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

Chapter 167: Beating a dog depends on its owner

Ji Wen, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, took advantage of the break after lunch, left the Ministry of Personnel, crossed Chengtianmen Street, and came to the Censorate in the southwest of the imperial city.

To the right of the Censorate and to the left of the Zongzheng Temple is the Taishijian. Compared with the Secretariat and the Six Ministries in the center of the imperial city, this place is much quieter.

He greeted Bai Zhi, who was on duty at the yamen, and went in to find his brother-in-law.

"How is it? Have the higher-ups dealt with it?" Ji Wen asked immediately when he saw the Censor Dou Zhiyuan. He had been absent-minded in the yamen this morning and made several mistakes, for which he was reprimanded by his superior, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

Dou Zhiyuan smiled and asked his sixth brother-in-law to sit down.
"It was just submitted yesterday. It's so urgent."

Ji Wen said bluntly, "I feel uncomfortable when I think of Tian She'er's arrogant attitude. Last time, he even dared to let his servants beat up my people. If you hadn't persuaded me, I would have brought people to fight back."

Dou Zhiyuan slowly baked the tea cakes.

"You're too impatient. It wasn't a big deal, but it ended up like this. As for the four servants Li Yi allowed to beat you up last time, did you know that those four servants are now commanders of the Imperial Guards?
You dare to lead people to beat up His Majesty's Imperial Guard Commander?"

Ji Wen said: "I know Su Jun has prejudices against our family, but these past few years have been so chaotic that we have been unable to take care of ourselves. Now that she is out, we want to take her home. It is also for her own good."

Dou Zhiyuan actually doesn't care about his brother-in-law's nonsense at all.

but,

Li Yi was not giving face to Ji Wen, and he was also not giving face to the Deng Guogong Mansion.

It depends on the owner when it comes to beating a dog.

Even if the Ji family fell into decline, he would still be the sixth son-in-law of the Dou family in the Dengguo Mansion.

This time, he took action to get the impeachment certificate, but it was just a side job.

"Did you know that Mr. Sun, the Imperial Censor, is Li Yi's senior brother?"

"heard about it."

"Du Ruhui, the Chief Clerk of the Shanzhou General Administration Office, an official of the Prince of Qin's Palace, and a Military Officer, is Li Yi's wife's cousin. They have a good relationship. You should know this, right?"

"know."

Dou Zhiyuan smiled, threw the roasted tea cake pieces into the tea grinder and ground them into powder, then sifted them with a sieve, moving neither hurriedly nor slowly.

"Sun Zhongcheng talked to me today and made his point clear.
At the beginning, Your Majesty gave your sister from the Ye Ting Palace to Li Yi as a maid. Now Li Yi is very good to your sister. Not only did he release her as a free woman, but he also took her as a concubine. Even Du Shiniang is good to your sister.

There's no major conflict between you and Li Yi. You're relatives now, so let's just forget about any misunderstandings in the past. He said he'd find a time to invite Li Yi and your sister out, and then invite the two of us, and maybe your brother and sister, so we can meet and talk."

Ji Wen frowned.

"If Li Yi doesn't clean up, I'll feel uncomfortable."

"Alright, then, let's wait a little longer. This time, I'm impeaching Li Yi, so I can at least punish him and give him a warning." Dou Zhiyuan poured tea into the pot. "But let's stop here. There's no need to create grudges. Li Yi is quite capable."

He looked at his brother-in-law, and it was only thanks to his family connections that he was transferred back to Beijing from the position of military officer in Qizhou and got a job as the head of the Ministry of Personnel.

This is just a position from the ninth rank.
As for Li Yi, within half a year, he had become the founding earl of Qianshui County, the deputy supervisor of the palace garden from the sixth rank, and was specially granted a red robe.

He has long been famous among the emperor, the crown prince, and the King of Qin.

Ji Wen, who knows which one it is?
Even Dou Zhiyuan, although he called the emperor his cousin, the emperor might not be able to remember every member of the Dou family.

He was willing to get to know this young Li Yi, but given his family background and status, there was no need for him to actively approach or curry favor with him. He had his own way of doing things.
For example, this time, Li Yi was impeached first, and then Sun Fujia came forward to meet with Li Yi.

When dealing with people from Li Yi's background, you have to suppress them from the beginning and always have the upper hand.

Even when he impeached Li Yi this time, he knew that Sun Fujia was his senior brother, who had just taken office as the Supervisory Censor.
But today, because of the impeachment of Li Yi, Sun Fujia talked to him for a long time and was very polite to him. As soon as he took action, Sun Fujia, the second-in-command of the Censorate, owed him a favor.

When Ji Wen saw that the tea was ready, he took the initiative to take the pot and share the tea.

"It would be great if we could remove that guy from his position this time."

Palace Garden Supervisor,
Fan Fang talked to Li Yi and told him not to be discouraged or lose heart. It was just a small setback and being impeached was not a big deal.

Li Yi asked for leave from him, saying that he would voluntarily suspend his work and accept investigation.

"Not really, not really," Fan Fang said with a smile. This Jinzi Guanglu doctor spent most of his time attending the emperor, and he also liked hunting, eating, drinking and having fun.

Although I haven't had much contact with my subordinate Li Yi for long, I still admire him very much.

"Master Fan, I'm not saying this out of anger. Anyway, the golden potatoes have been planted and are growing well. I'm taking this opportunity to take a break and go to the countryside to see the fort that Your Majesty helped me build."

"You're really not angry?"

"When you're an official, you're bound to be criticized. Impeachment is fine, it's not a big deal."

"Okay, I'll give you ten days off. Don't mention anything about requesting a suspension for investigation. You can go back to the countryside to have some fun. If the vacation isn't enough, we can talk about it later."

