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

Chapter 462 The Three Kings of the North
Li Yi's pig farming business has been thriving in recent years. They mainly use pen-raising, and both male and female pigs are castrated when they are piglets. This way, the pigs not only grow quickly, but also have good meat quality and no gamey smell.

With the addition of several high-quality breeds, such as the carefully selected Wujin pig, Li's pigs are now selling well in Chang'an and have even surpassed Jingzhao Weishi Pig Farm.

Beneath Wuji Fortress

The young and strong men of the Li family were slaughtering a pig. They selected a fat pig weighing about 200 jin from the pigsty, tied its four hooves together, and dragged it over on a cart.

The guards acted as butchers, using sharp knives to bleed the pigs one by one, with a wooden bucket underneath to catch the blood.

People from all around flocked to the market, making it even more lively than the usual bi-weekly market day, with people everywhere.

The braised pork noodles are so filling and tempting!
Carrying the elderly and helping the young,
A huge crowd arrived, each person bringing their own bowl and chopsticks, fearing that the Li family might not have enough bowls and they wouldn't be able to eat the braised meat noodles.

"With so many people coming, will we even be able to get any braised pork noodles?"

"This pig won't yield much meat."

Upon hearing this, the steward of the Li family laughed loudly and replied, "Today, our Prince said he would slaughter a hundred large, fat pigs, all weighing over two hundred catties."

"One hundred big fat pigs!"

Countless people gasped in astonishment.

Although prices have been decreasing in the past two years, and pork is no more expensive than mutton, it is still meat. In Chang'an today, where even a bushel of rice costs a hundred coins,

Pork still costs fifty cents a pound, and good cuts like pork belly are even more expensive.

Apart from the villagers of Luojiabao, who can eat meat a few times a month, the people in the surrounding villages can't even eat meat once a year.

Don't underestimate the villagers from the surrounding area. Most of them are now helping the Li family raise pigs, taking in their piglets for free. After a year of hard work, they can raise two big, fat pigs. But who would be willing to kill and eat them?
Those were all bought back by the Li family, who slaughtered and sold them, or made cured meat at the end of the year.

It's almost Chinese New Year, so buying some pig heads, pig feet, or offal is all you need to have a prosperous year.

“Our lord has also prepared more than a hundred bushels of flour today.”

"If that's not enough, there'll be more. In short, today's braised pork noodles will be enough to fill everyone's stomach!"

Everyone was amazed and excited.

The words "all you can eat in this noodle dish" made their mouths water.

"Prince Wu'an is truly benevolent and kind!"

"That's too generous."

One hundred fat pigs and more than ten thousand catties of white flour were a fortune they could not even imagine, but today King Wu'an was just treating everyone to a free banquet.

"Our Lord Li has always been like this."

"Yes."

Today's rule is that everyone who comes will be served, whether they are law-abiding citizens, unregistered servants or tenants, even slaves or beggars. They will all eat the same rotten meat noodles, but there is one condition: you can eat your fill on the spot, but you cannot take any away.

This generosity,

This also ignited the surrounding villages and towns in autumn.
Each township has 500 households, so eight townships would have 4,000 households, totaling approximately 20,000 people.

In fact, the number of people who came today was at least as many as possible.

Li Yi accompanied Li Shimin on a stroll from the pavilion atop the walls of Wuji Fortress. Standing high above, one could see far and wide.
You can see the bustling crowd below.

"You've really gone to great lengths today," Li Shimin said with a smile.

"It's only right that I treat my fellow villagers to a bowl of noodles since I rarely get to come back to my hometown."

There were too many people, so Li Yi beckoned to his retainer Song Yi, "Send more of your troops, servants, and even our tenants to maintain order and prevent a stampede."
"Spread people out a bit and tell everyone that we'll be setting up more noodle stalls today, so everyone will get some."

Song Yi said, "There are too many people coming, and many more are on their way."

If the news hadn't been released only today, and only people from the surrounding area could have come, there would probably have been even more people.

"We're not afraid of having a lot of people. It's not like we're having a big feast. We'll slaughter another hundred pigs, bring more flour from the mill, and have all our servants and tenants help with slaughtering the pigs and making noodles."

"okay."

With so many people, rolling out the noodles was a huge undertaking. The Li family mobilized many people to help out today. They mixed flour and water to make the dough, then softened it with a wooden rolling pin, repeatedly pressing and rolling it out before chopping it into strips the width of chive leaves.
Boil the meat in a large pot until cooked, then remove it and rinse it with cold water. Finally, pour the cooked meat over it, and the delicious dish is ready.

