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

Chapter 88: Strongly Recommending Pharmacist Li

Walking out of Li Jing's house,
Li Yi was holding a heavy mace in his hand, which was given to him by Li Jing.

Back home,

Li Yi couldn't wait to draw out the mace. This mace was both sharp and blunt, and contained infinite murderous intent in its small size.

The mace is less than one meter long.
There is a wooden grid at the handle, and near the grid there is a line of seal characters shining brightly: "Made by Li Jing in the 13th year of Daye".
The inner edge is less than three feet long and weighs more than seven pounds.

The body of the mace gradually narrows towards the tip, with four edges and a melon-shaped head, presenting the shape of a four-petal flower. The mace handle is made of rosewood and carved into a cylindrical shape.

In the 13th year of Daye, when Li Jing was serving as the prefect of Mayi County outside Yanmen Pass in the north of Dai,
At that time, Liu Wuzhou, the current King of Daibei, was just a captain of Mayi under his jurisdiction.

At that time, the whole country was in turmoil. Li Jing discovered the unusual behavior of Li Yuan, the governor of Taiyuan, and realized that he was going to rebel, so he reported it to the prefect Wang Rengong. Unfortunately, Wang Rengong refused to believe it.

The Turks outside the Great Wall had been harassing the border since they surrounded Yang Guang at Yanmen.

When Li Jing forged this mace at that time, he might have thought about turning the tide, or at least guarding the border.

Looking back at Li Jing's youth, he was also full of vigor and ambition.

He once said to his father that if a man of honor meets the right master and the right time, he must accomplish great deeds and gain wealth and honor.

And his uncle Han Qinhu once said, "You are the only one who can discuss Sun Wu and Wu Qi with me."

But time passed, and in a blink of an eye, Li Jing was nearly fifty years old, but had achieved nothing.

Li Jing forged this mace. After failing to persuade the prefect Wang Rengong again, he locked himself in the prison cart and had himself escorted to Jiangdu, intending to use this method to deceive Li Yuan's territory and report Li Yuan to the emperor.

But he was finally blocked in Chang'an by Li Yuan.

For more than a year, neither Li Yuan nor Li Shimin, father or son, had any intention of using him.

Li Jing may have become discouraged.
I had a good chat while playing chess with him today. Knowing that he would be joining the army, I gave him this mace as a gift.

Perhaps it was not that Li Yuan and Li Shimin did not know Li Jing's abilities, but that they doubted his loyalty, so they did not use him.

"Alang,"

Li Shouren stepped forward. This newly bought slave was only thirteen years old, with a pale face and skinny appearance.

"Uncle Fu said the concierge received an invitation from Du Bingcao's servant."

Li Yi took it,
Du Ruhui invited him to visit his house.

"Is the Du family still there?"

"Still in the concierge."

"Please come here."

Du Ruhui's servant came in and paid his respects, conveying his master's words that Du Shiniang had come to Chang'an.

I rewarded him with ten coins.
Li Yi hesitated with the invitation in hand.

He was a little confused about Du Ruhui's invitation. He had indeed come to Du Ruhui to ask for his help in sending Du Shiniang to Luoyang.

They are cousins themselves. Du Ruhui brought them to Chang'an, which means that the matter has been settled.
But when Du Ruhui invited him to his home, he specifically mentioned that Du Shiniang had also come to Chang'an. Was he arranging a meeting between the two of them?
He and Guo had such a quarrel because of Shi Niang.
Du Ruhui made such arrangements. Isn't this deliberately going against the Guo family?

Besides, what exactly does Du Ruhui mean? Does he want to match him up with Du Shiniang? Can he accept this mismatch?

Li Yi, on the contrary, retreated a little.

He is not really the sixteen-year-old boy Wu Yi,
He is actually a middle-aged soul who has just experienced the seven-year itch in "Fortress Besieged". He is not afraid of marriage, but he feels tired of it.

Besides, Du Shiniang is a good person. She has a good family background, is beautiful, and has no bad temper. She is kind and easy-going, and also talented. Li Yi likes her paintings very much.

But that's all, their contact was not deep. This kind of contact is too common in later generations. Classmates, colleagues, fellow townsmen, any kind of relationship will result in more contact and better relationships.

Li Yi has never considered anything else until now.

Previously, he thought that Mrs. Guo was overreacting and was too protective of her granddaughter. Now that Du Ruhui was also like this, Li Yi realized that he might have overlooked the boundaries of relationships between men and women in ancient times.

