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

Chapter 211: Stabbed in the Street
"Alang, wake up, it's time to go to court."

Li Yi, who was sleeping soundly on the kang, was awakened. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, then had to leave the warm kang.

Jin Yushu washed Li Yi's face, re-combed his hair, and changed his court clothes.

Today is the first day of the new year. When attending the grand court celebration, you cannot wear casual clothes. You have to wear court clothes, also known as court clothes.

He wore a three-beam Jinxian crown on his head, a red silk shirt with wide sleeves and a double-breasted button-down, and a red silk skirt underneath. He wore a white silk inner garment tied with a large belt, and a red silk knee-guard tied with a leather belt. He had a square curved collar, and hung a jade sword, jade pendant, and brocade ribbon on his shoulders. He also wore white silk socks and black leather shoes.

This is a very solemn dress second only to the crown.

It is much more troublesome than the daily round-collar official robe and futou, and is only worn during some ceremonies such as grand court meetings.

"It's cold, put on a sable fur cloak first, and take a hand warmer, and take it off when you enter the palace." Du Shiniang took out a thick sable fur cloak and put it on him. Li Yi also felt that it was quite cold to wear such a court dress in the middle of winter.

He wanted to wear a sheepskin vest or something underneath, but it didn't go well with the outfit.

Li Yi, who had participated in many court meetings, had some experience. Although he was hungry, he did not eat breakfast. Instead, he ate his empty stomach as soon as he got up.

After changing clothes, he only ate some dried meat and put a small bag of fried rice in his pocket.

You can’t drink the water, otherwise you won’t have access to the toilet.

"Okay, let's go out."

Li Yi said to his wives and concubines, "You should dress warmly too."

Du Shiniang has the imperial decree of a county lady, and Ji Lingyi is a concubine of the eighth rank. Today is New Year's Day, and they also have to go to the palace to pay homage.

Originally, the emperor received congratulations from his ministers, and the empress received congratulations from the ladies of state.

However, Empress Dou Mu of this dynasty has passed away, and the palace has been managed by Concubine Wan, who also presided over the New Year's celebrations by the ladies of the inner and outer court. Concubine Wan was the mother of Li Zhiyun, the only illegitimate son of Li Yuan before he became emperor. Unfortunately, she was killed. It is said that Li Zhiyun, who was already fourteen years old, was excellent in all aspects and much better than Li Yuanji.

It was Du Shiniang's first time to enter the palace to pay homage, but Ji Lingyi knew the rules better, so with her accompanying her, there was no need to worry.

Only Jin Yusu was not qualified, and she looked at the three people pitifully as they went out and got on the carriage.

It's still dark outside,

Many houses in Pingkangfang were decorated with lanterns, and some wealthy families even had colorful lights, which added a festive atmosphere to the dark night.

Li Jing and his eldest son also went out, and Zhang, the Lady of Yongkang County, also accompanied them. Although Li Jing did not have a title yet, he was a fifth-rank Right Marquis of Wu and a Yitong of Wei Yifu, and his wife Zhang was also granted the title of Lady of Yongkang.

Li Yi is now a fourth-rank General of the Cavalry. If the word "inspector" is removed, Du Shiniang, the Lady of Qianshui County, will be eligible to be promoted to the rank of County Lady.

Li Erlang still wanted to be a hero, so he did not enter the official career, which saved him the hard work.

Li Yi said hello to Li Jing, and they all set off together.
Several carriages moved forward and backward, each with its own followers and guards.

Li Yi felt a little sleepy while sitting in the carriage.

The carriage was very bumpy.
It's the end of the year, there's been a lot of rain and snow, and the roads are in great trouble. Fortunately, it hasn't thawed yet, otherwise the roads would be even more difficult to travel on.

Before coming to Chang'an, Li Yi thought Chang'an was so prosperous and grand, and thought that the streets of Chang'an must be paved with bluestone slabs. But after entering Chang'an, he realized that
Even the Ten-Li Tianjie Zhuque Street is a dirt road. Think about it, a 130-meter-wide and ten-li-long Tianjie, like a huge city square, needs to be paved with tiles. How much would that cost?

Therefore, every time the emperor traveled, he had to pave the road with yellow earth and sprinkle clean water on the streets to prevent dust from flying.

Every winter and spring, the roads in Chang'an were muddy and difficult to travel on. In some places, the wheels of horse carriages would sink halfway into the mud. Therefore, the imperial court would send people to the Chan River to dig sand every year to fill the muddy streets of Chang'an.

Fix it up a bit and make it smoother.

Only a section of road in front of the Imperial City Square will be paved with a sand embankment to prevent officials from having difficulty walking during the morning court sessions and on ordinary days when going to the government office.

Not only is the road bumpy,

And it's not very clean,

Especially in the streets of the Fang, people often dumped sewage into the streets. Therefore, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yongzhou government issued strict prohibitions, strictly prohibiting the dumping and discharge of sewage into the streets.
The more the authorities repeatedly ban it, the more serious the situation becomes.

Although it was better than contemporary cities like Rome, it was said that the streets were full of feces and urine. If you were not careful while walking on the street, you might get a bucket of feces and urine poured on your head.
But it’s not much better.

The neighborhoods where the nobles lived were much better, but the areas where the common people lived were extremely dirty and messy.

Holding the small hand stove in his hand, Li Yi felt that although Yuwen Kai's planning and design of Chang'an City was remarkable, it still had some limitations and backwardness, such as the lack of a sufficient sewer system.

Many sewage drains are open channels.
Many people even dig an infiltration well in their yard and pour their domestic sewage directly into the infiltration well, which seeps into the ground.

Doing so will not only pollute the air, but also pollute the groundwater over time. The reason why the Han Chang'an City was abandoned and Yang Jian wanted to build a new city was because the water in the old Chang'an City was all salty.

