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

Chapter 126 Embrace

In front of Taiji Palace,

The officials of the Ministry of Personnel took the initiative to deliver his three official documents, namely the document of appointment as the founding Viscount of Qianshui County, the document of appointment as a general, and the document of appointment as a Xuanhuiwei official.

This time, the Ministry of Personnel not only took the initiative to deliver the petition to the emperor, but also refused to accept any money for silk, cinnabar and glue, because the emperor had specifically instructed so.

"Congratulations to Li Dalang for his promotion to county magistrate. I hope he will have a bright future."

It was still an old acquaintance who had received Li Yi's official certificate before. He remembered that the first time he went to receive the official certificate from the Crown Prince, the other party had a very bad attitude and complained that they were late and disturbed his get off work.

Now he is very respectful to Li Yi.

Li Yi took out a golden bean weighing one penny and put it into his hand with a smile.

The old official caught a glimpse of the golden light and knew that it could be exchanged for eight hundred pieces of meat, which could buy several kilograms of mutton. He smiled and said, "No, I dare not."

"Thank you for the hard work."

After pretending to refuse a few times, the old official accepted it and left.

After a while, people from the Shaofu Temple came again and brought money, silk and slaves as rewards for Li Yi, including 100,000 coins, 100 taels of gold, 1,000 pieces of silk, and 20 slaves.

One hundred thousand coins weighed more than four hundred pounds, filling up half a cart, and a thousand pieces of silk was an even larger pile.

There were twenty slaves, ten men and ten women, all young and strong, and they did not look like they were from other races.

Li Yi asked about their previous identities, and as he was speaking,

Xiuzhi came out,

He was wearing the green Zhai robe that was given to him for the title and had a seven-flower tree on his head. Li Yi almost didn't recognize him.

Those flower trees are made of honeysuckle petals of different sizes. They are extremely exquisite and really form flowers. There are even little people on the flowers.

These flower trees look extremely complex, and each large flower is composed of seven small flowers.

Fortunately, the ladies did not want to spend too much time wearing these flowers every time, so there was a flower tree crown called a bun hat, which could directly install the flower tree on the hat and be worn on the head when used.

To stabilize the corolla, a long hairpin with extremely exquisite and gorgeous decorations was inserted on both sides of the corolla, called the two bobins. Xiuzhi also had seven gold and silver flower ornaments on each of her two bobins.

Seven flower trees, seven gold hairpins, two bo temples,
Blue Zhai pattern dress,

This was the dress she wore when she was officially canonized as the Lady of Chongyi County, a third-rank official.

jewels,

Once she put on this luxurious and noble dress, Xiuzhi became a graceful and elegant lady, and even put on makeup on her face.

"Alang," Xiuzhi stood there uncomfortably.

"Qianshui County Master greets Madam Chongyi."

Xiuzhi blushed, "Alang is making fun of me."

"Madam is a third-rank county lady, and I am a viscount of only fifth rank, so of course I have to bow to meet her." Li Yi said with a smile.

Xiuzhi felt like she was dreaming, as if she was drunk again, but she hadn't drunk any alcohol.

"Madam will soon get used to it,"

Xiuzhi was granted the title of Lady of the County and was invited by the emperor to the palace to be the tutor of the Sixth Prince. However, the emperor gave her a few days off so that she could go home and settle down first.

The Zhuzi brothers stayed with Li Yi to study.

His identity has also changed. He is now the son of the county lady and no longer a servant of the Li family.

Xiuzhi also had a house in Chang'an, and the general's camp was also granted a thousand acres of land. The thousand acres of land granted to Li Yi were also there. During this war, the general's camp was almost destroyed, and many families were left without land.

Xiuzhi also requested to settle in Luojiabao and did not say that she would return to her husband's hometown.

Her two sons could also live and study in Chang'an, but she still believed in Li Yi and hoped that after she entered the palace, her children would follow Li Yi.

