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

Chapter 6 Attacked in the middle of the night
Before dark,
Sanniang brought a little tabby cat and said she was giving it to him to guard food and catch mice.

"Is this kitten weaned?" Li Yi looked at the kitten, which was full of milk, and estimated that it weighed only two or three kilograms.

"Don't underestimate it. This little tabby cat is already over three months old. When it was two months old, it could catch mice and even caught a yellow rat weighing more than a kilogram."

"I didn't expect this little raccoon to be so powerful."

"That's right. Tabby cats are the best at catching mice. Your grain is stored in a straw shed, and there's no grain jar. If there's no cat to watch over the mice, they'll take away more than ten pounds of grain in one night."

This little tabby cat is the cub of the big tabby cat from Sanniang's family. It has a round head, a wide face, big almond-shaped eyes, and bright eyes. The markings on its body make it look a bit mysterious. It is a natural hunter and does not even need to be fed. It can support itself.

Keeping a tabby cat at home can keep mice away.

"Do you have a name?"

"without,"

"Then I'll give it a name, let's call it Fortune." Li Yi took the little civet cat with a smile, and it didn't resist. Li Yi even grabbed one of its legs and made a fortune cat gesture.

Finally, I held it and put it on the grain bag, and stroked its head.

Sanniang also told it to stay here from now on.

Lanxiang and her two siblings also liked this little raccoon very much. Gousheng and his brother even caught two frogs to feed it, but unfortunately Zhaocai was too cold and dismissive.

After dark,
Li Yi deposited the gold into his space home, and then took out a few dried shrimps.

Zhaocai, who was lying there seemingly taking a nap, smelled the fishy smell and immediately came to Li Yi, raised his tail and rubbed his body against his legs, meowing.

"Eat."

The dried bamboo shrimps are very big and taste very sweet. They are also delicious as snacks. Zhaocai also likes to eat them very much, and the little cat chews them very enthusiastically.

After eating, it let Li Yi pet it for a while, and then it went back to stand guard on the grain bag.

Li Yi yawned.
It's been a busy day and I'm tired.

The night sky was filled with the smoke of hot pepper. Lanxiang and her brother cut hot pepper and mugwort, chopped them up, mixed them with some rice bran and soil, and lit them to make mosquito repellent incense. The incense could burn slowly for most of the night, releasing a lot of smoke.

Although the thatched hut in the rice field is quite cool at night, there are also a lot of mosquitoes.

The croaking of frogs in the rice fields echoed one after another, accompanied by the swooping roar of mosquito fighters.
Fortunately, Li Yi had a second line of protection, the old linen mosquito net that Guo Cunzheng gave him. Although it was relatively thick and not very breathable, with this mosquito net, he finally kept the annoying mosquitoes out.

Tuck in the mosquito net carefully,
Li Yi fell into a deep sleep holding Madam Zhu.

Sleeping in a daze,
Suddenly, I heard Zhaocai's sharp and piercing voice, "Hiss! Hiss!"

The sound was sometimes high and sometimes low, full of warning.

Li Yi was suddenly awakened.
The moonlight of the waning moon poured into the straw hut, and he saw a hazy black shadow being threatened by the hissing sound of the little tabby cat.

Li Yi's mind moved.
You now have an electric baton in your hand, which is a must-have item for home and travel.

"Who?"

The person who suddenly appeared in his hut in the middle of the night must not be a good person.

When the man saw Li Yi was awakened, he rushed over.

Li Yi quickly turned on the safety switch at the tail of the electric baton, and then turned on the strong light to shine at the shadow that was rushing towards him. The man was temporarily blinded by the strong light and subconsciously put up his hands to cover his eyes and let out a panicked cry.

Li Yi took the opportunity to step forward.
Switch to the electric shock button and press it on his waist for three seconds.
The high-voltage pulse generated instantly knocked him unconscious, and he fell to the ground trembling all over.

The ability to resist is lost instantly, and the muscle groups are paralyzed.

Li Yi was not reassured, so he hit his thigh for another three seconds.

The man trembled all over again and foamed at the mouth due to the electric shock.

Li Yi then stopped, switched to strong light mode, and looked at the man.

The man was lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth, his hands and feet twitching, and his eyes rolling up.

A patched dress,
His skin was dark, his palms were rough and covered with calluses, and his face looked like he was about thirty years old.

There was also a wooden stick dropped beside him.

