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

Chapter 56: Three Hundred Households

Half a day's work,

Li Yi earned two houses in Chang'an West City.

I still feel a little bit proud.

Not only did I make money today, but I also got to know Qiu Liulang, a captain of the Fubing team, and Xin Chujian, the Wannianling. More friends mean more paths to take.

Walking across Luojia Bridge,
I saw that the shade of the big tree outside Wuji Courtyard was crowded with people.

"What's the matter?"

"The village chief is back,"

Shitou was the first to run over. "Brother, some horsemen have come from the capital. They say they are here to announce the imperial edict to you. Hurry! They have been waiting in the house for a long time."

All the villagers came up excitedly, talking at once. Everyone was more excited than when they got married.

Li Yi entered the courtyard,
Ji came forward and said, "An angel from Chang'an has come to announce that Your Majesty has a reward. I have invited them to the outer hall and have prepared some tea for them."

"Yeah," Li Yi was very satisfied with Ji's steadiness. As expected of her from a famous family, she had worked in the imperial court for several years and was very steady in dealing with people.

Li Yi's East Courtyard has five rooms in the back, with the main door facing southeast. The easternmost room is the gatehouse, with a small courtyard. Immediately west of the main door are the guest rooms, living room, and servants' quarters. The westernmost room, with a small courtyard, is the outer courtyard toilet.

The front yard outside the second gate is smaller and shallower, and is also the reception area.
Inside the middle gate is the inner courtyard, and you are not allowed to enter without permission.

Although Li Yi has not married yet, after the second renovation of the East Courtyard, he added the Daozhong Gate, which made it a little more sophisticated.

The brothers Shitou Gousheng were guests staying in the outer courtyard, and they also moved to the guest rooms. The brothers Menshuan and Menzhu were Li Yi's male servants, so they moved to the servants' room at the back next to the toilet.

Lanxiang was a girl, so she lived in the west wing of the inner courtyard. Li Yi lived in the upper room, and the three maids Xiuzhi, Luzhu and Sujun lived in the upper ear room.

Now the workshops and schools have moved to the west courtyard. The east courtyard is much more spacious, but there are also more rules.

Even if it was an angel from Chang'an who came to announce the imperial decree, he would only be invited to the living room in the front yard to be served tea.

Li Yi wondered why another messenger came.

As soon as he entered the living room,
The three people who were sitting and drinking tea stood up. Li Yi took a glance and saw that a middle-aged man with a white face and no beard should be a eunuch, and the other two were burly and strong with big beards and military uniforms. They were obviously the emperor's Beiya Yuancong Imperial Guards.

"I am Li Yi. I just went to Chang'an City. Sorry for the inconvenience."

The middle-aged eunuch was quite polite.
"Li Lang, there is an imperial decree. Please accept it."

There is no need to set up an incense table, bathe, or burn incense.

The eunuchs stood facing south, while Li Yi stood facing north and listened attentively to the imperial edict without having to kneel.

"Disciple: Li Yi, a villager from Yusu, is a young man of great talent and possesses the prudence of an older man. He is highly respected by scholars and well-known in the court and the public. He presents a miraculous medicine to the King of Qin, so that he can expand our military power and conquer Qin and Long.

He can be granted the title of founding male of Qianshui County, with a fief of 300 households."

"The Lord carried out the decree on the ninth day of the seventh month of the first year of Wude. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Duke of Song, Xiao Yuxuan, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Tang Jian, Duke of Jinchang, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and Yan Sigu, the Minister of Internal Affairs..."

Li Yi listened carefully to the imperial edict, and it was easy to understand. He was granted the title of Baron of Qianshui County because of his meritorious service in offering medicine and helping Li Shimin win the battle.

As for the long list of contents at the end, it is actually the process of this imperial edict in the three provinces.

From right to left, the document was drafted by the Secretariat, written by Yan Sigu, the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, then reviewed by the Ministry of Personnel, and then approved by the Emperor, and finally given to the Ministry of State Affairs for execution. The specific work was done by the Ministry of Personnel under the Ministry of State Affairs.

After each procedure, the relevant officials must sign and stamp.

"The imperial edict is as on the right. Please obey it.

The Imperial Doctor Yang Chong, the Imperial Doctor of the Imperial Court..."

Li Yi praised Li Yuan for not having to kneel to receive the imperial edict. His impression of Li Yuan was getting better and better. He was an old-fashioned aristocrat.

After the imperial edict was read,
Li Yi stepped forward to greet him.
This imperial edict was similar to the one he had received from the Ministry of Personnel before, also with a scroll of yellow silk and red film. However, there was no charge for receiving the edict, so he just had to keep it well.

"Congratulations, Li Lang, on your knighthood."

