Wei Wensheng and others presided over the defense of Chang'an, while Li Xiyu assisted the King of Dai in guarding the capital. He proposed to send troops to occupy the Yongfeng Warehouse, distribute millet to help the poor, and use the money and silk in the warehouse to reward the soldiers.
Send a swift message to all the counties, urging them to join forces to suppress the bandits.
But Yin Shishi disagreed. Li Xiyu and Yin Shishi were not on good terms, so he simply asked to go to his hometown to recruit troops.

His hometown is Ankang, next to Hanzhong. His family has been a local powerful family for generations. His elder brother Li Xizhi was originally the magistrate of Shi'an County in Guilin, Lingnan. After the world was in chaos, he also recruited soldiers and called himself the general manager. He repelled many attacks from the surrounding areas and was quite remarkable.

When Li Xiyu arrived in Hanzhong, he immediately summoned local powerful families and even the chiefs of barbarian tribes in the name of the imperial court, offered them very generous conditions, promised them official positions, and actually raised an army.

However, just as he had gathered his army, Li Yuan had already defeated Wei Wensheng and Yin Shishi and directly captured Chang'an.

When Li Yuan heard that Li Xiyu had assembled a large army in Hanzhong, he immediately sent an envoy to Hanzhong with a personal letter.
Li Yuan offered Li Xiyu very good conditions. We both have the surname Li and have been one family for hundreds of years. If you come to Chang'an, our two families will become relatives and connect their genealogies. On behalf of the court, I will also confer upon you the title of Duke of Ankang County, and confer upon your elder brother the title of Governor of Guizhou and Duke of Shi'an County.

Li Xiyu looked at his newly recruited troops and then at Li Yuan's power.
Finally, he chose to submit to Li Yuan and returned to Chang'an to take up his post.

On the surface, Hanzhong and other places also submitted for this reason, but in reality, each faction was autonomous. Because of the chaos in the world, these local families and the barbarian leaders attacked each other and began to annex each other.

Last year, after Li Xiyu surrendered to the court, Li Yuan sent Li Xiaogong as the ambassador of consolation to Xiangzhou. Under the guidance of Li Xiyu's family, he left Chang'an and went to Ankang, then entered Sichuan, passed through Dazhou, Kaizhou and other places to arrive at Kuizhou, and persuaded and comforted the people in this area.

He also sent Yunyang Magistrate Zhan Jun, Wugong County Magistrate Li Zhonggun and others to Bashu to recruit and pacify the rebels.

There are three major cities in the Han River Valley south of the Qinling Mountains, namely Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo. The Li Xiyu family is the largest and most powerful family in Ankang, and this branch is indeed a branch of the Longxi Li family.

Hanzhong was the most important town in the Han River Valley. It was now renamed Liangzhou and was controlled by Chen Mao, the Earl of Weicheng County. However, during the increasingly fierce civil unrest in Hanzhong, Chen Mao, who was once a close confidant of Emperor Wen of Sui and served as Sima of the Yizhou General Administration Office, was also killed in an attack by the Hanzhong barbarians.

Although Li Yuan immediately sent Chen Zheng, the son of Chen Mao who had returned from Jiangdu, to take over his father's position and appointed him as the governor of Liangzhou,

However, Chen Zheng was also killed by the barbarians as soon as he arrived in Liangzhou.

However, there was a secret report that Chen Zheng might not have died at the hands of the barbarians, but might have been killed by the wealthy families in Hanzhong.

It was obviously a power struggle, and the local forces were unwilling to accept the governor who was parachuted into Chang'an.

Seeing that Hanzhong was becoming increasingly chaotic,

Li Yuan had to send troops there.
Li Xiaogong was in eastern Sichuan and was busy fighting the Bashan barbarians and others, so he could not get away. Li Yuan, under the pretext of pursuing the rebellious Qiang soldiers, led an army of 10,000 to attack them.

The emperor also gave Pang Yu a secret decree.
As soon as he entered Hanzhong City, he announced the imperial edict to the local officials and people, setting up the Liangzhou General Administration Office to manage the four states of Liang, Yang, Ji and Xing, and appointing General Pang Yu of the Right Guard as the general manager and governor of Liangzhou.

Ten thousand Tang troops were stationed in the four states of Liang, Yang, Ji, and Xing.

Li Yi did not know that the emperor had such complicated plans. In the eyes of the emperor, the 3,000 Qiang cavalry had already driven into the Nanshan Mountains, and they had become the vanguard of the Tang army to control Hanzhong.

Li Yi was still happy about receiving many rewards, but Li Yuan was already about to get the whole Hanzhong.

(End of this chapter)