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

Chapter 210 The Emperor's Spy

Emperor Li Yuan sat on the comfortable toilet bed,
The cushions wrapped in cotton and covered with sheepskin are warm and comfortable. Under the bed is a clean toilet with a layer of incense ash in it to absorb odors.

The small clean room has a heater for heating and an incense burner for burning incense.

At the door, there were several young palace maids standing, some holding incense burners, some holding golden basins, some holding towels, and some holding bath beans.

Some people held dried dates, and some held soft paper specially provided by the palace.
Soft paper made of mulberry paper and fine cotton wool, as soft as silk.

Li Yuan had two small dried dates stuffed in his nostrils and was sitting there to relieve himself while listening to the report from Qian Jiulong, the Left Guard General.

"Li Yi has used the Five Thunders Orthodox Method many times. Every time he recites the formula and strikes his opponent with his palm, he can draw lightning, paralyzing the opponent's body instantly, or even making them unconscious. Afterwards, the place where he was struck would leave purple bruises..."

Li Yuan said nothing and seemed a little constipated.

"Among the four imperial guards previously assigned to Li Yi, one was called Zhao Yongan. He was originally a hunter from Xihe County and was very good at using bows and slingshots. Li Yi learned archery and slingshots from him and also asked him to serve as the instructor of the Yusu Township Unity Camp. He provided him with four stone of grain and two pieces of silk every month..."

The emperor exerted force and his face turned red.

Qian Jiulong continued to report,

"Wei Ting has connections in Luoyang. His cousin Wei Jin previously fought against Li Mi in Luoyang with Duan Da, but was defeated and captured. Later, Li Mi was defeated and surrendered to Guanzhong, and Wei Jin returned to Luoyang. Wang Shichong trusted Wei Jin very much and recently appointed him Minister of Civil Affairs and Founding Duke of Wuyang County."

"Wei Cong, the son of Wei Fusi, Wei Ting's cousin, fled from Hebei to Luoyang. He was recommended by Du Yan to Wang Shichong and was appointed Imperial Censor.
Wei Cong's father, Wei Fusi, was a good friend of Du Yan. They had both been exiled during the Kaihuang era when they attempted to take a shortcut through Zhongnan. Later, Wei Fusi rose to the rank of Imperial Secretary, but was implicated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion and was subsequently executed. Wei Cong married Pei Zhen, the granddaughter of Pei Shiju, who was a skilled qin player. Pei Shiju was now the Right Servant of the Shangshu under Yuwen Huaji...

Qian Jiulong reported the large amount of intelligence he had collected to the emperor.

"You mean, Wei Ting's outburst today wasn't sudden, but was deliberately targeting Li Yi, and is this related to Luoyang's Du Yan?"

"Wei Ting and Du Yan were old acquaintances." Qian Jiulong said.

Li Yuan finally defecated a few pieces of dry feces that looked like sheep dung balls and let out a long sigh.

"This Du Yan has a very long arm."

"I heard that Du Yan was very dissatisfied with his son-in-law Li Yi, and his daughter Du Shiniang's marriage was very sudden. Du's mother, Guo, did not approve of it. It was Du Ruhui who agreed to let Du Yan's daughter marry Li Yi. There were even a lot of jokes before..."

"Du Yan advised Wang Shichong to kill his own nephew, Du Ruhui's elder brother, and imprison his third brother.

Now Du Yan has been appointed by Wang Shichong as the Minister of Personnel and Chief Clerk of the Grand Marshal's Office, and has also been granted the title of Duke of Anji County."

Li Yuan wiped the dirt with soft paper,
Wash your hands in the golden basin,

"This bath bean is much better than the previous one," Li Yuan commented. "It has a rich pomegranate blossom fragrance and cleans more thoroughly. The color is also more beautiful. It's large and has a unique shape."

"Your Majesty, this is a new tribute from the Shallow Water Earl family. It's called soap, and this one is made of red pomegranate."

"Li Yi's tribute?"

"Yes, I heard that the Asamizu family has a soap workshop, and the soap they make is very different from traditional bath soaps."

Li Yuan laughed,
"From now on, the bath soaps I use for washing my hands and face will be replaced with soaps from Li Yi's family. Buy more."

The palace maid handed over a towel to dry the emperor's hands.

Li Yuan took the dried dates out of his nose and walked out of the bathroom. Outside the door, two palace maids were holding incense and fumigating the emperor's entire body to remove the odor.

The emperor returned to the Chengtian Gate Tower.
A decree was issued,
Grant Wei Jing the title of Duke of Han'an County.
Pei Yanqing was granted the title of Duke of Wenxi County.

