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

Chapter 42: The Guilty Woman in the Palace
"The Crown Prince is not in Chang'an today," Li Gang said, inviting Li Yi to sit over. "But His Highness gave special instructions yesterday. He specially arranged a spacious public room for you, along with the finest paper, ink, brush, and inkstone. He also specially arranged two servants for you."

Li Yi wanted to resign from his position as official to Li Jiancheng in person, but he didn't expect that Li Jiancheng had left the capital.

Facing the Whitebeard Prince's killer Li Gang, Li Yi didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Oh, there's one more thing. His Majesty has appointed you as the Crown Prince's official wife and has also decreed that you be given a maid from the Ye Ting Palace and twenty pieces of silk."

This was another surprise for Li Yi. He didn't expect that the prince's official was actually chosen by Li Yuan.

"I heard that Prime Minister Pei also recommended you."

As they were talking, a middle-aged official in a red robe came in.
"This is Wang Gui, the inner servant of the Eastern Palace. He was originally a military advisor to the Crown Prince's Palace. He once worked in the Secretariat in the previous dynasty and participated in editing books and classics.
I'll have Shujie take you to the Finance Bureau later and have him introduce you to your specific duties."

Li Gang is very busy.

He was not only the Prince's Secretary in the Eastern Palace, but also the Minister of Rites in the court. He also participated in the selection of officials. He held several important positions and had no time to talk too much with Li Yi.

Li Yi wanted to resign, but he couldn't find an opportunity.

Wang Gui was interested in Li Yiting.

This Wang Gui was in his forties, a member of the Five Surnames family, the Wang family of Taiyuan. His grandfather was the famous Wang Sengbian, a famous general of the Southern Dynasties.

He shared power with Chen Baxian, but ultimately lost. If he had won, there would have been no Southern Chen Dynasty, but a Southern Dynasty king would have emerged.

Wang Gui's uncle, Wang Long, supported Yang Liang in his rebellion against Yang Guang at the beginning of Daye and was defeated and killed. Wang Gui was implicated and resigned from his official position and hid in Zhongnan Mountain. It was not until Li Yuan entered Guanzhong that Wang Gui joined Jiancheng's court on the recommendation of Li Gang. He was highly appreciated and relied upon by Jiancheng.

Wang Gui was the Prince's Internal Sheren, a fifth-rank official, equivalent to the Secretary of the Central Secretariat in the imperial court. Li Jiancheng trusted Wang Gui very much.

"You were a Taoist monk at Wuji Temple in Yusu Township? I visited Wuji Temple many times in my time and had a good relationship with Master Li. I never expected Master Li to have passed away."

Wang Gui brought Li Yi to the courtyard of the Sijing Bureau in Menxiafang. Li Jiancheng specially ordered a public house to be arranged for him, which was quite spacious. This treatment was better than that of the prince's proofreader.

"The country was just established, and the officials of the Eastern Palace were not yet complete."

The complete Eastern Palace organization was a small imperial court, consisting of the Chancellery, the Left and Right Spring Offices, the Three Temples, the various supervisory offices, the Three Inner Guards of the Crown Prince, and the Ten Rate Offices.

The Sijing Bureau was under the jurisdiction of Zuochunfang, which was modeled after the Menxia Province of the imperial court. It had two Zuo Shuzi and was in charge of six bureaus including the Sijing Bureau and the Gongmen Bureau.

The Sijing Bureau was equivalent to the imperial court's secretarial officials. The highest official was the Prince's Horse-carrying Officer, and it had two people, fifth rank and lower. Its subordinate officials included two sixth rank literary officials who served as literary advisors, four ninth rank proofreaders, and two ninth rank proofreaders.

The Sijing Bureau was a relatively unburdened department, responsible for managing the books and documents of the Eastern Palace.

To put it bluntly, Li Yi, the Crown Prince's official, is the librarian of the Eastern Palace Library.

Officials of the level of the Crown Prince's Groom are middle-level officials in the Crown Prince's Palace and have to serve as advisors and advise the Crown Prince. Small officials like the Crown Prince's Secretary are just miscellaneous personnel.

Generally, this is a position used to gild the reputation of children from aristocratic families.

The office is quite big.
He was even assigned subordinates, including a clerk, a librarian, a clerk, and six calligraphers.

He actually has nine subordinates.

In addition, he was assigned two servants to do odd jobs.

This treatment is really good.

A group of people came in to pay their respects.

As an official of the ninth rank, he is still an official. Compared to those old officials who are generally in their forties or fifties, no matter how young Li Yi is, he is still a superior official.

What's more, he was brought here personally by Wang Gui, the servant of the Eastern Palace and a favorite of the Crown Prince.

The clerk was the leader among this group of old officials. He was quite old and his robes were very worn. It seemed that the Sijing Bureau was a poor government office with not much money and his life was average. He took the initiative to bring tea leaves and make tea for Li Yi and Wang Gui.

There is actually a new tea set in this public house.

There is also a charcoal stove.

While making tea, Li Yi got to know this group of subordinates.

The two servants were both teenagers of seventeen or eighteen years old. They were common people in the capital and took turns to do odd jobs in the government office. They were assigned to do odd jobs under the official Li Yi and act as servants.

