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

Chapter 168: Flower of Gaochang
There is still half a month until the winter solstice.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Winter Solstice was both a solar term and an important festival, with a seven-day holiday, just like New Year's Day. It was even more grand than the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Qingming Festival.

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the Taichu calendar, the beginning of the year was changed from the winter solstice to the first day of the first lunar month. The Winter Solstice Festival was distinguished from New Year's Day, and thus the Winter Solstice Festival came into being.

From the Western Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and through the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Winter Solstice Festival became more and more grand.

The imperial court held an official winter solstice ceremony to worship the heavens, which was called a grand ceremony of the country. They also held court envoys and issued a general amnesty, giving officials and civilians a seven-day holiday, and even official slaves were given a three-day holiday.

During the winter solstice, people will worship their ancestors, visit relatives, and have lively banquets. Those who are away from home will also return home during the winter solstice.

Li Yi said that he would take Ji Sujun home to visit her relatives on the Winter Solstice Festival, and there was nothing wrong with choosing this date.

"Does everyone in Chang'an know that I, Li Yi, like vulgar things like gold and silver?" Li Yi looked at the gifts left by Dou Liuniang and others.
Dou Liuniang presented two pieces of gilded silverware, as well as spices like pepper and agarwood, while Su Jun's other brothers' wives presented silk, satin, and other muslin fabrics.

He picked up some pieces of fabric with some surprise.
"This is white folding cloth from Gaochang. These are high-quality cloths, and each piece costs 1,800 yuan. Gaochang women weave white folding cloth with the bark of the sago tree. It is very rare. Sogdian merchants come to Chang'an and it is deeply loved by the nobles. The supply cannot meet the demand." Ji Sujun said.

Li Yi looked at the cloth in his hand. Isn't this cotton cloth?

There was also cotton in the Tang Dynasty, but it was silk cotton, not cotton. He didn't expect to see cotton cloth woven from cotton today, and the feel was completely different from silk, linen, ramie, etc.

"This isn't made from the bark of the swaying palm tree," Li Yi smiled and shook his head. "It's actually made from the fruit of a plant called Baidiezi. This plant looks like grass, and its fruit is like a cocoon. When it matures, it opens, revealing thin strands of white silk inside. After removing the seeds, it's spun into yarn, which can then be woven into Baidie cloth."

"So Alang recognizes this thing?"

"I used to travel the world with my master, so I'm quite knowledgeable. Actually, the real name for white diezi is cotton, and the cloth made from cotton is cotton cloth. The advantages of cotton cloth are that it's soft, breathable, warm, comfortable to wear, and good at absorbing sweat. But it also has disadvantages: it's prone to deformation, wrinkling, and shrinkage."

"Of course, if we use cotton to fill winter clothes and make cotton-padded jackets, it will be very warm and cold-resistant, which is better than the silk cotton and silk wadding we use now. We can also make cotton shoes, cotton hats, cotton quilts, cotton gloves, etc."

"Over in Lingnan, there's a kind of kapok tree with shorter floss, which can also be spun and woven."

Shi Niang and Ji were all shocked. They didn't expect that Li Yi not only knew Bai Diebu, but also knew so much about him.

"Gaochang's cotton is truly a treasure! No wonder I heard that although Gaochang was small, it was very powerful in the Western Regions. It turns out there are such treasures."

Li Yi smiled,
"In fact, the Gaochang people deliberately concealed the fact and said that the white cloth was made of the bark of the safflower tree. They did not want others to bring cotton to the Central Plains.
Cotton is not native to Gaochang, but was brought from the more distant Western Regions. We can also grow it in the Central Plains. Planting cotton is not difficult, but processing it is more troublesome. The seeds must be removed first, and then the yarn is spun. Most people in Gaochang process it by hand, so the annual output is limited and the cost is high. When it is brought to the Central Plains, a story is made up that the scarcity of things makes it valuable. Therefore, it has become a luxury item sought after by the nobles, and it is sold at a price higher than silk.
One piece of cotton cloth was sold for the price of five pieces of raw silk."

Yu Youniang was very clever and heard some hidden meaning in Li Yi's words. "Ah Lang, what you mean is that we can also grow cotton and weave cotton cloth. These things are not rare?"

"It's nothing too special, and there's not even any advanced technology involved. It's about the same as growing potatoes, not difficult."

"Then can we get cotton seeds and grow them ourselves? Then we can open our own textile workshop and weave cotton cloth, or even make cotton robes and quilts?"

"Of course, I've said this isn't difficult to grow, but the Gaochang people blocked it off intentionally before, so we didn't realize it could be grown in the Central Plains. We actually thought it was only grown in Gaochang.

Even Gaochang's mare's milk grapes can be grown in the Central Plains."

Several women became excited.
Cotton cloth costs 1,800 coins per piece, which is five times the price of silk. If the Li family can also grow this and set up a workshop in the future, that would be great.

Look at how popular Gaochang white folded cloth is in Chang'an now.

The nobles were proud of wearing white folded cloth clothes,
This thing represents preciousness, luxury, and status.

There is no worry about selling, and the demand has always exceeded the supply.

In fact, it was not that the Gaochang people or the Sogdian merchants brought in more cotton. It was that Gaochang was just a small oasis city-state with limited cotton growing area. In addition, their backward and primitive processing methods made production efficiency low and output very limited.
We can only produce a little bit every year, and we can't produce more.

"Then Alang, you must get some cotton seeds," said Du Shiniang.

"Okay, I'll find a way. Nothing is difficult if you set your mind to it."

