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

Chapter 102 Triumph
The evening breeze blows gently,

As the sun sets,

On both sides of the winding He River, rice swayed in the wind.

In front of us is the towering Shenheyuan and the majestic Zhongnan Mountains reaching into the sky in the distance.

Luo Dafu roared, "Yeah, Mom, I'm back!"

A group of men roared loudly.

Li Yi couldn't stand it.

The sound of ghosts howling and wolves howling was so ugly.

The egrets in the fields were so frightened that they flapped their wings and flew away, and the toads were so frightened that they jumped into the river.

These men, who had been away from home for a hundred days, ran back home howling.

Fear of being close to home.

Li Yi urged his mount to follow slowly. The horse behind him was carrying two bundles, which contained the ashes and relics of Dashan and Dashu.

In Jingzhou, Li Yi, Luo San and others found the burial place of the two men, dug out the bones and burned them, collected the ashes and put them in a jar and brought them back.

We can't let them be lonely ghosts in a foreign land.
Leaves return to their roots,

Even after death, the soul should return to its hometown.

I just don't know how to tell them, their parents, wives and children.
"elder brother!"

The north end of Luojiawan Bridge,

Luo Sanniang, who was still busy in the shop at the bridge head, heard the faint call and stood there looking for a long time. Then she saw her second and third brothers running towards her in the sunset.

"elder brother,"

Sanniang excitedly ran to the other side of the bridge.
The brothers and sisters met in the middle of the bridge,

"Brother, you are finally back,"

Dafu and Dagui were also very excited when they looked at the girl.
This trip was not only about being away for over a hundred days, but also about going through such a difficult siege, facing the threat of hunger and death. It was such a torment.
Return to hometown and see relatives again,
The emotion was also particularly strong.

"Aye!"

Lanxiang also ran to her father Luo San,
quickly,

This rest area at the bridgehead,
It became a large family reunion.
Almost everyone in the village rushed over after hearing the news. Some mothers hugged their sons and cried, some fathers patted their sons on the shoulders, some sons jumped into their fathers' arms, and some wives held their husbands' hands and wiped their tears.

Excited, happy, crying with joy.

"Mountain!"

Some people searched for their sons in the crowd and called out, but they could never find him. Their anxious and worried cries eventually turned into tears.

There were also people who had just returned and were crying bitterly with their surviving family members because their loved ones died in the last cliff collapse.

I couldn't even see him before his death.

"Uncle San, please help me give the ashes and belongings of Dashan and Dashu to their families," Li Yi felt a little blocked and uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

He also didn't know how to face their relatives.
Uncle San nodded.

"Alang, thank you for your hard work along the way."

Xiuzhi came forward to welcome him home.

Yu Shu and Su Jun were still in Chang'an. As soon as he came back, he went straight back to Yusuchuan without even entering Chang'an City.

"Is everything okay at home?"

"okay."

Li Yi had been away from home for only a little over a month, and not much had changed, except that the rice had grown taller and denser.

"Dashan, my son, why did you leave like this?"

Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry came from behind. It was Dashan's mother. Her husband died a few years ago, and now her son is gone too.

Dashan's wife and children also started crying.

The fellow villagers comforted him.

A few happy and sad,
During the two conscription campaigns, fourteen people went out and twelve returned.

As for the group that left in May, their homes were still safe when they left, but when they returned, many of their relatives were killed or injured in the cliff collapse.

"Uncle San, the villagers will help bury Dashan and Dashu tomorrow. Let's help."

"Okay, rest in peace."

Until much later,

The villagers went home.

Li Yi returned to Wuji Thatched Cottage after more than a month.

Not even changed,
"Alang, the potatoes have grown very tall, and some have even blossomed." Xiuzhi took Li Yi to see the potatoes.
The two potatoes had already sprouted and been planted before Li Yi left.

Cut two potatoes into eight pieces and plant them.

Now, outside the inner courtyard corridor, in eight small clay pots, eight potato seedlings have grown very strong, and some of them have indeed bloomed small purple flowers.

"I don't know how to take care of it. I just water it when the soil is dry. I usually put it outside the porch. If it rains heavily, I move it back inside."

