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

Chapter 215: Jin's Founding Marquis Grants Purple Gold

harem,

Concubine Wan Guifei accepted the congratulations of the ladies in Lizheng Hall.
The lights are bright and the incense is curling.

The ladies of the inner and outer court, dressed in gorgeous clothes and wearing pearls and jade on their heads, entered the palace one after another and paid their respects to Concubine Wan on New Year's Day.

On this happy day, everyone wore a proper smile on their face and exchanged greetings with each other.
Her clothes fluttered in the wind and her jewelry jingled, showing her elegance and luxury.

Du Shiniang, the Princess of Qianshui County, wore a five-flowered tree on her head, and beside her was her concubine Lingyi, who was wearing a long-sleeved dress. Seeing many familiar relatives,
Du Shiniang came forward to greet and wish her a happy new year.
But many noble ladies were rather indifferent to her, especially the Wei family, who had no good face at all and ignored her.

Mrs. Guo, the wife of Fengxiang Commandery, also came.
Although he is eighty years old, he is dressed in formal attire today, with his head held high, holding a rhinoceros-shaped cane in his hand, and looking arrogant.

In the past, the ladies would always come and say hello, but today everyone ignored them and even avoided them from a distance.

Guo, the daughter of the Fengxiang Marquisate of the Jingzhao Du family, had long been senile and had lost all reputation, and no one wanted to care about her anymore.

Concubine Wan entered the palace accompanied by six female officials.

The palace banquet is about to begin.
"The Saint has a decree," said Concubine Wan.
A young eunuch stepped forward and said, "Mrs. Guo, the Grand Madam of Fengxiang County, accepts the decree." The messenger's voice echoed in the Lizheng Hall.

Everyone is quiet,

Everyone looked at Guo with some curiosity.

Guo stepped forward and saluted.

"After investigation, it was discovered that the Grand Madam of Fengxiang County, Guo, had become arrogant due to her favor, colluded with foreign ministers, and plotted to assassinate a high official of the imperial court. Considering her family's past meritorious service, I hereby revoke her imperial decree and confiscate her property. She must immediately accompany my envoy to question him!"

Once this decree is issued,
Just like throwing a stone into a calm lake, ripples appear.

The ladies all looked up, their faces full of surprise and confusion, whispering to each other.

"What's the big deal?"

"Who are you trying to assassinate?"

"Ms. Guo is really out of her mind."

"You're old, why are you still so confused?"

······
Guo's face turned pale instantly.
She held onto her rhino cane, trying to steady herself. Her eyes were wide open, her lips trembling. She wanted to explain, but couldn't speak.

The messenger came forward and wanted to take Guo away.

Du Shiniang stepped forward quickly and stood in front of her grandmother.

"My grandfather is eighty years old. The assassination attempt on my father-in-law in Yongkangfang this morning has absolutely nothing to do with him."

Du Shiniang's words revealed a lot of information.

This made all the noble ladies very excited.
"The person who was assassinated was Du Shiniang's husband?"

"The Li Yi who was made Shallow Water Earl in just six months?"

"Even if Mrs. Guo opposed her granddaughter marrying Li Yi, there was no need to send someone to assassinate her. That's crazy."

"Yes, they actually carried out assassination,"

"The assassination attempt was made this morning, and Du Shiniang even came to pay her respects to the Imperial Concubine. It seems the attempt was unsuccessful."

"This time, I ended up losing more than I gained."

Amidst the discussions among the crowd,

The eunuch who delivered the decree said to Shi Niang, "Your Majesty has ordered that Guo be brought in for questioning. Don't worry, she will be escorted out of the palace after the questioning. Your Majesty has already asked Du Ruhui, the male of Jianping County, to wait outside the palace to pick her up."

"Please don't make it difficult for us."

Guo stood up, looked around proudly,

"Azu," Shi Niang supported her.

Guo pushed her granddaughter aside, straightened her clothes, and said to the messenger, "Let's go."

The eunuch was no longer afraid of the old woman who had become a commoner. "Please remove the seven-flowered tree and two bo temples."

Guo took them off one by one with great determination.

"Let's go."

"Grandpa." Shi Niang shed tears.

Guo looked back at her granddaughter, then turned away and followed the messenger away.

