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

Chapter 157 Don’t Scare the Du Family

After morning,
The emperor granted corridor food to all officials, and Li Mi, the Duke of Xing, was appointed as the Minister of the Imperial Household and was required to offer food according to the rules.

He used to be high and mighty, but now he has to lead a group of kitchen servants to deliver meals to officials. Li Mi, who has been arrogant and proud for a long time, cannot stand this.

And he just happened to hear the ministers talking about the auspicious gift presented by Qianshui Bo yesterday while eating in the corridor. The saint named it Golden Shu and bestowed auspiciousness on many golden and purple ministers.

However, as the Minister of Guanglu, Shangzhuguo and Duke of Xing, he was not granted any auspicious signs.

Li Yuan always called him his brother, but when something good happened, he didn't think of him. He promised his cousin Dugu to him, but she turned out to be a widow whose husband had died.

This Dugu family relied on her Dugu family's famous Guanlong background, her cousin being the emperor, and her cousin being the Minister of Works Dugu Huai'en, and actually looked down on him a little.

It's not pleasant here, either inside or outside.

After finishing his shift, Li Mi found his confidant Wang Bodang.

Although Wang Bodang was appointed the General of the Left Guard, it was just an honorary title. He had no soldiers and no real power.

The two sat together and sighed.

"I heard that the golden potatoes Li Wuyi offered can yield two to three thousand kilograms per mu, and can be harvested three times a year?"

"Maybe. I heard that he presented 72 kilograms of golden potatoes as a tribute, and the emperor rewarded him with 72 ingots of gold and promoted him to the rank of fifth-rank imperial doctor."

Li Mi sighed, "I am a third-rank Guanglu Qing, and you are a third-rank Zuo Wuwei General, yet you can't even get a single golden potato?"

At the beginning, Li Mi thought that since he had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and still had so much territory and troops in Shandong, wouldn’t Li Yuan make him one of the Three Dukes?

When he first submitted to the Luoyang court, he was granted the titles of Grand Commandant, Minister of the Central Secretariat, Minister of the Southeastern Circuit, and Duke of Wei.
Who would have known that when he arrived in Chang'an, his subordinate Wang Bodang was appointed as a third-rank general, while he was only a third-rank general. What was even more hateful was that this Guanglu Qing had to be responsible for serving food at every palace banquet and corridor banquet, making him act like a menial clerk.

"The imperial court has been so generous to people like Li Wuyi, yet so unfair to us. Could it be that millions of my former soldiers and hundreds of cities in Shandong who have surrendered to me are worth less than a single golden potato?"

Although Wang Bodang was a general, he had no power after arriving and was very dissatisfied. "The affairs of the world are in your hands. Now Xu Shiji, Duke of Donghai, is in Liyang, Zhang Shanxiang, Duke of Xiangyang, is in Linru, and Li Gongyi, Duke of Yangxia, is in Yongqiu.

The Henan troops are still here, how can this continue?"

Li Mi also said, "A true man stands between heaven and earth. How can he be depressed and inferior to others for long?"

"If you have other intentions, you must do it as soon as possible. Wei Xuancheng has already offered to go to Liyang to recruit Xu Shiji. If he leads his troops to surrender to the Tang, it will be too late."

Li Mi nodded.

When she returned home, Dugu had just returned from drinking tea at another noble lady's house.
Seeing him, he asked, "Today, we were drinking tea and arranging flowers at Princess Guiyang's mansion. We were talking about the son-in-law of the Jingzhao Du family who paid a million to lose the family fortune and offered auspicious signs to the saints. It is said that the auspicious signs can yield thousands of kilograms per acre, and many ministers and officials were given golden potatoes.

Why didn’t you receive the gift?”

Li Mi was very angry and didn't want to pay any attention to her.

But Gudu kept on talking.
"I'm talking to you. You used to call yourself a hero and leader of the Central Plains, but now you can't even get a golden potato. You're incompetent."