Another problem is that the old Chang'an City is located in a low-lying area beside the Wei River. As the Wei River erodes the river bank, it faces the risk of flooding.

However, the newly built Daxing City still mainly relies on infiltration wells to treat sewage.

Open channels are mainly used to drain rainwater, with very few underground channels.

The drainage capacity of the entire Chang'an City was very poor. Once heavy rains exceeded the water storage capacity of the city's rivers, ponds, and moats, flooding would occur. During the Sui Dynasty, the West City was flooded many times, and the people had to watch the sea.

The residences of the nobles and wealthy are concentrated on several loess hills in the city. In fact, this is partly for the reason: there is no need to worry about flooding, and the terrain is high and the scenery is good.

Although the entire Chang'an City had water diversion canals and drainage channels, it did not have a real sewage pipe system and relied entirely on seepage wells.

At the beginning of construction, Yuwen Kai also designed a sewage channel with a width and depth of more than two meters next to the main road. However, due to the undulating terrain of Chang'an, sewage drainage was difficult, and blockage and backflow problems occurred, so he had to use infiltration wells.

Even inside the palace, there are many areas without sewers.

It has to be said that this is a huge flaw in urban design.

Seepage wells are undoubtedly a cutting-edge technology in Chang'an City. Digging a deep well, dumping garbage and domestic sewage into it, and letting it seep into the ground might seem convenient, but in reality, they continuously pollute groundwater. Furthermore, every household's seepage well is essentially a garbage pit, easily breeding bacteria and producing odors. Li Yi felt that Chang'an City, aside from the aristocratic residential areas, was not a suitable place to live.

Liu Shilong had cut down all the trees on the streets to make money for the military. There were tall walls everywhere, wide but bumpy streets, and abandoned canals blocking the streets.

However, compared with the eastern capital Luoyang, Wang Shichong defeated Li Mi and temporarily resolved the crisis, but the prices of grain and firewood were still high, and the people still had a hard time this winter. In Puzhou City, which had been besieged for a year and a half, it was said that half of the people in the city were eaten.

Also in Shannan,
Zhu Can was leading hundreds of thousands of people, like a huge swarm of locusts, looting everywhere, leaving behind only misery wherever he passed.

Such a comparison,

The people of Chang'an are actually quite happy.

At least it's stable. Life is hard, but I can still survive.

boom,
The carriage suddenly stopped.

Li Yi almost dropped the hand warmer in his hand and leaned forward.

The driver, Agui's voice came from outside, "There's a big pothole on the road and the wheel is stuck in it. Alang, wait a moment."

Agui asked his followers to push the cart together. It was stuck too deep and they couldn't push it out after several attempts. Li Yi jumped off the cart to reduce the weight.

"Why is there a big pothole on such a nice road?" he wondered.

Suddenly, Li Yi's archery teacher, the imperial guard Zhao Yongan, pushed Li Yi away. Li Yi staggered a few steps and almost fell down.

Before he could react, he heard Zhao Yongan shouting, "Be careful, someone is shooting an arrow!"

Only then did Li Yi hear the sound of arrows breaking through the air.

A soldier who had just stood behind him screamed and fell to the ground after being shot by an arrow.

If Zhao Yongan had not been sensitive to the sound of the bowstring and quickly pushed him away, he would have been the one hit by the arrow.

Li Yi's head suddenly buzzed, and he became alert, his adrenaline soaring.

Nima,

This is still in Pingkangfang, this is Chang'an City, and today is New Year's Day. How could someone attempt an assassination?

Du Yan,

Only one name flashed through his mind, it must be Dogecoin.

"Get down," Zhao Yongan shouted at him.

Li Yi didn't care about the dirt on the ground, he threw himself on the ground and rolled around like a lazy donkey.
really,

Another arrow landed where he was just now.

In the dark night,
One after another, people jumped out from the canal beside Pingkangfang Street. They were dressed in black, wearing masks and holding bows and arrows.

Zhao Yongan ordered several imperial guards to fight back and asked his men to protect Li Yi.

Li Yi rolled over to Du Shiniang's carriage and shouted at the carriage, "There are assassins. Hurry and lie down inside and don't move."

"Ah Lang? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, just lie down."

But before she finished speaking, Du Shiniang had already emerged from the carriage and ran to Li Yi following the sound, "Ah Lang, are you okay?"

Li Yi was both touched and a little angry.

He pulled her to the back of the carriage and asked, "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I can ride and shoot, and I have martial arts skills. I will protect Alang."

Ji Lingyi was obedient and lay in the carriage without coming out, but she also asked about the situation anxiously and concernedly.

"Just lie down, it's okay, just a few thieves."

The arrows whizzed.

From time to time there were screams.

Someone among the men in black has already rushed forward with a big stick.
Li Jing, dressed in court robes and holding a servant's sword, rushed forward. Li Yi's blood boiled and he wanted to rush forward as well, but Du Shiniang held him back, "Ah Lang, those people are very skilled in martial arts, don't go."

Li Jing's wife Zhang Chuchen came with several people, and she was very agile.
"Are you okay?"

"fine,"

Zhang Chuchen looked at the man in black who jumped out of the canal and said, "You guys retreat, I'll go help Alang." After that, she also rushed towards the man in black. Li Yi was amazed. He didn't expect that the Hongfu girl with extraordinary temperament was actually a master.

"Let's retreat first."

Li Yi told Ji Lingyi to step back, as they couldn't cause any more trouble at this time.

Just as he retreated a distance, several men in black jumped out of the ditch behind him.

call out!
An arrow hits,
Li Yi pulled Du Shiniang away and stood in front of her.
The pain came.

Li Yi was shot by an arrow.

(End of this chapter)