Ji Lingyi supported her and said, "Don't panic, Shi Niang. The old lady has only been stripped of her imperial title."

"Why would A-Zu send assassins to murder A-Lang?"

"The emperor's decree says it's collusion with foreign ministers," Ji Lingyi, still relatively sober and rational, reminded Du Shiniang. But Du Shiniang didn't think of her father at all, and just cried and worried.

She apologized to Concubine Wan and asked to leave.

Concubine Wan could understand and nodded in agreement.

Guo and Du Shiniang left one after another.

The palace banquet in Lizheng Hall began.
At the palace banquet, everyone was talking about Guo and Du Shiniang. Some old ladies even talked about Guo's past, such as how she became Du Zheng's second wife when she was young, but how she hated the children born to the original wife after she got married, and how she dealt with the concubines and maids.

"When Guo was young, she was a very powerful woman. After entering the Fengxiang Marquisate, she quickly brought the entire mansion under control."

"I've been competitive all my life, but I never thought that at the age of eighty, I would be stripped of my imperial title."

"This decree accuses her of colluding with foreign officials. Does it refer to her son Du Yan in Luoyang? I heard that Du Yan was Wang Shichong's confidant in Luoyang and is currently the Minister of Personnel and Chief Clerk of the Grand Marshal's Office in Luoyang?"

"Well, I heard he was even given the title of Duke of Anji."

"It's useless to confer the title of Duke. Luoyang is a fake dynasty. Just like Yu Wenhuaji, how long can it last? Du Yan didn't know to return to Chang'an and submit to the new dynasty earlier. Instead, he wholeheartedly became a vassal of the fake rebel. How can he have a good end in the future?" The noble lady who said this had a family member who was an official in Luoyang. He wanted to defect to Guanzhong, but was found out by Du Yan and executed.

There are quite a few like this.

Everyone gnashed their teeth in hatred when talking about Du Yan, but facing the current fate of the Guo family, everyone felt relieved.

On the top of Chengtian Gate,
Li Yuan cleared his stomach today, and he felt very comfortable and his appetite was greatly improved.

Li Yuan summoned the imperial physicians, imperial physicians, chief physicians, and assistant physicians from the Shang Pharmacy to look over Li Yixian's six prescriptions. They all said that although the prescriptions had never been recorded before, the combination of medicines was very reasonable, and they could first find someone to test the effectiveness of the prescriptions.

This made Li Yuan very happy. Although there was only half a bottle of enema left, if these six prescriptions were useful, he might not have to worry about constipation anymore.

If you can't even poop, how can you be the supreme emperor? How can you have the happiness of an emperor?

Du Ruhui had already left the table as ordered and was waiting for Guo outside the Suzhang Gate.

Li Yi was kept by Li Yuan as an attendant.

"Before, you offered me the golden potato for good fortune, but I didn't give you a higher rank. Today, you offer me the miraculous medicine and recipe, so I can't help but reward you.

Today, I will promote you to the rank of founding marquis of Qianshui County, with a fief of 1,000 households."

The emperor personally poured a glass of wine for Li Yi and rewarded him.

Li Yi was very happy with the nobility, and he accepted it immediately without any hesitation, fearing that the emperor would change his mind. Although he now understood that the nobility titles since the Southern and Northern Dynasties were not very valuable, especially those in the early Tang Dynasty,

It's a bit too much to confer titles. The titles in the Ming Dynasty were more valuable.

He was the founding marquis of Qianshui County, a third-rank official, and was said to have a fief of 1,000 households, but it was just empty title. He could neither open a government office nor establish a country, and even the fief and households were fake.
Just to enjoy some empty-headed level treatment,

Without an official rank of the third rank or above, one is not even qualified to wear a purple robe.

In the Tang Dynasty, even if a son inherited his father's title of Duke, he only had the right to confer a title through hereditary conferral. After inheriting the title of Duke, he could obtain the right to select an official of the sixth rank. If he was selected, he could only be an official of the sixth rank, and generally could not become an important official.

If he is not elected, he will be a figurehead duke.

"I thank Your Majesty for your great grace." Li Yi was filled with joy. Although this senior official had power, he had to take charge of things. Without some ability, he would not be able to manage well. Not only would he be tired, but he would also have to bear responsibility.

