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

Chapter 460 General's Camp

The Prince's Mansion, the polo field.

On the field, the Li family polo team was chasing the Ji family polo team, while in the stands, Li Yi and Wei Zheng were drinking plum juice and eating osmanthus cake.

When osmanthus flowers bloom in August, people in Chang'an like to collect them, dry them, and preserve them. They can be used to brew osmanthus wine or make osmanthus cakes, which are filled with a wonderful fragrance.

"I brought my senior brother to Shandong as the Left Assistant Minister, but before a hundred days had passed, the position was abolished. I feel very sorry for my senior brother."

Wei Zheng, on the other hand, was quite carefree.

“Even though the Xingtai has been abolished, I still retain the rank of fourth grader to come to Chang’an.”

"Senior brother, is there anywhere you'd like to go?" Li Yi asked.

Wei Zheng watched the two teams fiercely competing on the field, their powerful horses and agile polo players on horseback. Maintaining such a polo team must be incredibly expensive.

Only a top-tier nouveau riche like Li Yi could afford to support him. He had three coin-casting furnaces bestowed by the emperor, and as long as he had copper, he could cast more than 10,000 strings of coins a year and make a profit of two or three thousand strings.

In the battles of Luoyang and Hebei, Li Yi was rewarded with several thousand taels of gold.

In the Central Plains and Hebei, many people are still wandering, homeless, and without enough food for a day. Even though Hebei has been much more stable in recent years, a peck of rice can still buy a woman at any time.

"It would be nice to return to the Secretariat as a secretary assistant. Organizing books and records is a good job, and you can read many rare and precious books and collections."

"What if the Crown Prince were to summon my senior brother to serve as his tutor?"

Wei Zheng shook his head. "Although that is also a job of managing books, what you said to me in Hebei before made me feel that it is a place of trouble, and I guess it would be difficult to find peace there."

Li Yi took out a note and gave it to Wei Zheng.

"What do you mean by this?" Wei Zheng opened it and found it was a property deed, located in Yongxing Ward, east of the imperial city, in the northwest corner of Li Yi's Shengye Ward.

"The house, which occupies only fifteen acres, used to be the residence of a fifth-rank official. Back then, houses in Chang'an were cheap, so I bought this place without spending much money."

Because the house has been uninhabited and unmaintained for many years, it's quite dilapidated and will require some effort to clean. If you don't mind, senior brother, why don't you and your wife move in?

I'll send my senior brother a few more servants and find some craftsmen to renovate it.

Wei Zheng sighed, "This location is right next to the imperial city, a place where princes and nobles gather. Even vacant land is not cheap. This gift is too extravagant."

“Only fifteen acres of land is not worth the attention of most nobles and princes. At most, they would use it to build a private courtyard for their own children. It is too dilapidated and would almost have to be demolished and rebuilt. People of status would not want it, and ordinary people cannot afford it,” Li Yi said.

"That would cost at least several hundred thousand, it's too expensive."

"Does Senior Brother have to be so clear about things with me? A few hundred thousand coins are nothing to me. Now that Senior Brother and Sister-in-law are settling down in Chang'an, they need a stable place first. This place is close to the capital, so it will be more convenient for them to go to work in the future."

Wei Zheng didn't want to accept the money, but he couldn't persuade Li Yi otherwise. Besides, he really didn't have any money. He used to be a bachelor and didn't care where he lived, but now he had a wife and was planning to have a child.

"I'll write you an IOU later, as a loan, and pay you back slowly in the future."

Li Yi smiled and stopped arguing.

Wei Zheng may not want to get too close to Li Yi, a powerful minister at the time, for fear of being accused of currying favor with a high-ranking official. After all, scholars have a certain integrity. But how could he possibly sever ties with Li Yi?

“If you don’t want to go to the Eastern Palace, don’t worry about the official position. I will arrange it for you.”

Li Yi returned to the capital for only two days before taking his family back to Wuji Fort in Yusu Township.

Firstly, he hadn't been back to his hometown for a long time, and secondly, since returning to Beijing, he had received so many visitors that his door was constantly crowded with cars and people, which was a bit too ostentatious.