Last time, Li Yi resigned from the position of Crown Prince, and this time he was granted the title of Baron, which he did not refuse.

He was only concerned about whether the baron had any fiefdoms, subjects, or income.

The eunuch explained it to him seriously.
Although the imperial edict contains the provision of 300 households for food, in reality, the words "real fief" are not added, so it is just a nominal fief. A nominal fief means there are no households and no fiefdom.

The so-called founding county man is just a nice sounding title.

Without land, people or salary, it is impossible to establish a country.

Of course, it is not entirely without benefits. Baron is the lowest of the nine ranks of nobility in the Tang Dynasty, but it is also a rank above the fifth rank, so he can also enjoy permanent land for official titles. The first-rank prince has 10,000 acres, and the ninth-rank baron has 500 acres.

"According to the imperial system, permanent farmland for officials and nobles is not granted together, only the highest one is granted."

Having 500 acres of land is a good thing, and it can be passed on to descendants, but the problem is that according to the rules, these 500 acres of land cannot be divided in Yusu Township, and 500 acres must be allocated to him in Qianshui County, where he was granted the title.

This Qianshui County is the Qianshuiyuan area in Yilu County, Binzhou. There was a Qianshui County there before. It was also the Qianshuiyuan where Li Shimin and Xue Ju fought this time and the eight generals including Liu Wenjing were defeated.

Five hundred acres of land were divided five hundred miles away. This is a big deal.

"Li Lang is now a baron, no longer a commoner, but an official, enjoying the treatment of a fifth-rank official, with many privileges such as the right to take concubines, exemption from taxes and labor service..."

Common people were not eligible to take concubines before the age of 40, even if they were rich, unless they had honors. After the age of 40, they could only take concubines if their wives could not give birth to sons.

Speaking of Xun,
The eunuch took out another imperial decree.
This time it was not as formal as the previous nobility, the emperor directly rewarded him with money, silk, horses, etc.
Li Yi almost drooled after hearing about the rewards.

"A golden urn, a pair of silver bottles, two fine horses, three hundred bolts of silk, and one hundred acres of land in the Sanyuan area north of the Wei River."

"He was also granted the title of Grand Commander."

Li Yi didn't understand the last part about the Grand Commander. "Award me the Grand Commander?"

In his impression, the position of Grand Commander was only for princes and royal family, such as Li Tai, Prince of Wei, Grand Commander of Yuezhou, Li Jing, Prince of Jing, Grand Commander of Jingzhou, and Li Zhi, Prince of Jin, Grand Commander of Bingzhou.

The eunuch smiled and explained patiently. He was really patient.

"This Grand Commander belongs to the third rank of Sanshiguan, also known as a rank of honor."

"The previous dynasty used the eleven ranks of the Northern Zhou military title as Sanshiguan, from Shangzhuguo to Dudu. The Daye Emperor abolished Sanshiguan, Balang, Bawei, and 43 generals, replacing them with nine Dafu and eight Wei, known as Sanzhi. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, we continued to use Sanshiguan and also restored Sanshiguan, all of which were honorific titles."

Li Yi listened for a while and finally understood.

In the Wude Dynasty, there are no civil officials, no military officials, and even no honorary officials.
Some were casual officials and casual positions. The casual positions were nine senior officials and eight lieutenants, which were equivalent to the later casual officials. As for the eleventh-level casual officials, Li Yuan added one level, which was actually the predecessor of the later honorary officials.

These two sets of things are used to reward merits and win people's hearts. Anyway, they are not real jobs.

Because it was awarded too indiscriminately, it is no longer valuable after only half a year since the founding of the country.

Li Yi's title of Grand Commander was not a high-ranking official position, but rather a low-level honorary title, similar to the third-rank Flying Cavalry Captain among the twelve honorary titles in the late Wude period.

The first rank of official now is the governor, which is a bit like the Song Dynasty when there were so many grand marshals as dogs walking around the streets.

As the Grand Commander, he was only considered a sixth-rank official. He was not a sixth-rank official, but he could enjoy some of the treatment of a sixth-rank official.

Worthless stuff,
Li Yi didn't care.

The eunuchs did not bring these rewards from the emperor, so Li Yi had to go to Chang'an in person to collect them.

But the golden jar was not as big as he had imagined. Both the golden jar and the silver bottle weighed sixteen taels, which was only one jin, which was about the size of a golden cup.

Li Yi had just gone to Chang'an and sold some grain, earning over twenty taels of gold, equivalent to one and a half gold jars.

When Ji came to add tea, she winked at Li Yi.

Li Yi followed out.

"Alang has to prepare a thank-you gift for them."

"What's a suitable gift?"

Ji came from the palace and should know more about the affairs there.