Du Shiniang should be only fifteen or sixteen years old, about the same age as Luo Sanniang.

Although Li Yi is only sixteen years old,

But the soul is no longer a teenager.

Put Du Ruhui's invitation into the space,

Li Yi picked up the mace given by Li Jing and began to dance under the jujube tree in the front yard.

Wuyi has followed Taoist Li since he was a child and has a very strong body, especially during his six years of traveling around the world, from Guanzhong to the Central Plains, from the Central Plains to Jiangnan and Shannan, traveling across most of the world.

Although he didn't know any mace techniques, he could swing the seven and a half jin mace with the strength of his arms. The four edges of this thing were much more ferocious than a sword.

Even if you are wearing armor, you won’t be able to withstand a heavy blow.

The mace has a point and can be used for stabbing.

Anyway, the killer mace often mentioned in novels is actually a sashou mace, which is a killing move of the mace. You can throw the mace at the enemy or stab the enemy with the tip of the mace.

Four-sided sharp spikes, with amazing lethality.

Li Yi thinks that dancing every day can also have a good effect on strengthening his body.

This thing weighs seven and a half pounds. It's quite intense to dance with it for a while. An ordinary horizontal sword only weighs two or three pounds.

After dancing for a while, I was sweating profusely.

Ji Sujun stood at the second door and watched for a long time, and couldn't help covering her mouth and laughing.

"Where did Alang get such a mace when he doesn't know any mace techniques?"

"Could you?"

"I used to see my grandfather practicing the mace. The mace is a weapon used by cavalry generals on horseback, relying on its power and strength. The specific moves are mainly horizontal, vertical and horizontal. There are 24 methods, including upward grinding, downward sweeping, center interception, straight chopping, side attack, and crushing.

Using a mace requires power, speed, and accuracy, hence the saying, "Rain hitting white sand is like a mace disrupting the chopping of wood." This made Li Yi think a little differently, and he jokingly said, "Ah Lang, I only know how to be powerful, not fast. What should I do?"

Ji's face suddenly turned red.
"Alang is being disrespectful to me."

"Hahaha,"

Li Yi smiled and asked Ji to teach her mace skills step by step. She had often watched her grandfather Ji Wei practice mace since she was a child. Her father was also a cavalry general and often practiced whip mace.

If you read a lot, you can be considered a half-expert.

Even though she couldn't wield the seven-and-a-half-jin one-handed mace, she could wield the two-jin horizontal sword with great skill, and she could also ride and shoot.

She is indeed the daughter of a general.

In the end, Li Yi did not go to keep the appointment with Du Ruhui that day. He just asked Agui to deliver a letter to Du Ruhui's home, saying that there was an urgent matter at home in the countryside and he had to go back.

He did return home.

Taking Ji and the four young men with him, Ji suggested that he separate the parents and children of the three newly purchased slaves, leaving the parents in Chang'an and sending the children to the countryside. This was like holding a hostage to prevent the newly purchased slaves from being unreliable, such as stealing or escaping.

Li Yi obeyed and arranged for the four young men to work in the countryside. He asked Yu Shu and Ji to come to Chang'an, and Hong Xiao would stay in the countryside to accompany Lanxiang.

Anyway, Li Yi was going to join the army, so the Pingkangfang house only needed someone to look after the house and didn't need to be ordered around.

Stayed one night in the countryside.
After making some arrangements with Luo Er, Xiuzhi, Sanniang, and Dong Qilang from the school, he returned to Chang'an early the next morning with Sujun, Yushu, Liu Heizi, Chen Liang, and the two men Zhang Yiquan and Cao Daxing.

Just arrived at Pingkangfang House,

The King of Qin sent someone to summon Li Yi.
As Sun Fujia revealed, the emperor and his court decided to take over Longyou first. After a delay of several days, they proceeded as planned.

Li Yi brought two servants and two bodyguards with him, and the five of them rode on horseback to the outside of the Jinguang Gate in the west of the city.

This is the temporary base camp.

Countless troops, food, and equipment were assembled here. For this counterattack, the emperor assembled another army and civilians for Li Shimin.
He was brought to the tent.

Many civil officials and military generals gathered, and Li Yi didn't recognize many of them.

I also knew Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Hou Junji, Xu Luoren, etc.

As a military officer in the camp, he was actually just a low-level staff member, responsible for some clerical work of the commander-in-chief. A military officer like him, without the prefix of Cao, actually had no fixed duties.
To put it nicely, they are staff officers, but in fact they are just doing odd jobs and running errands, slightly better than serving as soldiers.