Before returning to my hometown, I first went to the ancestral temple in the south of the city to pay respects to my ancestors.

Three hundred yuan for a guard or attendant of the Imperial Guards—that's quite a lot of prestige.

Quietly leaving Chang'an, Li Yi passed by the General's Camp at Shenhe Yuantou and made a special trip to inspect his own manor.

He has a thousand acres of land here, Xu Xiuzhi has another thousand acres, and Li Cunxiao and the four Qiang generals each have several hundred acres.

This village, which was once destroyed by a rebellion of Qiang soldiers,

The area has long since returned to its former bustling state, and thanks to Li Yi's investment in its management, it is even more vibrant than before. The General's Camp now boasts a long street lined with shops on both sides. Most of these shops were built with money invested by Li Yi's family, some of which are self-operated, while the majority are rented out.

Not far from this street is Li Yi's manor.

What started as simple cave dwellings and straw huts dug against the mountain have now been transformed into neat rows of traditional courtyard houses.

Those migrant tenants who were recruited back then now farm Li Yi's land and also work in Li's workshop. They farm during the planting season and work in the workshop during the off-season. Although they have less free time, their income has increased.

Although they were tenant farmers, these people had already solved their basic needs for food and clothing. The houses they lived in were built by the Li family, and they ate lunch in the workshop canteen while working.

Even their children can usually find work. The clever and quick-witted can be selected as apprentices in workshops or shops, and some can even attend literacy classes for free at the age of six or seven, at least for a year. The smart and diligent can study for three years, and if they are selected as targeted training students, they can learn various skills and graduate as employees with wages and a bright future.

However, it's not easy to get into the Li family as a servant or tenant now. There are various screening criteria, unlike a few years ago when it was much easier to get in.

Li Yi toured the manor, with Luo San Niang accompanying him throughout, explaining things to him. She frequently inspected the various areas and knew the General's Camp Manor very well, able to rattle off all sorts of data off the top of her head.

The Li family's general's camp estate, including the market, has entered the profit-making stage and is doing quite well. The staff is also relatively stable.

"The tenants and workers in the farms, shops, and workshops should be treated well; at the very least, their basic needs for food and clothing must be met."
Of course, we should reward hardworking and diligent people, but also punish the very few bad apples.

Li Yi hoped that all those who worked for him, whether tenants, laborers, or servants, would have room for development.

He hoped that their lives would get better and better, so that everyone's interests could be more deeply intertwined and more value could be created for the Li family, instead of so many people just getting together to eat from the same pot and end up wasting their lives.

In those days, landlords would hire both long-term and short-term laborers. Long-term laborers were generally very diligent, while short-term laborers often slacked off. The reason for this was that long-term laborers had a secure job; only by working hard could they keep their jobs and have a stable income.

Short-term jobs are temporary; no matter how well you do, the landlord won't keep you after the job is done, so it doesn't matter how hard you try.

Therefore, long-term laborers were often relatives of the landlords. They had to be related to the landlords and have good credit. Once hired, they would not be easily replaced. Sometimes, several generations of the landlords would work as long-term laborers for the landlords.

Li Yi is willing to let those who work hard receive more rewards.

For example, the family's retainers and employees would be given corresponding credit ratings based on their usual performance and the length of time they had worked for the Li family.
If they encounter any emergencies and need to borrow money or grain, the Li family can provide them with corresponding credit loans. The higher the credit score, the lower the interest rate.

Similarly, these high-credit retainers and employees can also receive preferential treatment such as applying for their children to study in the Li family's literacy class, targeted training programs, job recruitment for their children, and recommending jobs for relatives and friends.

Don't underestimate these.
Quite affordable benefits.

Take lending as an example. The reason why many poor people and tenants can only work for others generation after generation is that they cannot accumulate wealth. A single illness, wedding, funeral, or natural disaster can deplete their savings or even force them to borrow money.

Borrowing money can not only make someone impoverished overnight, but the exorbitant interest rates can also bankrupt them or even turn them into slaves.

These days, once you're forced to take out a loan, you may never be able to get out of debt.

The fact that the Li family is willing to lend money without charging high interest is undoubtedly extremely rare.