"He's just a low-ranking eunuch. You don't need to give him too much, but you can't give him too little either. You can give him three rolls of silk, and one roll of silk each for the two imperial guards who came with him."

“Will it be too little?”

"It's not enough, any more wouldn't be appropriate."

Li Yi thought about it and realized that they were eunuchs, people close to the emperor. What did you want to do by giving them so much money?
"When you have free time, Alang, you can go to the gold shop to buy some gold beans. Each one weighs one or half a penny. It will be very convenient if you encounter such a situation again in the future." Ji reminded him.

One ounce of gold was worth eight thousand coins, one ounce of gold bean was worth eight hundred coins, and eight hundred coins could be exchanged for nearly three rolls of silk, which were quite large. But a gold bean was very insignificant.

"You're right. I happen to have some gold on hand. Next time I go to the gold shop and buy some gold beans and gold melon seeds. Gold beans weigh one qian or half a qian, and gold melon seeds weigh one liang or half a liang. They are easy to carry and not as heavy as gold ingots and difficult to divide.

In the end, Li Yi gave the eunuch four pieces of silk, two pieces each for the two imperial guards, and some bean curd sheets and bean curd.

All three were very satisfied.
He was also very enthusiastic towards Li Yi and was reluctant to leave.

If it was gold beans that were given, I would probably be even more reluctant to give it up.

After the people left, Li Yi returned to the living room. Ji made tea for him. Only then did Lu Zhu dare to come in. She had been imprisoned and was still afraid of people in the government, especially soldiers.

"Alang has been granted a title," Luzhu excitedly hugged his arm and hesitated.

Li Yi also felt as if he was dreaming. He had just asked the eunuch in detail and learned about the situation on the front line of Qianshuiyuan. He was defeated first and then won.

The key to Li Shimin's turnaround in desperate circumstances was that he took the medicine he gave him, went into battle despite being sick, attacked the enemy camp at night, defeated Xue Ju in one fell swoop, and drove him back to Zhecheng City.

Although the Tang army still lost more than 10,000 men,
But the more than 20,000 captives were rescued, the lost Gaoqiao City was recaptured, and even more than 10,000 horses of Xue Ju were captured.

The crisis in Chang'an was resolved.
Even after Xue Ju's defeat, it can be said that his eastward expansion strategy had also failed.

Li Shimin personally recommended him for merit, and the emperor generously rewarded him with a baronship.

Does he deserve this reward?
Absolutely worthy of it.

Ji quietly made tea, unlike the Silla maids who acted like spoiled brats and begged for favor.

I didn't expect that the medicine sent in Duqu really made a great contribution. Li Shimin is really awesome. He can turn the tables like this. It has to be said that he is a genius.

Thinking that it was he who made Li Shimin's victory possible, he couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

He is able to plan and win battles thousands of miles away. At this moment, he should be holding a feather fan in his hand. Li Yi is very proud of himself.

Ji gave him a cup of tea and said, "According to the imperial court regulations, residences of the sixth rank and above are allowed to have a Wutou gate, with three rooms and two frames. You can build another Wutou wall outside the gate to form a Wutou gate. We should quickly invite the carpenters to come and erect the Wutou gate."

Wutou Gate, also known as Valve Gate, is a gate for officials of the fifth rank or above. They can erect two pillars on both sides of the gate.

The pillar on the left of the door is called a valve, which symbolizes the achievement of the construction.

The pillar on the right side of the door is called Yue, which symbolizes long experience.

The main structure is two pillars and a horizontal beam formed into a grass radical, but if the rank is not above six, it is not allowed to make a black-headed door. Even the height of the pillars must be linked to the rank and cannot be exceeded in the slightest.

The main gate is eight feet to two feet high, with tile tubes at the ends of the pillars, dyed with ink, called black heads.

This is a bit like the prototype of the later archway.

Li Yi has now reached the level of building a Wutou Gate, and can build a Wutou Gate that is eight feet high and ten feet wide.

Luo Er entered the front yard and stood in front of the living room, looking inside with some restraint.

"Uncle, come in and have some tea."

"No... village chief... county man..." Luo Er stammered for a long time, but he didn't know how to address Li Yi.

The news that Li Yi was named the founding baron of Qianshui County and granted the title of Grand Commander had spread throughout the village like wildfire and was also rapidly spreading to nearby villages.

When Luo Er faced Li Yi, he felt inexplicably nervous.

"You should just call me Wuyi. Come and have some tea. It would be a waste if you don't drink the freshly brewed tea. This tea was given to you by the Du family last time. A cake of tea costs several thousand coins, and this cup costs dozens of coins."

Li Yi hasn't changed much.
But Luo Er and the villagers changed when they faced him.

(End of this chapter)