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

Chapter 71 Turns out to be an old friend

Half a day's work,

The people in the Prince of Qin's Palace had already found clues, and they had to sigh that the Second Prince was a good fighter, and his subordinates had a hard time doing it.

At this time, it was around noon.

It was still early in the morning, Li Shimin said to Li Yi, "I've had enough to eat and drink, and I need to digest the food. I'll go to the general's camp and see what's going on."

Li Yi was a little surprised when he heard the Wei family. He thought it was done by the Du family, but unexpectedly it involved the Wei family.

He knew about Jiangjunying Village, which was located at the head of Shenhe Plateau. It was the only way to reach Bashu in the south and Chang'an in the north. It bordered Fanchuan in the east and the Yu River in the north. It was located at the head of Shenhe Plateau. Because a general had set up camp here in the past, it was named Jiangjunying Village.

A little further north from here is Weiqiao.

Li Yi thought to himself that he had not offended the Wei family, and could only speculate that it was because the tofu skin workshop was too profitable that they had bad intentions.

Fortunately, Li Yi is not a man without backing. Now the King of Qin is going to stand up for him.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your help."

"It's just a trivial matter, nothing worth mentioning."

So everyone hugged each other and went out, mounted their horses and headed towards Jiangjunying Village.

The treasury officer of the Qin Palace, Zhenpi Lou Wuche, led the way.
A small team of Qin Wangfu light cavalry guards,
With this kind of situation, not to mention Li Shimin's identities as Shangshu Ling, Yongzhou Mu, and You Wuhou General, just this small group of elite cavalry could directly crush the Wei family.

The general's camp was only about twenty miles away from Chang'an, and everyone arrived quickly on horseback.

Pilou Wuche took the lead and led the team into the village.

General Camp was a large village with more than 200 households. Before the villagers could react, Pilou Wuche had already led his men to surround a large courtyard.

This is one of Wei’s workshops, a tofu workshop.

The workshop was quite large, with many of Wei's servants busy grinding and boiling soy milk. Li Yi followed Li Shimin into the workshop and took a look around.
I didn't see the bald family.
But when he saw that the workshop was building a new stove and renovating a baking room on the other side, Li Yi knew at a glance that they were building a tofu skin stove and baking room.

A steward came forward to greet them.
When he saw the group of fierce guards from the Prince of Qin's palace, he was shocked at first sight. However, he had to stand up and said, "This is the workshop of the Jingzhao Wei family. Who are you?"

Du Ruhui asked, "Who owns this workshop in the public housing estate of Wei Jiaxun?"

The steward recognized Du Ruhui. The two Wei families of Jingzhao lived next to each other and had lived on the banks of the Fanchuan River for generations, and almost every generation had intermarried.

"Replying to Du Erlang, my family's late master was Lord Shu Yi,"

Du Ruhui understood as soon as he heard it. Shu Yigong refers to Wei Kuangbo, Duke of Shu, grandson of Wei Xiaokuan, Duke of Yun, second son of Wei Zong, Duke of Henan, and brother of Wei Yuancheng, Duke of Yun.

Wei Kuangbo was originally the Shangyi Fengyu of the previous dynasty and accompanied the emperor to Jiangdu. He died of illness before the Jiangdu Rebellion last year and was posthumously awarded the title of General and the posthumous title of Yi.

Wei Xiaokuan had many sons, and Wei Zong was his third son, and this branch also had a large population.

The current court's Vice Minister of Justice, Wei Yijie, is the son of Wei Shou, the younger brother of Wei Zong.

Li Shimin had no good feelings towards the Wei family because most of the Wei family members now lived in Luoyang and served Emperor Huangtai. For example, Wei Xiaokuan's son Wei Jin was now the Minister of Civil Affairs in Luoyang.

Although the old owner of this workshop, Wei Kuangbo, passed away due to illness, his children are all in Luoyang.

"Keming, tell him to hand over Baldy Luo and his family immediately."

At this time, Du Ruhui also wanted to consider the Wei family's face. "You took Luo Tuzi's family of five from Luojiabao, bring them here quickly."

The manager finally understood that the other party had mobilized such a large force just for that bald Luo. He finally found Li Yi, the village chief of Luojiabao, across the street.

"I didn't understand what Du Erlang said. I don't know what Baldy Luo is."

Du Ruhui sighed helplessly, "Do you know who that is? It's His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, the Minister of the Chancellery, the Governor of Yongzhou, and the Right Marquis of Wu."

"Your Highness has already found out that Luo Tuzi and his family were brought here by the Wei family's steward. Do you think you can hide this?"

"Du Erlang has wronged me. I really don't know who Luo Tuzi is. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to search for me."

Li Shimin nodded to Pilou Wuche.

Wu Lou Wu Che shouted, "Search for me,"

The steward did not stop them and allowed the relatives and the people in the tent of Prince Qin's mansion to search.

But after searching the entire workshop, there was still no result.

No one was seen at all.

"Du Erlang, you see, we really don't know who Baldy Luo and Baldy Zhao are."