Since Gaochang has cotton planting and a cotton cloth industry, it would not be difficult to get some cotton seeds back. At most, they could just smuggle them back.

Li Yi quite liked these tacky gifts given by the five sisters-in-law of the Ji family, as they could all be used as money.

Ji had been a little absent-minded and dazed. The visit of these relatives today was a big shock to her. She had originally planned to sever all ties with them.

Who knew that when they came to her and apologized a few times, she relaxed again.

Li Yi could understand.
Non-vegetation, ruthless Practice makes perfect.

The kinder a person is, the easier it is for him to forgive others.

"Your younger sister looks exactly like you, as if they were printed from the same mold. She will be a great beauty in the future and will be a great match for the Sixth Young Master of the Yi'an Royal Family." Upon hearing this, Ji smiled and came back to her senses.

Li Yi did not tell her about Ji Wen and Dou Zhiyuan's affair with him.

Men should solve their own problems. Ji Sujun longs for family affection, so let's just deal with it separately.

Li Yi always returns the favor if others respect him an inch.

Luo San had saved his life, and Li Yi treated Luo San's family as his own. Guo Erlang had also helped him a lot when he first arrived, and he had never forgotten that.

But if Guo wants to deal with him, he will not be polite.

In fact, he doesn't want to be like a hedgehog, but there are always people who think he is easy to bully, so he can only raise his thorns to fight back.

A great man once said, "Peace will survive if it is sought through struggle, but it will die if it is sought through compromise."

Struggle is an important means and should never be given up.

Fight when you need to.

This is also the spirit of Drawing the Sword.

"I didn't expect them to give us such valuable gifts," Li Yi smiled. Each of the gifts was worth tens of thousands of dollars, and Dou Liuniang's gift was twice as valuable as the others. "It's rude not to reciprocate. Tomorrow, I'll send someone to give a gift to each of your six brothers and sisters. I'll use our specialty products.

The six gifts include bean curd sheets, bean curd foam, natto and other soy products, as well as soap and persimmon wine, all of which are produced in-house.

"Oh, right, ask the person who sent the gift to ask them if they want to take back a piece of auspicious sign. I originally had 28 auspicious signs bestowed by His Majesty, and now I have only eight left.
I'd like to give away four more."

Ji said hurriedly: "Auspicious signs are too precious, and we only have eight left in our family."

"We are all relatives, so it's only natural that we share. When the Jingzhao Wei Du, Hongnong Yang, Hedong Pei, Henan Huangfu and others came to invite us, we also offered 15 taels of gold to each one. It's the same for them too."

Yu Youniang couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Even Du Shiniang rolled her eyes at Li Yi and said, "Ah Lang, you only do business with your relatives. You are obsessed with money."

“You don’t understand, I’m sharing this, and I’m giving you this opportunity because we’re relatives.

Last time at my second brother's house, twenty people left while I was having tea. If I hadn't refused to send more people off, they would have been gone long ago.

There are still many nobles and officials who want to ask me for auspicious signs. They directly offered thirty taels of gold for one, but I refused.

"I also want to bring good fortune to the Ji, Dou, Liu, and Xue families. I do this because I value my relatives. Otherwise, I would have given away thirty or fifty taels to each of them."

Li Yi was not exaggerating.
There are only so many auspicious signs.

For example, Dou Liuniang's father, Dou Jin, was the Duke of Deng and the governor of Yizhou, but he was not included in the auspicious gifts bestowed by the emperor last time.

Dou Wei, Dou Kang, Dou Gui, Dou Jin, Dou Jing, Dou Dan, Dou Cong, and Dou Yun. There are so many branches of the Dou family in Chang'an, but there are only five dukes. However, the one who obtained the auspicious golden potato last time was only Dou Cong, the general of the Right Tunwei and the Duke of Qiao, because he was one of the seventeen heroes of Taiyuan Yuanmou.

Although his elder brother Dou Gui had the merits of suppressing the Ji Hu and helping to suppress Xue Ju, and restored his family's old title of Duke of Ling, he was not granted the golden potato this time as the governor of Qinzhou.

There were many dukes and ministers of the third rank and above in the court, but after all, golden potatoes were given, and many people did not get any.

Golden potatoes were known for their auspiciousness and were not that valuable originally. However, due to the shortage of golden potatoes, they became increasingly popular. Some people offered fifteen taels to buy one, while others were willing to spend twenty taels.
This is no longer as simple as buying an auspicious sign. This is a secret competition among the powerful people in the new dynasty, unwilling to fall behind others.

Li Shimin, Pei Ji, and Jiancheng were rewarded with a nest of golden potatoes, so naturally they would not sell them for money like Li Yi did. They all used them to win over people.

Only Li Yi was straightforward and sold it as long as the money was paid.

Of course, he only sold it once that day at Du Ruhui's house. Even the emperor knew that he sold three hundred taels of gold, but he didn't care.

Li Yi planned to sell a few to Dou Gui, Dou Jin and other members of the Dou family.
It's not all about money,

Instead, it was Dou Zhiyuan and Ji Wen who were messing with him. He sold potatoes to their family at 15 taels of gold per potato. Li Yi wanted to make a quick buck from them.

Although they may not feel that they have lost out, they may actually be happy to have the opportunity to get a lucky charm.
From then on, he became complacent about being the first noble to receive auspicious signs.
But Li Yi felt that he could make fifteen taels of gold from their family with just one potato, which was more profitable. He could even make a lot of money and feel happy and comfortable.

If you exchange one potato for a house in Chang'an, it is definitely worth it.

(End of this chapter)