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

Chapter 8 Construction is well underway

early morning,

Li Yi woke up early, petted the cat first, and rewarded it with two dried shrimps for its loyal night guarding of food.

After a simple wash, he went out.

Yesterday I made an appointment with Guo Erlang to visit Wang Lizheng and Wang Xiangchang.

Yusu Township is located in Wangqu Village, which is only eight miles away from Luojiabao. It has a market on the third, sixth, and ninth days of the lunar calendar.

The five songs in the south of the city include Weiqu, Duqu, Wangqu, Zhangqu and Xuanqu.

There are 108 wards in Chang'an City, two ward markets in the east and west, and 104 townships in the suburbs. Seventeen of these townships have markets. Weiqu has a market every day, Sanqiao and Baqiao have markets every other day, and the rest have markets for 1, 4, 7, 2, 5, 8, 3, 6, 9 or more days.

"The village head, Wang Sanlang, lives in Nianwan, between Guozhuang and Wangqu. This place was originally called Huazuibao. There are thirteen households in the village. Originally, there were three brothers who moved here from Wangqu. Now, there are thirteen households, all of whom are one family.

Wang Sanlang is the head of the seven villages in Xingsheng Village. His family is much more prosperous than mine. His family built a weir to divert water, built a mill with five wheels, and could grind 300 dan of wheat a day. That's why Huazui Fort got the name Nianwan. On the way, Guo Erlang introduced him to this head of the village.
"Wang Sanlang's family owns 800 mu of rice fields, and he has an older brother who works as a cashier in the Ministry of Revenue in Chang'an, specializing in lending money to the government."

When Li Yi met Wang Lizheng, he gave him a small packet of Lotus MSG.

"MSG, what is it?" Li Zheng Wang was a little confused about the gift Li Yi gave him.

Li Yi asked Wang Lizheng for a bowl of warm water, let him drink a sip first, and then added some MSG and a little salt to the water.

"Try it again, Lizheng."

Wang Lizheng picked it up and took a sip. His eyes widened. He took two more sips and exclaimed, "So sweet?" He almost tasted chicken soup.

It's amazing that clear water turns into chicken soup.

"This is MSG. It's a gem my master accidentally found while refining elixirs. It can greatly enhance the flavor of dishes. It's truly the essence of flavor."

Wang Lizheng picked up the bowl, savored it slowly, and became more and more surprised.

Unexpectedly, that small packet of MSG was so magical that it could turn water into chicken soup. Unfortunately, Li Yi told him that he had obtained this thing accidentally after failing in alchemy, and he could not make it again later.

"That's such a shame! If you had this secret recipe, even water could be turned into chicken soup."

Because of this MSG, Wang Lizheng's attitude towards Li Yi changed drastically. He originally just gave face to Guo Erlang, but now he also praised Li Yi a lot and personally took Li Yi to Wangqu to meet the village chief Wang.

Township head Wang is from Wangqu Village and is also the uncle of village chief Wang.

When the Tang Dynasty was first established, the system basically followed that of the Sui Dynasty. The villages and towns were still the same as those of the Sui Dynasty. One hundred households made up a village, and five villages made up a township. Each township had a village chief and two village assistants.

During the Sui Dynasty, township heads once had judicial trial power and could try minor criminal cases and general civil cases. Later, this power was abolished because it was too great.

The village head has no rank, and is not in the mainstream.

But he was called Wuli Hou, and he was in charge of 500 households. His real power was very great. The imperial power did not extend to the countryside, and the village was under the charge of the village head and the village head.

The village heads and village heads are basically powerful clan members, who already have money and influence in the village.

Liu Shilong, the mayor of Jinyang Township in Bingzhou at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and Shigui, the chief soldier of the Zhechoufu, were both wealthy people in Hedong. One of them started out as a timber trader, and the other as a cattle and horse trader. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, they both joined Li Yuan, the governor of Hedong, and started an uprising with him, and attacked Chang'an.
Now that the Tang Dynasty has been established, they have all been granted the title of Duke.

As the new village chief of Luojiabao, Li Yi is the most basic official, responsible for assisting the township and village heads in collecting taxes, assigning labor service, and especially maintaining public security in the village.

Wang Lizheng and Guo Cunzhang, two of the most powerful and influential people in the village, personally came to pay a visit to the village chief, which surprised the village chief.
Wang Lizheng is the nephew of the village chief, but they are actually five generations apart and do not live in the same village. However, this nephew's eldest brother works as a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue in Chang'an, and Village Chief Guo's eldest brother works as a legal assistant in Chang'an County, and his wife is from the Jingzhao Du family. These are all things that Village Chief Wang has to give face to.

Li Yi is also very sensible.
When Township Chief Wang was talking to him alone, he directly handed him a small teacup, a white porcelain teacup as white as jade. This high-temperature fired white porcelain cup with the texture of mutton-fat jade Ruyi was small and exquisite, delicate and pure, and the porcelain color flowed like light.

When Village Chief Wang saw the teacup, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

Although Li Yi bought this thing for 48 yuan in a set of eight, the workmanship is really excellent. It is simple and elegant, and very smart.

It has no patterns, but it is as smooth as mutton-fat jade.

Village chief Wang thought it was a jade cup, and he didn't quite believe it when Li Yi said it was white porcelain.

"This was given to my master by a nobleman when he was traveling in the Central Plains. I heard that Village Chief Wang likes to drink tea. It's just a small token of my appreciation, not a token of respect."

The small teacup costing six yuan immediately changed the way Village Chief Wang addressed him, and he called him "nephew" directly.

After sitting at the home of Village Chief Wang for a while and saying goodbye, Li Yi went to the market.