When the situation reached an impasse,

Suddenly, one of the workers in the workshop shouted, "Village Chief Li, Baldy Luo's family is in the workshop. I know where they are hiding."

"Shut up and get out of here, you bastard!" the steward yelled in panic.

Li Yi snorted coldly, walked forward, pushed aside the crowd, and saw that the person who was talking was actually an old friend.

"Liu Heizi?"

"Village Chief Li still remembers me."

The person who was speaking, Liu Heizi, used to be Guo Erlang's farmhand. He went to Li Yi's straw shed to steal gold in the middle of the night and was electrocuted by Li Yi's "Five Thunders Righteousness" and became incontinent.

Later, Li Yi did not report him to the police, but handed him over to Guo Erlang. Guo Erlang whipped him and drove him out of the house. Liu Heizi failed to steal the gold and lost his job. He was not able to get his wages for half a year.

I didn't expect that when we met again, he was actually in the Wei family's tofu workshop.

"Liu Heizi, you said you know where Luo Tuzi's family is?"

"Yes, I used to work for Guo Erlang's family and I knew Luo Tuzi from your village. When they were brought to the workshop, I recognized them the moment they arrived."

"Where is the man?"

"In the cellar, under the barn."

Manager Wei cursed Liu Heizi: "You bastard, you were like a stray dog, and the workshop took you in, you bastard, and now you're biting your master."

Liu Heizi spat at the manager, "Wei, you're a piece of shit. We agreed to pay you one dan of wheat a month, two meals a day, and two seasons of clothing and shoes a year. But now, all you do every day is hard work like grinding and fetching water, while eating only watery meals. And you've been holding back on your wages."

Li Yi interrupted their quarrel and said, "Liu Heizi, take me with you to rescue the people first. I won't treat you unfairly afterwards."

While angrily cursing Manager Wei, Liu Heizi said to Li Yi, "Although I, Liu Heizi, don't have much ability, I know how to repay a favor. Village Chief Li, you spared me back then, and I've always remembered it. This time, I'll just consider it my repayment of your kindness, and I don't ask for anything in return."

There is a secret cellar under the barn,
Guo Tuzi's family of five were all imprisoned downstairs.

Seeing Li Yi appear, the fat aunt with scars all over her body burst into tears, while Luo Tuzi with bruises on his face was terrified.
Soon they found out the whole story. The Wei family coveted the money made by Li Yi's tofu skin workshop, so they found Luo Tuzi, the old worker of the workshop's female worker Pang Aunt, and offered five taels of gold and four stone of rice as wages for the couple every month to tempt Pang Aunt to tell them the secret recipe of making tofu skin and bean curd.

Luo Tuzi was obsessed with money and agreed to it without hesitation.

But Aunt Pang refused to say anything. When the person was brought back to the workshop, Baldy Luo beat Aunt Pang several times, but Aunt Pang still refused to say anything. As a result, Manager Wei got angry and beat Baldy again. He also locked them in the cellar and refused to let them out unless they told him the secret recipe.

After being beaten and frightened like this, the country woman, Aunt Pang, finally couldn't bear it and told everything she knew to the manager of the Wei family.

After obtaining the production method, the workshop immediately began to build the stove, drying room, etc. for the bean curd sheet room, and was ready for trial production.

That's what happened.

If Li Yi hadn't asked Li Shimin for help, he wouldn't have been able to find anyone for a while.

Li Shimin was very angry.

The Jingzhao Wei family is such a famous and prestigious family, but they act in such a despicable way.

Li Shimin was not only a prince, but also the prime minister of the imperial court and the governor of Yongzhou.

He has every right to deal with this matter.

"Seal and confiscate this workshop, and arrest and imprison the two Wei family managers involved in this matter."

As for Luo Bald, Li Shimin punished him with forty strokes of the cane.

Although Aunt Fat was not punished for leaking the secret, she was also coerced.

However, some of the techniques for making bean curd sheets and soaked tofu were leaked. After Manager Wei learned about it, he handed over the recipe to the Wei family.

Even if we investigate this workshop now, it will still be difficult to stop the Wei family from producing.

Especially now, most of Wei Kuangbo's family members are in Luoyang.

Li Yi was not too disappointed. After all, he had expected that the incident was caused by the tofu skin workshop and was mentally prepared for the possibility of the technology being leaked.

"Wuyi, don't worry. I'll send a letter to the Wei family in Luoyang, asking them to return the secret recipe."

Li Yi didn't care, but the Wei family would most likely pretend to obey but actually disobey.

"Your Highness, can you allow me to interrogate these two stewards again? I would like to know more details about the cause and effect."

"OK,"

Li Yi actually wanted to know whether this incident had anything to do with Mrs. Du and Mrs. Guo.

Although it is likely that the Wei family just wants to get involved in this profitable business.

"Heizi," Li Yi called Liu Heizi over, "help me."