The other nine are regular staff members of the Bureau of Economics. Except for the Chief who is in charge of archives, the others are clerks with good handwriting. Copying and writing are their duties.

There were twenty-five calligraphers in the Sijing Bureau, and six of them were under Li Yi's name.

Everyone introduced themselves. They were basically drawn from various government offices of the previous dynasty. After Yang Guang moved the capital to Luoyang, the Eastern Palace was also in Luoyang.
This also meant that after Li Yuan became emperor and appointed the crown prince, the staff of the newly built Eastern Palace were very incomplete and people had to be transferred from other government offices.

We drank a pot of tea and chatted for a while.
I found that the Economics Bureau is very idle now. There is no task of publishing and subscribing books and classics. Everyone is just idling away their time every day.

"Master Zhongshe, someone is coming from the Ye Ting Palace."

Someone came in and told Wang Gui, who put down his teacup and said, "Li Lang, go get your people."

At the gate of the East Palace,

The Ye Ting Palace sent eunuchs to bring the person over.

"This is Ji, who was given the official title of Li Zheng by imperial decree."

The white-faced eunuch with no beard pointed at a young woman and said to Li Yi, "The woman was wearing a ruqun and a veil on her head. The brim of her hat was made of thin silk that hung down to her neck, covering her face."

"From now on, you will follow Li Zhengzi."

Li Yi looked at the palace maid, and the woman behind the thin silk also looked over.

He just felt that the woman should be quite young.

The eunuch gave Li Yi a document to expel Ji Shi, a concubine from the palace.
The document said that Ji was a criminal who was sent to the imperial palace, but now the emperor had released her from the palace and given her to Li Yi as a maid.

The twenty pieces of silk awarded by the emperor were also delivered.

Li Yi thanked the eunuch and gave him two pieces of silk as a thank you gift. The eunuch accepted it with a smile, turned around and left in a carriage.

"I'm Li Yi,"

The woman bowed and said, "Your servant Ji."

Wang Gui asked Li Yi to take the person home and said that he could officially take office in three days.

"When will His Royal Highness return to the capital?"

"It's hard to say,"

Wang Gui said goodbye to him and returned to the Eastern Palace.

Li Yi looked at the gate of the East Palace in silence for a long time, while Ji stood beside him without saying a word.

After a long time, Li Yi could only sigh and took back his horse.

"Let's go."

The woman followed silently. She didn't even have a small bag and was alone.

Li Yi rode a horse and Ji walked. After walking about a mile, the woman still followed them silently.

Li Yi felt that this woman must be from an unusual family.
"Just now, the eunuch said that you were a criminal woman and were not allowed to enter the palace?"

Ji Shi seemed to know what he wanted to ask, and answered frankly: "My late husband was Li Lang, the Eagle-striking General of the previous dynasty."

Li Yi shook his head, indicating that he had never heard of it.

"My ancestor's name was Shangzi Xiaxiong, and he was the Minister of Civil Affairs, the Right General of Wuhou, and the Duke of Gaodu County in the previous dynasty."

"Li Zixiong?" Li Yi seemed to have some impression of this name, but also seemed to have no impression of it. However, since he was able to be promoted to the rank of General of the Right Guard, it meant that he had once held a high position.

However, Ji Shi was puzzled when she saw that Li Yi didn't even know about it, her father-in-law Li Zitong.

"I used to be a Taoist monk. I traveled around the world with my master and didn't care about worldly matters. I just returned to secular life not long ago." Li Yi explained.

Ji said that her husband's family was a famous aristocratic family in Guanlong, and her father-in-law Li Zixiong was a general of the previous dynasty. When he was young, he followed Emperor Wu of Zhou to pacify Northern Qi. He made many military achievements throughout his life and had great military exploits. In the ninth year of Daye, Yang Xuangan rebelled. Yang Guang was suspicious of Li Zixiong and issued an edict to arrest him and bring him to the imperial court. Li Zixiong therefore killed the messenger and fled to Yang Xuangan.

Later he was defeated and killed, his sons and daughters were all executed, his property was confiscated, and his wife and daughters were taken into the palace as slaves.

Ji said that she was married into the Li family in the ninth year of Daye at the age of fourteen. However, less than a month after her marriage, she encountered this disaster and was taken into the palace. She was a slave for five years and was only released from the palace today.

"Is there anyone else in your family?"

Ji remained silent.

"If there are still people in your family, you can write to them and I will deliver it for you."

Ji was silent for a long time before she said, "My ancestors and parents are all dead."

"Is there no one else?"

Ji said nothing.

Seeing this, Li Yi did not ask any more questions. "I'll call a donkey renter for you. The journey is still long."

There were many donkey-renting merchants in Chang'an, gathering at the city gates, the town gates, and street corners. These people rented out donkeys, charging by mileage, much like Tang Dynasty taxis. Li Yi simply called a donkey. The price was 20 coins per mile, not cheap, but the service was excellent. Ji rode the donkey, while the owner led the donkey in front. The donkey walked steadily and at a decent pace.

(End of this chapter)