Wei Deyun was granted the title of Marquis of Yifeng County.

Du Ruhui was granted the title of Baron of Jianping County.

Li Yi was sitting in the hall, drinking pepper wine with the five-spice dish, a cold dish made of five kinds of plants: raw leeks, raw onions, radish, shallots and artemisia, served with spring pancakes and radishes. The Tang people also called it the Spring Feeding Plate, a must-eat on New Year's Eve.

When he heard that the four people were bestowed with titles, he realized that he only knew Du Ruhui, and had never heard of the other three.

However, the two dandy brothers Prince Boyi and Fengci knew about it.

"Wei Deyun is Wei Ting's eldest brother, but he was born to a maidservant and had a low status in the family. Unexpectedly, he got the upper hand and inherited the title of Marquis of Yifeng from the Wei family."

"Yes, speaking of Wei Ting's family, it's actually quite interesting. Wei Ting is the youngest son in the family. He has several sisters, all of whom are extremely beautiful. One of his sisters married the previous Qi Wang Yang Ling. However, the sister of Qi Wang's wife, another Wei, had an affair with Yang Ling and was later sentenced to death by Emperor Yang."

"Wei Jing is the son of Wei Fusi, the grandson of Wei Shikang, and a cousin of Wei Ting. Pei Yanqing is the grandson of Pei Shiju, and he is also the brother-in-law of Wei Jing's eldest brother Wei Chong.

As for Du Ruhui, he's your brother-in-law."

The two brothers immediately told him the details of the four newly granted titles.

Wei Ting's illegitimate elder brother, Wei Ting's cousin, Wei Ting's cousin's brother-in-law, and Du Ruhui of the Jingzhao Du family,
Li Yi thought about it for a moment and realized that the emperor was trying to win over the Guanlong clans.

Just now, Li Yi beat Wei Ting, and the emperor stripped Wei Ting of his official title, which was a bit harsh. Then he turned around and gave the Wei family two more titles.

Du Ruhui was just a man from Jianping County, so his status was a bit low.

Those three are one county marquis and two county dukes.

"Marquis Yifeng, Duke Han'an, and Duke Wenxi are actually the old titles of those families," Li Boyi told Li Yi, "They just inherited the titles by grace. But your brother-in-law is the first to be enfeoffed as a Jianping man."

Li Fengci refilled Li Yi's glass of wine. "Our brother Wuyi is even more amazing. He started from scratch, from Shallow Water Man to Shallow Water Son and then to Shallow Water Earl. I believe he will be promoted to Shallow Water Marquis soon."

"Yes, Wuyi is still the best."

Li Yi also filled the glasses for the two guys. "I am a county magistrate, and I am very common in Chang'an City."

The clepsydra doctor tells the time to the saint,
Zizheng,

New Year is here.

The bell rings,

The second year of Wude arrived,

The sleepy emperor and his ministers finally perked up.
The emperor raised his cup, and his ministers drank together.

The palace banquet finally ended.
There will be an even more grand and solemn New Year's Day ceremony tomorrow.

I stayed up half the night and didn’t even get a single New Year’s red envelope.

But it was not without gain. The Li Boyi brothers insisted on paying Li Yi the thirty taels for the poem.

The one who suffered the most tonight was Wei Ting. He was beaten, stripped of his title, honors, and dismissed from his position. He was expelled from the palace before he could even drink the pepper wine on New Year's Eve.

His brother Wei Deyun should be the luckiest one. He was originally a concubine's eldest son born to a maid like Du Sanlang, but suddenly he was given the title of Marquis of Yifeng County.

Li Yi was actually promoted to the position of General of the White Deer Cavalry, the Inspector of the Crown Prince's Left Guard, and an acting fourth-rank military officer. However, he felt that Li Yuan was deliberately making things difficult for him.

He had to be arranged to the East Palace.

I met Du Ruhui at the palace gate with a smile on his face.

Today he unexpectedly won the title of Baron of Jianping County and was officially conferred the title.

"Congratulations, second brother."

"Happy together."

"Hey, second brother, I'm not a military officer. How can I be the General of the Cavalry of the Crown Prince's Left Guard? I can't even shoot an arrow well, let alone ride and shoot. I don't even have a lance, let alone command troops."

Du Ruhui walked out side by side with him and chuckled, "It seems you've run into some trouble, but you're only the Inspector General of Cavalry now, and I'm not asking you to be the Chief of the March and lead the troops into battle.