But there are no such troubles with the title.

As the founding marquis of Qianshui County, of the third rank, Li Yi was considered a high-ranking noble from then on.

Although there are founding county dukes, founding county dukes, state dukes, county princes, and princes above them, for the vast majority of people, being granted the title of marquis is the ultimate.

Guo was so arrogant before, but she was just a Marquis of Fengxiang.

Li Yi drank a cup of persimmons in one gulp.

Li Yuan laughed loudly.

"I will also grant you a purple robe and a goldfish bag, and you will enjoy the treatment of a third-rank official."

Grant purple gold,
A true sign of a high-ranking official.
With purple gold, you can even line up spears inside the door to show your status.

"The property of Guo, Du Yan, and Du Rui will be counted as soon as possible and then handed over to you."

This fortune will not be small,
Although the Fengxiang Marquisate was now under the management of Du Ruhui, and the main property remained unchanged, Guo's dowry, the property previously allocated by Du Yan and Du Rui, and their wives' dowries, all located on the territory of the Tang Dynasty would be confiscated.
Although Du Yan and his brothers were officials in Luoyang,

But the Du family's roots were in Jingzhao, Guanzhong, where they had plenty of land, houses, shops, workshops, slaves, cattle, horses, and other livestock.

"The remaining assassins who tried to kill you will be apprehended, but you should be careful when you go out these days. I will assign you an additional twenty imperial guards to take turns guarding you day and night."

Li Yi sat there, "I still can't believe that my father-in-law would harm me."

Li Yuan held the wine glass. He didn't care whether the real murderer was Du Yan or not. It didn't matter. What mattered was that evidence pointing to Du Yan was found on the assassin.
There is no need to worry about whether this evidence was deliberately used by the assassin to frame you.

In Luoyang, Du Yan helped Wang Shichong eliminate more than a dozen officials who were secretly in contact with the Tang Dynasty or wanted to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, which had made Li Yuan unhappy for a long time.

Borrowing this as an assassination incident,

With the evidence pointing to Du Yan,

Naturally, I have to punish him severely.

Even if we can't touch Du Yan now, we can still vent our anger by confiscating his property in Guanzhong.

It can even be used as a warning to those famous families.
Now, which of these powerful families is not betting on multiple parties? Their family members serve as officials in Chang'an, Luoyang, and even in the places of Yu Wenhuaji, Dou Jiande, Xiao Xing, etc.
Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too.

Faced with this situation, Li Yuan was helpless and could only win over various parties. However, he could not win them over blindly. He had to show his sword occasionally.

The palace banquet ended.

Li Yi changed into the purple robe that the emperor had just bestowed upon him, and tied on a belt with eleven gold and jade buckles, on which was also a goldfish bag.

I also received a reward of one hundred taels of gold today.

Walk out of the palace,
I suddenly felt refreshed.

He went to Suzhang Gate first,
That was the gate for ladies from outside the imperial court to enter the inner palace, and the carriages of ladies of the rank of county lady and above would stop here.

From a distance, I could see Du Ruhui.

Du Ruhui was still wearing his red court robes and had no time to change, so he put on a sable fur cloak and waited in the cold wind.

Li Yi stepped forward.

Du Ruhui was a little surprised to see him in golden and purple clothes.

"Promotion or nobility?"

"The founding marquis of Jin Qianshui County, bestowed with purple gold!" Li Yi asked, "Has the old lady not come out yet?"

"I'm still being questioned, and it will probably take a while." When Du Ruhui said this, he didn't feel any relief, but rather a slight sense of loss, perhaps because of the comparison with Li Yi's purple and gold suit.

Although only the old lady and her two sons were convicted and punished this time, the Fengxiang Marquisate would inevitably be greatly affected.
The internal strife within the Fengxiang Marquisate ultimately resulted in losses for all the Du family members in the mansion.

"I really didn't expect that Du Yan could do such a thing," Du Ruhui sighed.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that. I'm Shi Niang's husband. Does he really want his daughter to become a widow right after she gets married?"

Du Ruhui shook his head, "He won't let Shi Niang remain a widow, he will definitely let her remarry."

(End of this chapter)