There was a noise coming from the straw hut of Luo San's family next door.
"Wu Yi?" It was Luo San's voice.

Li Yi quickly put away the electric baton.
"What happened?"

"We were robbed," Li Yi said.

Luo San came in and was shocked to see a person lying on the ground in the moonlight.

"Tie him up first."

After tying the man's hands and feet and lighting the torch, Luo San looked at the man and then looked at Li Yi in confusion.

"Luckily, the little tabby cat that Sanniang gave me noticed the man's screams and woke me up. The man pounced on me, but I knocked him down." Li Yi explained simply.

"Thank goodness you were alert," Luo San had many doubts in his mind, but he immediately went to call Luo Er and other neighbors.

When such a theft occurs, everyone must be informed.

Soon, everyone came over with torches.

Men, women, young and old were all shocked.

The room is bright as day,

Everyone gathered around and looked at the thief who was still unconscious.

"Why does this person look familiar to me?" Luo Er said.

Old man Luo Er thought carefully for a while, "Yes, I know this man. He's the farmhand of Guo Erlang's family in Guozhuang. I think his name is Liu Heizi. He's a new farmhand hired this year. I heard he's from Xiangyang, a refugee from famine. Guo Erlang hired him for ten dan of wheat and millet a year, plus two sets of clothes, shoes and hats for spring and winter."

No one expected this man to be the farmhand of Village Chief Guo. Luo San frowned and whispered in Li Yi's ear, "Could it be that Village Chief Guo asked him to steal back the gold you earned from selling the pot?"

Li Yi didn't think it was similar.

"Wake him up and ask."

A basin of cold water was poured on the man's head. He woke up slowly, looked up and saw everyone. He screamed in panic and wanted to escape, but he was tied up.

"Liu Heizi," Li Yi shouted.

The man came over upon hearing the sound.

When he saw that it was Li Yi, Liu Heizi was terrified and suddenly fainted again.

When he was awakened by the water again, he was still very excited. He couldn't help but be excited by the experience just now. The sudden flash of light like lightning, and then the lightning paralyzed his whole body and caused unbearable pain. It was really frightening, especially the unknown mystery, which made him even more frightened.

"Liu Heizi, tell the truth,"

Liu Heizi huddled into a ball, trembling, but refused to speak.

Li Yi squatted in front of him, "Do you still want to taste my Five Thunders?" As he spoke, Li Yi raised his palms to face up, stretched his fingers naturally, and began to pinch the thunder formula, chanting the formula, "Thunder God and Lightning Mother, quickly bring down your magical powers, follow me to eliminate the thieves, boom boom boom boom, I obey the orders of the Supreme Lord Laojun, and hurry as the law..."

"No, no, don't touch me, I said, I said everything,"

Liu Heizi suddenly shouted in panic, "Don't ask for the Thunder God or Lightning Goddess. I've already said that I'm a farmhand in the home of Erlang, the village chief of Guozhuang. I overheard Guo Erlang spend ten taels of gold and a cow to buy a mithril treasure from you. I got greedy for a moment, so I sneaked here while everyone was asleep at night to steal the gold..."

Liu Heizi was so frightened by the electric shock that he confessed everything at once. As he spoke, he was so frightened that a pool of water flowed out from between his buttocks.

The arrogance dissipated,

This guy was actually scared to death.

Li Yi looked at this guy speechlessly, "Do you have any accomplices?"

"No, I was just foolish and I was wrong."

Luo San and other neighbors looked at this guy and kicked him a few times in anger.

"Let's report to the police." Li Yi said.

When Liu Heizi heard that the police had been notified, he panicked and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Li Yi, begging for mercy.

Luo San pulled Li Yi aside and whispered, "Don't see the officials if you die unjustly, and don't file a complaint if you die unjustly. Officials have two mouths, they eat the plaintiff and the defendant. Don't mess with the government, especially those clerks, they are the most difficult to deal with."

Li Yi's habitual thinking was that he would report such a thing to the police, but in the opinion of Luo San and others, it was best not to report it to the police unless it was absolutely necessary, otherwise, if they attracted the government officials, both the plaintiff and the defendant would be punished.

"This man is a farmhand in Guo Erlang's family. It would be better to let Guo Erlang deal with him," Luo San suggested.

The village chief of Luojiabao was crushed to death in the previous cliff collapse. The village is currently without a village chief. Guo Erlang from the neighboring Guozhuang has been acting as the administrator of Luojiabao for a while now, so reporting the theft to him is in accordance with procedure. Furthermore, this man is a tenant of the Guo family, so handing the case over to him instead of reporting it to the authorities is also a personal favor.