This seems simple, but it's not easy when you have a large quantity involved.

“This banquet of yours must have cost more than a million coins,” Li Shimin said.

"Money is something you earn to spend; there's no point in keeping it in a cellar."

Strolling along the fortress walls,

When it was first built, Li Yi thought the fortress was incredibly tall, large, and magnificent.
Now, several years later,

Looking back at the fortress, it seemed quite small, just a large courtyard surrounded by high walls, with a few pavilions built on top.

"The north is now pacified, and the people of Guanzhong are living better and better lives. Look at the heavy ears of rice on the banks of the Hao River; this year will be a bumper harvest."

"But many people still don't have enough to eat, and the southeastern half of the country is not yet unified."

The two chatted,
Li Shimin said frankly, "Although I am not as optimistic about Xiaogong and Li Jing as you are, thinking that they can recover the entire southeast in a year, now that the north is pacified, the south will indeed be pacified in a short time. What I am worried about is the Turks."

Prince Changping, Li Shuliang, died in battle on the frontier.

This incident reveals a signal: the conflict between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks is escalating, and several groups of Tang envoys, including Zheng Yuanzhu and Changsun Shunde, are still being held in the Turkic Khanate.
All of this indicates that the situation is becoming increasingly tense.

This time, Jieli withdrew.

But I believe it will soon make a comeback.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty cannot be said to have unified the north yet, because Liang Shidu of Shuofang, Yuan Junzhang of Daibei, and Yang Zhengdao of Dingxiang are still separatist forces supported by the Turks.

The two prefectures of Fengsheng were directly given to the Turks.

"When the Prince of Yan, the Prince of Beiping, and the Prince of Dingxiang came to court this time, the Crown Prince had close ties with them and tried hard to win them over. Li Yi also sent the Crown Prince a fine horse and hawks and hounds, and his younger brother Li Shou has been transferred to the Eastern Palace Commandery." At this point, Li Shimin frowned.

Jiancheng was, after all, the crown prince, the heir apparent.

He acted with an air of humility and eagerness to win over talent; how many could refuse? Not everyone is like Li Yi, able to refuse the Crown Prince when they were still commoners.

With Hebei pacified, Li Yi and other former warlords who had carved out their own territories were now quite uneasy, fearing the imperial court would seize their power and take away their troops. Currently, Li Yi and his two associates were still appointed as commanders-in-chief, but their troops were indeed to be reorganized and reduced in size. They were no longer isolated from the court as before.

If they disobey, it's easy for the court to seize their power, just like what happened to Li Yi and Meng Haigong Xu Yuanlang in Henan before.
They can't possibly resist, can they? Li Yi couldn't even defeat Dou Jiande, how could he dare to defy the might of Heaven?

Since the Crown Prince took the initiative to win him over, Li Yi naturally rushed to cling to this powerful figure, hoping to find a solid backer in the court.

The alliance between the Crown Prince and Li Yi was one where each party got what they wanted.

The same was true for Li Da'en and Li Kaidao; no one could resist the Crown Prince's initiative to curry favor and win them over.

During the previous battle in Hebei, Li Yi missed the opportunity to join forces with the King of Qin because he failed to march south earlier. He not only missed the decisive battle at Mingshui but was also reprimanded by the King of Qin. After entering the court, he sought out his former subordinate, Wen Yanbo, the Sima of Youzhou, who had already entered the court as a Zhongshu Shilang (a high-ranking official in the Imperial Secretariat).

The Wen brothers, Wen Yanbo and Wen Yi, were both trusted by Li Yuan and had a relatively good understanding of the situation in the court. He analyzed the situation with Li Yi and revealed that the Prince of Qin had made great contributions and might be sidelined and sidelined after entering the court.

Knowing the inside story, Li Yi had no more hesitation and quickly moved closer to the Crown Prince's palace.

It's not surprising to Li Yi that the three kings of the Northern Frontier have been won over by the Crown Prince.

In fact, of the three kings of the North, only Prince Yan, Li Yi, posed a certain threat; Li Kaidao and Li Da'en were not worth mentioning.

Li Kaidao, the Prince of Beiping, is fickle and unpredictable. Given his behavior, he is unlikely to relinquish power in the near future, so he will rebel sooner or later and will inevitably be executed.