Li Mi wanted to strangle this vicious woman to death.

But in my heart, I became more and more determined to leave Chang'an.
Wide sea diving, sky high the birds to fly,
The world situation is still undecided, and it is still unknown who will win!

Doesn’t Li Mi have a chance to make a comeback?
Li Mi returned to his study and wrote to the emperor, "I have been honored with great favors in vain, sitting comfortably in the capital, without ever serving the country. The people of Shandong are all my former subordinates. Please go and gather them together and pacify them. With the power of our country, we can easily defeat Wang Shichong!"

Li Yi returned to his home in Pingkangfang carrying more than ten kilograms of gold.

His wives and concubines are all waiting for news from him.

"How is it?" Shi Niang asked with concern.

Li Yi put the wooden box on the table and it rang with a bang.

“Guess what’s here!”

"My husband has done a great service in offering potatoes. Has His Majesty rewarded him?"

"My wife is really clever. Today, eight basins of potatoes were harvested on the spot in the Golden Palace. They weighed a total of 72 kilograms. His Majesty rewarded me with 72 ingots of gold."

The Silla maid screamed.

Shi Niang and Ji Shi were not that surprised.
"Madam, where are the seventy-two ingots of gold?"

"Just some gold." Shi Niang said.

"Three taels and a large ingot, a total of over two hundred taels. In addition, the sage promoted me to the fifth rank of San Dafu and appointed me as the sixth rank Deputy Supervisor of the Palace Gardens."

"Also, the King of Qin gave me a generous gift: a thousand acres of fertile farmland in Yuzhou, Hedong, and a salt field in Jiechi. I heard that it can produce at least two thousand stones of salt a year."

Now, Du Shiniang was also moved.

More than 2,000 stones of salt. Even during the heyday of Kaihuang, the cheapest salt cost more than 20 coins per dou.
Now, the worst salt costs more than 30 cents per pound, and the better ones cost more than 100 cents per pound.

One dou of salt is worth two pieces of silk, and one stone of salt is worth two cows.

Two thousand stones of salt?

The Silla maidservant on the side was a little overwhelmed with the number. "Then this piece of salt field, the salt sales in a year, wouldn't it be worth four or five thousand cows?"

"There are also costs. It starts in February and lasts until August. There are two months of preparatory work, and five months of salt drying. It takes seven months of hard work. We have to hire people, ditches, water diversion, and transportation.

A bucket of salt costs two pieces of silk, but that's the price people get, and it's sold wholesale at every level. There's not much profit in the salt fields."

"Is there at least half the profit?"

"One of three?"

"A thousand cattle a year is also amazing."

Li Yi smiled and said, "Now it's because of the war that the salt-producing areas have been affected. The output is low and transportation is blocked, so the price of salt is high. You see, during the Kaihuang period, salt was only 20 coins per dou, and a dan was only 200 coins.

Two thousand shi of salt is only about 400,000 yuan, and the salt fields are definitely cheaper. "Alang also said that it was in the past, but now it's a dou of rice and a jin of salt. So we need to quickly arrange for people to take over the salt fields."

"Why go now? We have to start clearing the fields in February, then divert the brine in April, water it, and dry it to get the salt. It all depends on the season and the weather."

"We have to send someone to watch over it. It's a cash cow."

Li Yi now realized that someone like him with no foundation was really restricted in every way.

No matter if you want to do something or get some benefits, you are short of manpower.

His several thousand acres of land, several workshops and shops were also operating very reluctantly. He recruited many disaster victims and had a purely makeshift team.
Fortunately, there are some familiar villagers in Luojiabao and the neighboring Guozhuang villages, and they know each other well. Li Yi also has some reputation and word of mouth, so he can get some people to take over.

Originally, when marrying a wife and taking a concubine, there should be someone available in the wife's or concubine's family.

But his situation is special. His wife's family has always been unwilling to recognize this marriage. Since Ji Wen went to Li Yi to ask for the person with that attitude last time, but was ignored, the Ji family has not come for a long time, and they don't recognize him as a relative.