Wangquji is quite lively, but the products are mainly agricultural products, with people selling grains, livestock, various wood and bamboo, bamboo barrels, willow baskets and pottery. Of course, fish, shrimp, rabbits and wild boars are also sold.
Even field mice, mountain rats, squirrels, frogs, frogs, pheasants, various turtles, snakes, tortoises, and even hedgehogs, badgers, pangolins, muntjacs, roe deer, and wild boars were all put on display for sale.

Li Yi bargained for a long time at a butcher's stall selling pork, and finally bought four pork trotters and ten kilograms of lard.

Pork costs 150 wen per pound, but pig's trotters are much cheaper.

Four pig's trotters weighing more than five pounds only cost him two hundred coins, while ten pounds of lard cost him one thousand six hundred coins, and the butcher gave him a pair of pig lungs.

This lard is ten cents per pound more expensive than pork.

He spent another two hundred coins to buy a bucket of salt. The salt was of very poor quality, impure in color, full of impurities, and very damp.

Li Yi didn't shop for long and went home after spending two thousand coins.

Back in the straw hut, the pig's trotters were first roasted with straw, then scraped and cleaned, stewed with soybeans, and the pig's lungs were stewed with seasonings.

Boil pork fat,
After working for more than an hour, breakfast was ready.

The pig's trotters are chopped into large pieces and stewed with soybeans, which is very fragrant.

The pig lungs given by the butcher also became beautiful and delicious after being braised.

The commonly eaten boiled water spinach can also become a different kind of delicious food by pouring some marinade on it.

"Two thousand coins, even with the current grain price, can almost buy a stone of millet. You really don't know how to live." Sanniang couldn't help but say from the side.

"Just tell me, are the pig's trotters stewed with soybeans soft, sticky and fragrant? Are the braised pig's lungs chewy and delicious?" Li Yi asked with a smile.

"Eat today and you'll have no tomorrow, won't you? You can't live like this? The money you spend on this meal today is enough to hire a farmhand for two months' work."

Li Yi put a few pieces of pig lungs into Sanniang's bowl and scooped a spoonful of pig's feet. "This can replenish your qi and blood. You look so thin, your face is pale, and your hair is yellow. You need to replenish your qi and blood."

Sanniang blushed, "You have to be frugal in your life, so that you don't have to live in poverty."

"I got it. Let's eat quickly." Li Yi said with a smile. Sanniang's nagging was not annoying at all. Instead, it made people feel warm inside. It was actually quite nice to feel cared about by someone.

"Gousheng, hurry to Wuji Temple and tell your father and the others to come back for dinner. Tell everyone that we're having pig's trotters stewed with soybeans today. Come quickly."

Luo San and his team's task today is to continue digging and building the Hu foundation. Yesterday was the first day of work, and Li Yi treated everyone to a good meal, so everyone worked extra hard today.

They took pickaxes and shovels to dig soil at the foot of the cliff. Clean loess was needed for the foundation of the hu. The soil at the foot of the cliff was very suitable, and its dryness, wetness and stickiness were perfect. Ten grown men arrived at the place, picked up pickaxes and shovels and started working.
After digging and shoveling, they filled a cart with soil and used Li Yi's three-year-old yellow ox to pull it to the Wuji Temple.
No one cheated, and they worked for more than two hours. The sun was already very hot, and then Gousheng and Shitou came.
"It's time to eat. We're having meat again today. Pig's feet stewed with soybeans."

Everyone laughed, thinking that the two boys were joking with them.

Luo San untied the ox that was pulling the cart and handed it to the two brothers, "Take it to drink water, and then to the canal to eat some grass."

The excavated soil was piled up into a mountain in the Wuji Temple.

When Luo San and his companions returned to the straw hut in the rice field, Luo Er and his team also came back for dinner. They went to Wangqu early in the morning to bring back the old rafters, purlins, beams, etc. that they had bought.

Because they were all dismantled from the old house, it didn't cost much money.

"Thank you for your hard work, let's eat quickly," Li Yi greeted.

Sanniang and Lanxiang opened the lid of the pot, and the aroma of meat immediately filled the air.

"What delicious food have you prepared so early in the morning?" Lao Wu asked Sanniang. "Long-tailed rabbit or frog?"

"Neither. This morning we had soybean and pig's trotter soup." Sanniang wiped the sweat from her forehead and picked up a large spoon. "Hurry up and get a bowl to serve it."

Luo San and others came forward and found that the big earthenware pot was indeed filled with pig's trotters stewed with soybeans. The aroma was so fragrant that everyone, who had worked hard all morning, couldn't help but drool.

"Why is it so expensive?" Luo San hurriedly said to Li Yi. Yesterday, they said it was the first day of work, but how can we eat like this every day? Especially today, it's pig's trotters, not fish and shrimp caught in the rice fields or canals.

Li Yi smiled and brought a large pot of millet rice to the shade of the tree outside the shed.

"I went to Wangquji this morning and saw that the butcher's pig's trotters were not expensive, so I bought some."

"Pork is too expensive now, we can't afford it," Luo San asked him to save some money.

"Everyone has worked so hard to help me build the house. I can't let you go hungry. The emperor doesn't need hungry soldiers. Let's eat quickly."

Although everyone said that Li Yi was spending too much money, they were still honest when they ate.

A big bowl of millet rice, topped with a big spoonful of pig's trotters and soybeans, a few pieces of braised pig's lungs, and a few chopsticks of water spinach.
The most important thing is to have a spoonful of soup.
The bowls were piled high with food, and they took them outside the straw hut and squatted down to eat, gobbling them up in a rage, sweating profusely. Each person had to have five bowls.

(End of this chapter)