Moreover, whether the Li family rented land to tenants or hired workers, the rent they charged was not exorbitant, the wages they paid were quite good, and there were no hidden extra charges.

Li Yi doesn't need the traditional kind of exploitation. His estate is diversified and can bring more profits. By giving some of the profits to tenants and employees, the benefits are that the workforce is more stable, and the output is naturally more stable as well.

Just like the Li family raised pigs, they raised many sows and distributed the piglets directly to tenants or villagers to raise, without charging them for the piglets, and even providing some bran, oil cakes and other feed.

The Li family collaborates with these people, with tenants and villagers using pig manure as fertilizer to subsidize the piglets, or the Li family buying back the pigs after they've grown up and then sharing the profits, making it profitable for everyone.

The Li family in General Camp also built a clinic.
In recent years, it has been continuously expanding and is now a large medical center that integrates the processing of medicinal materials, the sale of prepared medicines, physician consultations, and teaching of physicians and pharmacists.

This clinic now has over 500 people, including more than 30 doctors on duty. It dares to say that it is the largest private clinic in the entire Wannian County, or even Yongzhou.

Herbal processing and traditional Chinese medicine production are the two areas where business is growing rapidly. Although Li Yi does not pursue profits excessively, this industry is inherently highly profitable. Despite expanding every year, he still saves a lot of money every year.

There are now over a hundred apprentices under various training programs.

Li Yi toured the place and was very satisfied. A medical clinic that could set up inpatient wards and was of such a large scale was practically the first of its kind in the Tang Dynasty.

Even the Imperial Medical Academy doesn't have that many medical students.

Many of the official physicians of the Imperial Medical Academy are now guest teachers at Qianjin Medical Hall. They give a few lectures every month and are paid very well. These famous doctors also practice medicine part-time at Qianjin Medical Hall. They are invited to treat some difficult and complicated diseases, and they are paid very well in return.

Liu Heizi, Li Cunxiao, and a group of people who came from Luojiabao have been following Li Yi around for the past few years. Now, they are traveling around with Li Yi and find it incredible.

"It's only been a few years, but the world has changed dramatically."

"Indeed, the general's camp has such a large clinic now,"

"Back then, we rushed to cultivate the land here, and helped recruit refugees to farm. Ah Lang even created the Wude Plow because of this."

Back then, Liu Heizi failed to steal anything from Li Yi in Luojiabao and was hung up, beaten, and driven out of Guozhuang. He ended up working at the Wei family's tofu workshop in General's Camp. Who would have thought that General's Camp would now be more like Li Family Camp?

"Why do I feel like everything our Ah Lang does is so simple and easy? Everything is easy, everything is easy to do. Even these tenants, when we first recruited them, they were practically on their last breath."
But it's only been a few years, and look at them all, heads held high, faces glowing. You can't even see anyone here with a pale or sallow complexion.”

Luo Dafu nodded repeatedly, "I've seen several fat people."

Fatty? You used to never see a fat person in the countryside.

Liu Heizi leaned closer to Li Yi and asked, "Brother, is there any secret to this?"

Li Yi smiled and said, "Actually, there's no secret. It's like raising cattle and horses. If you want them to work well, you can't just whip them. You have to feed them until they're plump, healthy, and strong so they have the energy to work."

Otherwise, if you feed the cattle and horses until they are skin and bones, do you expect them to be able to do any work for you?
If the oxen and horses die from overwork, all your investment will be lost. On the contrary, if you feed them well, they can work more and better, and they can also reproduce and earn money.

It's all the same principle. If the tenants or hired workers I employ work well, I treat them well. I even lend them money or food when they encounter emergencies or difficulties, without charging high interest. This way, they'll work harder for me, and I can earn more profit.

Li Yi would even arrange marriages and children for his tenants, laborers, and slaves. For example, the rows of thatched huts in the General's Camp estate were all built by the Li family and provided to the tenants and laborers, who lived there for free while working for the Li family.

After working for a certain number of years, you can buy it at a lower price.

Liu Heizi sighed, "People used to say that they could farm land for those big temples or do excellent work. They said that big temples were much more benevolent than those landlords and powerful people, but compared to Alang, they were still far inferior."

(End of this chapter)