Li Yi smiled and said, "Actually, these potatoes don't need to be taken care of very carefully. Water and fertilizer are enough. They are already blooming.

In a month or two, the root potatoes will be ripe, and then we can harvest a lot of potatoes."

"Can we harvest potatoes so soon? How many potatoes can we harvest?"

"From one potato plant, you can harvest at least five or six. If you manage it carefully, you can harvest ten or so."

Xiuzhi was surprised. If a potato was cut into four pieces and planted, one piece could yield more than ten potatoes. Wouldn't that be dozens of times the harvest?

"Potatoes can be used as both food and vegetables. They can be cooked and eaten directly, or used to make starch and vermicelli. They can be grown twice a year and the yield is still very high. The key is that potatoes do not have high requirements for soil.
Potatoes can also be grown in water-scarce dry land and sandy land with little fertilizer.

There is no problem in producing 1,800 kilograms per mu."

Xiuzhi also came from a farming family, and she immediately realized how precious potatoes were. They could be harvested twice a year, with each crop yielding 1,800 kilograms per mu. They weren't particularly picky about the soil, unlike wheat and rice, which needed enough water. "That year, we could have harvested 2,000 kilograms per mu. Many fields in my hometown can only yield one dan of wheat per mu. Our Yushu River paddy fields are fertile and well-watered, but we can only produce two or three dan of rice per year. This yield is only 1,000 or 2,000 kilograms per mu! Hilarious!" Xiuzhi couldn't imagine it.

Looking at the potatoes that I have been tending to for almost two months under the porch, I originally thought they were just some kind of vegetable imported from foreign countries, just like cucumbers, spinach, eggplants, etc.

Who would have thought that this could be used as food and have such a high yield per mu.

"Ah Lang didn't lie to me, did he?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"This, this, this is too precious. We have to find a place to keep it and can't lose it." Xiuzhi stuttered.

"Isn't it already in our inner courtyard? How can it be lost?"

Now, in Xiuzhi's eyes, the eight potatoes are no longer ordinary vegetables, they are eight treasures. Now she finally understands why Alang said that the two potatoes are two gold nuggets.

Each potato weighs about half a pound. If this plant produces ten potatoes, that would weigh five pounds. Eight pots would weigh forty pounds.

Forty kilograms of food.
She sold her head and body to bury her husband, only buying him a thin coffin, and then she sold herself.

Now a dou of beans costs more than 200 coins, but they only sold a few dozen kilograms of beans at the beginning.

"By the way, Chen Liang has six onion plants, also grown in clay pots. I'll have him move them here and help take care of them."

"Ah Lang, what is an onion?"

"It's a kind of onion native to the Hu people. The rhizome is a flat ball. The rhizome is mainly eaten, but the leaves can also be eaten. It's a vegetable."

Xiuzhi was fine after hearing this, but if it was another precious food like potatoes, she would really be worried about not being able to manage it well.

"Are the four kids sent by Chang'an obedient?" Li Yi asked.

"They are all very honest and hardworking. Since you are not at home, there is nothing to do in the courtyard, so I arranged for them to help in the workshop."

"Have they been allowed to attend classes in the school?"

"According to Ah Lang's instructions, I also let them sit in on the noon classes every day."

"Did you also attend the classes on time?" Li Yi asked.

Xiuzhi nodded and said that she also went to attend classes every day.

"How many characters do you recognize now, and how many characters can you write?"

Xiuzhi studied hard in class. Although she felt that as a woman she didn't need to study, she went to study every day because Li Yi asked her to.

There was a reason why Li Yi asked all his servants to attend classes.

They are all illiterate, which makes it inconvenient to use them sometimes. For example, Xiuzhi is being trained to be the housekeeper of the inner courtyard, and she also has to take care of some things in the workshop. It is definitely inconvenient for her because she can't read a single word.

Li Shouren, Li Shouyi, Chen Liang and others will definitely have to take charge of some things in the future. Li Yi is alone and has no relatives or clansmen.
You can only train it yourself, which is always more reassuring than relying on outsiders.

In fact, Li Yi also suggested that people like Luo Er and San Niang go to the class when they are free, since the class is only at noon.