Li Yi thought about it and felt that it made sense.

Everyone hung the thief on a poplar tree outside to feed the mosquitoes and took turns watching him.

Wait till dawn,

Several village chiefs from Luojiabao, along with Li Yi, escorted Liu Heizi to Guozhuang.

Along the way, this guy kept begging Li Yi for mercy, hoping that he would be spared this time.

This guy was in a state of low spirits. He was first electrocuted twice, then beaten and kicked by everyone, and then fed by mosquitoes for half the night. Now his body was covered with red spots and his face was bruised.

Everyone came to Guo's house,

Guo Erlang was wondering why his long-term worker had become like this. When Li Yi explained the situation, Guo Erlang was also furious. There was actually a thief in his family.

If Li Yi directly handed the man over to the authorities, the higher-ups might suspect that he had ordered the man to steal. Although his elder brother was the judicial assistant of Chang'an County, this case was under the jurisdiction of Wannian County.
The Wannian County Law Enforcement Officer has five judicial assistants and ten historians, and above him are the county lieutenant who catches thieves, as well as the county magistrate and the county magistrate. Even if his brother comes forward to take care of it, it will be very troublesome once it goes through the officials, and he may even have to spend a lot of money.

"It's hard to prevent thieves in your own home, even if you guard against them day and night. Wuyi, I'm really sorry for you. I didn't expect a thief would appear. This Liu Heizi came to beg for food at the beginning of the year. I felt sorry for him, so I took him in as a farmhand. I didn't expect he would be a thief."

"Uncle, people's hearts are hidden. You can only know a person's face but not his heart. After all, this person has not been working in the Guo family for a long time, so it is impossible for you to fully understand him.

Fortunately, this man failed last night. I will now hand him over to my second uncle for disposal." Li Yi looked at his reaction and felt that this matter had nothing to do with Guo Erlang.

"Okay, okay," Guo Erlang was very satisfied with Li Yi's performance. It would be best to let him handle it. He would remember this favor and would definitely repay it.

"Hang this fellow up and give him fifty lashes first."

It is actually very simple to deal with a thief, and you can even deal with him without going through the authorities at all.

This theft was unsuccessful. According to the law, theft without a proper value is punishable by fifty lashes. If property is stolen, the sentence is based on the value of the stolen goods: sixty lashes of a one-foot silk cane, plus one additional lash for each piece of silk stolen. Five pieces of silk are punishable by one year's imprisonment. The penalty for embezzlement is even more severe: if the stolen goods are worth thirty pieces of silk, the punishment is hanging.

For ordinary people guilty of theft, the maximum penalty was exile three thousand miles away and three years of hard labor in the place of exile if the stolen goods amounted to fifty horses.

Guo Erlang had Liu Heizi whipped fifty times and then drove him out of Guozhuang. All the work he had done as a farmhand for several months was in vain.

Before Liu Heizi left, he came to Li Yi and kowtowed to him three times.

He knew very well that although the law for stealing money was to be flogged fifty times, in reality, if he went to the yamen, he would be severely punished even if he did not die, and now he might even be dragged to the battlefield.

There was another reason why he kowtowed to Li Yi. It was that Li Yi had left an indelible impression on him last night. He truly believed that Li Yi had used the Five Thunders Method to knock him out, and he was extremely in awe of Li Yi, a Taoist priest who had returned to secular life.

Li Yi had no sympathy for this guy. He wasn't some starving refugee. He was a farmhand in Guojia Village, with food and lodging provided and a salary. Yet, he came to steal with a stick. After the incident, he rushed over with a stick, which clearly turned into a robbery.

I didn't kill him because I didn't want to cause trouble. I wanted to settle it privately if possible, and didn't want to go through the authorities and attract trouble.

"Reform yourself and be a good person. Don't take the wrong path again. If you do it again, you may not get another chance. Be careful."

Guo Erlang stood there, but what he was thinking about was Liu Heizi's confession. He said that Li Yi could release thunder and lightning, emitting a huge light that made him blind, and could also send out lightning to make him faint and unable to move.

Liu Heizi also looked at his body and found two blue-black marks.

Guo Erlang already believed in his heart that Li Yizhen could use the Five Thunders Method to electrocute people, and he couldn't help but feel a little awe towards this young man.

(End of this chapter)