Li Yi was also willing.

The emperor gave Xiuzhi 100,000 coins, 30 taels of gold, and 300 pieces of silk, and Xiuzhi said she wanted to give them to Li Yi.

"Let me keep it for you?"

"These are for Alang. If Alang hadn't saved us, we three would have died long ago. I will never forget your kindness. These rewards are given to Alang as a reward."

Li Yi was surprised.
This is a huge sum of money, enough to buy several houses in Chang'an City. Many small landlords in the countryside cannot save so much money in their entire lives, let alone ordinary people.

"This is a gift from His Majesty. Keep it well. It will support the two brothers, Menshuai and Menzhu, in their studies. In the future, they will buy land, marry wives, and support their families. You will also have it in your old age."

Xiuzhi insisted on giving it to Li Yi.

"Madam, are you going to settle accounts with me completely and then sever all ties with me?"

"That's not what I meant, Alang, please don't misunderstand me."

"That's good. I don't plan to sever ties with you. We are half family. From now on, Menshuanmenjiu will be my students. I will recognize you as my godsister. Do you mind?"

Xiuzhi blushed and nodded quickly.

Although she has suddenly become a third-rank county lady, she still finds it difficult to accept it for a while, and always feels that there is a huge gap in status between her and Alang.

"I'm afraid I'm not worthy of your status,"

"Sister, let's not talk about that anymore. If you trust me, I'll keep this money for you. When I see whether I want to use it to buy land or manage it in some other way, I'll write you a document and have it witnessed by an intermediary, with it in black and white as proof."

When Xiuzhi returned home this time, the palace even arranged for young eunuchs and imperial guards to accompany her. It was a grand occasion.

quickly,

Li Cunxiao and his four companions also arrived.

The four guys also changed their clothes and put on the uniforms of seventh-rank military officers, dark green round-collared official robes, silver buckled belts around the waist, black leather boots on the feet, and black fu hats on the heads.
The momentum changed immediately.
He used to be wearing felt and leggings, and looked like a barbarian or Qiang slave, but now he has become a distinguished military officer.

These four guys requested to settle down in Luojiabao, and even directly used the names given to them by Li Yi, namely Li Cunxiao, Li Cunti, Li Cunzhong and Li Cunyi.
These four guys were just lucky.

Now, from being a slave to a military officer, he also got 250 mu of permanent farmland. The emperor also gave him 300 mu of land, 300 pieces of silk, 300 taels of gold, and each person also got four slaves.

What’s funny is that the slaves given to them were all Qiang slaves.

"Alang, His Majesty said that he would build a yard for each of us in Luojiabao." Li Cunxiao was very proud.

Li Yi admired these guys' bravery and envied their luck. These four guys were good, at least they kept their words. It was good to have such good fortune.

Li Yi was also very happy that they were willing to settle in Luojiabao.
"Alang, I'll return the gold to you." Li Cunxiao took out a bar of gold, which was the reward Li Yi had paid them in advance, three taels per person.

"Here, we agreed that if you kill one thief, you'll get a cow as a reward. The four of you killed twelve, rescued Xiuzhi, and seized ten horses, armor, and other items.

All the armor and weapons were handed over to the court.
You beheaded twelve people, so I should give you twelve cows. These twelve ounces of gold are worth the cows. I thank you for that."

Li Cunxiao shook his head.
They said that originally one head was exchanged for one freedom. They killed a total of twelve people. Four heads were exchanged for freedom, and the remaining eight were exchanged for eight cows, which were only worth eighty pieces of silk. They took too much.

"You deserve it." Li Yi said with a smile.

"No, no, no. As for the ten war horses, His Majesty gave them to us as a reward, but they should belong to you."

Seeing this money-loving guy wanting to settle accounts with him so clearly and even return his money and give him a horse, Li Yi was a little surprised.

"How about this? Ten horses for the five of us, two each. How about that? As for the gold, after paying the reward for the head, the rest is your reward for helping me rescue Xiuzhi and find Zhuzi's brother."