Li Da'en of Dingxiang was originally a subordinate of Dou Jiande. Now he is in Daizhou, which is the front line against the Turks. With his abilities, he probably won't be able to hold out for long.

"Your Majesty, please hold back for now and observe the situation."

Li Shimin could only feel helpless. The world was not yet unified, and he longed to lead troops to conquer the south and the north, defeating the Turks. But the emperor had long wanted to keep him in Chang'an. Li Yi suggested that he build a literary academy, appoint his former subordinates as scholars, and summon them to Chang'an to study with him.

Hey.

The pigs are still being slaughtered.

The large pot is already boiling water.

Scald the skin and scrape off the hair, then peel off the skin, gut the pig, and separate the meat from the bones.

Pigskin can be used to make clothes and shoes, and it's basically all about skinning. Pig bristles are also a valuable commodity to collect.

A large pot of stewed pork offal and pork bones.
The meat that has been removed from the pot is chopped up, with both the fat and lean meat minced together. First, the pork fat is fried until fragrant and the oil is rendered, then the chopped meat is stir-fried in a pan.

It's stir-fried until slightly browned and has a wonderful aroma.

Then season and serve.

They used a cleaver to cut the rolled-out noodles into strips the width of chive leaves, then sprinkled them into the pot to cook.

Cook until done, remove from the water, rinse with cold water, pack into buckets, and deliver to each noodle-making station.

There's a noodle stall every few dozen steps, and people line up to get their noodles.

First, serve a bowl of cold noodles that have been rinsed in water, then add a spoonful of stir-fried minced meat, and finally a spoonful of pork bone and offal soup, along with some pork offal.

Sprinkle with chopped green onions and minced chives.
Live together.

"Alright, come back for more after you finish eating. Today's noodles are braised pork, and the Prince of Wu'an is making sure everyone has their fill!"

A young villager lined up early in the morning.

Seeing that I was the first to get noodles, and that my big bowl was filled to the brim with white noodles, with a big spoonful of minced meat, a big spoonful of meat broth, and some pig heart, pig liver, pig intestines and pig blood added on top.

Smelling that delicious aroma,

Even just seeing those white noodles and glistening meat broth makes my mouth water.

"Thank you for the honor, Your Majesty."

"Eat quickly."

The people behind him quickly told him to move aside, and everyone was drooling.

There were long queues in front of dozens of noodle stalls.

Li Yi originally intended to suggest preparing a banquet to entertain Li Shimin and his entourage.

"No need for all that trouble. Just have a bowl of braised pork noodles like the villagers below." Li Shimin didn't care at all about eating pork, which was considered cheap meat. It was common knowledge among the people of Chang'an that the pork from the Li family wasn't smelly.

Li Yi asked Song Yi to bring the noodles.

The group ate braised pork noodles atop the fortress gate tower. Li Shimin ate heartily, saying, "Your noodles are very chewy, the minced meat is fragrant, the soup is delicious, and even the pork offal doesn't have any unpleasant smell."

It's rich but not greasy, and the added chopped chives and scallions make it even more fragrant.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji and the others also ate very well.

Li Yi thought they might be hungry, or perhaps Li Shimin's worries had been resolved, and he was in a good mood and had a good appetite.

Of course, it's more likely that they are often away on expeditions and are very hardworking, so they are not so pampered.

If it were Crown Prince Jiancheng, given his style of always bringing his own chefs from the Eastern Palace when he goes on campaigns, he probably wouldn't be able to stomach this cheap meat.

The King of Qin even held a large bowl and squatted down to eat noodles in big gulps.

They slurped and ate with great relish.

"Wu Yi, the pigs you raise are indeed extraordinary. From now on, send a hundred to my residence every month, and I'll have the steward settle accounts with you monthly. No, send two hundred." Li Shimin ate with greasy mouth. His Qin Prince's residence was so large and prosperous that two hundred pigs a month was really not much.

Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling also placed orders with Li Yi for pigs, requesting that dozens of pigs be delivered to their home every month.

“My family also raises pigs, but the taste is completely different from yours.”

"Even the pigs raised by the Wei family in Jingzhao don't taste as good as your pork!"

As the sun sets,

Fog rises over Nanshan.

At the foot of Shenhe Plain, on the banks of the Hao River, two or three thousand people from Wuji Fort arrived, each holding a bowl and eating noodles with gusto.

"one more bowl!"

(End of this chapter)