Li Yi asked Liu Heizi to bring the two stewards of the Wei family to the warehouse, "First, lock up the foreign steward in the cellar and question them one by one."

Li Yi interrogated the two managers separately without being polite.

If you don't answer honestly, Liu Heizi will beat you.

Liu Heizi was as strong as an ox. He slapped the manager so hard that several of his teeth fell out.

"Brother Heizi, don't be so rough. He will be killed in a few hits. Let's take it slowly. We can first use pliers to remove his fingernails one by one, or use bamboo sticks to pierce under his nails.
You can also soak the paper with water and cover his face with it to suffocate him. Wait until he can no longer hold his breath before peeling it off. Repeat this process. You can also just put his head in the water to suffocate him..."

"If he doesn't tell me, I'll take a big hammer and smash all his fingers and toes into pieces. Even if all ten of his fingers and toes are smashed, he won't die."

The workshop manager was so frightened by Li Yi's cold words that he turned pale and finally peed himself.

He is just a workshop manager. Although he acts arrogantly, he is not a tough guy.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything. Don't torture me. This matter started when Wei Fu, the foreign steward, went to Dujia Melon Farm to buy winter melons. The head of Dujia Melon Farm took the initiative to tell Wei Fu that the yuba of Luojiabao was very profitable..."

After Li Yi carefully interrogated him several times, he threw the frightened manager into the cellar and threatened Wei Fu again. What he confessed was almost the same as what the workshop manager Wei An confessed.

It is basically certain that this is the fact.

Sure enough, it was still related to the Du family. Although the confession only involved the head of a melon garden of the Du family, Li Yi believed that this matter was definitely not instigated by a head of the garden. It must be Mrs. Guo behind the scenes, and Du Sanlang must be the one who secretly arranged it.

"Heizi, this workshop is also going to be closed down. What are your plans for the future?"

Liu Heizi said: "Just go find another job somewhere else. A grown man like you can't starve to death."

Li Yi patted the guy on the shoulder. Although this guy had stolen from him before, he didn't seem to be a bad person now. He did have a bottom line.

"Guo Erlang gave me the five dan of wheat and millet you were paid at Guozhuang. I'll give it to you later."

Liu Heizi was a little embarrassed. "That time, I was bewildered and greedy. I accept that I have to compensate you for those few stones of grain. I also have to thank you for not sending me to the authorities."

"It's not a big deal for you to be a long-term worker like this. You've helped me a lot this time. I'll make some arrangements for you."

Li Yi's arrangement was to ask Li Shimin for help, send someone to inform Wannian County, help Liu Heizi settle down in Luojiabao Village, and grant him land.

As for Liu Heizi having nothing now, it doesn't matter. Li Yi can lend him a cave to live in, and can also rent him oxen, seeds, and farm tools.

"There are many disaster victims in Sanqiao. You are young and strong. I can lend you some money and food. If you go to Sanqiao and marry a woman, won't you be able to live well?"

There are many disaster victims from other places in Sanqiao. With a few buckets of rice, you can marry a widow who has fled the famine. If you add a little more, you can even find a virgin.

Liu Heizi was stunned.
"Village Chief, you are so good to me, even better than my parents. I, I, I even stole from you before. You are worse than pigs and dogs."

"I see that you have some skills and are not a bad person by nature. Since you helped me today, I will give you a hand. We can settle down in Luojiabao in the future. If there is not enough land for farming, you can rent my land. In your free time, you can help me look after the house and earn some money."

Liu Heizi is a tough guy who can even pin down two fighting bulls. Although he was unable to move after being shocked by Li Yi's electric baton, he is still a tough guy.

"Village chief, if you don't mind, I'd like to work as your farmhand. I'll provide you with food and lodging, two sets of clothes a year, and ten dan of grain, half wheat and half millet."

Li Yi smiled and said, "How can I build a family business as a farmhand? How can I get married, have children and support my family? I can be a farmhand when I'm young, but what will I do when I'm old?
Trust me and settle down in Luojiabao. I will help you to get land, at least you can get 30 to 40 acres of land. Although it will be hard to start from scratch in the first few years, there will be sweetness after bitterness.

I still say the same thing, settle down and divide the land, go to Sanqiao and marry a disaster victim, and then your life will gradually become more prosperous, and having children will really give you a future."

Liu Heizi was excited.
He didn't expect Li Yi to help him so much.

He had encountered this incident today, and he stood up because the workshop manager had deceived him and he had long been dissatisfied with him. Secondly, he remembered the favor Li Yi had shown him by not reporting him to the police and letting him go.

"I believe, I believe the village chief,"

"Village Chief, I, Liu Heizi, have been an orphan since childhood. I grew up eating at many people's homes and have experienced the ups and downs of life. No one has ever been so kind to me. Although I, Liu Heizi, have no parents, I also know that people should be grateful and repay kindness. From now on, if you have anything to say, just give me your instructions. I, Liu Heizi, will never hesitate, even if it means going through fire and water."

Li Yi liked to hear this, "Okay, I'll arrange it."

(End of this chapter)