Li Cunxiao thought about it and said, well, that makes sense.

So he immediately patted his chest happily, nodded to Li Yi, and indicated that it was time to divide it.

"Ah Lang is trustworthy!"

Everyone returned to Yusu Township happily, especially Cunxiao and his four companions. They used the heads of their fellow Chipai Qiang people as a stepping stone to advance their careers, from slaves to officers, and from then on became glorious and noble people of the Tang Dynasty.

Passing by the General's Camp,
This beautiful place, located on the top of Shenheyuan, with the Hehe River on one side and the Fuhe River on the other, once had more than 200 households and many shops and workshops.

Who could have thought that people would be slaughtered right under the emperor's feet.

Less than one in ten survived.

Li Yi, Xiuzhi, and Cunxiao, the four brothers, have now become the largest landlords in this area. The six of them have acquired 4,200 mu of land.
"Why don't you settle down in the general camp? The land is here too. Wouldn't it be more convenient?"

Li Yuan originally wanted to settle them in Weibei. Li Yuan's Yuan Congyi Army, those Hedong fellows, 30,000 people were settled there. The best land along Baiqu in the seven counties of Weibei was given to these father-son armies.

"We just want to follow Alang and feel at ease." Cunxiao was very direct.

"Okay, from now on, we brothers will be neighbors and take care of each other. Originally, Luojiabao had 19 households and 4 groups. My group is still short of one household. Xiuzhi, your family will be added to my group.
You four brothers will form a group, and you, Cunxiao, will be the group leader."

"Listen to Alang."

They simply took a look at the ruins of the general camp and then left.

The government has started to deal with the aftermath and clear the ruins. The survivors have also returned, and officials have organized porridge distribution. The geographical location here is very good, and it is an important transportation route, especially to Nanshan, which is a must-pass place.

Although many people died this time, there will be people to fill the gap soon.
However, most of the land in the village was awarded to Li Yi and his friends, so those who came later could only rent the land or work in the workshop.

This was inevitable. Land in the capital would always be scarce, so transfer and annexation were inevitable. Even if the common people were given land, they would eventually lose the ability to hold on to it and would sell it off, eventually consolidating it into the hands of the nobles and powerful.

Starting from the general camp and heading south, the villages along the way are basically in ruins.

It has to be said that Pang Yu also bears a great responsibility. If he had not underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, been ambushed in the general's camp, and then been afraid to move forward, he would not have allowed the 3,000 Qiang cavalry to burn, kill and loot so unscrupulously along the way.

The Sanguan Temple, which was once a popular place, has been completely burned down, leaving only a row of Buddha statues in the caves at the foot of the cliff.

For the common people, this was a sudden disaster, even a calamity.

Fortunately, most of the people in Xingsheng were safe and sound, only their property was damaged.

Li Yi returned to the thatched cottage.
The thatched roofs of his two courtyards were burned off, many beams and pillars were burned off, the wall was still standing, and the doors and windows were also burned out.
Those old trees are still intact.

Li Yi stood at the door and looked around.
"No Yi,"

Suddenly a voice sounded, and then a figure rushed over.

Like a young swallow flying into the forest, she suddenly plunged into his arms,
Hugging her tightly,

"Wuyi, are you okay?

I heard that Luojiabao was looted by rebel soldiers, so I hurried here on horseback, but I couldn't find you anywhere..."

There were several exclamations from the surrounding area, and some people started to make noises.
Li Yi lowered his head and looked at Du Shiniang, who threw herself into his arms, hugged his waist tightly, and cried bitterly.
I reached out and pushed, but it didn't move.

Du Shiniang ignored the voices of the crowd and hugged Li Yi tighter.

"If anything happens to you, I won't live either," Du Shiniang cried.

At this moment, Li Yi was really moved.
He reached out and hugged her.

(End of this chapter)