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

Chapter 72: Bringing Gold to Seek Reconciliation

After sealing off the Wei's Tofu Shop in the General Camp, Li Shimin took Fang Du with him to Luojiabao in Hehe.

Liu Heizi led Li Yi's horse and asked, "Is this matter over?"

Li Yi smiled. Of course, it was impossible to let it go like this. The Wei family couldn't get away with this matter. The bald Luo family found the body covered with wounds in the cellar of the Wei family workshop. They first abducted the bald Luo family, then beat them up and forced them to reveal the secret recipe.

This is already a criminal act, and the evidence is conclusive.

If Aunt Pang had accepted the Wei family's conditions from the beginning and handed over the production technology of the tofu skin workshop, there would actually be no problem. At most, it would be an ugly way of eating, but it would not violate the law.

Now it depends on the attitude of the Wei family. If they sacrifice the car to save the driver and put all the blame on the two managers, saying that they know nothing, they will not be implicated much.

"Will the Wei family retaliate?" Liu Heizi asked again.

"When water comes, earth will flood; when soldiers come, we will just stop them."

When they arrived at Luojiabao, it was the first time for Li Shimin and his companions to come back. They found the row of straw shops under the shade of the big tree at the bridge head quite novel.

Li Yi briefly introduced the concept of the Qiaotou Service Area.

"This is indeed a good idea," Li Shimin praised.

Nowadays, it is not just Sanniang and her friends who sell meals and soy products at Qiaotou. Some villagers also sell their handicrafts, such as willow baskets, straw sandals, straw hats, straw raincoats, reed mats, brooms and stools. Anyway, they sell whatever they can right at their doorstep.

"Sanniang, give each of us a bowl of tofu pudding." Li Yi shouted.

Sanniang was startled to see so many mounted soldiers, but she felt relieved when she saw Li Yi. When she heard the shouts, she said, "Okay, right away."

"Your Highness, please try our special Qiaotou tofu pudding. It is as white as jade, as tender as honey, soft but not overcooked, tender but not runny, and has a delicate texture. Everyone who has tried it says it's delicious."

"Then try it."

Sanniang, Fifth Aunt and others worked swiftly, serving bowls of tofu pudding.

The two Stone brothers came over and were quite brave. "If you stop by our bridgehead to stop for a meal or to buy goods, we can help you water your horses and rinse them for free, and even give you a handful of grass."

Pilou Wuche looked at the boys and said, "Okay, help us water the horses and wash them. Do you have any horse feed?"

"Yes, we have both coarse and fine feeds, black beans, millet, sesame cakes and rapeseed cakes..." These guys would help out at the bridgehead every day, watering and rinsing horses for customers, and even providing horse feed. They were becoming more and more courageous and efficient in their work.

Pilou Wuche looked at the horse feed very carefully, and finally chose the concentrated feed, which he fed to dozens of horses.

The best feed in Qiaotou includes millet, black beans, rapeseed cake, wheat bran, and some salt.

Such a fine ingredient is naturally not cheap.

General concentrated feed mainly consists of black beans and oats.

The coarse feed is mainly grass and bran.

The horses ridden by the guards of the Prince of Qin's Palace were also considered war horses. They had to eat fine feed every day, but they couldn't just eat fine feed. As the saying goes, a horse should have three kinds of food and three times of drinking water.

When the horse is hungry, it should be fed roughage first, and then concentrated feed after it is full. But it is not enough to just eat grass, it must ensure that there is enough concentrated feed.

These horses usually eat three liters of concentrated feed a day, and a bundle of horse grass, which weighs about 15 pounds. The three liters of concentrated feed are millet and beans, not including other foods.

They eat more than soldiers and better than ordinary people.

The boys were busy working happily. They could make a lot of money from the feed for so many horses.

Li Shimin was very satisfied with the Qiaotou tofu pudding and gave it a high evaluation, especially when it was paired with a bowl of complimentary homemade soy sauce, which had a sour taste, was appetizing, relieved summer heat, and was refreshing and invigorating.

No Guanlong people can refuse such a bowl of rice water in summer, especially when they are on the road and stop to rest, having such a bowl is absolutely delicious.