Jin was abducted from Silla, so it is impossible for her to have any relatives or friends to help her.

"Alang, were all eight basins of potatoes taken away by the saint? Wouldn't we have no potatoes in the future? If we had known earlier, we wouldn't have made a fuss and wouldn't have lost them." Ji said with a little regret.

Although we exchanged it for so much gold, those potatoes are still treasures.

"Don't worry, the saint is very good," Li Yi said as he distributed potatoes and then planned to plant potatoes in the greenhouse in the palace.

"Wow, Alang can actually enjoy the same treatment as King Qin and Prime Minister Pei, and also has a pot."

Li Yi talked about serious matters with Shi Niang.

"Your brother said he would invite the Du family's clansmen and relatives to hold a grand ceremony for you to return home and worship your ancestors. He would also give you your million-dollar dowry at that time."

Shi Niang has become much calmer.
I am not as sad as before. Some time ago, I often shed tears secretly.

"Even if my brother makes amends, the Du family has been disgraced this time, and it's not just me, Du Shiniang, who has lost face."

After a few days,
Li Yi accompanied Shi Niang back home to worship their ancestors.

Shi Niang got up early, changed into a five-flowered tree, five hairpins, two buns on her temples, a ceremonial dress with a phoenix pattern, and also put on some elegant makeup.

At the beginning,

When she got married, the Du family did not give her a formal dress, but only a skirt for common people, and no flower tree hairpins or ornaments.

And today,
She returned home to worship her ancestors as a county lady, wearing the ceremonial dress with flowers, trees, and hairpins that was granted to her by the county lady.
This is what her husband earned for her.

Because Li Yi had already obtained a fifth-rank official position, he did not wear a noble hat today, but changed into a fifth-rank formal dress.

Black crown and robes.

There are five tassels on the black crown, each with five beads. There is also a crest on the skirt, embroidered with a black and blue "亚" shaped pattern.

It means to turn away from evil and towards good.

She wore a blue dress with a purple skirt, a white midriff, and a long belt that was twelve feet long.

There are also ivory scepters, gold-decorated swords, and dark green jade pendants.

Red shoes and red socks.

After putting on this outfit, Li Yi felt as if he was going to ascend the throne, or at least be appointed as a prince.

I even felt like I had become Qin Shi Huang.

Compared with court dress, official dress and daily dress, this set of crown clothes is indeed too solemn.

No wonder it is only worn during sacrifices.

Compared with the imperial hats worn by the sixth to ninth ranks, it is more than one level higher.

In the past, this was the formal dress of a local lord.

There is also a pattern on the clothes. Although it is far inferior to the twelve patterns of the emperor and the nine patterns of the first rank, it is still a pattern.

"Alang, I feel extremely proud to see you wearing this black crown today." Shi Niang helped him straighten his clothes.

"My lady, this dress with flower-tree hairpins and embroidered hairpins is also very beautiful."

The couple were both in green.

Full of high-end feeling.

To be honest, this blue is not the same color as the blue official robes of officials of the eighth and ninth ranks. The blue of the crown is a combination of blue and green, which is restrained and steady.

The green robes of officials of the eighth and ninth ranks are blue in color.

Li Yi called Liu Heizi over,

"Heizi, my wife and I are going back to the Du family today. We need to gather everyone in our house to support my wife. We cannot let our Wannian Li family lose their prestige in front of the Jingzhao Du family."

"Don't worry, we have already made preparations. Today we have called 180 soldiers and 180 female guests.

Twelve carriages have been prepared."

Li Yi, the upstart, recruited hundreds of people at once last time. Together with the dozens of people he recruited for Xiuzhi, Li Yi now has nearly 500 private troops under his command.

"If it's not enough, I'll call for more immediately."

"That's enough. Don't scare the Du family. We're not going to have a fight!"

(End of this chapter)