Have you ever heard of Confucian generals?
Sometimes you don't have to lead the charge in battle, you can just command under the military flag.

The one who provokes a fight and kills the enemy is just the leader of the team.

A lieutenant doesn't even need to stand at the front; being able to command a group of more than one person is more of a test of strategy."

Li Yi was helpless: "I don't know how to plan military tactics. I'm a complete layman. If an amateur commands the experts, it will cause trouble. Talking about military strategy on paper is useless, and I can't even talk about military strategy on paper."

Du Ruhui told him not to worry,
"Although His Majesty has asked you to supervise the White Deer Cavalry House, you are still the Director of Fengyi Palace, so he may not really want you to take charge of the White Deer House."

"what?"

"This is not unusual. The court sometimes appoints officials as governors or provincial governors, but sometimes they don't actually take up the posts. They just hold them part-time or are given additional titles."

Li Yi, the Inspector General of Cavalry, was obviously just a subordinate of the Eastern Palace.

"I think the Crown Prince might try to win you over again, or maybe His Majesty wants you to assist the Crown Prince."

"I have been the King of Qin's man for a long time." Li Yi whispered.

"The king has long regarded you as his confidant."

After leaving the palace, the two said goodbye, got on their carriages, and went home to catch up on some sleep. They could only sleep for a short while and had to get up early again.

Arrive home,

Pingkang's house, Qianshuibo's house, is decorated with lights and colorful decorations, and everyone is still awake.

Stay up all night to welcome the new year and wait for Li Yi to come home.

"Little Pepper hasn't slept yet?"

Li Yi saw his daughter looking around with her eyes wide open.

"After a good sleep and a good meal, I feel refreshed now."

Ji Lingyi felt sorry for him having to get up early, "Alang, go to sleep."

Jin Yushu brought some hot water, "I'll help Alang wash his feet first, so you can sleep warmly."

Li Yi enjoyed the foot washing service of the Silla maid while chatting with Shi Niang and the others.
"Have you distributed New Year's money to everyone?"

"They've all been distributed. Everyone gets a share."

Li Yi's family now has a lot of slaves and maids. Shi Niang has six concubines and six maids as dowry. After Ji Lingyi's last visit to her parents, the five brothers of the Ji family also gave her four concubines and four maids as dowry.

The Silla maid was a little more pitiful, as her family lived in Haidong, but Li Yi still gave her two maids and two servants.

There were dozens of servants inside and outside the house.

It's the New Year, so I need to give out some new clothes, shoes, and hats, and some money as a reward.

On New Year's Eve, there is an extra amount of lucky money.
It’s not that Li Yi is particularly kind, but it’s basically like this for nobles and wealthy families. They usually give small favors to the people around them so that they can use them with confidence.

It is said that the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was a suspicious and capricious person. As he was a vassal king, he had no foundation in the court. After experiencing the Grand Ceremony and other events, Jiajing became keen on spiritual practice and did not attend court for a long time. He was very harsh to the palace maids and concubines, beating and scolding them at will, and even executing them. As many as 200 palace maids were executed for minor mistakes.
Later, there was an astonishing palace coup. Sixteen palace maids took a risk and strangled Jiajing's neck with a rope while he was sleeping, almost strangling him to death. Fortunately, one of the palace maids changed her mind at the last minute and ran to inform the queen, and Jiajing was rescued in time.

Even if the emperor treats palace maids harshly, his life would be in danger, not to mention the ordinary nobles. The people who are with him day and night must be treated even better. If he really doesn't like to use or see any of them, he will simply not keep them around.

"Auntie received the most red envelopes for the New Year today," said Shi Niang with a smile. She specially gave Shi Niang Cheng ten Fu Lu Shou Xi gold coins, which were ordered in advance at a gold shop. They imitated the five-zhu copper coins, but were made of gold, weighing one or two taels each. On top, auspicious clouds supported the word "Fu", on the right was a deer, symbolizing wealth, and on the bottom was a peach, symbolizing longevity. On the left, a magpie climbed on a plum tree, symbolizing joy, forming Fu Lu Shou Xi.

Ten gold coins were strung together with a colorful rope and placed in a small brocade bag.

Ji Lingyi also gave six, and Jin Yusu gave two.

"Then I, Aye, can't be missing either."

After washing his feet, Li Yi returned to the study, took out the ten Fu Lu Shou Xi coins that he had prepared long ago, and stuffed them into the little girl's arms.

The little girl hugged it happily.
"Hey, you're so young, but you already know how to make money. You'll definitely be a housekeeper in the future, good at managing finances and managing the household."

(End of this chapter)