However, for Li Yi, joining the army is quite suitable for him. If he is really asked to take charge of a certain matter, he will definitely be overwhelmed, but he likes to slack off like now.

Find a corner and sit down.

Listening to a group of generals and officials discussing military affairs there was a very novel experience.
After listening for a while, I had some understanding of the identities of these people.
For example, the slightly fat man in white robe, although his robe was neither purple nor red, sat only second to Li Shimin. Everyone called him Mr. Liu. This man was the former prime minister Liu Wenjing, whom Li Yi had met in the Secretariat last time.

The other one in a white robe was very elegant and handsome. He was called Yin Sima, the legendary grandfather of Tang Monk.

Other generals included Dou Gui, the governor of Qinzhou, Chai Shao, the husband of Princess Pingyang who rushed back from the front, and Liu Hongji, Liu Shirang, and Li Anyuan who were defeated and captured.

The discussion was intense.
But no one underestimated the enemy anymore, and Li Shimin still stressed that they should not be impatient. Now Xue Ju had just passed away, and Xue Rengao had succeeded him, but many of his subordinates did not obey him, and the Xue army was running out of food and grass.

Although there is at least a 50% to 60% chance of winning if they attack now, Li Shimin believes that they should be patient and use time to gain more chances of winning. If they can hold on for another month, they can increase their chances of winning by at least 20%.

In two months at the most, Xue Rengao will collapse on his own, and by then, things will be a natural outcome, and we won't have to worry about Xue Rengao's desperate struggle and counterattack.

There was the desperate comeback of the last Changwu victory,

Li Shimin had a very high prestige in the military meeting at the camp, and no one had any objections. It was decided to break camp and set off the day after tomorrow, and the military meeting ended.

"General Li, do you have anything to add?" Li Shimin said to Li Yi with a smile.

"Your Highness is wise and brave, and you have foreseen every possible plan," Li Yi flattered him, then said, "Yesterday I bought a house in Pingkangfang. My next-door neighbor is Li Jing from Sanyuan. I played two games of chess with him and chatted with him for a while."

"I think Li Jing is very proficient in military tactics, but he is not on the list of those accompanying the army. Your Highness, why don't you take Li Jing with you to assist in the military? It will surely be a good idea."

When Li Shimin heard Li Jing's name, he didn't react much.

"Do you think I don't know Li Jing's abilities? There's another reason why I didn't bring him along."

Li Yi knew it was definitely related to Li Jing's suicidal attempt to accuse Li Yuan of treason, but he still said sincerely, "Winning this battle is the most important thing first. Besides, he is only being assigned to the army as a consultant, not as a direct commander."

Li Shimin nodded and said, "That makes sense. Then you can notify Li Jing to come, and I will appoint him as a military officer in the camp."

Li Yi didn't mind making another trip.
He felt that having a future military god like Li Jing accompanying the army was better than having literati and amateurs like Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan commanding. Of course, he also took the opportunity to do Li Jing a favor in advance, so that he could get along better with this new neighbor in the future.

Li Yi turned around to lead the horse,

"Wuyi, wait a minute," Du Ruhui called him from behind.

Li Yi turned around helplessly: "Mr. Du."

Du Ruhui looked at Li Yi and said, "You didn't come yesterday. Some people were very disappointed. They waited anxiously, but in the end, you didn't show up."

"Something happened at home in the countryside, so I rushed back. I'm really sorry that I couldn't keep the appointment."

"Are you free today?" Du Ruhui asked with a smile.

Li Yi felt that Du Ruhui had seen through him, so he simply said, "Shi Niang is at your house. I don't think it's convenient for me to visit you, for fear of causing unnecessary misunderstandings."

Du Ruhui looked into his eyes for a long time, then shook his head and sighed, "This is something I didn't expect."

"Lord Du, His Highness asked me to summon Pharmacist Li. I'll be leaving first."

Li Yi left in a hurry.

Du Ruhui shook his head as he watched. He had thought that as long as he acted as a matchmaker, Li Yi would immediately climb up the ladder, but he didn't expect that this guy actually refused.

I really didn't expect it, and I even couldn't figure it out. What was wrong with Shi Niang, and what was wrong with Jingzhao Du family? Or was it because Jingzhao Du family was too famous that made Li Yi back off?

This kid doesn't seem like such a timid person.

(End of this chapter)