"This rice water is good and tastes good." Li Shimin praised the rice water made by Sanniang.

Fang and Du also praised it highly, thinking that the free rice water was even more delicious than tofu pudding.

"Such delicious rice wine is free." Li Shimin exclaimed.

"It's hot in the summer, and it's very tiring to travel from north to south. Let's take a rest here and drink a bowl of rice water to cool down and relieve fatigue.
Anyway, making jiangshui is simple. All you need is wild vegetables from the fields. Boil water, add a small amount of wheat flour, and let it ferment and turn sour. It won't take long before you have a big vat of it."

Different wild vegetables can even ferment to produce different flavors.

This soursop water can be drunk directly as a beverage, or it can be used to cook soursop noodles, which tastes amazing.

Sanniang is really good at making rice water. It’s just like pickling kimchi. Some people can make it delicious just by doing it casually, but others fail no matter how hard they try.

The biggest cost of making rice water is actually buying the water tank, and the second is the flour.

There is a cost, but it is still a good way to attract free customers in the summer.

After drinking a bowl of tofu pudding and a bowl of rice water, the sweating stopped and I felt refreshed.

Li Shimin was delighted and took out a gold ingot worth one ounce and gave it to Sanniang as a reward. "Is it enough for the tofu pudding for over fifty of us, as well as the horse feed?"

"It doesn't take that much. A serving of top-quality horse feed is only a hundred coins, and a bowl of tofu pudding is only ten coins," Sanniang said quickly.

"The rest is yours. Your rice water is really delicious."

Li Yi wanted to say that he was the major shareholder of the Qiaotou shop and did not need to pay, but it was obvious that Li Shimin had given all his money. Seeing that he still had such a good review, he just smiled and said nothing more.

Li Yi led the satisfied Li Shimin and his companions up the hill to his own Wuji Thatched Cottage.
Today's thatched cottage is no longer the dilapidated Taoist temple it once was. After two renovations, it now covers more than two acres.

The courtyard with two entrances and two spans still looks a bit novel.

Look at the east yard, then look at the west yard.

Li Shimin saw the Wuji Primary School, which was converted from several south-facing houses in the west courtyard. It had three classes, three of the five south-facing houses were used as classrooms, and one was used as a teacher's office and a dormitory.

At this time, the elementary school classes had already ended, but there were still some children playing here.

The conditions in the classrooms were still relatively simple, with the ground just rammed earth. The desks and chairs were still being made, and students still sat on the ground to attend classes.

Li Shimin also went to see the workshop in the inner courtyard, which was a busy scene.

"Are all these women from the village working here?" "Yes, we give priority to hiring women from poor families. For example, the woman who cleans and cooks for the school is over 50 years old and a widow. Her son died young, and her wife remarried, leaving behind several children. It's not easy for her."

"How much does it pay to work here?"

"Two meals a day, six bushels of millet a month, plus a set of clothes and shoes. One day off every ten days, and a half-month holiday during the busy farming seasons of spring and autumn."

Fang Xuanling said, "For a widow in her fifties, it's quite good to be treated like this."

"What about the others?"

"Working in the workshop is harder and the wages are higher. The basic wage is seven dou of millet per month. If the workshop is busy, there will be an additional bonus of one to three dou per month."

Li Shimin looked everywhere and asked questions as he walked, asking both Li Yi and the women in the workshop directly.

I even went to see the kitchen preparing dinner for the workers.
Millet rice is steamed in a wooden steamer in a large pot.
The dishes are ready. Today we have pig lungs stewed with soybeans, stir-fried purslane, and a mixed fish soup.

The quantity is quite large, and you can see some oil.

Li Shimin was quite surprised when he heard Li Yi say that millet rice was enough to fill him up.

He knew that many powerful landlords and farmhands in their estates usually did not have access to meat and had little oil. Only during the busy farming season would the landlords improve their meals by providing some pig offal, pig heads, pig trotters, miscellaneous fish, etc., but there was still very little oil.

The food in Li Yi's workshop is surprisingly good. Even a group of women can earn the same wages as farmhands.

"We are all villagers from this village. As the village chief, I opened a workshop to make some money and help my fellow villagers increase their income."