"Thank you, Supervisor Fan."

"Hahaha, why are you being so polite? When I have time, I'll come to your farm to play." "Okay, I'll definitely treat you well then."

Li Yi packed up his things, took a ten-day vacation, and rode home.

He already knew that Ji Wen had been transferred back to the capital from Qizhou and was now the director of the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Personnel, a ninth-rank official.

The official position is very low, but still has some real power.

The Ministry of Personnel is one of the four departments of the Ministry of Personnel. The chief official is Langzhong, followed by Yuanwailang.

Next are the four chief officials, who are in charge of a group of clerks. I heard that in the Ministry of Personnel alone, there are 30 clerks, 60 clerks, 14 clerks, 11 clerks of the Jiaku, 8 pavilion chiefs, and 12 guards.

The four principals are equivalent to four department heads, and each of them is in charge of more than 30 people.

The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of matters related to civil servant ranks, court meetings, salaries and grants, leave of absence, and the selection and appointment of non-official officials. It has heavy responsibilities and all civil servants have to report to them.

Li Yi is now a fifth-rank official and a sixth-rank official, so he is less affected by the Ministry of Personnel.

The imperial court stipulated that all officials below the sixth rank must leave their posts after completing their terms and wait for a certain number of years before they can participate in the selection process of the Ministry of Personnel again.
However, every year the Ministry of Personnel’s selection process eliminates a large number of people, and only about two-thirds of the candidates can pass the selection process and be appointed as officials again.

Those who fail will have to continue to wait for the election.

Only some honest and important officials are exempt from the election.

Li Yi happens to be a sixth-rank official now, so he doesn't need to be suspended from his post to await election after completing his term. Otherwise, he still has to pass the review of the Ministry of Personnel.

Don't underestimate him as a small ninth-rank official, but sometimes the current official is not as good as the current manager.

back home,

Li Yi was about to talk to Ji about this matter and ask her if she was willing to meet her brothers and sisters at home, but Yu Youniang said that there were guests at home.
"It's Madam Ji's sister who's here."

Yi Yi remembered that Su Jun said that when she got married, her sister was only three years old, so she was only eight years old now, so he went straight to the hall.

When I went in, I found that it was not only Ji Sujun's sister who came, but also several other women.

Su Jun had tears on her face, holding a little girl in her arms.
"Ah Lang, this is my sister, Qianchi."

Ji Yichi, who is only eight years old this year, looks very cute. When he saw Li Yi, he looked at him curiously for a few times, then stepped forward and bowed, calling him "brother-in-law" in a crisp voice.

"I'm here to meet my brother-in-law."

Several other women also came to greet him.
One is Dou Liuniang, Sujun's sister-in-law and Ji Wen's wife. Her father is Dou Jin, who was the governor of Fufeng at the end of the Sui Dynasty. He surrendered to Li Yuan with Fufeng County and served as the Minister of Rites and the Minister of Civil Affairs. He participated in the expedition against Xue Ju last time.

Now transferred to be the governor of Yizhou, Liu Wenjing took over his post as the Minister of Civil Affairs.

This Dou Liu lady is quite graceful and generous.

The other women were also the wives of Su Jun's brothers, her legitimate brothers Ji Siwen, Sizhong, and Sigong, and her illegitimate brothers Sijing and Siyi.

Ji Sujun has five brothers and one sister.

Most of the four women came from famous families in Guanlong. It can be seen that when Ji Wei was still alive, the Ji family was indeed very prestigious.

Even Ji Yichi was engaged to his husband at an early age. His husband's family was the current Prince Yi'an's family, and he was engaged to his sixth son, Li Yiyu.

At that time, Li Xiaochang's father, Li Yuantong, was the Minister of Punishment, but he also took the initiative to marry Yang Guang's confidant Ji Wei.

Ji Sujun's five brothers and their wives came with her younger sister and brought generous gifts. Ji Sujun, who originally did not want to have any contact with her family after leaving the palace,
After meeting for half a day, he was already shaken.

Especially when her younger sister would hug her whenever they met, calling her "sister" over and over again, it made it even harder for her to control her emotions. Before she got married, she had always taken care of this younger sister. When she got married, the younger sister was over three years old, and they had a deep bond.

I haven't seen you for five years, and I miss you so much.
She could blame her brothers for being ruthless and indifferent, but she couldn't blame her little sister, after all, she was so young.

Several brothers' wives also told her about the difficulties their family had faced in recent years. The brothers had been traveling all over the place and had not been in Chang'an.
When Li Yi arrived, Dou Liuniang apologized again, saying that her husband had been so intent on bringing Su Jun back that he had been rude and impolite. They also apologized deeply for the last time the servants came to fetch someone, but the lowly servants were ignorant and impolite.

Don't hit someone who smiles, especially a woman.

Such apologies,

Li Yi looked at Su Jun again and knew that she still couldn't be so heartless as to break off the relationship.
He immediately smiled and said, "I understand. Brothers and sisters have a deep bond. They were just anxious for a moment. Just talk it out. After all, blood is thicker than water."

"Then let's pick an auspicious day and send someone to pick up my sister and bring her back home to visit her parents. She has been treated so badly in the past few years. Fortunately, she has met Uncle Qianshui and Madam Du, who treat her very well. We are relieved.
We'll visit each other often in the future."

Dou Liuniang was so careful with her words that Li Yi couldn't find any fault with her.

He looked at Ji Sujun and saw that she no longer objected. He knew that she was also moved and wanted to go home and was willing to contact her brothers again.

I immediately agreed on behalf of Su Jun.

"Or I can wait until the winter solstice and take Sujun back to visit my parents."

(End of this chapter)