If you want to go far and achieve better development, illiteracy will not be enough.

Anyway, we have our own school and have such a convenient condition. It would be a waste if we don’t use such a good resource.

Others who want to audit classes don’t have the conditions yet. They have to pay tuition and get permission, but the Li family does.

"Who knows more words, you or Menshuan Menzhu?" Li Yi joked.

Xiuzhi said that the kids knew a lot and were smart, but she was not smart and her hand holding the pen was stiff and she couldn't write well. But in the past two months, Xiuzhi has learned more than a hundred words and can write most of them.

This result can only be considered average, but for a woman who squeezes out some time at noon every day to attend classes, this performance is already quite good.

"Study hard. You are the housekeeper and you will have to take care of the accounts and money in the future."

"Will Sujun and Yusu stay in Chang'an and never come back? Will Alang also live in Chang'an forever?" Xiuzhi asked.

"Well, I'll stay in Chang'an occasionally, but I'll mainly live here."

Chunhua came in and said that Uncle Luo and others had arrived in the front yard.

Li Yi washed his face, changed into clean clothes, and went to the front yard.

There were quite a few people in the yard. Luo Er came, and Luo San and Luo Wu also came. In addition, Liu Heizi went back to the west yard to talk to his wife for a few words, and then came over again.

In fact, many villagers wanted to come, but Luo Er said he had something to report to Wu Yi, so everyone should come tomorrow if they had anything to do.

"Wuyi, during your absence, the Du family in Fanchuan also opened several tofu skin workshops.
Now the Wei family and the Du family have opened several workshops. They make much more yuba and tofu than we do, and they keep the prices down.”

“What are they selling for now?”

"Dried bean curd sheets are 100 coins per pound, and fried bean curd is only 120 coins."

"Both are the same price?"

"Yes, and this is the price for the best quality items, and the medium and low quality items are each discounted by ten cents."

Third-grade dried bean curd sheets only cost eighty coins per catty, and third-grade pickled beans only cost one hundred coins per catty.

Two months ago, when Li Yi was the sole proprietor of the business, one pound of dried bean curd sheets could be exchanged for one dou of rice, which was at least three hundred and sixty coins. Even if he gave a one-third kickback, he would still have at least two hundred and forty coins. Moreover, the kickback was not always as high as one-third.

"They don't make much profit selling it this way."

Li Yi believed that the technology of his workshop was more advanced and the cost was lower, but the cost of one pound of bean curd and soybeans was at least 40 coins, and the cost of soaking beans in oil and beans was more than 60 coins per pound.
This does not include the cost of firewood and labor. Chopping firewood is not cheap either, it costs two cents per pound.

If we include the cost of labor, firewood, stoves, mills, and donkeys,
There is definitely still profit, but not much.

"Ah Lang, since you are not at home, we are selling the middle-grade bean curd sheets and bean curd at the same price as you ordered. The third-grade ones are even 10 cents lower. Only the top-grade ones are sold at 1 dou and 2 rice per catty.
The Wei and Du families have been making too much tofu skin and bean curd lately, and they've been taking our business away. Now our high-quality tofu skin and bean curd are hard to sell, and even if we charge the same price for our mid-range products, we still can't sell them as well. Many of our old customers have switched to buying from them."

"Recently, our workshop's sales have dropped significantly. We still have a lot of high-quality yuba in stock, but it's hard to store soy milk, so we have to sell the high-quality ones as medium-quality ones."

Luo Er looked ashamed.
Li Yi smiled and comforted him, "It's okay, it's not a big deal. We can just make some adjustments. From now on, we will sell the best quality dried bean curd sheets and soaked tofu for ten cents more than they do. We will keep the price of the medium quality ones and sell the inferior ones for ten cents less."

"Ah, in that case, do we still have to give kickbacks?"

"We'll give you a 20% commission as a major customer. We'll also produce more dried bean curd sheets, which are easier to store and transport, and can be sold to other places."

Li Yi was not afraid of Wei Du. They did not have the ability to monopolize the entire capital or even the entire Guanzhong. There was still the area outside the Guanzhong area.

The profit has decreased, but there is still a lot of profit, just not as huge.

(End of this chapter)