This answer made Li Shimin very satisfied.

After a round, Li Shimin asked how he would deal with Luo Baldhead's family.

"With five ounces of gold in front of them and four stone of rice as wages every month, I guess most ordinary people can't resist the temptation.
Aunt Fat is actually a pretty good woman. She was always reluctant to betray me, but later she was beaten and scared, so she had no choice but to tell me.

I don’t blame them.”

"Do you still use Fat Aunt?"

"Well, she can come back to work anytime with the same salary. As for the bald head, I will punish him a little."

"You are quite generous." Li Shimin admired.

"The secret recipe of your workshop has been leaked. Although I sent someone to inform them, I don't think the Wei family will respond. What are you going to do?"

"It's not a big deal. If we can't get exclusive business, then we can compete on our own merits. There may be a price war, but I believe that in the end, it will still come down to quality and service. Good reputation is worse than gold or silver. I have the confidence to continue doing this."

Du Ruhui said, "If the Wei family really wants to snatch your business, you might not be able to win."

"It's just a small business, so if I stop doing it, it won't be a big deal."

Li Shimin gave a thumbs up and said, "You have broad-mindedness and courage, and you have a great vision. I admire you very much."

Before dark, Li Shimin left.

Early the next morning,

As soon as Li Yi woke up, Luo Er came to find him.

"Someone from the Wei family has arrived and is waiting outside. This time, it seems to be a young master of the Wei family, not the steward."

"Tell him to wait a moment. I'll come after I wash up."

Li Yi slowly washed his face, brushed his teeth, and changed his clothes. He also went to the bridge head to drink a bowl of tofu pudding and eat two frog pancakes, and drank another bowl of rice water. He even chatted with Sanniang about the current business of the stall at the bridge head.

Then he slowly came to the living room of the south house in the east courtyard.

The visitor from the Wei family was in his twenties, wearing a silk robe and a gold-plated belt around his waist. Although Li Yi was not an official, he knew something about officials.

It was obvious at a glance that the other person must be an official.

"My name is Li Yi. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. May I know your name?"

The man stood up and said with a smile, "Yang Hongwu of the Hongnong Yang family holds the title of Left Thousand Oxen Attendant and is granted the title of Duke of Cangshan County. My brother serves as the Crown Prince's Assistant and is granted the title of Duke of Qinghe County."

Li Yi looked at him in confusion. Wasn't it said that someone from the Wei family was coming? Why did someone from Hongnong come?

"I wonder what County Lord Yang wants?"

Yang Hongwu waved his hand, and a middle-aged man who had been standing in a corner came over with a small box.

When it opened in front of him, there was a golden light inside.

"I've come here at the request of my uncle, Wei Gong, the Minister of Rites, to settle a matter. Here are ten gold bars, five taels each, pure gold."

When Li Yi heard the name of Wei Gong, the Minister of Rites, he knew that he had come to deal with the aftermath of yesterday's incident in the workshop.

He said nothing.

Yang Xuanwu smiled and continued, "My uncle and Lord Shu Yi are both from the same branch of the Xun family, and are cousins with the same grandfather. Someone from Lord Shu Yi's residence came to my uncle and said that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, that it was the ignorant servants who acted on their own and did what they wanted.

Duke Shu Yi's family hopes that my uncle can come forward and explain things clearly to the man from Qianshui County.

This fifty taels of gold is the money to buy your workshop recipe. Actually, it's just a tofu business, no one in the Wei family would take it seriously, and the so-called recipe is not worth much money at all. But since things have come to this, the Wei family is still willing to show sincerity.

These fifty taels of gold are a token of my apology. I hope this matter will cease here."

This compensation had a bit of a charity flavor, and Li Yi couldn't help but laugh when he heard it.

They are really from a powerful family, so high and mighty.

They stole Li Yi's prescription with five taels of gold, and now, considering the face of the King of Qin, they took out fifty taels of gold.
If Li Shimin had not intervened, they would not have cared about Li Yi, a Baron of Qianshui County.

Even up to now, no one named Wei has come forward to apologize to him, but someone named Yang was sent instead.

(End of this chapter)